Post by voidtrekker on Jan 31, 2008 17:43:34 GMT
This is a new project I am working on, and I just thought I'd share here. It is basically an attempt to do 40k more cheaply, and have larger armies on the same size table. I have so far, come up with the following alternatives. I have tried to rate these, on an arbitrary scale of 1-4, where 1 means that the guys at GW couldn't tell them apart if they were the same scale, to 4, which means that somebody might say "Oh, I see. That's a clever use for that figure", but, of course, my ratings are totally subjective:
Orks: Hordes of the Future (sold by Alternative Armies) "Shia Khan" make excellent Orks (2). MJ Figures made nice 15mm space orks (1). However, that company is now defunct, but they surface occasionally on ebay.
Eldar: MJ Figures made nice 15mm "space raiders", that looked a lot like helmeted eldar (1). However, that company is now defunct, but they surface occasionally on ebay.
Space Marines: ditto (1) AND, there are a lot of powered armored troopers out there that will work well for fill-ins. One thing I'm working on is using the figures from RISK 2210 AD, with the 1 point Mods serving as marines (possibly in primitive armor) (4) and the 3 and 5 point Mods serving as dreadnought suits, or robots for older editions (3).
Tyranids and Genestealers: Outland Games makes nice "Aliens" knock offs called "parasites", including a larger one that would make a good 'nid warrior (3), as well as smaller ones for genestealers (2). Also, Fortress figs "brainworms" (4) and "backbiters" (4) and nice and 'nid-like for this scale.
Necrons: Hordes of the Future (sold by Alternative Armies) "Automata" make excellent Necrons (1).
Adeptus Arbites: Laserburn (sold by Alternative Armies) "Law Enforcers" make excellent Imperial Judges (1).
Imperial Guard: I am using Flames of War WWII Soviet Naval Infantry for these, along with a battalion command set for officers and commissars. Of course, there are a lot of figs that make suitable Imperial Guard, and this is probably the easiest army to start with (2).
Inquisitors, Navigators, Space Marine Commanders, Warp Daemons and all those other pesky character types: Laserburn (sold by Alternative Armies) has marvellous figures for all of these, including a range of starship crew and civilians that puts GW to shame (1-4, varies depending on what you are trying to represent, but there are enough of these guys that you should get a good fit for most characters).
Big Robots, Tanks, etc.: There is a lot of stuff available in this scale that can be readily converted, as well as a lot of toys that can really look 4ok-ish after a little conversion work and a cheap paint job. Want to field juggernaut tanks or battle titans without paying two hundred bucks plus? This is a viable alternative.
Note that some of the stuff listed above is easy to find at the local hobby store, while some others will require a lot of research if they can be found at all.
If you wanted to buy a few things just to see how this would look, before committing too heavily, I'd start with an Imperial Guard force and some HOF Necrons, as I think these are the easiest to come up with.
If anyone has other figures they would like to add to this list, or other manufacturers, I would love to see them.
So, how to play 40K in 15mm? The only real change is the game scale. For one thing, DO NOT convert inches to centimeters, as this is too small a ground scale for 15mm figures. Rather, just take your measuring sticks and
templates to the nearest handy-dandy xerox machine, and shrink everything to 60% (15mm is roughly 60% of 28mm, and is exactly 60% of 25mm).
Cheers,
Void Trekker
Orks: Hordes of the Future (sold by Alternative Armies) "Shia Khan" make excellent Orks (2). MJ Figures made nice 15mm space orks (1). However, that company is now defunct, but they surface occasionally on ebay.
Eldar: MJ Figures made nice 15mm "space raiders", that looked a lot like helmeted eldar (1). However, that company is now defunct, but they surface occasionally on ebay.
Space Marines: ditto (1) AND, there are a lot of powered armored troopers out there that will work well for fill-ins. One thing I'm working on is using the figures from RISK 2210 AD, with the 1 point Mods serving as marines (possibly in primitive armor) (4) and the 3 and 5 point Mods serving as dreadnought suits, or robots for older editions (3).
Tyranids and Genestealers: Outland Games makes nice "Aliens" knock offs called "parasites", including a larger one that would make a good 'nid warrior (3), as well as smaller ones for genestealers (2). Also, Fortress figs "brainworms" (4) and "backbiters" (4) and nice and 'nid-like for this scale.
Necrons: Hordes of the Future (sold by Alternative Armies) "Automata" make excellent Necrons (1).
Adeptus Arbites: Laserburn (sold by Alternative Armies) "Law Enforcers" make excellent Imperial Judges (1).
Imperial Guard: I am using Flames of War WWII Soviet Naval Infantry for these, along with a battalion command set for officers and commissars. Of course, there are a lot of figs that make suitable Imperial Guard, and this is probably the easiest army to start with (2).
Inquisitors, Navigators, Space Marine Commanders, Warp Daemons and all those other pesky character types: Laserburn (sold by Alternative Armies) has marvellous figures for all of these, including a range of starship crew and civilians that puts GW to shame (1-4, varies depending on what you are trying to represent, but there are enough of these guys that you should get a good fit for most characters).
Big Robots, Tanks, etc.: There is a lot of stuff available in this scale that can be readily converted, as well as a lot of toys that can really look 4ok-ish after a little conversion work and a cheap paint job. Want to field juggernaut tanks or battle titans without paying two hundred bucks plus? This is a viable alternative.
Note that some of the stuff listed above is easy to find at the local hobby store, while some others will require a lot of research if they can be found at all.
If you wanted to buy a few things just to see how this would look, before committing too heavily, I'd start with an Imperial Guard force and some HOF Necrons, as I think these are the easiest to come up with.
If anyone has other figures they would like to add to this list, or other manufacturers, I would love to see them.
So, how to play 40K in 15mm? The only real change is the game scale. For one thing, DO NOT convert inches to centimeters, as this is too small a ground scale for 15mm figures. Rather, just take your measuring sticks and
templates to the nearest handy-dandy xerox machine, and shrink everything to 60% (15mm is roughly 60% of 28mm, and is exactly 60% of 25mm).
Cheers,
Void Trekker