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Original thread here.

Since this is not specifically about Haste Games, I thought it would be better to bring the discussion over to Dakka Discussions.

 AlexHolker wrote:
The best example I can think of, and the one I would consider if I were in charge of a new fantasy HIPS manufacturer, is cervitaurs - like Warcraft's dryads and Keepers of the Grove - as my first kit. Mechanically they're similar to the various types of elf cavalry in the game, including Core, so they could find a place in Warhammer, while aesthetically they're something unique in plastic yet well known, and being a different race could be passed off as allies to a bunch of wood elves even if the art style is a bit different. Plus, centaurs and cervitaurs look better if there's a better balance in the size of the two parts, so they could be done with smaller sprues than proper cavalry.

 Gallahad wrote:
I think those could work, but Wood elves aren't very popular. Cervitaurs or centaurs could really only fit in elf lists, and putting them in High elf or Dark elf lists might be a bit of a stretch visually.

That is a fair point. There is also the issue that 8th edition is not kind to cavalry, so while you could make an army of just Glade Rider-cervitaurs and Wild Rider-cervitaurs lead by character-cervitaurs, you might lose a lot. I still like the idea just because it adds a aesthetically and thematically new character race instead of wallowing in the same old rut.

 Gallahad wrote:
Personally I would go with raptors (like Cold Ones but bigger) or big wolves with optional saddles and human riders. While they currently exist in plastic, they are very pricey, and wolves and raptors could fit with basically any humanoid army with a simple rider swap without being too visually jarring.

I would say that wolves are more of a ranger or raider mount than one that would be ridden by knights. Something like a small ceratopsian might be a better match for both, especially if the knight came with some extra armour for the mount. If you could stick two wolves or two ceratopsians on one sprue with different poses but interchangeable heads, that could be a good way to do it.

A sprue of lots and lots of small animals. Bats, rats, cats, dogs, frogs, lizards, giant insects, birds, a few fantasy ones like gnomes, pixies or imps etc. At least one of everything crammed on to a sprue, with multiples sold to form swarms.
It would be fantastic for anyone to buy, just to have the bits there to add to minis. The most interesting bit on any mantic sprue is always the pet, it would be great to just be able to buy a box loaded with a huge variety of them.

A reboot of the swarm sprue is a good idea. I think it might work better as 2-3 smaller sprues with variant poses than one big sprue, though - a Dungeon Critters sprue, a Woodland Critters sprue and a Familiar Critters sprue, perhaps?

I wouldnt call them knock offs, but I would say I would start with a lot of the old standards and avoid the European interpretation of them. Orcs, elves, dwarves, goblins, halflings inspired by Caldwell, Elmore, Easley, Parkinson, Jones, Hildebrandt... While there is a market for GWs take on things, there are probably as many customers who dont want comical orks and goblins, square bearded dwarves and cone headed elves.

After that, I would likely look at some monopose tiny stuff. As scarletsquig mentions. In addition to the familiars and other small animals, some army in a box type kits. Two sprues worth of small stuff like faeries, kobolds, gnomes or other standard fantasy fair. Not multipart, but they are small enough that you should have no problems having 5-10 of something like kobold spearmen, some sort of kobold cavalry, kobold "knights", kobold slingers and then a handful of command type figures (commander, shaman, standard bearer...). Same general pattern for gnomes, faeries, maybe some kind of imps...

Finally some sort of composite cavalry scheme. It would be one of the larger investments, but I think it would pay off. One box set would be a mount. The other would be riders. Have standard types like horses, but also your less standard mounts like big cats, bears, hogs, lizards, dinosaurs... The riders have different legs for each mount type (or saddle type). That way you can have dwarves on bears, dire hogs or giant lizards. Amazons on tigers or horses, elves on giant deer... Complicated to manage as well as several kits to make it worth while, but Im pretty sure it would pay off in the long run.

I'd love to see some RPG PC sprues on par with GW's Empire stuff.

A set for human fighters with various armor and weapons, then another for rangers/thieves, wizards/priests...

Cannon fodder is always useful, beside the usual orcs/goblins/etc how about crazed cultists? Robes, daggers, masks, hoods... Good for everything from fantasy, to pulp, to the grimdark future.

Multipart, multipose ninjas for the same reason.

Kid_kyoto brings up a good point, good monk/ cultist models are hard to find (affordable ones that is). I bought some Ex Illis ones in the past - mendicants- that looked good but didn't rank up very well for Warhammer. Maybe some good and evil head swaps along with different styles of weapons.

I like the woodland creature sprue idea a lot too - along with other base bit ideas

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I'd love to see some RPG PC sprues on par with GW's Empire stuff.

A set for human fighters with various armor and weapons, then another for rangers/thieves, wizards/priests...

I could see clerics making an appearance on all of the sprues, depending on their god - a Fighter/Paladin/fighty god Cleric sprue, a Rogue/Thief/sneaky god Cleric sprue, a Ranger/Druid/nature god Cleric sprue and a Wizard/cloistered Cleric sprue.

Even the Rogue sprue alone could make for a good Dungeonpunk adventuring party, if you have bits to cover the Use Magic Device angle.

While one of the two uses of such a kit is superfluous now that GW has their own plastic Screamers of Tzeentch kit, Atlantean manta riders would still be an interesting way to start a new faction. The way I imagined it was with Atlanteans as counts-as Skinks, naga as counts-as Saurus and a hybrid (read: mermaid) on a palanquin to lead them.

I love the multipart PC sprues idea and the swarm sprues ideas.
Actually all of these ideas are spot on.
Multipart figures, ala 6th edition, are the best.
Would be nice to see some more kneeling and sitting poses as well.

 scarletsquig wrote:
A sprue of lots and lots of small animals. Bats, rats, cats, dogs, frogs, lizards, giant insects, birds, a few fantasy ones like gnomes, pixies or imps etc. At least one of everything crammed on to a sprue, with multiples sold to form swarms.
It would be fantastic for anyone to buy, just to have the bits there to add to minis. The most interesting bit on any mantic sprue is always the pet, it would be great to just be able to buy a box loaded with a huge variety of them.

This would be fantastic, just as a one-stop place for all non-mythical creatures, instead of trawling hundreds of different places to find both a cat and a dog that are the same scale and aesthetic style

This, also, a set of assorted multi-part plasic civilians. You know, laborers, tavern wenches, merchants, farmers, townsfolk, governors, governor's daughters, tradespeople, bystanders, whores, that sort of thing.

bonus if there is an upgrade sprue that undead-ifys them

As others have mentioned, commoners, cultists, real world critters broken up by environment and I'll throw in a vote for heroic scale fantasy peasant levy regiment.

Ideally the "commoners" would be a good mix of styles from beggar to prince/filthy rich merchant with a skew towards the lower classes with options for everyday gear or angy mob.

For the Cultists I'd want a mix of frothing at the mouth lunatics in rags and calmer elite types in plain to fancy robes. This may work better as two boxes with one as angry mob / cult lunatics and the other as monetary residents / cultists.

Finally for the peasant regiment dressed in uniform light armor (cloth or leather), and weapon options of archer/crossbow (just one is fine), shield, sword, spear (one handed), and two handed weapon (gailve or great ax). I know about the Perry plastics and GW Empire but those codpieces are rediculous and Perry's will look out of place amongst fantasy miniatures.

I'd also like GW Ogre sized Cyclops, Centaurs, and fish-people in groups but those are more niche products unlike the humans.

Furniture.

Chairs, benches, stools, tables, pews, desks, cabinets.

Tavern furniture in particular. I used to have a set by Ral Partha of chairs and tables made from barrels - and a 'mimic' that looked just like one of those chairs sprouting fangs....

The Auld Grump

I think revolting peasants would also be a great addition though WGF have a nice generic guys in cotton robes with sharp sticks kit.



Which along with their Germans and Celts pretty much cover the Medieval cannon fodder niche.

http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/might-of-rome/celt-warband-box-set

http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/might-of-rome/ancient-german-warband


Still a fantasy bandits/barbarians/evil human hoard would be nice. Mismatched armor, impractical shoulder pads, horns on helmets, something like the old Chaos Thugs before they went all Conan.

I'd love to see some sci-fi and fantasy equivalents to WGF's Zombie Survivors sprues, a bunch of fully modular, mostly civilian clothes, but with a ton of weapon and kit options ranging from cricket bats to rocket launchers. You can build anything from a dual-wielding SMG cop in a stetson to a suit-wearing chainsaw-hefting lunatic.

A set of sci-fi civvies would could, with the right combinations and paint schemes, fit anywhere from the underhive of Armageddon to the towers of a Deadzone. Fantasy civillans could work everywhere from Edoras and Minas Tirith to Bretonnia and The Empire.

I'm genuinely surprised no one has gone for this major gap in the market yet.

I'd love to see 6mm micro scale stuff for fantasy in plastic pretty much anything would be great as their are currently no plastics at all.

An actual Dread Saurian that isn't horizontally modeled (so boring) like every single other dinosaur in the range. *grumbles*

Plastic big cat rider kit like a sabretooth or just a large lion with riders... either african-style human or amazons. I haven't ever seen the former and the later hasn't been done since the old grenadier days. I'm obviously not including the KOW nuns of lil' kitties as they don't qualify size-wise for my use.