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I have some miniatures I need to make for a game I am finally getting across to making (with art even).
So there are several races, some which are easier then others, to design, miniature wise, as a base, to eventually have someone see them, improve them and sculpt them so they might be produced. The game, it seems, is a small count skirmish game based on space pirates.
So without further ado;
First one of the races is a large race (eg tall) that dress in a sort of Samurai style, having bird legs, tails and elf like faces.
They fight in phalanx style formations, in the shield hand holds a pistol, and the spears stored on their belt and extend and are often thrown as well.
Second are Humans are in two flairs, regular future soldiers or rogue trader space marine style.
Third race are large humanoids with golden like skin.
Fourth are a short race of rather feminine elf like beings, always dressing in flashy outfits and obsessed with gold and big hair.
Fifth are a race of (normal sized) frog-shrimp who live in a jar atop a robot body.
Sixth are large snakes with robotic limbs
Seventh are robots, they don't speak and are all the same, really.
Eighth and final are large Woolly Mammoth-like beings, very smart.

Hope to get some ideas.
Art of the first race mentioned, (not pictured are her feet, but her tail wrapped around her waist is).

I wonder if focusing on getting artwork produced for the various races would be more useful for potential sculptors rather than kit-bashing models from existing model ranges.

You have some interesting concepts that I don't know if you'll be able to achieve in miniature form without major customization, anyway. It seems more useful to focus your time and resources on getting good concept designs produced that you could hand over to a sculptor and get your ideas created.

 Rainbow Dash wrote:

Fifth are a race of (normal sized) frog-shrimp who live in a jar atop a robot body.

So are these normal sized frog/shrimp relative to a human (i.e. small) or are these human-sized frog-prawns? Either way, I'd love to see models for that idea!

At this point and time it seems easier to kitbash, mostly because I am just waiting for the artist to draw the designs (I am not the one who draws them) so it adds another layer of ideas, things might not work in miniature form as well as in art.
I imagine a sculptor is mind blowingly expensive, so I got to save some money for that.
And the frog/shrimp are small, but like the elders are much bigger, but still in jars.

I am not trying to crap on your parade, rather just offering advice, so I hope this doesn't come off as negative or preachy.

Is this game going to be something for yourself and friends or something you want to market?

If it is just for you, then ignore everything below and kit-bash away. If you want to eventually try and sell this game, though perhaps consider the following:

If you are waiting on art can you do anything further to assist the artist in terms of describing the races more fully? Even providing your own bad sketches, or better, finding images to help describe the aesthetic you are aiming for will be more productive for both you and the artist(s) involved.

I think if you kit-bash references for an artist or sculptor to use you will inevitably be giving them design elements from other companies' models that may be incorporated into your designs. A model using Space Marine legs will still look like it has GW Space Marine legs and that may translate to your designs unintentionally.

Also, if funds are limited, why spend them on tracking down bits and bobs for models that may or may not be useful in creating your designs and instead put that money towards getting the designs created. Artists and sculptors aren't cheap. Artwork can run anywhere from a few hundred to many hundreds of dollars and sculpts can run $500-800+ for a single 28mm figure. If you only have one artist and that artist is slowing you down, you may need to branch out and find other artists willing to work with you.

It sounds like you have big ideas, you have a setting with 8 races all which would require some major investment to get to even a prototype stage. Perhaps scale back a bit initially and focus on 2 or 3 races initially and try and get them fleshed out.

Either way, good luck! I'd love to see some artwork of those frog-prawns.

I eventually do want to market it, and there is no real rush towards that process, my personal kit bashing is my own personal thing, alongside the other ideas.
I guess it's to brainstorm my own ideas to further them, to see if my ideas roughly translate into miniature form. I more then likely will trade things for them, I got lots I don't need.
My artist and I are getting together, I think next week and I will have her draw it all, so excited for that.

The frog-prawns are called Croakies, not sure if they are more frog like or more prawn like.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I already have rule designs in mind, a few ideas, though nothing extremely solid, but some good ideas (wargear cards, special event cards, templates galore, set move sticks).

Take a look at Mantic's Dreadball figures cheap and with lots of alien gribbly bits.

 Llamahead wrote:
Take a look at Mantic's Dreadball figures cheap and with lots of alien gribbly bits.

Yeah, will do, thanks!