Thanks for all the great feedback. Here's a very nice little un-boxing article with lots of photos from the awesome guys at Massive Voodoo.
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2013/05/mu-33-penal-guard-10-man-resin-squad.html

The pics clearly show the high quality of this kit. I certainly want one, but I will wait until my wife buys it for me as a birthday gift.

The guys at MV listed the correct contents but they did not put both rifle arm sprues in their photo montage.

I heartily agree with the MV crew that the wonderful heads give this kit superlative personality.

Awesome variety of heads. I'll buy it at one point only because of that.

Looks amazing, Vic.

Yeah, real nice work Vic. Love that bionic head.

You can tell these are quality bitz because even the "Victoria Miniatures" on the the sprue is amazingly clear and crisp.

 Snrub wrote:
Yeah, real nice work Vic. Love that bionic head.

You can tell these are quality bitz because " They are Victoria Miniatures" the sprue is amazing clear and crisp.

Amended for you

Any desert fighter minis on the horizon?

 Dinamarth wrote:
Any desert fighter minis on the horizon?

I am still waiting for the cargo shorts legs I want my troops to be comfortable at work

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 Dinamarth wrote:
Any desert fighter minis on the horizon?

I am still waiting for the cargo shorts legs I want my troops to be comfortable at work

Then you've clearly never been in a fight against evil.... with sand in your shorts!

 alarmingrick wrote:

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 Dinamarth wrote:
Any desert fighter minis on the horizon?

I am still waiting for the cargo shorts legs I want my troops to be comfortable at work

Then you've clearly never been in a fight against evil.... with sand in your shorts!

Maybe I just like the feel of sand in my shorts

Man, I really wish I had held off on buying my penal legion now. The new ones look so awesome. The old ones are nice but the new ones blow them away...

 elotsip wrote:
Man, I really wish I had held off on buying my penal legion now. The new ones look so awesome. The old ones are nice but the new ones blow them away...

As an owner of both I can confirm your statement! The first ones allow for a lot of changes and playing around. The new ones come with everything you'd want literally in the box!

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 Dinamarth wrote:
Any desert fighter minis on the horizon?

I am still waiting for the cargo shorts legs I want my troops to be comfortable at work

Haha... it'd just be nice to have an alternative for metal Tallarns.

Hey vic have you given any thought to heavy weapons?

I've seen your conversions for your Praetorians and they're really cool. Your lascannon conversion in particular looked really awesome.

I know a lot of IG players have been converting the Fantasy cannon kits to use IG heavy weapons, so there appears to be some demand for it at least.

It'd be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the heavy weapon squad kit and the bombadier kit, that's for sure

Heavy weapons would be great, as would just a generic sprue of assault weapons that could be used with any of these regiments. I am sure people would snap up plasma guns, "atomic" guns, and flamers by the arm loads if the option was available.

And I still want female Victorian Guard...

Heavy weapons would be quite useful.
Also there is a fusion gun, that might fit the atomic guns you were mentioning, DarkTraveler777. Although I would love to see some plasma and flamer weapons.

http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/fusion-gun-arms

She has a flamer out too, it's a handheld one in the trench raider blister.

Perhaps a pair of arms could be made that are "generic weapon swap arms"? Designed to take spec weapons from a variety of manufacturers.

I'd like to see maybe a heavy weapon set of guys wearing something along the lines of the turn of the century dive helmet style. Or maybe a fully enclosed Gas Mask similar to that. Either way LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your stuff Vic, glad to see that the old chem heads made it back.

 Skoda wrote:
Heavy weapons would be quite useful.
Also there is a fusion gun, that might fit the atomic guns you were mentioning, DarkTraveler777. Although I would love to see some plasma and flamer weapons.

http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/fusion-gun-arms

Yeah that is a great gun, but the attached set of arms don't work well with the Victorian Guard model range and would create mono-pose problems for multiple fusion gunners. If Vic came out with just a sprue of assault weapons so we can convert our own assault weapon troopers I'd be ecstatic.

Very happy to report that this week I have sent off 21 current products to the US for resin casting by the same awesome guys that cast the Penal Guard.
To kick off the new resin bits range, I have made all the Penal guard parts available separately, check out the pics below.
I will also now be winding down production of the metal penal kits, once the current stock is gone. Its gone.
http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/products/penal-guard-1?pagesize=12

Great news Vic and nice new Avatar is the dog yours ?

I will be placing an order for a few bits in July then I was thinking is there any chance of releasing a sprue of just the helmeted masked head from the custodian range

These would make a great head set for IG alternatives, I am thinking of upgraded Chem dogs

Awesome news!
So if we lift the hair and look at the dogs eyes are they:
1-bloodshot and look like he/she wants to eat us?
2-totally loving and friendly?

Made me think of the old Looney Tunes cartoon!

Looks like I need to put an order in soon. Resin is cool and all, but I have a weird love for metal minis.

I'm definitely in the minority in that regard though.

Very nice! Do you have plans for making any "not-valhallans" since GW cut the range?

Great news Vic. Nice to see business is humming.


Smitty, there was a picture posted by Vic ages back of a few greenstuff heads of various sorts. If memory serves there was a not-Valhallan head on it. It could Vic just messing around with different scuplts or it could be a prelude to another range of fantastic minis.

 Smitty wrote:
Very nice! Do you have plans for making any "not-valhallans" since GW cut the range?

Winter is coming.......

in the meantime, the Broolian Beastmen heads are now up as a set of 7 individual heads.
http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/7-beastmen-heads

Vic, have you considered making some heads with Shakos?

They could go on the 'Victorian Guardsmen' kit and hey presto - a complete range of Napoleonic-style IG...

 vic wrote:

 Smitty wrote:
Very nice! Do you have plans for making any "not-valhallans" since GW cut the range?

Winter is coming.......

in the meantime, the Broolian Beastmen heads are now up as a set of 7 individual heads.
http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/7-beastmen-heads

I hope not we only just got sunshine here talking of which still in need of shorts any chance of Vic style

Vic, really like your models but I have to ask whether you have any plans to expand the Brodie Helmet heads?

Thanks for the feedback.
New resin Van Diemenn's world devils could well include some legs wearing shorts.
Brodie helmets, not a big seller. Will expand the Balmorals into a 10 head set first, but will still keep the Brodies going.

Shorts will be most welcome in the future, they'll go nicely with my alternate Harker model. That the Devil head sprue comes with a spare hat is a godsend btw! Shotgun arms with rolled up sleeves and no armour panels would also be sweet later down the road.

 vic wrote:
Thanks for the feedback.
New resin Van Diemenn's world devils could well include some legs wearing shorts.
Brodie helmets, not a big seller. Will expand the Balmorals into a 10 head set first, but will still keep the Brodies going.

Now that is great news

 vic wrote:
Brodie helmets, not a big seller. Will expand the Balmorals into a 10 head set first, but will still keep the Brodies going.

Right, I'll be ordering some soon as they'll be great for the WW2 British based IG army I'm working on.

I bought a couple of the penal legion sets a while ago and have nearly finished the models.
I'd just like to say they are great quality casts and well worth the price, top stuff.

The price of the trench raider arm set from the Beastman squad, has been dropped to bring it in line with the other Vic Minis arm sets.
You can now grab 6 pairs of tooled up bare arms for only $6.50.
Cheers,
V
[/url]http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/product/trench-raider-arms[url]

Oh come on, I bought that like three days ago!

Any chance you will be releasing the trench raider torso's? 'm not interested the beastmen but I do want like the Flak armour and want to extend it's use.

 EchoJ7 wrote:
Any chance you will be releasing the trench raider torso's? 'm not interested the beastmen but I do want like the Flak armour and want to extend it's use.

?????
Those were out before the Broolian Beastmen were? Check under torsos on her site: http://victoriaminiatures.highwire.com/products/torsos?pagesize=12

I think he means the flak armour torsos that come in the Broolian beastmen kit, they have extra details and bandoleers sculpted on them as opposed to the plainer torso available at the moment. I have some these torsos myself but i'd also love some of the trench raider torsos too for a bit of variety.

I just figured since EchoJ7 wasn't interested in beastmen, they would be more to his liking. But I see your point VC!

Yes I am waiting on those torsos as well.

I'll be honest, I'd really love it if you were able to do some sort of bad type guys. The penal squad is pretty good in this regard, but something kind of mean would be nice. The old gas mask heads work pretty neat for this as well. But something a bit "chaotic" would be fantastic.

Some evil guys would be an interesting edition to your line Vic.

I'd also love to see your take on some "at rest" arms. Like a gun or sword resting on a shoulder, drinking from a canteen, afixing a bayonet. etc etc.

 Snrub wrote:
Some evil guys would be an interesting edition to your line Vic.

I'd also love to see your take on some "at rest" arms. Like a gun or sword resting on a shoulder, drinking from a canteen, afixing a bayonet. etc etc.

I like this idea! Swords on shoulders, hands casually pointing and the bayonet idea are great. I really like the smoking guy you already make. I have one, but I have not put him together yet, because I am afraid that I cannot paint him in the way he truly deserves, yet.

Hi, thanks for all the awesome feedback and suggestions. Here's a pic for those who have been requesting this head from the Penal Custodian as a separate sprue. It will be coming with the second wave of resins.
First wave is at the casters now.
Cheers, V

I realize that this is a modeling question and so this isn't necessarily the right thread, but considering this is where all the Victoria Miniatures enthusiasts collect, I'm hopeful to get some ideas here - particularly as it does touch on the issue of special weapons which Vic has recently begin to do more with.

I've got a load of the Rolled Sleeve Rifle Arms that I've bought to refit my Veteran Guard army - and they look fantastic! I plan on most of the units being Plasma Vets - and so, I've got a ton of plasma guns to use. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the best way to go about converting the Rolled Sleeve Rifle Arms to hold the Plasma Guns. The V.E.R.A. Gun and Fusion Gun arms would work from a grip perspective, but unfortunately don't go with the Rolled Sleeve aesthetic.

Any thoughts, Vic Fans?

Is there a way you could cut the laser rifle and keep the stock? I suppose should look at making some blank arms (no weapons).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hi, Its been a long time coming but here are the much asked for female troop test sculpts.
I have been asked many times to sculpt some female versions of the modular regiments in my range that are non-sexualised, but still recognizable as females and fit in alongside the male troops.
You can see these photographed with males dressed in similar uniforms that could be part of the same unit.
This is a big project as it involves re-sculpting every part. At this stage I greatly welcome any feedback, and will keep you updated with further sculpts.
I ultimately aim to have equal M/F options for all my 'Galaxy's Finest' regiments.
Thanks, V

This pleases me to no end! Both a female flak armour torso and female Tannenburger? Yes! Hello future veterans and hello future Rough Rider expansion!

Great news on the head sprue FANTASTIC

The female troops look pretty cool so far but I have a small issue are they on original leg sculpts as they seem a little tall in comparison to the head size ratio, but it could just be me

Are the kilts going to resin ? if so will both sets be going into resin production

The leg sculpts look like new ones, judging from their waists.

 BrookM wrote:
The leg sculpts look like new ones, judging from their waists.

Yes I just noticed that but I think ( but could be wrong ) they are the same legs with a different waist, this is why they look a little strange as the feet are to big (although some woman do have big feet ) and leg width ( some woman have wide legs ) just seems off.

Same legs, different waist. Shorter torso, arms will be smaller too.
As a female of 5'9 I generally find it very hard to find women's shoes big enough to fit and often end up with men's joggers and hikers. But I was thinking of making the shoes on these minis smaller since it will help with the the overall look.
Thanks for the feedback.

 BrookM wrote:

Basically, this. They look brilliant and I look forward to seeing more!

 vic wrote:
Same legs, different waist. Shorter torso, arms will be smaller too.
As a female of 5'9 I generally find it very hard to find women's shoes big enough to fit and often end up with men's joggers and hikers. But I was thinking of making the shoes on these minis smaller since it will help with the the overall look.
Thanks for the feedback.

I thought this was the case but don't get me wrong I like the overall look, but I think a need to reduce sizing a little to make that gender change noticeable especially in this scale.

Otherwise they could become completely lost in a unit, I know it is easy to over exaggerate proportions of the female form ( we have seen plenty representations of this already ) but you need a noticeable difference at the same time.

Yes but joggers and hiking shoes are way more comfortable anyway

Great news everybody !!

I'm excited for the female models. Your work is amazing Vic.

Some times you read something so beautiful that it just makes your whole day brighter. Today this is that thing.

Victoria Miniatures, First Female Troops test sculpts. pg 32. feedback welcome

Seriously Vic, you've made my crappy day better with but 5 words.
The sculpts so far look nothing less then marvelous. Did you plan on having them helmeted or unhelmeted? If unhelmeted what sort of hair styles were you considering?

 BrookM wrote:

I would like to 3rd this sentiment.

I'm way enthused about these latest sculpts. They may finally inspire me to assemble the Vic rough riders I bought last summer...

Coming along very nicely. The torsos are great. The legs and boots are a little thick when compared to the torsos. They need to be slighter to work with the narrow waists that you've given those torsos. The heads are hard to see, but don't look up to par at this stage when compared to your male heads - they look like something familiar.. 1st Edition WarZone females? I can't quite place them.

The custodian heads look outstanding.

Echoing the leg opinion. I think they need to be juuuuuust a bit slimmer than the men's legs.

The torsos look aces, though.

Looking good Vic! Looking forward to adding some beauties to go with my beasts.

very good looking sculpts... we need some more versions of heads of course... can´t have a female squad walk around in the bleeding sunshine with all the same hairdo, now can´t we?...

also... if it would be possible... some greatcoated female torso and legs would be great...(female commissars anyone?)

cheers, vik

What legs are those on the female trooper mini with the flak armor? I need legs like that with the cargo pockets, shirt sticking out, and boots and I'm going to feel really stupid if those have been in the store this whole time.

As for the minis themselves, the female flak armor trooper looks great, her torso looks perfect for this scale. I'm not as crazy over the tannenburg figure, but I will say she has a very striking hourglass figure . I can't tell if that's my eyes playing tricks on me (since her bust exaggerates her skinnier waist) or if her waist really is that skinny though.

Looks like those legs are from the penal set.

It seems lots of people are looking for cool-looking but sensibly designed female models in this vein. With that in mind I think you are about to find yourself catering to a very large and relatively untapped market...!

It's a market that'll definitely include me.

I would echo the call for slightly slimmer legs and smaller feet on the females, but otherwise they are looking good

What page are pictures of the female test sculpts on?

The previous page captain lazy pants, but here you go.

 vic wrote:
Is there a way you could cut the laser rifle and keep the stock? I suppose should look at making some blank arms (no weapons).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hi, Its been a long time coming but here are the much asked for female troop test sculpts.
I have been asked many times to sculpt some female versions of the modular regiments in my range that are non-sexualised, but still recognizable as females and fit in alongside the male troops.
You can see these photographed with males dressed in similar uniforms that could be part of the same unit.
This is a big project as it involves re-sculpting every part. At this stage I greatly welcome any feedback, and will keep you updated with further sculpts.
I ultimately aim to have equal M/F options for all my 'Galaxy's Finest' regiments.
Thanks, V

I am surprised that many sculptors think that male and female bodies are identical from the waist downward. This is not the case.
My suggestion is to take the extra time and make complete female sculpts and not a mix of male and female body parts. The result will look much more convincing.

With legs of proper proportion, I think they will look much better. With "male" legs it makes them look wasp waisted.

I hope these are ready by Christmas. I plan to spend some holiday money on them for sure.

Also, I love the idea of commissars and officers. Some heroic officers would be raging awesome.

I third the suggestion of female legs. I think those will do more for the sculpts than the boobs. Still awesome sculpts and just what i was looking for. I was going to pledge for the raging heroes kickstarter but it's way too much money to get alternative models. These are looking better for me.

Thanks for making them

I have to say, I don't like the heads. Bodies look fine.

HI, many thanks for all the great feedback. I'll be taking it on and adding more wip pics asap.
I hope to have at least one regiment available before Christmas.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
What legs are those on the female trooper mini with the flak armor? I need legs like that with the cargo pockets, shirt sticking out, and boots and I'm going to feel really stupid if those have been in the store this whole time.

Ha ha, you haven't missed them. But there is a male set with the cargo pockets coming with the first wave of resins. I will also add a male set with cargo pockets and shirt for the second wave of resins.

As for the minis themselves, the female flak armor trooper looks great, her torso looks perfect for this scale. I'm not as crazy over the tannenburg figure, but I will say she has a very striking hourglass figure . I can't tell if that's my eyes playing tricks on me (since her bust exaggerates her skinnier waist) or if her waist really is that skinny though.

Possibly too much hourglass, I might thicken the waists eventually, I think the shoulders on the Tannenburger are a bit wide too.
There is a deliberate exaggeration and the shape (wasp waist) is based more on WW2 uniforms and earlier, rather than modern soldiers, hence the narrow waist and baggy pants.

I am surprised that many sculptors think that male and female bodies are identical from the waist downward. This is not the case.
My suggestion is to take the extra time and make complete female sculpts and not a mix of male and female body parts. The result will look much more convincing.

That's why these are test sculpts. They already have completely different waists and hips than the male version. Can you really tell the difference between a male and female from the knees downward when wearing baggy pants and combat boots?

I agree with the comments about the feet, Iwill be making the feet smaller and looking at how that affects the legs. The legs may end up being a re-sculpt but this is a starting point.

I'll do some more work on them today and post the pics asap.

These two WW2 Russians demonstrate nicely the comparative proportions I am using as a base. ie, same uniforms, legs similar length but with hips and narrower waist, shorter torso, narrower shoulders.

Posted these pics of US WAFS because they are cool

I like the wasp waist and larger legs. Makes them look like my wife.

Also, it is nice to see mini women with baggie clothing. The very concept is so novel that it has boggled many minds.

Vic, I already said so on facebook, but seriously.. my wallet.. I'll be throwing it at Oz when these lovely models appear on your store.

Absolutely love the direction you are going with.

In a form of defense for the legs, my wife and I met in the military. When she had her combat boots on and her BDU's blowsed above the boot, her feet looked larger than they are!
That said, can't wait to send moneys for these goodies!! I'd love to see a female(or 5) sculpts with Pith helmets!

 vic wrote:

Possibly too much hourglass, I might thicken the waists eventually, I think the shoulders on the Tannenburger are a bit wide too.
There is a deliberate exaggeration and the shape (wasp waist) is based more on WW2 uniforms and earlier, rather than modern soldiers, hence the narrow waist and baggy pants.

Even so, it's probably a little too exaggerated/wasp-waisted. I know your stuff is heroic-scaled and I have no issue with that, but if you look up something like Gaddafi's angels or female troops in dress uniform, they may have fancy uniforms like the tannenburgers, but they have more normal proportions.

That's why these are test sculpts. They already have completely different waists and hips than the male version. Can you really tell the difference between a male and female from the knees downward when wearing baggy pants and combat boots?
I agree with the comments about the feet, Iwill be making the feet smaller and looking at how that affects the legs. The legs may end up being a re-sculpt but this is a starting point.

Let's put it this way. Recycling the male legs gives you the same kind of situation as we have if my wife were to wear my pants. They look wrong because they're clearly too big. Your sculpted pants aren't so baggy as to not clearly be able to visualise where the legs are underneath. If you were sculpting me and then my wife wearing the same pants, the pants would be visibly baggier on her (she's almost the same height I am, btw)

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I like the wasp waist and larger legs. Makes them look like my wife.
Also, it is nice to see mini women with baggie clothing. The very concept is so novel that it has boggled many minds.

That's a bit insulting and unnecessarily douchey, Bob. People aren't asking for tights, they're asking for legs/pants to be sculpted specifically for this range of figures rather than being recycled from the male ones. Legs that are in proportion with the slightly smaller torsos that Vic has already sculpted. It's more like, measure twice, cut once. Get it right from the get-go and they can then be recycled into many other female ranges rather than being mehhhh... from the start.

I think the legs need to be slimmer but not greatly so...
Otherwise it's great work as usual. Just wish I had the money to afford to buy anything

Nah i want thicker legs! Bigger hips! Like eva canela

 vic wrote:
Is there a way you could cut the laser rifle and keep the stock? I suppose should look at making some blank arms (no weapons).

I don't want to detract from the great discussion about the female troops, but some blank arms (either with no weapon or even just the arms with no hands) would be extremely useful. I tried converting the arms to hold a plasma gun today and while some use of a razor saw and needle file removed the rifle and left the hands intact, it was no trivial task - not one that I would necessarily want to repeat on a large scale (I think that I'll need between 15 and 24 sets of rolled sleeve arms without the rifles). And once I had removed the rifle, there really wasn't a good way to attach the plasma gun in a manner that wouldn't require additional cutting and GSing of the arms to get them to attach correctly.

Don't get me wrong - I love how your arm sets aren't just pistol-grip rifles - I think it looks so much better than many of the others out there. Unfortunately, it just makes converting special weapons troopers more...special. If all else fails, I may have them holding the rifles and then having the special weapons slung, but I'd love to find a solution for this.

vic wrote:

MrMoustaffa wrote:
What legs are those on the female trooper mini with the flak armor? I need legs like that with the cargo pockets, shirt sticking out, and boots and I'm going to feel really stupid if those have been in the store this whole time.

Ha ha, you haven't missed them. But there is a male set with the cargo pockets coming with the first wave of resins. I will also add a male set with cargo pockets and shirt for the second wave of resins.

Awesome. What time roughly are those waves due out? I'm guessing the one without the shirt is where the guy just tucked it in apparently? Just trying to figure out if I should wait for the untucked shirts or just go ahead and get the legs without.

vic wrote:

MrMoustaffa wrote: As for the minis themselves, the female flak armor trooper looks great, her torso looks perfect for this scale. I'm not as crazy over the tannenburg figure, but I will say she has a very striking hourglass figure . I can't tell if that's my eyes playing tricks on me (since her bust exaggerates her skinnier waist) or if her waist really is that skinny though.

Possibly too much hourglass, I might thicken the waists eventually, I think the shoulders on the Tannenburger are a bit wide too.
There is a deliberate exaggeration and the shape (wasp waist) is based more on WW2 uniforms and earlier, rather than modern soldiers, hence the narrow waist and baggy pants.

I always preferred a woman with a good set of hips myself

No but seriously I think if you get the hips a little wider and the legs a little slimmer they'll look perfect. As she stands now, the Tannenburg figure just seems a little too extreme. In reality it's not so much her hips as it is the placement of the belts in these photos that really contributes to that "wasp" look. They look like they're above the belly button. It makes the figure look a bit too much like this lovely lass

Instead of more like this, which I feel is a good look for what a tannenburg trooper would look like.

However, they're already looking great, and I have a feeling even as is they'd sell very well. This provides a good alternative to things like the raging heroes kickstarter, whose minis are more... exotic. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

What have you had in mind for heads? To be honest I have a feeling that's going to be the hardest part of this project, and they're probably what will make or break it. There's a lot of possibilities, from tight buns, pony tails, crew cuts, etc. If I can make a humble request, a sprue of women with "bowl cuts" like the Sisters of Battle have would be greatly appreciated. I may or may not need those for a conversion I have in mind. I would need around 50, so you've got that many guaranteed sales at least

As always, great work, can't wait to see what's next and look forward to an order at the end of July when I finally get some spare cash again.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I will have a go at some re-sculpted legs. I agree they are not quite 'there" yet. Its good to be able to show this as it progresses.

What have you had in mind for heads? To be honest I have a feeling that's going to be the hardest part of this project, and they're probably what will make or break it.

Yes, for the two heads I've shown there are eleven rejects on my desk
I need more practice.
I plan to release an initial head sprue with fairly simple generic hair, probably ponytails and buns, then do some variants, including heads with hats and helmets.

 Death By Monkeys wrote:

I don't want to detract from the great discussion about the female troops, but some blank arms (either with no weapon or even just the arms with no hands) would be extremely useful. I tried converting the arms to hold a plasma gun today and while some use of a razor saw and needle file removed the rifle and left the hands intact, it was no trivial task - not one that I would necessarily want to repeat on a large scale (I think that I'll need between 15 and 24 sets of rolled sleeve arms without the rifles). And once I had removed the rifle, there really wasn't a good way to attach the plasma gun in a manner that wouldn't require additional cutting and GSing of the arms to get them to attach correctly.

Don't get me wrong - I love how your arm sets aren't just pistol-grip rifles - I think it looks so much better than many of the others out there. Unfortunately, it just makes converting special weapons troopers more...special. If all else fails, I may have them holding the rifles and then having the special weapons slung, but I'd love to find a solution for this.

I agree with you completely. Given that much of Vic's range is based off of the non-copyrightable metal Imperial Guard designs, and we all know what they're predominantly used for, I don't think it's an especially unreasonable ask for Vic to sculpt some arms compatible with the plastic Flamers, Plasma and Melta guns that GW puts out to go with her range. It would also be a much more elegant solution than hacking apart the existing figures...




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 vic wrote:

Yes, for the two heads I've shown there are eleven rejects on my desk
I need more practice.
I plan to release an initial head sprue with fairly simple generic hair, probably ponytails and buns, then do some variants, including heads with hats and helmets.

Unfortunately, the two heads in the photo just don't look very good. Maybe it's the photo, or maybe a bit of both.

If I can offer a suggestion - Go for helmets and hats with the initial run (with sunglasses and ballistic goggles thrown into the mix). I see no reason that male troops in combat would predominantly be wearing headgear while their female counterparts - also in combat - would be rocking a variety of hairstyles blowing in the wind. Maybe a couple of unhelmeted heads in a set of 10, mostly wearing combat headwear.

Helmeted heads with chinstraps, goggles, sunglasses, etc will also be easier to "pass" while you practice sculpting female heads.

My reason for starting with heads with out head wear is because it is easier to use them as a base sculpts which I can later add gear to. Its the same system I used with the blokes.

Understood, and I did consider that. The thing is, from the consumer side, it's probably not the best way to release/buy them. I've been waiting for your female troops for awhile, and to be blunt, I wouldn't buy a set of them without headgear that makes them fit in with the men, because they would stand out a bit too much - rather than blending in while offering variety.

Perhaps use the base heads as your "practice sculpts", then give them headgear, and come back later with new sculpts for your unhelmeted, etc versions?

I don't have much to add from the modelling perspective - all my gripes (legs, waist, headgear) have already been voiced and addressed (I'm actually quite impressed by how much weight customer feedback is given, bravo!). But I must say that I am thrilled by this development.

I don't actually get around to playing much 40k anymore, but I do play the RPGs quite a bit, and given female friends and open minded male players, this entails quite a few female PCs. This presents especially large issues in Only War, where the men and women must blend together in a perfectly uniform manner, but still look good enough close up to represent characters.

I was looking at round about ways of handling this, entailing bits from a half dozen manufacturers and reams of re-sculpting on my part. Needless to say, you've made my life much easier!

I am definitely excited about this release and can't wait to place my order.
...and I was doing so well at holding myself back from ordering the rest of your beautiful products... so much for my wallet.

Thanks for more awesome minis!
Cheers.

 Azazelx wrote:

That's a bit insulting and unnecessarily douchey, Bob.

True. I should probably scale it back a bit today.

People aren't asking for tights, they're asking for legs/pants to be sculpted specifically for this range of figures rather than being recycled from the male ones. Legs that are in proportion with the slightly smaller torsos that Vic has already sculpted. It's more like, measure twice, cut once. Get it right from the get-go and they can then be recycled into many other female ranges rather than being mehhhh... from the start.

True. However, I am sick to death of the catsuited, "totally liberated punk for reals", short-shorted, or booty-hugging-thong-armoured sculpts that pop up in thread after thread. I suppose I'm getting paranoid that that is what people are asking for just because they ask for it in so many other threads.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



True. However, I am sick to death of the catsuited, "totally liberated punk for reals", short-shorted, or booty-hugging-thong-armoured sculpts that pop up in thread after thread. I suppose I'm getting paranoid that that is what people are asking for just because they ask for it in so many other threads.

Interesting, it probably depends on the company, but the many personal requests I've had, have all been asking for non-cheesecake female troops

Re:Only War.
Thanks for mentioning that. The fantastic illustrations in that book are what finally inspired me to give female troops a go.

Just saying that my feedback is meant as constructive, because I love your previous models.

Guess what makes it difficult is that your troopers are a bit heroic scaled, with big muscular legs and arms and relatively short bodies.

Putting a female torso on them looks wrong, because the feet are much too large and the legs much too thick in relation. I would also have a look at the torso length, left one has a very short lower body, right one has a very short torso below the chest.
Comparing the faces with your released male character heads, the female ones look still generic and seem not on the same quality level.

It is a difficult path to make female soldiers between the two extremes "over-sexualized" and "look like males", and there currently is no convincng option for that.

Funny vic, as the first thing to pop into my head when I saw your test sculpt was the female mordian looking soldier in the rt rulebook. Great work as always.

 Kroothawk wrote:
Just saying that my feedback is meant as constructive, because I love your previous models.

Guess what makes it difficult is that your troopers are a bit heroic scaled, with big muscular legs and arms and relatively short bodies.

Putting a female torso on them looks wrong, because the feet are much too large and the legs much too thick in relation. I would also have a look at the torso length, left one has a very short lower body, right one has a very short torso below the chest.
Comparing the faces with your released male character heads, the female ones look still generic and seem not on the same quality level.

It is a difficult path to make female soldiers between the two extremes "over-sexualized" and "look like males", and there currently is no convincng option for that.

I think you have hit the nail on the head here, it is all about getting the balance right and not playing to any extreme.

The issue is to make the models look female without looking over female, now you do this at a reduced scale to blend and stand out at the same time.

Also you are dealing with a heroic scale so proportions are all of from the start, just take a look around how many humans do you see of the same sex that look the same hight and build.

I feel with a few tweaks Vic will create some stunning miniatures as always, however I do feel FEEDBACK should be constructive not demanding.

Vic has always taken into consideration customer feedback and that I am thankful.

I'm happy enough as is right now that there will be female flak armour torsos somewhere down the road (I honestly don't care about the when, seeing an early sculpt is already really promising), which is good enough for me as my current guard is made up of the male counterparts wearing just that.

Icing on the cake would be female Van Diemens Devils to go with the burly blokes, preferably one or two male and female leg sets with shorts, or female rough rider legs and arms, but that's just all wish-listing right now.

I think the leg thickness might be attracting a disprportinate amount of attention because we're seeing them without arms, weapons or accessories, so the join between uper an dlower body is more noticeable. Personally I don't feel like I'm looking at models with tree trunk legs, just models wearing baggy trousers (I get that impression because the trousers look pretty loose generally, and from the way the fabric bunches up round the top of the boots). I think if these models were holding cunningly-positioned rifles, with a few pouches and grenades on their belts, maybe a backpack, the contrast would be much harder to spot. With that in mind it could be interesting to see one of the current test sculpts with such accessories added.

 Fezman wrote:
I think the leg thickness might be attracting a disprportinate amount of attention because we're seeing them without arms, weapons or accessories, so the join between uper an dlower body is more noticeable. Personally I don't feel like I'm looking at models with tree trunk legs, just models wearing baggy trousers (I get that impression because the trousers look pretty loose generally, and from the way the fabric bunches up round the top of the boots). I think if these models were holding cunningly-positioned rifles, with a few pouches and grenades on their belts, maybe a backpack, the contrast would be much harder to spot. With that in mind it could be interesting to see one of the current test sculpts with such accessories added.

It's not so much the width but the height compared to the torso and head looks slightly of, as I said it's trying to get an equal balance of standing out as female but not over exaggerated appendages.

I am so excited for the female troopers! I agree with others who have asked for the legs to be altered slightly for a reduction in overall length/girth, but otherwise I would gladly purchase that test sculpt as it currently stands.

Regarding the helmeted heads, please, please, please have pith helmets as part of the first wave! Pretty please. With sugar on top.


And the call for weaponless arms is one I am in favor of, especially if you supplied a nice array of bare weapons in some of the more established sci-fi variants of: flame thrower, atomic gun, and energy gun. You know, for when these troopers need to assault something they would have the right weapons for the job.

Increase the bust and hips

 Theduke07 wrote:
Increase the bust and hips

Yeah, because in the darkness of the far future, we only have pin ups.

I really hope you're kidding. There's enough of that out there already, IMHO.

I really like them from the waist up! Slightly smaller feet and slightly slimmer legs should do it, imo, as you've already noted. Can't wait to see the next WIP!

First thank you for building these ladies.

I would like to see a bit thinner legs and arms. Perhaps a slight variation in height as well with the leg sets so everyone is not the same height.

Perhaps some berets?

The faces look a bit strange, I can not sculpt so they look a million times better than anything I could build.

Keep up the good work.

Female guard! I'm super stoked at the prospect of these.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

I am sick to death of the catsuited, "totally liberated punk for reals", short-shorted, or booty-hugging-thong-armoured sculpts that pop up in thread after thread. I suppose I'm getting paranoid that that is what people are asking for just because they ask for it in so many other threads.

Nah, the threads for people that want figures inspired by Destiny's Child is the RH KS thread, and now apparently the MaxMini thread as well. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Vic is known for more ..sensibly dressed miniatures, so I don't think anyone in this thread is asking for that sort of thing - just properly proportioned, somewhat realistic female combat troops. I mean, it's possible to like both, so Vic going with more realistic/IG-friendly figures just gives all of us more variety.

 Kroothawk wrote:
Just saying that my feedback is meant as constructive, because I love your previous models.
Comparing the faces with your released male character heads, the female ones look still generic and seem not on the same quality level.
It is a difficult path to make female soldiers between the two extremes "over-sexualized" and "look like males", and there currently is no convincng option for that.

Well put, and I believe we all in this thread are trying to be constructive with our critisicm. You've somewhat touched on another point I forgot to make yesterday regarding helmets - With helmeted troops, the helmets (and ballistic sunglasses/goggles) take the emphasis away somewhat from the face sculpt, as it becomes less of the focus, especially from a foot or more away. It also makes them look more "soldiery". Ultimately though, female troops without feminine clothing, hair, makeup and with half of their faces hidden look much more generic, and passable for males at a glance. Look at the pic of the female IDF I posted above. Some you can tell are women very quickly but quite a few look much more androgynous in their uniforms, even with a much harder look. Body shape is the biggest difference, and if/when Vic gets that right with the torsos and legs, we'll be onto a real winner.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Javin wrote:
First thank you for building these ladies.
Perhaps some berets?

Hopefully these get finished up and sell really well. Then Vic can browse google images for the many and varied costumes of Ghaddafi's Amazonian Guard. And yeah, berets would look good. As well as Garrison/Side caps - both once Vic gets female heads down pat.

I think these kilted legs show quite well, why you can't just add a female torso to male heroic legs:

It's not only hip, size of legs and feet, but also pose.

Smashing looking torsos, more fuel for my WW1 obsession!

I killed my Raging Heroes pledge for a variety of reasons, so it will be great if Vic puts out some resin ladies. What was shown was already a great start. I'd hope for not-tanith first, but that's probably just me ; p The bits being purchaseable separately and in packs would be ideal too since i'm not sure how I'd mix them in with my Wood Elf/Cadian/Third party Tanith. Some more variety to represent the different regiments merged into the Tanith first would be good anyway.

Really need to emphasise how much better the chest sculpts are by vic. than what was shown for the troops at least by RH. Much better representation of knockers on a mini. You klnow they're there but they won't poke your eye out.

I'm thinking of doing likewise, especially because these upcoming minis will fit into my army perfectly without any hassle or BS, plus when these go on pre-order we know that they'll go out on time.

Judging from the way most kickstarters go vic's minis will probably come out first

Eh, it's not so much about who is first but who fits best in my case.

 BrookM wrote:
Eh, it's not so much about who is first but who fits best in my case.

QFT and "Amen".

Hi Folks, I really appreciate the vote of confidence. I have had some other things I had to do over the weekend, but I will get you some more progress pics on these asap.
Many thanks for the comments and feedback.
V

I love the torsos, though echo a bit about the headgear of some kind. It just adds a bit more to the sense of realism when it comes to soldiering, as headgear is almost always part of the uniform.

Also... is it sad the Tannenburger looks just like a female soldier I worked with, if all you did was change the top to the ACU? (Which is one of the reasons I love these!)

Another thing: It is easy to take a standard female head and then just change the hairdo (prominent example is Werner Klocke, or Scibor for male faces). I would prefer having different faces as well. Your male heads have different faces.

 Kroothawk wrote:
Another thing: It is easy to take a standard female head and then just change the hairdo (prominent example is Werner Klocke, or Scibor for male faces). I would prefer having different faces as well. Your male heads have different faces.

They will certainly have different faces. As I mentioned earlier; I will start with some generic hair then once I have some master casts I will do some variations with helmets, hats and gear. Exactly the same process I used for the blokes.

These are great and good to see that the feet will be smaller than those of the current models.
It would be good to have heads that could also be used as younger males. Guard armies all seem to be grizzled veteran types with no new recruits. Smoother faces would solve this.

Ugh, I like all feedback thus far except that! Please no androgynous faces

At 4mm or so high, faces are not going to pick up the details of real faces. Having some faces that are not lantern jawed and heavy set will greatly improve the variety of guardsmen.
It also allows for boy soldiers who've been recruited in their mid teens but who are otherwise man sized.
Nothing androgynous about that.
Too many female head sculpts are cartoony with elongated eyes and overly long cheekbones. There is also a tendency for female sculpts that are shouting to look more like they're about to receive something than actually shouting.

If she keeps to her quality (which is a given) then the detail in those 4mm will be downright stunning - mind you, not every female trooper needs to be drop dead gorgeous, just like not every male should look like Prince Charming in BDU, so I'm sure there'll be a few that could equally be young boyish men.

Also, a quick question to Vic, any plans to make a version of the helmeted custodian head without the gas-mask somewhere down the line? I would buy quite a few of those, especially if both sexes were represented.

Cheers.

EDIT: oops, missed a word.

Great sculpts Vic though I still hold out for some not steel legion sculpts

All I have to say:

The previous page captain lazy pants, but here you go.

:golf clap: thanks...but the image doesn't appear...which is why I missed it. The picture doesn't show up for some reason.

Hi, continuing my quest to create female versions of my Galaxy's Finest Guard range, here is the latest photo update:
I very much appreciate the feedback I received on the initial WIP image. I have taken on much of the comments and am now showing a more complete version of these sculpts, they are still a little rough around the edges but I hope you can get the general idea and proportions. I'll get some more close up shots loaded asap.
All comments welcome.
Many thanks, V

ps. if you never hear from me again, it is because the GW hit squad took me out for including a Cadian in the pic

Those look great!

So glad to see a manufacturer who understands that female minis need different legs as well as torsos. Subtle difference, but it matters.

GW has a pretty bad habit of using the male legs for both men and women (or in the case of dark eldar it looks more like using the female legs for men).

The woman in flak armor looks awesome. I will definitely have to get some if I'm not in the poorhouse by then.

I like the head on the tannenburg lass as well. That hair style "fits" their uniformed look well. I probably wouldn't order any, but they still look good, and I'm sure others will snatch them up.

Great job as always. My only complaint is that they'll be in resin and all my men will be metal

Great proportions on those fems, I think you nailed it. The flak armour lady stands out as superior to me, but that could just be taste in the design.

I agree with Moustaffa on both counts, The woman in flak armour looks superb and i would certainly buy many. I think it's the rolled up sleeves and pulled back hair with goggles works really well together. Kinda make her look like a mechanic.

These look excellent!

Super happy with both test sculpts, especially the flak armour variant, really digging the head and yay, rolled up sleeve arms!

Hi i agree, the flak armor girl is outstanding! Think thats definately on the right track proportionwise. I am already looking forward to try paint them.

Now these are what I'm talking about. Excellent work here, Vic. I look forward to their release. Interestingly, the Tannenburger legs look very similar to the male ones? I can't quite tell with the rifle obscuring the waist area.

I agree with the above the girl in Flak is great she has that real rough and tumble look but still keeping a look of the female, the Tannenburg woman looks better but something is just not quite right as to what I cant put my finger on it though.

Maybe once we get the close up my help as to work out the issue.

would be could if you could provide us with some zoom able pics... why not use the gallery vic?

The new sculpts are looking fantastic, Vic. A simple thumbs up from me.

+++Edit+++
Quick question – does the flak armoured regiment have a name yet?

Damn, wallet is crying the corner again... it knows.

 Apologist wrote:
The new sculpts are looking fantastic, Vic. A simple thumbs up from me.

+++Edit+++
Quick question – does the flak armoured regiment have a name yet?

Many thanks for all the comments. No, this regiment does not have a name or background, I'm open to suggestions
Also, if any sculptors are reading this who can sculpt women, and want to get involved with this project, please contact me.
Here's a bigger pic.

I hadn't been in dire need of female troops for my regiment before, but your sculpts are changing my mind, Vic. These looks great - both of them. And both are an improvement on the earlier one you posted.

Cheers. I have re-sculpted the feet and heads, and obviously added arms. Looking at these pics, I want to rework the Tannenburger torso too.

Loving the goggles headed lass. Looks female just by facial features alone, amazing stuff.

 vic wrote:

 Apologist wrote:
The new sculpts are looking fantastic, Vic. A simple thumbs up from me.

+++Edit+++
Quick question – does the flak armoured regiment have a name yet?

Many thanks for all the comments. No, this regiment does not have a name or background, I'm open to suggestions
Also, if any sculptors are reading this who can sculpt women, and want to get involved with this project, please contact me.
Here's a bigger pic.

I'm not sure which of the many sculptors plying their trades out there are friends - or if so, how close, but I was thinking the other day that if you got Kev White or Tre' Manor to sculpt a few female heads in excahange for something you could do for them, it would potentially be quite a nice win-win-win for both sculptors and the buying public...

 vic wrote:
Cheers. I have re-sculpted the feet and heads, and obviously added arms. Looking at these pics, I want to rework the Tannenburger torso too.

To be honest the torso on the Tannenburger is fine a bit bulky but some woman are in RL, I think it's the leg pose more than anything it just does not look right for a woman to stand like that

I put my hand across the legs blocking them out and the top half looks great no issues their at all, I think the pose itself needs to be reworked a little less spread if you get my drift.

You definitely have a seller here in both just a little tweak and they will be perfect.

These are the best female heads I've seen around (maybe pre RH?), by Brother Vinni. It's just a shame they're mostly masked and so few sculpts. I bought some and they're a tad off on scale though, a touch too small. Must be hard getting the faces right. He does commission work iirc if you wanted to outsource head sculpts to him.

Nice one, Victoria, much better! I think you're going to make quite a bit of money out of those! I sell so many bloody Cracking Hairdo sprues it would seem there's quite a market for lady soldiers - and mine aren't even GW scale!

Hey Vic, two questions.
1- The flak armoured regiment, will it be an all women regiment? If so i have a few background ideas if you're interested.

2- Seeing as the Victorian guard have commander Caine and the Broolians have Torgo, do you have any plans to give each regiment a "hero"?

*Crosses fingers for a Statuesque/Victoria team-up*

Regarding a name, perhaps the Blenheimmers? Thought it might be fun to continue the famous battle theme you've got going with the Tannenburg troops.

Plus, 'Blenheim Blithes' and the 'Blenheim Boys' would be fun WWII-style nickname for the female and male squads, respectively. P'raps Blenheim Braves for a mix?

All I know is these girls will go nicely into my own Minervan 132nd.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I second the Statuesque X Victoria ship!

Andrew does great work with his resistance fighters, I love them a lot!

*throws fistfulls of money*

Do want!

Those are absolutely perfect, and, as everyone's said, the flak armoured soldier is especially fantastic.
I can't wait to pick some of these up!

Now just get a rounded type shoulder pad and we are in business! That way I can fit these models into my Cadian army.

The reworked legs are good. The arms tend to be most noticeable as most female soldiers wear baggy pants. I would welcome slightly thinner arms. Women, on the whole, are less bulky then men. There are exceptions.

I like the rolled up sleeves. Will you be doing an empty arms set so we can put in the weapon of our choice in the arms?

Will there be a slightly wider arm stance to hold special weapons like heat weapons or fusion guns?

Will there be a sprue of female heads?

Not your product, but still the same idea:




Are the arms female arms, or are your arms unisex? I ask because I got a twenty of your metal arms for a different project, and it didn't work out, but if the arms are the same, it saves me from re-buying them.

And I'd like to echo the call for a female commander. I'd so buy that as a CO for my force I'm building.

Figures look good where were you guys when I was playing IG a long time ago.

I was initially wary of the waspish waists, but the new wip have me sold, they look great and mix in well with males too.

/thumbsup

p.s any female broolians

I think the new legs and waist look fantastic. It's really a subtle change, but it adds a ton to the model and makes them feel "right."

Will these be available in Resin, hopefully?

 Apologist wrote:
*Crosses fingers for a Statuesque/Victoria team-up*

Seems like that would require a pretty significant change in style from one of the sculptors I think; Statuesque are pretty slim and small headed (although beautifully sculpted) and fit better with the likes of Antenociti's G.O.T. range than anything else. I really have a hard time mixing 40k-ish figures with Infinity-ish figures.

The female Tannenburg guard looks great, love the hairstyle!

Absolutely excellent (and I say that as someone who didn't mind the original bigger legs), I've been looking for something like this for months. I'm especially looking forward to getting some of the armoured figures.

How long does it normally take from you settling on a final design to putting them up for sale?

Ah nuts! I'm a tad disappointed the custodian figure is an upgrade sprue for the penal legion, it's a superb looking figure and would make a fantastic alternative for a full 'not krieg/helghast' unit or army.

Any chance we could get a number of just the helmeted heads on their own sprue for purchase?

Your website is a treasure trove of beautiful minis though and the female project is turning out splendidly, really enjoying the progress.

 Scrub wrote:
Ah nuts! I'm a tad disappointed the custodian figure is an upgrade sprue for the penal legion, it's a superb looking figure and would make a fantastic alternative for a full 'not krieg/helghast' unit or army.

Any chance we could get a number of just the helmeted heads on their own sprue for purchase?

Your website is a treasure trove of beautiful minis though and the female project is turning out splendidly, really enjoying the progress.

Hi, I have had several requests to make this Custodian head from the penal squad available as a separate sprue.
So here it is, it will be coming out with the second wave of resins.
Cheers, V

The guardswoman in flak armor looks awesome! I have long been wanting to add female troopers to my cadian IG army. It looks like it might take some greenstuff to make the shoulder pads compatible and a gun swap.

Does anyone have experiencing kitbashing cadians with the victoria miniatures?

Wonderful! Cheers BrookM. You've made my day!

 lone dirty dog wrote:
I agree with the above the girl in Flak is great she has that real rough and tumble look but still keeping a look of the female, the Tannenburg woman looks better but something is just not quite right as to what I cant put my finger on it though.

I think it's the baggy pants.

On the flak girl, baggy pants work, as she's in combat gear. Dress pants are generally more tailored, though, so it makes the Tannenburger look like she has massive legs.

The feet and waists are definitely better on both, though, and they're definitely shaping up nicely

I would rather have a little bit of more wasp figure :( but still the flakk armor one is getting my money. Hopefully I can get 10 so I can use as stormtroopers or veterans. Wonder if you'll do helmets or a more heavily armored version.

Anyway great job and looking forward to throwing money at it.

I'm pretty sure we'll see female counterparts of all the male variants.

I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

No.

I suggest the complete opposite. If you want RH-style females, get RH.

These female soldiers look great the direction they're going.

From the first link I clicked on:
http://www.ragingheroes.com/collections/complete-collection/products/eleriel-alaniel-anniversary-edition-28mm#

No thanks. Victoria Miniatures is doing great already.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Why try to directly compete against someone who already does that? Raging Heroes already does a great job at doing everything you describe. Why would we need a second company doing that?

Instead of trying to beat other companies at their own game, vic is making something different. Raging Hero styled minis would look really out of proportion compared to vic's male figures, which is a result of the scale her minis are in. They're a very "heroic scale" which leads towards things like a chunkier build, larger hands/ heads, and tend to have a very "old fashioned" look to them. I just can't see RH style women running around with vic's male figures at all, it would look really off.

Raging Heroes and Vic are taking completely different approaches to the same problem (no good female models) It's a good thing they're very different. Gives us more choices and that's never a bad thing. Raging Heroes has the crazy over the top detail and actiony poses, and vic has the more down to earth, subdued stuff. Neither approach is a bad thing and I think as shown in this thread and the Raging Heroes kickstarter, both figures have a good sized untapped market waiting for them. And this is as a guy who will probably buy some Raging Heroes stuff and will definitely be buying Vic's (don't judge me, that RH nurse is pretty cool )

Not trying to bash Raging Heroes, just saying that I'm very glad she went a different direction.

Have an exalt, you've got it spot on

Vic's new female troopers look cool (and are getting better with each revision

RH stuff is also cool,

but the fact that they are meant to be female minis is one of the few things they share..... Which is good, more choice, more stuff to satisfy different army builders and painters

Hi all thanks for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions. I will answer as many as I can soon, but I just have to comment on this one first. I honestly thought this was not serious, just some sort of joke. Assuming its serious I should clarify some points.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Thanks for your advice, but please remember these are heroic scale soldiers made for the battlefield. They are not barbie dolls, strippers, super models, play boy bunnies or RH miniatures. Therefore, why should their faces be more beautiful, bodies more slender, poses more feminine, their torsos narrowed and boobs bigger?
They already have smaller hands than my male sculpts.(in further refinements they may get smaller).
Future sculpts could well have more attitude, these are two samples of what will become a fully interchangeable modular range. I have started with fairly neutral miniatures to keep it simple at this stage.
There are dozens of companies making females to your specifications, I have no desire to mimic them.
If I need any references of how females carry themselves all I have to do is look in a mirror.

 vic wrote:
Hi all thanks for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions. I will answer as many as I can soon, but I just have to comment on this one first. I honestly thought this was not serious, just some sort of joke. Assuming its serious I should clarify some points.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Thanks for your advice, but please remember these are heroic scale soldiers made for the battlefield. They are not barbie dolls, strippers, super models, play boy bunnies or RH miniatures. Therefore, why should their faces be more beautiful, bodies more slender, poses more feminine, their torsos narrowed and boobs bigger?
They already have smaller hands than my male sculpts.(in further refinements they may get smaller).
Future sculpts could well have more attitude, these are two samples of what will become a fully interchangeable modular range. I have started with fairly neutral miniatures to keep it simple at this stage.
There are dozens of companies making females to your specifications, I have no desire to mimic them.
If I need any references of how females carry themselves all I have to do is look in a mirror.

Well said vic!
Love the way things are coming together. Great work.

Hear hear, and as for the combo-kill quip at the end, beautiful...

All I can do now is wait for some female Border World Rangers, hopefully including an obvious model for female sergeant-type individual

 vic wrote:
Hi all thanks for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions. I will answer as many as I can soon, but I just have to comment on this one first. I honestly thought this was not serious, just some sort of joke. Assuming its serious I should clarify some points.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Thanks for your advice, but please remember these are heroic scale soldiers made for the battlefield. They are not barbie dolls, strippers, super models, play boy bunnies or RH miniatures. Therefore, why should their faces be more beautiful, bodies more slender, poses more feminine, their torsos narrowed and boobs bigger?
They already have smaller hands than my male sculpts.(in further refinements they may get smaller).
Future sculpts could well have more attitude, these are two samples of what will become a fully interchangeable modular range. I have started with fairly neutral miniatures to keep it simple at this stage.
There are dozens of companies making females to your specifications, I have no desire to mimic them.
If I need any references of how females carry themselves all I have to do is look in a mirror.

I'm buying RH's stuff, because I think it's very characterful. And I'm going to buy your female range because it complements an army I'm already building and looks great doing it. I really love the direction you're going, and I wouldn't change much. Attitude? What does that even mean? I feel like it's a code word for tarting it up, which is the exact opposite of what I'd be looking for in your range. Now, if it means you're making a female soldier charging with bayonet fixed, stabbing at a filthy heretic or xenos... well, that's an attitude I can support.

What I think he meant by "attitude" is that they have a very action movie esque look to them.

Raging Heroes remind me of a lot of things like Tank Girl and comics in general. They've got that crazy, just over the top look to them. That's a cool look, and if you just straight up say "hey, that's what we're going with", I think it's respectable. Everybody loves a good popcorn flick every now and then. They don't try and dress it up or say "we're super sophisticated" or anything like that, they just say "here's our stuff, we think it looks cool, hope you do too."

But we're getting way off topic from what we should be talking about, which is drooling over vic's WIP pics, and me banging my head against my desk that I can't afford to place an order for over a month.

Snrub wrote:Hey Vic, two questions.
1- The flak armoured regiment, will it be an all women regiment? If so i have a few background ideas if you're interested.

2- Seeing as the Victorian guard have commander Caine and the Broolians have Torgo, do you have any plans to give each regiment a "hero"?

1- would like to have the option of mixed, but no reason people could not have an all women regiment. I will probably sell these minis as 10 woman squads, that can then be mixed in with the blokes.
2- would like to.

Apologist wrote:

Regarding a name, perhaps the Blenheimmers? Thought it might be fun to continue the famous battle theme you've got going with the Tannenburg troops.

Plus, 'Blenheim Blithes' and the 'Blenheim Boys' would be fun WWII-style nickname for the female and male squads, respectively. P'raps Blenheim Braves for a mix?

Not bad.

Javin wrote:
I like the rolled up sleeves. Will you be doing an empty arms set so we can put in the weapon of our choice in the arms?

Will there be a slightly wider arm stance to hold special weapons like heat weapons or fusion guns?

Will there be a sprue of female heads?

yes, hope to do empty arms for the men too.
Stances are already pretty wide, I'll have to see how they look with a special weapon.
Yes, all bits including heads will be available as separate sprues, same as the current male range.

Valhallan42nd wrote:
Are the arms female arms, or are your arms unisex?

No, the male arms will fit, but what you are seeing here are smaller.

cincydooley wrote:
Will these be available in Resin, hopefully?

These and all release for the foreseeable future will be resin.

Cheers,
V

Gotta say Vic, if I was still playing 40k I'd buy a ton of these for my Guard.

As is I'm likely to pick up some anyway. Great job!

I really like the look of these and will echo the sentiment that there's no need to "tart 'em up" as others have that covered. I look forward to seeing some female penal troopers.
Will you be doing a set of "chaos cultists" that would fit in with a certain gaming company's offering?

Agreed, looking fantastic as-is! Particularly the flak armor trooper, as previously pointed out.

loving the new female guard miniatures, they look as female soldiers should. I dislike the other companies portrayal of female soldiers as strippers, female soldiers wear the same clothing as male soldiers as to not differentiate between sex at a distance and pure uniformity.

The goggle soldier looks perfect for Tona Criid from the Gaunts Ghosts series.

Keep up the great work, looking forward to when these come up for sale!!

Those are truly stellar. The flak armor one is the best, but I do love them all.

I hate to say it, but I totally agree with Daniel Holmes. What follows is a photo of a female soldier in combat.



I mean, look at how that oozes sexuality! Pinup waist, skin tight and revealing clothing, the smoldering look of lust on her face. I mean, even the body language screams eff me. Victoria, that's how you need to do a female soldier. A stripper in fatigues.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry, just looked at the photo and realized none of that is true.

Keep doing what you're doing Victoria. I served with women downrange and I'm sick to my guts of fashionistas with body armor. Do women some justice. And the greens look great. I don't think thinning the legs or shrinking the hands any further would be required. They read as female without reading as cheesecake as is.

I would say that Victoria Miniatures and RH are two different ends of the hobby, neither is wrong just different takes on the miniature world.

However this is Vic's thread and Vic's style which is a great in its own right, if you want RH style go to their thread.

Now back to topic I know this sounds odd but will you be doing a heavier built woman for heavy weapon carriers ?

Will you be adding a woman kilt unit as well ? I was thinking the woman could wear Tartan trousers instead just to make them stand out a little more from the men.

Don't be absurd. Women don't wear kilts...
Skirts are for men!

Love it! I wasn't following your range of minis with that much attention but after this last pic with the female soldiers, wow, color me impressed.

I admit, I'm a fan of the cheesiness that's RH and awesome over the top stuff like AK wielding Cat-Girls in a bikini ( ) but we need more stuff like this!

There's a severe lack of real looking professional female soldiers on the market that don't look like either like a hot model or a man with breasts and a somewhat female face and yours are fantastic looking models!

Great work, keep it up!

noneoftheabove0 wrote:I hate to say it, but I totally agree with Daniel Holmes. What follows is a photo of a female soldier in combat.

Many thanks for the awesome pic.

lone dirty dog wrote:

Now back to topic I know this sounds odd but will you be doing a heavier built woman for heavy weapon carriers ?

Will you be adding a woman kilt unit as well ? I was thinking the woman could wear Tartan trousers instead just to make them stand out a little more from the men.

I don't intend to diss RH, as you say, it is a different product. If people want to buy both, its fine with me
I will try adding special weapons and see how it looks.
I want to try the women in kilts option. again it will be a trial and error process.
Cheers,
V

 purplefood wrote:
Don't be absurd. Women don't wear kilts...
Skirts are for men!

Thats why I suggested they wear the trousers


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 vic wrote:

lone dirty dog wrote:

Now back to topic I know this sounds odd but will you be doing a heavier built woman for heavy weapon carriers ?

Will you be adding a woman kilt unit as well ? I was thinking the woman could wear Tartan trousers instead just to make them stand out a little more from the men.

I don't intend to diss RH, as you say, it is a different product. If people want to buy both, its fine with me
I will try adding special weapons and see how it looks.
I want to try the women in kilts option. again it will be a trial and error process.
Cheers,
V

No thats not what I meant it was aimed more at the other guy going on about RH style, I was trying to get across there is room for many different styles not all should be the same.
Sorry if you thought that was aimed at you Vic that was not my intention in any way, I love your work and always impressed with the final result, plus you always listen to feedback in a positive way which is a refreshing change.

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 purplefood wrote:
Don't be absurd. Women don't wear kilts...
Skirts are for men!

You can't wear tartan trousers!
That's just Not Done.

Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

never say never, but I want to get the grunts happening first

Impossible to please everyone obviously.
I think all of these latest sculpts are brilliant, though.

People have been clamoring for quality female soldier sculpts for their sci-fi stuff for years. Victoria blend existing popular line aesthetic with excellent looking female sculpt.

These have my vote!

Vic did you get my PM concerning Apoc ?
Just never heard back thats all.

 vic wrote:

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

never say never, but I want to get the grunts happening first

HOORAY!

Hi Vic, quick question, I understand you are still at the planning stage but how long does it normally take between you settling on a final design and having the finished product up for sale?

 vic wrote:

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

never say never, but I want to get the grunts happening first

YES! either this or stormtrooper/veteran kind of lookalikes would rock. No way I'm buying cadians ever again haha

You do NOT need bigger women to hand heavy weapons. Lots of female soldiers use the 249 Machine gun. Remember most heavy weapons have a mount or bi-tri pod to use.

Thanks for the responses Vic.

Still hoping for a rounded shoulder pad but I can be patient. Female guard takes priority!

Have you thought about a kickstarter of your own? Maybe open a tiny office in the US and see what you can do? I know they are a pain but you offer a good product.

Just to weigh in on the kilts/trousers discussion. There was a WW1/WW2 highland regiment that wore trews (tartan trousers) rather than a kilt. My Great Grandad was in that regiment (or at least associated with it as an English Military Policeman).

I think trews would be a great way of separating the girls from the boys!

Cheers
Laney

 purplefood wrote:

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 purplefood wrote:
Don't be absurd. Women don't wear kilts...
Skirts are for men!

You can't wear tartan trousers!
That's just Not Done.

I don't mean to be pedantic, but the 91st Highlanders wore tartan 'trews' (trousers) on campaign during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. I'm sure other regiments wore them too, at various times, but that's the one that comes to mind.

Carry on

Javin wrote:
You do NOT need bigger women to hand heavy weapons. Lots of female soldiers use the 249 Machine gun. Remember most heavy weapons have a mount or bi-tri pod to use.

I was thinking this, too. As cool as the big-lass-wielding-giant-gun models out there are, I actually think a normal sized woman manning a heavy weapon by normal means (bipod or tripod) could be even better... and more unique than the former category, which has been done a number of times.

You seem to have a "unique" take by doing "normal" women (as funny as that reality is ) so continuing it by making the heavy weapon troopers more realistic would be great.

That said, they could be a little bit bigger, as I would think most troopers who handle heavy equipment would be... just not exaggerated / a caricature.

Fantastic work so far!

I find it kind of unfortunate that Vic's models are some of the only reasonable-looking models of women out there, but man are they wonderful. Keep doing what you're doing; if you ever get around to doing Red Army-style troops (male, female, or both!), you'll be getting a lot of business from me!

 Brother SRM wrote:
I find it kind of unfortunate that Vic's models are some of the only reasonable-looking models of women out there, but man are they wonderful. Keep doing what you're doing; if you ever get around to doing Red Army-style troops (male, female, or both!), you'll be getting a lot of business from me!

Please note my user name, and then realize I will be in the same boat as Brother SRM. And that boat will be crossing the Volga into Stalingrad.

 vic wrote:

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

never say never, but I want to get the grunts happening first

*emits squeal only dogs can hear*

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

 Brother SRM wrote:
I find it kind of unfortunate that Vic's models are some of the only reasonable-looking models of women out there, but man are they wonderful. Keep doing what you're doing; if you ever get around to doing Red Army-style troops (male, female, or both!), you'll be getting a lot of business from me!

Please note my user name, and then realize I will be in the same boat as Brother SRM. And that boat will be crossing the Volga into Stalingrad.

I've still got the FB picture of the Valhallan looking heads Vic had on her Wip bench. I really wish they'd be released, they looked great.

Loving the look of all the recent sculpts. Great releases.

Please keep up the great work,
Kind regards,
Howie.

 vic wrote:
Hi, continuing my quest to create female versions of my Galaxy's Finest Guard range, here is the latest photo update:
I very much appreciate the feedback I received on the initial WIP image. I have taken on much of the comments and am now showing a more complete version of these sculpts, they are still a little rough around the edges but I hope you can get the general idea and proportions. I'll get some more close up shots loaded asap.
All comments welcome.
Many thanks, V

ps. if you never hear from me again, it is because the GW hit squad took me out for including a Cadian in the pic

Are thows still the male legs on thows female minis?

Because they look fine to me.

I realy want some of these mini's even thow I'm not sure what I would use them for yet.

 howie wrote:

I've still got the FB picture of the Valhallan looking heads Vic had on her Wip bench. I really wish they'd be released, they looked great.
.

Would you mind PMing me those, or posting them here?

Lockark- they're different legs (and arms, too) by popular demand... and they look a lot better for it!

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

 vic wrote:

 TheDraconicLord wrote:
Out of curiosity, would you eventually attempt a shot on some female soldiers wearing a power armor? Said power armor that for some reason could have some fleur-de-lis? *ifyaknowwhatImean*

never say never, but I want to get the grunts happening first

*emits squeal only dogs can hear*

My dogs say quit it!

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

 howie wrote:

I've still got the FB picture of the Valhallan looking heads Vic had on her Wip bench. I really wish they'd be released, they looked great.
.

Would you mind PMing me those, or posting them here?

It's the one in almost all green on the right:

I've been chomping at the bit since I saw that picture in September!

All in due time, just like the femguard, all in due time.

these are beautiful looking models. I cant wait vic!!

 BrookM wrote:
All in due time, all in due time.

Is what my wife will say about my death when these lasses hit, and she sees how much I'm planning to spend!
Man, I'm almost giddy, albeit not squealing yet!

I don't have any suggestions for changes, but just wanted to say that I think these look great (including the female models: I agree with the comments that the current style of the WIPs is the way to go). When I get round to making an IG army, I'll probably use Vic Minis as stand-ins for the infantry!

Brother SRM has the picture, but it's all 3 on the right. Not just the one. I want them so badly, so many headless shotgun totting, greatcoat wearing minis are waiting for these heqds to be conscripted into my force.


Regards,
Howie.

Yeah, those Soviet heads are great...

The latest versions of the female troopers look wonderful.

As a Cadian player, I am particularly interested in the "woman in flak armor" style, but I may get a squad of the Tannenberg's for either skirmish style gaming or to serve as planetary defense forces.

I very much appreciate the work you are doing, and I look forward to each update.

 RiTides wrote:
Lockark- they're different legs (and arms, too) by popular demand... and they look a lot better for it!

Ah! Now I see it.

Deffently gives them a much tighter look.

Looking really good. I only managed to order a few things last time as money is tight at the moment, but hopefully when I'm back working full time I will be able to order a whole load of minis to complete my loyalist forces.

Love the Guardswomen with the flak armour. She will fit in magically with the old metal Cadian range. I think I may have to beef up that old platoon with a squad or 2

They did a good job on the flak armor, it looks very feminine despite the fact flak armor conceals all curves. The Mordian style dress uniform is also a good choice because it shows curves.

The #1 problem with most 28mm heroic scale female figures is that heroic scale increases the relative size of the hands and feet. It isn't really that noticeable when standard gw male guardsmen are wearing a size 38 boot and have giant meaty hands, but that really throws people off when a female guardsman has those features. What really works in that batch of minis is the female guardsmen are part way betweem true scale and heroic.

Agree with above 100%. Heroic scale looks off, but almost tolerable, on male sculpts - as it is grossly disproportionate, but mostly exaggerates features identified with masculinity (large hands, feet, broad shoulders, etc.). On female sculpts it presents much more significant issues.
Despite all that, Vic has somehow managed to make both men and women look damned good in heroic scale and is slowly convincing me that the concept is a legitimate artistic choice rather than just an unfortunate relic.

EDIT: grammar

I had never seen those pictures with the Valhallan looking fellow.

I admit, Death Korps have kind of absorbed my time and income as of late (I may begrudgingly admit Resin isn't the worst thing of all time), but I still want to replace GW's mediocre Cadians in my standard Guard at some point, and some not-Valhallans, well they'd do nicely pouring out of Chimeras. With some female sculpts to boot, they'd probably give me a monopoly on stylish Guard.

No rush on that front however, Cthulhu knows how long it'll be for me to finish my Korps.

In the meantime, I've been using the Tannenburgs I got from Vic a while ago as a killteam squad, they get a lot of attention, people are quite shocked by the sheer level of detail in metal models like that; they have glasses by god!

How are we looking on some female convict troops?

Let's get the first ones out first, eh?
I imagine it should be relatively simple once the initial flak figures are done. Just a new torso since I imagine the legs, arms and heads can be recycled overall (or with minimal changes).

From the newsletter that I got today, emphasis mine:

Hi, Its been along time coming but I have started work the much asked for female troops for the Galaxy's Finest range.
I have been requested many times to sculpt some female versions of my modular regiments that are non-sexualised, but still recognizable as females. The aim is for them to uniformed and equipped the same as their male comrades, making it possible to field completely mixed squads.
The two miniatures shown are still work in progress test sculpts. I always appreciate the great feedback from the Vic Minis community. So please feel free to contact me with comments or join the discussions on DakkaDakka or on Facebook. I will keep you updated with future developments.
This is a big project as it involves re-sculpting every part. I hope to have the first full resin squad available before the end of the year.
Below you can see these photographed alongside males dressed in similar uniforms that could be part of the same unit
Thanks for reading, Vic.

Like I said, can't wait for the end of the year to wheel round, Raging Heroes screwed up, but Vic won't!

 BrookM wrote:
Like I said, can't wait for the end of the year to wheel round, Raging Heroes screwed up, but Vic won't!

The second most successful miniature kickstarter and 2600 backers may disagree with you, but let's stay on topic.

Christmas present sorted then

 Kroothawk wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Like I said, can't wait for the end of the year to wheel round, Raging Heroes screwed up, but Vic won't!

The second most successful miniature kickstarter and 2600 backers may disagree with you, but let's stay on topic.

Yeah, it's a stylistic difference. Insulting one or the other makes no sense. It's like the venom I read about heroic scale proportion figures in other threads that also has no purpose. Other than people taking the time to hate on GW and anyone who uses similar proportions. (which would include Vic).

 Azazelx wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
Like I said, can't wait for the end of the year to wheel round, Raging Heroes screwed up, but Vic won't!

The second most successful miniature kickstarter and 2600 backers may disagree with you, but let's stay on topic.

Yeah, it's a stylistic difference. Insulting one or the other makes no sense. It's like the venom I read about heroic scale proportion figures in other threads that also has no purpose. Other than people taking the time to hate on GW and anyone who uses similar proportions. (which would include Vic).

And more importantly, at least we know Vic's will "fit" with 40K.

Jury's still out on RH's stuff.

 Alpharius wrote:

And more importantly, at least we know Vic's will "fit" with 40K.

Jury's still out on RH's stuff.

For serious. While there are tons of little company making "not 40k" stuff that looks good, nobody's fits with the 40k aesthetic quite like Vic's work does.

 Brother SRM wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:

And more importantly, at least we know Vic's will "fit" with 40K.

Jury's still out on RH's stuff.

For serious. While there are tons of little company making "not 40k" stuff that looks good, nobody's fits with the 40k aesthetic quite like Vic's work does.

These two comments really, they'll go nicely with the veterans and Rough Riders I already built from her excellent bits.

 BrookM wrote:

 Brother SRM wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:

And more importantly, at least we know Vic's will "fit" with 40K.

Jury's still out on RH's stuff.

For serious. While there are tons of little company making "not 40k" stuff that looks good, nobody's fits with the 40k aesthetic quite like Vic's work does.

These two comments really, they'll go nicely with the veterans and Rough Riders I already built from her excellent bits.

The phrase "like a glove" comes to mind. I remember getting the FW Cadians w/ shotguns upgrade and seeing how small the torsos looked compared to the GW Cadian plastics. Her product was definitely made with lots of care and forethought!

I'm interested in seeing how that turns out.

 Alpharius wrote:

And more importantly, at least we know Vic's will "fit" with 40K.
Jury's still out on RH's stuff.

I imagine the RH stuff will be just fine as a self-contained force for 40k or Necro etc. If the figures are being mixed in with GW figures they may well stand out a bit, but let's be honest - they'll do so no more than McVey's SW, or Mantic's Corp, or Forge World's Elysians...

The main difference is that Vic's figures will fit more or less seamlessly in with the GW IG.

 Azazelx wrote:

The main difference is that Vic's figures will fit perfectly in with the GW IG.

Corrected for you....

Also, hopefully the VM stuff will be less cheesecake-y.

 alarmingrick wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:

The main difference is that Vic's figures will fit perfectly in with the GW IG.

Corrected for you....

Nah, it won't be perfect. GW's IG sculpts (not counting FW) are mostly crap in comparison to Vic's.

Melissia wrote:Also, hopefully the VM stuff will be less cheesecake-y.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Tannhauser42 wrote:

 alarmingrick wrote:

 Azazelx wrote:

The main difference is that Vic's figures will fit perfectly in with the GW IG.

Corrected for you....

Nah, it won't be perfect. GW's IG sculpts (not counting FW) are mostly crap in comparison to Vic's.

Touche'!

I certainly hope so. VC has a better history in that regard at least.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Nah, it won't be perfect. GW's IG sculpts (not counting FW) are mostly crap in comparison to Vic's.

Hey guys, no more bashing any of the little companies... let's go back to our favorite punching bag, GW

In all seriousness, though, I think part of the demand for IG counts-as is that GW's sculpts are so dated for them (or expensive, a la Death Korgs of Kreig from FW). Add to that the utter lack of realistically proportioned female miniatures in wargaming, and you have a huge niche that Victoria Miniatures can fill here

And agreed with the no need to knock the way anybody else does things to praise vic. Her works stands on it's own merits!

 Melissia wrote:
Also, hopefully the VM stuff will be less cheesecake-y.

I can't see vic's stuff being cheescakey. Vic has mentioned that she doesn't want that style.

If we do end up seeing cheesecake models, I have a feeling that she's either pulling an elaborate prank or has suffered a severe bump to the noggin.

 vic wrote:
Hi all thanks for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions. I will answer as many as I can soon, but I just have to comment on this one first. I honestly thought this was not serious, just some sort of joke. Assuming its serious I should clarify some points.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Thanks for your advice, but please remember these are heroic scale soldiers made for the battlefield. They are not barbie dolls, strippers, super models, play boy bunnies or RH miniatures. Therefore, why should their faces be more beautiful, bodies more slender, poses more feminine, their torsos narrowed and boobs bigger?
They already have smaller hands than my male sculpts.(in further refinements they may get smaller).
Future sculpts could well have more attitude, these are two samples of what will become a fully interchangeable modular range. I have started with fairly neutral miniatures to keep it simple at this stage.
There are dozens of companies making females to your specifications, I have no desire to mimic them.
If I need any references of how females carry themselves all I have to do is look in a mirror.

Here ya go Mel, incase you might have missed it! From the Boss directly.
I think she'll make magic, again.

Gotta love that mirror line at the end. That's a zinger.

 alarmingrick wrote:

 vic wrote:
Hi all thanks for all the great feedback, questions and suggestions. I will answer as many as I can soon, but I just have to comment on this one first. I honestly thought this was not serious, just some sort of joke. Assuming its serious I should clarify some points.

 Daniel_Holmes wrote:
I suggest drawing inspiration from the masterfully sculpted miniatures done by Raging Heroes:

http://www.ragingheroes.com/

Also, as per your current sculpts for females, I would suggest working more on the faces to make them beautiful. See RH's females. Also, I would make the bodies more slender, lithe and curvy. Their body language is not feminine either, take a look at how females carry themselves (ex. movies) and how this carries over to still images of them (ex. Magazines of models, RH's miniatures).

The hands on your current female models are too large, females have noticeably smaller hands than men. The busts could be enlarged slightly and the torso could be narrowed slightly. You may also want some 'attitude' to their poses (again, see RH miniature and their kickstarter for reference).

Thanks for your advice, but please remember these are heroic scale soldiers made for the battlefield. They are not barbie dolls, strippers, super models, play boy bunnies or RH miniatures. Therefore, why should their faces be more beautiful, bodies more slender, poses more feminine, their torsos narrowed and boobs bigger?
They already have smaller hands than my male sculpts.(in further refinements they may get smaller).
Future sculpts could well have more attitude, these are two samples of what will become a fully interchangeable modular range. I have started with fairly neutral miniatures to keep it simple at this stage.
There are dozens of companies making females to your specifications, I have no desire to mimic them.
If I need any references of how females carry themselves all I have to do is look in a mirror.

Here ya go Mel, incase you might have missed it! From the Boss directly.
I think she'll make magic, again.

Awesome, thanks.

Glad to see that there is at least one sculptor that takes the subject matter seriously.

Also, that was a horrible and obnoxious example of mansplaining by David, and he should be ashamed of himself for doing it.

I have a question.

Is it possible to special order a batch of a specific part? Let's say there's a certain head, or a few figures that I like but don't want to buy 30 sets to get an adequate amount of them, can that be accommodated?

I'd like to know as well! I might end up wanting to buy some bitz if there are some available.

 Melissia wrote:

Glad to see that there is at least one sculptor that takes the subject matter seriously.
Also, that was a horrible and obnoxious example of mansplaining by David, and he should be ashamed of himself for doing it.

I'm not entirely sure that wasn't a troll post, so best leave it be, I think and just be happy that Vic is finally putting these together for us.

Vic has heads, arms, etc from her existing figures available as separate bits on her site, so I imagine that once these are in production something will be able to be done.

Hi, well thanks for all the great feedback and suggestions, and I always appreciate some lively conversation.
To answer some questions;
The bits will all be available separately, as is the case with the current range.
There won't be any cheesecake.
Once I can get one squad finished the others will be quicker.
The current change over from metal to resin, is holding up new stuff at the moment, as my priority is getting all the current bits reworked for optimum resin casting. If you notice some items disappear from the shop, this is the reason. They will all be back in due course.
I am aiming to have the complete resin overhaul and at least one female squad available by the end of the year. If I'm really lucky the Svargans (winter troops) will be out too.
On a personal note, I am going away on holiday to Kangaroo Island until the 17th. Just me, Charlie my dog, 50 acres of bush and the wild winter Southern Ocean. Miniature orders will continue to ship out as usual, but my internet connection will be very limited (possibly non-existent), emails, facebook and forum messages might be slow to answer. I'll be taking plenty of sculpting work with me too
Thanks again for the fantastic support from all the Dakkanaughts, can't wait to get some new stuff out for you awesome guys and gals.
Cheers, V

Looking forward to seeing any new stuff as it arrives, and putting aside a pile of cash ready for the female guard as they appear.

Enjoy your time off Vic.

Enjoy the break. I hope the weather is decent!

 vic wrote:

I am aiming to have the complete resin overhaul and at least one female squad available by the end of the year. If I'm really lucky the Svargans (winter troops) will be out too.

Oh be still my foolish heart. Here's hoping they're out by the end of the year so I can get myself a hell of a Christmas present!

 vic wrote:
On a personal note, I am going away on holiday to Kangaroo Island until the 17th. Just me, Charlie my dog, 50 acres of bush and the wild winter Southern Ocean.

Sounds rough!! Enjoy the peace and quiet, it's well earned.

I demand a model of a cheesecake, just so we can say Vic even does cheesecake better.

Maybe a guardswoman holding it over her head triumphantly.

I'm kind of unsure whether to place an order this August or wait a while. I really want some of those legs she showed earlier but if I wait too long I may blow all my money on guardswomen

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Maybe a guardswoman holding it over her head triumphantly.

Took me a second... but hilarious

If Raging Heroes can have mascots or the armies, Vic can have cheesecake for hers. It's only fair.

I'll let the other companies supply the cheesecake in my army.

Though I'd love to see Vic put out a mascot somewhere down the line!

A Koala would be a suitable mascot I feel ;-)

Given the recent vacation announcement, perhaps a kangaroo in bermuda shorts (or other suitable Oz camping attire)?

Or a big fluffly dog.

 BrookM wrote:
Or a big fluffly dog.

Pretty cool.

I think a rottweiler or a doberman would look quite smashing as bodyguard proxies for a command squad.

Well if she does do mascots, I'd say it's better to have a different one for each of the different regiments she's made.

 BrookM wrote:
I'll let the other companies supply the cheesecake in my army.

Though I'd love to see Vic put out a mascot somewhere down the line!

Way, way down the line, near the end, perhaps...

 Azazelx wrote:
I'm not entirely sure that wasn't a troll post

Regardless of if it was, it's still worth publicly calling him out on it.

All this talk of cheesecake is starting to affect me. Now I really do want to see some cheesecake-themed minis. 4 of them, to be exact.

I'd pay good money for this kind of cheesecake.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, I would like to see an older woman as Grand Solar Warmaster Patrillo, or whatever. It kind of rubs me the wrong way when a company releases a huge all-women army and then makes the grand leader a patriarch.

You mean like Sisters in Soulstorm?

 Melissia wrote:

 BrookM wrote:
I'll let the other companies supply the cheesecake in my army.

Though I'd love to see Vic put out a mascot somewhere down the line!

Way, way down the line, near the end, perhaps...

Whatever keeps Vic interested in sculpting and happy is what I say. if she feels like taking a couple of weeks off troopers and sculpting a couple of animals or something, more power to her. Anyone who's painted an army will know how important it is to take a break now and then to come back recharged.

 Azazelx wrote:
I'm not entirely sure that wasn't a troll post

Regardless of if it was, it's still worth publicly calling him out on it.

I guess the thing is that it had already been dealt with. My reply was even deleted by the mods.

Mascot? Dropbear. Definitely a dropbear.

My vote is for a bear holding a shark with a chainsaw in its mouth.

On fire.

That's like a license to print money. I'd field an entire army of them.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
My vote is for a bear holding a shark with a chainsaw in its mouth.

On fire.

That's like a license to print money. I'd field an entire army of them.

Not grimdark enough though.

 BrookM wrote:

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
My vote is for a bear holding a shark with a chainsaw in its mouth.

On fire.

That's like a license to print money. I'd field an entire army of them.

Not grimdark enough though.

With a belt of skulls...

 Valhallan42nd wrote:

 BrookM wrote:

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
My vote is for a bear holding a shark with a chainsaw in its mouth.

On fire.

That's like a license to print money. I'd field an entire army of them.

Not grimdark enough though.

With a belt of skulls...

Boom!

Instant grimdark

Have them driving an ice cream truck made of human skulls.

Bam

An ice cream truck like what thingy drives from Twisted Metal?

Needs more guns.

Ask an Ork to add some guns to it.

That'll do the trick.

 Snrub wrote:
An ice cream truck like what thingy drives from Twisted Metal?

I was quoting a song, but that works too.

While I'm sure the amusing mascot suggestions are incredibly helpful feedback for Vic, let's not derail her thread any further, hmm?

To be honest, I'd really not care for a mascot model anyway. Not too interested in models I can't include in my army.

 Melissia wrote:
To be honest, I'd really not care for a mascot model anyway. Not too interested in models I can't include in my army.

This is entirely dependent on the mascot in question, but mascots can be used in an Imperial Guard army as bodyguards. I have two lions that I use as bodyguards for my Praetorian army and people love them. The lions have green stuff'd bionic eyes which I call laser pistols and claws and teeth which I call close combat weapons, and that is really all the hand waving most people need to justify the lions' presence on the table.

Again, the type of mascot is key. A fluffy bunny or a poodle in a ballerina skirt wouldn't necessarily convey the same aggressiveness as lions or bulldogs, but I imagine if Vic did decide to release animal companions for her model range the animal choices would be both suitable for each army type and full of character as is her MO.

There I was just going to use the fems as mascots since they obviously can't fight! /kid

Mantic has a really good looking fem trooper in their Deadzone rebels, proportioned similarly to Vics from what I could see. Only the one though... if Vics fit with her in Deadzone too, I'll be pretty damn happy at being able to expand my rebel force that way.


Bare midriff though I guess... but doesn't seem overtly sexualised to me.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
To be honest, I'd really not care for a mascot model anyway. Not too interested in models I can't include in my army.

This is entirely dependent on the mascot in question, but mascots can be used in an Imperial Guard army as bodyguards. I have two lions that I use as bodyguards for my Praetorian army and people love them. The lions have green stuff'd bionic eyes which I call laser pistols and claws and teeth which I call close combat weapons, and that is really all the hand waving most people need to justify the lions' presence on the table.

Again, the type of mascot is key. A fluffy bunny or a poodle in a ballerina skirt wouldn't necessarily convey the same aggressiveness as lions or bulldogs, but I imagine if Vic did decide to release animal companions for her model range the animal choices would be both suitable for each army type and full of character as is her MO.

Quick search for army mascots has some strange results, somehow inspiring fear as a defence mechanism does not spring immediately to mind.

Maybe a beastman on a chain could work although that could just look weird.

Woah, let's not get back on that subject so soon after a mod had asked us not to.

Aaaaanyway, looking forward to seeing what Victoria Miniatures has to sell this fall.

I don't think Vic has any need to copy Raging Heroes. Never mind animals, based on the WIP pics in this thread she already has products coming up that are both the sort of thing many people have been wanting for years that are also near-unique in their lack of embarrassing fanservice. If there are going to be special models I'd much rather see female characters such as officers for the different ranges.

As someone who is planning to start moving from exclusively mech to platoon based IG lists, I think any purchase I make to pad my collection of Guard infantry out will just exclusively be the flak vest female soldiers shown in this thread. I've already got 100+ Guardsmen and I much prefer the depiction of the IG that ignores gender providing you can hold a lasrifle the right way round. Soon I'll actually be able to model such an army.

I look forward to seeing all the combinations people will come up with.

Nice female heads alone would be a boon for many modelers. I can see people buying them to make guardsmen, sisters of battle, sisters fraternis (whatever the sisters in training were called) civilians, and more, in just GW terms.

In other ranges, the possibilities could be limitless.

 lone dirty dog wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
To be honest, I'd really not care for a mascot model anyway. Not too interested in models I can't include in my army.

This is entirely dependent on the mascot in question, but mascots can be used in an Imperial Guard army as bodyguards. I have two lions that I use as bodyguards for my Praetorian army and people love them. The lions have green stuff'd bionic eyes which I call laser pistols and claws and teeth which I call close combat weapons, and that is really all the hand waving most people need to justify the lions' presence on the table.

Again, the type of mascot is key. A fluffy bunny or a poodle in a ballerina skirt wouldn't necessarily convey the same aggressiveness as lions or bulldogs, but I imagine if Vic did decide to release animal companions for her model range the animal choices would be both suitable for each army type and full of character as is her MO.

Quick search for army mascots has some strange results, somehow inspiring fear as a defence mechanism does not spring immediately to mind.

Maybe a beastman on a chain could work although that could just look weird.

Wojtek the Bear!
Sure, you might need to make a somewhat Polish-themed unit (in the fluff) but there's nothing wrong with that!

I love Wojtek.

I'd love to add some female Guard to my army, though I'm holding out for those winter Guard at this point. Valhallans are awesome, even with ancient sculpts, and vic valhallans, with females (I hope) would be even better.

With the death of the collectors range, I'd imagine vic might be seeing a bit more attention from all those who want alternate Guard; nowadays there really isn't anything reminiscent of those ranges at the same quality level. Pig Iron has some nice models sort-of similar, and that's it. GW's foolishness is to her gain.

 Valhallan42nd wrote:
I love Wojtek.

Yes but would Wojtek love you

Yes, yes he would, he was a gentle giant that was raised on a diet of beer, honey and fags and after the war when he was put in a zoo he'd still gladly wrestle his old regiment members.

Now maybe back on topic before red text appears?

Folks, please note that Vic never even mentioned mascots. That's just wishlisting. As I said above: Vic doesn't need to copy RH. Her own work stands by itself. If it's a choice between female troopers and the regimental chimpanzee, please show me the first option.

Anyway, keeping things on topic, I wonder if this will lead other manufacturers to realise that there is a market for sensibly dressed female minis? I mean, as was said above, the Deadzone pic looks OK until I get to the bare midriff. Even in situations like that where the model isn't posed in a suggestive manner I still think a model like that in army of fully-covered men would be hard to take seriously. Who wears a crop top to a warzone?

If there are going to be separate head sprues for these models I'd definitely pick some up as well as full minis. To use an Imperial Guard example, it's amusing when someone will make a thread about how to convert female minis for said army someone writes a reply along the lines of "women and men look exactly the same in battledress, just pretend some of your Cadians are women" or whatever. For tabletop purposes on a basic troop model a head swap would IMO be all the conversion you'd need to tell the difference, particularly if you combine it with one of the kits that lean less towards massive heads and hands (like the command squads).

 Fezman wrote:
If it's a choice between female troopers and the regimental chimpanzee, please show me the first option.

Incorrect sir. Chimpanzees trump all others. Decent female models or otherwise.

 Fezman wrote:
Folks, please note that Vic never even mentioned mascots. That's just wishlisting. As I said above: Vic doesn't need to copy RH.

Definitely not!

Also, because you guys made me look, I guess sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_%28soldier_bear%29