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Hi all

I am looking at putting together a small 750 point 40k army but just can not bring myself to pay GW money for models.

So my question, what other miniatures are out there?

So far I have looked at -

Sciber
Ramshackle games
Mantic

Converting is usually a good place to start - you just have to bear in mind that weapons must be WYSIWYG, so you might need to find GW weapons.

Anvil Industries do good Space Knight kits if you want to play Marines. Chapterhouse have also just launched some true-scale models. You've already seen Ramshackle, but have a look at their 'Iron Grumbler', which is a good substitute Rhino with a bit of work...

If you want to play Guard then things are much easier. Pretty much any 28mm humans can be bought (much cheaper) and then converted with GW weapons bought from bits sites. If you want sci-fi guys then have a look on eBay for Void or Warzone plastics, or try Wargames Factory for their greatcoat troopers. For historical, Victrix and Perry do good ranges of 28mm models - you get about 40 in a box for £20, but they'll need more converting. For lasguns, I'd recommend getting the ones from chimera hulls and converting whatever weapons your models already have.

Here's a full Guard army I made from Void 1.1 junkers - http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Ian%27s_Drade_117th_Suicide_Legion_%28IG%29

Buying used miniatures on ebay is a common alternative.
Otherwise it depends on the race you are interested in. There are plenty of Imperial Guard alternatives but none to Sororitas or Eldar.

leontheconfused wrote:Hi all

I am looking at putting together a small 750 point 40k army but just can not bring myself to pay GW money for models.

So my question, what other miniatures are out there?

So far I have looked at -

Sciber
Ramshackle games
Mantic

Yeah what army do you want to make? Also check out Ebay because you can get GW miniatures a lot cheaper there so you might not have to get anything from another company unless you just want to.

Defiance Games makes some nice guard stand ins. They also will soon have nid proxies.

I think that they just posted rules for their own game. I will have to check it out.

Dude, if you want cheap and also uniform troops. I can also recommend from manufacturers like Defiance Games
http://defiancegames.com/ Box allows you to make 24troops as they have on the sprues, for the cost of 10cadian/Catachans.
If you have spare IG torsos, you can use them with the spare legs/arms/heads off the sprues. I am searching my bitz box for torsos as I want to do just that, spare troops as it were.

leontheconfused wrote:Hi all

I am looking at putting together a small 750 point 40k army but just can not bring myself to pay GW money for models.

So my question, what other miniatures are out there?

We definitely need to know what army you are thinking of. Please clarify.

Wow those german troops look way better than GW Cadians.

Hi folks.
Mantic do a nice range of minatures for Warpath.
They do army sets for £100 that have over 100 minatures !(Character models in metal, troops in plastic and specialists in plastic resin.Thier plastic resin is like finecast but has NO quality problems AFAIK.)

Eg Corperation mega army set.
Metal Officer.
50 Troopers with special weapons etc.

6 x 2 man heavy weapon teams.

20 veteran, with specialised weapons.
(Including 2x2 man heavy weapon teams.)

20 rangers with jump pack/grav chutes .

103 minatures for £100!

They also do Orks(Marauders) Squats(forgefathers) and Ratmen(Veermin.)

Probably going to do some Space Elf type minatures soon.

Sorry really should have said what army I am aiming for!

I like the idea of Grey knight, but led by Cortez so I can if I want field all henchmen.

That or IG, but I just sold an IG army and dont really want to do it again.

Open to other ideas!

There's also the old warzone range sold by Prince August, they are really only suitable for Imperial Guard and odd armies like all henchman GK although some parts of the range could be used for SM Scouts etc.

The 80 plastic miniature bag sold by them featuring 40 Bauhaus troops and 40 Imperial troops is particularly good value. link

I've just bought 3 of those bags for a new IG army, only using half got no idea what I'll do with the other half.

Buy some guys from other people over in the swap shop section.

leontheconfused wrote:Sorry really should have said what army I am aiming for!

I like the idea of Grey knight, but led by Cortez so I can if I want field all henchmen.

That or IG, but I just sold an IG army and dont really want to do it again.

Open to other ideas!

You are not serious, are you???

"Hi,
I desperately want an IG army, but it is too expensive. And I just sold mine." WTF!

And nothing is cheaper than a low body count Grey Knight army.

this !!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/sedition-wars-battle-for-alabaster

Kroothawk wrote:

leontheconfused wrote:Sorry really should have said what army I am aiming for!

I like the idea of Grey knight, but led by Cortez so I can if I want field all henchmen.

That or IG, but I just sold an IG army and dont really want to do it again.

Open to other ideas!

You are not serious, are you???

"Hi,
I desperately want an IG army, but it is too expensive. And I just sold mine." WTF!

And nothing is cheaper than a low body count Grey Knight army.

I sold my IG army about 3 months ago due to some of the rumours floating around about 6th.

Kind of wish I hadnt now!

You sold your army based on rumors? Wow, way to rage-quit.

Have a look in the dakka trades. You can make some great deals in there and there are some places that sell bits so you can convert and make something really awesome.

Or pick up AOBR, and flog the army that you don't want!

Lanrak wrote:Thier plastic resin is like finecast but has NO quality problems AFAIK.)

All resin have quality problems.

Sorry just save up and buy 40k. Go on ebay get some second hand, go to the FLGS and get a discount.

Don't complain about the prices though use your brain save and work stuff out.

If you want to do so for looks, there are alternatives, you just have to search hard for them.

However, they're not always going to be cheaper. I have converted starship troopers cougar models as my BA marines (using chapterhouse jump packs, and GW weapons) and Dreamforge mini-Leviathans as giant Knights counts-as dreadnoughts.

I think the only cheaper-than-GW models I'm using are the Ramshackle games "Boring Machines" as counts-as drop pods.

Rule of cool is always going to apply- do your research, make sure base sizes, weapons, etc are all WYSIWYG, and give your opponent the benefit of the doubt with any LOS issues, and you should be fine.

But the very obvious stand-in for 40k at the moment, or at least up and coming, is going to Mantic- if you're valuing price above all, at least.

leontheconfused wrote:I sold my IG army about 3 months ago due to some of the rumours floating around about 6th.

If you throw money away like this on a whim, you will never have enough money for playing 40k.

Hi Again.
@ Marzillius.
I ment to say ...
Mantic use a plastic resin from Rendra, it has none of the quality issues that are linked to GW plc 'Fine Cast'.
(As Mantic doubled the quantity of minatures in the box when they switched to resin-plastic from white metal.And they dont melt in the sun.I am very happy with Mantic!)

I understand asthetics are subjective and people may not like the look of certain minatures.

But the quality of the sculpts and casting of Mantics Corperation are as good as if not better than GW plc Cadian and Catachan minatures.(At a fraction of the price!)

EM4 also do a range of human space troopers (IG alternatives,)by Mark Copplestone.(Lots of poses in white metal.)

Defiance games also have their own alt-IG figures out now.
UAMC marines (who knew USMC was a trademark? Well, it is).

Plastic, 24 troopers to a box. Approx $30USD They aren't bad and work well with GW for scale. Riflemen/light mg at the moment, but hardsuits and Germans, Bugs and female troops are coming along.

Honestly, eBay will save you tons. I have about 3,000 points of guard and I don't think I've spent more than three or four hundred dollars. Not bad considering that most of the army is low-cost infantry.

I prefer unpainted personally, as most people can't paint for gak. Even when they can paint, they tend to pick really ugly/childish color schemes that take away from the entire experience of playing against them. I realize many of them are studio color schemes that have something to do with fluff, but people claiming to be "painters" should have more critical artistic ability to know that some of the studio color schemes look hilariously terrible and make the minis they are applied to look like baby toys.

Which ones are you thinking of in particular that come out as being "hilariously terrible" to you?

Zarren Wevon wrote:I prefer unpainted personally, as most people can't paint for gak. Even when they can paint, they tend to pick really ugly/childish color schemes that take away from the entire experience of playing against them. I realize many of them are studio color schemes that have something to do with fluff, but people claiming to be "painters" should have more critical artistic ability to know that some of the studio color schemes look hilariously terrible and make the minis they are applied to look like baby toys.

And when did an 'alternate miniatures' thread turn into 'I hate painting'??

you can add wargames factory and defiance games to your list, but that's all just more guardsmen.

I reccomend you go second hand or find a discount dealer. You get GW models at non-GW prices....

The problem with going to a discount provider is that you're still giving GW your money. That provider paid GW, either directly or indirectly, for those models you're buying.

I believe the point of this thread is to find places that can provide models for the game we LIKE that's made by the company that we DON'T.
That's MY intent for using this thread, anyway.

Eric

MagickalMemories wrote:The problem with going to a discount provider is that you're still giving GW your money. That provider paid GW, either directly or indirectly, for those models you're buying.

I believe the point of this thread is to find places that can provide models for the game we LIKE that's made by the company that we DON'T.
That's MY intent for using this thread, anyway.

Eric

my reading of that statement was the problem with paying GW prices, not with forking over cash to GW. Rereading the original statement did not clarify that for me.

I understand the objection to not buying from GW, but at the same time, if you are going to buy models and convert them to be, say, not-eldar or not-spacemarines, the effort spent in conversion is also a cost that needs to be taken to consideration. If it's a hobby to you, then it doesn't matter because the conversion is half the fun, but if price is the chief concern, then the time that goes into it also needs to be evaluated and priced. It might be costing you more to do the conversions than buying the model as I found with some of my own conversions.