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Thanks for the rules summary Xeno! They sound like they'll make for some really fun skirmish rules.

Fenriswulf wrote:Wonder how well the Defiance heads will go on Mantic Corporation bodies. Have you tried a comparison scarletsquig?

Also wondering if the Wargames Factory Shock Troop heads are too big for these guys, or the Mantic Corporation dudes. Reason I am wondering is I need a lot of helmeted dudes with gasmasks/goggles etc, but no idea what fits what miniatures.

Pig Iron heads and West Wind heads should work well as both are a bit smaller than GW proportions.

West Wind has some pretty cool respirator heads in their Secrets of the Third Reich separate heads line,
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=126_149
One particularly good example...


There are alot of great unmaskedheads in their historical line also.
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=3_130

MrMoustaffa wrote:Ok, there's a good amount of pics.

Thanks for those, an excellent refference for customizers.

Here's my 2 figures that i have built and painted. One is a Marine with extra pouches, the other one is a kitbash IG w/ extra pouches. It would give you an idea how cool these minis are.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/24mech/photo.jpg
side by side

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/24mech/photo4.jpg
defiance marine

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/24mech/photo3.jpg
other side
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/24mech/photo2.jpg
kitbash IG

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/24mech/photo1.jpg
other side

hope you like my quick work. the rest will come in slowly as i am busy with work. hope this helps the other kitbashers

The look I am wanting to go for is more like this...



Could easily manage it with the Mantic Corporation guys, just need the proper helmet look to go along with it.

^ Check out the pig iron head sprues, they'll definitely have something to fit.

http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/head-sprues-c-4.html

This one looks like a really good match:

I think it's my only option. I can cut off the part on the side of the helmet, and smooth them down if I need to. Otherwise I don't think I will have the patience to sculpt what I need, nor the know how on how to cast them up for myself.

Edit: They have smooth helmet versions. Easily done then.

More heads

kenshin620 wrote:More heads

Yeah you get 2 of the female head tabs (12 total) 2 tabs of male heads (another 12, they havent shown those yet) and 3 tabs of the helmet heads (so 18 there). Overall 42 heads total, with a decent variety. Only problem is you will not have enough to do an entirely female squad with just the heads in the box, so remember that if you're wanting an all woman unit. Technically you could get around this with a few of the respirator helmets, but I imagine this will still be sad news for certain people.

Also, the preorder for bugs has started today. http://defiancegames.com/index.php/news/item/bugs-now-available-to-pre-order

The preorder bonus for these guys are 12 "hive" bases with cool stuff like corpses, bones, and bits of kit from their victims. Pretty cool looking. You also get 30 bugs per box (so they're a buck apiece essentially) I know they've posted the tentative release date for these guys, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Tony's mentioned that he's going to be much more cautious about mentioning release dates for figures after the whole marines bit, so hopefully he won't say a date until he's absolutely positively certain they're ready.

kenshin620 wrote:More heads

Actual lady who modeled for the Goiter Gals:

CptJake wrote:Actual lady who modeled for the Goiter Gals:

Not quite. The stub extending from the head is likely a cylinder with a rounded edge from the look (and common sense) and not what you're alluding too. It's simply longer than the GW style one (likely due to a bigger chest chavity for the head on the torso).

Are the panzergrenadiers going to be the same plastic as the marines or are they more like restic? The UAMC are some of my favorite sci-fi minis, but I think they'd lose a lot of their luster if they came out in a material besides plastic.

BobtheInquisitor wrote:Are the panzergrenadiers going to be the same plastic as the marines or are they more like restic? The UAMC are some of my favorite sci-fi minis, but I think they'd lose a lot of their luster if they came out in a material besides plastic.

IIRC, DFG said that they tested the first Bugs to make sure plastic glue worked on them. That would suggest that it's proper plastic even if it's not on proper sprues, but you'd be better off waiting for the first Bug customers to get theirs so we know for sure.

BobtheInquisitor wrote:Are the panzergrenadiers going to be the same plastic as the marines or are they more like restic? The UAMC are some of my favorite sci-fi minis, but I think they'd lose a lot of their luster if they came out in a material besides plastic.

What makes you think they would be in anything other than plastic?

They've come out and stated it will be a plastic resin blend that they've titled "Hard Plastic." Although I find the name Hard Plastic confusing, in that it sounds like it's plastic, but they wanted to avoid the stigma of other failed plastic resin blends, Finecast comes to mind. They've were talking about trying to get a blend that was plastic glue friendly, I haven't heard anything one way or another about how it went following testing. They're planning on using Hard Plastic on all sets from here on out.

Hmm, the actual UAMC with the caps look a lot better than I first thought with the helmets. I'd really like to see the Panzergrenadiers with their packs on though. They look good now but I think the packs really help add a sense of heavy to the concept art that I'd like to see on the model itself.

noneoftheabove0 wrote:They've come out and stated it will be a plastic resin blend that they've titled "Hard Plastic."

But hard plastic is usually a term associated with Wargaming plastic as opposed to "soft plastic"

example

It is confusing to say the least.

I am with you, kenshin620. As far as I'm concerned, hard plastic means injection moulded polystyrene (like Airfix kits or the box you show).

I hope it is made clear when they are sold because the plastic/resin mix will have different properties the styrene, even if you can get away with using poly cement to stick them together.

Dont know if this was mentioned, but according to TTfix, the bugs will be out by June 18th

And according to DFG's newsletter, Bugs are already being cast. Whether that means they'll be released ahead of that date or not, I can't say.

kenshin620 wrote:

noneoftheabove0 wrote:They've come out and stated it will be a plastic resin blend that they've titled "Hard Plastic."

But hard plastic is usually a term associated with Wargaming plastic as opposed to "soft plastic"

example

Spoiler:

That is correct. Hard plastic differentiates from soft plastic. This is especially pertinent for old-school gamers whose first exposure to plastic figures was the soft plastic 1/72 (20mm) figures from companies like ESCI, Revell Airfix (their other models are hard plastic, but the mini figs were soft) That plastic is more difficult to glue and paint doesn't adhere as well. These kind of figures are still quite popular among some historical wargamers because they are really cheapr. Often 50 figures for under 10 bucks. New sets are released each year and most of the sets (thougn not all) reviewed here are soft plastic http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx

Recently Krylon Fusion and other plastic specific spray paints have made painting soft figures easier and the results more durable (still can only be glued with superglue though), but wargames companies still go out of their way to make it clear when their figures are of hard plastic which is far easier to glue (can usually use plastic solvent glues), make modifications to, and paint.

I just got my marines, assembled a few, and showed up at the local store. Everyone at my FLGS is hoping they'll carry the line, because they are amazing. I personally will scrap my catachans and cadians in favour of these. I'd go so far as use panzergrenadiers as stormtroopers, fill up my army with female marines, and buy the hardsuits just because they look promising.

If anyone is interested, I've been posting my take on the Bugs' background, biology, and so on over on the Defiance Forums. Take a look, see what you think, and comment here or there. I've been itching for the Bugs for a long time, so much so that my one claim to fame is that I named the creepy little bastards (yep, you can blame "Hudson's Bugs" on me).

Take a look here: http://www.defiancegames.com/index.php/forum/hudsons-bugs-core-force/6459-the-unofficial-bug-fluff

http://www.defiancegames.com/index.php/news/item/just-bugging-you

First shot of a packed Bug box. Since they're using "restic" instead of polystyrene sprues the pieces come on "mini-sprues."

By the way, the word I've heard about the Bugs is that polystyrene glue will NOT work on them; you'll need super glue.

Man, why do I have to use way more super glue than I think I should these days

Maybe old fashion plastic is a dated technology?

I think it's more about costs .. usually 10's of thousands to get molds made for styrene plastic models. But, plastic is usually a better material for modeling and stuff and lots of us want plastic over metal, so it's cheaper to do the resin-plastic instead.. lower mold costs so small companies can afford it, and the gamer gets a model that's fun to put together since it's still plastic

I personally like metal better for regular figures.. but bigger kits or figures with tons of little parts need to be plasticy for me

I really, really want their future releases not to suck. Even if they need super glue, this would not turn me off of them, as long as the sculpts look great. The chance to finally have genders almost equally represented in a force would be awesome.

Also, wouldn't it be fun if a faction had their female box first? Instead of being male first for every core set? I know it's probably easier to sculpt guys first and then go off that frame to make the female version, but still...

Supposedly, the conventional wisdom is that female minis don't sell well, and even then they need to be cheesecake. I'm not so sure about that myself. I think some of it is that no one really produces full lines of non-cheesecake female minis so there's no real reason to buy them except just to paint. On the other hand, who wants to gamble tens of thousands of dollars on a line that won't sell if the conventional wisdom turns out to be true?

That's the nice thing about restic: the gamble is more along the lines of hundreds of dollars, rather than tens of thousands.


As a side note, I can't wait to get the Bugs I ordered. The first thing I'm going to do is hack them apart and see how the material cuts and carves compared the polystyrene.

Hey Xeno, were the marines cast in restic, or did those use plastic?

The Marines seem to be plastic. The material looks and feels like it. But I used superglue for all mine so I cant say for sure. Plus I'm pretty sure they say on the box they're plastic. I'll double check tomorrow though.

The Marines are in plastic. They decided to switch to restic after the massive delays they suffered with the marines. Hopefully after they are more established they can go back and redo some of the more basic sets to come in hard plastic proper.