2011 has been a tough old year for the 15mm sci fi community so far what with Jon at Ground Zero Games shutting up shop for a few months, Mark powering down Dropship Horizon and now Jon at Khurasan Miniatures suspending operations until the Autumn.
Part of this is down to the fact that most 15mm sci fi manufacturers are one person operations meaning that, if time off is required, operations must be temporarily suspended. It is perhaps also more noticeable now due to the increased popularity of 15mm sci fi.
Despite these bumps on the road, 15mm sci fi continues to grow. The Dropship Horizon Crew's hope is that the hiatus of two of the hobby's biggest players during this year will provide impetus for other manufacturers to invest in their 15mm sci fi ranges by adding new sculpts and, by doing so, attract new customers for the benefit of the hobby as a whole.
I hope very much that's the way it goes. We all benefit from movement into the hobby by new players, even the guys at the top, who get pushed to do ever better things.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why there isn't any action in this scale for sci-fi. Battlefront could do a game with the same really well done rulebooks, etc. in Sci-Fi (but make it a more balanced game than FoW is to cater to the organized play set) and clean up. They already have the distribution network they'd need, already have decades of experience producing 15 MM stuff. But companies like Spartan Games, Wargame Factory Plastics, etc. could easily do it as well. I think 15 MM is ripe for someone to really create a solid system with. The scale is so much more satisfying for vehicles, larger layouts, etc. A six faction game, in plastic or resin with starter boxes, basic terrain ... I think someone could really succeed with a system like that if they had the financial resources to really do it up professionally and get it picked up by some major distributors. Don't get me wrong I love the mom and pop operations, the one guy in his garage making minis kinda shops ... but what 15 MM sci-fi needs is at least one slightly bigger than mom and pop to come in and help it take off. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteIt could be that there is a perception that the 15mm scifi culture is too free formed to respond to this?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that the end goal of CMG is to enter that sort of market.
ReplyDeleteWell there are plenty of BIG names in 28mm and one of the things that is attracting me to 15mm scifi is the fact that there are NO tabus imposed by companies who ban miniatures from others manufacturers and try to sell you the full package... I rather prefer to create my package of rules and minis and do not see with good eyes that 15mm clones the 28mm business model.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty for me of 15mm is the freedom of choice everyone embraces and I would rather not see the sharks in the pound trying to destroy that just because they want to sell you their minis at all costs.
I believe that 15mm is the future of wargamming because of the evolution of the quality of casting and sculpts at 15mm that rivals with some 28mm out there and also because of the price its much more gamer friendly and not a huge investment.
As long as 15mm fans generate interest and keep up blogs like this I think the future is bright. :)
I agree with Navaro to some extent, but yes the hobby will continue to grow. I hope to continue to grow in the hobby as well. I don't know what's going on with others but we are trying to grow with new models/races/rules as well as other companies trying to fill the void. I think 15mm sic-fi will keep growing!
ReplyDeleteThere is room for both and that is what I think a lot of people don't see. Large, set piece game settings make it easy for people to get into the hobby. Once into the hobby they can expand to more freeform stuff, or stay playing the stuff they came in with. Ultimately, it keeps the hobby alive.
ReplyDeleteIt's also funny how sometimes you might find yourself wishing somebody made minis for there stuff in their rules. Looking over the table of contents for Tomorrow's War, I found myself thinking, "Wow, it would be neat to see what they had in mind for these."
-Eli
Sure a few more games companies getting involved in 15mm Sci-fi wargameing and haveing a larger selection of sci-fi miniatures would be most welcome indeed, but at the end of the day there is only so many miniatures that can be produced without them becomeing repetitive. So if more games companies are drawn into 15mm Sci-fi market i hope that they start to think out of the box and arnt affraid to try out and experiment with some new and original miniature concepts...
ReplyDeleteI think it like most products , once a larger company gets its foot in the water , they will then jump in with a arm full of goodies , weather they have a good product or not who knows. the best products will most likely always come from the smaller companies , they can put more work into it and provide the wants of the customer more so than the larger companies.I started out producing only spaceships ( because i loves them) , but then expanded into larger 1/60th scale mechs.Now that i have gotten into 15mm, i am making my own models , so i m sure there will be alot more companies coming along. so hopfully the year will end better. :)
ReplyDeleteI think its the over all best scale in the hobby and i am very proud too play 15mm sci fi games. I play the Shattered verse lite 2nd edition which is completely free and conatians something around 15mm races (in armylists) and theirs gonna be a novel released soon in the next few months which is realy going too be great :D!
ReplyDeleteno models yet for shattered verse but you can use others too repersent units, basicly their just working on gaining the large enough community and interest , which i think they will through the awsome novel that the wargame is based off of. defo a game system too keep an eye on and hell i think it will be a hudge hit both in the novel industry and in the wargame drawing more people into both :)!
One of the main reasons i switched over to sci-fi wargameing in 6mm and 15mm is because GW has nothing to do with these scales for the majority of the time which for personal reasons pleases me greatly. Ravnestar(chris)i have bought a few bits from you in the past and in my opionon its the smaller guys such as yourself that genuinely care about the industry and the items they produce and dont have any ridiculous politics on how they must be used. So as i said earlier it would be fantastic to see more companies jump on the 15mm band wagon and produceing some original good quality items, but the last thing i want to see are the big boys trying to muscle in and ruin things...
ReplyDeleteFreedom of choice seemt to be a keyword for many here and I agree. Having one big company dominate the scene, like with 28mm, wouldn't be good for anyone.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I also think it would be cool to see some larger manufacturers try their hand at the scale. We already know Spartan Games is developing their Firestorm: Invasion game and it seems like they're leaning towards 15mm. And it looks pretty good.
thanks for the link, the spartan models look good , though the walker looks like dust tactics or the older game AT -43. which is cool, but looks like the same designers for all three. saying that i really am looking forward to seeing what they come out with. looks like its been close to a year , so maybe they will release soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a line , but its a ways off. so hopefully we will have a good time at the end of the year.
Lots of good stuff on the way, though. New releases from Critical Mass, Blue Moon, etc., plus eventually, Gruntz, Blasters & Bulkheads, and more. It's a good sign that the community is doing well in the face of adversity.
ReplyDelete