Nevis and Averum - Blue Moon's Recent Aliens

So, it seems a few new aliens in 15mm snuck past us here at the ol' Dropship Horizon. Back around June-ish, Blue Moon Manufacturing released two new ten-packs of aliens - the Nevis and Averum.

Both packs present to the gamer with five poses of light infantry, equipped with rifles and little armor. Neither pack seems to offer an obvious leader or special weapon type, though the latter shouldn't be hard to convert from any one of the poses.

Nevis painted by Rich McGee

Averum painted by Rich McGee

Thanks to Rich for the use of his pics of his expertly painted examples of the figures.

-Eli

The Harook Part 2 - Interview with Mad Robot

Dropship Horizon was lucky enough to have Steve from Mad Robot answer a few interview questions in a short Q&A. I think you can see by his responses that he is a passionate miniatures enthusiast and he's really come to the Harook project with a loto f thought and vigor.

The questions below were sent to Steve in an email. He was also kind enough to send along some early concept drawings showing a little bit of the development of the Harook -

Are you a gamer and if so, what is your background in the hobby?

I was into RPGs back in high school, I eventually got over the swords & sorcery thing and became interested in Sci-Fi, really into Traveller.  At one point I had the original little box set with the first rule books, very cool stuff.  Many years passed and then 40K caught my attention about 5 years ago but my practical tabletop gaming experience is very limited.  I just liked staring at all the pictures of awesome little sci-fi soldiers.  I became obsessed with the 28mm hobby end of things and I’ve maintained a hobby blog, Sadoukad16, under the name Col. Hessler.  I have a huge passion for kit bashing and customizing every figure I deal with.

How long have you been into miniatures?

I guess the time frame would be about 5 years.  After I picked up the 40K rulebook, I didn’t know what to do with it...lol.  I just liked staring at all the pictures of awesome little sci-fi soldiers.

What sort of things inspire you when thinking about creating figures - i.e. do you have specific authors or images in mind?

In general, I tend to sway towards the “humanity fighting the aliens” theme.  Although I read a great deal, I don’t tend to get inspired that way.  Quite often I get inspired by other people.  It’s like to musicians jamming, one might play something that inspires the other.  I can get inspired by the slightest thing and once my imagination kicks in, there it is.  That’s certainly what happened with the Harook.

What, to you, is the 'must have' in a figure when you're looking at prospective purchases for your own collection?

When I see it, it has to spark my imagination somehow.

Your first release in 15mm is the Harook bird aliens. Why birds alien?

I look at Mad Robot as a business as much as anything else.  When someone give a detailed list of things that 15mm gamers are looking for, like you did on DH, I see that as a prospective “to do” list.  The Avian Alien suggestion was one of the things that sparked my interest right away.  I bet when many people saw the words “avian aliens” they pictured something with wings.  I pictured what you see in the concept drawing.  The irony of these super high-tech bird men, with gauss weapons and hover tanks, screeching at each other on the battlefield was irresistible to me. 

Your initial releases with Mad Robot have been in resin. Are you planning on going metal or resin with the Harook?

That’s still undecided right now.  If my resin caster can do them, I might try it.  15mm seems to be synonymous with metal and that works for me too.  It will probably boil down to what is less expensive, what is easier.

Are there plans to do other types of aliens in 15mm?

Right now my sole focus in 15mm will be the Harook.  I plan to fill out the line as much as I can.  That means command, heavy weapons, assault/special weapons, dropship.  That will certainly keep me busy on the 15mm side for a while.  After that, who knows?  I haven’t run it by him yet but I may see if Pedro is interested in making something nuts, just tell him to let his imagination run wild and see where it goes.  That would probably offer up something awesome.  He is Mr. Bug Man after all...

Being relatively new to 15mm science fiction, what would you say is the greatest area for expansion into the hobby?

I would tend to think that new alien races are always welcomed.  Also, this concept of a “complete line” certainly has some merit.  I think the hobby would benefit from a nice BIG community start to grow around 15mm.  How about a “Con” totally dedicated to 15mm?  Is there one already?  If not, there should be

Thanks again for the chance to be featured on DH.  Maybe we can work together and make 15mm the “go to” scale for gamers. 

The Harook Part 1 - New 15mm Aliens Anounced by Mad Robot Miniatures

Steve over at Mad Robot Miniatures has taken the dive into 15mm science fiction with the announcement of a new project featuring bird-like aliens. The Harook appear to be the byproduct of recent discussions on the gaps in the alien catalog in the hobby, making use of visual references supplied by various posters in discussions on TMP.

So far there has only been a finished concept drawing released but Steve was kind enough to provide some of the development sketches as well. By the looks of them, the Harook fit the bill (no pun intended) for the avian alien quite well. The design is humanoid enough to make them easily accessible to players but not so much so that they fall into the rubber suit category of aliens. The styling of the armor and weapons is alien enough to help with detaching them from the space humans that will surround them.

Their initial release plan is for a pack of 10 unique poses, to be sculpted by the talented Pedro Navaro. the initial release will include a leader type as one of the 10. Future plans include a quick follow up with command, heavy weapons and even some assault troops. A dropship is also in the plans, allowing the Harook the potential for being a force full of options.

I look forward to their release and cannot wait to see some of the greens. Steve has expressed an interest in keeping us in the loop on developments and I'm sure he'll be tracking their development over at Mad Robot's blog.

Exciting news! Check it out!

-Eli

Cataloguing Extraterrestrial Life in 15mm

Following on from the previous post, the Dropship Horizon exobiologists have been busy cataloguing extraterrestrial life in the known universe. And have identified four broad classes of 15mm aliens.

1) Bipedal near-humans

These are aliens who appear to closely resemble us humans. But perhaps for their skin colour, a few bulges, minor alterations to physical features and more or fewer toes and fingers, etc. these guys are like us. These include: Critical Mass Games’ Mercs, Kaamados and Praesentia; Ground Zero Games’ Kra’Vak and Alien Mercs and Greys; Rebel Miniatures' Kurgens, and Grey Aliens amongst others; 15mm.co.uk’s Grey Aliens, Shia Khan, Octopods, Ghoulani, Froogs and Zidhe, etc; Blue Moon aliens including the Arlocks, Shivan Sisterhood, Aquans, etc; Eureka Miniatures' Ventaurians; Khurasan Miniatures’ Chewk and Vacation Aliens and; Zombie Smith’s Quar.

2) Anthropomorphic aliens 

These are Earth animals that appear to have been “uplifted” and now run around blasting up the galaxy like a bunch of naked apes with advanced tech. These include: Khurasan Miniatures’ Felid, Garn, Ursid, Karkarine, Myzontid and Orca; 15mm.co.uk's Draccians; Critical Mass Games' Protolene Khanates and Astagar (snakemen); Ground Zero Games’ Crusties; Stan Johansen's Blarad; ArtCrime Production's Hadai; Irregular Miniature's Reptilians and Space Goatmen; and Traveller War Hounds of Sirius, Car Leonis and Dracos produced by RAFM.

3) Bug life

Similar to anthropomorphic aliens (perhaps a subclasification?), there is alien life out there that has a passing resemblance to Earth’s insect life. These include: Ground Zero Games’ Ixx; QRF Alien Bipeds; Khurasan Miniatures’ Vespulid and Space Demons (possibly) amongst others; Battlestation's Zoallans; Spriggan Miniatures’ Spugs, Brigade Models' Cimexians; Highlander Studios' Space Bugs; and Micro Panzer’s Raivaui Swarm.

4) Intergalactic weirdness

At the weirder (more alien!?!) end of the spectrum there is: Khurasan Miniatures’ Vornids (triffids / ambulatory plants), Cnidarian, and the wonderfully alien Molch extensions and emissaries; Moonfleet (ex Peter Pig) Phugs; Battlestation's Canosians, Xeloxians, Silicoids, amongst others, and; 15mm.co.uk’s Creegan Doom Spores and various aliens in the SHM Range.

You may disagree with our classifications and we may have missed a few 15mm aliens, but the Dropship Crew are interested to know if you have a favourite 'type' of alien and more generally what kind of aliens you would like to see in the future from 15mm sci fi manufacturers!

Extraterrestrial life in 15mm and the Preponderance of Humanoid Aliens

We can be reasonably confident of the existence of extraterrestrial life given the vast size of the observable Universe and, though our understanding of extraterrestrial life may be in its infancy, we can be reasonably confident it won’t look like us.

Sci fi shows such as Star Trek and Babylon 5 (with the exception of the Vorlons and the Shadows) have often been criticised for 'aliens' who are just humans with pasties on their foreheads and a particularly extreme expression of a particularly aspect of human culture. Partly this was down to budget limitations, the special effects available at the time, and partly it was down to the imaginations (or lack thereof!) of each show’s creators.

The issues that have limited the types of aliens we have seen in some TV shows should not limit the types of aliens we game with should they? What limits aliens in the miniature world is the sculptor’s imagination, an alien’s ‘cast-ability’ and saleability to the sci fi wargaming community.

So why do we have such a preponderance of 15mm aliens that could easily be a human in a rubber suit? Could it be that sculptors are more familiar sculpting human dimensions and find it easier to then give it a protruding alien head, extra fingers and the like rather than design an alien from scratch?

Perhaps the buying public are also more familiar and accepting of aliens with ‘human’ dimensions. Do humanoid aliens sell better than ones based on other dimensions, or is it just that the non-humanoid aliens currently available just aren’t as good?

The Dropship Horizon Crew would like to hear what you think, and also what sorts of humanoid and non-humanoid aliens you like to see sculpted in the future!

PREVIEW: Khurasan Miniatures 15mm GARN

I'm sure you are itching to know about Khurasan Miniatures upcoming Sci Fi release - 15mm GARN.

The Garn are a race of bipedal reptilian warriors. To quote the background on the Khurasan website "Hulking aliens, evolved from a species similar to the great predatory dinosaurs of Earth's distant past, Garn Warriors are a dour and aggressive race.....The Garn are a salute to the ferocious reptilian alien warriors of many Sci-Fi stories, and are suitable for any sci-fi or pulp setting".

Jon has sent me 3 different warrior castings, a Heavy Weapons trooper and a Garn Commander.

The Garn are approximately 18mm tall and almost perfect replicas of their 28mm brethen which can be seen here (28mm Garn). The detail on the miniatures, especially of the scaling is, believe me, little short of amazing. All are in advancing poses, one of the troopers with his jaw wide open is simply terrific!

The warriors and heavy weapons Garn come with separate weapons provided on a sprue. The warriors have short stubby weapons, which fit easily into the spaces provided on the figures, allowing them to be depicted 'firing from the hip'. Whilst the heavy weapons trooper has a sprue with seemingly three different weapon 'insert' choices (assault cannon, plasmathrower, flamethrower).

You can read about the Garn, their weapons and combat gear in detail on the Khurasan Miniatures website (Click here).

These aren't just Sci Fi lizards with guns. The Garn wear belts with utility pouches and carry Force Field Projector/Artificial Environment Generator packs on their backs. They are every bit a fully militarised, sentient alien species who can stand toe to toe against mankind.

If you are already wondering what armour to use with the Garn, take a look at GZG's range of Kra'Vak AFV's; SG15-31A/SG15-32A/SG15-33A and possibly SG15-34A also.

No details of pack composition or prices yet. Comparison photos of Garn with popular figs from other manufacturers will be posted in due course.

Cheers
Mark

QRF 15mm Alien Bipeds

I have to say that I do like QRF's 15mm 'Alien Bipeds - Large'. Pack SF06 has three different miniatures which have animation lacking in GZG's SG15-X1. These are large, substantial and menacing figures, some 24mm to the top of the skull carapace of the tallest figure. You can see from the photo above, perfect for anyone looking at redecorating their spaceship corridors.
Pack SF05 'Alien Bipeds - Small' contains eight 12mm tall bipedal Alien Xenomorphs in two poses. These mix well with Pendraken Miniatures larger 10mm Alien miniatures and are best based in multiples as part of a 'Bug' or 'Hive Mind' army.

My own Alien Movies inspired 'Hive Mind' Army for Alien Squad Leader consists of:

8x Centurions (individually based QRF SF06 and GZG X1)
10x Warrior Bases (Pendraken and QRF SF05 based in 3's and 5's)

QRF also have a pack of 'Face Huggers', SF03 six individual figures for £1.00 and a HUGE multipiece Alien Queen, their SF07 Alien Big Mother for £6.00.


LKM Direct / QRF
SF05 - Alien Bipeds - Small
£2.00 for 8 miniatures
SF06 - Alien Bipeds - Large
£2.00 for 3 miniatures