Using Minitures in Spycraft

[LepRecon]

OK I hate painting figures but do love to use them in my games.

Does anyone know where I maybe able to find/order some figures, particularly MIB style figures for the characters.  I am based in the UK so local would be better.

I have some of the Mongoose Battlefield figures which work well but are not so good for characters.

Cheers

LepRecon

[spinningdice]

not brilliant but em4 have a few prepaints. Horrorclix/heroclix may be another option, but you'll be stuck with e-baying for opened packs unless you want spend lots of £.

[Psion]

OK I hate painting figures but do love to use them in my games.

Does anyone know where I maybe able to find/order some figures, particularly MIB style figures for the characters.  I am based in the UK so local would be better.

Probably not the best option, but the Heroquest game features agents in the main set and an add on pack. The main set agents are very MIB.

I personally use CCG cards and the Counter Collection Modern counter set, punch out images I like, and mount them on washers. It works great; very portable and there is some great art in the Spycraft CCG (AEG even put out PDFs of the starter decks, so you could print them on cardstock.)

[Crafty_Alex]

I love painting miniatures, but hate having the paintjobs ruined, so I also use alternatives when demoing My advice:

1) Hit eBay or a local game show for HeroClix/HorrorClix singles. You can often get them at less than $2 US/figure, especially if you go for the R (rookie) rarity. The best figures for Spycraft are also the least sought after - namely, security guards, soldiers, thugs, civilians, SHIELD agents (really good, those) and many crappy superheroes without a lot of "flair." HorrorClix has a lot of cops, vampire hunters, priests and other civilain looking types I find quite useful. Even some of Star Wars Miniatures more mundane characters (human Swoop gangs and thugs) would work for Spycraft in a pinch...Dreamblade looks good on paper but the figures tend to be MUCH bigger than most Clix stuff.

I find in the demos people rarely recognize the figures as Clix guys, especially if they're removed from their bases with a hobby knife, glued to a 25mm round GW base, and the slot is filled with a putty and painted with black acrylic. Takes around 3-5 minutes per figure all told, but is tremendously useful and cheap in the long run.

2) If you have access to model train sets, there are lots of little prepaint civilians that could do just fine for you. O Scale is the 25mm standard, but even HO (20mm) would be OK in most settings. Again, Ebay or a local model store might be a place to start.

3) If you have a good model shop around, look for the Italeri plastic sets of 20mm men. They often are labeled "paratrooper platoon" or "greek hoplites." There's often 10-15 different poses per box for about $6 USD. However, they are not painted.

I greatly prefer the Clix figure solution, myself. There's a great selection and if you find a good seller you'll have a wide set of options and can combine shipping. Also, I have to give a shout to Psion's method of using old Spycraft CCG cards - his chits look great and impressed me quite a bit when I used them last year

[Psion]

Also, I have to give a shout to Psion's method of using old Spycraft CCG cards - his chits look great and impressed me quite a bit when I used them last year

They've sort of improved since then. Since I took the idea from the alea folks of gluing them to washers, they don't get blown/bumped around as much and are easier to manipulate than the punchouts alone.

[TheAuldGrump]

Not too great, but good if you want a bunch of generic Men in Black is this set from Mega Minis - The Bureau



Sold individually and in a set of twenty, either way they run about 1 dollar a figure, world wide shipping is 7 dollars for any size order from Discount Hobby. Very easy to paint, a black primer coat gets most of the painting done almost immediately.

Other figures that might be useful are Civilains -

Street Thugs -

Firemen-

and S.W.A.T. Team-

and you can always use more Zombies...

The bearded guy holding the brain is a self portrait of the artist. This is the only set without duplicates.
*EDIT* Whoops, except for Civilians - no dupes there either.

In other sets there is enough duplication that if that bothers you I would suggest getting individuals rather than sets - the price is about the same either way.

If anyone is running a Spycraft Star Wars take - you might find this somewhat familiar - I need to get one of these before the line is discontinued (soon )


Sorry about that, I am placing an order this week, and sort of went on a shopping trip there....

There are also some martial artists and ninjas, but they do not grab my interest.

The Auld Grump

[spinningdice]

Another option is to use 'standees' or counters, counters are noted above, mounting to washers is a great idea that I might have to bear in mind (counters on washes = much easier to carry than miniatures when gaming at someone else's house)

Standees are available all over the place, I think Great White Games, SJGames & WorldWorks all do some, but I'll have a look for more later, if you need them.

P.S. I did have a compiled miniatures list on the old wiki, but it looks like it didn't make the move, I can go about reassembling it if anyone's interested - or was it not ported for a reason?

[stu2000]

I use the tokens on washers myself. I have several I punched from SpyCraft cards. Tons from celebrity pics and the net. I use the stand-us sometimes. There are a lot of free oes on the net, to see if you like them. Most of them are very reasonable pdfs. The only iritating thing about pulling pre-painted minis from all the different sources cited is that a large enough collection to be useful will have a loosey-goosey scale. Not so much a problem as a nuisance.

[Gentry]

I use a variation on the washer idea--I use punchout 1-inch pix from a variety of sources, but mount them on 1-inch wooden disks, available at your local craft store.  I find the extra thichness of the wooden disk makes them a little easier to pick up off the table, but that's just me.

For metals, Wargames Foundry makes big ol' packs of modern and quasi-modern figures.  And they're a UK company, so shipping may not be so painful for you.

[Wolverine]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned this one yet...

LEGO

As an added bonus, you can pose your LEGO dudes and dudettes in a variety of poses and equip them depending on the scene. You character goes prone, so does your LEGO character. It will sure make remembering who's doing what a lot easier.

[ThunderMonkey]

Legos... now I have an excellent excuse to start collecting again.

[Wolverine]

Legos... now I have an excellent excuse to start collecting again.

You stopped?

You do know that they have a range of Batman LEGO now, yes

[Black Cheese]

I have been using Lego brand building blocks as miniatures for years. Look for sales, especially at going-out-of-business toy stores (I mean, who doesn't go to those for everything anyway).

Lego also sells, via its Web site and teacher supply stores, just a straight-up, big-ass box of mini-figs.

I suggest moving to a HeroClix-size battle mat (using 1½"x1½" squares instead of 1"x1" squares) as this puts some distance between the otherwise cramped Lego dudes (they're just a bit too large for 25mm scale).

I use a variety of cheap, plastic animals resting on appropriate-sized Lego bases for monsters, however, although I've seen some people try to build those, too, out of Lego, but if you thought your smiling barbarian looked silly on the tabletop, wait until faces the rat-o'-blocks. No thanks.

[Crafty_Pat]

Legos are an awesome suggestion!

One group we have here in SoCal uses Homies figs - the ones you used to get out of the quarter vending machines, which have exploded into their own little cottage industry. They fit pretty well and the flavor they project is outrageously cool. They'd be stellar for a 10kB campaign.

[Golden Dragon]

You do know that they have a range of Batman LEGO now, yes

And how would he know that?