Basically, it's my intention to start a 15mm range in the near future. Just how soon depends upon how well the other ranges sell, and how soon we can pay the bills.
Essentially, I would like to do two things with the range:
- Produce troops and vehicles that aren't available or aren't done well in 15mm.
- Produce Pulp figs in 15mm.
We are also seriously considering a "Weird War" project, but I want to keep this quiet, now, as I'm still working on the details. It should be interesting if I manage to pull it off. Notice that I didn't say WHICH war;)
In other words, to do a lot of the stuff we do in 28mm in 15mm, or at least, similar stuff. I don't know that it will involve direct translation of everything in 28mm to 15mm, but it will probably involve some similar concepts.
The first and most economical step is to do WW2, which sells well in 15mm, particularly lately with the explosion of certain rulesets and the economy making large armies in 28mm less practical.
I had initially intended to cover Hungarian Cavalry as the first release, but there is another company doing this at the moment. (Well, there are two, but only one worth mentioning, in terms of quality, in my honest opinion). The same goes with the other plan for the first release - Italian Cavalry. Until I see them in person I'm not willing to completely rule this out, but it's something to keep in mind. Subjects like this are popular, especially since they have official lists in games like Flames of War, but too much of one thing can pretty much kill any chance of breaking even, let alone making a profit.
We do plan to cover some unusual items, nevertheless. There are still plenty of uncovered subjects, and I routinely bang my head against the wall when yet ANOTHER SS Unit or Late War American Paratrooper squad gets produced...
Is there anything you'd like to see in 15mm? Particularly for the WW2 or Interwar era? I'd be very interested to hear from you. I do have some specific things I'd like to do, but I'd like to keep a lid on it at the moment, at least until things develop a bit more. We're also still looking for (reasonably priced, please!) 15mm sculptors of vehicles and infantry. If you are one, or know of one, feel free to drop a line.
Sorry Doc, count me out in the 15mm range. Yor intention is laudable, but I'm fully engaged in 28-32 and 54mm scale and have no motivation to start with another one.
So much for the bad news...
If you talk about Forgotten Armies, you've surely thought about the Polish Cavalry at the beginning of WW2, which was supposed to attack german tanks (we all know that's a myth, but nevertheless these mounted troops existed). As Poland was conquered so quickly by the Blitzkrieg, their armies aren't available as miniatures (AFAIK). I'm not aware if there's a great demand for them, but this was my first idea to this topic...
Sorry Doc, count me out in the 15mm range. Yor intention is laudable, but I'm fully engaged in 28-32 and 54mm scale and have no motivation to start with another one.
So much for the bad news...
If you talk about Forgotten Armies, you've surely thought about the Polish Cavalry at the beginning of WW2, which was supposed to attack german tanks (we all know that's a myth, but nevertheless these mounted troops existed). As Poland was conquered so quickly by the Blitzkrieg, their armies aren't available as miniatures (AFAIK). I'm not aware if there's a great demand for them, but this was my first idea to this topic...
Fair enough:) We're a little stalled at the moment, trying to find a 15mm sculptor. The problem is that most 15mm sculptors seem to want to charge more for 15mm models than for 28mm models. This doesn't really work for me, as the economy of scale means that I need more poses, and more casts, to make a 15mm line viable, and so charging as much for 15mm troops, if not moreso, isn't really in my budget at present. That may change as time goes on.
Actually, there are a few good ranges of 15mm Poles at the moment, including cavalry. They certainly deserve to be covered. They lasted longer than any other victim of Germany except Norway.
Really, it depends upon the sculptor. Everybody has his/her own price and what he/she feels his/her labor is worth. To give you an idea, the low end of what I've been quoted for 15s is around 80-100US; top estimates go much higher.
I'm not sure if there's an industry standard, but I did quote one sculptor who wanted 500 per 15mm figure to a more established friend in the industry, and his opinion was that the price was "excessive to the extreme" (talk about a double negative.)
I try not to say what I think things are worth, generally because sculptors are artists, and they have every right to set the price they feel that their work is worth. So, in general, I negotiate rates with each sculptor individually. I do have an upper limit to what I can pay, of course, particularly being a small operation like Black Army.
I'm a big fan of the less popular early ww2 armies, and have been developing a few, mostly through scouring various ranges and finding something close enough - peter pig Spanish civil war Morrocans as French Colonial Algerian Tirralieurs for example. Others have required minor conversions - headswaps to provide Belgian Chasseur Ardennais (Ppig French Alpine troops) with appropriate LMG and mortar teams as another example.
So for my two cents I'd like to see
Norwegians - I've got a reasonable proxy going with ww1 Italians, but nothing like cavalry or vehicles - or even the Landsverk armoured cars/trucks that were on trial but not actually used (anyone got any pictures as I don;t know what this looked like ?).
Danes - nothing available short of some hard graft with greenstuff. Very interesting M/C combo affair with an AT rifle fixed to a platform where the sidecar should be !
Belgians - I used French line and Chasseur alpinis as proxies for Belgian line and chasseur ardennes (with some headswaps for the support weapons) - though QRF now produce some. Some of the softskins that aren't covered would be good.
Dutch - reasonable ranges available, though russians have had to be used as proxy sailors, and Rumanian cavalry as proxy Dutch. Artillery is limited - looking for a 6 veld in particular !
Poles - reasonably well served with existing ranges - though a decent armoured train could be interesting - if exensive !
French - some decent Colonials would be welcome. I've got proxies for Algerian Tirralieurs, Morrocan Tirralieurs, and I've got to get the greenstuff out again for the Senegalese Tirralieurs - when I feel up to it !
Also some Chasseur Alpini with a decent range of support weapons (and some Foreigh Legion for the Norwegian campaign would be good !).
Then finally, some Greeks. I've got some pretty poor proxies in 1913 Greeks, but the uniforms and equipment had been re-vamped by ww2 ! Plus there is not much in the way of support weapons - and no cavalry !
Seriously.
