"Miniature Figurines Alternatives" Topic

Given the ongoing difficulties with Miniature Figurines I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I will have to consider alternative suppliers for my 15mm Napoleonics.Given I have already invested a considerable amount in MF would the forum kindly offer suggestions as to alternative suppliers they might recommend in particular any which closely match MF figures especially in size and additionally if possible in style.

Many Thanks

Jim

Jim, if you are committed already to Minifigs, you might try an alternative source of the same models.

Game figures Inc of Colorado – minifigs.com/catalog – has (I understand) the full Minifigs line cast on premises, and has a good reputation for reliability.

Of course you'd be importing from across the Atlantic, but you'd be paying American dollars at a very advantageous rate against your Euros (you are in Ireland, correct?)

I'm in the same boat. I think I will stick with it and just get orders in well in advance of when I actually need them. They orders I've made are always correct but just take a while to arrive. Failing that, for Waterloo, how about CGM? Definitely recommended.

We are not having a supply problem with GFI/Minifigs in the USA. What are the problems with the Minifig UK company?

Spirit Games in the UK does a very good job of working through Minifigs UK's problems for you. Phil will keep you informed.

spiritgames.co.uk

Allen

Keep Wargaming in Devizes also holds large stocks of MiniFigs. They are excellent for mail order

keepwargaming.co.uk

We have temporary permission to supply you guys in the UK with Minifigs products that we produce, from the USA. Mind you that we don't have it all back in production, but we do have almost half of it!

To see what we have, go to minifigs.com

We will do our best to fulfil your needs. We accept Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.

We just released 12mm WWI! Neil and Liz will have these when they can get back to normal. Until then, we can supply worldwide. (This was a GFI project.)

Tom Dye
GFI/Minifigs for North America

I bought a lot of the Ottoman Turks and they took a bit to get to me. I'm am going to add some figures from here as well.

link

Thanks guys for the feedback and the alternative of sourcing from the USA.You are quite correct Mexican Jack I am in Ireland so dollar/euro as you point out is a better deal though I have found postage to be a significant cost issue at least for board games.

Tom just want to ask you a question – coincidentally one of the last e-mails correspondence I had with MF was regarding Opolonechie -MF UK do not stock them so I was just interested to see you have some in stock are they a different brand? In a way the point is a little moot as I sourced some elsewhere but just thought I would ask.

I will certainly look at this as a positive alternative to going to a different supplier I still have an order outstanding for nearly two months so I can't really progress anything further until I get some sense of what is happening with it.

In the meantime all your input is most valuable and very much appreciated.

Jim

IIRC, Jim, Opolonechie were the same as Moscow Militia types? If so, I suggest the following two from us:

15013024 Partisians
15013025 Opolonechie

Comes in packs of 24.

Best
Tom Dye
GFI

I still have an order outstanding for nearly two months so I can't really progress anything further until I get some sense of what is happening with it.

Based on my experience with them, you should have them shortly.

I do not believe GFI/Minifigs USa has the entire Napoleonic catalog in production.

Their website doesn't list, for example, Swedes or Danish.

I am partial to cheese danish myself. But I WOULD order 15mm Danish figures if Minifig USA could supply them.

I can support the good things said here about Spirit Games, very good firm. Whether they can get priority shipping is something they will have to let you know. The Baileys at Devizes were the leding dealer for Minifigs for years, but they are just as stuck on getting orders as anyone else at the mo.

Dont forget if you order from US for UK you will pay vat and duty on any order worth having. That will add a third to the cost.

Re CGM, they look fine, from what Ive seen. At 40p per foot figure though, thats Minifigs+50%….. and they have some strange bag contents for Brits – 8 elites & 8 centre companies in a bag – should be 1 in 5 ratio of course.

Deep Fried Happy Mice will show you comparison pics of figures to go with minifigs – Chariot minis spring to mind as OK match,for example….

I used to always pick up Minifigs (and Roundway, and loads more) from the Keep when visiting the UK, and did a good bit of mail order business as well; I just fell out of the habit. They're just doing mail order now, but their service was always excellent.

Spirit Games has done well for me in the last year or so; they won't be any less affected than any other retailer if Minifigs UK is slow to supply them; but Phil will stay on top of it for you most diligently.

As Dom and the Dead Banana have carefully instructed me, the trigger point for VAT is 18 pounds if a commercial shipment and 36 pounds if marked as a gift. After that, you pay VAT, and then VAT on the postage, so it can indeed get uugly. But I don't know that I'd say that 18 quid worth of figures isn't worth having!

Allen

Thanks for all the comments guys it is great having such a support system and it is very much appreciated.

Jim

This probably explains what is going on -

TMP link

Thanks for the update link Guthroth

Of course you now know MF will soon be back in production but if your original question still stands Battle Honours, are for the most part a very good match height wise with MF. I mixed both in the same army though the style of sculpt is rather different. However I now happily mix AB in the same army. Yes the AB are generally taller but on average by about 1mm and it doesn't matter so much in a game situation especially when looking down on them. Of course YMMV on this.

Its also worth noting that within the AB range there is very significant difference in height even within nations. I know the French range and figures vary by almost about 2mm in some cases and yet nobody every seems to worry about that. What I'm saying in effect is MF are bigger than some AB but not generally and yet its the cross brand compatibility that we tend to focus on due to style and equipment sizes.