"Some new Nebula Starships, and Landmate news" Topic

Have some new Nebula Guardian starships to show off. They are very nearly completed, but I've been busy like nobody's business recently, so I've not had the chance to finish them off.

Firstly, the Needleship:
picture

And a Heavy Cruiser
picture

Also, for those who have been following my on and off progress on the Landmate mecha, I am happy to report that I've received the metal masters, and I've assembled them, and the mecha *works*. I was worried for a second that it would look really wonky when I finished duplicating the parts from left to right, but now that I've tried putting it all together, I am happy to say that it is looking pretty damn good. Unfortunately, I don't have photos at it refuses to stay together for more than a few moments with just blu-tak to hold it. If all goes well, I look forward to releasing it in the middle of next month.

Also, the 6mm, Imperials and Yama have been released. The news article is on its way through Bill's system, but you read it here first!

Comments and criticisms welcomed, as always.

Excellent stuff!

Will we be seeing discounted battle groups or squadrons for the Imperial vessels? I'd like to start building up the battle line for the fleet in advance of the larger capital ships.

Zandris IV,
Everytime I see your great works I want to build miniatures of my own! I love to see your mid work stuff.
Great job once again!

And here I was marathoning LoGH.

Any plans of making other designs? The Japanese packs are kinda pricey and replete with duplicates.

I'd like to see a Brynhild or Barbarossa sometime.

I'm thinking of getting some of the 6mm tanks when the cash comes in – Make a useful Chinese force for OGRE.

The ships and 6mm stuff is gorgeous, but 25-50% more expensive than other stuff out there.

I'd love to make up a force for FWC (and maybe stat them out…. hmmmm) but they are too pricey compared to, say GZG or Dark Realm.

G.

Also, the 6mm, Imperials and Yama have been released. The news article is on its way through Bill's system, but you read it here first!

Released Where; through whom…?
No idea where to order 'em
(nor even what they look like)
but '6mm' always catches my attention-

{edit}\
Google is our friend:
z4miniatures.blogspot.com

I am curious about hte Imperial vessels. They are listed as 1/15000 scale. What is the scale of the other fleet scale vessels in your line and/or why bother listing the scale on these vessels at all?

-Eli

@emu2020

The ships are meant to fit in with the aesthetic of a particular Sci-fi setting, which already has some ships out there which have specific scales (i.e. 1/12000). This is just so purists of that setting are able to figure out how well the Imperial vessels will fit in with their existing ships.

@silicon god

I'm focusing on the 'grunt' vessels for now, as you should be able to get plenty of the hero vessels from the commercially available packs.

@Goober

The ships are priced quite competitively with offerings from the other major manufacturers, and you should bear in mind that my designs are a lot more 'solid' than the average design from Brigade or GZG, which tends to be a lot more 'airy'.

The 6mm I agree is not the cheapest of the lot, but it is as far as I can go for the moment. Cost-price wise they are very expensive, and added to that is the fact that they are sold in packs of 3, the costs really start to stack up.

@Volstagg

Thank you for your help! I was fiendishly tired when I posted the notices last night, and must have forgotten to add a link to my blog pages. Thank you again.

@ZandrisIV

I wasn't specifically commenting on the ships, which I think are priced just fine, but the 6mm stuff which is a bit pricey. I'm comparing it to Dark Realm prices, which is my current yardstick.

I guess I'm also spoiled by looking at modern micro armour, which seams to be laughably cheap!

I must add a public thanks and vote of good-eggness here: I was lucky enough to have my wonderful girlfriend buy me some of the Diplomatic Corps ships for my birthday after she tracked them down after a very vague conversation she and I had about these new ships I had seen and how I thought looked great, comparing the excellent painting to various scifi art books i had knocking about (Great Space Battles etc…). Mr. ZandrisIV was apparently most accommadadting and helpful to her, discussing the selection and painting and dispatching the minis to her in time for my birthday, even though he had shut down for his summer hiatus. Ships arrived and are sitting awaiting fresh coats of paint and a first run out!

G.

So, the Imperial line is not intended to be a stand alone line of ships itself? Does this mean that you will not be doing larger vessels in this line?

This would be bothersome, because I really do not have any desire to buy pricey, prepainted, low quality ships to go with your high quality miniatures.

-Eli

What? The 28mm Landmate is done?

dagnabbit, I think I might have to wait until after christmas before I can afford my trio…

@Goober

Oh so *you're* the other half of that nice lady who purchased my ships a couple of months back. I'm glad to hear that you're liking them!

On the 6mm front, the price is really as low as I can go without it starting to become really unprofitable. A fair part of the issue is that quite a few of the vehicles are made of two parts. I will try to think of ways to drive down the price, but I don't have many options at this point

Also, I have some of ScotiaGrendel's Sci-fi Microarmor, which is liberally borrowed from modern micro armour, and I can tell why they're even cheaper than GZG or Brigade's stuff, they're TINY!

Edit: Redoing some sums on account of everyone accusing my stuff of being pricy. I *think* I might be able to revise the prices on the whole lot downwards.

@Emu

I could do the bigger ships, but I would have difficulty justifying it financially, as each of those ships is supposed to be unique (with a couple of exceptions). My general idea was to make and sell the grunt ships, then you can just buy a couple of boxes of the prepainted stuff and wham, you have your flagships. I am of the understanding that they really aren't *that* bad, and most of the Japanese prepainted stuff is probably of higher quality than the paintjob on an average "tabletop" mini. But if you promise to buy a fleet of Brunhildes, why not ;).

@Lion

Yes, the Landmate is *nearly* done, the casters are going to have to get through SELWG first, and I have exams to get through, both in two weeks time, so things probably won't be moving for at least that long, but it is on the cusp of being produced. I've ended up with 3 different arm poses, and 3 different leg poses, and they all combine together to give you just as much variey in poses as they would have if the parts had all remained seperate. Plus, it drives the cost down. Right now, the GBP10.00 price point is looking very likely.

Thanks for the continued interest!

@ZandrisIV

If I might offer another perspective on the Imperial vessels.

Personally I wasn't interested in recreating the actual fleets from the show and I think that many others would be of a like mind.

I think you could do one or two larger vessels of the same style as "Imperial Command Cruiser", "Imperial Battleship", "Imperial Carrier", etc and they would sell on their own. As far as quality goes, the materials they are made of is a flimsy, soft plastic. The paint jobs, though good enough are not my concern.

The problem with the prepaint's is the cost. If I go that route, I am required to drop a ton of cash for a collectible box set (of hit and miss quality) that will give me many ships I could care less about. Even if I wanted all the ships in the box, which are mixed across two fleets with distinct designs, I lose the ability to buy what I want in the quantities I choose.

If you made a few larger capital ships, then those who are more interested in the style and them of LOGH would be able to build reasonable gaming fleets without having to also buy a fleet's worth of extraneous ships we may not even want along with them.

I think you have already shown and understanding of this concept with the other products in your line. You do not make ships that specifically the vessels from Homeworld, but you certainly are catering to people who wish to build fleets with that style or inspired by that setting. Likwise, your landmate captures the essence and style of Shirow's work without specifically being an Appleseed landmate. The same logic could (should?) be applied to the larger capital vessels of the LOGH universe.

Sorry if it's overboard response, but I thought it was worth saying.

-Eli

I've been keepng an eye on your landmate and I'm looking very much forwards to seeing how it looks.

@emu

Actually, I really like your reply, as that *is* an aspect I haven't really considered in detail, simply because a lot of the flagships are quite unique in styling and wouldn't quite fit in very well with the rest of the fleet. However, now that you've mentioned it, I could do the more 'generic' looking capital ships like the not-Berlin, not-Ashgrimm and not-Salamander and use those as the big command ships instead.

Stuff like the Parzifal and Brunnhilde look really different from the rest of the fleet to be used as a generic command ship though, maybe resin casts could be done instead?

@ZandrisIV

That was exactly my point. Even if you didn't ever do the Bunhild or the Parzival, you could still do bigger vessels in the same style and have it work. Resin casting of larger vessels could be an option as well.

At least as far as I'm concerned, a fleet of LOGH-themed ships is a holy grail product.

-Eli

For those who are still keeping up with this thread, I've finished my maths and repriced the entire 6mm line. Revised pricing as follows:

Nusantara Peacekeeping Army:
MA00001 – Tuah Heavy Tank (24mm long) Pack of 3 GBP4.50
MA00002 – Jebat Missile Tank (24mm long) Pack of 3 GBP4.50
MA00003 – Lekiu Light Tank (19mm long) Pack of 3 GBP3.75
MA00004 – Lekir Light Tank (Missile) (19mm long) Pack of 3 GBP3.75
MA00005 – Kasturi Hovertank (25mm long) Pack of 3 GBP3.75
MA00006 – Derhaka Recon Skimmer (21mm long) Pack of 3 GBP2.00
MA00007 – Laksamana Mobile Artillery (24mm long) Pack of 3 GBP5.50
MA00008 – Bendahara Artillery Battery (24mm long) Pack of 3 GBP5.00
MA10001 – Nusantara Strike Regiment (All vehicle packs x3 ) 72 miniatures GBP90.00

Everyone who's ordered already will have the difference in prices refunded to them. A news notice is making its way through the TMP system at the moment, and should be up by tomorrow or so.

Webstore link: z4miniatures.blogspot.com

On a related note, if you did larger Imperial vessels,how big could they get if the battleships are just 30-40mm long?

-Eli

Excellent news. Order placed :)

G.

Any chance we might get a scale pic of one of your Imperial vessels next to one of your other vessels?

-Eli