"Project Zeke Miniatures...again. " Topic

With lots of projects in the pipeline to improve our range, PZM are looking for any feedback from the community to ensure we bring you what you want.

Would there be any interest in a 15mm range?

What else do you want to see?

projectzekeminiatures.com

I would be interested in 15mm zombies.

15mm minis of zombies, survivors, gothic horror and anything weird war II works for me.

Interesting. I hadn't considered Weird War II stuff as it's not a genre I've had a lot of dealings with personally.

I will definitely look into this for you, Spendlove as it seems like a really under-furnished niche (it certainly is in the UK). What systems would 15MM WWII minis suit best?

The idea for 15mm will be mini sets instead of single figures. Anything specific you think

There are too many game systems to count that use 15mm straight WWII miniatures, the main one probably being Flames of War.

There are many, many manufacturers making "straight" WWII minis, terrain, buildings and vehicles, but a mere handful with a small line of 15mm weirdness.

Personally I use the Nuts supplement War Without End by Two Hour Wargames. Its got virtually everything I need. Walkers, Super Soldiers, robots, zombies of varying kinds along with rules for vehicles that were planned to be built but never made the battle front.

Whilst the imagination is there to run crazy games (and I have had a few wild ones) the miniatures just are not there in 15mm.

Like you said it is a niche market but plenty of people make 28mm versions so there must be some need for 15mm scale weirdness as 15mm scale vanilla WWII is already HUGE.

That was definitely my inclination. 15mm World War II is really well supported so I doubt I'd find much market in alternatives to regular minis.

I do like the idea of doing the weird stuff though.

I'll check out Nuts! for sure as I love THW and they are my primary source of inspiration as I play their systems.

I like the idea of super soldiers a lot.

How weird are you going to go?

Just making regular troops look 'weird' is a good start.

You can already buy German troops in body armour (Eureka)

German and American troops in light power armour (Clockwork Goblin)

Nazi Warpigs – awesome! (Zombiesmith)

WWII 'normal' zombies for American, Russian and German uniforms (Rebel and Clockwork Goblin)

There are some of Rebel Minis Sci Fi troops that look great for Japanese in body armour.

Japanese samurai types with guns (15mm.co.uk)

Ninja (Rebel)

Super heroes and Villains (Rebel)

I have had a cool paint job on some Rebel Minis sic fi female mercenaries so they look like the assassins from Wolfenstein.

Terminator style robots from 15mm.co.uk and The Scene

If there is anything else out there infantry "weird' I have yet to see it. Believe me I would love too.

Gear Kreig had some 15mm weird infantry (US hell troops and German Rocketeers) but they withdrew them from sale. Pole Bitway had some cool head swaps but he doesn't trade anymore either.

I am inclined to focus on the scientific aspects more than the occult/supernataural side of "Weird". Rocket men and super soldiers etc. instead of the werewolves and what not you see in some systems.

The Axis and Allies all dabbled in some pretty outlandish things that would translate very nicely into miniature form. I would like to explore the idea of the experimental technologies having been brought to fruition.

I also agree that some slightly weirder standard troops would be nice. There was plenty of research went into ray guns etc. (Tesla troopers, anyone?)

Of course, I will take my queue from the currently available games systems but there is also a lot that can be done with the actual history of WWII. For example, the great characters from the real world provide excellent subject matter. How would Vasily Zaytsev or a French resistance cell have developed in a war without end? Would the Russians still be using anti-tank dogs (seriously)?

And then there's this guy who is ripe for a character model. Tommy MacPherson. Not only was he Scottish (woop) but he was the ultimate badass. Check him out here:

link

link

He is badass beyond badass!

That needs to be a HBO/BBC made series.

For technological inspiration look no further than ant of the Wolfenstein games. Yes there are spooky goings on too but a lot of the enemy are technohorrors.

I like the idea of weird weapons in the hands of slightly weird troops. Nuts War Without End lists a few real life late war weapons.

No one wants to make WWII werewolves or vampires :-(

HBO all the way. I may be British by I can't fault their glorious, sweary prowess ;)

If there's a need out there for weres and vamps, I won't rule them out. It's just not my area of interest so I will concentrate my initial efforts on the techie stuff at first and feel out the market after that.

Maybe head swaps are the way to go? That way you don't have to make the whole WWII miniature as the choice of WWII straight weapons bodies is huge but the heads are limited (gas masks, sci fi WWII type optics, face masks) and that gives the option of very weird (werewolves or vampires for instance) heads in helmets or caps for different countries. You could easily then just snip off the head and swap it over for a new one.

Of course you will have to make the whole miniature if you are making futuristic weapons (unless you are using very clever design wise to make weapon swaps).

Head swaps are an interesting idea. I do love a gas mask. I would like to do some kind of Tesla/Ray gun troops, which will require full sculpts.

Once THW release the new edition of Nuts! I'll buy it and the war without end supplement, get them learned and assess the scope of what I can produce in line with that system and go from there.

Yikes! Might be a long wait! Nuts is due a third edition I'm sure that's imminent but a new write up for War Without End? I'm not sure about that. A second edition would be good though to tie up a few loose ends.

What sort of zombie and survivor figs were you thinking?

Ah, no I meant Nuts! alone, not War Without End too. It's just so I can get a feel for it for my own comfort :)

I'm already in the process of sculpting 28mm survivors to boost my somewhat sparse range so 15mm survivors won't be getting a lot of table time.

However, I will probably make a couple of survivor sets to fulfill the various character classes of ATZ:FFO.

What sort of weapons are you looking at in 15mm for survivors?

Melee and improvised weapons as well as the usual assorted firearms?

Probably a mix of the generic classes, either in same-weapon sets (eg. 4 survivors with shotguns/ARs or 4 civilians with pistols/melee) or mixed (eg. 1 civilian, 1 survivor, 1 ganger and so on).

I would, of course prefer the first option as it will give customers a choice of different styles of the same weapon (eg. AK47 or M16) but this will be entirely dependent on the amount of time it takes for me to sculpt the minis.

My schedule of sculpting/release priorities as they stand just now are:

3x 28mm survivors and 1x Smart Zombie with assault rifle (almost complete)

28mm armed Hazmat personnel

Upgrade kits for 1:43 scale vehicles along with some scenery and vehicles in the works(these may come out before the minis as they are going to be in resin)

15mm survivors and zeds sets

15mm Weird War II sets

15mm sci-fi (maybe)

All in all this probably encompasses Project Zeke releases for the next year or two – as I am going to be starting my nursing training and this will gobble up a fair amount of my time – and will probably be subject to some changes/shuffling.

Keep me posted!

Absolutely!