"Spartan Games, Halo:Ground Command" Topic

Good new for 15mm SciFi Spartan games have announced that their franchised Halo ground game will be in 15mm…..looks interesting

link

Lot of member's or my club cannot wait for this.

Is this the first big company delving into 15mm…. ?

Yep! 15mm SciFi is getting such a huge boost at the moment, and this is the first producer of "boutique"-style games that tackles 15mm !

This could be very interesting. There are a lot of questions. Can Spartan keep up with possible demand? Can they afford what this game must be costing them? Will they be able to produce the simply HUGE number of models and miniatures doing this Universe up right will require? Will they come in at a reasonable price point? Why buy their models when there are lots of other miniatures they won't be at the traditional Spartan price point?

I'm certainly interested and I'm looking forward to seeing more details.

I await this one with interest….

Duck

I hope they're better than the ToysRUs ones. The buildings were very cool but the infantry looked WAY out of scale to traditional 15mm.

Spartan puts out great stuff though, so I have faith. I know these are rhetorical questions, but I'm going to answer them for fun anyway…

Q:Can Spartan keep up with possible demand?
A: If they're partnering with 343, then most likely. Realize, this will bring a whole new generation of video-gamers into the hobby of tabletop wargaming. HALO is a big franchise. It can open the doors for MassEffect figures, all kinds of stuff…if commercially successful.

Q:Can they afford what this game must be costing them?
A: Again, they're partnering with 343, which means the licensing deals probably involve a lot of other partners, including Microsoft. There's certainly going to be a huge injection of venture capital.

Q:Will they be able to produce the simply HUGE number of models and miniatures doing this Universe up right will require?
A: Made in China.

Q:Will they come in at a reasonable price point?
A: That's the million dollar question. Most HALO fans are between 13-25 years old, so they're working with a fan base with limited cash. Realistically, they'll still sell most figures to the over-30 crowd. Like me, I don't play HALO, but I would certainly purchase a wheelbarrow full of their figures if they're as awesome as advertised. I don't play HALO, but the armor, the guns, the vehicles are way cool.

Q:Why buy their models when there are lots of other miniatures they won't be at the traditional Spartan price point?
A: If they can keep them under a buck a pop for infantry, they'll sell like hotcakes because you can be sure they're ultra-detailed Auto-CAD with the latest casting techniques. Have you seen WhiteDragon Minis? I just got some and I'm wanting more. Very HALO-esce.

The real question is: Will they be able to cast them using plastic injection-molding? If they can mass-produce them that way, they'll be hard to beat. Traditional sculpting methods can't get that kind of detail or keep the per-unit costs down.

Let's say it's successful.

Minis are awesome, the right scale, the right price point, successfully merchandised and stocked where you can get them.

What will this do to the industry? What will this do to the 15mm manufacturers who rely on actual sculptors? Auto-CAD, laser-sculpted figures are relatively new as are the newer mass-production techniques.

HALO is a big franchise and could bring a lot of things (good and bad) to the industry. HALO figures would be insanely cool. They might force the industry to standardize scale. They might (might….) provide an inroad to an entire new generation of tabletop gamers.

But then, they'll be introducing decisions not made by gamers or fans, but stockholders. We saw how that went with GW. 'Nuff sed?

I just hope it doesn't run the little guys, the traditional sculptors and artists who basically do it for the love of the hobby, out of business. It may bring a new crop of gamers, but at first they'll have to compete for the greybeards' dollars and weather that dry spell. My wife only tolerates me spending X amount on my hobby.

Looking at current spartan pricing and the fact they have to discount to distribution houses by 60% -- the current 15mm manufactures will be fine -- the retail price point for a manufacture that does not halo type figures will be much lower, and the success of the halo game will drive sales – much easier to cling to someones pant leg than do something unique -- look at all the 40k add on companies

I hope spartan games will go after the people selling not minis and protect their vested interest and halo 15mm grow the 15mm out of the niche market it currently is --

3d sculptors want more than a traditional sculptor so doubt much will change on that front -- add in the price to do a proper print and breaking even becomes much harder

the little guys like myself would do well to look at the pricing for spartan games and then decide to raise their prices to same level -- we do love doing this but we would love it more if it paid the bills.

Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living, that's something else. Han Solo put it best

one of the coolest things about 15mm is the fan base – they are mega talented and loyal and patient customers. Even the manufactures are all pretty laid back and dont take themselves too seriously.

the problem for most of us is we use a lot of the same talent to get stuff made so the lines blur between what we wanted to achieve and winding up getting a slight variant to something that is already out there. For some the line of actually stealing IP – be it by not knowing that the sculptor based it off this or that or with intent, knowing that no matter what you call it, it will always be seen as what it is.

If I where to write a short E book about my last 15 years in the mini painting, creating, casting, sculpting lining out all my success and failures, my fault or others, I could probably make more profit in one go than bringing a 10 man squad into existence.

the future of 15mm sci fi will be plastic injection molding -- look at battle front -- metal and resin then PSC came along as well as other companies and did plastics that where about half the retail and actually nice kits.

If tomorrow I released the Game of the Year – if people called it what 40k wish they where and said micropanzer is doing to 15mm sci fi what battlefront did for WW2 15mm --
Even if I started with a rock solid con tournament play system. if released in resin and metal it would be bootlegged – in six months there would be not minis or count as and I would have to alter tournie play that a majority of models would have to be micropanzer to gain full points. in a year there would be plastic 15mm sci fi soldiers and vehicles from a company with no intent on producing rules….

Total package is the way to go -- Rules, Art, Minis, Fluff, customer Support, in house talent and manufacturing or cheap overseas. 15mm sci fi is all one man shows with large overhead and pretty much vanity projects -- I know I took what I spent on 40k and flames of war and put it into something else. When I lost personal income I learned to cast and sculpt to cut overhead, when I lost even more I backed off and worked on stuff that does not cost money – I even tried to sell off when desperate need arose only to find out no value -- but instead of giving up I held on created 100 new sculpts – have 3d ready to print, Bought other companies min ranges. My story is not special nor am I but my story is not over and the best days are ahead

HAAA guess I just wrote my preface to book lol

not intended to hijack this tread -- cant wait for halo 15mm as it might get my sons into minis -- I know right? 400 square feet in my house devoted to minis that I actually create but it will take Halo to get my 14 and 8 year old to play games with me

I'm with you there, Brother! My oldest son is lost to College so I have one last chance to make a gamer out of the other one before he graduates HS and HALO figures might just do it.

I make a big deal of not just being in the hobby, but supporting the hobby. What I love about 15mm is the sheer diversity of figures out there. Even so, there's a plethora of figures I want and nobody makes one (yet). A Deathclaw, for example… Activision stole the idea from TSR, and then Bethesda bought it. It's a Terrasque from D&D.

I'm looking at a change in employment and it's the perfect time to try my hand at small-scale manufacturing of stuff I want that nobody else makes. I'm under no illusion that it will pay the bills, but it's just an excuse for She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed to allow me to sink a bit of money into it.

What I lack is the experience of those who have come before me, so yes, Micropanzer. I would buy that book as soon as it's published. Write it!

The way I look at it, 15mm in general is in a general Renaissance period. The miniatures are plentiful, varied and the quality is far superior to say 10 or 15 years ago.

And still affordable, unlike 40k.

If I hadn't been collecting 40k since 1987, I'd never be able to afford to get into it now, even though now I'm an adult who makes a decent salary.

"…much easier to cling to someones pant leg than do something unique…"

True. Look at all the 15mm manufacturers who already produce "HALO-esce" figures and have for years. I've got 'em. You've got 'em. Anyone who plays Gruntz probably has 'em.

But look what happens when you make them official 'HALO' franchised figures…

It'll be fun. Can't wait to see what Spartan will do with it.

They showed off figures last year, all in resin. Spartan have a solid resin cast range, I'll be very surprised if they drop the cash to go plastic, but in the future who knows!

I'll make a bet if this sells well , Battlefront will look seriously at moving their rumoured SF game forward.