"Osprey Miniatures?" Topic

Now that Osprey is publishing miniature rulesets, do you think they will inevitably get into producing miniatures as well?

I doubt it.

Perhaps they might do a joint venture with a manufacturer, or three though, like one of the other mags did for a while (not sure if they still do that, or not).

No.

Anything's possible. I was surprised when they ventured into rules.

Doug

No, but I really do like their rules. Fun, AFFORDABLE, easy to play. Good stuff.

I think Mako11 is probably right – they'll "team up" with one or more manufacturers.

Northstar makes models for some of their games like Ronin.

Could be a merger/acquisition in the future…

Northstar makes models for some of their games like Ronin.

As durecell has pointed out, Osprey's current policy is to contract the miniature making to a third party. Northstar makes the official miniatures for the following Osprey rulebooks:

1. In her Majesty's Name.
2. Ronin
3. En Garde!
4. A Fistful of Kung Fu
5. Frostgrave, the surprise hit for Osprey last year.
6. Of Gods and Mortals.
7. On the Seven Seas.

As long as this remains satisfactory, Osprey will probably maintain this relationship. Of course, they may be some fiscal benefit for making mini production in-house, but without knowing costs and budgets, outsiders really can't say.

I doubt it; there is no reason for them to. It makes more sense for them to partner with known miniature companies and designers.

Wouldn't surprise me. If you asked me years ago would they print their own rules, I would have said no. But plastics has changed the landscape and they might give it a go.

I would say no. They will continue to partner with companies that currently make miniatures.

Plastic figures from China, if it makes financial sense.

Why not? They could 3-d print their miniatures from their books.

Osprey belongs to a much larger publishing group, Bloomsbury. It would seem an odd decision for what amounts to a small division of a traditional publishing house to make model soldiers.

It would be a logical progression from inaccurate painting guides to unrealistic rules to …..

It's a joke! Don't kill me!

But at least we could then get the Angus McBride horses with crazed eyes.

It's a joke! Don't kill me!

No.

Hope not.

I was amused by a conversation I had at Colours a while back with a WI staffer who commented on how he liked my Samurai Range.

"Yes, they've been sellng well due to Ronin"

"That's good as they aren't the official range…"

I stared, slightly speechless – there was me thinking a Samurai was a Samurai was….

Mike

They're more interested in the board gaming explosion. I just watched them at GAMA.

An "official range" of historical figures is a joke. Keep that rubbish for fantasy or SCIFI games.

There is a difference between an "official range" and figures sculpted to "be" a faction in a game (Rauwoof, Blarad, Mekpur, etc., that Stan Johansen used to sell that clearly reflected the aliens in FGUs Space Marines rules.)

Other than that, I find myself resonating to Winston's disdain for "official range" nonsense.

Edit: as to the OP, it's possible but it would not be their best use of resources IMO.

Mike,

Exactly. Sigh.

They used to have a 54mm range that was very nice. I was hoping it would be revived.

They already have done this about 20 years ago in association with Del Prado figures of Spain..

I have their first set of Napoleonic Del Prado 54mm figures (more like 60-65mm foot to eye). One hundred exquisite and varying figures representing a variety of armies of the period.

Each figure came with an Osprey booklet that had several uniform plates within, along with a complete description of the unit that the figure represented. These booklets were lighter/condensed version of the Osprey Men at Arms series. I still use these booklets as uniform refernces.

I was in a conference call with an editor and a couple guys in the States about 15 years ago. Much of the discussion was on Osprey getting into game publishing.
One concept that came up was doing starter sets with the rules and miniatures. This was rejected very quickly. I did not know about the 54mm experiment.

New Hope Design and Osbrey teamed up in the late 60-70's to bring out a series of 54mm figures based upon their "Men at Arms" series. The figures were sculpted to match one of the color pictures in an Osbrey MAA. In some cases, more than one figure per MAA issue. I still have some in original grey backed card and heat sealed bag. The quality of both sculpts and casting quality was top notch!

It was a wonderful idea at the time as interests in 54mm metal collectors figure kits seemed to be at it's peak. How many can remember ordering from The Black Watch, next to one of the Last grenadier Shops in Burbank, Ca.? It was THE place to go for collectors figures well into the 80's!

Since the range ran for so many years, it had to have been successful for both New Hope Designs and Osbrey with mutual sales. (Rudy, I bet you can remember what I am talking about!) This was even before Greenfield got into distributing Osbreys.

It's an idea worth consdiering as long as they don't try to insult the historical gamer's by calling their ranges "The OFFICIAL" figure for their rules.

v/r
Tom

I hope they do.

The Del Prados were not made as gaming pieces but, rather, for the collector's market. They are simply one-ofs for a large variety of units.

As has already been said Northstar do the 'official' ranges for quite a few Osprey sets of rules so I don't see them rushing to put in the fairly high costs and low rates of return on miniatures figures into their mix.

The rules are often an opportunity to reuse art they have already commissioned and I doubt it costs that much to pay the rules author and photographers for the rest of the content.