"Who Makes the Best SF Figures at the Best Price?" Topic

Which company or companies are making great figures/models and selling them at great prices?

In 28mm, Games Workshop. There are other companies out there producing great sci-fi figures, but when you look at some of the boxed deals coming out from GW right now, they have most of the competition liked on quality/price.

Hahahahahahahahhahaha! Oh, wait he was serious. ..

Onslaught Miniatures, because 6mm always gives you the best value and their sculpts are great!

In 15s, I think Ground Zero Games have the best figures, though I also like a lot of Rebel Minis stuff.

I have to say a tie between GZG and Armies Army.

Reaper.

Many in 15mm.

A tie between Khurasan and Rebel Minis.

Why did I know that would be Pictor's response? Hmmm…. I find current GW to be over-detailed messes.

Warlord just announced their 2000AD license BTW. That should be interesting.

I love Moonraker's retro sci-fi Spacelords for 25mm. Great figs at a great price.
link

6mm and 15mm are super-spoiled for figures at great price points!

Tibbles, I don't think I could ever put my finger on it as well as you have just described, "over-detailed messes". Of course, to each their own, bygones.

Well, we know for value it is NOT GW.

Stating a scale might have made this a doable poll topic.

"Well, we know for value it is NOT GW."

He states, without any evidence.

In 15mm I'd go with Rebel Minis. Great figures at a great price.

It's sort of hard to discuss this across scales, so I'm just going to say Angel Barracks, since he has both characters, vehicles and terrain and in 6mm, it's all quite affordable.

Don't know why people having such issues about scales. When you respond do so with an answer for the scales out there.
6mm
15mm
20mm
25mm
28mm

Add oddball scales as you like. 10-12mm for N-scale stuff for example.
Really wasn't hard to overcome such an obstacle.

Grimm

I just went over this with my brother, whose young son recently became interested in painting up some figures.

Like most people, they assumed that 25mm figures were all there was. Despite Pictor's strident and admirably persistent opinions, GW was a non-starter immediately due to their prices – in fact, it almost convinced them to give up the hobby before they were started! The thing with GW is that you can't just cherry-pick certain figures and say "if you squint real hard they aren't that expensive, compared to other expensive lines". If you go GW then you are also most likely sucked into buying the insanely priced kit, soldiers, and vehicles, especially if you are someone new to the hobby and you get fixated on the whole "GW Hobby" schtick because you don't know any better.

In 25mm, Mantic's Enforcers (Humans in high tech power armor) and "Dwarves in Space" lines offered great figures for great prices, including army deals with free postage. They ended up going with them, although I don't know where their Space Orks line went to? I still think Pig Iron's troopers and droids are great deals in easy one-piece metal sculpts. Khurasan has some interesting oddball stuff, good for a Starship troopers vibe. EM-4 still have some old school plastic kits that are good values.

To be honest, I was surprised at the lack of competition in 28mm sci-fi, unless I'm missing something.

In 15mm, you are spoiled for choice, with GZG, Khurasan, and Rebel right up there on top.

Cheers,

Christopher

In 15mm GZG and Micropanzer. Both quality castings and affordable.

Brigade Models

25mm – Denizen Miniatures. These have accurate proportions and equipment(i.e. no basketball sized hands, no chainsaws or swords, etc.).

I agree about Denizen, good figures, good prices.

To be valuable to the discussion, shouldn't there be price/figure statistic included for recommended companies?

For CAT, Mantic still has Marauders, but the line has become limited for some reason, many of the older figures/vehicles are missing.

Pig Iron Productions… fantastic sculpts at a great price -- in metal, the way toy soldiers were meant to be!

The market has caught up to GW. It's really not so bad anymore.

One more thing about GW … I love their models, but they're really not true sci-fi. Rather they are a peculiarly unique blend of science fantasy. Once you start down the path of collecting 40k models, you're essentially locked into their vision of sci-fantasy. For true sci-fi I-fi I prefer stuff like Mantic, Pig Iron and others.

Don't forget about GZG's old Stargrunt line:
link

Does anybody know if there are photos of these miniatures anywhere? The site itself doesn't seem to have any.

For 15mm in order of preference:

Khurasan Miniatures
Ground Zero Games
Rebel Miniatures

Going with 6mm (in order of preference):

Brigade Models
Ground Zero Games

Going with 15mm (in order of preference):

Brigade Models
Critical Mass Games
Micropanzer Wargame Studio
Rebel Minis
Ground Zero Games

Going with 28mm (in order of preference):

Reaper Miniatures Chronoscope line
Mantic Games

Only my opinion, and not just saying most affordable but also highest quality per buck, then -

6mm – Onslaught Miniatures
Ground Zero Games

15mm – 15mm.co.uk
Khurasan Miniatures

25mm – Ground Zero Games
Eureka Miniatures*

28mm – Mantic Games
Corvus Belli ( The Infinity range )

*That doesn't count postage, which is well shocking for even getting to me and I'm next door to Aussie!

15mm Gzg, Rebel, Khurasan and Critical Mass.

28mm sci fi armored guys? The new Mantic Enforcers, hard plastic scouts (pathfinders), infantry (enforcers), heavy infantry (peacekeepers). Plus the new dropship coming out (which I just got 4 of in the kickstarter for Warpath)!

I would say it depends on what you want them for.
1. For me ugly cheap miniatures wont cut it.
2. For big Wargames GW wins it.
3. For skirmish you can find all sorts of things out there.

I haven't been in SF gaming for awhile. Right now GW stands out to me. I like Hasslefree but they are equally as expensive and are low on SF figs and being near future figs.

THe other one I really like, but they are just getting started is Raging Heroes. I just bought a box and they are very impressive.

Hahahahahahahahhahaha! Oh, wait he was serious…

Yes he is very serious even though GW prices would cost you more than what the miniatures are worth.

I find current GW to be over-detailed messes.

True but Pictor's love them and is willing to throw money at GW for them.

Due to the prices GW would be the last place I would be looking for unless you hit up Ebay.

If you want decent miniatures at a decent price then take a look at Mantic Games Warpath Miniatures.

or

Warload Games

Both would be less than what GW would cost though Warlord Games would be a bit more than Mantic Games.

But GW does not make the best miniatures these days.

Though they do make some really overpriced miniatures.

In 25mm, Mantic's Enforcers (Humans in high tech power armor) and "Dwarves in Space" lines offered great figures for great prices, including army deals with free postage. They ended up going with them, although I don't know where their Space Orks line went to?

Well they don't have a Space Ork line more like a Space Rat line with their Veer-Myn.

I went with Forge Fathers, which is the Space Dwarves/Squats when they did the kickstarter for Warpath.

Which by the way my daughter picked up today from FedEx.

Oh and GW killed off Squats more than 15 years ago.

Oh and Mantic also has their Deadzone range as well.

Pictor's makes a good point though: where is the evidence for the arguments people are making against GW. Don't get me wrong, I am no GW defender here. I played 1st, 2nd and 4th, bought 6th and 7th but did not play them because I could see where things were going and I wanted to get off that train.

That said, I kept collecting the models on eBay, at rock-bottom prices.

Pictor says it has been having some boxed set deals, so I Google it and come to Spikey Bits: link

Buy Kill Team for $65 USD and get 23 minis (10 Space Marines, 13 Tau). Plus the small rule book and the Kill Team book. That is $2.82 USD per miniature. Granted, it is a limited selection, but still. Great figures that seem to work perfectly fine with rules like No Stars in Sight, FUBAR, etc.

Mantic Warpath Forge Father figures at the War Store is 10 for $16 USD or $1.60 USD. ($2 each for full MSRP.)

So Mantic wins on price. But this thread is about "great figures" at "great prices", so if you think Mantic is up to or beats GW's quality, you are right. If not, you might go with GW.

I can see the argument already, though, that this "deal" is of a limited figure selection. I say that argument is just getting on the Pokemon 'Gotta Catch Them All" train. Those figures should allow you to play a really good skirmish game, using practically any Sci Fi rules out there.

Besides, if I have learned anything about WH40K figures it is that some kid is selling the former FOTM that he just used in a game and got his ass handed to him and is now selling on eBay for a song. The selection is out there, cheap. Very few other figures lines are out on eBay cheap.

So if we are not making a rule about having to get the figures from retail sources (i.e. we can use eBay), then GW has more selection out there BY FAR than any other figure line. And there are some really great figures out there by GW.

I still vote for Onslaught 6mm though. Sisters of Battle for $0.34 USD each? Come on!

To answer the OP, you do. Scratch builds and kit bashes will always win out on the price point. Sharpen those skills. :-)

Some of the new plastic larger toy soldier science fiction figures have a lot of possibilities, especially once painted.

And quite reasonable on eBay too:

auction

Genet models have some items in their Free Stuff:
genetmodels.com/free-stuff
There are at least two figure kits for battlesuited troops in there somewhere, plus robots, vehicles and alien bug monsters.
They are quite complex to cut out and assemble.