GreenLeader | 04 Feb 2017 3:31 a.m. PST |
For the last few years, various doom-mongers have been claiming that we will be at 'peak oil' soon (if we are not there already). This concept got me thinking… will we reach 'peak miniatures' soon, or will such a thing even exist? Basically, will we ever reach a point when there is simply no need for anyone to launch a new range of figures (or – indeed – even a new single figure) as anything that is even vaguely commercially viable has already been done to death a hundred times over? I imagine there is a type of player who will always buy figures from a new range, simply because it is a new range… but do such people form a significant percentage of our ranks, I wonder? Perhaps I am unusual, but I have never found myself lying in bed, wishing someone would produce a certain range, figure or model: I am very much in the 'figures are tokens' camp – a position helped by the fact that I only play 6mm, where one can get away with quite a lot. But what do others think? Will there *always* be a market for new figures / ranges? Or will we reach saturation point soon / have we already? |
John Armatys | 04 Feb 2017 4:00 a.m. PST |
There will always be manufacturers who will start a fashion by producing figures in a new scale. |
Mako11 | 04 Feb 2017 4:01 a.m. PST |
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GarrisonMiniatures | 04 Feb 2017 4:13 a.m. PST |
First, there were 30mm figures. Then 25mm. Then 15mm. Then 28mm. Plus a few others in between. Nope, there will always be new manufacturers coming in, changes in which periods are popular and new scales appearing. Wargaming is a fashion industry, last years new is this years obsolete. |
Footslogger | 04 Feb 2017 5:21 a.m. PST |
No, we have not peaked. There are still plenty times when I make the effort to convert something because it's not available "off the shelf". And then some firm goes and makes just what I'd been wanting. |
repaint | 04 Feb 2017 5:29 a.m. PST |
there will be options for more plastic and even better poses and details. |
Knight of St John | 04 Feb 2017 5:39 a.m. PST |
I don't think we will have peaked until someone has made a good full range for the Great Seige of Malta 1565. Michael. |
robert piepenbrink | 04 Feb 2017 6:00 a.m. PST |
I don't know what comes after zombies, pirates and "post-apocalypse," but something will. And I don't know what style comes after "heroic" but that too will happen. Personal Peak Miniature is another matter. Mine was about two years ago when I realized that for "dying with the most toys" the ones you never assembled, painted or played with are not counted. |
FABET01 | 04 Feb 2017 7:13 a.m. PST |
As long as there is imagination there will be new miniatures. |
uglyfatbloke | 04 Feb 2017 7:22 a.m. PST |
What we need is good range of pre-medieval SS Ninja Confederate Zombie plumbers…in 44mm obviously. The current ranges are just so old- fashioned. |
Andy ONeill | 04 Feb 2017 8:15 a.m. PST |
There will always be something shiny, new, different and better. |
jeffreyw3 | 04 Feb 2017 8:30 a.m. PST |
I'm at the tail end of the boomer generation--wondering how that will affect the market. |
Weasel | 04 Feb 2017 9:18 a.m. PST |
Well, on a grand scale, the stuff we make miniatures out of exists in limited quantities on our planet, though presumably substitutes could be utilised. As far as people just not wanting more stuff, I think the entire miniatures gaming hobby rests on the fact that we always want more junk to clutter up the shelves because "one day we'll get around to painting them" :-) |
uglyfatbloke | 04 Feb 2017 9:34 a.m. PST |
Solved the lead mountain issue by encouraging SWMBO to paint figures….it's worked a treat. |
nnascati | 04 Feb 2017 9:52 a.m. PST |
I think the major conflcits in all scales are pretty well saturated. There will always be a new obscure war to make figures for. |
donlowry | 04 Feb 2017 10:22 a.m. PST |
Create a better miniature and the world will beat a path to your door! |
Weasel | 04 Feb 2017 10:26 a.m. PST |
Nobody"Needs" more Imperial Romans or French Guard but we still buy them anyways. :) |
robert piepenbrink | 04 Feb 2017 11:07 a.m. PST |
I'd also like to point out that apart from hypothetical new periods and scales there is exactly one box available for 1/72 plastic AWI cavalry, which won't cover most regiments. There are exactly 0 28mm hard plastic AWI cavalry, and if I ever saw something made for plastic kits, that's it. (Good luck with jagers and dismounted dragoons for your skirmish line, too.) Over in 15mm, I'm putting together a US tank destroyer unit with M3GMCs for North Africa--except no one seems to make the associated M6 GMC. These are not obscure periods and scales. And they are not isolated examples. We may not be reduced to converting Airfix figures, but there is still unfilled demand. |
UshCha | 04 Feb 2017 11:24 a.m. PST |
For I would guess about £100.00 GBP to £200.00 GBP you could have any figure for any period in any pose at any scale up to about 1/35, possibly a bit more for even larger I guess or models, as you can get it sculpted and cast/printed. That is a near infinite list and hence it is demandable and near impossible to ever cover the entire range. So in that case the demand is potential infinite. The cost however may limit the demand. Longer term 3D printing will allow more niche ranges but even then not all will be produced. Therfore the "demand" may reduce but never be fully eliminated. |
WillieB | 04 Feb 2017 1:01 p.m. PST |
TRy finding a nice 28mm Eastern Roman 15th c. range. The Siege and Fall of Constantinople is perhaps one of the most momentous events in European history and not a single figure available. |
Bill McHarg | 04 Feb 2017 1:03 p.m. PST |
I saw a 15mm tank model printed on a $200 USD dollar 3d printer on Thursday at our regular wargaming session. It had better detail than most models I have seen. The design was downloaded for free from the net. (and there are many, many free designs out there) It cost a couple of dollars and about 3 hours to print. The vehicle business may take a hit soon. |
Lion in the Stars | 04 Feb 2017 2:11 p.m. PST |
There are still plenty times when I make the effort to convert something because it's not available "off the shelf".And then some firm goes and makes just what I'd been wanting. Over on the Infinity scifi game forum, it's long been a known thing that the best way to get Corvus Belli to make whatever model is to convert, paint, and feature it in a battle report. Within 2 months, it will show up on the release list. Solved the lead mountain issue by encouraging SWMBO to paint figures….it's worked a treat. Haha! Uglyfatbloke for the win! |
Winston Smith | 04 Feb 2017 2:17 p.m. PST |
Nobody"Needs" more Imperial Romans or French Guard but we still buy them anyways. :) Dang. Beat me to it. By the premise of the OP, once Foundry had produced its EIR range, that slot had been ticked, and no other comparable ranges would be either needed or acceptable. However, Foundry was duplicating previous ranges and has since been copied too. Ditto 15mm Falschirmjaegers or Sherman ranks. Consider if you have money to burn, err "invest" in starting up a miniature manufacturing company. "Gosh. Imperial Guard Grenadiers (Iron Brigade, AWI British Grenadiers, Tiger 2 tanks…) have already been made. What's left for me? 1857 Savoy? Great! I'll hop right on them! Bob Semple tank?" |
etotheipi | 04 Feb 2017 3:58 p.m. PST |
I agree wit FABET01. Also, as long as (there is imagination) humans continue to come up with new ways to kill each other, there will be a need for new minis. How many modern combatant forces are there today that weren't there five years ago? |
Blutarski | 04 Feb 2017 4:43 p.m. PST |
Regarding Great Siege of Malta, what about Maltese swimmer figures?!?!?!?! with just a head bobbing above the waves and a great knife clenched between teeth! ;-] B |
Mobius | 04 Feb 2017 6:06 p.m. PST |
Why are there 25mm and 28mm miniatures? |
Robhb1 | 04 Feb 2017 7:38 p.m. PST |
The book 'Achtung Schweinhund', apart from being a good read, esp for Brit gamers, has a quote about collecting figures to the effect that 'you can never have too many of something you didn't need in the first place' |
Rod I Robertson | 05 Feb 2017 3:54 a.m. PST |
GreenLeader: Perhaps the exact opposite might happen. Perhaps we face the possibility of trough miniatures. With 3D printing evolving as rapidly as it is, will a day soon come when we download our miniatures as data files and then print and paint them or colour print them as needed? How much would a virtual miniature sell for and what would stop miniature enthusiasts from file sharing virtual miniatures with slight modifications to do end runs around copyright laws and IP standards. If this comes to pass then there will be no miniature too obscure or niche-bound that it can't be found online. If one based virtual miniatures off scanning of real uniforms or real scaled down equipment then there would be no need to pay royalties and no IP costs to deal with. This could depress the aggregate market price for miniatures greatly and could collapse the existing market, forcing the development of a new virtual market and home-based print-on-demand miniatures market. If 3D printers could be made to recycle their colour printing materials then figures could be created as needed and then recycled to make a new batch later on. This might address storage issues and ameliorate some environmental issues connected to base-metal pollution and petroleum based plastics. We may be on the verge of a brave new world of miniature gaming and collecting which leaves many as the victims of structural unemployment as technology replaces artisans and their craft. Cheers? Rod Robertson. |
Mobius | 05 Feb 2017 9:34 a.m. PST |
With 3D printing evolving as rapidly as it is, will a day soon come when we download our miniatures as data files and then print and paint them or colour print them as needed? How much would a virtual miniature sell for and what would stop miniature enthusiasts from file sharing virtual miniatures with slight modifications to do end runs around copyright laws and IP standards. That is a great idea. Then scale wouldn't matter as the 3D printer can scale the figure to any size. The 3D printer could animate or pose the figure in any way from the original model code. The designs might even be cheap on account they could be subsidized by the printer materials and ink providers. Though I can see specialty artists and designers getting into the act and have lines. |
number4 | 05 Feb 2017 10:27 p.m. PST |
I'm still waiting for the perfect set of War of Jenkin's Ear Horse Marines (dismounted) in summer campaign dress |
Old Contemptibles | 05 Feb 2017 11:21 p.m. PST |
Never will happen. Produce a good product, especially something new in some way and they will come. Build a better mouse trap… |
WillieB | 06 Feb 2017 7:59 a.m. PST |
There are still plenty times when I make the effort to convert something because it's not available "off the shelf".And then some firm goes and makes just what I'd been wanting. Don't I know! Not exactly a figure but I also did some modelling in my early years. At a time (70's) when Airfix, Revell, Monogran and Frog were still about all you could get. So there was this article on how to produce a Focke Wulf Ta 154 and I simply had to have one. You needed a Revell HE219, a Mosquito and a Ju 88 to fabricate one. After a few weeks of work which included balsa wood sanding, vacuforming a new cockpit, and very carefully making the antenna sets from stretched sprue, I proudly went to show it to my local trader who also happened to be the national chairman of our IPMS branch. His reaction was not what I had expected. 'How on earth did you assemble that so quickly? It only came in yesterday!' And now I'm going to convert, sculpt or do whatever is necessary to get me a nice 28mm 15th C East Roman emperor. |
Murvihill | 06 Feb 2017 10:45 a.m. PST |
Figure casting is destructive of the molds. Mold casting is destructive of the masters. So by the nature of miniature making new figures (masters) are going to continue being made. Whether the figures will simply be remastered or changed determines if something 'new' comes out. I hope that made sense… |
Visceral Impact Studios | 07 Feb 2017 12:49 p.m. PST |
With advances in molding and, more importantly, automated painting technologies we could see growth in miniature gaming. It would be cool to see a fantasy or sci-fi version of X-Wing taking off wrt quality of both models and painting (I know FFG has a game in the pipeline but it looks pretty underwhelming). There's an amazing video on YouTube of various large scale items being fully "painted" by simply dipping the item into a bath. The coating is sort of suspending in the medium. But that could lead to only big-name figures being produced while smaller companies get pushed to the side and fade away. At our FLGS only the really big name games/figure lines are stocked and played regularly: Warhammer, WarmaHordes, Infinity, Star Wars. Even Kings of War has only a single, very small display and is rarely played except for the very occasional tournament. |