Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Ask the CFM: Here fishy fishman!

Pic credit: Wookiepedia
Going out of town this week, so no time to paint! Instead, it's Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist, where I answer your questions about 1/72 fantasy minis. Back in October '13, David Thorpe asks:
Are you aware of any mermaid/mermen/sea people etc in 1/72? Would like some to create an army for a Poseidon I have. I already have large sea monsters and some 1/72 dolphins/sharks/rays for riders if I can make some, but actual mer type people seem to be hard to find or too large. Thanks
My original answer:
Depends on what you mean: these fishmen from Elhiem Miniatures are ostensibly 20mm, though they're apparently on the stumpy side. I also like the murloc figures (on the right) from the WoW board game, though you may have trouble finding them (I got lucky and found an incomplete set of the board game on eBay for cheap). 
For mermaids, there's this 15mm model from Rebel Miniatures, or these HO scale figures from Preiser. Both may be a little small, and either would be kind of an expensive way to make an army. I also think these snake women figures (discussed in this post) could make for good conversion possibilities.
You could go the other way: find some tails from some fish minis that are about the right size (these Safari Ltd. critters, possibly?) and swap them with the legs of some suitable 1/72 soldiers. Ironically, these "Sea Peoples" figures might fit the bill.
Further thoughts: The new Zombie Pirates set from Mars, which I recently discussed, has a 1/72 mermaid figure. Mars' original Zombie Pirates set has a few movie-inspired sea mutant figures that may also work for a marine army, depending on how grotesque you want to get.

Got a question about 1/72 fantasy? Feel free to leave a question in the comments.

4 comments:

  1. Not 100% sure if the scale would be right but there also little plastic 'cocktail glass hangers' (or whatever they are called -- tiny plastic ornaments that you hang on a glass. Archie MacPhee used to carry mermaids, devils, and others, but I don't see them there now. I have a few that my kid picked up somewhere or other, and have been meaning to try some conversions. They are a hard, translucent plastic.

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  2. Thanks Mike; These look great! If you find out how well they fit 1/72 scale, I'd like to hear about it.

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  3. Warhammer skinks can make suitable fishmen with a blue paint :
    http://www.atlanticajuegos.com/recursos/fotos-productos/3.1-88-07-regimiento-de-eslizones.jpg

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  4. A little big for 1/72. They're about 1 1/2" long.

    But I just remembered there is a game "Innsmouth escape" which has a ton of fish-men in a Lovecraftian vein: http://boardgamegeek.com/image/900152/innsmouth-escape
    I hear they are about 23mm tall.

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