Took the kiddo to see Mermaid Magic! at the local aquarium this week. It blew her little mind. And honestly, it was pretty cool for an adult. It's about as close to seeing a real mermaid as your ever going to get.
The visit put the idea in my mind, would anyone be interested in plastic 28mm mermaids? I've added a poll to gauge interest. Off hand, I can't see it being a roaring success, but on the other hand I didn't see the demand for Landsknecht Ogres coming either.
The mermaid minis would probably be posed upright and swimming. (Not "beached".) Similar in pose to this:
I think they would be most useful as substitutes for the GW Sea Elves.
They could consequently have halberd, bows, as well as open hands.
How do they fight on land when they have fish tails? I guess the same way the sharks and giant turtles do - sea magic. (For that matter, how do they shoot bows without eyes?)
For that matter if a mermaid kit was successful, mermaids on a shark and mermaids fighting from a giant sea turtle chariot would be legit.
Depending on equipment you could almost have a sprue with both fish tails and legs
@Miyuso
With small pockets to glue in common diameter magnets in the torso and legs / tails?
Personally, not for me, although I could see using them in a scenario where my crew is on a ship traversing dangerous waters and is attacked by hostile sea-dwellers. I'd want mean, scary mermaids, though, like folk-lore monster-types.
@Benjamin Hayward
Similar to the coolest mermaid scene I know of, the one in "Pirates." (The Disney one, not the other film series.)
I'd get a sprue or two for sure. I'd get more if the sculpts are really exciting or they can be used to make alien conversions. Not only could they work for the Sea Elves, but also for Mantic's Trident Realms. If there are some extra bits on the sprue, like crabs or manga rays, all the better.
PS: Perhaps I am a horrible person, but the first thought that popped into my head seeing those mermaid photos was, "Man, their boyfriends/girlfriends must be pestering them so hard right now."
Maybe some Lovecraftian Deep One options? Seems like I've always found mermaids vaguely spooky, thanks to running into pictures of the Sea Bishop and Fiji Mermaid in old books before discovering the mermaid myth itself.....
I met her at the E.O.D
She sank her dewclaws into me
We stepped out to watch the tide come in
She said "A little swim would do some wonders for your skin"
I shed my old self, slipped into the sea!
I dig her batrachian lips
Her bulbous eyes and scaly hips
She's got secrets but they'll soon be mine
Oh, Father Dagon smiles upon me from the bas-relief
And something's fishy down at Devil Reef!
One glance was all it took
She gave me the Innsmouth look....
(Obed was a sailor
He sailed the seven seas
He made love to the fishes,
he made love to the fishies....)
One glance was all it took
She gave me the Innsmouth look....
- The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, "The Innsmouth Look"
@BS Kitbasher
Ah, wasn't familar with Mantic's Trident Realms.
Did they copy GW, or did GW copy them on this army?
I think you're right that extra bits like crabs and squids could make the kit.
I don't know what this guy does, but his battle squid assistant is cool.
I would get a couple boxes... They would be useful in converting other minis in to females... and I can use them in RPGS... I have a couple boxes worth (though in the KS they came in clear plastic bags) of the Mantic guys... and I have a box of Nemarti Thralls and Reeavers. The GW guys are difinitely superior... though I use tham as vampire thralls/minions... the mantic guys... are still in the plastic bags for the most part. I think i assembled like 2 or 3... not a fan.
But Yeah... Mermaids... I would buy some
Mermaids... now that really is “thinking outside the box”! I like it.
Those Mantic plastic Naiads were first.
As cool as those creepy things are, I think WGA would be missing a trick to release a box set of mermaids that didn't in some way resemble a pissed-off Ariel.
*Ariel The Little Mermaid, not Ariel Sharon.
@William Redford
Yeah..... the Mantic sea people offerings aren't really inspiring to me.
@BS Kitbasher
Channeling a bit of this?
We have a bunch of those Mantic Naiads we won cheap on eBay. I thought maybe we could convert them to some sort of alien race for sci-fi gaming. The sculpts are again a bit soft/shallow and I am not a fan of their odd harpoon guns. But Mrs. GG likes them. And she likes the GW sea elves...although she wishes they were not blind. We figured we cloudless add our own eyes... but I have yet to win an auction for them on eBay. They always sell for more than we are willing to pay.
We bought the Bones 5 underwater monster add-on as Mrs. GG really wants to have an underwater gaming table set up even though we do not have a good underwater game yet, just a modification for Frostgrave from the original author.
So cool Mermaids would be something we would want at least a sprue of.
@Grumpy Gnome Yeah the Nemarti (GW) guys are expensive. I think on discount they are liek $45 for 10... I dont really like the more aquatic stuff in that range... like the turtle or eels or sharks... The nemarti themselves remind me of the minion vampires from blade 3 or the ghoul things from I am lkegend. I am running a Ghoul kingdoms pathfinder game currently and that what I am using them for... Mantic fish guys... havent found a use for yet...
I find the Naiads go well as low budget Sci Fi aliens. I just snip the arms off the crossbows, and a bit of the tip. I tried using one of the arms, reversed and glued near the trigger, as magazines, but felt it made the gun look more like a failed conventional
firearm and less like a spray-painted-nerf-gun laser. But I am also not a terribly demanding judge.
seems like a fine idea i might even buy, but i don't see swimming figures being used much. Maybe like sea monster figures legs work better
I'm guessing I'm one of the few who'd totally go for a regement of Mermaids. Obviously an option for legs+tails would be a must for battles that don't take place under the sea. You could even add a few Sci-fi bits like what WGA did with Lizard Men.
@JTam Lovely yet deadly at the same time.
@Charles Tottington Yeah the GW guys have some fluff that allows sharks and eels to fight on land... if you can get behind something like that, then they can fit fine... if you cant and "magic" isnt a good enough reason than it may be a problem. :) Not a problem for me though.
@William Redford
That was my rational.
If you using them for your own undersea skirmish game or what not you want them swimming.
If your getting regiments worth your probably substituting them for Deepkin or the Mantic equivalent. And as Deepkin have sharks and such swimming around on dry land they might as well have mermaids with tails fighting on land while they are at it.
Just as a thought exercise, if Mermaid Infantry was successful, what war machines or mounts could be made?
For mounts and/or chariots how about something prehistoric?
For a cavalry mount how about a pseudo Ichthyosaur? (AKA reptile porpoise on heroin).
Or a Mososaurus? (AKA cracked out alligator eel?)
Maybe the chariot is pulled by a Pleisiosaurus? (AKA Nessie).
Crustaceans are naturally armored, so I think would fit well for beasts of war.
Shrimp/ Prawns as cavalry or chariots... Crabs as monstrous cav or crewed beasts...
A giant war crab would be pretty awesome. That last crab model with platform that you posted is boss.
Good substitute for this thing:
The mount clearly gets its own attacks.
Off hand, I can't see it being a roaring success, but on the other hand I didn't see the demand for Landsknecht Ogres coming either.
In Warhammer, ogres have been stereotyped as mercenaries for decades. They are available for hire in other armies, and the ogre army itself has a unit of those guys making it back home with all their grizzled experience and scavenged foreign gear. Before I started playing in late 6th edition, there even were ogre units on the empire list AFAIK. So its not exactly coming from nowhere.
The mermaid minis would probably be posed upright and swimming. (Not "beached".)
I am reminded of undead bursters - zombies and skeletons half stuck in the graves from which they are being raised right now. Kings of War has a few of those in the kits. Could do a smattering (like, one per sprue) where the base is the water surface, and the creature's upper body is lounging on a rock sticking out of the water - an economic rank filler for wargames, or a specific overlap between the scenes in RPGs. Otherwise, there might be a smart way to do a multipurpose shape that could be used both with a transparent rod like a flying base as well as with some snake body coiling on the ground.
Oh, and these don't necessarily have to be all-female.
@Blutze Yeah. We discussed a bit about empire ogres in this therad:
discussion about empire ogres
I think that the kit would be more useful as mixed gender... but wonder if it would make them more or less popular. I see people on Facebook always balk when female minis are mentioned and those that dont seem to mind female mins always state they dont like mixed gender boxes... I would be interested though.
@William Redford @Blutze
Please no MerBros. It's in the name - MerMAIDS.
Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty. Merman Pop! MerMAN!
@JTam well... :) in d&d anyway its "merfolk". Its funny i just re-saw Zoolander this week... :)
There's the classic Sea Horse mount.
And I see why it's popular mount in fiction. It's literally called a "Sea Horse."
That being said (and I hesitate to inject "realism" into a discussion about mermaid cavalry) have you seen how slow sea horses are? "I'm going to get off and swim myself, it's faster."
Mermaids riding fast, strong, and intelligent dolphins as mounts seems like a good fit.
For the purposes of a kit, I'm envisioning the mermaids riding atop the dolphins sidesaddle.
An intriguing idea is two mermaids gaining mobility by hitching a ride to the fight by grasping a dolphin's dorsal fin. Much like some ancient light Infantry supposedly hitched rides by grasping the mane of a horse.
For reference it would seem GW went with giant eel mounts for their cavalry.
@JTam That deepkin meme. Also giant armored fish bowl tanks.
@William Redford I would be okay with them being all female (could use them as sirens, etc. that way) and having a more fishlike fishman set be thier male counterpart (Lovecrafters would love that). real question is should they be strickly fish tailed or should they have leg swaps.
@Brian Van De Walker Leg swaps would definitely give teh set more versatility.
Perhaps include alternate heads.
Traditional beauties:
And horrors:
(Scary)
(Scarier)
(Scariest)
Probably go with scariest for the kit. No half measures.
Plot Twist! Release Mermaids as part of the upcoming Warring States range.
@JTam Not mermaids, but have you seen the movie, Cold skin? The Fish people look alot like the GW Nemarti.
Cold Skin Wikepedia page
The movie takes place ... actually I am not sure. t could be early 1900's, late 1800's or some other period around that. One of the main characters is in a war with these fishmen that keep attacking his lighthouse. He defends it every night, killing a large amount. He hates them, without actually giving a reason, and you get the feeling that they attack only because of his hatred and killing of them. A female fishman lives with him. He ... uses her for comfort... but seems to still hate her... You kind of find out that she is there to try and stop the killing... A stranger comes to the island and helps the man defend the lighthouse but soon realizes that the situation is not as black and white, good vs evil as he thought. He alos developes a relationship with the girl. But I am not sure it is love from either end... Anyway, I wont spoil the whole movie, but I do recommend... Its a french movie I believe. Though I saw it dubbed in English.
@William Redford
That looks like a really interesting movie. Thank You for the heads up.
I unfortunately read the really detailed summary at the wikipedia link. So I might wait a while to see it so the plot twists get fuzzier in memory.
The movie is set in 1914. One of the few time conducting a private war nightly with sea creatures while trapped on an isolated island might be safer than staying on the continent.
It is an odd, melancholy film but has some interesting bits to inspire a gaming scenario.
@JTam
Interesting thought, but I would rather have fox eared girls with nine tails, Chinese wuxia amazons or even totally goof ball sexualized hopping Vampires for warring states if we are talking seductive females fantasy subjects that fit in with that.
@Brian Van De Walker I second everything this man just said! And vote to elect him president of new ideas for kits for Wargames Atlantic. Long live our De Walker overlords! and I look forward to serving them in any capacity they deem fit!
I'd hate to hijack this but the talk of the future of evolution had me thinking about crabmen
I mean they are the best animals this planet has to offer and a crustacean based race certainly has almost no representation outside of the old house hadross stuff for wrath of kings
Reaper actually makes a crustaman very similar to that image (44110), but as usual with RPG minis it is only a single one and you can't really run a varied group (poses, gear, abilities, sizes, etc) of them.
That being said: Crustaman!
@Blutze Would Crabmen have or need gear? I mean they are already armored and don't they generally have claws for hands?
Well, we are talking about crustamen instead of just giant crabs. That means these are monstrous humanoids with above-animal intelligence and not mindless vermin, and the one on Ethan's image is even wearing some clothing. So it stands to reason that they might have at least some "manual" dexterity. Means they could have:
- Decorative stuff (talismans, loincloth vs loinalgae)
- Music intruments
- Banners (ok, that is more of a wargaming thing, but I tend to mix it up between warband encounters and single monsters)
- Spellcasting foci
- Ranged (throwing, slings, bows) and reach (whips, chains, poles) weapons
- Shields (especially if your system has some active defense mechanic, like "negate one attack per round" instead of just a flat bonus to some defensive score)
So depending on the power difference between a single crustaman and a single PC, and depending on your ruleset, it could easily be non-zero even for a creature like this. I was also partly commenting on the general issue, because it does apply to all kinds of humanoid creatures. Its why I prefer using wargaming regiment boxes for the work on my monster manual.
And at the very least I'd want different poses so even without any gear they aren't hard carbon copies and you can communicate at the table (this is more of a player's perspective, but the same idea applies to DMs to a degree and you can't always do it just through colors).
