Group shot:
I really like that shot. All together they look like the cast of a tv show due to how every single one of them is so unique and many of them are really characterful.
As everybody who ever searched for modern 28mm scale civilians, they're darned hard to find and if so, they usually are kind of expensive (Hasslefree, for example, do GREAT civilians but they're about 4 pounds a piece including shipping which is a bit steep if you need a handful of them). As I was looking around two weeks ago, after my first two games of All Things Zombie I noticed how much stuff I lack for playing that kind of game. First and foremost - civilians and a few gangers. However, you can implement those guys in any present-day or futuristic setting as mission objectives, hinderances, hostages, annoyances - anything pretty much. Many Infinity scenarios also require you to have civilians so there you go.
During a late night search for suitable and affordable miniatures I happened across No Go Zone (http://www.no-go-zone.com/index.html), a miniatures wargame based on "the British Urban Sprawl where Chaos and Law collide". Immediately I felt reminded of the 2011 riots in England of course. Weird. Haven't really looked into the ruleset yet but as an intereesting twist, it seems to be based on a kind of rock-paper-scissors system. No, you really play rock-paper-scissors (with slightly different hand signs and five thereof). Interesting idea but a bit exploitable I think as the random element is reduced to "mind games", reading people and so on. Not my kind of thing but definately something different.
Anyways, the company who sells these minis does a pack of six civilians for six pounds per pack and a pack of six gangers for the same price. For a quid a metal figure you can't do much wrong really. Apart from that you also get some nifty base "tops" for the minis to stand on. They look nice but some are a bit thickly cast. You also get one plastic 20mm round base for each mini.
As for the minis themselves - well, this is not exactly top notch quality. You can read this as a positive, encouraging you to sculpt your own minis ("what is this, I can do that just as well if not better!"
) but most people will see it as a negative. Casting is okay but there were some annoying miscasts as if small parts of the moulds ripped out earlier. Hands especially don't look very well done for today's standards. It certainly is no standard you're used to if you play some of the bigger name games with the expensive metal minis. But what the heck, it's 1 quid a figure and it's civilians and it would be weird if they looked better than your stars.In terms of scale and size they're pretty much Heroic 28mm mins. Big heads, big hands, interestingly feet are almost in scale. Sculpting quality, as I said, is so-so. That said, once they're painted, they look really nice and what at first looks like clumsy, silly sculpted faces start to look surprisingly sympathetic and characterful once painted. Details are ....well, they are there but nothing huge. But again, they do the trick and I really grew fond of that lot.
I can absolutely understand if people don't like the sculpts but for me they work because they do what they're required to do - they're a diverse group of civilians (some of them shady or criminal looking) suited for many different games and settings. And for the price I'd say that those aren't half bad.
One word about the painting: I really had to finish those quickly because there's so much else to do so most of the models, especially the clothes, were painted very "roughly". Works perfectly fine for playing and seeing them on the tabletop though. Very much looking forward to using them in games.
I'd be really interested to hear what you think of these minis. If you paint a mini from A to Z and finished it you (or at least I) usually "bonded" with that figure after the painting process. I put effort into it and I usually end up liking them, even if I wasn't fond of the sculpt before. So what do you think?
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Now you've got me doing it!
) its ideal as Scientist-Mini 
