Shadowrun in Miniature Options

[Ironworker]

Do any of you use miniatures in your shadowrun games? I play in Redjack's game and we use them fairly often. Lately I've been converting some miniatures for our group which got me going on a larger Shadowrun project.


You can find my Shadowrun stuff on my Blog.

[bibliophile20]

Personally, I use Maptools, which is especially handy since my group is scattered all over the USA at the moment for the winter holidays (New York, California, Maryland, West Virgina), but even in person, I just host it over the apartment LAN (also has built-in support for SR4E dice rolling, which is very, very useful.)

[Fatum]

We stay in narrative, without using maps...

[Paul]

We use woodcraft spools and a laminated one inch grid square, with dry erase markers for tactical combat. Because my laminated grid square is 2 foot by 4 foot I also write down dates, weather notes, windage, etc....as well as draw a variety of maps on it. Combines with Google Maps and Google Earth I am able to produce a large quantity of materials relevant to the game really cheaply.

Woodcraft spools cost about a buck for a bag of twenty plus, and come in eight plus sizes. (Which coincidentally is the basic size system used by D&D....) I keep them in a cheap plastic craft box, that is transparent and cost me just over two dollars. I can literally draw a city street and populate it if need be, with almost a hundred people for a tactical combat.

[Redjack]

We use wet erase markers on a battle map I picked up at Gen Con a few years back. We have pulled out everything from toy cars to wood blocks in addition to miniatures, but we really like Ironworker's miniatures.

[nightslasthero]

I have a battlemap that I use when running a D20 game, but something about that just hasn't seemed worth it for shadowrun. Though it might be interesting to give it a shot once, but I think in the long run, I'd need several maps because of the likely hood of groups of players splitting up.

[Mercer]

We used to use minis a lot more. Mostly it was Micro Machines and 1/72 scale plastic figures, because that's what I had left over from my childhood. Nowadays when we play we generally don't bother with it. Combat is either narrative or when things get complicated, we'll use a map.

[CanRay]

I have a mini of my character Nas that came all the way from Germany.

[KarmaInferno]

Iron Wind Metals still sells the "official" metal Shadowrun Miniatures.

for Shadowrun and other future-based games, I have personally used stuff by Hasslefree Miniatures, Infinity, and Warmachine.




-k

[CanRay]

I can see this one being used a lot, KI. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Paul]

Wow. Almost 5 bucks a pop for miniatures?

[Erik Baird]

Yeah. Minis used to be a lot cheaper before people started whining about using lead and the companies switched to pewter. If you think those prices are bad, though, look up Games Workshop.

[CanRay]

Soon they'll be made in China and we'll be back to Lead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Darquewing]

I know GW all too well. I used to own 14,000 points of Eldar models (~$3000). As for Shadowrun I am working up a lot of stuff from World Works Games, "Streets of Mayhem" paper terrain, and painting up a lot of minis from Wargames Foundry's "Street Violence" range. Some of the models are actually sized well enough to double as Works with a good paint job. A couple would work as Trolls with some minor conversion work.

Time to bust out the "green stuff".

[Fatum]

GW doesn't sell minis, it sells belonging to the community. Hence the prices.

[Saint Hallow]

Long ago, when I was poor & had trouble painting mini's... a very nice GM of mine used to draw our characters then cut them out & tape them to bottle caps with cardboard backings. Cheap mini's. While not fancy, each was individual & looked how we described our characters. I miss those mini's still.

[Redjack]

I know GW all too well. I used to own 14,000 points of Eldar models (~$3000). As for Shadowrun I am working up a lot of stuff from World Works Games, "Streets of Mayhem" paper terrain, and painting up a lot of minis from Wargames Foundry's "Street Violence" range. Some of the models are actually sized well enough to double as Works with a good paint job. A couple would work as Trolls with some minor conversion work.

Time to bust out the "green stuff".

Wow! Those are both great sites and the prices are enticing, compared to the competition.

[3278]

We use woodcraft spools and a laminated one inch grid square, with dry erase markers for tactical combat.

To be honest, I don't know how we could use standard miniatures in Shadowrun. In D&D, where ranges are fairly short, sure, but the size of table you'd need to be able to fit our typical Shadowrun battle on at anything like the correct scale would be ridiculous. And we usually artificially limit the size of battles, to keep from running out of room! If we regularly did 1500 meter engagements...

[Redjack]

There are times when a team is running towards the edge of the map, sniping, etc. At those times we place them on the edge of the map and track distance to the edge. It definitely changes the dynamic of getting to melee from a sniping distance. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Paul]

And we usually artificially limit the size of battles, to keep from running out of room! If we regularly did 1500 meter engagements...

We'd make do, but yeah it'd be a pain in the ass.

[3278]

Come to think of it, for those who use miniatures, what scale do you use on your maps?

[Redjack]

1" = 1m

[TeOdio]

Depends on the mood. I like mini's, but I also hate how you get this omniscient view of the fight. When doing narrative the GM has more control over what the player's character knows and sees, which can build more tension and drama. But with mini's you get a chance to as a player to flex your tactical muscles a bit more, satisfying the war game itch. As far as what I use, I keep it simple, hex based battle mat with dry erase. If I have time, I create transparent sheets with rooms / floors already drawn on them to lay on the mat. I use 2 meter hexes as far as scale goes.

[CanRay]

Being bored for a few... Days. My group made a giant table that's a full square grid.

Too bad the sharpie wore off. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Wakshaani]

I can't believe that someone took over mini production.

That's ... awesome, really. Even with the old molds and the teensy scale (25 mm... been a while!), the notion of grabbing a few up is hard to overcome.