Stargrave Miniatures: So Much Plastic Goodness!

I hopped onto the Stargrave nickstarter earlier this year, but I've gotta admit that I didn't do it for the game.  I did it for the miniatures.

I was really excited when I first heard about Stargrave, and could not wait to get my grubby little mitts on it!  A sci fi game that uses mechanics similar to Frostgrave?!? Heck yeah!  Then as it got closer I heard that it didn't use mechanics similar to Frostgrave, it basically was Frostgrave reskinned which really took the wind out of my sails.  I love playing the original, but why would I pay for exactly the same game with the names swapped out?

I will admit that I haven't looked at the book since it was actually released, and maybe... hopefully... this isn't entirely true but for now I'm in no rush to get this one which I why I went with the miniatures only option on the Nickstarter.

I've had the three boxes kicking around since they were released, but it wasn't until I started looking more into Zona Alfa and Five Parsecs that I broke them open and really looked at all the little gribbly bits that are in them.  With so much sitting around unpainted or even assembled, I really want to try to make use of my current collection before rushing out to add more, and these three sets look like they might be the key!

The first of the sets is the Crew, a sprue from which is shown below.

Of the three sets, these are the most day to day.  The bodies are clothed in more everyday wear than the other sets, and the weapons are a mix of handguns, SMGs, shotguns, and some basic rifles.  There are also a number of fun bits to add some flavor; backpacks, pouches, holsters, datapads, and a few more doohickeys ta boot.  And since this isn't enough variety, there are also the heads.  There are 20 of them on each of the four sprues, with a good mix of bare heads, alien heads, and even a couple of helmets for good measure.  An added plus is that the pairs of arms are all number coded on the flat that attaches to the shoulder, making it easy to get a matching set.

While it's good to have access to your "everyman" set, it's also handy to be able to bring in the bigger guns when you need them.  For this, you'll need to get yourself some mercenaries.

Where the crewmembers have everyday clothing, the mercenaries are ready for the rough and tumble with a mix of body armors.  This is a touch that I really like because each of the five bodies on the sprue are kitted out differently to give you a variety to choose from.  Their gear is much more businesslike as well, with most of the options being a bullpup configuration assault rifle.  Of course, that's not all since no self respecting merc would miss out on a machine gun, sniper rifle, or rocket launcher.  On top of this, there are a couple of backpacks, pouches, and even grenades, not to mention a whopping 22 heads per sprue!  Since merc are a bit more concerned about protecting their melon, a good number of these heads are helmeted, plus there are even more of the alien heads so you can keep spicing things up.

Last but not least, we have the men and women of the space force of your choosing.

These minis take the armor up another notch and are pretty uniform in style across the whole sprue, which is perfect for a bunch of troopers.  Their weapons step things up as well since most of the rifles on this sprue look to be some kind of bullpup combat rifles.  On top of these, they also have some more advanced looking SMGs, a scoped rifle, and a more advanced machine gun and missile launcher for good measure.  A majority of the 19 heads are helmeted, as you would expect from a military group, but this set is also the only one of the three that includes distinctly female heads.

All told, these sets give you a ton of options individually, and if you start combining them?  The sky is the limit!  I could see some people complaining about the leg/torso body configuration since that take away one modelling option, but when you compare that to all the bits and doodads that you get it seems like a fair trade!  I also love all of the options as far as the heads since those lend themselves to giving the minis even more character.

As for future developments on this line, I could see them introducing a box of female crew and/or mercs in the future, like they did with the Frostgrave plastics but even as is, there are the female heads in the trooper box to give you some options.

Now the question is which box is the best bet of the three?  I like all of them, and I'm glad that I have all three to mix and match with, but if I only bought one it would be the mercenaries.  I think that this set is versatile enough with the bits that are in it that you could easily slot them into a modern or sci-fi setting and not be out of place.  The outfits they are wearing are aren't crazily armored or over the top sci-fi looking, and I think this set has the most well rounded selection of weapons as well.

After that, I'd say the crew box and then the troopers, but this is just because of their versatility.  The crew have a more casual look to them with good options so I can see them fitting into a number of different situations, while the troopers are just straight up military.  They are equipped with more advanced combat weapons and body armor which limits their options a bit.  It's not like you can run out to the local store and pick up a set of military armor, right?  They are still good minis though, just as I said, slightly more limited in the application.

The next step for me will be perusing though these sets so I can start assembling my stalkers for Zona Alfa and my crew for Five Parsecs.  I'm going to try to only use minis on hand for these two systems instead of adding to the unpainted pile of shame.  It's going to be tricky in some cases, but my wallet and I are excited to see how I can do!  Until next time...