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Miniatures, for those of us who don?t want to ?collect? minis, due to limited space, cash, or desire, are a necessary evil due to the many games with detailed tactical combat systems. This puts us in a bind; miniatures make handling combat much easier, but how to use them without having to handle a ton of minis. Paper minis provide a good solution for to this problem. Paper minis provide a nice alternative to traditional minis, in that they are inexpensive and disposable. When they are packaged as a PDF, you are provided with a reusable, readily available source of minis for your games. Print those that you need, when they get to be a pain to have lying around, you can throw them away, with PDF tucked away for when you need to print some more. They are also handy for ?collectors? of traditional minis to provide additional figures, or non-precious stand-ins if you don?t want to worry about your minis being damaged or lost at an unfamiliar, or merely overcrowded, gaming table.
The figures in Arion Games? miniatures sets come in 3 styles, ?A-frame?, ?Flat?, and ?Triagonal?. The ?A-frame?, and ?Flat? figures can be constructed from the same sheets, depending on how they are cut-out. The ?Triagonal? minis are constructed from a separate sheet. These construction choices provide additional options in preparing your minis for use in the game, major characters or monsters can be constructed as the ?Triagonal? versions to provide a more visual flair, and to emphasize their importance. Other figures can be done as ?A-Frame? or flat versions to make them easier to handle or distinguish them from each other, thus providing a functional use beyond their graphical characteristics.
The instructions are easy to follow and assembling the minis is quick and painless, just requiring a bit of work with scissors and some glue. There are also instructions provided on how to prepare a custom sheet of figures to meet your specific needs. The minis look good, even when printed on plain paper. Each figure is drawn from a 3D rendering (done in Poser using figures provided by DAZED, according to the credits), providing sharp detail and life-like shading, even when printed.
This 7 page PDF (8 with cover & assembly instructions) provides bumper crop of 45 paper miniatures featuring a selection ?Science Fiction Heroes?, all suitable for use as PC or major NPC figures. The clothing and equipment is space-opera inspired lots of body suits and long robes with sharp angular cuts. Some of them are reminiscent of the style of the Andromeda TV series, now cancelled-- deservedly so after the 2nd season, which hyper-jumped the shark. However, they would work well for D20 Future, StarCluster, Hard Nova, Traveller, and similar Space Opera type games. The figures include Agents, Bodyguards, Mercenaries, Pilots, Psychics and similar SF archetypes. All told 30 separate types, plus a bonus selection of 15 ?rubber forehead? alien figures, based on the human figures in the set. In addition, four vehicles are included, a hover bike, assault car, assault hovercar, and ?Orion personal Transport?.
The miniatures include three Agents figures (two male and one female, whose bright blue ?uniform? makes her look like she works security at the local Latex Fetish club,) three Bodyguards figures (two male, one in armored clothing sporting a pistol, one looking like some ?Future Sport? player with breastplate and large ?stick?, and female in slick striped bodysuit with largish gun,) two Engineers figures (both carrying some fearsome looking tools,) two Explorers figures (one male looking quite quixotic in his long robe, and one female in an kneeling action stance,) one Master Psychic figure (looking wise and scholarly in his futuristic tunic and leggings,) six Mercenaries figures (sporting a wide assortment of styles, armor and weaponry, all of whom like they stepped out of Unreal Tournament?which is a good thing,) one Asteroid Miner figure (looking like some kind of anarchist and sporting a large mining tool of some sort,) three Pilots figures (one looking quite brash, the others more businesslike,) two Psychics figures (the male looking like crystal pusher and the girl like she just stepped out of the chill room at 4 day rave with top-loaded pig tails,) three Scouts figures (one of whom makes me want to shout ?I am Tyr Anasazi, of Kodiak Pride, and I will not be denied!?,) finally, it includes four Starship Crewmen figures (in a wide variety of uniforms, from body-suited bridge-rats to military-styled senior officer types.) Then there are the 15 variations of these figures with the aforementioned styles, on which alien heads have been substituted. The variety and detail of the clothing is excellent, with all the textures looking quite good
The four vehicles figures include a Hover Bike figure (all long and thin grey plast-steel composites,), an Assault Car figure (a souped-up dune buggy that the Master Chief would be proud to drive,) a Hover Scout figure (featuring an elongated bulb fuselage sitting on a armored skirt with a huge jet in the back, ?to make it go.?, it looks sleek and fast and is lightly armed,) and an Orion Personal Transport (which looks to be some kind Anti-grav or hover pod one-person flying car contraption.) Nearly all of the textures and details on the figures are sharp and look great. (It should be pointed out that publisher addressed my previous complaints about the kneeling figures being a bit too dark, and went back and touched them up, great support!)
Overall, this is a really great set from Arion games. The figures are varied and look great, and with the addition of the ?rubber forehead? aliens, you get an excellent value too. The figures would fit a wide variety of space-faring SF games, and some of the figures would work well in near-future, cyber-punk, and even Super-Hero games. The Vehicle figures look great, though are less applicable to other games, though the assault car could see lots of use in near-future, espionage, cyber-punk, and military games. I recommend this set to anyone who needs some distinctive SF styled figures for NPCs, PCs, or just to provide some stylish extras for their games. Adding in the fact that you can print as many as you need, and prepare your own figure sheets, this is an excellent value as well.
<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: "Tyr" Scout, Pigtails Psychic. Publisher addressing problems with my previous complaints and released revised version<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: No Rommy android figure?
<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>
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