Why
Vanguard Miniatures is a manufacturer mainly of 6mm miniatures that very soon from when I found out about them, I have almost immediately placed an order. And I was not disappointed ever since. Years ago, I could not keep up with the releases of Vanguard Miniatures. Today I am in the same situation and their new miniatures released are still having a well made design, heavily influenced by the Warhammer 40.000 Epic wargame. There are many reasons to start collecting a different army and a different army and so on. The miniatures that I found there were simply superb, I realized soon by comparing with others that they are the best on the market (a close second is Alternative Armies) - this is a general view on their ranges of miniatures, as some may prove maybe lacking certain level of detail, but the bar is high up. As an important plus for starting to collect these miniatures is as mentioned the fact that they are close to the miniatures of Games Workshop and their 6mm wargame Epic 40k (and their other games in 6mm, now out of production). And finally, another reason for collecting these miniatures is that some of the design are spectacular and as a certain very important person or in this case miniature, is good to muster an army with a leader into one of the war machines produced by Vanguard Miniatures. So let us see what was achieved with these miniatures.
How
Almost all of the miniatures are from metal, a few from resin, while another part uses a mix of these materials. They can be cleaned fast and painted easily. In the middle, we have the assembling and the gluing of some parts, in general quite easy to be done. Sometimes, these preliminary steps can be a nightmare, for instance for the infantry miniatures (cutting from the metal sprue, cleaning leftovers from the weapons of these tiny miniatures and trying in this process not to destroy some parts, like the poles of flags, but hey, you wanted details and lots of them!!), but do not get me misunderstood, the details and the general design is worth the time and attention invested. The website of the Vanguard Miniatures has many photos of the miniatures, even painted examples, so the hobbyist have a great support from this website.
Results
A good collection in expanding process (did I said a never ending quest?) was achieved from the Defeat in Detail, 6mm range of miniatures from Vanguard Miniatures. This range is composed of many subranges (factions and subfactions) with many miniatures, that only some of them were collected by me. The Vanguard Miniatures has many ranges of miniatures, in other scales than 6mm (3mm and 15mm), it sells miniatures from other manufacturers like Onslaught Miniatures, Gregster's Lab and Microworld Games and has on its own ranges of miniatures like: Troublemaker Games (also a company), Defeat in Detail, BattleGroup Helios, terrain and accessories (hope I did not miss something, and pay attention to the fact that Vanguard Miniatures keeps expanding, also in wargame section - ”City Crushers” -, so some of the things can come fast outdated).
Review
As mentioned in the previous sections, the level of details on Vanguard Miniatures products is very high. Sometimes, the prices can be quite steep and the new trade regulations and taxes (for example international transport and duties) may prove to be a serious obstacle in having access to these miniatures. On the other hand, it is really an effort that it deserves to be done, at least for some miniatures.
Working with these miniatures is not that hard, but some of the design may be well handled by advanced hobbyist or with enough time to invest (infantry example mentioned). For some of the miniature it is quite understood in the first moments that you look at the miniature, that the process will not be easy at all. Decimator Heavy Tank is a good example of what I want to point here, but when looking at this beast I think you will be convinced to offer it a chance and to bring it into your collection. Other miniatures, pardon me, beasts, are easy to glue and still look menacing from a considerable distance, like it is the case of Assasin Super-heavy Tank .
Vanguard Miniatures offer a huge variety in terms of ranges/factions of miniatures: Cybershadow Technocracy, Eloi Federation, Novan Convent, Novan Elites, Novan Regulars, Renegade Novan Elites, Renegade Regulars, Sentinels and Skinners. The majority of the miniatures are land miniatures, but some of them are aircraft and such. Infantry, land vehicles (wheeled, tracked, grav), artillery (fixed or mobile), robots (small, medium and big like Fire Banshee Detachment) and aircrafts. Miniatures can be assembled in general in many postures and with a different set of equipment, and this is certainly, a nice advantage for Vanguard Miniatures. Breacher Siege Harness or Marauder (A) Battle Striders are good examples for the customizing level of the miniatures. Infantry comes with many postures, but with exceptions like Heavy Siege Armour Suppressors, but in many numbers for the money you pay (same example applies here, but also Affray Squads or Nuclear Wastes Infantry or the excellent Nuclear Wastes Specialists). Out of all the ranges, Novan grand faction is by far the more developed one (Novan Regulars and Novan Elites are the two lead ranges of miniatures in this category). An important point to make, is that all these miniatures are in scale with each other, and also with those of many other producers of 6mm miniatures.
The ranges of the miniatures may be regarded as easily expanded if we think that some of the concepts were developed with many variants (Centurion Tank for example, with lots of guns configuration, but also, and this is something quite rare in 6mm, with a tank commander that can be represented in the turret cupola - Desert Tank Commanders, Political Officer Tank Commanders and others). Oil Drums (Fuel Dump), Logistics Boxes (Supply Dump) can be used to further customize the miniature or the battlefield that you decide to play on. This is truly something, as they say, only limited by your own imagination (and money in this respect). Being able to play with cavalry in a sci-fi setting is another nice thing to have and Desert Cavalry Company orDesert Cavalry Company Set 2 are currently my top favorites. Sometimes the level of detail can be a problem if you have problems with if you are a perfectionist, other times, if you can keep a balance between it all, it is a bless. This can be the case for Heavy Armour and Heavy Armour Command, Swarm Dominus, Bike Leaders, but also for many other miniatures. Flamethrower Tanks and many other vehicles and beasts from Skinners that are showing their drivers and other passengers like Tribal Skinners Finback War Beasts. And frankly this applies to any miniatures, but the possibility is high with these miniatures. Still, a set of simple thin paint coats will do these miniatures justice. When you add to your collection such impressive miniatures, and just for the sake of not boring the reader, I will offer other and not exhaustive examples, like Heavy Artillery, Engine Upgrades, Limbers, Crusher or Beast Class Superheavies, to focus only on Skinners faction.
Maybe other aspects need to be taken into consideration for a well-rounded review, maybe other miniatures from this company need to be collected to improve the review, but for certain you are having lots of tools here to make up your mind if Vanguard Miniatures fits your collection or not. You can easily stick with just Vanguard Miniatures on your 6mm sci-fi projects and still be satisfied with the results you achieve, whether you are a part-time hobbyist or a veteran of the hobby. Kudos for Vanguard Miniatures for all these miniatures released and offered to us all!
Click on the links to access the galleries of the ranges of miniatures, totaling 125+ miniatures and thousands of corresponding images.
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