I remember the Warmaster: Ancients: Fantasy being over at the Warmaster Ancients Yahoo Group.

Hordes of the Things would probably be an appropriate ruleset? - It was when I first looked at it

If I was to offer any suggestions, it would be to try and break into the current markets. You have Epic at 6mm and Warmaster at 10mm.

For Epic you need to have models that can be used as both fantasy and sci-fi. Hence the Chaos forces come to mind. Try and get some unique models into this line and build the money from there.

Some of the larger models can help substitute armies for Warmaster's more expensive and rarer armies (Araby, Lizardmen). Get onto those groups and start to advertise models that can be used at a 10mm scale.

All this does is help to build a consistent audience. Then release a free rules set and support it. Keep it going and you should HOPEFULLY eventually have a small niche group that takes up your range.

I am going back to my cave now...

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I quite like the idea of 6mm fantasy, I'm not really sure which rule system would be best to target though (from my dabblings with Warmaster it seems that the original game would benefit from some rework to include fixes from WMA, and I know zilch about the DBA/M/MM/? rules so am probably not in a good position to comment there), or if indeed there is one out there at all, maybe the fan driven WMA fantasy mods would be a good place to start.

I agree with Frogbear, the best way to build interest might be to initially sell models which can work for Epic too (and there are massive gaps in the Chaos range that need plugging, particularly LaTD, there's also scope for 'feral orks' and maybe some of the Inquisition units) whilst showing high quality pictures of the models being used in their intended fantasy setting. This would get you sales and quite possibly tempt some to start collecting (and modelling, and posting online) fantasy armies as well as probably helping build the rules system.

Good luck!

Didn't know that. You learn something new everyday.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

Getting your figures to be featured in other people's rules sets is a very good move.

6mm sci fi has the benefit that you have the ability to use some very large models which simply aren'y feasible in larger scales. However, Fantasy monsters can all be well represented in 10/12/15mm without breaking the bank (or the gaming table). As such its far harder to "sell" the concept of 6mm as having its benefits, whilst keeping its clear definition from historical mass combat.

In my experience, 6mm fantasy suffers worse than any other area because of the classic bias towards 6mm. Fantasy gamers like to have character in their armies and be able to see that they are "different", "otherwise they may as well play ancients" - phrases I have heard many times over.

Combined with the lack of anything truly huge to be eye catching, you need to do two things - show that your models have great character & detail beyond what most fantasy gamers think 6mm is capable of (which yours do) and show them in huge armies to make people see they can have that character on a massive scale, which just wouldn't be possible in larger figures.

So basically, after that little rant, I return to my original statement - getting your armies and figures represented in other people's games is a great step, but make sure you provide them with enough models to look impressive in an army shot, and enough detail on a few paintjobs to make people reading it go "wow, I didn't realise that was 6mm...."

Good luck!

Hey Steve,

email me regarding rules - I might have something up my sleeve...

KJ

As a retailer and member of a phenominal local gaming community, I'd say getting out and showing off the product is key. One of my favorite things to do when I come here is head straight for the pictures. Well painted models with killer terrain behind it is my delight, and I save most of what people post and have it as a screensaver

Whether this takes the form of nicely done "action" shots, complete with terrain, or local demos at the FLGS, getting pics up on the site to get others excited about your product should be key.

As someone else mentioned, showing how your product can be best used might be a good ploy as well. I often get to tease the W40K players who play "full mech" armies and have 4 or 5 transports on the table. I smile and say "your whole army might fight in one of my units in Epic!". Model count may be the same, but the SCOPE is so different! I assume some fantasy rules might give 6mm fantasy this edge over other 28mm fantasy games as well?

Good luck!

My first thought on this is: well, the problem in breaking into the fantasy market is that there's already a line of 10mm Warmaster figures.

But on second thought you're right... the better idea is to ignore the competition from 10mm figures and compete explicitly against 28mms. (It's not as if Granpa Wargamer is actively promoting its 10mm line).

It does not need to. It has an established player base that will not look at any other rules outside GW

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Heh. Leaving aside debates over Gramps business strategy, the point is there is an established player base for 10mm that is fairly small and not growing all that much. As far as I can see, not much reason to try to make inroads. There's a much larger player base at the 28mm scale that might even be growing -- and Gramps has been trying to show off army-scale games with 28mm men. But it's a lot easier to do the Battle of Five Armies, Minas Tirith, or Helm's Deep, at 6mm than at 28mm.

Much better to prosthelytize in that larger market than fighting for the 10mm crowd. Competing to drain off some of the 28mm market may be a solution to two problems, in that 28mms are a larger market, and in response to Tuffskull's point, it's a lot easier to draw the distinction between 28mms and 6mms than 10s and 6s.

I agree with Carrington. I think your target market here is the 6mm Sci-Fi players who love the scale and havent, for one reason or another, considered Warmaster (myself being in that group) OR 28mm players who might not even be aware a) that smaller options exist, and b) how freaking cool this scale is!

I cant tell you how often I am asked for demos of Epic. Its not always because people want to play Epic, per se, although that is a natural progression once shown the rules, but its because my FLGS now carries 6mm models and terrain in the store. People are curious. I wrote up a 2-page "briefer" on 6mm and had it on the counter and it was received very well.

Imagine if this was done at a 6mm fantasy level, especially now that yet another edition of Fantasy rules are out. Fantasy is HUGE right now, because new editions tend to do this. I smell converts, I really do.

Get the models out, in their full glory, and show them off. This means In Real Life, on websites, blogs, podcasts, blah blah blah. It takes work to launch a new line, or get an existing line "into the mainstream". Time that can be worth it, or a total waste of time, to be honest - you need the tools to monitor the progress of your marketing.

I have grabbed a few products from the Orc and Undead to use in Epic armies, but I do like the idea of 6mm fantasy as a potential genre. I think if you could get a ruleset that really does the mass battle thing properly ( and I'm not sure Warmaster is it), and have some really good quality promotional montages of excellently painted huge armies clashing you'd be on the right track.

Once again, thankyou everyone for the input. Just curious, what would people consider a huge army? 500 foot, 100 cavalry and an assortment of monsters? 1000 foot etc.?

If I think in Epic terms (NetEpic to be precise) a 4000 point IG army I use has around 84 infantry and 32 cavalry stands (plus a Titan, 3 superheavies and 9 tanks). So that's 420 foot and 64 cav in something I'd consider a medium sized army. So 500 foot and 100 cav is getting up there, but you'd probably need to double it to get to huge I'd think.

Of course with fantasy you're probably talking ten castings + per stand, thirty or more per unit. Zap, you're talking about 17 activations/17 units, right?