Designing miniatures for the Jewish Revolt against Rome

In this blog post I wanted to talk about the process I went through to design my first wave of Jewish Revolt figures for Northwing Miniatures, the first ever miniatures I’ve designed. However, I don’t want anyone to think that I am writing from a position of experience, because I am absolutely not an expert in any way! At best I am an enthusiastic amateur. Nevertheless, I wanted to share my first experience of dipping my toe into the vast ocean that is wargames figure design in case you were thinking of doing so yourself, or if you are just curious.

The Sicarii - the first miniatures I designed

I’ve already written about why I wanted to produce miniatures for the Jewish Revolt against Rome, which you can find here: https://www.northwingminiatures.com/about

Metal, Resin, or 3d Prints

Before starting the design process I did some fairly basic market research, on the back of which I set myself two primary objective: all miniatures must be one-piece castings (excluding shields), and they must be metal. My rationale for making them single-piece figures is that I wanted to make painting them as easy as possible. This way people can take them out of the box and start painting them straight away. I personally hate glueing metal kits together (possibly due to childhood experiences of trying to assemble GW kits!) As for making them in metal, I personally like the tactile heft that metal models give you when playing with them on the tabletop. For this reason I also discounted resin (at least for this wave of minis). Plus, according to the WSS Great Wargames Survey results, metal is second only to plastic in popularity as a material for historical wargames figures. While doing a range of 3d printed miniatures might ultimately be more cost efficient, I love the more traditional approach.

Casting

The next task I set myself was to look around for a company to cast my figures. It might seem more logical to find a sculptor first, but from experience in other fields I know that the limitations of production are usually the main factors dictating what can be achieved. After all, there is little point designing a fantastic looking miniature if it cannot be easily produced. I settled on Griffin Moulds (who produce figures for Bloody Miniatures for example). Lisa at Griffin was kind enough to spend half an hour with me on the phone explaining how the casting process worked, things to look out for and be aware of when designing a miniature range, costs and so on.

The casting process for my miniatures went as follows:

1.     The figure is sculpted – you can sculpt a mini from scratch or on a blank. Blanks are useful if creating a range of figures as it reduces the overall cost. I had mine produced from three blanks (one walking, running, and the final one standing), along with all the weapons and helmets.

2.     The blanks are sent for casting in a low temperature silicon mould and then returned to the sculptor.

3.     The sculptor then sculpts the final figures.

4.     The figures are sent for production casting. If they are fragile (like mine) they are first cast in a low temperature mould, then made into a master mould. Finally, a production mould is created from this.

5.     Voila! Miniatures can now be cast to your hearts content.

The primary thing I learnt from this conversation was the importance of thinking of efficiencies. For instance, the mould size Griffin typically uses fits approximately eighteen 28mm figures. When designing my first wave of figures it therefore made sense to maximise the usage of this space – after all, you’re paying for the whole thing regardless. This was one of the main reasons I settled on 13 figures, 5 of whom would have shields. With thirteen figures and eight shields (two shields of each type for a total of eight, with two shields being approximately the size of a 28mm model from a mould perspective) this would fill the mould.

Design and Sculpting

Understanding how my figures would be cast and knowing what pitfalls to avoid I then approached a sculptor. For this I have Annie Norman of Bad Squiddo Games to thank, as she was kind enough to put me in touch with Alan Marsh. When looking for a sculptor I had certain requirements, principally the ability to sculpt characterful and realistically proportioned figures. I have long admired Bad Squiddo’s Viking range, much of which was sculpted by Alan, so this was a perfect fit.

Obviously, however, I would need to provide Alan with a design brief so he would know what I had in mind. As someone who cannot draw, drawing concept art of future miniatures was never going to be something I could hope to achieve. I wish I could, and I hope to work on this particular skillset in the near future. However, I am realistic enough to know that such a skill takes years to develop. If you are fortunate enough to have such skills then I think this is the best approach to take.

I therefore decided on a hybrid approach, combining both visual and written elements to showcase my thoughts. During my research into the Jewish Revolts I had created a library of images and notes, describing what they might have worn, how they would look, and so on. I added into this a host of images that showed people in the different poses I was after, from their stance to how they held weapons. I then condensed this down into the key elements for each miniature and pulled all of this information into a PowerPoint. This turned into quite a large document!

Since designing the first wave I have slightly changed how I create this design document. As well as the visual and descriptive elements I also include a brief narrative about the model. For example, in a model I am working on the design for at the moment, I have described how she is creeping through a cave, giving her some background and personality. I think this helps Alan better understand what story I want the miniature to tell.

Each miniature was accompanied by a variety of images that captured each of the elements of the figure. For instance, when designing the helmets I included photos of several museum pieces showing off various perspectives of the helmet. Alongside these images I also included a description of the miniature, trying to capture the design succinctly but also in sufficient detail to minimise any guesswork Alan might have to do.

Despite this sounding like quite a prescriptive process, I was also keen to give Alan plenty of room to explore and develop my ideas. He is an outstanding sculptor and creative, far more so than I. One of the things I like about his previous work is his personal style that he imbues his sculpts with, so I wanted to give him plenty of latitude to develop things as he saw fit. Plus, as an experienced sculptor he has a much better understanding of what works in a figure and what doesn’t. This resulted in the briefing pack being passed back and forth between us as we built on my original ideas, with Alan asking questions and making suggestions and me filling in the gaps. After the third or fourth iteration we had successfully come up with a comprehensive design document and Alan started work. Whilst sculpting Alan came back to me with a couple more questions and some fantastic suggestions. With the sculpts completed they were then sent for casting and the rest is history.

Peasant throwing a roof tile. The tile has a cat's paw print embedded in it - this is one of my favourite sculpts.

Final Thoughts

If you like the idea of making and selling your own range of figures, there are a couple of pieces of advice I would give you:

1.     Ask lots of questions. Wargaming people are very friendly! It is worth saying that I would not be where I am today with Northwing Miniatures had it not been for the help and support of a variety of industry people. So, don’t be worried about looking stupid, as it is much better to show a willingness to learn than stubbornly try to hide your ignorance!

2.     It is hard work and will suck up a lot of your time (and money). But it is very rewarding.

3.     There is a lot more to producing miniatures than designing them and casting them. An awful lot more. You have to think about website design, consider legal and regulatory requirements, tariffs and import regulations, packaging, marketing, and so much more. Take your time to understand these elements, as the consequences of not doing so can be significant.

Finally, thank you for reading. If you have any questions or thoughts I’d love to hear them.