Cold Wars 2018 AAR... with a twist!

Hey all!

Well, Cold Wars 2018 is in the books... so I thought I would post an AAR...

But there is a difference this time!  I am not posting as a player... I'm posting as a vendor!

So, as I had mentioned, my buddy Mike and I went down to Cold Wars as our new company, Minuteman Miniatures, and we were offering several services...

First, we sell tanks!  LOTS of tanks.  Like... thousands of them, including some CRAZY one-off types... if you want that Bob Semple tank, we've got it!  And we print one or twenty, at nearly ANY scale... and at HALF the price of Battlefront!  If you want the full list, check out our website; we will have it up in a day or two, and we will post more about it then. 

But the real star of the show was our ability to put your head on a miniature!  We honestly had no idea how many people would WANT this... like, we thought it was cool, but had no idea if anyone else would?  Above you can see two of the customers who DIDN'T pick their figure up on Saturday... anyone know who they are?  We have their names, but if someone could guess that would be a trip:)

We did do a brochure in each Cold Wars bag, which ended up really working out... we were the only one in there, which was fun, and also Mike's face was suddenly ALL OVER the place.   Downside?  We COMPLETELY forgot to put an email address or website on it!  Argh!  Live and learn, I suppose?:)

Anyway, we ran the booth at the vendors hall, and it was a WHOLE different experience!  I didn't get a moment of break or a bite of food on Friday at all.  Unfortunately we found out rather late that when the vendor hall closes, that means EVERYONE leaves, including the vendors... as newbies I guess we just didn't think to ask!  So we ended up having to cart the whole printer and computer setup back to the hotel room.  That delayed things by quite a bit, and sleep became tricky... I went to bed at about 1 or so, but poor Mike was so busy trying to get customers ready that he fell asleep in front of his computer at 4 AM!  Then the printer was banging away the whole night... it was pretty bad:)  

Saturday was more of the same... hardly a bite to eat from 9 AM until 6 PM, and I never stopped talking... the guys at the Winger Hussar Miniatures booth I think got sick of me!:)  We were ESPECIALLY happy that we were able to meet so many vendors and even scan them!  I have to say... every single damn vendor was SO nice and supportive and welcoming... it really meant a lot to two total newbies!!

So, we offered the scans for free, and obviously you could buy figures from us, but we ALSO kept the "Of, By, For Gamers" board where people could request figures.  If enough people who got scanned requested the body, we would make it!

Well, we got a TON "sponsored" by Sunday!  So we are emailing our sculptor this morning to get going on an American Civil War officer, a Dark Ages Highlander, a Pirate, a Viking, a mounted Norman, an American Revolution officer, and a Samurai!

And 30s Gangster, Cowboy, Napoleonic British officer, Pulp Adventurer (think Indiana Jones), Polish Winged Hussar, and Sci Fi officer (think Space Marine) are only a few "votes" away... so hopefully by the next convention (seems like we will try to get to Little Wars in Chicago in a few weeks!) they will get sponsored!

Anyway... it was GREAT fun, although COMPLETELY exhausting.  By the end we could tell that the event staff was loopy too, as they came by after the end of the convention and got a few scans done for some truly insane ideas... but hey, if you can make yourself as a tank, why not?:)

Anyway... I just wanted to say... it was so nice to meet SO many gamers, and I was just FLOORED by how understanding and supportive and welcoming EVERYONE was.  Even people who had to wait on lines (we didn't expect that... I hope that the Wargames Illustrateds we bought helped!) and all of that were gracious and understanding.  Sometimes the wargamer community gets attacked for being impatient or snarky or whatever; well, that certainly doesn't seem to be true!

So we will be at Historicon, and maybe a few cons before that, and we were talking with a few game stores about coming to them to do a little sponsored day there... so we should be able to get to as many folks as want to have it done!

And if anyone has any questions, please do let us know... you can email us at mike@minutemanminiatures.com or gp@minutemanminiatures.com! 

Thanks to EVERYONE who came by; it was the treat of a lifetime:)

"You as a Miniature" Day 2 at Cold Wars!

(Above is our "Of, By, For Gamers board, with ALL of YOUR suggestions for eras that YOU want to star in!:) )

Hi all!

Well, thanks to everyone who came by the Minuteman Miniatures booth today at Cold Wars!  It was great getting to meet so many folks and talk about what we think is a cool little project!

One piece of news from today... thanks to new people commiting to future scans, we will be able to offer a BOATLOAD of new figures in the next few weeks!

We will now be doing a American Civil War, a Dark Ages Highlander, a Viking, a Mounted Norman,  and an American Revolutionary War "YOU!"... they should be available in a few weeks!

And if you want us to make available a Pirate you, a Cowboy you, a fantasy "Lord of the Rings" you, an American 30's Gangster you, a Pulp "Indiana Jones" style adventurer you, or a Napoleonic British Officer you, or a Samurai you... each are only a few more "votes" from getting made!

So come on down for your free scan, and see what we can build for you!:)

Thanks all!

Miniatures of YOU, Day One; Thanks, and new figures!

Hey all!

Well, Day One at Cold Wars is in the books!  We were so happy to meet so many fellow gamers today, and especially glad we could do SO many scans!

A piece of news; thanks to all of the people committing to new figures on the "Of, By, For Gamers" board, we will, in the next few weeks, be producing an American Civil War officer, a Dark Ages Scottish Highlander, and a Viking!  So if that was a figure you said you were interested in, and you sat for a scan... well, in a few weeks we will shoot you an email and we will just use your archived image to create it for you!

So if YOU ever imagined yourself as a French Napoleonic Colonel crossing the fields at Waterloo, or an American Officer leading your men in World War 2, or as a Warhammer general, or a Frostgrave hero... or now on the battlefield on Antietam or the Scottish moors or raiding England... come on by for a free scan and ask us about getting it done!

Booth 200, right across from Battlefront... Minuteman Miniatures!

Thanks again to everyone!:)

You want tanks (at Cold Wars)?

You want tanks at Cold Wars?

We've got you covered.  We hear people are digging Italian right now?

Whether it's a Dodge WC54 ambulance for your American army...

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... or a Sdkfz 251/7 with assault bridges for your German army,

... or a BT-7 1936r for your Russian army,

... or a Turan III for your Hungarian army,

... or a Ram II OP for your Canadian army,

... or a T55A to hunt down that M109A6 Paladin across Western Europe…

... we've got you covered!

Hundreds of tanks, from The Great War to current day, including some of the rarest ones... and all a LOT cheaper than the big boy companies!

Come on by Minuteman Miniatures at Booth 200 at Cold Wars and say hi!

A bit more about the new business!!!

Hi all!

Well, I posted this earlier, but without any more info... so I thought I would share more!

I am SUPER excited to introduce Minuteman Miniatures, a new miniatures production company, and to introduce our first service which we will be bringing to the Cold Wars 2018 miniatures convention in Lancaster, PA next weekend… personalized miniatures of YOU!

We will be at the Vendor’s Hall at the convention where, thanks to 3d scanning and printing, we will be offering on-demand, “while you wait” miniatures of YOU in a variety of scales and from a variety of eras! As our first offering, courtesy of technology, we’ll be able to make YOU to lead your French Napoleonic armies, your Roman and Greek armies, and your American and German World War 2 armies... and to venture into deepest dungeons as well! 

And if we don’t have what you want in terms of eras, we will ALSO maintain a “Of, By, For Gamers” board where people can propose DIFFERENT eras… and if enough people sign up, we’ll produce it for you!

We will also have other things for sale, including a HUGE variety of tanks… literally HUNDREDS of tanks from different eras, WWI to modern day, at ANY scale you can imagine, including some of the most bizarre and rare ones, all printed ON DEMAND and on-site… and if you’ve ever had an idea for a totally custom army we’ll even work with you to produce it!

So please drop by booth 200 at Cold Wars, say hi, and pick up… well, YOU!

Thanks so much!

My new business - miniatures of YOU!!!

I am so, SO super proud to finally be able to announce my new business venture!

Some more experimental shots...

Well, I took a few more test shots... still playing around with the ISO setting and the rest... when I hit on the best outcome, I'll stick with it!

Playing with a new lighting setup...

Hi all!

Well, playing around with some new lighting... I think it looks pretty good, although I see a few CLEAR ways to clean it up.

Anyway, took a few test shots...

I'll give it a little more of a look tomorrow!