Official Stargrave Miniatures: What Can You Make From The Boxed Sets? 

As someone who is looking at multiple games, in an attempt to find the most economical entry to miniature wargaming, THANK YOU for pointing out how a newbie could be impacted by some of the cons you mentioned. You rock. Excellent video.

Someone has probably already mentioned this but the Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish kit has 10 dogs in one box and 30 people you can make so it might not be the worst option if you plan to make multiple crews and you need gaurd dogs. Hope it helps and everyone has a great day!

The Power armours from Reaper's Chronoscope Bones are perfect for these minis, plus it's probable that we'll see more boxes, with at least a female crew/troopers one and another pair with either PA/boarding parties & specialists. Plastic moulds are very costly, and logically Northstar wanted to see how well received these were on the market, looking how in many sites they'd sold out, I can only suppose that we'll see more of them, as for Frostgrave.

War machine has a “Patrol Dog” who’s scale is good for 28mm figures. Covered with pouches on a body harness. Several of us use it in there Steel Legion Army in a command squad as a medic.

More sets are apparently planned (including female crew), so its likely missing types will be filled in time.

I would recomend getting some wargames atlantic sets, les grognards is great because of the sheer volume of extra heads. Dark age irish is another because it could maybe cover several needs at once; A) guard dogs B) some spare hand weapons (maybe) C) one of the creature types for the beastiary are "primatives" and the irish would certainly cover that. Maybe paint them some sort of alien skin tone? Also, greenstuff customization will help get you some Captain guys if only by giving a guy some sort of madalorian esque shoulder cape or a hood, maybe a scarf or gun wrap. Maybe even you could sculpt some tiny knives. I dunno.

Very good video, for the Power Armours, waiting the inevitable box, Reaper Bones has some StarCraft type figures. Perhaps the grenadier could've been better without the rocket arm, giving it to another figure you could build a support squad (gunner & loader with an ammo box in the other hand). Any way an interesting set of figures, in some sites they'd just sold out!

Nice video. I bought these for five parsecs from home. Nice to know what they were intended for

I really enjoyed this video and found it very useful. I've put together a few models from these sprues to represent my Five Parsecs crew, but this will definitely help me to get together some soldiers and specialists for Stargrave too. Thanks!

Great interrogation of the kits.

Thanks for the review, I agree with majority of what you say. 5 of us chipped in and got 4 boxes between us. Then 2 extra Merc and Trooper sprues from Wargames Emporium in Sheffield, as they sell single sprues. That way we could have 16 minis each. One of each sprue and one extra. I also got some extra single sprues of Wargames Atlantic stuff, for myself, to mix things up and give more options. The Les Grognards, WWI Germans and Lizardfolk. The only point I'd quibble on is the bases. I like these thin bases. I'm used to them with playing Bolt Action and other historical stuff. The tall Star Wars Legion bases drive me mad. GW bases aren't too bad and I have plenty on them. Thanks again.

As nice as it would be to have them in plastic, North Star does indeed carry Guard Dogs and Burners in metal (as well as most kinds of specialists, in fact). The Rogue Stars line is also useful, and about the closest thing I could suggest thematically for powered armor would be the Copplestone Castings models (from the old Kill Zone game). They're also available from North Star. Personally, I prefer plastics when possible.

Are you planning on doing a similar kitbash episode for the Stargrave box sets that came after these? Thanks

you CAN use the kits to make captains and first mates but if you want them to be any good you gotta kitbash em a lot. I liked the bug eye heads so much I kept improving a couple simple kitbashes til they were just mwuah. thanks for the vid dude I'm doing the same thing so this helps me out :D

the Frostgrave Foot Soldiers were really badass so i was really excited to see this but...im kinda dissapointed. They don't look very detail and they seem painfully generic. I expected better from NorthStar.

Thanks for a great video. Great demonstration of these sprues. Wish I could figure out how that Cyborg 1M was created. I see some mechanicus and some Primaris marine in there. Amazing conversions.

13:20 another option is the pair of arms labeled "19" on the Mercenaries sprue. It's a sort of futuristic M79 "sawed off shotgun" style of launcher, and if there's any doubt, the other hand is holding the sort of grenade that would be launched.

I think you make a good point about the bases (and inability to put names on them). However, these are pretty much standard for Osprey/Warlord games. A lot of these figures are much less bulky than the stargrave ones and look really stupid on deep-rim bases

As a standard base for your minis, they suck. As a little base for objective markers, love em.

I find the video to be generally interesting and useful. I don’t understand the complain about the bases. The thin Renedra bases included are pretty much the standard both for fantasy / sci fi and historical wargaming -round for skirmishers and squared for rank&file-. Some people like me use metal fender washers or coins of the same size as it allow a magnetized storage. In fact GW tall bases are a bit like a cancer that only made sense back in the 90s as their minis had a metal slate on the bottom that connected to a slotted base, so the height was needed to hide it. Nowadays pretty much no one uses slotted bases, so the absurd height is simply a no-no. It breaks the immersion as it separates the model from the ground, it also creates issues with terrain, line-of-sight, and storage.

thanks for showing off these kits. I wonder what options NorthStar will have a year from now

As someone brand new to table top wargaming I think being short a few bits still seems fine. Other games miniatures are so expensive it made me think I couldn’t afford to even play wargames. Still good to know and maybe it bothers me less because I have a 3d printer

Alternatively Wargames Atlantic seems to have carbines, shotguns, flame throwers, knives, and axes but no pistols. Haha we never seem to get a complete kit from anyone but I settled with ignoring melee since they are so rarely used in stargrave.

Isn’t there a scavenger crew box as well

I've got a ton of the old Aliens vs predator heroclix sitting in a box somewhere.. I'm definitely gonna making a predator team. 😂 Let's go!

If they included a body with power armour, 1/5th of the bodies would have power armour. If they included a dog, each box would have four dogs. I think they made the right decision. The industry is flooded with power armour, dogs and hand weapons. You're right about the bases though, those thin discs are just a waste of plastic.

Thanks for the informative video. It was nice to see what these kits look like when constructed. The minis seemed a bit flat/generic to my eye. While that may be part of the point of these kits, I would have liked a little more 'textured' detail on them. I found your views about the basing choice interesting. The 25mm rounds are quite common outside of GW circles. If folks prefer GW style bases, that is cool, but the flat disks are OK too. I prefer the flat disks for minis with integral bases (i.e. most historical minis, regardless of material) as the GW bases make them too high for my taste.

Flamer is sadly missing. I got cultist conversion bits to add one. But you did well with this flamer of yours attached to the HMG. Heavy armour I suggest to buy or make shoulder pads and bulk them up, no other way.

The bases remind me of the ones that Warlord Games makes.

Looks like there could really do with being a mix box with one sprue of each…

and you missed the oppotunity to use the term WYSIWYG??? :P

Didn't you ever watch classis Star Trek? Did Captain Kirk "need" a knife? No, no my friend, he had his Phaser gun, and fists. That's right, Lasers and Fists.

These look really nice for the price point. How do they scale compared to GW's minis? I am running a tabletop RPG and using a lot of 28mm heroic scale. If these scale to Wargames Atlantic, for instance, I am definitely interested.

Hello I hope you are well...a good video ( I've subbed, liked and belled etc) I'm totally in love with these stargrave miniatures but in fairness I love everything Northstar does, Frostgrave, oathmark Stargrave, BUT I'm in agreement with you regarding the lack of certain things hand weapons for instance but again my bits box can cope with it I'm sure ( in oathmark they have fancy new creatures that DON'T have models where it would be better to have more common creatures that somebody has made a miniature for at least if you're with me), the bases I'm not so fussed about the GW style are GW style you can buy them if you really want them the only bonus to them as you said is you can paint the names on so everyone knows who's who but I prefer the thin ones now, I really want them to make a robot set ( think Futurama type robots) ...cheers now

I have to disagree with the bases. I've seen this style of base elsewhere and generally prefer it. I think it's used by Warlord, Gripping Beast and obviously North Star. I like my bases to be as thin and compact as possible. Unless you're a calligrapher I think names written on bases look naff. Now, if your point is just "I prefer other base styles" that's fine. Saying they're non-standard just sounds like you haven't been exposed to many different manufacturers.

Why not just buy a frostgrave box for all your melee weapons needs?

I dislike gw bases and gw in general. However, I enjoy these bases. As little base as possible is best for me.

Great objective review! Seems like a real missed opportunity to support Stargrave specifically.

(definitely think about solving this tinny audio problem. Sounds like the room needs to be buffered, with some soft edges. i.d.k. about the microphone)

Looking for the detail close up, and there is little, poorly created designs imo. Maybe it will look better painted.

Why does thic mic sound worse than any built in crap mic you get with basic gaming headset?

Good vid, but you are thinking like it's a GW game. WYSIWYG is not required or even desirable in the vast majority of small skirmish games, including Stargrave. That is a gimmick GW uses to sell more miniatures. Everyone has a knife. You dont need to model knives unless it is fun for you. Those GW bases are a holdover from their metal miniatures. They aren't anything special, and not everyone likes them. These boxes are not meant to supply a complete crew. Buy them if you like them. Use whatever miniatures you like. I hope you are able to break the chains that GW has shackled your mind and spirit with. JK/LOL

“For competitive play….” Errrm excuse me what? Think you’re playing the wrong game my dude, Stargrave is narrative end to end.

I think it's sad that there are no female bodies on the sprues, these bodies really read as male. I love the Frostgrave sets, but the Stargrave models are a bit plainer in comparison, there is less choice, no female sculpts and poses that are less dynamic. There's also no analogue of the brilliant "Wizards" sets. As for the bases, I prefer these, less intrusive and doesn't have that awful casting scar in the middle that GW has. For me, they have to compete with Necromunda sets, which are higher quality, have prettier bases, have more dynamic poses, more equipment, guard dogs (in the extra teams) and are more easily available. At just over double the price though. As for the armour, it's really flat, enough so that I'd feel compelled to just carve and greenstuff some texture to it, which is easier if the plates are not there at all. I think I'm just going to buy an extra box of Frostgrave soldiers and use some extra bits on those, maybe with a Crew or Mercs set.

You're being way too literal about weapons. A "knife" in game terms is, to quote the rulebook, "a knife or other small weapon of last resort." In a scifi setting, that could be everything from a utility knife to subtle cyberware (eg, razor-sharp alloy nails, a subdermal spike in the forearm) to a capacitor ring or glove that discharges electrical shocks when activated - or even something as invisible as decent martial arts training. A hand weapon is similarly broadly defined as any weapon purposely designed for hand to hand combat. So *not* utility knives or mechanic's tools unless maybe they're very large or weirdly designed. Some of those Crocodile Dundee-sized "knives" on the sprue would make perfectly good "hand weapons" with no mods at all, or you could paint them with obvious energy effects to be a powered weapon. The list of other things a hand weapon could be is practically endless, and again could be flat-out invisible on a mini. Serious cyberware upgrades that would make a Shadowrun player bat an eye, training in exotic killing techniques, military martial arts, they're all potential hand weapons, as is all the leftover crap we've all got in our bits boxes from the Evil Empire's kits - and if someone doesn't have them, odds are one of their friends can throw them a bunch to use. Flamethrowers aren't necessarily spraying burning liquid from some tank either. The rulebook mentions plasma throwers and acid sprayers, and it isn't a stretch to imagine a weapon that's a hive full of nanotech disassembler bots or some bizarre gadget that bathes an area in exotic radiations. Hell, even the "guard dog" soldier type you're so bent about could be practically anything without an obvious gun in any figure collection. You could buy something suitable for under a buck in any decent toy store if need be. They're pretty damn terrible in game terms anyway, and I'd have been pretty angry if they'd wasted space on a sprue for even a single model, since it would have left us with four of the stupid things. Maybe they'll do an "alien fauna" set in the future where they can make some modular critters for "dogs" and some of the creatures in the bestiary (eg the Ferrox, which one scenario calls for quite a few of. Same objection applies to the armored trooper. Wasting space on a sprue for a single version of one would either leave us with four duplicate figs (which is really unappealing and more than a crew could really use) or use up a ton of space providing variant power armor bits that the other models on the sprue wouldn't mesh with. Again, we might see a future box of similarly modular power armor in a variety of styles, maybe combined with some new soldier types that use similar gear (eg some kind of boarding specialist in an armored vacc suit) but the one or two of them a starting crew might risk taking can be found elsewhere. Half the scifi minis gamers on the planet own at least a few of GW's marines, and if someone doesn't they're the easiest 40K figs in the world to find on the secondary market. These sets are a dream for modelers with any imagination at all. They're a nightmare for WYSIWYG purists. That said, if anyone wants to play the game as cost-effectively as possible they won't be buying them anyway - they'll be picking through their existing model collection for figs, or picking cheap 40K castoffs on ebay to fill in any missing figs they need. I'm not even going to get into the bitch about the bases except to point out I've heard plenty of folks complaining they're too thick, not to thin. Most of my rando scifi figs are on washer bases for precisely that reason. Peoples' tastes on basing vary widely, and North Star can't make everyone happy.

Stargrave mini suck. Infninity for team is batter