Near Infinity - Another 15mm Starter Army: Yun Jing

All pictures from the manufacturers websites (Infinity, Khurasan, Peter Pig, Critical Mass Games, Rebel Miniatures) except the Ground Zero Games Japanese Power Armour which come from Dropship Horizon.

Second instalment of my Near Infinity series: a selection of 15mm stand-in for a Yun Jing Infinity Starter Army: 

• For the three Zhanshis I went with Khurasan Nova Respublik Riflemen. I know they're supposed to be near future not-Russians but I've got other project for Ariadna and they do make decent Chinese to me.
• Ground Zero Games Japanese Power Armour and their "mean teddy bear" (sorry that's what came to my mind) look were a natural fit for the two Tiger Soldiers!
• I could just have gone for a four different sets of power armours for the Tiger Soldiers, the Domaru Butai, the Invicible Shang Jí and the Dàofěi. But I wanted to differentiate them even more, choosing models that, while not being necessary visually similar to their inspiration, at least "told the same story" (not making much sense there, I guess). So for the Japanese troops I went for historic miniatures, and selected a Peter Pig Foot Samurai Bodyguard (the "normal" Samurai have banners in the back, which might be your thing, but I'll stick with the Bodyguards or Ronins) for the Domaru Butai.
• So, for the Invicible Shang Jí, in line with their light advanced PA with "Sea, Air, Land, Orbit" capabilities theme, I choose a Critical Mass Games ARC Fleet Recon Trooper but a Rebel Miniatures Earth Force Droptrooper or a Ground Zero Games New Israeli Rifle would have done just fine.
•  The Celestial Guard backhround describe them as a military security force with even some police duties so a Khurasan Federal Security Force Trooper sounded right.
• In line with the Domaru Butai, I selected a historic model for the ninja, namely one from Rebel Miniatures. The original model is a sniper but I choose to emphasis its unique ninjaness instead of making him just another sniper. I guess a little conversion (sniper rifle slung in the back?) could go a long way here...
• And finaly, for the Dàofěi, I went for a Critical Mass Games Vadorian Assassin in order to model their stealth/survival and bandit traits... She might lose the ponytail but remains clearly female!

So what's the damage? Prices in Dollars include postage to New York and prices in Euros include postage to Brussels. The exchange rate used is $4 for €3 and £5 for €6.

• The official 28mm miniatures from the Corvus Belli online store: more than $90 plus about $28 for postage, or €68,40 plus €11.90 postage.
• The 15mm stand-in: just under $60 + $30 or €48 + €28
• Khurasan: $17,86 + $6 or about €12,50 + €7
• Ground Zero Games: about $4 + $10 or about €3 + €6
• Peter Pig: about $4 + $5 or about €3,50 + €3,50
• Critical Mass Games: about $10,50 + $4 or about €8 + €3 
• Rebel Miniatures: $21,90 + $6 or about €16,50+$9

Comparison time again, that makes the 15mm army just under 85% the price of the 28mm one if your in the US and 95% if you're in (continental) Europe. Not such a good deal, but mind the five different manufacturers and thus five times the shipping, reducing the numbers of manufacturers and/or grouping those orders with others will make the ratio drop down quickly. And again, You get much more metal for your bucks; nearly 6 times more miniatures (that's even discarding the ones too difficult/impossible to use in a sci-fi game, i.e. with the spears, clubs and bows armed):

• 14 Zhanshis/Nova Respublik Riflemen (1 leader with pistol, 1 with missile launcher, 1 with rifle and missile ammunition, 2 with RPG, 2 with SAW and 7 with rifles)
• 6 Tiger Soldiers/Japanese PA (3 with rifle, 2 with rifle and "over the shoulders" missile launchers and 1 with close combat weapons)
• 3 Domaru Butai/Samurai Bodyguards (1 with sword, 2 with spear)
• 8 Invincible/Drop Troopers (all with rifle)
• 10 Celestial Guards (2 with rifle, 8 with pistol) and 1 casualty
• 23 ninjas (some of them with bows, clubs and spears, about half of them with blades)
• 5 Dàofěi/Vadorian (2 with some sort of rifle, 3 unarmed?)

You might want to have a look at my previous post about using 15mm for PanOceania.