RE: [MIN] Fortess Figures (was Re: Another TD idea)

Fortress Figures has an interesting story.  They were a small (2-3
person) 
outfit in Elwood, Indiana, just 30 mins north of yours truly in 
Indianapolis.  They had developed a very good (and very secret) way of 
molding plastic figs at a higher detail level than most other companies.

 Some of their stuff was great, but some was also crap (I really didn't 
like the GEVs & the spaceships they did, but that may be more of a
design 
than production beef).	They had been approached by Steve Jackson Games
to 
produce new Ogre minis, but that was apparently bogged down by problems
of 
production and other things I'm not privy to.  I think it was problems
with 
Ral Partha, the previous producer of Ogre minis for SJG.  But, that's 
guesswork.  They used space and equipment that belonged to a game store 
owner in Elwood, IN.  The owner, being of advanced age, fell very ill,
and 
the store began to slide (next generation didn't want anything to do
with 
it).  The owner lost most of his mental faculties and his power of 
attorney, the store reverted to a train/doll/craft store, the molding 
equipment was sold, and the space converted to other uses.  The
developer 
got all equipment related to his molding process, and now FF is defunct.

 They made some very detailed fantasy figs, and some terrain
accessories. 
 It may still be available in bargain racks around the country.

Qualifier: lots of the above is reliable hearsay, but hearsay
nonetheless. 
 All, some or none of it may be true.
They produced the Hover APC, the Hover Missile Tank (one big rocket) and
a 
small Hover TD (med gun mounted almost flush along one side of the
deck).

Noah

-----Original Message-----
From:	Samuel Reynolds [SMTP:reynol@primenet.com]
Sent:	Saturday, September 05, 1998 01:30 PM
To:	FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject:	[MIN] Fortess Figures (was Re: Another TD idea)

>I've got
>some GEV TDs (Fortress Figs--20 for $10 US.  Best deal on decent figs
>I've ever found.  All they make is GEV APCs and GEV TDs, but if that's
>what you're looking for. . . ) but I don't see giving them an initial
>level of steath--flying around on a curtain of air doesn't seem too
>subtle to me.
>
>John M. Atkinson

I picked up some of the Fortress Figures minis from Attactix.
EA004 Hover Missile Tank (10 pcs) and EEA003 Hover APCs
(20 pcs), both plastic, for $5 (clearance bin). They are
nice, but every one of them has casting goobers at the rear.
The tanks are a bit blobby at the rear of the hover skirt
and the rear of the missiles. The drop-down rear doors on
the APCs are nearly wiped out by blobs and bubbles. These
shouldn't be at all obvious once they're painted, though,
especially since I'm painting them in camo patterns.
I plan to use the tanks as artillery (once I get around
to painting them). I'm painting the APCs up in camo now:
6 desert (tan, dark brown, orange, and black, 6 forest
(3 greens, but I'll probably have to do a bit more than that),
and urban rubble (grey, tan, and black--most came out well).
Hover skirts are black with brown drybrush or brown with
black wash (not sure which I like better).
   'Course they were delayed (and "battle damaged" :-) a bit
when the (badly overloaded) shelf they were on collapsed and
dumped them, along with beaucoups other minis and books, on
the floor.

So...is Fortress Figures still around? And do they produce
any other minis usable for Dirtside?

- Sam

________________________________________
Samuel Reynolds
http://www.primenet.com/~reynol
reynol@primenet.com
samuel_reynolds@csgsystems.com