Monday 6 June 2016

Crossover Miniatures TMNT Foot Clan Ninjas

When I first saw a sampling of these figures on Andy's blog da Gobbo's Grotto, see here  I praised them and Andy said, "the Foot Clan I thought would tickle your fancy and I knew you would want to be putting your wallet into service once more... :-)" He wasn't wrong! These 15 figures from the Crossover Miniatures Ninja range are just perfect stand ins for the Foot Clan ninjas, arch-enemies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What makes them so good is that they all come with a choice of three heads - bug eyed masked heads, cowl masked heads and unmasked Asian heads. The bug eyed heads are ideal for the Foot Clan. The Foot Clan ninjas have a long history dating back centuries and originating from feudal Japan, although their backstory changes depending upon which version you believe - comics, film or TV. Nowadays they are primarily a terrorist organisation based in New York and led by Shredder. Also, most Foot Clan ninjas are now robots created by Shredder and his alien partner, Krang, but some are still human.
I have bought all of the 28mm scale Ninjas made by Crossover Miniatures and have divided them up into three groups of five. The first group comprises the swordsmen. All are armed with the ninjato, a slightly shorter and straighter version of the Japanese long sword known as the katana, which was the primary weapon of the samurai. At the far left is the group's leader who appears as Ninja Guard on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He stands in a simple pose and is the least animated figure out of the group. He costs £3.25 and comes with a choice of heads and a separate ninjato in scabbard to glue to his back.
The remaining four figures come as a set and are posed ready for action. You must specify which head type you want including when you place your order. They all come with separate ninjato scabbards. This group of four costs £9.95.
My second group comprises the exotic weapons specialists. They are led by a Ninja Boss who is armed with a pair of ninjatos on his back and is posed dynamically pointing to a target. The figure comes supplied with all three head options and he costs £3.75.
Once again, the other figures can be purchased as a set of four and you must choose which head option you want for them. From left to right they are armed with a pair of kamas (a type of hand axe), a pair of sais (three-pronged daggers), a pair of tiger claws which fit to the back of the hands, and a short bow with a separate quiver of arrows. Price is £9.95 for all four.
The third group comes much more up to date and are armed with ninjatos and sub-machine guns. The leader is simply known as Ninja Boss with Gun on the Crossover Miniatures webstore. He comes with separate heads and a ninjato in its scabbard. He is in a similar dynamic pointing pose directing the action as the boss with the twin ninjatos shown above. He costs £3.75.
That just leaves the last four figures who must be bought as a group of four. They are also armed with sub-machine guns, ready to go all out. In addition to their separate heads, they also come with separate ninjatos in scabbards. This quartet also costs £9.95.
My plan to use these figures is to include them as part of Shredder's villainous gang in 7TV2e. There are stats for ninjas in 7TV2e, but I agree with Andy when he was creating stats for his TMNT figures that these should actually be classed as Minions. They are not that good in combat and tend to get mown down in vast numbers without doing much damage to the vastly superior Turtles.
Crossover Miniatures are sold by Minibits and here's a link to their webstore - http://www.minibits.net/Crossover-Miniatures-c25/Ninjas-sc89/
I have a lot of ninja figures in my collection, bought when I was playing FGU's version of Bushido. I also have a few Hand Clan ninjas from the Marvel Heroclix range. I could have used some of these older figures for my Foot Clan ninjas but these guys fit the bill far better. They look very similar to their comic book counterparts and because they're all made by the same company, they tie in well together.

Next time, yet more superhero goodness as I show the first of my entries for the Forgotten Heroes challenge. For more information see here - https://forgottenheroessite.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/forgotten-heroes-the-rules/

26 comments:

  1. Wow, I absolutely bloody LOVE these. These aren`t by the same company as last week are they? if so, o..m..G Please TOTALLY take back my last week comments about them lol, these ones are freakishly lovely. I`m dead impressed by them. Nicely painted, love the colour combo, that purple really works doesn't it... as much even as in the comics. Gold/Bronze always looks good against purple or/and black.

    Very inspiring and totally lovely Bryan.

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    1. Many thanks, Steve. First up, no, these are not made by the same company who made Shredder et al. These are made by a UK-based company. They make a nice range of figures, including a range of superheroes and villains. See here - http://www.minibits.net/Crossover-Miniatures-c25/Heroes-and-Villains-sc70/
      Note, these are not based on comic heroes and villains but may be used as stand-ins if you wanted or as totally new creations if you wanted to design your own.

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  2. Oicccccc, yes. sorry mate, I should have followed the link. There are so many cool articles up this week, I`m playing catch up and never thought to look deeper. I really do like the ninja guys.

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    1. No harm, no foul, mate. Yes, there are a lot of cool articles up this week. I'm glad you like my Foot Clan ninjas.

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  3. These are all very nicely done Bryan. Quite a variety in poses gives you plenty of options and variety. Nice link for the UK Supplier I always thought crossover was a USA company.

    Have you seen the new Crooked Dice Ninjas! I have now got a difficult decision to make in Ninjas!

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Crossover Miniatures may well be a US company but fortunately for us UK residents, Minibits stocks them.

      I have seen the new CDG Ninjas and I want them. They are fantastic sculpts.

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  4. They will make excellent opponents for the turtles.

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  5. Mate, these are AMAZING!! Love 'em :-)

    Good job on grabbing the lot I wish I'd done the same, as having played with them, they need to be in high numbers to get anywhere. Still that's what they're meant to do!! nice paint on em too dude.... Just lovely all around.... **gushes**

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    1. Thanks, Andy, and once again, thank you for pointing them out to me. Once I saw them I knew I had to have them all. For mindless mooks you need high numbers. Oh, and they were very easy to paint but also a lot of fun to paint.

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    2. Easy to paint, but they do look lush when done don't they. Perfect for the setting and of course dead easy to get hold of with Leon at Minibits and his excellent customer service

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    3. Agreed. And a friendly nod to Leon. As you say, his customer service is excellent.

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  6. Bryan, this blog of yours is badly in need of some sort of feed warning. I was desperately trying to steer clear of "Minibits" and their blasted models; as "Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy" used some of them to illustrate an article I wrote for them entitled "The Misadventures of Gnatman & Dobbin". Sadly I have now finally succumbed. Not only as a result of your outstanding paintjobs, but as I suddenly realised Gnatman would be a fantastic mini for "Forgotten Heroes" too ;-) What this does now mean though is that, postage willing, I'll have to spend next month dedicating myself to some half-shelled painting - and its all you and Andy's fault :-)

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    1. Simon, I did warn you last time you might want to steer clear of this post, *chuckle!* As for painting your Turtle collection, you have multiple sources of references now - with Andy's and my posts to help you out. Instead of blaming us you should be thanking us!

      I wish you well with your "Forgotten Heroes" projects. I'll be posting the first of my conversions in my next post on Friday.

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    2. Bwahahahaha **evil laughter echoes hollowly in the background**

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  7. Lovely painting on some very cool miniatures. And thanks for the UK stockist link - whilst I wass quite keen on some of Crossover's figures, I'd not found a stockist that was selling them at sensible prices. Are the swords on their backs separate or part of the casting?

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    1. Many thanks, Jez. The swords on their backs are separate for most of them. Only the ninja boss with the twin ninjatos has them sculpted on as part of the figure. For the most part, the swords in the scabbards, the empty scabbards and the heads are separate castings.

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    2. So I could buy a set of ninja, a set of separate clown heads and have...ninja clowns?! Could my day get any better?

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    3. Ninja clowns! I knew it! Could those b**tards get any tricksier?

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    4. Now there's a frightening thought! *Shudder!*

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  8. Very nice. The purple trims lighten up these models; if done all-black then they would have looked very featureless.

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    1. Thanks, Hugh. Actually, the purple trims are part of their costumes, so i had to include them. Still, I take your point.

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  9. Those are neat! I wanted to do some supers stuff but wasn't sure what I made of the Crossover minis as they were unpainted. You made those ninjas look fantastic so I think I might have to make an order.

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    1. Thanks, HP. Crossover Minis make some great figures that are reasonably priced. Well worth a look at.

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