So I have my idea, but the challenge is putting it all together given some self imposed constraints. The main hope is to be able to use my existing 20mm miniatures and my buildings so what I get has to fit with that. Unfortunately these requirements did not make that easy…
What I need is an assortment of aliens to play the invasion force. In xcom it is a united hodge podge of alien species that attacks earth. Each species has its own style, thankfully this transfers nicely for me into not requiring all the models come from the same company and have the same aesthetic!
Alas though it seems 20mm aliens are not very common! My plan is looking shaky. In my desperation I started searching for 15mm aliens. Sectoids , the weakest enemy in xcom, are smaller than humans so I was hopeful I’d find something at that scale that would work.
I found classic Greys in 15mm at rebel miniatures that looked perfect. My guess was they are human sized at 15mm which I hoped would work out as 4ft high aliens at 20mm! When I got them I was right and quite happy with how they look, they are perhaps a little small and thin but that suits them being weak and numerous rather than of equal stature to humans.
The 15mm sectoids are a little thin but are the perfect height next to my 20mm modern Irish
15mm is very cheap and postage from the US makes most of the cost so I took a risk on a few other miniatures. One enemy in xcom are Thin Men, they are gangly secret service looking humanoids, but with sickly pale skin, the invasion forces poor attempt at disguise I guess. So I got some 15mm Men in Black type models, figuring I could go for hobbit sized instead of gangly, and at worst I could play them as 15mm with the other aliens. I’m not sure yet if they will really work as they are very small looking, time will tell.
The 15mm Thin Men are a very thin against my 20mm modern Irish, they might not work out right, I'll just have to wait and see
I also found brutish looking 15mm aliens, which are meant to be very large at 15mm. I hoped they would be human sized at 20mm and work as xcom Mutons. In reality they are a bit shorter, but are definitely wider so I think they will work. I only got two as a trial so if they work well I’ll likely buy more otherwise I’ll have to find something else.
The 15mm Mutons are the same height as 20mm modern Irish but thicker, which should be close enough to look good.
With the invasion force getting under way humanity needs a faster reaction force and for that they are going to need to fancy transportation. Luckily the engineers are hard at work building a Skyranger! so stay tuned!
A skyranger landing after a hard fought mission, my soliders are going to need something similiar to make it to the battlefield.