Ye Olde Inn

If I were after some alternate weapons to stick on some mini's, does anyone know where I should be looking (a quick giggle search found miniature weapons but not weapons for miniatures ? I'm specifically thinking about bows and crossbows for the goblins and orcs respectively but might also think about spears, shields and who knows what later on?

Well, this might not be usefull, but i have gathered many spare qeapons and shields through buying plastic regiments, from warhammer and avatars of war. If for example you would buy a set of empire Militia, you would get enough to make the unit and have a score of extra weapons.most are worn by a plastic hand, so it works best if you can cut and paste weapons across sets, but some weapons come clean without hands attached.

the gear i like most comes from
Empire Militia,
Bretonnia Men at Arms.
Dwarf Warriors but i dont know the newest set,
(Avatars of war) Dwarf Berserkers,
evil weapons i use from Chaos warrior plastic sets, Goblin, orc and Savage orc infantry sets.

Diggin speaketh the truth. The best way to get spare parts is to buy regiments. But this is pretty expensive if you JUST want spare parts...
The alternative is to go to eBay. Search for word combinations like:

crossbows warhammer
crossbows dark elf
crossbows dwarf
shields warhammer
etc etc...

You're based in the UK, right?
Should be easy to find many bits on ebay with many different sellers.
If (bitz,bits) spits out too much, then go for what specifics you want (crossbows,crossbow), (shield,shields), for example. But don't use Warhammer or Games Workshop as search words, because sellers will avoid using those because of GW's policy to *lemony goodness* law and order over people, trying to deter them from selling any product from them second hand. Either that or they are just lazy. Most sellers do not use Warhammer or Games Workshop for describing their bits.

knightkrawler wrote:You're based in the UK, right?

Not I, Australia.

knightkrawler wrote:But don't use Warhammer or Games Workshop as search words, because sellers will avoid using those because of GW's policy to *lemony goodness* law and order over people, trying to deter them from selling any product from them second hand.

Is this private sellers too? I wouldn't have thought that they could have any influence over what private people do with selling their stuff. I know that they seem to geolock their retailers to selling within their own geography so that they can supply the online sales. It's horrible for us (in AU) because it means we play 2 - 3 times what others pay elsewhere (not that I've bought any GW stuff). That tactic might have worked 20 years ago when people were non the wiser about what was happening elsewhere but with the internetz, people find this stuff out. Asics have done the same with their shoes. It sucks.

But yes, I'd started looking on eBay. There is a bit but it's usually tough to work out whether things might be the right size or not.

Redav wrote:

knightkrawler wrote:You're based in the UK, right?

Not I, Australia.

knightkrawler wrote:But don't use Warhammer or Games Workshop as search words, because sellers will avoid using those because of GW's policy to *lemony goodness* law and order over people, trying to deter them from selling any product from them second hand.

Is this private sellers too? I wouldn't have thought that they could have any influence over what private people do with selling their stuff. I know that they seem to geolock their retailers to selling within their own geography so that they can supply the online sales. It's horrible for us (in AU) because it means we play 2 - 3 times what others pay elsewhere (not that I've bought any GW stuff). That tactic might have worked 20 years ago when people were non the wiser about what was happening elsewhere but with the internetz, people find this stuff out. Asics have done the same with their shoes. It sucks.

But yes, I'd started looking on eBay. There is a bit but it's usually tough to work out whether things might be the right size or not.

When you find something, post it here before buying and mention what you wanna use the bits for, then I can tell you if it fits or doesn't.
Also, Australia, yes. I knew that. Geez. Read the British English as a forum language thing and got all fraggled up somehow. Redav: Australia. I know that.

knightkrawler wrote:When you find something, post it here before buying and mention what you wanna use the bits for, then I can tell you if it fits or doesn't.

Okay, cheers. Any chance you (or others) are familiar with these pieces?

Goblin arm with bow
Given that they're on a grid that I'd guess is 10 mm x 10 mm, I'd imagine that they would be way too big for HQ Goblins? Maybe they might suit Orcs though?

Goblin bow accessories
There's no point of reference for size but I'd imagine they too might be too big for Goblins? Do Skaven archers exist that are styled similarish to HQ?

Crossbows
What's the chance that crossbows like this might be good for Orcs?

knightkrawler wrote:Also, Australia, yes. I knew that. Geez. Read the British English as a forum language thing and got all fraggled up somehow. Redav: Australia. I know that.

Always the way

The arms are indeed too big for my taste to go with the HQ goblins, I tried them. Those are from the 2003 generation of Warhammer Goblins that were all fraggled up in scale and body proportions. They could indeed fit the HQ Orcs better, but I've never tried.
The quivers might be too big and don't make sense without bows anyway.
The bases of the Uruk-hai are 25mm, the crossbows seem to be 20 mm. Suitable for Orcs, I'd wager.

For the Skaven, no archers, sorry. The HQ goblins are so hard to convert... It starts with the actual bits and ends with the pose.
If you want Goblin archers or spearmen you fare best by far with just buying some Warhammer goblins from the 4th edition:





The same goes for Orcs with shields and bows:

knightkrawler wrote:...too big for my taste...
...all fraggled up in scale and body proportions...
...The quivers might be too big and don't make sense without bows...
...no archers, sorry. The HQ goblins are so hard to convert...

Yup, agreed. Nothing's ever easy hey...

Okay, thanks for that. Might have to look at the 4th editions and see how we go

There's also these goblin archers (from Ampersand's Stuff).



I think they are rarer than the one's knightkrawler posted, but it didn't take me long to pick a set up.