Practically every RPG campaign has a frequent need for civilians. They’re the helpless targets of vampire attacks. They’re precious lives to be protected by brave superheroes. Sometimes they’re simply glorified terrain, bystanders caught up in the battle between heavily-armed foes.

Despite this, there are almost no modern civilian minis on the market. For many years I’ve been forced to use various heavily-armed figs to stand in for civvies, which has lead to no small confusion on occasion, when a player declares a deadly blast of autofire against what turns out to be a mother and newborn baby just because they happen to be represented on the board by a snarling Orc holding an Uzi.

Thankfully, Four-Color Figures has produced several packs of civilians intended for the SuperSystem superhero skirmish rules. This review covers the first of three packs (CV-1) which contains ten minis and retails for $15.

Three of the pack's best sculpts

The first impression out of the blister is that you get a heck of a lot of metal for your money. The Superfigs collection employs a rather “heroic” version of 28mm which is rather closer to 30mm in a lot of cases. This makes for some pretty hefty civilians that tend to stand as much as a half-head above “28mm” figs from other manufacturers on equivalent bases. The difference doesn’t make the Superfigs minis unusable in a mixed environment by any means, but it is quite apparent. Scale Nazis take note.

The ten civilians in the pack are a diverse bunch. There is a classic-style wino, a girl reporter and her cameraman, an oddly mannish businesswoman, a yuppie on his cellphone, a camera-wielding tourist, a young man in a windbreaker, and a couple of little kids. I would have liked to have seen at least one more female, but overall it’s a nice sampling of people you could see on any city street in the world. I especially like the inclusion of the kids, since every red-blooded hero will go the extra mile to save imperiled children above all else.

"Miss" Fishface and two of the weakest minis

Overall quality of the sculpts is decent, if a bit on the cartoonish side. Detail is a bit lacking, especially in the faces. Body proportions tend to be a bit off on some minis, especially the businesswoman with the briefcase, who is positively beefy. The two kids also seem a bit on the short and chubby side, with oddly-scaled arms.

The reporter and her cameraman are probably the best of the bunch. They are both well-proportioned with nice attention to detail on their hair and clothes. That’s probably fitting since as media representatives they’re the most likely to interact with heroes.

The worst of the lot is easily the businesswoman. Her frame is so massive that she could almost be a crossdressing linebacker. That unfortunate vibe is not enhanced by her oddly-sculpted face that features enormous pouting fish lips. Don’t expect the heroes to rush to the aid of this “damsel” in distress with much enthusiasm.

I don’t mean to sound overly negative about these minis. Despite a few less-than-stellar figs the group looks just fine on the tabletop, and it’s not like civvies are ever going to be the stars of the show anyway. It’s important to remember that they only cost $1.50 each for ten unique minis. Considering the junk one often finds at this price point, this pack represents a very good value for the money.

At the end of the day I’m fairly pleased with these minis. I’ve fielded them a couple of times, once as hostages in a bank holdup and once as victims of rampaging zombies and both times my players really enjoyed having real civvies on the tabletop. Considering the low price and the lack of competition on the market it’s tough not recommend this pack to anybody looking for modern-era civilians.

Pros: Good Value, Nice variety

Cons: Some marginal sculpts, Cast bases

Final Verdict: 3/5

Source: Purchased from Old Glory 25s

MSRP: $15

Popularity: 31% [?]

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