http://www.scotiagrendel.com/  produce both the old VOID1.1 line and the older Kryomek line; this means a scadload of Geigeresque aliens and humans of every stripe. A big advantage of the Kromek (TM) aliens is that they come by type, so you can buy just the right number of whatever weapon you want, ie, every blister has 2 aliens with the same weapons.

Well, if you like smooth, clean lines and dynamic poses, Void1.1 is worth a look for humans. If you like soldiers slogging across that muddy, dirty battlefield with really chunky guns and a huge number of poses and weapons then Pig Iron is worth a look (and really cheap).

Tyranids are very nice, and GW plastics are definitely inside my price range, but I have this soft spot for old miniatures and the Kryomek hit a kind of Geigeresque scif-fi/horror look that I quite like. Also I hate gluing together plastics. Also my wife does not approve of plastic miniatures Also Kryomek vehicles are about $20 each!

Finally, the Kryomek line and now Megaminiatures contain some real gems of vehicles at very low prices; not all the vehicles are all that good though.

For more vehicles, see Old Crow http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/ or DLD productions if they're casting at the moment http://www.dldproductions.com/ or GZG games have a huge range of vehicles of varying quality and visual appeal, as well as many, many infantry at around "real 25mm" scale. http://www.gzg.com/

Well BTD aren't exaaaactly indie.

Let me see. Kryomek USA of kryomek.com seems to have vanished. Before they did they had Kryomek and the Kryomek universe's human faction as well as some additional humans from Shatterzone or something; I really hope they're not gone for good. More than enough variety to field a fully fledged army.

Pigiron Productions are certainly indie and though they're not strange or bizarre sculpts they are quite unique (plus most of their stuff has been statted up for Defiance already!) Enough variety to field a hard-edged army of no-nonsense grunts with a beautiful selection of support weapons.
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/ and go to the online store or gallery. They are also carried by thewarstore.com.

If you like unusual aliens then definitely check out Alpha Forge Games, they have two unique lines of alien civilisations. Not yet quite broad enough for a fully-fledged army but getting very close and well worth a look; they have a few vehicles for some factions, including a dreadnought type and a skimmer.
http://www.alphaforgegames.com/homepage.html

While GZG are established enough to not really be indie, they are certainly no GW and they have a massively broad line of sleek high-tech humans with or without power armour and a HUGE range of vehicles. GZG miniatures are also cast under license in Australia by Eureka:
http://eurekamin.com.au/
http://www.groundzerogames.net/

Hasselfree Grymn are masterfully sculpted, clean-line high-tech space dwarfs. Enough variety for a fully-fledged infantry force, but as yet no vehicles in production- they have a skimmer and a light mecha in the design phase. These are reputed to be absolutely top-notch miniatures, but they are expensive.
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/

Olley's Armies has enough Space Dwarf infantry to field an army, slightly limited in terms of support weapons, and no vehicles (but hey, there's lots of vehicles out there). Also featuring Texan Militia Cowboy Space Dwarfs!!
http://olleysarmies.co.uk/

Spugs, for those who don't know, are available here: http://www.satanico.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm

Amazon miniatures has some of the Legions of Steel line available, a variety of uniquely themed power armour and evil cyborgs:
Linky

well i have quite a few paroom station minis... i am hoping the new defiance stuff will be able to simulate ethermarine shipboard action in IronStars

Well, maybe they do. However the problem with smaller "indie" manufacturers tends to be that not so many people have their product. Hence not many reviews -- or at least informed opinions -- will be forthcoming.

OTOH I have personally seen and examined the produce of all of the above and can to a degree vouch for their at the very least reasonable quality. Noteworthy in the Mongoose SST bugs I mentioned is that they are about 25% off or more in many if not all shops at the moment. And they are pretty neat and big (you get to try out the "race of giants" exception in Standard Units section :wink:). I even have good experiences with Mongoose metals which tend to get bashed a lot, but I admit I may just have gotten lucky.

As it happens, I also have a couple of Kryomek warriors and they are very nice sculpts for their age. My only gripe is that IMCO they'd look even better if they were serpentine like the Kryomek Warmasters or VOID/Urban War/Metropolis Koralon purestrains. Can't say about the current quality of the castings, mine are from about 10 years or so back.

On the subject of Spugs, they are indeed the "other green meat" as advertised: they aren't swarm/biomech bugs, instead using actual hardware and technology. They also happen to be statted for D:VG, as are the Alpha Forge Hydrissians incidentally: http://herosgames.homestead.com/files/Hydrissians.pdf . I have no firsthand knowledge of their sculpting quality tho.

Here are some sources of bug type minis that I have seen products of and have found them reasonable (notice that I don't have any actual bug sorts from these ranges so they might or might not compare with what I've seen):

[*]Excalibur miniatures scifi range has no less than three more-or-less buggy sorts of forces: http://www.excaliburminiaturen.de/bilder/ex_m_scifi.htm (I know it always ticks me off when somebody says "these are better in the flesh" but in this case I have to say it's true)[*]Dark Age brings you -- for not so small an amount of money per model -- the Brood, some of which are buggy although most are more of a very large humanoid mutant type: http://www.dark-age.com/store/ (they have good sculpts and also have the Dragyri for a not-so-buggy alien spieces; both of their offerings may require some weapons conversion to work in D:VG)[*]Borderline, but Inifinity the Game has a couple of insectoid sorts in their Combined Army line: http://www.infinitythegame.com/eng/rtdo.asp?cat=73&titulo=Combined%20Army%20&titulo2=Combined%20Army (technically very good sculpts, but be prepared to pay through the nose)

For other alien minis from companies I have experience with, in addition to the majority of Infinity Combined Army minis (most of which I don't really care for aesthetically, but your mileage may vary) and the Dark Age Dragyri, I suggest taking a look at:

[*]Cobalt-1 aliens sculpted by Bob Naismith are quite nice and affordable even if there aren't too many poses: http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=aedb194c0eabc0c9d75dc6d731fb565e (the line is technically discontinued but you can still get most of the minis with a little effort, apart from Armen which seem to have vanished)[*]Ral Partha Europe (UK) and Iron Wind Metals (US) bring you the miniatures from the dead Vor The Maelstrom game: https://www.connectstores.com/ralpartha/sp_16723.html and http://ironwindmetals.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=94&osCsid=b133b0a506f5cd4b3eaf28ce2837f3c1 (the latter has a few more models in their ranges)[*]Ral Partha Europe and Prince August (Ireland) have the remains of Warzone Dark Legion ranges which have a scattering of aliens with guns and hand weapons, although you may be hard pressed to get a fighting force going on them alone: http://www.princeaugust.ie/target_games/index_warzone.html

And finally, for a few you'll need to check out for yourself (for the time being):

[*]The Spugs are a "sort-of-remake" (although not really) of the old skool Starguard Dreenoi. Original and reworked Starguard minis are still available from Tin Soldier: http://www.tin-soldier.com/sg/sgcatalo.html (there many other aliens besides the bugs in the line)[*]For another old skool line, EM-4 do a few Spacelords Phagons (they are a little buggy I suppose) and have sorta promised to release more in the future: http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/index.html (there are a couple of random prepainted aliens as well in their catalog)[*]Rackham of the Confrontation fame produces prepainted robotic alien figs for their new AT-43 game, which are also statted for D:VG: http://www.at-43.com/produits_BOOK_THERIANS_01.php?lg=EN and http://herosgames.homestead.com/files/Xenocs.pdf (the French have at least two other aliens races upcoming)[*]Bronze Age Miniatures has a few scifi minis, I suggest you take an extra carefull look at the Dead Earth and latter sections :wink: http://www.bronzeagemin.com/miniatures_html/25MM/SCI-FI/sci-fi28mm.htm[*]Zombiesmith does WW-period style aliens, Quar (just a few poses at the moment), and 15mm "funny" frog men, but may expand their selection later: http://www.zombiesmith.com/pages/sci-fi

There are a few others with random aliens but I can't think of anybody else with an extensive line suitable for a game like D:VG at the moment.

EDIT: yeah, right... there's always something. Some -- well, maybe many -- people are going to sneer a lot at this idea, but some of the Star Wars collectible mini game aliens are actually going for almost literally peanuts. Granded there's only one or two poses per race, they are in an odd scale (not that it's such a problem for aliens), made of soft plastic and not "always" so well painted, but let's face it -- what do you expect for less than US$1 a piece (some of them are a lot pricier of course)? I assume they are at their cheapest on the e-Bay, but there are some shops that sell them all regular-like (no randomisation etc.), e.g. http://gamerocket.net/items/star-wars-miniatures/list.htm?1=1 (and if anybody knows such a shop with reasonable postage & packing fees feel free to PM me :wink:).</r>

Final thing: I have permission from Kryomek USA to stat up Kromek (TM) for Defiance so long as I always attribute the TM on the end of Kryomek (TM).

I am working on this currently; both for standalone use and for bulking out a diverse alien culture that uses swarms of subhumans to absorb casualties. Unlike my Legions of Steel conversions I think I can complete this one and field it as the models are still in print!!! HOWEVER at this stage there will be divergences from Kryomek(TM)-the-game in some areas in order to (I think) make the Kryomek(TM) more viable for regular D:VG using the "plain" rules. Also, I have the Kryomek(TM) rulebook on order but I won't actually have a copy till next month or later due to shipping, ebay, Etc. so there may be things I get wrong out of pure ignorance.

Another one I missed earlier, mostly due to scale: Peter Pig does a 15mm scifi line that has not-Starship-Troopers humans and, more importantly, reasonably unique looking "bugs".

While the site says that "'Phugs' are aliens that form 'ant' type colonies and crawl around on all sixes", the models do not in fact resemble ants or insects so much as dinosaurs crossed with crabs. Like I said, "reasonably unique" as some might like to argue they borrow the idea of the "reptile insect" from Tyranids.

The nic MrWigglesworth from TMP has recently posted better (as opposed to ones on the shop site) photos of Phugs that show they'd also work for SZ=1 bug types in 28mm scale (not sure what size the "cowboys for scale" are exactly but I think they are the Black Scorpion ones, so ca. 32mm tall):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mrwigglesworth@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/c534scd

Too bad there are only three usable sculpts, the eggs and the corpses don't have too much use in D:VG.

Yeah, too bad about the mix-up with the molds so they can't produce the bigger thingies for the most part, not at this time of writing anyways. Then again, you don't necessarily need 'em to play Defiance...

Also of note: West Wind Productions has a sale on the reminder of Cobalt stock (C-1 or C-2) as mentioned above. Everything they still have is going at half price:
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=21 (C-1)
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=22 (C-2)

After those are gone, you'll be needing to page mr. Naismith to get 'em...

TNJRP: converting the big 'uns to Defiance is a hassle actually. The line is still perfectly good for use as generics, and even for padding out existing L.O.S armies, like my 3...

Regarding West Wind, their Weird War Two line, Secrets of the Third Reich, has about 4 mecha! A rare find in 28mm!

Of the generally low profile producers, East* Riding Miniatures seems to be putting out a really-no-bones-about-it line of Aliens (as in the film Aliens), and all of three other xenocs (two lizards and one techy insect) but who knows, the line may be expanding... Anyway, here it is:
http://www.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/index.htm

They also have some near future humans in case anyone's interested. Caution: I hear they are pretty big, way taller than "standard" 28mm that is.

As to the West* Wind sale I mentioned, what stuff they still had apparently flew off the shelves and their Cobalt stock is now gone to greener gaming tables.

---

*)  Can we get a North and a South as well?

MegaMiniatures has a sale going on some fairly basic grey alien minis with various guns and even the dreaded probe...
http://stores.ebay.com/MegaMiniatures_Sci-Fi-MINIS_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ5483680QQftidZ2QQtZkm

They aren't state-of-the-art but they are going for US$1 or less.

MM also have a couple of other exclusive, random aliens available. OK so they aren't really random but are meant for Traveller, but there's only one or two poses per race and moreover they are limited editions.