Making minis that sell well, but NON RANDOM

ThunhusDM · Aug 5, 2011

DEFCON 1 said:
I think we already have a completely viable strategy for buying minis in a non-random way. We call it 're-selling'.

I really have no idea why some people are so adverse from buying WotC miniatures from a company other than WotC. I mean, what difference does it make? WotC's distributor sells a crate of minis wholesale to a re-seller, the re-seller then either sells the packages as-is at like double the price... or they crack the packages open and sells the minis individually for a whole variety of prices... cheap prices for common or unpopular minis than they have a ton of, higher prices for rare minis that everybody wants.

What's the flaw in this?

I have done this and it's working okay. When the WocT prepainted minis first appeared I bought 2 cases per set. I stopped at set 5. That gave me somthing like 1000 minis (cost me roughly $1500, about $1.5 per mini) That's a good foundation. Since then I only buy minis I need in my next couple of sessions. That way I don't buy any minis I might need!

Thunhus

aco175 · Aug 6, 2011

I would buy packs of minis if it had something like a visable Hero PC type, painted ok. The rest of the pack can be plain stamped plastic, like the little gray/green army men. I'm not sure how this affects price, but I get a cool mini for my character and my dm gets 5-10 ramdon if not plain orcs and goblins and such. Most of the time this would be fine for how my group plays. Would 5 bucks work for 1 cool guy and 4-5 plain monsters, or 8 bucks if you got 10-12 monsters. Trying to get players to buy rather than only dm's may make the target audience larger?

The other idea, which may just be dumb, is to make candy monsters. Works great for minsions, I'm sure everyone has used M&M's for monsters and such. What if they were better looking and could still be eaten, this would create the ongoing demand. Not sure on health problems, esp. if they landed next to a metal mini, but I'm not sure of Hershy Kiss foil wrapped type would stay long in my trunk.

Pour · Aug 6, 2011

Whelp, looks like WotC is going to try non random, non collectible minis, released in theme sets with battlemaps, and create a new warbands game based around them that has open playtests starting mid-September.

DND product announcement Blog of Holding
(at the bottom of the post)

TarionzCousin · Aug 6, 2011

They could put something in five randomly chosen mini packs. The people who got those "golden tickets" would get a tour of the [-]factory in China[/-] WotC/Paizo headquarters in Washington, and a chance to inherit the whole future of D&D!

For Paizo, I would suggest a golden goblin mini.
For WotC, maybe a golden beholder.

HDTVDinner · Aug 7, 2011

Pour said:
Whelp, looks like WotC is going to try non random, non collectible minis, released in theme sets with battlemaps, and create a new warbands game based around them that has open playtests starting mid-September.

DND product announcement Blog of Holding
(at the bottom of the post)

The post specifically mentions it using cards. I bet the way they are going to monetize this is through random booster packs of cards offering advanced tactics and such. Fine by me!

S'mon · Aug 7, 2011

Pour said:
Whelp, looks like WotC is going to try non random, non collectible minis, released in theme sets with battlemaps, and create a new warbands game based around them that has open playtests starting mid-September.

DND product announcement Blog of Holding
(at the bottom of the post)

Sounds good - IMO visible sets are much better for bricks & mortar stores because I can view the actual figures before purchase. Randomisation heavily favours discount Internet retailers. A nice visible themed set of prepaints is something I'll pay a premium for at my FLGS - although I'm a bit spoiled by em4 minis wonderful pewter prepaints, rarely much more than £12 for 5 figures with 5 free d20s!

MerricB · Aug 8, 2011

S'mon said:
Sounds good - IMO visible sets are much better for bricks & mortar stores because I can view the actual figures before purchase.

Let's get this right: visible sets are better for YOU, not for brick & mortar stores. The more different mini packs there are, the more the store has to gamble on which ones to stock. They have to spend more time on inventory tracking.

We saw this with the previous "visible" D&D minis. Lots of unicorns left on the shelf whilst all the trolls were gone. Wizards can handle this by keeping the number of packs small and with highly desirable minis.

TheAuldGrump · Aug 8, 2011

MerricB said:
Let's get this right: visible sets are better for YOU, not for brick & mortar stores. The more different mini packs there are, the more the store has to gamble on which ones to stock. They have to spend more time on inventory tracking.

We saw this with the previous "visible" D&D minis. Lots of unicorns left on the shelf whilst all the trolls were gone. Wizards can handle this by keeping the number of packs small and with highly desirable minis.

Heh, the local Borders still has an Aboleth, last I looked, even when going under they couldn't move it....

The Auld Grump, cause shiny vertical eyed carp are so intimidating....

S'mon · Aug 8, 2011

MerricB said:
Let's get this right: visible sets are better for YOU, not for brick & mortar stores. The more different mini packs there are, the more the store has to gamble on which ones to stock. They have to spend more time on inventory tracking.

We saw this with the previous "visible" D&D minis. Lots of unicorns left on the shelf whilst all the trolls were gone. Wizards can handle this by keeping the number of packs small and with highly desirable minis.

NB: I DO NOT BUY randomised minis from bricks & mortar stores. Instead I buy the minis as singles from Internet retailers (and have spent many hundreds of pounds doing so). The ONLY ADVANTAGE bricks & mortar has over Internet is that you can properly inspect the minis prior to purchase. Randomisation in sealed packs throws that advantage away.

Maybe if bricks & mortar UK games stores actually broke open the random packs and sold the minis as singles, I would buy from them. But they don't - IME they only sell the sealed random packs, and so they lose 100% of my custom.