Did Prepainted Minis Get You Into Minis?

[Mixmaster]

I had had some of the RPGA and TSR lead minis (used them for the To Find a King series), and Fiery Dragon counters but now that I have thousands (and complete sets since Harbinger) of DDM minis, it is a blast to run games now. To be able to pit it out and say "It is what it is" makes it all worthwhile. It sometimes is a pain in the neck to dig through and find what I need for a session (yes, they are seperated into bags), but I consider it part of the cost of being a good DM.

 

[Jhaelen]

With the ease of prepainted minis, and their initial low price back in the day... (something like $7.99?), there were a lot of buy ins.

Did anyone find themselves going to unpainted metal figs after a while?

Ah, nope. It's more like the other way around:

I started buying metal (well, lead) minis for the game and made some initial attempts at painting them. However I quickly found that even though the results were acceptable, it took way too much time for my taste and the minis were too expensive to get many (when they later moved away from lead minis they became so expensive, I stopped buying any).

I also absolutely hated any minis requiring assembly. AND I noticed I was reluctant to transport and actually use my precious metal minis in the game because they tended to disintegrate too easily.

For a long while I was reluctant to buy WotC's prepainted plastic minis because they were randomized. But after giving them a try I was quickly convinced they were exactly what I needed: cheap, robust, reasonably good looking (i.e. even a badly painted one looks better and more distinctive than an unpainted metal mini).

And as a DM I can pretty much use any mini at some point. I'm definitely giving the new semi-randomized D&D minis a try. They're still cheaper than their metal equivalent and if they're really painted better than the old ones, I'll continue getting them until I have enough minis for every conceivable encounter (i.e. until they stop producing them ).

 

[pogre]

So, in short, DDM is entirely responsible for my entry into the more traditional metals/paints mini hobby.

sniff... this is beautiful story that warms this ole' codgers heart!

 

[Dragon Snack]

With the ease of prepainted minis, and their initial low price back in the day... (something like $7.99?), there were a lot of buy ins.

Did anyone find themselves going to unpainted metal figs after a while?

Yes, I started with prepainted minis and eventually moved on to metal minis.

I wouldn't have bought in at $7.99 though, I used to pick up the Mage Knight commons for 25 cents each at the big LGS and then pick up lots online when I found something interesting.

Looking for something specific was what got me into the metal minis. I needed a mini for my Gnome Illusionist and found the Kenzer Dwarven Wizard (close enough for me). I used him unpainted.

I didn't think I would be good at painting minis, but I ended up gaming with a guy who had a bunch of Reaper minis painted by his sister. They were just tabletop quality, but I figured if she could do it, so could I. I'm no Golden Demon (not even close), but I like my results (my minis work for a living anyway). I've been slacking lately though, I only painted 2 minis all of last year (one I gave away and one for a SWSE game that got canceled).

 

[sjmiller]

I have always loved miniatures, even when they were just used in a very abstract way (show general marching order, show how many opponents you have left, etc.). Sadly, I am allergic to some of the VOCs used in most paints. This means that most of my metal minis stay unpainted. Unless, of course, a friend offers to take them home and paint them.

Prepainted minis are a great boon to me, as you can imagine. I do not have to paint anything and I get colorful figures to use. I was not overly thrilled with the random packaging of the DDM figures, but sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. I did some purchasing of individual minis, but I think people tend to charge way to much for them. I have bought a number of the Reaper Legendary Encounters minis, and enjoy the non-random nature of them.

Now, to finally answer the question. Prepainted minis got me to buy more minis then I would have without them. I do not play the DDM game, but I do enjoy seeing a lot of miniatures spread over a table in an epic battle. If I could get more prepainted minis for a reasonable price, and of types I want/could use, then I would be happy.

Oh, I almost forgot. When I was employed I was starting to buy more metal minis and shying away from the prepainted ones. I then just bribed people to paint them for me in a timely manner. It worked, and it got both me and the painter something we wanted.

 

[Calithena]

Prepaints vastly increased my minis use which vastly increased my purchasing and painting of metal minis.