Making minis that sell well, but NON RANDOM

[Aberzanzorax]

Both Wizards and now Paizo (or, really, Wizkids with a license from Paizo) chose to sell minis randomly. Paizo claims this is because some minis might be more popular than others and so some might lose money.

But I'm not here to talk about either of those companies or their minis.

I'm looking for strategies for ways to sell minis that would sell well in a non-random way.

So, please, toss out some strategies for selling minis, with the sole requirement being that we know ahead of time what we are buying.

 

[IronWolf]

WizKids will also be releasing Paizo licensed minis in Pathfinder Battles Encounter Packs which will feature non-random, visible minis in each pack. These supposedly will be re-painted or re-sculpted sets from the main release offereing. Further details on this are said to be releasing shortly according to the FAQ about the Pathfinder Battles minis.

So - for those seeking non-random minis it looks like WizKids is accommodating this desire.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Here are two (admittedly simlar) strategies I think might work:

1. Sell thematic sets. Perhaps even include multiple of the same minis. E.G. I would buy an "undead set" with, say, 30 minis with a breakdown of: 3 unique vampires, 2 unique liches, 10 of the same skeleton, 10 of the same incorporeal type creature, 1 large devourer, 1 large skeleton, 1 huge undead, and 2 small sized skeltons.

Note that I end up with 20 figures that are only created by an artist once. However, in gaming, I often have a need for identical guys (e.g. minions) and a few guys that stand out (unique guys/bosses).


2. Tied to adventures or adventure paths. When I run an adventure, I like to (to no one's suprise, I'm sure) use minis that represent the characters and monsters in the adventure. I would buy a set of minis that allowed me to do that. I'd love to see minis produced with an eye to the specific characters in an adventure, along with the specific numbers (e.g. there is a room with 10 skeletons, so provide 10 skeletons).

 

[Stoat]

Charge a lot of money for them.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You make 8-10.

Orc, goblin, kobold, skeleton, zombie, guard, archer, and ogre. Maybe rat and gnoll or something.

There, the line ends, because of the massive cost of plastic molds. And nothing else can sell enough figures to justify the large startup cost, because when you make a mold for fodder monsters, you can split its cost among many, many units. People buy lots of orcs. But they dont buy lots of other things. We arent talking weird stuff like thought eaters or half gelatinous cube ropers, just basic D&D mosnters like dragons, beholders, etc. So when you make the mold for something less wanted, like, you know.. a dragon or beholder or umber hulk, you end up selling tons of fewer units. So those are going to be higher. I dont mean a little bit higher, more like 15 - 20 dollars. At that price, why gripe about buying the figure you want off ebay again?

So our hypothetical line is super if all you want to do is play level 1-3 for all time. This is likely what their theme sets will be.

The zany, proven alternative method: you buy singles on the secondary market, benefiting from the random nature, and get a larger line at a better price than you could hope to do in a dead end non-random line.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

2. Tied to adventures or adventure paths. When I run an adventure, I like to (to no one's suprise, I'm sure) use minis that represent the characters and monsters in the adventure. I would buy a set of minis that allowed me to do that. I'd love to see minis produced with an eye to the specific characters in an adventure, along with the specific numbers (e.g. there is a room with 10 skeletons, so provide 10 skeletons).

Are people really still trying to get an "adventure in a box" thing? I'm not sure how many times they need to tell gamers that the price point for something like this is just rediculous. The ballpark quote for the just the first Rise of the Runelords adventure was over $500.

 

[Pour]

Make them all desirable.

I believe it's more of an artistic/aesthetic issue than anything. Of course I want the demons, devils, giants, dragons and iconics, but that doesn't mean I'd be adverse to rats, humans, goblins, kobolds, and minis I have a hundred of or don't normally find appealing if their sculpts and paints are excellent.

It costs money for quality plastic and excellent molds and paints, though, so I doubt it's cost affective, but if this is all speculation anyway it'd be nice to open a random pack and be happy with every single mini I got.

 

[DragonLancer]

As a DM who would like to use minis on occasion, I don't want random packs. I want to be able to buy just the figures I need. I would recommend going the old route and having blister packs, with a single specific figure (1 lich or beholder, say) or 4-5 individuals (skeletons or goblins, for example). I think this is the way to go with prepainted minis. Or at least the way I would like to see it go.

 

[Agamon]

To paraphrase and old marketing axiom, the minis can be:

• Inexpensive
• Quality
• Non-Random

Pick 2.

 

[AeroDm]

(1) Larger sets like you mentioned in post 3. The downside is that a larger set costs more money. A set of 20 undead, even with duplicates of certain minis, is going to be hard pressed to be under $50 ($2.5 per mini) and that is a high price point.

(2) Only make the awesome minis. A set of only iconics: red dragon, beholder, troll, etc could probably sell well at a higher price point precisely because they are desirable.

(3) Sell a higher volume. Seriously, the problem with minis is the price of the mold. You need to amortize that price over volume. Wizards initial minis were really well priced and sold incredibly because most people didn't have much in the way of minis and wanted to build up a collection. Later sets sold worse because people said, "meh, do I really need another orc?" This forced WotC to up the cost, cut the number of minis, and ultimately cancel the line. The Paizo minis will also suffer from this, but there has been a few years since the market had real minis so they might get an early boost.