The_Gneech
Explorer
Love minis!
Love painting minis!
Hate not having free time!
I started using minis about 5 years into my "gaming career" and won't go back. Besides being too hard to keep track of everything, it also gives too much "power" to the GM. By this I mean, the entirety of the scene is in the GM's head, from character placement to spell areas -- the players can't base their actions on independent data, only on whether the GM favors their action or not.
Plus, I just enjoy "setting the stage" with the battlemat, putting up obstacles or interesting terrain to add flavor to the story. During the heat of the moment, it's easy to forget that there may be trees between the heroes and the orcs they're shooting at -- on the mat, you can see where the trees are, and have the orcs dive behind them for cover. Anything that "concretizes" the scene is a good thing, IMO.
I have a ton of Cardboard Heroes, counters, metal, and plastic figs. Back when I had more free time, I enjoyed painting the figs, but these days I just don't have the time to do that -- but I hate using unpainted figures. In that regard, the WotC figs have indeed been a godsend.
-The Gneech
Love painting minis!
Hate not having free time!
I started using minis about 5 years into my "gaming career" and won't go back. Besides being too hard to keep track of everything, it also gives too much "power" to the GM. By this I mean, the entirety of the scene is in the GM's head, from character placement to spell areas -- the players can't base their actions on independent data, only on whether the GM favors their action or not.
Plus, I just enjoy "setting the stage" with the battlemat, putting up obstacles or interesting terrain to add flavor to the story. During the heat of the moment, it's easy to forget that there may be trees between the heroes and the orcs they're shooting at -- on the mat, you can see where the trees are, and have the orcs dive behind them for cover. Anything that "concretizes" the scene is a good thing, IMO.
I have a ton of Cardboard Heroes, counters, metal, and plastic figs. Back when I had more free time, I enjoyed painting the figs, but these days I just don't have the time to do that -- but I hate using unpainted figures. In that regard, the WotC figs have indeed been a godsend.
-The Gneech