WotC changes how D&D mini's are going to be sold.

[El Mahdi]

In fact I think one of the reasosn DDM sales may be dying is that many roleplayers have collected enough minis that they buy very little now, or that many roleplayers who haven't went this route are actually looking for alternatives like counters, tokens,etc.

Possibly. Even I (a self professed minis addict) have started making my own cardstock counters for monsters in my games. It just ends up being a lot less hassle. I wouldn't say this is it for certain, but it could very well be a factor.

 

[JoeGKushner]

All I want for Christmas is a box of Orcs. I don't even want new molds. Just a box of common orcs. 5 with Bows, 5 with Spears, 10 with swords, and 10 with Axes. After that, Human guards, thugs, scoundrels. Maybe a box of knights. A box of Goblins. A pack of Gnolls. Skeletons.

Call it the DM Series. We should be able to get the cannon fodder cheaper. If they did this and then sold the "bosses" a little higher, I would be good. It wouldn't make any money probably. But, it would sure make me happier. As it stands, my group has about 30-40 minis from the first two sets. We make do with that.

Dwarven Forge - Miniature Terrain maker of MasterMaze for Warhammer miniatures, Star Wars miniatures, D&D miniatures , Reaper miniatures, and Lord of the Rings Scenery :: Miniatures

Seems people talk the talk but don't want to walk the walk.

 

[avin]

DDM is over:

"Hi there XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Wizards of the Coast game support!

Wizards of the Coast has chosen to concentrate its D&D miniatures-creation efforts on an accessory line optimized for D&D Roleplaying Game use. November’s release of Demonweb will be the last new set that includes skirmish statistics. We will continue to update all miniatures stats from previous sets to the current D&D Miniatures ruleset as promised, with the conclusion of that process scheduled for mid-2009.

In addition, official sanctioning of D&D Miniatures skirmish events will cease right after D&D Experience in February. We hope to see skirmish play continue at the grassroots level, using the hundreds of miniatures produced for the game over the past six years and encouraged by the passionate fan sites that exist for the D&D Miniatures skirmish game.

The skirmish game has many dedicated fans, and we appreciate the years of enthusiastic support that these players have shown to the line. Unfortunately, despite this enthusiasm, the number of skirmish players has been dropping steadily over the past couple of years. We had hoped that improvements implemented during 2007 and 2008 would change that trend, but they have not accomplished enough toward that end. At this point, we can no longer justify the design, development, and production resources required to support the skirmish game.

This also means that the Feywild set that was announced for next year will not be released. We needed to make room for this new approach, and early 2009 is the best time for that to begin. However, many of the sculpts that were in the process of being created for Feywild will find homes in the new D&D Miniatures products, as appropriate, and with the increased quality levels we’ve established for the new line.


Take Care and Good Gaming! "

 

[JoeGKushner]

Actually, not that this is the issue, but D&D minis have been pirated. I read a story just this last year how a Japanese (I think) company got a hold of some DDM masters (or DDM die masters, I can't remember exactly) and started pirating them. I believe they were being sold on E-Bay. They would get reported and shutdown, only to pop up again as a different user.

Happens to Games Workshop too with metal miniatures.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Has WalMart stopped selling Heroscape? I honestly don't know.

Yep, they still carry it. I just picked up some Wave 8 packs last week.

 

[Fifth Element]

"However, many of the sculpts that were in the process of being created for Feywild will find homes in the new D&D Miniatures products, as appropriate, and with the increased quality levels we’ve established for the new line."

That sounds good. Since we're paying higher prices it's nice to know all the minis will be of good quality, rather than "good enough" quality that many commons and uncommons were.

 

[avin]

Here we go:

D&D Miniatures Changes Explained

 

[Tian Zi]

 

[Scott_Rouse]

DDM is over:

"Hi there XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Wizards of the Coast game support!

Wizards of the Coast has chosen to concentrate its D&D miniatures-creation efforts on an accessory line optimized for D&D Roleplaying Game use. November’s release of Demonweb will be the last new set that includes skirmish statistics. We will continue to update all miniatures stats from previous sets to the current D&D Miniatures ruleset as promised, with the conclusion of that process scheduled for mid-2009.

In addition, official sanctioning of D&D Miniatures skirmish events will cease right after D&D Experience in February. We hope to see skirmish play continue at the grassroots level, using the hundreds of miniatures produced for the game over the past six years and encouraged by the passionate fan sites that exist for the D&D Miniatures skirmish game.

The skirmish game has many dedicated fans, and we appreciate the years of enthusiastic support that these players have shown to the line. Unfortunately, despite this enthusiasm, the number of skirmish players has been dropping steadily over the past couple of years. We had hoped that improvements implemented during 2007 and 2008 would change that trend, but they have not accomplished enough toward that end. At this point, we can no longer justify the design, development, and production resources required to support the skirmish game.

This also means that the Feywild set that was announced for next year will not be released. We needed to make room for this new approach, and early 2009 is the best time for that to begin. However, many of the sculpts that were in the process of being created for Feywild will find homes in the new D&D Miniatures products, as appropriate, and with the increased quality levels we’ve established for the new line.


Take Care and Good Gaming! "

Sorry Avin,

This was copy and paste from my article before it went live and was not meant to be a customer service response.

 

[JoeGKushner]

That link just makes me think that the line is going to die entirely.

Where all this netted out was that there was no silver bullet answer that would slay the wolf at the door, so we were faced with two options: continue with the current model and eventually succumb to the wolf, or charge the wolf head on and score a critical hit. In the end we chose the later and here we are today

In many ways both these efforts worked, but the "wolf of increasing costs" was still lurking at the door and the minis line continued to suffer. ... to changes to the randomized model including price increases and/or reduction of minis per pack.

So no silver bullet answer and they've reduced the minis per pack, kept the randomization (to a large point) and added another line with some RPG element potentially collectiblity factors.

Get 'em while you can.