DDM Line Axed

[Olaf the Stout]

I was casually surfing the Paizo boards earlier when I came across a thread about the pre-painted DDM line being axed. I came onto EN World expecting to find a big thread about it but couldn't find anything. So apologies if there is another thread already started that I have missed.

Personally I'm very sad (but not totally shocked) to see the line axed. I own a few thousand DDM but I was getting to the point of having most of the minis that I needed. That still didn't stop me from buying a case from each new set though!

Unfortunately I think the writing was on the wall after the skirmish game was cancelled and then the Heroes line didn't succeed like WotC had hoped they would (not that they gave it the best chance to succeed by re-using sculpts from previous DDM sets).

So it looks like I'll never get that Huge Blue and Huge Black Dragon that I was after now. (the Huge Black with the tumour on its back doesn't count) I'll certainly be hanging onto the minis that I've got for dear life now that I know I can't really get replacements.

Thoughts?

Olaf the Stout

 

[DaveMage]

I have a ton of them as well, so this doesn't really bother me - especially since they said that the special collector sets will continue.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I do not have thousands, only a couple/few hundred, but I was pretty much done anyway.

The collector set are interesting, and I would like to see more gargantuan and bigger ones. But I think people could see this coming a long way off. the minis are the most edition neutral of WOTC's offerings (well, maybe dungeon tiles) but it is a shame to see them end, as htey are also the most useful for people who play other games.

 

[darjr]

I haven't been buying them lately. I think the writing has been on the wall for some time. The latest set almost pulled me in for a few boxes but the too expensive light was still on.

 

[beej]

I think the last set had an elder blue dragon, which was huge.

Otherwise, I, too, felt that this was about to be announced anytime soon. Things certainly have slowed down for DDM, even if that last set was really nice. I have prepared for this in my 4th Edition games, and have been using a combination of tokens (for most fights) and minis (for bosses and any dragon encounter) to represent the baddies. And really, the dragons are the only ones that I'll really miss from DDM - I can find replacement minis from other distributors for just about every other creature.

 

[Shazman]

WotC's failure is now complete.

 

[frankthedm]

I hope Peter Lee stil has a job.

 

[JoeGKushner]

It's a shame.

The 'Super Rare' didn't save the set.

But then again, who, outside of WoTC, thought it possibly could?

When the prices you are selling your product to more than double and the quality is variable and there is no purpose outside of the figures than the RPG because you've killed the tabletop game around it, this is the end result.

If the tabletop game had actually used the old Chainmail factions and material, or went with something outside of alignment....

M'eh. Not going to get into it but if you're selling miniaturs to role players as opposed to mini players, eventually even the most dire hard collector will have enough.

 

[buddhafrog]

Many WotC employees have said on their podcast or in interviews this year they love minis and that minis will continue.... So in that sense, I'm somewhat surprised.

I *love* me some minis! I love buying them for my sons, too.

I think Castle Ravenloft mini model will continue, but in smaller sets, I hope. I could see smaller adventures or even books come with some minis. I'd love that. More "collector sets" is meh, simply b/c they are cool but too damn expensive! If they put out more standard sets like "orc army", then I'm on board!

Of course tokens look to be a big focus, which is cheap and much better than nothing. But still, a map full of tokens doesn't have the same effect on my players or myself.

I'm hoping some company will pick up the slack eventually. But doubtful. It's a sad day in this D&D household.

Lastly, both of my kids got into D&D by simply playing with the minis first. It's a great toy that can hook in youngsters.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'm looking at over 2000 minis right now.....so this saves me a lot of money.

OTOH, it bums me out. I really like the minis/terrain aspect of DMing. It helps me tell a story, as I have a really hard time imagining things visually in my head (words, no problem, but visually....).

Oh well. It had to end at some point, and this is the point.