Are there people who play D&D miniatures who dont' play D&D?

[johnsemlak]

With the miniatures game out now and supposedly doing well, I have been curious to hear mentionings in various places of people who actually came to D&D RPG via the D&D minatures game. Have there actually been such cases? Are there people who play the miniatures game and don't play D&D? I know very little about minis, as I don't even use them for D&D, and I've never played mage knight or warhammer or anything like that, btu it would seem to me that the above two would be far preferable to people who only want to wargame.

I have heard many people say the strategy behind the minis game and/or the Minatures Handbook was to generate crossover from minis to D&D. Do you think the minis game is a attempt to compete with other wargames or is it only intended to generate some crossover from miniature wargaming to RPGs?

 

[Gizzard]

...and supposedly doing well...

Where did you see info on it? I havent heard much buzz, but that may be a local thing to San Fransisco.

Do you think the minis game is a attempt to compete with other wargames or is it only intended to generate some crossover from miniature wargaming to RPGs?

I thought it was 90% intended to get into the marketspace Mage Knight has dominated and 10% "other". Basically, Wizards is pretty focussed on the bottom line; I think you have to be able to pitch a new game idea as "costs X, should make X*5 back" in order to get a green light. Pitching it as "costs X, but supports the D&D brand" is a no-go in a corporate structure where even modules are out of favor as not profitable enough.

 

[pawsplay]

Given that the D&D minis are medium-low quality but are produced at probably a very low price, I imagine they are intended to be profitable in their own right. I own enough of the little blighters.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I'm actually rather surprised how cheap they are. There are places online where you can purchase them individually (instead of in the "booster packs") and a lot of them are under $1.

 

[Si_RW]

what are some of those sites?

 

[MerricB]

With the miniatures game out now and supposedly doing well, I have been curious to hear mentionings in various places of people who actually came to D&D RPG via the D&D minatures game. Have there actually been such cases?

Yes. One of my friends has been playing the Miniatures game for six weeks or so, he's just played his very first D&D RPG session, and the next day he went out, got the PHB and is getting ready for his second game.

I know another person who plays the Magic and Star Wars CCG and has recently been playing D&D Miniatures with me (he has a respectable army by now), but he's never played D&D at all.

Remember that D&D was developed from a wargame... everyone who originally played it came from wargaming backgrounds.

Cheers!

 

[MerakSpielman]

what are some of those sites?

Ok, talking in the plural wasn't exactly accurate... but try here

The only problem is the "collectable" aspect of the miniatures - a bit of borrowing from the MtG cards business model. Some minis are inherently more "rare" than others and therefore cost more, even though the mini might be the same size/quality as the cheap ones. Commoners, Crested Felldrakes, Hellhounds, and Koa Toa are only $0.25 each, for example, while the arcane archer and blackguard are almost $9.00, and the displacer beast (which is larger, sure but not THAT much larger) is $15.00.

I think the folks at the popularcollections site actually purchase cases of the booster packs, enough to guarentee having any given individual mini in stock at any time. Since some are more rare, they have to boost the price to keep them from running out.

I could easily see myself spending lots of money on these - if I had the money to spend.

 

[Gizzard]

what are some of those sites?

I asked the same question in this thread:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68948

edit to add:

Some minis are inherently more "rare" than others and therefore cost more, even though the mini might be the same size/quality as the cheap ones.

I believe the Rares get more complex paint schemes than the commons and are therefore of slightly higher quality. It's described in one of the WotC promo pieces, but I cant recall the details.

 

[Altalazar]

I'd be VERY surprised to find anyone who started D&D RPG via D&D miniatures. But stranger things have happened. We had a speaker of the house whose name sounded like some sort of twisted witch spell-effect.

 

[johnsemlak]

Remember that D&D was developed from a wargame... everyone who originally played it came from wargaming backgrounds.

Very good point.

Not being a wargamer myself (unless you count Axis and Allies ), sometimes this seems a bit foreign to me.