Chiming in on the D&D minis (merged with "anyone buying the new Mini's?")

[SpuneDagr]

I just got 2 entry packs from Amazon.com and I'm really happy with them (even though I didn't get an Ogre)
The paint jobs are certainly better than anything I've been able to do (with the 4 or 5 minis I've tried).

 

[MerricB]

Just a note: you will have a 100% chance of getting the Ogre if you buy an Orcish War Party, due out early next year.

See this link: http://www.geocities.com/merricb/miniwpty.htm

Cheers!

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I've bought about $200 dollars' worth at this point, and I am satisfied. I have gotten exactly what I wanted - lots and lots of mooks. Skeleton mooks, kuo-toa mooks, orc mooks, hellhound mooks, werewolf mooks, worg mooks, and on and on. The rares are nice too, of course, and welcome. But I got into this for the legions of monsters that you throw at your players in groups of 3 or more.

Cheap. Pre-painted. Easily portable. Easily recognizable. Exactly what I've always wanted as a DM! And I can't wait for the secondary market to spring up.

In short, thumbs up.

When I was looking around on ebay yesterday, it looked like the rares sold for just under $8 each, on average. Which means that if these discounts hold up, I have a bunch of free mooks by selling off the rares.

 

[Harlock]

I've been trading across the country and now even across the Atlantic. I shipped three minis to Italy for $3.20 US by airmail with "7 day" delivery quoted by the USPS. Using Prioority mail in the states for $3.85 I can get a mini anywhere in about 5 days tops. It's worth it to me to get rid of one of my three dire boars to get that Ogre or Hound Archon. Also, the people I've traded with have been more than happy to swap shipping costs via PayPal to have a third party backing us. So far so good, I am only lacking about 12 minis out of the 80 and have tons of "mook" type minis.

 

[ayrwind]

1. WotC has made the use of mini's practically a necessity with the design of 3.0 and 3.5 D&D.

I simply fail to see how D&D 3.x had made miniatures absolutely necessary. yes, some pages might recommend the use of minis, while i think someone even posted that one page mentioned that minis are a requirement.

however, are minis really necessary? i've seen people, including some people who post here, playing 3.x without the use of minis, and still having fun. just becoz the book here says so does not make it reality, its the DMs who make the final call. D&D 3.x without minis is so easily modified with minimal work to play an abstract system.

still, im a stickler for minis. i had enuff of questions about fireballs being able to hit so and so without hitting so and so, and to deal with claims that PCs can do this and this and still walk from here to here... etc.....

i fail to also see how D&D 3.5 made the purchase of harbinger minis and entry packs necessary. those metal stuff are available, and guess what, they are not random!

 

[MerricB]

I simply fail to see how D&D 3.x had made miniatures absolutely necessary. yes, some pages might recommend the use of minis, while i think someone even posted that one page mentioned that minis are a requirement.

Nor I.

Look, I'm one of the biggest supporters of the new D&D Miniatures line. I've spent a lot of time arguing for the game and maintaining my info site.

However, in over 200 sessions of 3E and 3.5E D&D, I've used miniatures fewer than 10 times. I just don't find them necessary at all! I keep things abstract or have a good idea in my head or draw some marks on a piece of paper.

The phrasing in the 3.5E rules could be better wrt the requirement of miniatures - but they're hardly necessary.

Cheers!

 

[thalmin]

One quick question for anyone who knows: Do the Harbinger packs offer the same initial mini's run as the starter packs, or do you get separate stuff in the harbinger packs from the starter packs? If it's the same, I would be better off buying 2 harbinger packs than 1 starter pack, because you get twice as many rares as buying the starter pack, correct?

I haven't seen your questions answered directly yet. Yes, the Harbinger packs offer the same figures available in the starters. And you are right, 1 rare per starter or booster. It's worth the loss of 1 rare to get the terrain tiles, rules, & checklist in the starter, but no reason to buy a second starter for yourself. One other point, each pack seems to contains 8 or 16 different figures, so there should be no dupes within a starter. At least I haven't encountered any dupes.

 

[MerricB]

One other point, each pack seems to contains 8 or 16 different figures, so there should be no dupes within a starter. At least I haven't encountered any dupes.

WotC have stated that - barring machine or human error - there will be no duplicates in a pack. A few people have encounted mispackaged boosters, but they're not very common.

Cheers!

 

[Olive]

I've been trading across the country and now even across the Atlantic. I shipped three minis to Italy for $3.20 US by airmail with "7 day" delivery quoted by the USPS. Using Prioority mail in the states for $3.85 I can get a mini anywhere in about 5 days tops. It's worth it to me to get rid of one of my three dire boars to get that Ogre or Hound Archon. Also, the people I've traded with have been more than happy to swap shipping costs via PayPal to have a third party backing us. So far so good, I am only lacking about 12 minis out of the 80 and have tons of "mook" type minis.

How have you been organising those trades? Through maxminis?

 

[teitan]

I always wanted to use minis in my games when I was first learning how to play 20 years ago. When I was just a young one I used to watch my cousin and his friends playing DnD, and coming from a wealthy family, he had a lot of minis, that were gorgeously painted. Amazingly, he still has them, but threw his books out a few years back. ANyway, when I started learning how to play I always clamoured to play with miniatures like he did. I owned a few boxes, but not enough to actually play that way...

SO the years went by, I played, quit playing in 98 and came back in 2000 when 3E came out and after a few weeks of playing and seeing how certain feats were more easily understood with minis, we started playing with minis. I can not think of playing DnD without minis (and they are also fun with MnM), it just ADDS so much to the game.

I agree that you really do not need to minis, not even with 3.5, but I think you won't be able to take full advantage of the rules without minis, it is just an amazing experience to actually use them and AOO make so much more sense with minis.

Personally, I think the mini line will help bring an influx into the DnD coffers that will help DnD in many ways, especially bringing in new gamers. Anybody who bitches about the randomness and comparing it to magic needs to look around and remember MAGE KNIGHT, the game that Hasbro was hoping Chainmail would be and the reason we now have DnD Minis. Not because of Magic but because of the success of Mage Knight. WOTC is being near brilliant in marketing this as a support product for DnD but also as a collectible miniatures game ala Mage Knight because they are covering 2 different bases and to me, that is a god thing because it takes money to run a company and as long as the DnD brand is making money, we will continue to get DnD products.

Now we need another toy line...

Jason