D&D Miniatures

[beldar1215]

I was just wondering what others thought about the miniatures being randomized. It feels very much like a CCG to me. I would rather have seen them put out sets of one kind of miniature (ex. A set of elves, orcs, etc). It just feels wrong to me that you will have to spend lots of money to get the miniature you want. I hope this post makes sense.

Beldar

 

[maddman75]

I'll not be buying any. Life's too short to search through random boxes or haggle over plastic figures.

This is the second example of WotC making a miniatures game no one wants. They are trying to cash in on the WizKids craze, and I predict they'll fail. Again.

 

[Keith]

There are some things I like about this line already...and then there is the random packaging. Just about outweighs everything good. I have noticed some people who expect a solid secondary market in their area to allow for purchasing just what they want at a reasonable price, or trading. Which sounds fine, although with everyone wanting a dozen Orcs, I wonder if there will be enough of them for them to go cheap. Despite being in Toronto, I don't see that much likelihood of such a thriving secondary system, and without it, these products are useless to me.
I agree with the last post: who wanted this ?!
There are some nice figures, and if they were cheaper than metal, and painted moderately well, I'd get some- if I could select which ones!

 

[BryonD]

This is the second example of WotC making a miniatures game no one wants. They are trying to cash in on the WizKids craze, and I predict they'll fail. Again.

I wouldn't be so certain.

I get the idea they have learned from some of the mistakes of Chainmail.

Also, the CCG market is much bigger than the RPG market. I do not know how the mageknight market compares, but I get the impression it is doing pretty good. If a small portion of the CCG market buys into the new miniature game, that would well more than make up for turning off a chunk of the RPGers.

I don't plan to buy any signifcant number of randomized minis. But if they game does well at all, a secondary market will develop. And just like with M:TG commons, you will be able to pick all the specific common minis you want for a handful of shiny beads.

 

[TalonComics]

Who are these minis geared towards?
RPG players? Not really as it's pretty obivious we just want cheap prepainted minis without "collecting them all." Well, at least I do. I'm sure I'll mess with singles for a little while but if it turns into the pain in the ass Mage Knight and M:tG singles turned into that'll stop.

Mage Knight Players? Uh, I guess but why switch to this when there's already Mage Knight.

I still don't understand why it was so hard not to just have blister packs with different mini assortments. *That* would have sold.

~D

 

[SamuraiY]

How long ago did they start chainmail? I just want a general ball-park for how long it'll take them to realize that almost nobody really wants randomization and change it.

 

[beta-ray]

Interested in the minis sort of, but definitely not interested in SEARCHING for them. Not worth it.

 

[Kesh]

The randomness is not something I look forward to. I don't exactly live in a gaming-heavy area, so i doubt I'll see much of a secondary market in this game.

Luckily, I have most of the Chainmail figures I want coming, so I'll have the nice metal ones instead.

I'll probably get a couple boxes just to see, but... eh.

 

[pogre]

I love miniatures. Enjoy painting them just right, doing conversions, and even a bit of sculpting.

I am in the minority - by a lot.

I think there is a demand for painted plastic figures. The sets seem relatively small to me. 80 unique monsters and you get the figures for less than a buck a piece retail.

It will be easy to accumulate a bunch of commons (orcs and the like) for relatively little money. Someone trying to get into the miniatures for little money could buy a few sets and sell off their rares and sought-after uncommons. If you did it early, you might even get the commons for free.

I will not use them, because machine painted just is not acceptable at my table. However, judging by the number of folks that use counters I think this is going to work.

I teach high school, and let me tell you the kids that play D&D are VERY pumped about these new figures. Right now they use a lot of Mage Knight stuff for their D&D sessions.

What worries me is the new D&D Miniatures Handbook - I hope they are great mass combat rules, but I have my doubts. The authors really are great RPG guys, but I'm not convinced they get it when it comes to minis. I cannot wait to buy it and find out I'm wrong!

BTW - if you want to check out a really neat miniatures game that could be adapted for a great fantasy campaign check out Piquet. I am not associated with this game-maker in anyway - I just think the rules are cool.

 

[Harlock]

I'm still in wait and see mode. Secondary market can be as convenient as my LGS or as inconvenient as e-bay. Either way, it's not too bad. I know the obvious comparison here is Mage Knight and Heroclix, but let's not forget what this will have over those: D&D mass combat rules. This one is (supposedly) compatible with D&D, and hopefully vastly moreso than was Chainmail. I still think Chainmail had a chance if WotC had done what Chris Pramas said a long time ago they were supposed to do, follow up the skirmish game with D&D mass combat rules that worked with the minis for your D&D game. I've seen guys drop large chunks of change on Warhammer boxed armies and "high point" value character minis. Plus, one of the slides that was shown at the show in the PP presentation mentioned that this is the fastest growing segment in the market... maybe they're getting in early enough and have enough brand recognition to pull it off.