D&D Miniatures

[Green Knight]

Painters of GW armies will tell you that they concentrate their painting work on the "stars" and do a base paint on the "rank and file" miniatures. D&D miniatures are compatible with existing metal miniatures, so you can hand-pick your "star" figures, while using the random figs for rank-and-file miniatures. Of course, this assumes you paint your figures.

Haven't painted in a while, but when I played 40K constantly, that's how it was. I'd spend an inordinate amount of time on people like Commander Dante and Chief Librarian Mephiston to get them just right, while on the other hand I just used a red spray can on the average Blood Angels and quickly painted the non -red (Which weren't a lot, because Blood Angels are predominantly red). I tried to paint some highly detailed Commoners for my Bretonnian army in Warhammer Fantasy, but I only got through 4. They looked awesome, but I wasn't about to sit through painting 20 more of them at the same level of detail, considering how long it took just to paint those 4.

I don't see how players will end up buying the miniatures, although they sure make easy gifts for a GM. The GM will have to tailor his adventures for his miniatures, which should be a minor PITA. ("What? We're fighting five orcs AGAIN???")

OTOH, Idiots like myself who enjoy collecting mass-produced art will eat this stuff up like... we used to do with dice! Can't wait for my bday to place an order with Potomac. $.75 per painted miniature? No contest!

Well, I'll buy because I like playing miniature war games. I've played a slew of Games Workshop games as well as Chainmail, and am eager to try out the new D&D Miniatures war game.

Even if I weren't, however, I'd still buy some boosters. Look at it this way:

You get 8 plastic miniatures for a $1.25 each. Some are small, some are medium, and some are large. Four are Common, three are Uncommon, and 1 is Rare. So if you buy say 3 boosters you get 12 Commons, 9 Uncommons, and 3 Rares. So with that many, you're bound to get plenty of orcs, goblins, kobolds, and hobgoblins for your games just from the Commons. From the Uncommons you're likely to pick up a Minotaur, a Troll, an Owlbear, Dire Boar, or some other large menacing monster. And with the Rares, you'll probably get something nasty like a Mind Flayer. So for $30 you'll end up with a nice stable of 24 various monsters which'll be useful for most D&D games. And of course, don't forget that each critter comes with its stats on a card, which is a lot handier than flipping through the Monster Manual in the middle of a fight. IMO, it's still a good deal even if you don't play miniature war games or plan on collecting. Sure, you might not end up with a miniature that you'll need for the next game, but you're pretty much CERTAIN to end up with a slew of miniatures of monsters that you WILL end up using eventually.

 

[DaveMage]

I like the idea of pre-painted minis, but the idea of purchasing *anything* that is random and unseen disgusts me. I hope my FLGS breaks them up and sells them individually, otherwise I'll just stick with counters.

 

[ced1106]

but you're pretty much CERTAIN to end up with a slew of miniatures of monsters that you WILL end up using eventually.

Evil GM: (Dumps bag-o-plastic miniatures on table.)
Munchkin player: "Aha! So these are the only monsters we'll be facing!"
Evil GM: "In the first room, yes."


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[trancejeremy]

Don't be too sure this won't work.

I bought 2 starter sets for Mage Knight, simply to get minis to use for D&D/d20.

I now have a couple hundred MK figures. And about 50 Heroclix. (While I did play those games some, I mostly used them for D&D/d20. And there is something oddly appealing about having an army of figures.)

While the randomness can be a downside, there's also a gambling aspect to it. Like a scratch off lottery ticket for geeks. And sometimes the randomness can spark your imagination.

I stopped because the last expansion for MK really really angered me - they didn't even come up with new sculpts - they just put out old ones with new paint jobs or new weapons or in one case, they cut a minotaurs head in half and called it an Ettin. So I'm through with Wizkids. The new WOTC figs could really really eat up my money if I'm not careful.

 

[Gizzard]

I now have a couple hundred MK figures.

Mmm, yes, this is the insidious plan.

I think people have to be pretty firm in their resolve to stay pissed off at the random selection of minis. Maybe I'm just susceptible to whatever impulse it is that collectable games prey on, but I just enjoy ripping open a box and finding out whats inside. It taps into that primal christmas memory of running downstairs and opening packages. ;-)

I suppose its more efficient to just go an buy a pack of 8 Orcs because you know you'll need them for next weeks game, but I know I'd have more fun just buying a random pack every now and then and see what serendipity brings me. "Ah, a Kuo-Toa. I wonder if I can work that into my campaign."

 

[A'koss]

I thought I'd just chime in for "painted minis - good, random packages - bad" crowd. In Vancouver we don't have a flgs store, I can only hope there'll be at least one store that'll pick up on the idea to sell them individually...

You really gotta wonder though what WotC was thinking here, this isn't a collectable card game.



Cheers,

A'koss.