D&D Miniatures

[Technik4]

Reason

The biggest reason behind randomization is that it lets them place a larger amount of Different miniatures on the shelves at the expense of 2 products. Take for example chainmail:

5 blisters of individual Thalos Troops (humans)
5 blisters of individual Drazen Troops (Orcs, Ogres, Goblins)
5 blisters of individual Ahmut Troops (Undead)
5 blisters of individual Naresh Troops (Demons and Gnolls)
5 blisters of individual Kilsek Troops (Drow)
5 blisters of individual Mordengard Troops (Dwarf)
5 blisters of individual Ravilla Troops (Elves)

Then there was also the starter pack, a "combo" pack of a few of the individual troops packaged together, and a "faction" pack with almost all of the starting figures, doubles of the lower cost troops. That is a lot of floorspace to be asking for a new game, and the game did pretty well, it was just starting to catch on. It didnt appeal to a lot of gamers due to its high price and its difficulty (relative) assembly and painting.

The biggest problem would be 1 troop from the humans not selling AT ALL. Basically, this one unit didnt make any money, so it looks bad for overall sales, as stores no longer want it, etc.

With D&D Miniatures, the randomization process means that such miniatures will be the first appearing in the secondary market, and buyers dont have the choice of not getting a particular miniature. Hence, more eccentric combinations can be attempted, Half-Orc Wizard anyone?

For the price point (almost $1 a miniature) its silly not to get some unless you already have a full-fledged painted miniature army or you really have something against miniatures in general. Im sure people will want to trade for weaker models for their RPG games just as people will want to trade for stronger models for the actual game that can be played (and tournied) with it.

Everyone wins.

Technik

 

[TalonComics]

Anyone remember going to Gencon and seeing people buy Mage Knight boosters, take the rares and uncommons out and throw the rest in the garbage?
I think a lot of people are going to be sitting on hundreds of commons when this first comes out.

~D

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

Oh I think it is a silly idea, but that is just the miniature gamer in me who has been collecting miniatures since 1976, and playing Warhammer since 1982
ken

 

[Fast Learner]

I think Technik4 hit it right on the head: the players won't mind too much, and the retailers will love it. It's a win (WOTC) - win (distributors) - win (retailers) - not-lose (customers).

 

[Drawmack]

my flgs opens the wizkids packages and sells the minis individually for proportionally the same cost. hence the random packaging doesn't bother me.

 

[shadow]

Prepainted minis: Good.
Plastic Minis: Good-Although I prefer metal, plastic will keep the price down
Random: What the $@#%!?
Why would I want a random mini? This is an RPG, not a CCG or Mage Knight. If I'm wanting a specific mini for my character, I'm not going to buy a bunch of packs and hope I get lucky find the right one.

 

[Harlock]

If I'm wanting a specific mini for my character, I'm not going to buy a bunch of packs and hope I get lucky find the right one.

WotC has basically conceded the metal mini market to those already existing so instead of buying a bunch of packs and hoping you get lucky all you have to do is what you would do now, go buy a Reaper mini, get some paint on it and game with it.

 

[BryonD]

If I'm wanting a specific mini for my character, I'm not going to buy a bunch of packs and hope I get lucky find the right one.

I don't think the main idea is that you will be looking for minis for your character in this. Reaper will still be there for that.

I still think that the primary goal is skirmish and larger scale war gaming, then you get fairly easy access to lots of basic monsters and generic npc types for RPGing.

There may be some cool rare "Human fighter with greatsword" types. And so maybe one of those will do for a character. But it is easier to get a specific rare on the secondary market than by random chnace. Common "human fighter with longsword" will be so common that you probably wouldn't want it for a PC.

 

[Quinn]

Since I doubt they'll put Reaper, GW, or Rackham out of business, I'm perfectly fine with randomized, pre-painted minis.

I won't buy them....but I'm fine with other people doing it.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I don't think the main idea is that you will be looking for minis for your character in this. Reaper will still be there for that.

I still think that the primary goal is skirmish and larger scale war gaming, then you get fairly easy access to lots of basic monsters and generic npc types for RPGing.

There may be some cool rare "Human fighter with greatsword" types. And so maybe one of those will do for a character. But it is easier to get a specific rare on the secondary market than by random chnace. Common "human fighter with longsword" will be so common that you probably wouldn't want it for a PC.

I'm in total agreement with you on this. As the DM and the one who buys most of the mini's for our games I'm not too concerned about the D&D minis as long as I can get boxes of the typical humanoid creatures for the PC's to tangle with.