Minatures, who uses them?

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

how many of you use minatures for your games? If you could also please post what kind of minatures you prefer and if you use terrain minatures.

 

[Dr Midnight]

We use fully (and nicely) painted miniatures, as it's a hobby for some of us. We draw the map in on a nice chessex battlemat using crayolas washable markers. Works wonderfully.

We have access to dungeon tiles and MasterMaze, yet nothing works as well as just drawing in the battlemat.

 

[Davelozzi]

In my soon to start campaign, we'll be using painted minis for pretty much all combats. I have two MasterMaze sets (Room& Passage and Caverns) and will be using them sometimes, drawing other times. I have several pieces of large colored construction that I plan to use as terrain for outdoor battles but I need to get a clear mat or something with a grid to put over them. I'm thinking of getting the plexiglass surface that DeeMeer games puts out but as far as I can tell, they're not distributed around here yet. Although I haven't checked in a while so maybe I'll go check on that now.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

I picked "all the time" but that's not really accurate.

We use them for combat. And in dungeons. And sometimes for other stuff. Not 100% of the time, but we can't live without our minis & battlemat!

 

[Ziggy]

We use them in nearly all combats, but some (small) encounters has been run without the battlemap. They are very useful for the "positionally challenged", as they make it obvious who is where in relation to other characters, NPCs, monsters and the environment. They also give some out-out-game info to players not in line of sight of the others, but my players ar very good at separating what they know and what the character know, so that isn't a big issue.

.Ziggy

 

[NiTessine]

We use miniatures only during combat. I make it a point to buy fitting miniatures to represent the group, and I've got a nice collection of baddies, too.
We don't use terrain miniatures, just drawing on a blank paper all the necessary features of the surroundings.

 

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

mmmmmmmmmmm Master Mazes...(drools)
I always wanted to pick some of that stuff up but it's so expensive. My group uses a battlemat for combat mainly. It is very rare that we will use it for anything else. I buy all the minatures for the group and paint them (with a few exceptions). I have had a problem finding the correct type of markers though. Some of the washables come off easily but don't show up well and the dry erase show up well but are hell to get off (I use Tilex and a sponge). Minis that I prefer are the Reaper (good craftmanship and cool names, the Warlord of Kigir) and GW (cheap and plentiful box sets). How have the Master Mazes worked out? Do you have to do alot of prep work to get them ready?

I personaly think that minatures are essential for all combat. My group has had way too many "but was over there the spell can't hit me!" or "I take the magic item." "but your on the otherside of the room" "No I wasn't i said I moved up two rounds ago."

 

[Tom Cashel]

How have the Master Mazes worked out? Do you have to do alot of prep work to get them ready?

You have to open the box. Fully painted and incredibly detailed.

The MM kicks ass, despite the price tag. I put aside money for a couple months then ordered the Cavern Set. Now I'm saving for either another set, or a bunch of individual pieces with which to supplement the Caverns. Cool stuff.

And the individual pieces, like stalagmites, pillars, stairs, etc., would look great with minis on a battlemat. You don't need to invest in the whole spiel.

 

[D'karr]

Battlemat, Miniatures, MasterMaze and Pens

Master Maze stuff is absolutely great. We use it all the time and it is wonderful. Set up time is slower than drawing but the visual enhancement is wonderful. To take a look at some of our battles go here.

I have spent little over $250 dollars for MasterMaze stuff, but I got it all from eBay. I was able to get most of it at very reduced prices. Currently we have 3 cavern sets. A Rooms and passages set. Wicked Additions I and II. And the Ogre's Den. I can't stress this enough if you have time and patience look at getting these from eBay. It will save you tons of money that you can then spend on miniatures.

When we set them up we don't use the bowtie connectors. It takes too long to assemble / disassemble if you put use those.

For miniatures we use any available. GW, Reaper, Ral Partha, WotC, etc. We usually try to have them painted but any that represent what we are fighting are good.

We also have a Chessex Battlemat for those combats where we don't want to spend the time building it with MM.

As far as pens go. Make sure that you don't use the whiteboard markers. Those are only for non-porous material and when used on a Battlemat you will be unable to erase them. The Crayola Washable markers are too watery and some of the colors (RED, ORANGE) will not come out unless you clean them out immediately. The Black and the Blue work alright.

The best pens I've found are made by Staedtler. The colors are clean and bright and they dry fast, so no smearing. They come off with a plain damp cloth.

Make sure you get the non-permanent ones. They do manufacture permanent ones that are a pain in the ass to clean. You would have to use alcohol to clean those out.

Staedtler Non-Permanent pens are hard to find in your local stores unless you find an arts supply one. I ordered mine online from a place called Shoplet.com. They had the cheapest delivery pricing and I got the pens in two days.

Good luck on your search.

 

[Rashak Mani]

I put all the time... but in fact the miniatures are used mostly in combat... out of combat they indicate group marching order or how the camp is set out. Helps "visualise" location and distances.

3rd Ed without miniatures is very hard to play... we love em...