Minis

[Varianor Abroad]

Check out the huge variety of stuff Fiery Dragon offers. Counter Collections umpteen. Print em out (if you buy digital) or cut em out if you get the printed pack.

 

[drothgery]

Alright, most people (that I've talked to) agree that things are going to be much more mini-centric, especially if Saga is any indication. Which is fine, actually, in my opinion. Minis make battle go much smoother, in my experience, and make things much easier to keep track of. That's not the problem.

FWIW, and just being informative because you weren't complaining about this, the only ways Saga is 'more mini-centric' than 3.5 (or RCR Star Wars) are
- distances and ranges are given in squares
- there are pictures of Star Wars minis in the combat examples

The problem is that if you want to play the game with minis, you either have to spend way too much cash on do-it-yourself pewter and plastic minis and paint, or grab a D&D Minis booster and just pray that the minis you're after are in there. Which they won't be.

I went out and bought some Star Wars minis for a Saga game, but if I end up running a 4e game, I'd use the alternative approach of 'mooching off the guy who hosts the game', as he's got tons of minis, and it doesn't bother me to say that a zombie mini is an orc (or vis versa).

 

[DaveMage]

Buying packs, particularly at retail is a sucker's bet. I use Auggies for my singles. He's fast and reliable, and considerably cheaper than anything WOTC could hope to package and market.

http://stores.ebay.com/Auggies-Games-n-Movies

You can pick up reaper's legendary encounters packs, pre-painted plastic if you think ebay steals your memory through your fillings and are fresh out of tin foil.

They've supposedly done the market research, and its come up bad business each time. Too many different SKU's for what they want to deal with among other things.

Can't go wrong with Auggies - and ditto to the other things you said as well.

 

[catsclaw227]

Check out the huge variety of stuff Fiery Dragon offers. Counter Collections umpteen. Print em out (if you buy digital) or cut em out if you get the printed pack.

QWT --

I have even taken the liberty of using the digital versions, converting them into circles, with a nice black border. Then I cut them out with 1" hole punch or a circle cutter, and finallym using a gluestick, I put them on wooden discs that you can buy ULTRA cheap oneline.

Viola! Nice monster tokens that are heavy enough to stay on the battlemat, reusable and fairly easily replacable.

 

[DogBackward]

Thanks for the help, guys. But I don't have enough time to go shopping on the internet; I don't have a home connection, and online time at the library is severely limited. And I just have some irrational aversion to using the "wrong" minis. I'm a very visual person, and it just irks me to no end when the mini I'm using doesn't match the creature it represents. This is the main reason I don't usually ulse minis in my games. But anyway, thanks. I'll see if I can't find some other way to do things.

I still think WotC shoul dprovide non-randomized minis, though. It'd just be so much easier and more convenient.

 

[crazy_cat]

So because you can't be bothered to shop for individual minis WOTC should change their whole distribution model and thus pricing structure?

*snip*
I still think WotC shoul dprovide non-randomized minis, though. It'd just be so much easier and more convenient.

I can fix this statement for you:

*snip*
I still think like the fact that WotC should provide non randomized minis, though. It'd just be so muchThey are so cheap easier and much more convenient to buy compared to shopping around for hours in various stores to find one particular chase mini. Buying cases or large numbers of boosters ensures I have a wide selection of minis for RPG use. Thankyou WOTC. You are great.

 

[Cadfan]

Thanks for the help, guys. But I don't have enough time to go shopping on the internet; I don't have a home connection, and online time at the library is severely limited. And I just have some irrational aversion to using the "wrong" minis. I'm a very visual person, and it just irks me to no end when the mini I'm using doesn't match the creature it represents. This is the main reason I don't usually ulse minis in my games. But anyway, thanks. I'll see if I can't find some other way to do things.

Actually, this is the reason that I use tokens (candy) instead of miniatures. I don't like seeing someone else's mental image of what a hobgoblin ought to look like. I'd rather see a token, and imagine the details.

I still think WotC shoul dprovide non-randomized minis, though. It'd just be so much easier and more convenient.

It would be a lot easier and more convenient for the buyer. There really are genuine inventory control reasons not to do this, though. Gaming stores suck at inventory control as a general rule. You don't even want to get me started on the inventory control mistakes made by stores which stock Reaper miniatures, which is probably the biggest individually packaged miniature manufacturer out there which sells general gaming minis. Its genuinely neurotic, and I don't blame WOTC for not wanting to get stuck in the same morass.

Your best bet is to buy from a secondary market like ebay if you want specific miniatures.

 

[SavageRobby]

Buying packs, particularly at retail is a sucker's bet. I use Auggies for my singles. He's fast and reliable, and considerably cheaper than anything WOTC could hope to package and market.

http://stores.ebay.com/Auggies-Games-n-Movies

This may be the only we've ever agreed on, but I agree with ehren 100% on this. I've been buying from Auggies for 3 years now, I think it is (since Giants of Legend), and he's been consistently great. His prices are always nice and low, and he was one of the sellers that pushed the singles price on ebay down when a bunch of folks were trying to push them up.

 

[Gargoyle]

This may be the only we've ever agreed on, but I agree with ehren 100% on this. I've been buying from Auggies for 3 years now, I think it is (since Giants of Legend), and he's been consistently great. His prices are always nice and low, and he was one of the sellers that pushed the singles price on ebay down when a bunch of folks were trying to push them up.

Thanks guys, these are the kind of endorsements I've been looking for. The "I don't want random monsters" problem is my only complaint about D&D mini's, and I know it's because I've been too lazy to research a good place to buy the ones I want online.

 

[frankthedm]

This may be the only we've ever agreed on, but I agree with ehren 100% on this. I've been buying from Auggies for 3 years now, I think it is (since Giants of Legend), and he's been consistently great. His prices are always nice and low, and he was one of the sellers that pushed the singles price on ebay down when a bunch of folks were trying to push them up.

Yep. He and Cheapminis are some of the few single figure sellers who have flat rate shipping. $3.50 no matter how many you buy.

BEWARE, many sellers try to hide thier prices by charging $0.25 to $0.50 per extra item won on shipping. Might not sound like much, but no way do 100 mins take $50 to ship. And you will see sellers who claim otherwise.