Need your thoughts on prepainted miniatures.

[Li Shenron]

It would be nice if they took into account those of us that do mods to minis to change their poses.. i.e. either a)supply the arms, legs and heads detached, so we can attach them at varying angles, b) supply a couple differnt arms and heads etc so we can attach the ones we want, or c) krealize I might want to cut off the arms and move them, and sculpt the mini with that in mind, so it isn't the world's hardest mod.

IMO that might be very dependent on the material used, if this could be done. And doing assembly pieces instead of one piece per mini increases the difficulties quite a lot. Plus, the aesthetic results can be awful. I've heard that those who modify minis are very skilled and know how to cut & glue them without the need of having them assemblable since the start...

 

[Stormrunner]

A number of the WotC minis, especially the large ones, have obviously been cast in two or three pieces and then glued together somehow. So we know it's possible, at least.
Consider limited variability - say, three different "waist up" poses and three "waist down" poses, with the join line concealed by a belt or suchlike. That gives you effectively 9 poses for the mold cost of 3 figures.

I definitely want to see minis which have either been ignored or rare. WotC line has two centaurs, frex, but both are Rare and thus out of my price range. And I rarely see minis, metal or plastic, for, say, satyrs, merfolk, or ordinary animals. The Celestial Bison (the "holy cow") is a favorite for low-level summoners, but just try finding a bison mini.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Prepainted plastic makes the most sense. The metal would just eb out of countrol. Besides, the plastic ones would be lighter, easier to bring around without being scratched and worn down, and could probably store easier.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Various Topics

In terms of metal minis...

Someone already mentioned the em-4. I think they're hooked up with crystal case.

Another company is Holistic. THey had d20 cards with 'em too.

In terms of plastic scenary already prepainted, go mage knight. They have two setso f dungeon dressing and another set for traps. I believe that the guys who do the Dwarven Forge also have individual pieces of their larger sets avaiable, but then you've got the cost issue.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Miniatures designed so that you could create your own would be a different product. I wouldn't be against doing an Adventurers Kit which would allow you to create your own miniatures, however that would remove the prepainted element and doing sprues of plastic parts would be immensely expensive. Its something I'll consider down the road depending on how all of this goes.

For those of you that cite transportabilty of metals as an issue, what if the miniatures came with a case that would help alleviate scraping and such? Would that change your mind at all?

 

[Matt Black]

Packaging that allows easy transport of metal figures would be a great addition, especially if the packages are easily stackable.

So you can't do plastic? That's fine with me. If you make prepainted metal (or resin) figures of better quality than the WotC figures and that still don't cost the earth, I'll buy lots.

 

[JVisgaitis]

So you can't do plastic? That's fine with me. If you make prepainted metal (or resin) figures of better quality than the WotC figures and that still don't cost the earth, I'll buy lots.

I didn't say I couldn't, I'm still waiting for price quotes. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Li Shenron]

For those of you that cite transportabilty of metals as an issue, what if the miniatures came with a case that would help alleviate scraping and such? Would that change your mind at all?

I'm not sure if this would be such a good idea. But what do you mean exactly? Selling a case separately would be ok, but not if every set of e.g. 6 pieces had its own case.

Well in our case transportability is not an issue at all, since in every group I've played we always had the tradition of playing at the DM's house, whoever took the role of DM. Rather I'd have issues with fragility, should the minis drop to the floor for example.

But of course if you could make metal even cheaper than plastic (and even with more details) I would care for those problem less.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Ya know, that is something I never considered and is an excellent point. It has been noted and I will gladly steal that idea.

Actually, I prefer them to be of the same color. If you have 10 guys with halberds all in a blue & white color scheme, they can also double as your town militia or city guardsmen. If you have different colors, it makes it tougher.

When you made your original post a month or two back, I had also mentioned the possibility of the minis coming painted or unpainted. I have a pretty good sized Warhammer Empire army painted in a red & black color scheme. I would gladly supplement them with non WH figures if they came in the same color scheme... or, gave me the option of painting them in the same scheme. (for example, I recently bought some Shadowforge Dark Temple figs to use as female soldiers...but, I also painted them red & black to be used as Empire soldiers if needed)

Have you already contacted somebody to produce the minis for you?

 

[JVisgaitis]

Actually, I prefer them to be of the same color. If you have 10 guys with halberds all in a blue & white color scheme, they can also double as your town militia or city guardsmen. If you have different colors, it makes it tougher.

I was thinking of just two paint jobs per miniature. So if you purchase a set of 10 orcs, you'll get 5 in one color scheme and 5 in another. I could see reasons for both. 2 paint jobs for one figure seems like a comfortable middle ground.

When you made your original post a month or two back, I had also mentioned the possibility of the minis coming painted or unpainted.

To me it doesn't seem like a problem and I could probably get these at a cheaper price. Everyone seems to have various likes and dislikes which is normal, and its tough to accomodate everyone. What I am trying to do is guage what would appeal to the largest amount of people while keeping this economical.

Have you already contacted somebody to produce the minis for you?

Sure have. Quite a few people actually. I do have access to a working foundry. Just waiting on a response and trying to get the numbers to work.

I'm not sure if this would be such a good idea. But what do you mean exactly? Selling a case separately would be ok, but not if every set of e.g. 6 pieces had its own case.

Well what I'm saying is if you purchased a set of 10 miniatures you get a case. I doubt we will sell singles, it'll be easier to keep costs down and make them more available through distribution if they come in sets. I know a lot of people would prefer singles, but from a distrubutor standpoint it would never happen. They hate carrying miniature companies. I would consider doing mail order directly from us for singles depending on the need for such a service.