Upcoming Changes to D&D Minis Line

[Woas]

The single piece, single colored plastic figures I got from the HeroQuest board game back in the 90's have sufficed for my game(s) when the need for minis risen.

 

[Quantarum]

Although I use 3D minis I have used homemade counters for swarms and things I had no comparable mini for (rage winds for example). After seeing the mummy I was inspired to make a number of 1" rat tokens for a massive swarm and for a black pudding, since they could change shape and divide.

-Q.

 

[jdcash]

Unicorns are all well and good, but come on - how often are you ever gonna put a unicorn on the battlemat? Unless you've got an evil party or an evil unicorn, it ain't too likely. And even if you do, you're only ever apt to need one.

For that matter, how often are you ever gonna put a unicorn in your game at all? D&D doesn't really do unicorns. They're in the manual because they're a big thing in fantasy and the designers feel obligated to include them, but the game has never made much effort to do anything with them.

Now, if 4E had rules for unicorns as ranger companions, or paladin mounts, you might see some action on a unicorn mini. Although 3E had rules for those things and it didn't help, so maybe not.

What about Uni from the cartoon? The kids would have been doomed without his insight and companionship.

 

[megamania]

The Situation-

Continious argument of visible vs hidden figures vs costs involved

Answer- no win situation

Final Tally-
We are changing the miniatures to improve them.


My take on this-

1) No definiation on the changes so how can we argue for or against the change?

2) Folks whom don't buy the figures anyway often are the ones complaining the most

3) Folks who do buy / collect / paint have either accepted change is guarenteed or continue to fight it. Always has been and always will be the case.


Change will happen. Always does. ESPECIALLY with no definitions of what the changes are I don't see where our complaints carry any weight. Lets wait and see what the changes are before we begin to give too much grief to the makers.

There have been many changes in the market in the past few years. 3/3.5/4e for one, the economy for 2 and general choice of using miniatures or not. New support for older games and so on. As these changes occur the market place tries to adjust to make the best product for us while maintaining their own profit. Reasonable process.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Unicorns are all well and good, but come on - how often are you ever gonna put a unicorn on the battlemat?

That was my point when I noted that any unicorn would be an uphill sell.

To be fair, we have a druid in our 3.5 game who summons unicorns occasionally for their abilities.

 

[JoeGKushner]

WotC needs to cut down on the lead time here.

For example, I complained many times that there were not enough Dragonborn, especially with a player line coming out.

Well, it takes 18 months.

Uh... okay, when exactly did you know that Dragonborn were going to be a core race?

So whatever. Let's say there was absolutely nothing they could do about that.

Then they failed on the player side. We're going to charge premium prices for these visible figures, some of them resculpts, and expect the sales to be great!

First off, competition from the Reaper line directly here. Reaper has several figs and all of their figs use the same scale and have the same consistency. I can pick up several dwarves from the D&D minis line and some of them look like fat humans, some of them look like dwarves, and some of them look like tall gnomes.

Second off, it appearst that many stores that were carrying the monsters line dropped the player line. While I can't say it's universally true, Borders (several of them), never carried the players line after the first wave.

The player line, without a high amount of Dragonborn to fill the void of a core race, was ill timed. It should have been shelved until it was ready.

If WoTC wants player style miniatures, go with a "Heroes" line and sell figures of the novels. That way even people who don't use miniatures, much like Star Wars, will be tempted to purchase them. WoTC has a huge library of characters and having them in miniature form would've been an easy hit.

In addition, the RPG department needs to work hand in hand with the miniature department. Unless these adventurers are being cranked out in a week, there should be some lead time to make miniatures that are appropriate to the game. We're getting Norkers now? Now? Seriously? Like two years into the game? Like no one knew Norkers were going to be in the second adventure before it saw print? Like the miniature developer bought his own copy and said, "Wow, look, Norkers!"

 

[crash_beedo]

In addition, the RPG department needs to work hand in hand with the miniature department. Unless these adventurers are being cranked out in a week, there should be some lead time to make miniatures that are appropriate to the game. We're getting Norkers now? Now? Seriously? Like two years into the game? Like no one knew Norkers were going to be in the second adventure before it saw print? Like the miniature developer bought his own copy and said, "Wow, look, Norkers!"

QFT! It seems like for the most part the minis line is trying to include bosses and key figures for the H/P/E series, but the synergy could be a little tighter - missed out on the Norkers, finished Pyramid of Shadows before the various Foulspawn were out there.

Looks like Orcus will be available for the capstone, but here's hoping we get a Huge Shadow Dragon in the first half of this year before Nightwyrm Fortress. (It seems like lots of groups playing H/P/E are either in early or mid-paragon tier these days).

 

[Mark]

Red Hand of Doom, arguably one of the best adventures from 3.5, was where they should have learned this lesson. Here's a thread discussing the minis needed to run this classic and note just how many were not yet available -

Red Hand of Doom Monsters/Characters - SPOiLERS!!! - Maxminis - maxminis.com

A bit of substitution is one thing, but the creatures specifically designed for an adventure should be released in a coordinated manner with the adventure, IMO.

 

[pawsplay]

That was my point when I noted that any unicorn would be an uphill sell.

To be fair, we have a druid in our 3.5 game who summons unicorns occasionally for their abilities.

At least a white (or black) unicorn has a theoretical niche market. A cute spotted pony? Not so much. It is probably more likely for that figure to have its horn cut off to make a horse mini than to see battlefield action as a unicorn.

Although now that I think about it, I wonder how hard it would be to repaint it something reasonable?

 

[El Mahdi]

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