Which Miniatures company is best suited to take over the D&D pre-painted mini line?

[MerricB]

I'm with Daasuul: the answer is "none". Wizards had to scrap both Heroscape and D&D Miniatures, despite both previously being profitable lines. The market isn't currently in a good state for prepainted plastics.

WizKids? Not really. The company plans to relaunch MageKnight, but not as a miniatures game, but rather as a boardgame (with possible later releases as a deck-building game and a role-playing game). Personally, I think the IP for MageKnight isn't that valuable - it was the novelty of the original CMG that made MageKnight special (and they wrecked that).

The only thing that makes me pay attention to the new MK boardgame is its designer: Vlaada Chvatil, one of the true geniuses of boardgame design working today. (Through the Ages, Dungeon Lords, Space Alert and Galaxy Trucker are all his designs).

The lack of product in the Reaper Legendary Encounters line shows the problems faced by smaller companies with prepainted plastics.

Cheers!

 

[Thunderfoot]

Merric, I hate it when you're right...it usually so final, but I have to agree.

Working with True Dungeon, the production cost of the slider tokens (which are manufactured in China) are ridiculous, and they are still cheaper than producing elsewhere. Production costs are up across the board, so honestly, I don't see it. I think unless you know what you want and can find it now, easily, it's only a matter of time until we are all back to unpainted injected plastic models (ala Games Workshop/Citadel low end army stuff) or unpainted pewter-based metal minis (ala everyone else).

I remember the days they used to sell lead blocks and drip molds in the back of Dragon, it's probably only a matter of time before something similar (obviously non-lead based) comes along.

 

[MerricB]

Just a couple of interesting points for this discussion...

In December 2010, Mongoose Publishing revealed that they had not gained the Star Wars game license. "I am sure many will find it intriguing that the licence covers card games, RPGs, and... miniatures. Now, the company concerned is not known for its miniatures lines, which will probably put paid to my dream of 28mm multipart/multipose Stormtroopers."

I'm pretty sure we still don't know who that company is. When (if) they reveal themselves, whether or not they do miniatures will be very indicative of the state of the market.

Another company to watch is Fantasy Flight Games: in particular, checking out the price of their games in future, which have been amazing value and often full of plastic bits. They're probably going to have some rather expensive games soon...

Note also that the CMG Monsterapocalypse is going to a non-random format, after very good sales of their 2-player set (source here). That sort of implies that the random format wasn't working so well for them, and I wonder about how long they'll continue with the non-random format.

The other CMG I know about still going fairly strongly is HeroClix, originally produced by WizKids, then offloaded to NECA (after WizKids was bought by Topps). Hilariously, NECA has now bought WizKids! They're doing a Lord of the Rings HeroClix set and also Streetfighter and (astonishingly) Iron Maiden sets. Hmm.

I'm not sure what the current status of the Axis and Allies Miniatures game is; it's one game I've paid almost no attention to.

Cheers!

 

[Thunderfoot]

So far, A&A minis are still in production. No official announcement has landed that I know of that kills them off. which is weird, because I didn't think they were doing that well to begin with. The boards don't have any mention of a stoppage and the player banter seems to be business as usual.

On the other hand, the last "official" tournament was in November of last year and the only other tourney on the boards was in Jan of this year at a comic shop in Johnson City, NY.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I agree with Merric as well - I don't see anybody getting into the DDM market any time soon. Maybe in a few years with 5E and the economy in better shape?

I've had good luck buying the unpainted Warhammer stuff and then shipping them overseas to get painted, en masse. (Sri Lanka, believe it or not) Not a great way to get characters, but if you want a horde of: goblins, orcs, skeletons, zombies, ghouls, dwarves, elves, humans, etc, it's not a bad alternative. Not as cheap as boxes of DDM, but you get what you want and you get the colors you want. And, you have to get a few guys together to do it in bulk to make up for the shipping costs. I haven't done it in a few years now, but I know they're still in business.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I agree with Merric as well - I don't see anybody getting into the DDM market any time soon. Maybe in a few years with 5E and the economy in better shape?

I've had good luck buying the unpainted Warhammer stuff and then shipping them overseas to get painted, en masse. <SNIP>

Assuming of course that you actually like Warhammer sculpts; I've never really liked their "cartoony/anime" feel (though the Brettonian peasants/militia are some of the best mass "random guy on the street" figures out there currently."

Sri Lanka however, makes perfect sense; they're the new India (which of course was the new China.). XD

 

[Lancelot]

So far, A&A minis are still in production. No official announcement has landed that I know of that kills them off. which is weird, because I didn't think they were doing that well to begin with. The boards don't have any mention of a stoppage and the player banter seems to be business as usual.

To offer some detail on this:

• There are three Axis & Allies randomized collectible miniatures games produced by Hasbro.
• The core A&A collectibles game (usually called A&A Land to differentiate it from the other two) is possibly nearing the end of release. There have been 10 or so sets released in total. There is reputed to be at least one more set on the way (Late War: 1944-45), but no confirmation if it will actually be released, or when.
• A&A War at Sea offers collectible minis for ships, subs, naval aircraft, etc. It still appears to be selling like hotcakes, due to very little competition. A&A Land has to compete with plastic kitsets, Flames of War, and many other suppliers. But there are few if any other companies producing a wide range of pre-painted naval vessels. Five sets have been released to date, Set 6 is scheduled for October, and more sets will likely follow.
• Surprisingly, WotC has just announced an entirely new collectible game: A&A Air. This is randomized collectible 1:100 scale aircraft, primarily fighters. The first set will be released in December. This is a surprise for several reasons. 1) it has a fair bit of competition (most prominently Wings of War); 2) all the valid points made above about cost of plastic, etc; 3) 1:100 is quite a large scale, so individual pieces are likely to be big and beautiful - but also costly.

So, Hasbro is still clearly in the business of providing randomized collectible miniatures. However, I certainly agree with previous posters in that DDM is saturated. I have thousands of the things (...and so can you, if you want them: there is a thriving secondary market, where you can buy nearly anything you want). My problem is storage of what I already have, not worrying about who will supply my "fix" in the future.

 

[Thagdal]

Lately I've found buying the older warhammer minis via ebay I've found cheaper for many staples (orcs, humans etc) than the secondary market for DDM. Painted better too, but longer wait between purchases.

The second hand market for DDM I can see lasting a long long while getting recycled between new and older players.

 

[Thunderfoot]

To offer some detail on this:

• There are three Axis & Allies randomized collectible miniatures games produced by Hasbro.<SNIP>

• 
  Yeah, I knew they were making them, but I didn't know about the ramp up or the new line. I guess the old wargamers are getting too old to paint in 1:1000 scale anymore.

 

[Mark CMG]

If you are in the Chicagoland area, the Games Plus - Auction is coming up a week from tonight through that following Sunday with collectible minis on Wednesday and non-collectible on Sunday (plus other stuff on Friday and Saturday, too). If you want to sell stuff through it, get it in before next Tuesday (there are forms to fill out and such).