[WOTC] Minis Spotlight

ForceUser · Jun 7, 2003

These figs look good. I'll probably buy them. I appreciate the attempt at diversity, but they should throw some standard archtypes in as well (like the male human paladin).

Ghostwind · Jun 7, 2003

Conaill · Jun 7, 2003

mmu1 said:
Out of 80 types of miniatures in the product line, only 20 are commons... But they're going to make up almost 60% of the minis in the packages. And the "rares", which make up 33 out of 80 miniatures in the line, will make up a whopping .8% of the minis in the packs.

Which means that you're not just going to end up with a lot of commons - you'll end up with the same 20 commons over and over

And your point is... ?

Those commons will most likely be the usual cannon fodder that DMs want to have plenty of anyway: human guards, orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc. I assume the 21 "PC Types" are part of the uncommon ones. The rares one will most likely be BBEG type figures, important monster etc. For those, people will probably either pay the money to buy them as singles on the resale market, or simply buy them in metal elsewhere

mmu1 · Jun 7, 2003

Conaill said:
And your point is... ?

Those commons will most likely be the usual cannon fodder that DMs want to have plenty of anyway: human guards, orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc. I assume the 21 "PC Types" are part of the uncommon ones. The rares one will most likely be BBEG type figures, important monster etc. For those, people will probably either pay the money to buy them as singles on the resale market, or simply buy them in metal elsewhere

What DM wants to spend $80 bucks on 10 expansion packs, and get 10 "rares" (which will most likely contain one or two doubles), 20 "uncommons" and 50 "commons"? I can see having use for 10 "rares" and 20 "uncommons", but who needs 50 minis worth of "fodder", especially since no one is going to want to buy or trade them?
Did you ever run a game in which you really needed a dozen orcs, a dozen goblins, a dozen kobolds, etc?
The point is that this is a scheme to get the gullible to, effectively, pay $10 bucks for single "rare" figures by convincing them they're getting a good deal for getting 1 figure they want and 7 they don't need for $1.25 a piece. It's how it works with every other "collectible" game.

I buy identifiable monsters (illlithids, mummies, vampires, drow, etc.) orc/gnoll/bugbrar chieftains and spellcasters, figures I can use for memorable NPCs, etc - over the years, I've accumulated more "fodder" minis then I'll ever use, and I don't want any more.

Not to mention that these things don't look halway as good as unpainted Reaper minis...

If they're re-sold individually, I'll probably pick up a few typically D&D monsters you can't get elsewhere beause of trademark issues, but that's going to be it...

Pramas · Jun 7, 2003

pogre said:
Pretty good for machine painted plastics.

They aren't machine painted, and neither are Mage Knight or Heroclix figs. They are hand painted in big factories in Asia.

Fenes 2 · Jun 7, 2003

If I start using minis - not much of a chance - I'd use prepainted minis just because I have not enough time or talent to paint them myself. I'd sooner use counters though.

mmu1 · Jun 7, 2003

Fenes 2 said:
If I start using minis - not much of a chance - I'd use prepainted minis just because I have not enough time or talent to paint them myself. I'd sooner use counters though.

Painting minis is overrated... Most people aren't nearly good enough to do them justice, and the way they end up looking, they'd have been better off unpainted.

Edit: I'm not saying I consider myself a great miniature painter, either...

Kanegrundar · Jun 7, 2003

I'm seeing a lot of negative comments about this new line. Honestly, it's not aimed at those of us that are old hat at miniatures. WotC is giving something that will get new younger players into D&D. In all honesty, I'll pick up a couple boosters for grins, but they will never replace my hand-painted metal minis (or my self-painted plastic minis for that matter). That's not what WotC is after. They know that this won't be a big hit with most established gamers, but for my little brother that's 7 years old it's just right. No muss, no fuss, and he's learning to play D&D. Perfect in my opinion. To say that there isn't a market for this kind of product is obvious that someone isn't paying attention to the Mage Knight and Heroclix figures flying off the shelves. There is a huge market for this product, and there will be a secondary market that pops up almost instantly to sell single figs or groups of figs without having to buy booster after booster. WotC tried the metal market, but they failed to compete with Reaper, GW, I-Kore, and all the others. Those that want metal minis have TONS of options, but for easy pre-painted cheap plastics ready for use in D&D games...not so many options at all.

Kane

Chris Coulter · Jun 7, 2003

mmu1 said:
Out of 80 types of miniatures in the product line, only 20 are commons... But they're going to make up almost 60% of the minis in the packages. And the "rares", which make up 33 out of 80 miniatures in the line, will make up a whopping .8% of the minis in the packs.

BZZZT! Bad math!
Rares will constitute 12.5% of a booster (1 in 8)
Uncommons ring in at 37.5% per booster (3 in 8)
And Commons round out the rest at 50% of a booster (4 in 8)

So, half of what you get'll be uncommon or better. Not too bad.

MadScientist · Jun 7, 2003

mmu1 said:
Painting minis is overrated... Most people aren't nearly good enough to do them justice, and the way they end up looking, they'd have been better off unpainted.

Edit: I'm not saying I consider myself a great miniature painter, either...

I'm not an artisticly inclined person at all, but the first mini I ever painted, using no shading or any special techniques at all is several orders of magnitude better than any of the paint jobs I see in that gallery.