Tag Archives: minis

Awesome Ship Kickstarter

Since I am running a long pirate campaign that’s headed to the Razor Coast, I was jazzed to come across this ship and terrain Kickstarter – with various ships including a 60′ barque (La Belle), 90′ sloop-of-war (HMS Drake), and a 130′ frigate (HMS Surprise).  It’s a chunk of change but… I had to do it! Go check it out if you plan on some naval action in your game.

Dwarven Forge Tiles Arrived!

While I’m waiting for the second Bones Kickstarter to deplete the budget of gamers everywhere, my Dwarven Forge kickstarter order came in!

I’ve never bought terrain before, but like the Reaper Bones, the Kickstarter just made it so darn affordable.  OK, I did spend $170.  But for that I got box after box of hand painted tiles, plus a bunch of furniture and stuff…

Here’s some unboxing pics (my focus sucks, sorry, blame Apple).

IMG_1465What’s in the box…

IMG_1466Four boxes of tiles and one of accessories.

IMG_1467Each box of tiles is packed tight…

IMG_1468This is ONE box of the tiles.  I may have gotten in over my head.

IMG_1469Note the hand painted detail, and the openable door.

IMG_1470With minis for scale.

IMG_1472Defeated – it’s Miller time!

IMG_1473Combat pic!

Skull & Shackles Minis Reviews By An Eleven Year Old Girl

Well I liked my Skull & Shackles minis – awesome sculpts and really good paint jobs, better than previous sets even, and the plastic the perfect medium between too hard/brittle and too soft/bendy. (Set one was too soft and set two was too rigid).

But the real test is when my daughter checks them out!  She reinterprets them and ranks them in order from least to most scary.

  1. Jack Sparrow (Kerdak Bonefist)
  2. Miss Creepypasta (Luccaria)
  3. Machete Dude (Barnabus Harrigan)
  4. Sea Monkey (Elder Brykokalas)
  5. Water lady with aqua-puppies (Duppy)
  6. Blaze Monkey (Greater Host Devil, wingless)
  7. Shark Mama (Brinebrood Queen)
  8. Mr. Yelly Shark (Shark)
  9. Mr. Derpy Shark (Hammerhead Shark)
  10. Cyclops who looks like he’s throwing a temper tantrum (Cyclops)
  11. Giant snake with lady face (Aquatic Naga)
  12. Mad sea monkey (Sea Devil)
  13. Mr. Cuddles (Drowning Devil)
  14. Barry the Chopper Dragon (Sea Troll)
  15. Mrs. Tarantula Lady (Paeta)

I generally agree though think Mr. Cuddles is scarier.  But then again I was already married to a spider with a woman’s face so perhaps I’m used to it. It’s unfortunate that the least scary is one of the end bosses of the Adventure Path though!

You can’t see the “aqua-puppies” in the Duppy pic very well since it’s in the clear part but they’re there.  And the expression on the Cyclops’ face really is hilarious, it makes up for him being anemically small (I’m sure it’s book legal since they’re only 8 feet tall or something, but I hate large minis that are really only marginally taller than medium ones – make it a taller than normal cyclops if you have to, but he doesn’t look that intimidating next to normal characters…)

Naturally since she selected the Paeta as the scariest I then chased her around the house with it for a while.

(Also see her and her friend’s review of my Rise of the Runelords minis…)

Skull & Shackles Minis

OK, after I got all my Reapers Bones minis I tried to tell myself I didn’t need any more minis. But then Paizo/Wizkids came out with their Pathfinder prepainted plastic Skull & Shackles minis that are all piratey.  And I’m still running  my years-long Reavers pirate campaign

So I gave in and got a brick from my favorite cheapest-on-the-Web source, RPG Locker. They came in and they’re sweet!  Lots of pirates, but also the Large minis are a lot more impressive.  In each booster is 3 small/mediums and one Large. None were broken or missing and unboxing was simple. [Ed. Later when looking at mini pics online I have come to realize my Greater Host Devil is broken and missing his wings.]

I’m getting set to run Razor Coast and pretty much all of these minis are perfect for it…

Without further ado here’s some pics! First some pirates and folk.  Some of those are “named characters” and some aren’t, but they’re all just as well done!

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The sharks really impressed me, especially the hammerhead. Really thick, has a threatening plumpness to him. Note the paint job on the multiple rows of teeth on the other shark!

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Now some of the larges. Check out the naga!  There’s also a medium version.

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And the scrag, or sea troll.  The land troll looks a little small and wimpy, but this guy is huge!

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When I opened this box I screamed “OH GOD NO WHAT IS IT!?!”  Apparently a “drowning devil.”  The largest and most menacing of all of them.

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And a lady-faced spider.  Not an aranea.  Not a phase spider.  Yet another, a “Paeta.”  But ignore that and use the mini for all of them!

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Action shot with a medium guy facing off against them!

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A bunch of really nice minis!

My Reaper Kickstarter Unboxing

I took part in the Reaper Miniatures “Bones” kickstarter for unpainted resin minis last August and they’ve been working away to produce them.  I came home this week to find this jumbo box sitting on my doorstep!

IMG_1262I popped it open and it was chock full.

IMG_1274I opened it up and took out the components…

IMG_1275Besides the “Vampire” level of funding, I bought a “starter paint kit,” two minis cases, a red dragon and six “deep dwellers.”IMG_1276The paint starter kit is ridiculous huge!  So much paint! And I’ll need it…

IMG_1277Here’s my extra minis – the red dragon, deep dwellers, and then some skeleton with a shovel was in with the paints.

IMG_1279There’s the dragon sculpt, right off the Pathfinder book. Pardon the graininess of my iPhone camera, but you get the gist.  The wings and arm and head were separate components that snapped right on. Now, to the main event!

IMG_1280In the big white Vampire box – 6 keys of smack!  I mean minis!

IMG_1281Here’s one bag.

IMG_1282And in it – a billion little bags!

IMG_1283Some of the smalls are on sticks – some I could twist off but most will need an x-acto knife.

IMG_1284It took a long time to open all the little baggies.  They’re not perforated or anything, scissors are required. I was careless once, and sheared off a spear-tip while cutting baggie after baggie. Here’s the figures from the first bag.

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This one had a bunch of space marines in it!IMG_1286

She wants me.IMG_1287First impressions – they are rubbery – very rubbery.  This is good in that there were no broken minis (except the one I cut while de-bagging) but several of the minis (mainly smalls and skeletons) have trouble standing up. The scuplts are beautiful.

Bag two, now with ectoplasm!

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IMG_1289IMG_1290By the time I was done – an army of minis!

IMG_1293One bag of trash…

IMG_1292And one big box of minis!

IMG_1295Final count:

  • 246 minis (no pieces missing)
  • 0 broken (except for my scissors accident)
  • 5 that won’t stand up no matter what despite loads of bending (and many more that have quite a lean to them)

I’m quite pleased! For a decently low investment, a mess of minis, and all the scuplts are great.  The Pathfinder iconics and goblins are my favorites!

I’ll have to see how the rubbery texture does with painting, it seems a little questionable.  If Reaper’s reading this, I’d go a touch stiffer with the material in subsequent batches. You mainly want to surf the fine line between breakage and wobbliness. I remember Paizo’s first prepaints were too soft, and then the latest ones are really stiff to the point of some breakage. These are way softer than the Paizo/Wizkids ones even at start (or the D&D Minis), and could use a couple levels of stiffening.

If they could add perforations to the baggies it would be nice too, though probably in the future people won’t have to be opening them in such volume.

Anyway – thanks Reaper, and I hope this Kickstarter did well for y’all!

Ten Year Old Girls Review Rise of the Runelords Miniatures

I had my new minis out from yesterday’s post-purchase initial review of the new Wizkids Pathfinder Battles Rise of the Runelords minis. (My that’s a long name.)  Go there to see the pictures for context. My daughter and one of her little friends saw them and decided to give me their opinions on them.  It was hilarious. Here’s as much as I could capture from stream of consciousness 10 year old girlspeak…

Storm Giantess: “She looks like she’s about to do something to me.”
“Cut you into pieces?”
“Yeah.”

Ogre Brute: “Looks like trollface meme guy.” <brief interruption where they tell me I’m so uncool and not up with the hip new things and we have to Google trollface. He does.>

Mash-fell-knocker (their pronunciation of Malfeshnekor):  <in a high voice> “Who’s a good doggie, who’s a good doggie, who’s a good doggie?” <in a harsh voice> “I kill you!”
“He looks like a monkey with elf ears.”
“He looks like a mix between a bat, a dog, and the ‘My precious’ guy from Lord of the Rings.”

Lucretia: “Her hair and eyes look evil.  She’s kinda bald but pretty. She must be the queen of something.”
<imitating Lucretia>  “You must obey me or be cut into pieces!”

Lyrie Akenja: “For Pete’s sake woman, put on a shirt!”
“Put on a shirt!  Put on a shirt!  Put on a shirt!” <chanting together>
“She has a wand, what is this, Harry Potter?”
“Oh look she has a kitty!”
<a long discussion on the pros and cons of kitties ensues>

Ogrekin: “Looks like Invader Zim with a muscly body and something on his head.”
“Looks like a bodybuilder with a messed up face.”
“Yeah, his face is jacked up.”
“Is that a baby rattle he has?”
<i do have to admit the ogrekin’s weapon is underwhelming, needs more meat on it>

Faceless Stalker:  “It looks like a beast that paints itself.”
“Put on some clothes!”
“His weapon looks like a spoon.”
<reading the base> “6 of 65!  Wow!  Good job for nothin’, guy!”
<this is a pretty weak mini, I agree with the girls>

Wraith: “Tornado man!”
“He kinda reminds me of the Statue of Liberty!”
“I know!”
“He’s not the Statue of Liberty, he’s the Statue of Liberty’s torch.”
“Yeah.”

Goblin Commando on Goblin Dog: “Oh look it’s a gremlin!  It’s a gremlin riding a puppy.”
“He looks like the guy from that book… Origami Yoda!” <I feel pain and regret that apparently kids nowadays don’t know Yoda except via derivative media.>
“He looks like the gremlins from that movie where the girl’s little brother gets taken and she has to marry someone and they attack her face!”
<a long Q&A ensues where I try to figure out what movie she’s talking about>
“Yeah, Labyrinth!”
“I’m bored, can we go play Littlest Pet Shops now?”

Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords Minis, I Haz Them

I was in a local game store and discovered they had the new Wizkids Pathfinder Battles Rise of the Runelords minis!  I grabbed some boxes and thought I’d share.

I got one Huge box that came with a Storm Giantess,

then each of the normal boosters had a Large; I got an Ogre Brute and Malfeshnekor himself;

and then each normal booster had three medium/smalls in it – from left to right, Lucrecia, a wraith, a faceless stalker, Lyrie Akenja, a goblin commando on a goblin dog, and an ogrekin.

And here they are in ensemble to show relative sizes.

The sculpts are very nice and the painting is very nice, I like all these figures, they’re very distinctive.

I am disappointed a little in the Huge, however.  For $25 there’s no real fine painting work – her cloak, for example, is one big ol’ swath of the same purple and her trident is a homogeneous green (and made of a much more flexible plastic than the rest of the mini, it’s quite warped and not able to be made convincingly straight.  On a Huge I expect more detail than that.  The Large ogre brute is really nice and has more detail and nice washes – he looks better than the Huge; heck that whore with the cat (Lyrie) has more detail than the storm giantess.  Lucretia’s high cheekbones and piercing eyes are really, really good

But there’s a lot of improvement from the already good Heroes and Monsters minis – go see my old review of those and compare the ogre and goblins to this ogre and goblin – the ogre in particular is like 1000% better sculpt and paint.  And the small boosters having 4 rather than 1 mini is much better.

What they did right, they kept up – the bases are nice and flat, none of that D&D Minis falling over/warped base crap. Easy to unbox, all were in fine shape.

They’re high quality and nice.  I am not sure I plan to buy a lot though – they are expensive as crap! I just dropped $60 on these 9 minis.  Sure, you can get discount cases blah blah – I might do it if I were about to run Runelords, but other than that I’ll get a couple and use my rich legacy base of minis, Reaper kickstarter unpainteds, and pawns to fill in the gaps.

One Day Left For The Most Insane Minis Deal Ever

Man, I already have more minis than I know what to do with.  But this Reaper Minis “Bones” (unpainted resin) Kickstarter has gone nuclear, having hit $2.2M already and with a day to go, my $100 pledge is now getting me… Something like 217 minis, but it’s hard to count them all up!

If you pledge at the Vampire level ($100), you get bonus rewards at every additional increment of funding they raise – some Larges, Pathfinder iconics and goblins, lots of general stuff, all sharp looking Reaper sculpts. If you pledge more there’s all kinds of extras and whatnot (they’ll send you a form after it closes to specifically pick add-ons).  I put in an extra $50 to get a case and some dragons or something, haven’t decided yet.

This is probably the best deal one will ever find for minis, so sign up!  And then come over to my place and paint my minis for me.

Want A Mess Of Cheap Miniatures?

Well, Reaper Minis is having a Kickstarter for their “Bones” (unpainted resin minis) line, and it has raised – get this – $750,000!!!  Their gain is your… gain, because now for a $100 pledge you’ll get 145 minis (and maybe more, as more pledge money pours in!).  The latest nine are officially licensed Pathfinder goblin minis.  You have a week left to sign up!

Now, I don’t know if I want 145 unpainted minis, because I have no patience for painting.  On the other hand… 145 minis for $100?  Sheeeeeeit. How can I turn it down?  A dilemma.  All of you should sign up so they’ll give us more stuff and it’ll help me make my mind up!  🙂

New Pathfinder Prepainted Miniatures

Paizo has announced Pathfinder Battles, a new line of randomized prepainted miniatures much like the D&D Miniatures that WotC discontinued back in January. These are different from the non-random prepaints they announced in May.

There’s a good bit of glee and consternation over the news.  To break it down:

  • Again, Paizo does it better than Wizards.  Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa.
  • The minis are randomized, though a normal booster has just one Medium creature in it. I don’t mind the randomization, it’s kinda required to make the economics work.
  • The normal booster price is $3.99, which is steep for one mini. If they put them in boxes of multiple minis, wouldn’t that help keep per mini price down (and waste a lot less packaging)?
  • The scuplts look good, but I am frankly dubious about the paint jobs.  The rat’s fur and the gnome’s hair, for example, use very unnatural simple colors.

So good on Paizo.  I’ll probably buy some, assuming they look good when they come out, but a better per mini price would make me a lot more bullish about it.

WotC Discontinues D&D Minis

Hm, that’s sad news – the prepainted plastic D&D minis were a great idea and were the only thing I still buy from WotC.  My gaming group has a whole trunk full of them, and we don’t play the actual minis game or 4e, we use them for battlemaps for a lot of games.  I still have old pewter minis from like 15 years ago I’ve never gotten around to painting, and I don’t want to have to.

It’s also strange news – so what will they be doing instead?  In the same article, they proudly announce their latest dungeon tiles product, which it would seem you’d need minis for.  You could do counters, and it sounds like they are putting some out, but there’s no profit in that.  Issuing counters is a “we know you have to have something so here it is the cheapest way we could make them, mostly for free” kind of play.

Do they think they’re going to get their virtual table working and declare “all gaming is virtual now, death to the tabletop?”  No – not just because they’ll never get the virtual tabletop working, but because they’re still selling cards and whatnot too, and pushing Encounters, which all are tied to tabletop.

Are they going to partner with someone else to do them?  If so, this is a ham-handed way of announcing it; also, WotC’s model has been “pull it all in house” since the development of 4e, moving it back out would be an unprecedented shift in strategy.

Are they getting more expensive to produce as fewer 10 year olds are willing to be exposed to toxic fumes even in China or wherever?  Seems like they’d just up the price or put fewer in a box if that were the case.

Are they planning to change the sales model (sell non-randomized or singles)?  Again, this is a very bad way of announcing that – you don’t say “product terminated” if you’re just changing the model.

Are they just not selling well, so they don’t really give a shit how it fits into the product strategy or game experience?  Maybe.  They seem to be understaffed and floundering. I suspect this is the only reason that makes sense – the margin is down and so they’re canceling them, and they don’t have the time or people or energy to bother about product strategy.Sure, they’re adding the cards, but that can be done with excess staff etc. from WotC’s card game lines.

Even with the rumors going around that what we’re seeing is rampup to a 5e – and it makes sense, the cycle’s been like 3e – put out 3e, fairly quickly put out 3.5e, fire most of your staff, trickle out products and begin on a new edition.  They put out 4e, put out Essentials (4.5e) fairly quickly and fired most of their staff… But even if that were true, why would discontinuing minis fit into that plan?

[Edit: I have seen Reaper’s prepainted plastic minis line but they don’t have many of them.  And apparently to be more ‘retail friendly’ they just changed their name to “Hobby-Q”.]