Reaper Kickstarter

[mister frau blucher]

Hey all,

In case some of you are into miniatures, this is a great deal. Reaper is doing a kickstarter, and it is kicking serious booty. They are up to almost 1.5 million, and the stretch goals have been shattered. So for $100, you will get nearly 200 minis - maybe more, now.

I am a bit on the fence myself, since I still use my true 25mm, and so all of the figures (except for monsters) would be out of scale. And I have a few thousand still to paint...but I am tempted 'cause there are so many cool sculpts here. I have three days to decide!

Anyway, check it out if interested...

[mister frau blucher]

Gah! I took the plastic plunge!

What tipped it was that you could trade out the Sophie figure for $25 in options. I had my eye on those six giants (the frost giant king and queen, the fire giant king and queen, and the two fire giant soldiers) which totaled $30 extra. So I pledged $105.

There are some great sculpts here. It amazes me the detail they are getting on these plastic figures, the kind you would only see on metal previously. A lot of the larger orc figures I can make do as lesser giants, and all of the monsters will be compatible with my true 25mm dudes. So maybe 80 or so of the 210+ figures I will get will be incompatible with my forces. I'll figure something out.

But this has got me a bit fired up. A few years ago, I ran the old AD&D Against the Giants series using LAW rules. This has me thinking about creating a full-blown LAW adventure, kind of an homage to that series, with a different plot of course.

Stay tuned!

Also, check out the kickstarter. In the last two days they have taken in over a half million dollars! I like those guys (even if their figs are the modern scale and mostly unuseable) so it is good to see kind people doing well.

Bret

[Deleted]

that is a lot of miniatures. i'm tempted but i have no experience with miniatures. a lot of them look like they would fall over quite easily...and that would annoy me. what do you think?

EDIT: actually, i do have _some_ experience with miniatures. i have a small collection of star wars miniatures. they all have round bases and balance very well. that's what concerns me about a lot of the minis i see pictured on the page. many have a 'rectangular' shaped based and look like would easily fall over...but i have no experience with such minis. what is your experience? will they stand up well?

[mister frau blucher]

Hey ewookie,

Most of my figures are old metal (Grenadier, Heritage, Ral Partha) and a few of those guys have had problems. I don't have many newer style figure, which use the "slotta base" square. But I do have a few of the Reaper Dark Heaven metal minis, and the ones I have all have the round or irregular shaped bases. Only one of those has a bit of a problem, but it is more from the weight of the metal being up high. These are plastic. Which would lead me to believe the higher center of gravity is not a problem.

But I cannot say with certainty. My gut says these will not have that as an issue, but looking at all the figs there may be a few. I'd hate to have you make the leap, with that as your primary concern, based on my say so.

I would think you are not the only person who would be disappointed if these were prone to falling over. Given Reaper's general attantion to detail, and their outstanding customer service, I would not expect it to be an issue.

That is the best I can say, amigo. However, they have their own forums, and some of the Bones figures have been on the market for a while. My advice would be to visit their forums and see if anyone has raised this as an issue. If not, you might sign up and ask the question. With all the ecxitement (and cash) floating around over this kickstarter, i am sure you would get a rapid answer.

Bret

[Deleted]

thanks, mister!
your response is exactly what i was looking for. it tells me a lot. going to their forums is a good suggestion. however, i really don't feel like going through the 'initiation' phase of such an endeavor at the moment. also, (not sure how to word this) but i find that Company A's forums tend to be mostly inhabited by Company A fanboys; therefore, objective responses are the rare product of someone wishing to commit 'forum-suicide'
...but that doesn't happen here

anyways, here's an example link i found on the reaper web-page:
www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Bones/latest/77015
the base is very narrow and elliptical compared to the awesome looking figure. this scares me (and i'm not talking about the mean ogre LOL). my fears are further supported by the other images of the same figure that someone has painted. what an awesome looking figure...but notice they have also attached a wider, heavier base.
same thing with the awesome looking bugbear here:
www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Bones/latest/77005

again, i thank you for your honest and objective response. i think i will wait until you get yours or someone else chimes in before i take the plunge

EDIT: i would like to add that it still seems like a very good deal for the average miniature person...that likes to paint them and stuff. if you're going to paint them, adding a base isn't a big deal...but i'm not into all of that. adding the base wouldn't be worth the effort to me and i would find it annoying to have to do something like that to something i paid for...unless i was going to paint it anyway.

[Deleted]

the more i look into it, the more i get the impression that they are _designed_ to be mounted on different bases. it is such a good price for the minis and litko has some nice bases...evil plastic critters! i may do this! i may even try to do some painting. i don't think i will be very good at it. my hands were shaky when i was a teenager. age hasn't improved things...and my eyes aren't what they used to be...but this is the best price to mess some stuff up

however, i'm not sure what size bases to order. the reaper site says they are 25mm but you seem to imply that they are not?

[mister frau blucher]

I see exactly what you are saying, ewookie. I didn't anticipate mounting on other bases, but I might have to an some/most of them. BUT the reason I am still not sure, is that "basing" is a big part of some mini painters' finish. That is, they love to include grass and rocks for a natural look. So seeing bases glued to the bottom is not necessarily an indication that it is required, since it is fairly standard practice.

To get what i am saying, go by the Lead Adventures Forum. These guys do great painting (and after action reports of battles), their skill is way past mine. I am your basic American Primitive/Utilitarian painter, no washes or highlights - but I don't care. But i love checking that forum out, it is really beautiful. You'll see what i mean by almost every painter adding bases and detail.

www.lead-adventure.de/

As far as 25mm: In the old days (1970's, up to late 80's) the height of a figure labeled 25 mm was exactly that. Games Workshop/Citadel from England started making their figures larger, about 28mm, and the popularity of Warhammer showcased this. Other manufacturers started getting bigger, and now the scale is 30-32mm in a lot of cases. Some companies still call this 25mm, though it is usually acknowledged as "heroic" 25mm, but some just call it 28mm. You'll see both scales listed on ebay for instance.

Thus endeth the short history lesson!

The kickstarter is over $2 million now - incredible!

Bret

[Deleted]

well, i took the plunge (last night), pledged a C-note, and ordered some 25mm circle bases from litko.

i'm really glad you gave that little history lesson because i learned something very important that i might not have otherwise recognized. i always thought 20mm, 25mm, 30mm, 1", etc. referred to the _exact_ dimensions of the base...if circle, 25mm = 25mm diameter of the base. i didn't think it was at all intended to refer to the height of the figure (but, of course, scale would dictate that there is a relationship between the base and the height). i think perhaps that _is_ what they refer to now (base width) but 'in ye olden days' they referred to the height...or am i even more confused than ever?

(i hope those 25mm bases i ordered are going to be large enough...but if they aren't, i don't see how these figs are going to fit on a battle map with ~1" hexes)

(man, i'm gettin really nervous now. i ordered 100 of those 25mm circle bases. someone may get a substantial discount on them in the future LOL )

[mister frau blucher]

It can definitely be confusing, particularly if you haven't been following miniature development the last 40 years!

The 25mm or 28mm designation in relation to the miniature still refers to the height, whether accurately or not. The multiple base sizes are also refered to by mm, so 20mm, 25mm, and 40mm when used in conjuction with base descriptions refer to the base only and not the mini.

I think the 25mm bases you got should suffice for most of these. As far as 1 hexes, most RPG's are using squares, so they are designed to fit in 1" squares - or in the case of larger creatures using the 40mm bases, within four squares. It is a bit more difficult to use the larger guys on hexes, but not much. I have some of the larger D&D minis, like giants, and they work OK on hexes with their large, circular bases, usually taking up 3.

Since most figures (and these, specifically) are made with the idea that they will be used with 1" squares, I think you will be good to go with the bases you ordered.

Bret

[Deleted]

yeah, the size of the squares/hexes etc. is why i always thought the stated size of a fig referred to the base...IMO, it should because the size of 'grids' remains rather constant within a given game system but the height of figs will vary wildly within any system as some creatures are larger than others...but i'm just a noob, who am i to dictate terms to the gaming industry LOL

EDIT: also, heights will vary wildly due to different poses as well as different races/monsters. comparatively, base dimensions are rather fixed by the system 'grid'

[mister frau blucher]

Over 3 million dollars - holy doo-doo!

[Deleted]

yeah, i finally had to 'unsubscribe' from all of the 'project update' emails. really looking forward to my first batch of fantasy minis ever!

[Lord Inar]

I went for it. I did the math on the paints, realized that by getting the Vampire level, pitching in for all sets of paints (48 total) brings it up to $172. Since Reaper sells 54 paint sets for $185, adjusting the cost down slightly to account for 6 fewer paints ultimately means that I just bought a bunch of paints and then paid $7 for 240 minis. Not too shabby!

They will take a while to show up however.

[Deleted]

they were some fantastic deals. however, i've decided that this stuff isn't for me. i may change my mind once i hold a little piece of awesomeness in my hands, but if don't...who wants to buy mine?

[Lord Inar]

Sept 7, 2012 17:16:25 GMT -5 @ewookie said:

they were some fantastic deals. however, i've decided that this stuff isn't for me. i may change my mind once i hold a little piece of awesomeness in my hands, but if don't...who wants to buy mine?

I may have someone interested. He just got a new job and needs to see how much disposable income he may have (he just finished nursing school). I'll let you know.