Chief Technical Officer
|
I'm not much of a miniatures collector, so curious as to whether this is how the figures are normally made, with just the one 'print run' before they're gone? Or is this more a symptom of this being the first release?
It varies. Wizards tended to keep their their D&D minis sets in print for a couple years, but WizKids generally likes to do just a single run.
All, I know is I am glad that I ordered two cases and I am considering doing three in the future but haven't decided.
I have filled in some singles from Paizo and a few off ebay and I am a happy camper.
Looking forward to the Runelords set.
Everyone has different preferences/needs, of course. Nonetheless, I thought I'd mention that I picked up three cases and will be dropping back to two on similar sized sets in the future. There are a few things I'm glad about (I'm glad to have three frost giants, for example) but overall the accumulation of ten Seelahs and seven ettins seems like an unnecessary cost in order to ensure I got the duplicates I actually wanted.
|
Everyone has different preferences/needs, of course. Nonetheless, I thought I'd mention that I picked up three cases and will be dropping back to two on similar sized sets in the future. There are a few things I'm glad about (I'm glad to have three frost giants, for example) but overall the accumulation of ten Seelahs and seven ettins seems like an unnecessary cost in order to ensure I got the duplicates I actually wanted.All, I know is I am glad that I ordered two cases and I am considering doing three in the future but haven't decided.
I have filled in some singles from Paizo and a few off ebay and I am a happy camper.
Looking forward to the Runelords set.
Yeah, I initially did 2 cases and I got a lot of cool minis, I will probably get a third here in the next few days and then I am going to just throw up some random lots on Ebay of minis to try to recoup some money and get rid of some of the elf wizards and dwarf fighters and stuff i have to many of.
Or find people to trade with 8)
I picked up the dragon promo at my FGLS, I was shocked to see it! Thanks for getting these made, the sculpts are good and the paint jobs are equally good.
|
With a bit of patience and ebay stalking I was able to complete a set including the dragon for just under $100 including shipping fees. Basically I waited until one seller threw up a bunch of miniatures, checked if he offered a good deal on combined shipping, selected what I needed. It helped to watch the more expensive ones and then check if the same seller had the less expensive ones. I also managed to buy a handful of goblins, orcs, town guards...
The most expensive figure (besides the dragon) was the frost giant. He cost me around $9 (which was cheap). I got a steal on the dragon ($19) and landed a bunch of the other ones for under a dollar. I have been watching like a hawk since day one though...maybe with all of that work I should of just forked over a bit more. There are complete sets on ebay for $199 (I saw it go as low as $179).
I did notice that it is getting harder as of late. I got the succubus for example for $3.99 but now it is up to $10. I scored a few of the miniatures for under $1. Are they sold out from the distributor?
I just got mine in today and got a full set out of my case. Very happy with it. Plus duplicates of the little spiders and wolves which I just love. Only one mini was damaged and that was the manticore which had come off his base. He was able to snap back on, but he's on there tenatively. Believe I'll need to get some glue for him.
The medusa is probably my favourite. Really captures the image in the monster manual. Got two of them too! So very pleased.
I'll definitely be purchasing more if the following sets live up to the same high quality (and coolness) of the current ones. Can mark me down for one of the Encounter packs too.
|
Vic, something I noticed, none of the plastic inserts in the packaging were impressed with the appropriate plastic recycling symbol/number. You might want to make sure the next batch have this.
I doubt that switching to preformed cardboard inserts is possible, but it would certainly help recycling if it were.
So, after whining earlier in the thread about the random nature of the minis, a local shop had some today... Being curious about the paint quality (I really like the idea of the Encounter Packs), I decided to buy one standard and one large booster, my first random purchase since M:TG Unlimited or whatever it was called again in the 90s.
The models actually looked better than the pictures posted here... The shading on the ones I got meant I didn't have to find some washes/ink paints to fix it, like i was expecting. The chimera seems to have had an overzealous drybrusher on the heads (some green on the fur near the dragon head for example), but overall pretty nifty.
Can't wait for the Encounter Packs to show up! And hopefully it will like I bought more miniature, and less packing then...
So, after whining earlier in the thread about the random nature of the minis, a local shop had some today... Being curious about the paint quality (I really like the idea of the Encounter Packs), I decided to buy one standard and one large booster, my first random purchase since M:TG Unlimited or whatever it was called again in the 90s.
The models actually looked better than the pictures posted here... The shading on the ones I got meant I didn't have to find some washes/ink paints to fix it, like i was expecting. The chimera seems to have had an overzealous drybrusher on the heads (some green on the fur near the dragon head for example), but overall pretty nifty.
Can't wait for the Encounter Packs to show up! And hopefully it will like I bought more miniature, and less packing then...
The green on the fur is intentional. Every one has it.
Yeah, the packaging needs to be addressed. Being Paizo, I'd be surprised if they don't do something by the third release (it may be too late to change anything about ROTRL).
Yeah, the packaging needs to be addressed. Being Paizo, I'd be surprised if they don't do something by the third release (it may be too late to change anything about ROTRL).
Funny thing is I'm not bothered by the packaging at all.
First these are packaged for sale differently from WotC minis; these are 1-packs. So having nice retail boxes maxes sense. These aren't really intended to be sold direct to end-users.
Second, the cardboard portions break down very well and are recyclable.
Third, the actual volume of the plastic inserts isn't all that high. I suspect if you melted it all down a case worth of inserts is well under the amount of plastic in a single mini. While any waste is a Bad Thing, scale-wise we're dealing with a very, very minor thing here.
Finally the plastic composition of the minis is different from WotC's. These are harder and less flexible. They seem more susceptible to shipping damage because they're brittle not pliable. Without the plastic inserts to keep them from bouncing around in shipping I expect we'd be hearing about a lot more damage.
I don't mean to single you out, but I just got my case last night and after hearing so many people complaining about the packaging I felt the need to respond. I nested all my Medium/Small plastic inserts within each other, making a stack that's about the size of two Medium boxes. I did the same with the Large ones and that's barely bigger. Point is that 76 boxes worked out to a very small block of plastic to dispose of. It's mostly air.
+1 to Anguish.
There have already been a few people receiving broken minis in their cases, and I had several that had popped out of the plastic but hadn't rattled around long enough to be broken yet. Less packaging means less protection means more broken minis.
There's certainly a lot less excess plastic used than in the Encounters cases. :)
I'm extremely pleased with the two cases I bought. I did get two complete sets out of it, and in fact both cases were *nearly* identical; I think I got an odd number of spectres and an odd number of werewolves or something.
I have to say I would have been extremely pleased with more spiders than I got, but overall I've got no complaints, and nothing was broken.
And I'm with Anguish on the recycling issue. I stacked up all the inserts from both cases, flattened all the cardboard, and put it all in the recycle bin. Even though the plastic didn't have numbers on it.
Can't wait to see how RPG Superstars use these in their Encounter designs. I've got crazy awesome images in my head of maps with actual mini on them for starting spots...
Buy non random singles?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Buy non random singles?
Psh. The secondary market is just a silly rumor. Like taxes, or the sun.
|
I've now read the reasons for the random distribution and commonalities and... I still don't care.
What am I supposed to do? Craft my encounters around whatever miniatures the gods of gaming decide I get when I open the boxes?
"Sorry guys, looks like it's goblins all the way down. And none of you can play elves. Lots of dwarves though. Hope none of you rolled clerics, either, because there's just a single zombie in here."
Well, you could stick to coins or beads. I've used kid's toys once in a while. Heck, most of us have played without minis at all at some point in our gaming careers. Maybe you're young and don't remember when limited metal choices were all we had. Somehow we managed to game just fine.
There is really only one reason for random PPMs you need to know. No random. No PPMs. This product line would not exist without randomness. If you don't care and don't like it, don't buy them. Pretend they don't even exist. There are ample alternative choices available. Metal. Secondary market PPMs. Pawns. Paper minis. WOTC pogs. Heroscape. And all of the other options that all of us use when we don't have the right mini. In spite of a VERY large mini collection, I make my own paper minis from the art in PDFs all the time because it gives me the best possible mini.
Honestly, there are a lot of us that would be happy to offer up ideas for you if you come at this in a positive manner. Which minis are you looking for? What is your budget? Do you have access to a decent printer? Do you have time or inclination to paint? I think a lot of us are just tired of the complaints that offer nothing new in the way of a solution.
$2.99 seems like a perfect price point for this product....and I've piled a figure or two on top of my regular purchases at my FLGS since the products release.
Then again I'm not a completist...
|
|
Thanks, but I really don't need help - unless you can direct me to a supplier of similar quality prepainted minis that cost around the two dollar mark per figure and allow me to choose the minis that I want. I completely understand that my requirements may not be reasonable and there's certainly no illwill on my part if Paizo can't meet them - I just want to let a supplier of mine know why I'm not interested in their current offering and what would need to change for me to become interested.
Ebay, trollandtoad.com, coolstuffinc.com. I bought a handful of pathfinder goblins on the second hand market for under $1.50 per goblin. The same for orcs, zombies, wolves, skeletons, town guards. The larger minis I nabbed for around $3-4. The option is there for you to grab non-random miniatures by purchasing the singly from Paizo and other suppliers for the price point you want.
For EXAMPLE. This goblin is at your price point. You can order more than one mini from this seller and the shipping only increases by 15 cents. So 10 goblins only cost $4.95 to ship and under $20.
|
|
Thanks, but I really don't need help - unless you can direct me to a supplier of similar quality prepainted minis that cost around the two dollar mark per figure and allow me to choose the minis that I want.
Asphere already beat me to the punch, but the secondary market will meet many of your needs. In addition to the sources he mentioned, Miniature Market pops up quite often and I would be surprised if others turn up with some other good options for you. In addition to the WizKids Pathfinder minis available at these locations, you should also look at the D&D Minis that are still available as singles at most of these sites. Some of them will be outside your price range, but this will help with a lot of player character minis and various mooks.
If you haven't already looked at them and decided they aren't right for your gaming needs, I would also seriously recommend that you take a look at the pawns (cardboard figures on stands) available with the Beginner Box. While you may not want to buy the entire Beginner Box for the pawns, they have sets of pawns coming later this year for the Bestiary, Rise of the Runelords, and Skull and Shackles. Even if you are not playing those adventures, you should get a lot of great material.
|
|
Bit late, but thought I'd post what I got in my case of miniatures:
1. Goblin Warrior (red) 3
2. Goblin Hero (red) 3
3. Goblin Warrior (blue)3
4. Goblin Hero (blue) 3
5. Orc Brute 2
6. Orc Warrior 2
7. Skeleton 2
8. Watch Guard 2
9. Watch Officer 3
10. Lizardfolk Champion 2
11. Zombie 4
12. Giant Spider 3
13. Wolf 2
14. Venemous Snake 1
15. Mummy 3
16. Human Rogue 3
17. Human Ranger 2
18. Elf Wizard 2
19. Half Elf Cleric 2
20. Dwarf Warrior 3
21. Human Druid 3
22. Gnome Fighter 1
23. Dire Rat 1
24. Gargoyle 1
25. Half Orc Barbarian 2
26. Spectre 1
27. Seelah 3
28. Werewolf 2
29. Medusa 3
30. Minotaur 2
31. Ogre 1
32. Troll 2
33. Ettin 3
34. Chimera 1
35. Manticore 1
36. Giant Caveweaver Spider 1
37. Frost Giant 1
38. Succubus 1
39. Lich 1
40. Vampire 2
Sooo...ended up with everything, got a nice amount of goblins. Really sweet distribution all in all. Trolls tiny thought was sorta non-plussed by it, but overall great set!
And here's my case result:
1. Goblin Warrior (red) 2
2. Goblin Hero (red) 2
3. Goblin Warrior (blue) 2
4. Goblin Hero (blue) 2
5. Orc Brute 3
6. Orc Warrior 4
7. Skeleton 2
8. Watch Guard 3
9. Watch Officer 3
10. Lizardfolk Champion 2
11. Zombie 2
12. Giant Spider 3
13. Wolf 2
14. Venemous Snake 2
15. Mummy 3
16. Human Rogue 3
17. Human Ranger 1
18. Elf Wizard 2
19. Half Elf Cleric 1
20. Dwarf Warrior 3
21. Human Druid 2
22. Gnome Fighter 3
23. Dire Rat 3
24. Gargoyle 1
25. Half Orc Barbarian 2
26. Spectre 3
27. Seelah 1
28. Werewolf 3
29. Medusa 2
30. Minotaur 2
31. Ogre 3
32. Troll 2
33. Ettin 1
34. Chimera 1
35. Manticore 1
36. Giant Caveweaver Spider 1
37. Frost Giant 1
38. Succubus 2
39. Lich 1
40. Vampire 1
Complete set (black dragon's on it's way as well), already used the goblins and skelly & will definitely get some use out of these as I begin my DMing journey.
|
Finally had a chance to crack my case today:
I'm happy with this investment. No broken minis, though a few were popped out of the shipping plastic. As far as the containers, I don't have a safe place to keep them right now so once I took them out to see what I got and took my group photo, I packed them back into the plastic and boxes and put the case back together to keep in a safe place until I figure out what I'm going to do with them. It really wasnt a big deal. As far as my case composition, I got:
Goblin Warrior (Red) x3
Goblin Hero (Red) x3
Goblin Warrior (Blue) x2
Goblin Hero (Blue) x2
Orc Brute x3
Orc Warrior
Skeleton x4
Watch Guard x2
Watch Officer x2
Lizardfolk Champion x2
Zombie x4
Giant Spider x3
Wolf x2
Venomous Snake x3
Mummy x2
Human Rogue x2
Human Ranger
Elf Wizard x3
Half-Elf Cleric x3
Dwarf Fighter x2
Human Druid x2
Gnome Fighter x2
Dire Rat x2
Gargoyle
Half-Orc Barbarian
Spectre x3
Seelah x2
Werewolf x2
Medusa x3
Minotaur
Ogre x2
Troll x3
Ettin x2
Chimera
Manticore
Giant Caveweaver Spider
Frost Giant
Succubus
Lich
Vampire x2
Black Dragon
The thing I find most fascinating about this thread?
[WizKids / NECA] Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters [2,335 posts]
Aug 1, 2011, 03:27 PM by Vic Wertz — Thehigher cause, Steve Geddes, Vic Wertz and 81 others
2,335 posts? By 82 people?
That means the *average* poster made over 28 posts in this thread. And would be willing to bet that the median is wayyyyyy higher than the average :)
Heh, you can count me as one those who put forward a large amount of posts for this thread. :)
What I find a bit worrisome is Heroes and Monsters has over 2,000 posts and Rise of the Runelords is only 279 for the official thread.
I know this thread had *a lot* of questions about the line in general too, plus user experiences after we started getting minis, experience with the new minis, problems with them and so on. So I don't think it's a bad thing/problem for the new set to have a lower post count.
Ugh, you weren’t supposed to have caught that. I edited out, realizing I made that post right after gnomehead just indicated only 82 people posted. So my ‘worry’ pretty much irrelevant due to not all that many people posted for this thread, as well.
|
|
The thing I find most fascinating about this thread?
[WizKids / NECA] Pathfinder Battles: Heroes & Monsters [2,335 posts]
Aug 1, 2011, 03:27 PM by Vic Wertz — Thehigher cause, Steve Geddes, Vic Wertz and 81 others2,335 posts? By 82 people?
That means the *average* poster made over 28 posts in this thread. And would be willing to bet that the median is wayyyyyy higher than the average :)
I believe that the names bit only pulls the people who have posted in the last couple of hundred posts of the thread
Awww ... that makes it much, much less interesting.
@Ross: if you're watching, is that true?
So my ‘worry’ pretty much irrelevant due to not all that many people posted for this thread, as well.
No worries, then. Got it. ;)
Has anyone else noticed that we have Huge creatures designed as a Large creature; Frost Giant anyone? Any plans to have WizKids get some details as to sizes so they can put things in scale?
I love the mini's over all, just disapointed with the Large/Huge creatures being the same base and height.
Umm...Frost Giants are Large creatures, not Huge. The basic giants don't turn Huge until the Cloud Giants. All of these minis are the appropriate size. You start to get Huge minis (outside the dragon promo for this set) as part of the Rise of the Runelords set coming out in August, and they have the 3" base.
I'm relatively new to GMing and my current minis collection consists of the four bigger box heros. I'm planning to run RotRL in a couple of months, so I've recently ordered the respective minis case. Do people consider the H&M case to be a an essential part of a minis collection?
H&M has mostly basic monsters in it - If your lacking in those I'd say order it. If you've got the basics covered, then you would be fine to skip it.
They got reprinted? I can't seem to find them anywhere, at least not in booster box form.