As you can see from the previous post, I got my Reapers Bones II Box earlier tonight.
I'm a funny guy when it comes to miniatures. I don't use them in game (not even in Roll20, where I have access to infinite "pogs" and the like and a perfect grid to use them with.
At the same time, I haven't painted miniatures in nearly 25 years. Simply too time consuming with a full time + job and family responsibilities.
And yet I buy more nearly every chance I get.
No to use in game, not to paint (yet).
Simply to own and love.
So, where to you fall on the miniatures grid?
Picturing Solo History
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There are many gamers who will tell you that it was *Vampire the Masquerade*
that got them into roleplaying. That was in the 1990s. There are many
gamers ...
1 hour ago
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ReplyDeleteMy Reaper Bones II box also arrived yesterday and I like pretty much what I've got so far.
ReplyDeleteI played RPGs with minis and theater of the mind, and I have to say that I prefer minis. Far too often has the GM's narrative become distorted by player's subjective interpretation and encounter's devolve into arguments over "Where am I'?", "Who far is the enemy?", "Am I in range?", "Is there cover?", etc.. Miniatures and maps give players and GMs something objective to work with.
As for painting, I frankly enjoy painting figures. For me, it's relaxing, even though my paint jobs tend to be mediocre at best. The Bones figures make for nice 'mooks," but I also use printed paper "stand ups" as well when I need lots of figs for an encounter. I also tend to save the better plastic and metal figs for PCs.
I paint them, I play with them, and I love them. It is part of my soul that refuses to accept the adult world, and prefers to play in lands of imagination! That or I'm a 13 year old stuck in a 45 year old body.....
ReplyDeleteI have probably a couple hundred minis, most are painted. Not all by me, I did buy some off other people. And when I play table top, I definitely use them. However, I am certain I'll never paint another mini again. Too time consuming and anything I might need in the future I will just buy PDFs of figures that can be printed, cut-out, folded and glued. You can create whole armies, if necessary, at a fraction of the time and cost it would take to do so using minis.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I'm playing more miniature skirmish games than rpgs...mainly Pulp and Victorian Sci-Fi. I love well-painted minis but neither have the time or the ability to do the job myself...fortunately, there are lots of reasonably priced miniature painting services in the UK that do an excellent job...lots of pics of well-painted minis in action on my (shameless self-promotion, sorry) blog: http://ihavewroughtmysimpleplan.blogspot.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteIndependent of RPGs, I love minis. Painting minis is my primary hobby; it's how I spend most of my time and money. I spend probably 10-20 hours a week painting, and occasionally have that effort validated in semi-local painting competitions.
ReplyDeleteWhich means that, as a player, I love using minis, because it gives me an opportunity to combine my two favorite hobbies.
As a DM, though, not so much. They require planning ahead: you can't break the flow of the game to dig through a tub or rifle through mini cases to find that gnoll figure that's perfect for this fight.
I like minis. I enjoy painting them and when I was running 3.X and 4E they were critical. Now that I'm back to running and playing AD&D, 5E, and 13th Age. They tend to not be used. However, when a fight get complex enough people can't keep it all in their heads then we bust out minis (mostly proxies nothing has to be exact) and use it for relative positioning more than detailed tactical choices.
ReplyDeleteToy soldiers...er I mean. mimiatures got me into the game. I love the little buggers but they aren't necessary to play an RPG even a combat heavy one untill the number of players grows large and the combats are more competktive in nature.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I used minis a lot I had big 10' squares where 2 or 3 minis could fit across in each direction. There were a few position/rank rules and it was more about visual record then detailed simulation. There was a touch of gamist abstaction but it worked.
How you use miniatures can have a profound influence on play. From what I've seen over the years the more minis are used at the table the less options that are actually used by players.
I own a large collection of pre-painted WotC-minis. I can field hordes of humanoids with every imaginable weapon and every monster from the manual. I was a bit obsessive with being able to deploy miniatures without ever having to say "This is supposed to represent..." For more exotic monsters I even built minis from scratch.
ReplyDeleteI chose pre-painted minis because of my limited time and because my painting skills are severely lacking. Luckily every single one of my players is a Warhammer veteran of decades, so often they painted something for me which I threw at their characters in return.
That being said, I very rarely use miniatures nowadays, as I prefer TotM. Just sometimes, when I deem the visual effect worth it, I still use them. But then it's all-out madness.
Paint and play. I've already got some of the Bones II guys done and ready for next game.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could paint (well). I have so many wonderful lead minis, some dating back to the intro of the hobby, begging for a nice paintjob. So about half my minis are painted (by others) and get heavy use, the others are in boxes and get looked at and oohed and ahhhed over.
ReplyDeletePretty much always use them, at least for marching order, because I collect them. I try to field only painted minis, but that's harder to be strict about as a player rather than DM for obvious reasons. I paint OK -- I'm not going to win any contests, or even face the CMON crowd, but they look acceptable, especially at arm's length, which is really all you need.
ReplyDelete