16 replies to this topic

[mpeterll]

Having just read through most of the threads in this topic, I'm wondering about some of the choices for figures.
While there will probably be plenty of people who would vote for each one if asked about their favorite, surely some are better candidates than others.
Let me explain...

The two reasons for going plastic that seem to crop up everywhere, are time and cost.

Time: Painting one marilith is fun, and an interesting use of time (and who wants more than one marilith for a game anyway), but painting 100 orcs will probably be less fun.
Therefore, figures that are generally needed in hoards are good candidates for prepainting (forget the 3-packs - what about the 10-packs?). All the small humanoids and lesser undead, as well as animals, vermin, men-at-arms, and basic pack-monsters all fall into this category.

Cost: Given; the material cost of plastic is less than metal. That's the only thing that costs less though, as can be seen by comparing a few miniatures. The big miniatures are much less in plastic while the smaller ones are about the same price.
Therefore, large figures are good candidates for plastic, especially if they are figures that may be required in multiple (a full range of giants comes to mind here).

With this thinking, there's probably little cause for including adventures and mariliths in this line - at least not so soon in the schedule.
By the way... I'm not knocking the line. the marilith is one of my favorite figures, but this will be a key figure in my game so I'd rather paint a metal one. The same goes with adventurers - I want them to all be unique, hand-created masterpieces.

Just my two-cents worth. I hope I've not offended anyone.

[Bane Of Humanity]

Some people are not good at the assembling part of the hoddy either...Marilith is many peices...some people want one peice...Thats the only reason I could think of getting a plastic one. That and whos to say your demon prince of the abyss cant have a couple hand maidens to clean their castles..If you think about it marilith is perfect for that job.

[VFults]

Some people can't paint to save their lives or don't have the time anymore to paint a mini. Prepainted "boss" monsters like the marilith or adventurer minis are a big draw for them. I wouldn't have the time to paint up a metal Female Ranger but I was able to touch up the plastic one with a wash on her cloak and change the color of her tunic so she wouldn't be all green and brown. Bring on more PC/NPC figures, I say!

Regards,

V

[Shakandara]

The majority of the "adventurers" that are in the LE line are drawn from the Warlord line, and thus have appeal as pre-painted proxy models to be used for Warlord in addition to quick NPC/PC/Town Guard/whatevers for standard D&D games. People buying for Warlord are more likely to buy multiples than the average buyer as well.

~v

[Reaperbryan]

I should like to point out that the elf, dwarf, human warriors, and ranger models are not necessarily "adventurers" either. They could easily be NPCs, town guards, militia, or henchmen. I know that in many of my games, Humanoids and creatured of the standard PC variety are often the iconic bad guy moreso than demon princes or dragons.

Now, these models do have the advantage of also being usable as PCs by players who have little inclination to assemble/paint PC characters, but versatility is their strong suit.

We continue to examine sales trends of our metal lines, as well as of LE themselves, and consumer opinion on these boards to determine what else we should be considering for LE. Please continue to provide us feedback!

[kristof65]

I'm going to echo what both Bryan and Shak said - I bought the Human warriors not as PCs, but as dual purpose figures.

First use will be as figures for a my demo Warlord armies. The LE figures will let me put together small demo forces for several different factions in the same time it would take me to paint up one small demo force, since I'll only have to paint up 1-2 figures for each force.

The second use will be for soldier type NPCs for my RPG campaign. Like Bryan, my campaigns tend to have mostly humanoid antagonists.

I'm personally finding the single "monster" types less attractive in the LE line. I doubt I'll pick any up, unless I happen to decide on an adventure that could use one. For the large monster types like the Purple Worm, I am far more likely to pick one of those up than the pewter version, though. I'm not telling Reaper not to make those types, just that they're more likely to get me to buy one in plastic than in pewter. And having them in plastic may inspire an adventure I wouldn't have otherwise run without the plastic mini to inspire me.

[JoeGKushner]

With the new metal prices, giants and dragons would be the "best" candidates simply to get them into people's hands and their rarity and expense through WoTC 'random' packaging.

[kristof65]

I could second the dragons. I've wound up just using repainted DDM Medium Copper Dragon's for every color out there for medium size dragons, cause they're the most affordable. I haven't found any of the large size dragons that are easily available and affordable in any quantity

[DjinnWing]

I'd say having only grunts in LE is a bad idea. I can grab the latest grunts types from DDM (kobolds, orcs, gnolls, goblins, etc) online for about .25$ each. Compare that to the few bucks LE wants for their grunts. That is a no brainer for me. I think LE should have a good mix of grunts, PCs and BBEG. I'd really like to see some of Reaper's dragons, the Eye Beast and more ogres/trolls/giants make it into LE.

Heck, I'd like to see some Chronoscope pieces make it into LE!

[Bane Of Humanity]

Whats sad is the DDM red dragon costs more than the DDM icon red dragon.

I would like to see dragons. From a practical point of view, its much better to have a huge plastic fig. With metals all that time and care you put into its contruction and painting only to get it nicked up and god forbid dropped and broken into peices.

Bring on the dragons I say.

The real question about the LE minis is....Is reaper going for more the warlods game? Making it more affordable to play/build a force by going plastics?

[DjinnWing]

Whats sad is the DDM red dragon costs more than the DDM icon red dragon.

The new on can be obtained for abotu 20$ on ebay, or you could get the Githyanki Dragon Knight from the Bloodwar set for less and chop the gith off the back. I am tempted to do the latter.

[Bane Of Humanity]

Whats sad is the DDM red dragon costs more than the DDM icon red dragon.

The new on can be obtained for abotu 20$ on ebay, or you could get the Githyanki Dragon Knight from the Bloodwar set for less and chop the gith off the back. I am tempted to do the latter.

I know I was referring to the first one that wizards released. But even $20 just seems a bit over priced. I was looking at the Eye of the flame they wanted $25 for it the week Dungeons of Dread came out....I seriously hate the whole collectable aspect of the DDM.

[morganm]

I think LE should have a good mix of grunts, PCs and BBEG.

Seems like that's how it's going. Given the line up of the first two releases they are just that; more so with the second release as it actually has PC/NPCs.

[Shakandara]

The real question about the LE minis is....Is reaper going for more the warlods game? Making it more affordable to play/build a force by going plastics?

This seems likely, but obviously I'm not speaking in an official capacity whatsoever.

~v

[jsepeta]

I've bought at least 1 of every LE set out there -- well, the 3 packs of skeletons and orcs instead of the 1 packs because frankly, I'm more often likely to encounter those guys in large groups. I used to paint metal minis but have a lot less time now than I did before. Therefore prepainted plastic OR metal are a better call for me.

Now that WotC has pushed out 4e for a half-year, I'm desperately in need of the following creature types for DMing and Playing, in both Male and Female molds for all classes:
Dragonborn
Genasi
Tiefling

As my daughter has recently decided she wants to play a Gnome Swordmage, I spent far too long at my local minis store seeking an appropriate Reaper mini. Hopefully 2009 will bring us at least 2-4 waves of new LE products.