What in the bloody hell happened to our once proud world of miniatures?! We go from a bursting abundance to near annihilation in less than four months! Wizards officially gave the bad news back in January that they were cutting back to one little ol’ set (Lord of Madness) for all of 2010.
Reaper Miniatures, long known for its unpainted metal sculps, decided to dip its toes in the pre-painted arena in March 2007 with Legendary Encounters. The depth of its first line (5 figs) is paltry in comparison to the WotC Harbinger debut (80 minis) in November 2003.
The results are encouraging though. Monsters like the spider, great worm and ghost are slam dunks for any D&D game session. However, Reaper’s release schedule is painfully slow – maybe those boats from China just need more horsepower.
Reaper has released additional miniatures since then but sadly, at a near glacial pace. New product managers, poor selection (a unicorn – really?) and the rising cost of raw materials are the biggest culprits. Still, one can only dream if Reaper had gotten right and could have capitalized on Wizards’ downsize decision.
Ben gives props to Reaper for giving it the college try. They brought us the pack concept (Skeletons and Orcs). And they’re only one of two companies (with Rackham being the other) to try and give Wizards a run for their money.
It’s a very high probability that the industry will move to depressing flat cardboard tokens for 2010. Let’s say a prayer to Bahamut that this isn’t the case. Let minis reign!
April 1st, 2010 at 9:54 am
Paper mini’s can have their place but the real deal is always better.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:19 am
I thought the tokens would at least have artwork on them.
April 1st, 2010 at 10:40 am
I’m guessing with the release of 2 board games this year WotC was having issues with fulfillment of their mini orders. Though this might not be the case it would make sense.
April 1st, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I wonder why WOTC won’t re-issue old minis in army boxed sets. Army packs or something like that during a lull. I have no idea if that is even a viable option. Are they really turning there backs on minis? By the way Ben, Unicorns ARE useful in a forest campaign, or on the way to the dungeon in the very least:)
April 1st, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Hmmm…re-production of older sets just might come down to cost (although WotC seems to love a good re-paint). And in my 28-plus years of D&D, I’ve haven’t encountered a single unicorn – but with all these mini options, I sure do want to kill one:)
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 am
I’ve received a batch of cardboard tokens with the PHB3 game day. Very depressing. Plain old cardboard tokens with ‘Monster 1′, ‘Player 1′, etc. on them. Let’s hope mini’s continue to rain down!
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Glad I’m not a Unicorn… Do you think it would be feasible for WOTC to make re-paints on a set of Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, Ogres well you get the jist. For the record, in my 23 years of D&D I have encountered a Unicorn twice. The last time it stomped the wizard for disrespect. Moody beast:)
April 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Wow, that is disappointing…although my wife says I don’t need any more miniatures.