Hatemonger

I have noticed two different perspectives among miniature wargamers: A) "I have an army in mind that want to field, and I will find miniatures to fit it." B) "I have miniatures I like, and I will find an army in which to field them." Some people - and some games - tend more toward one or the other, but they are not mutually exclusive, and both are equally valid. So if you really like the thing, and you play Warlord (or Warhammer, or whatever), then figure out something it can "count as", or work out stats for it, or come up with a special scenario, and go with it. From the RPG side, go with a similar idea. You're probably right that there are only so many Big Monster Boss Fights one a group can have and enjoy, so... make up something else. If the monster's too big, then you had the right idea by thinking of Warlord: it requires an army to fight against it. So maybe the party needs to lead a whole army instead of fighting by itself. Or maybe the goal isn't to kill it: they're captured and thrown into an arena to fight (that is, be eaten by) the monster, but the best outcome for them is to evade and escape. - H8

I was gathering some mythological figures and realized I was missing a cyclops and centaur. I'm sure there are a few more from "classical" mythology that could be done. Heck, maybe a proper Colossus? :) Also, I know there's an ongoing debate about More Dragons vs. No More Dragons, but an Asian style dragon would be a nice change. - H8

I second the cavalry concerns. Listing Horsey Syndrome is right up there with Flaccid Sword Syndrome for making/breaking a good miniature. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to make a few different standard horses, with new sculpts, in a harder material, rather than transfer over a bunch of old ones. - H8

I'm more of a miniatures/wargamer than a RPGer, and I haven't played D&D in ~20 years, so things like Pathfinder's "iconics" and "bestiary" are totally meaningless to me. When I sorted my KS minis, they got bagged in terms of "what can you do for me?" I have a bag of potential conversions for my Warhammer [40k] daemon army, a bag of zombie apocalypse figures, and a bag of pulp/sci-fi heroes and minions. There's a bag of "dungeon crawl": a few sterotypical adventurers, some friendly townsfolk and notable mentors, a few potential villains, and most of the Dungeon Attack set, with bugs and rats and kobolds to beat on. There are themed bags for an "orc & goblin campaign", an "undead" campaign, and a "fire" campaign. (I cut myself off without ordering the "frost" campaign options) Then I have a bag of "monsters", with all kinds of scaly, feathery, leathery things, and a bag of "characters" - potentially PC or NPC, hero or villain - which is every man-sized biped that isn't in one of the other bags. BUT... If you're scrutinizing my choice of e.g. which bag has the tieflings, I think you're missing the point. The question of what I want out of Bones - or whether I pledge the next Kickstarter - is not the question of, "Do I consider tieflings to be PCs or monsters?" The question for me is, "Do I have tieflings covered?" When I play a game, and I decide I want to have X in the game, do I have it covered? When I go to the bag/case/shelf/wall/vault of figures, can I pull out X and put it on the tabletop? In the case of tieflings, the answer is "yes". In the case of sword+shield+platemail character, the answer is "Oh my God yes, up to and including male and female versions of basic fighters, as well as paladins who have - or have not - recently set their sword on fire." How about a town-militia fighter with spear and tunic? Well, there's that one farmer guy with a pitchfork, I guess. Wizards? There are about 6 different Gandalf variants, for several points along the spectrum of good to emo to evil, and the corresponding female equivalents in a selection of stunning eveningwear. What about a far-eastern monk? Or a western, or near-eastern monk, for that matter? Some of the wizard types could squeeze in, and the Pathfinder iconic does for a middle-eastern look. Sorry, I'm rambling now. To directly answer Bryan's question: I tend to follow the Tolkien/Warhammer/OD&D mindset of the "noble races" as player characters - but really, doesn't that just mean possible PCs? Is Faramir a PC or NPC? In my eyes, he's a human with a bow and a cloak - maybe a little on the heroic side. I have a few humans with bows and cloaks now. I have enough thieves with two daggers. I have lots of people with robes and staffs. I have plenty of mighty, armored, sword-and-board warriors to defend the crown, but I do not have brigands for them to fight. I have only one floating-eye-monster - but I believe that is sufficient. I have no slimes or jellies, which is not. I have no bears and no wolves for my forests, nor pigs for my village. But I have many dragons, which strikes me as... ecologically unsound. My miniatures collection is a toolbox, with which I build fun. I want you to help me fill it with new and different tools. Some tools are like screwdrivers, where you want lots of different-but-similar sizes and shapes. Some tools are like hammers, where one good, big one is enough. Make good tools, and I will buy them, and I will be happy. - H8

I would favor any color that makes the detail easier to see prior to painting. Personally, I prefer a black base coat for most of my miniatures, but even for those that want "white", I think an off-white, light gray would be better. - H8

Very nice! The wash in the cracks did just what I was hoping. I agree it's starting to look finished. - H8

After sifting through the pile for some dungeon crawlers, I noticed two things that seem lacking in this KS: 1) Low-level adventurers. I mean like poor, desperate, old-school D&D starter characters. "I'm new at this, so all I can afford is a longsword and leather armor." Every figure looks like the captain of the king's guard, or the wizard lord of Forgotten Tower. What happened to the loser with robes and a dagger and a book with "Read Magic"? 2) Clerics Lots of fighters and wizards, but not many priestly types. Maybe modern clerics just look like warriors or mages? Where's the guy with a mace and holy symbol? - H8

Theres a bunch of pewter weapon sprues already, would those not work? Yes, but not as well. Lots of people say how easy is is to glue Bones - that superglue sticks the parts together with a very strong bond. Well, that may be true of the Bones material, but not of whatever else you stick to it. So the glue may hold on to the Bones, but not as well to a metal (or styrene, for that matter) add-on part. Second, when you take a nice lightweight plastic model and stick a big piece of metal onto it, it sets it off balance. That means more tendency to fall over, but the weird shift in the center of gravity makes me tend to drop them more often. Both of these things can be fixed to some degree by weighting the base for it to stand up, but the more work you do to add more metal, the more you're defeating the purpose of Bones, IMO. - H8

That's what I'm hoping. If the mold isn't cut properly, then there might not be anything they can do about it. Assuming the mold is ok, maybe they can change the casting pressure, or temperature, or cooling time before demolding, or whatever, and then have them come out all right. - H8

Well, yeah, but if I wanted metal, I'd already own them, wouldn't I? ;) I could play the indignant "already paid for it" card, but the truth is that I just don't want metal. I know it's nigh blasphemy to say so in front of the die-hards, the old-schoolers, the purists, etc, but frankly I'm simply tired of metal. Resin or plastic or GTFO. - H8

Wren, I hadn't read that thread before, but it remarkably mirrors my experiences. This is the first whole figure I've painted from the KS set. Other than that, I've only done some quick paint checks on the bottom of various bases. And yes, I did put my entire KS package through the same cleaning process... and yes, I was getting worried I had ruined the whole batch, although I seem to have found at least a passable solution for now. My FLGS got their Undertaker shipment, so I picked up a few extra packs to use as "controls", but the quick-checks I did on them so far have not given noticeably different results. I'll write up more of my test cases when I have more time and energy, but for now, here's the short version of my success story: - Stripped with Simple Green, complete with a follow-up wash in soap and water. - Brushed on a coat of Testor's Model Master Acryl Gray Primer (#4680), and let it dry overnight. After that, the paints seemed to stick much better, although I am still having bits rub off on the edges. Yes, I do just hold the model in my hands, and I'm sure that isn't helping, but I have never had this much trouble on any figure before. Incidentally, I'm not a "newbie" painter; I'm no expert or world-class trophy winner, but I've painted up my fair share of minis over the years, so I have a lot of experience to go along with my bad habits. ;) On that note, what do you use as a holder for Bones? Aren't they hard to remove if you superglue them to something? - H8

the inventory we have on hand, instead of shipping to FLGS's, will be used at paint and takes and given away as samples. The molds, I cannot at this time comment, because I do not myself know, I have not been going to those meetings, but focusing on making the KS finally finish. Ok, fair enough. For what it's worth, Ellen Stone and the townsfolk were minis I really wanted out of the KS, so I hope they make it to release eventually. The other ones are nice, but frankly, there are lots of other figures with robes and swords. - H8

For what it's worth, I see lots of "tutorial" videos that are 20 minutes of someone rambling on, trying to fill the silence while he/she finishes a whole piece. It seems like sometimes the person got hung up on the idea of making some kind of TV show, when a few paragraphs of text and a couple 1-2 minute clips could have conveyed the same information in a much better package. What I mean is, it would be just as valuable to me if, for instance, you uploaded a quick clip of rolling the tinfoil ball around, rather than taking months to edit some big masterpiece of dungeon making. Don't feel like you need to over-engineer the whole thing just to be helpful. ;) I would suggest adding a wash or two somewhere in the paint process. Drybrushing is fine for stone texture, but I think washes will help with the dank and dirty look. My personal guess would be one for dirt/weathering over (almost?) everything, and another one more selectively as part of your "other details", like if you wanted one area to look particularly damp or stained. - H8

Eh... a translucent cube isn't nearly as cool if it doesn't have stuff floating around in it. A single cast piece would just be empty. I guess if it was a hollow box, that would work, since you could glue stuff around the inside... and at least you'd be able to put it over a PC. Ok, I change my answer to a conditional endorsement based on that alone. Slimes, yes, absolutely. I can't believe how few slime models are out there. I think there are like 4 in existence. These would also be perfect opportunities to experiment with other colors of plastic. - H8

I'm also impressed by the speed to quality ratio of what you're churning out. Can you give (or link to) more detail about the foil thing? I assume it's to give the stone texture, correct? Do you roll it across, or press it in, or...? Keep up the good work! - H8