"How Did You Come Across Reaper Miniatures" Stories

[Gadgetman!]

Ookay...

 

I'm a geek, a nerd, a tinkerer, and an avid collector of old computers... Also comics... books... you get the drift...

I'm 'into' 3D printing(two working printers, plus a resin printer that's crap and a home-build Prusa Mendel that never really worked), and have a fascination with Kickstarter projects.

Someone pointed me to the DragonLock KS, which I found to be 'neat', so I backed it.

The fact that I had never played D&D, Pathfinder or any other RPG didn't matter.

I got my files and printed out a few(well, 20 by Goblin math) pieces, and started painting them according to the guides on the Fat Dragon forums.

but... There was something missing... My dungeons looked lifeless.

Someone on that forum had mentioned Reaper and that there would be guides for more advanced painting techniques there...

That day... My wallet screamed in anguish...

[TheAuldGrump]

 

About 2001ish I went out to purchase some gaming stuff and found some minis. Ooooh. Sandra! Julie! Bob! I know these names from all the Ral Parthas I had in my collection. So I snagged a few and some new paint (Pro Paint) and a few other things and off I go home. I notice on the back of the blisters is a web address, so I check it out.

 

Green, black, and white. I think it was in frames, even, iirc. It wasn't a pretty site, but better than most and I just browsed pictures of minis for hours. But no forum. No biggie. I wasn't actually looking for one.

 

Time moved on. Back at the FLGS I notice an orange cat-headed thing. The body was a tube. A blue scarab of Sculpty attached to the front with matching earrings. A stuffed mummified cat plushie?!    I had to have it. I asked the clerk how much...

 

He grabbed the cat and promptly *BONK!*ed another employee over the head (and actually said BONK!). "HOW MUCH FOR THE STUFFED MUMMIFIED CAT?!"

 

The other employee grabbed the cat and returned the *BONK!* (also saying it), "HOW MUCH FOR THE STUFFED MUMMIFIED CAT? I don't know.... DAVE!!!"

 

Out comes the owner. They didn't *BONK!* him, of course. Dave knows me. I've been shopping at his store for over fifteen years. "Twenty!"

 

"TWENTY DOLLARS FOR THE STUFFED MUMMIFIED CAT!" *BONK!* - Employee #2

 

"TWENTY DOLLARS FOR THE STUFFED MUMMIFIED CAT!" *BONK!* - Employee #1

 

"SOLD! I'LL TAKE *BONK!*, THE STUFFED MUMMIFIED CAT FOR TWENTY DOLLARS!"

 

Off I go home with minis and paint and a Stuffed Mummified Cat Plush Toy now named... *BONK!* (the asterisks are important).

 

Time passes, but not a lot, and I check the website again, as I have been off and on, and suddenly the green is... gone. It's now red, and black. Pictures at the top... 

 

And a link to a ... forum...

 

I log in. A brand new shiny forum.

 

And I hit like I always do... like a rubber arrow shot from too strong of a bow that goes ricocheting around the room and never stops.

 

Except I did. For a little bit. There were reasons for that which I won't get into here, but suffice to say... I am BACK. I am home. I missed you guys.

Eeee!

 

I can picture your eyes getting bigger and bigger with each *BONK!* and wanting *BONK!* all the more!

 

The Grump knows a couple that own an actual mummified cat but I don't know if they named it.

 

I think that it would break if they tried to *BONK!* somebody with it.

 

Grump knows some strange people.

 

Norris and Eli, I believe the mummified cat is named Ginger.

 

Nor is a trained campanologist.

 

And... they are actually not all that strange.

 

But now I am wondering who in the world makes plush mummified cats.... (And don't know why I never wondered before....)

 

The Auld Grump

[Kheprera]

Norris and Eli, I believe the mummified cat is named Ginger.

 

Nor is a trained campanologist.

 

And... they are actually not all that strange.

 

But now I am wondering who in the world makes plush mummified cats.... (And don't know why I never wondered before....)

 

The Auld Grump

My mom made one for Anne Foerster.

[SirDibblet]

I posted a blurb about this somewhere else in response to another post but I think I will do so as well here considering this is the place for it.

 

My journey to Reaper was one of skepticism and uncertainty.  I had only recently begun painting mini's when I was recommend by a friend (who's own interests in painting minis began and ended within a month) to check out Reaper as they had "great D&D stuff".  My experience until that time was with GW and Privateer Press; they were the big names and I thought they were the best. Being somewhat of an elitist, I ignored this advice for a bit and went on woefully ignorant of what I was missing at Reaper.  It wasn't until I began questioning how sane, normal, working class folk like myself were able to afford the cost of Citadel paints that I seriously gave Reaper a look.

 

I am a huge fan of options. I hate being limited so much and I hated it even more that every paint at my FLGS was so expensive.  I looked at purchasing the Citadel paint collection online and was appalled by the cost. P3 paints were less expensive but too limited in color range for me (oh and forget Vallejo in the US where I live).  I remembered my friend had mentioned that Reaper had a paint line that was supposed to be good and inexpensive.  So I checked it out...and that was that.  I went to another FLGS which carried Reaper and picked up a few paints and a bones mini to play with.  I fell in love with the MSP line and once I started on my Bones mini I was hooked.  I joined the forums shortly thereafter, purchased a bunch of bones minis from the website and decided that my Christmas gift to myself was going to be the giant collection of MS paints. 

 

Since that time Reaper is my jam.  I still have interest in the GW and Privateer Press mini's (mostly for the gaming aspect) but my first stop is always the Reaper website and forums.  In the future I will probably lean towards purchasing some of the metal minis as my interests in painting are primarily for the artistic and cathartic nature but i certainly will continue to use Bones for my gaming and learning.   Overall I am so happy to have found Reaper and look forward to going to Reapercon, visiting the main store and continuing to learn and share with the amazing online community.

[CrazyK]

I had been painting miniatures for a few years.  Started on a Games Workshop Tyrannid and Space Marines boxset and then graduated to solely buying large quantites of Games Workshop stuff.  Prior to miniatures I had been like a typical kid.  Painting model airplanes, cars, etc,   I chanced upon a store in middle of Sydney called the Tin Soldier.  Had always stayed away from a lot of military gaming shops as I was not a gamer and never got into any of that stuff.   Just liked to paint stuff.   Games Workshop (in their less pushy days) knew me as that painter guy who just painted.   Anyhoo went into Tin Soldier as at that point one of the guys I worked with had given me a boxset of Planescape miniatures he had sitting around to paint and I kind of liked the look of them.  So I was in the hope of finding the other boxsets.   Tin Soldier had at that point not a huge selection of Reaper stuff.  It was still Ral Patha and Games Workshop that dominated their stock.    I bought a few blister packs of the Reaper miniatures.  Mainly female stuff as at that time they pretty much were one of the only companies making really fine and petite minis of females.   Some packs I still haven't painted.

 

Not long after guy who gave me the Planescape stuff, who by now had become a friend.  Invited me to a D&D game he was starting up.   Around then more Reaper stock started to appear in Tin Soldier.   Needing character models for gameplay I just started to buy more and more things to paint.   Eventually they just became my go to for what I like to paint.  Before Tin Soldier closed down I would often spend hours going through every Reaper miniature in stock looking for the perfect thing to paint.   It was the Chronoscope line of figs that got me to eventually run my own Modern D20 game as I just love that line.  

 

Since then I have at every chance spruiked Reaper as the best minis at a fair price.  Especially now that Bones line have been released.   One of my work colleagues partner's was always a Cryx War Machine fanatic and possibly after my many crazy rambles about Reaper he decided to check out the website and has also fallen in love with the many beautiful sculpts.  

 

Most of all it isn't just the miniatures I actually like.  I find the forums here to be really friendly and supportive.   A place where my love of miniatures can be accepted and I am not looked at like some loon when I get passionate about some tiny piece of metal or plastic.   Is why at every chance I tell other gamers and painters about Reaper.  It has just a great community and group of people.

[LostInSpacebar]

Two months ago I was desperately in need of stress relief. My three year old daughter was undergoing numerous MRI scans to search for tumors and we could do nothing but sit and wait for results. I wondered into The Guard Tower one day to distract myself and everything fell in to place. Without knowing anything about me, Mike took time out of his day to teach me how to prime, paint, wash, and base a mini. Before I knew it three hours had gone past and I was actually feeling relaxed! I've painted 19 models since then and my daughter is out of danger. The experience was a testament to the power of unassuming kindness and the beginning of a great new hobby.

[Gadgetman!]

19 minis painted you say, but where's the pictures?

 

Welcome to the friendly insanity that is the Reaper forums!

[Dr.Bedlam]

Two months ago I was desperately in need of stress relief. My three year old daughter was undergoing numerous MRI scans to search for tumors and we could do nothing but sit and wait for results. I wondered into The Guard Tower one day to distract myself and everything fell in to place. Without knowing anything about me, Mike took time out of his day to teach me how to prime, paint, wash, and base a mini. Before I knew it three hours had gone past and I was actually feeling relaxed! I've painted 19 models since then and my daughter is out of danger. The experience was a testament to the power of unassuming kindness and the beginning of a great new hobby.

 

I hear you. A Warhammer Bretonnian army got me through the weekend we buried my mother.

[LostInSpacebar]

19 minis painted you say, but where's the pictures?

 

Welcome to the friendly insanity that is the Reaper forums!

 

Ask and you shall receive!  I just put up pictures for five of them in  the "Show Off" Thread.  And thanks for the warm welcome.

 

*EDIT - forgot my manners

Edited June 25, 2016 by LostInSpacebar

[mtaylorj89]

The painter who DM'd my first game - and taught me to paint minis - introduced me to Reaper. We were all assigned to pick out minis for our characters, and he would teach us to paint. He said Reaper was the best. I was immediately drawn to Dark Heaven Legends and I was a goner. Assignment was to buy ONE miniature...I bought four.

 

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

I was really obsessed with Werner Klocke for a while...used to buy anything he sculpted, regardless of whether I needed it. :p

 

I've never felt the need to waver from my obsession with Dark Heaven Legends.

 

xo Tay

[Cranky Dog]

The painter who DM'd my first game - and taught me to paint minis - introduced me to Reaper. We were all assigned to pick out minis for our characters, and he would teach us to paint. He said Reaper was the best. I was immediately drawn to Dark Heaven Legends and I was a goner. Assignment was to buy ONE miniature...I bought four.

 

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

I was really obsessed with Werner Klocke for a while...used to buy anything he sculpted, regardless of whether I needed it. :p

 

I've never felt the need to waver from my obsession with Dark Heaven Legends.

 

xo Tay

Everyone is impressed by the Klocke models.

 

Until we have to paint them. And that's when you get acquainted with a new term: "Klockenbuckle"

[pierworker]

Wow, this thread! A)Awesome read and B) now I feel compelled to add my own...

 

I started playing AD&D on-again, off-again back in the late 90's and early 2000's.  At the time I knew of a few minis companies, but somehow hadn't discovered Reaper yet.  (I grew up in Puerto Rico, and there was a single hobby store in the entire island at the time - and even then, it focused more on comics.) Oddly enough, I knew of Mage Knight, then the Chainmail reboot, then D&D minis in 2003.  I'd usually get minis through the mail and sometimes GameStop, which for some reason had picked up the DDM line.  Yet my internet searches never brought me to Reaper, probably because they were so focused on the 3 aforementioned products.  

 

In 2003, my mom moved to Florida, right before Harbinger came out.  Come November, I flew up to Orlando, to spend Thanksgiving with her; before doing so I had researched/learned of a store called "Sci Fi City" that happened to be near her new place.  I figured "oh cool, after Thanksgiving I'll ask her to take me and I can get some booster packs."

 

I was not prepared.

 

I walked into the store the following Friday. (Yes, Black Friday.  But that wasn't really a thing in Puerto Rico, so I didn't understand its implications.) I asked a sales associate if they carried DDM, he tells me they're "next to the reaper minis".  I go to the indicated aisle and....MY. WORLD. CHANGED.  That Reaper wall must've been 4 feet high and 10-12 feet across.  Like, I can't even quantify the amount of minis.  Hundreds.  The entire catalog.  A flaming metric buttload.  I don't know, whatever the actual amount, it seemed infinite to me.  

 

But it gets better! Fifteen minutes into the haze of "ZOMG where have you been all my life", I realize that a large portion of the minis on display had a little orange tag.  I ask the sales rep.  "Oh, those are the Black Friday specials. Buy one, get one free."

 

A WHOLE NEW WOOOOOOOOOOORLD..........

 

I actually gave my mom the shopping basket and said "gimme the car keys, I need to go sit down a minute." LOL.  Ah, that was a good day.

[Tjrez]

I was curious as to how everyone found Reaper and this community on the forum?

I was looking for a set of paint and came across Reaper on ebay. When i goggled Reaper to find the set again a whole list of minis came up. I was drawn by some of the sculptures and I seen some metal minis. Here I thought Reaper only made the bones or minis out of bone material. I had seen the name in the past but always seen it related to bones. Thats when I found these forums and how well designed and easy to navigate it was. I dont usually joīn social forums cause it was never really my thing to partcipate. I always seen the hobby as a private endeavor until now.

I look forward to learning and sharing on here as this is a pretty cool community.

[Clearman]

Learned of Reaper from FLGS.

 

Found the forum through the Reaper site.  Took another couple years to join.