Bones are gateway miniatures

[Loim]

It really makes me happy the number of people I talk to who got started with Bones. A pretty good chunk of new people I talked to at RCon this year had never painted until they bought into a KS, ran into a paint and take, or had some given to them. Plus with the low price point, it makes it really easy to grab a few miniatures to see if you like it without a significant investment. 

[Pingo]

They sure are.

 

I suspect that certain categories of Bones act like gateways to different audiences as well. Nota bene Mouslings, Warlord, and police call boxes.

[Dimitri Mazieres]

I can vouch for that! I couldn't resist the first Kickstarter, and then I figured I had to do something with all those white minis, so it was a natural step to try to learn how to paint 😃

[Cassu]

That's really great. Miniatures can be a daunting hobby, especially when you look at some of the prices of other companies. *cough* If not for Bones I wouldn't have as many minis as I do.

[amuller33]

Yup while not my 1st mini.... they were what got me hooked just last year.... TBH Im still painting Bones almost exclusively

[Evilhalfling]

total re-entry gateway for me.  

 

My enamel paints dried up when I left for college back in 92. 

I have run dozen RPG campaigns using the same old minis over and over.  I had even thought the pogs that came with 4e were a pretty neat idea. 

 

20 years later Bones helped me rediscover the miniatures.

I find such joy and satisfaction in painting them I find myself posting things like  "yeah I could use another 100+ figures sign me up for the next one."   But I do seem to be too spoiled to get into the harder minis.

- I have however bought a lot of paints, brushes and basing supplies. 

Edited May 10, 2015 by Evilhalfling

[OneBoot]

Same here! It was the pewter price point that turned us away from buying into minis initially, plus the realization of just how many we would need to buy to have a good cross-section of monsters and player figures. Then the Bones Kickstarter came along with the answer to all of our objections! After discovering the forums, I decided I should learn how to paint all these plastic things we were going to be getting, and the rest is, as they say, history!

 

Huzzah!

--OneBoot :D

Edited May 10, 2015 by OneBoot

[Hibou]

i am not new to hobby but Bones have been the catalyst that got me painting again.

[ArthurDent]

They sure reeled me back to painting after a long hiatus.

 

I second the re-entry experience.

Edited May 11, 2015 by ArthurDent

[Laoke]

Yup, re-entry for me as well.  I painted with my father as a kid, but dropped it when I left home and basically became a ski-bum for 5-6 years.  I was looking for a hobby to pick up, saw the Reaper Kickstarter for Bones I somewhere (not entirely sure where, but probably was Forumopolis), and thought 'Yeah, OK, I remember that relaxing the hell out of me as a hormonal teenager.  Maybe it'll be a good meditation tool'

 

And it is, for me.  I've said elsewhere that it puts me into that breath between focus and release, and that's all I'm really after with this hobby.  I've got plenty of others to get my adrenaline pumping : )

 

At this stage, the majority of my figures are Bones and I see no reason why that trend won't continue.  I'm looking to have enough figures to keep me going for a decade or two, so buying in bulk appeals greatly.  I dunno that I'll bother with the LE line, although I know of friends who game without wanting to paint who'll be over that so fast that it'll be scary.  But I'll certainly be in for Bones III assuming that financially it makes sense (protip - even with shipping to NZ it totally will, but I do need to check first : ).

[papercut]

100% fact.  They are indeed a gateway drug.  Take this from someone who was completely against minis in rpgs and now sees them as having great utility in many situations.  I am still not a fan of metal ones and do not really want to paint minis either.  After pickingin up Bones 1 (preceded by a few first wave Bones [with international shipping]) I now have a very robust collection of:

 

1.  Bones 1 & 2 plus various addons

2.  Bulk and cherry picked Dreamblade (very cool minis!)

3.  Bulk Mageknight (so so, but a nice compliment to Bones really)

4.  Bulk World of Warcraft commons, they make great bigger monsters (125 for $30 shipped lol)

5.  Cherry picked cool sculp, bad stats Heroclix and HorrorClix figures (thus cheap).

5.  Lots of animals, dinos, and insects picked up here and there on the cheap

6.  Odds and ends (54mm Retro Vikings as frost giants, Russian 54mm Dwarves as fire giants, cheap bagged 2-inch skeleton minis off Amazon, etc etc, )

 

Add to this ~$550 spread over the three DF KS and I can rock and roll when needed!

 

I am probably about $1100+ in on the minisystem, but being robust plastic they are also great kids toys and educational tools.  Thus they get double duty and can be generational toys and tools.

 

10 years ago I picked up bulk Heroclix, but over time they dissapeared.  I still wish I had them :(, to be honest though the early ones were kinda junk sculpts.

Edited May 11, 2015 by papercut

[Talae]

I own many DDM prepaints (literally thousands). Bones 1 got me to try out painting. By Bones 2 I owned almost all of the available Bones. Now I own all but three SKUs.

[pcktlnt]

It was the first Bones kickstarter that sucked me into this hobby. I've always wanted miniatures, but they were always too expensive. Then Bones came along...holy moly. *looks at corner space of miniatures* I have so many now and I still want more! Gateway indeed.

[revloc02]

From what I understand, Reaper used Bones I to kickstart (see what I did there) their Bones line. But IMHO, the publicity/marketing they got from Bones I was far more valuable. Before Bones I, I had never purchased a miniature in my life, now I do...from Reaper (not counting the KSs). And I'll take that point a step further, I further believe, IMHO, that Bones II & III do (and will do) more of the same--be far more valuable as a marketing tool than extending the Bones line. A stroke of genius, really.

[Dr.Bedlam]

Well, Bones are CHEAP enough that you can start with one or two. If you know what you're doing, you can even strip 'em and start over.

Seen plenty of people who, aghast at the cost of ... um... OTHER companies' mini products... are inclined to give Bones a spin. At two or three bucks a mini, it's a pretty safe investment.