completed Reaper Bones 4: Enthusiasm and Commentary Thread

[Zethia]

1 hour ago, haldir said:

 

I guess it all depends on what you want the mini to be. Is it a mook for a rpg? You really don't need to spend to much time on them vs a hero or memorable villain. Can you glue the piece on & still get to easily for mold lines? If not, then best to clean lines up first then assemble.

 

If your worried you'll get overwhelmed by the giant box of goodies coming, you can try & take in pieces. When you get your mini, do your inventory to make sure everything is good to go & once that is done, just take out the things you really wanna paint up & put the rest away till your ready to do em.

 

I don't play many games these days. Mostly I just build and paint because it's fun and I want to develop my skills, but I easily fall into the trap of thinking about and preparing to paint more often than I actually paint. Once I get everything set up and actually sit down with a brush, things go pretty smoothly, but getting started is difficult. I run into circular logic when deciding what to work on. If I don't like the model, I'm not motivated to paint. If I do like it, I want to do it perfectly, but I don't have enough experience to do it well enough, so I'm not motivated to paint. I'm hoping that getting a big assortment that I don't cherry pick from a store will provide me with a middle ground: things I like enough to paint, but not so much that I'm afraid of messing up on. I'll never develop that way. 

 

Taking inventory is probably good advice. Looking at them all in person might help me choose which ones are going to be my long term goal display pieces and which ones will be strictly for practice and experimentation.

[ratsmitglied]

28 minutes ago, Zethia said:

 

I don't play many games these days. Mostly I just build and paint because it's fun and I want to develop my skills, but I easily fall into the trap of thinking about and preparing to paint more often than I actually paint. Once I get everything set up and actually sit down with a brush, things go pretty smoothly, but getting started is difficult. I run into circular logic when deciding what to work on. If I don't like the model, I'm not motivated to paint. If I do like it, I want to do it perfectly, but I don't have enough experience to do it well enough, so I'm not motivated to paint. I'm hoping that getting a big assortment that I don't cherry pick from a store will provide me with a middle ground: things I like enough to paint, but not so much that I'm afraid of messing up on. I'll never develop that way. 

 

Taking inventory is probably good advice. Looking at them all in person might help me choose which ones are going to be my long term goal display pieces and which ones will be strictly for practice and experimentation.

So, when doing inventory have two boxes in front of you,  one for models you like,  one for those you don't

 

Then,  when you want to practice grab one out of the second box, don't worry to much about cleaning it and just get some paint down.  When you feel up to it,  then do the others,  putting effort into getting them right

[Nunae]

Well, sad they don't have the EU container yet. Seems like the "last container" won the race. I was kinda hoping they were already unpacking and getting ready to ship orders out in Nottingham this week, but well. Better luck next week I guess.

[DanH]

KS shipping notice received!!!!!!!! 

[Glitterwolf]

49 minutes ago, Nunae said:

Well, sad they don't have the EU container yet. Seems like the "last container" won the race. I was kinda hoping they were already unpacking and getting ready to ship orders out in Nottingham this week, but well. Better luck next week I guess.

 

I noticed, well actually now I hope it will take a few more days, because then it will arrive when I get back from my city trip.

Unless they can deliver it to my doorstep between now and wednesday.

 

 

[redambrosia]

@Zethia I had the same issue with being overly meticulous with my minis. What really helped me was going to a paint n take where I had a limited amount of time to paint things (we ended up painting a bunch of bones monsters to look like the McDonald's land crew for a very evil DM). Painting a few monsters to good tabletop level in just a couple hours really helped me get the whole speed painting thing into my head. 

 

It also helps to have something else or someone else in the room to talk to, so the painting isn't my sole focus. 

 

At least when I'm just trying to paint things quickly.

[dwarvenranger]

Well, everything is accounted for and assembled. Only a few things had to be boiled. I believe that there was only one error, unless this fella is supposed to have a big hole in his belly:

 

[Fnordlover]

I finished my inventory last night and only had two issues. My Isobael figure from Fan Favorites didn't come with her instrument and the Caveboy from Lost Valley's arms were attached outside the socket. Popped his arms off with minimal effort to re-glue properly. 280-something miniatures and only one real problem is a pretty good ratio. Emailing [email protected] tonight.

[Ratmaster2000]

Frost giants weapons needed adjusting?

[Limey72]

Well I have had a chance to put a little paint on raithuros and the tidal lurker but unfortunately bones arrived as we are remodeling the bathrooms and landscaping, my wife thinks it’s odd that I take a break from painting walls to paint bones as it’s relaxing

[Peacemonger]

Been looking at this thread the past few weeks for updates and such. Thought I'd give my two cents for what it's worth:

 

Context

I was a wave 12 backer. Had the Core, Dreadmere, Dark Reach, Lost Valley, Fan Favorites, plus 10 or so additions. Had the Frost Giants, but not the tree or hut therefore I got my miniatures yesterday. No problems after checking them all, and got an extra armored goblin, neanderthal (Black Bear?), Orc (Jade something?). Figure'd I'd put that out there since no doubt that'll affect my opinions compared to those who've had problems, haven't received their minis yet, etc. This is also my first Bones kickstarter.

 

On a Few Topics Brought Up

Beware the Echo Chamber: There were over 16,000 backers, plus those who signed up after the original Kickstarter end date. Although the opinions on this forum may reflect the backers as a whole, I don't think there's enough of us on here to come to any solid conclusions. Just a general friendly warning that just because 5 people here all 'love' or 'are extremely disappointed by' something, doesn't mean that the next Kickstarter will be a rousing success or failure. Just be careful of the "echo chamber", where we talk to those who agree with us then assume we're the majority.

 

On Argent's size: As someone who's largest miniatures before the Kickstarter were Blightfang and Cinder from the Reaper range, Argent is very impressive and more than fills what I was hoping for in a giant, ancient dragon. However, I can definitely see the disappointment for those who have larger miniatures and were hoping Argent would match up.

 

On Frost Giant Raiders: Overall I'm okay with them. Getting my fiancee into the hobby I admit it's annoying when so many otherwise great female miniatures have exaggerated breasts or clothing/armor that highlights the chest as if we can't figure what gender they're supposed to be otherwise. That being said, I think the trend is heading in a better direction, and constant reinforcement requesting for more thoughtful miniatures will help. After all, supply and demand and all that. 

 

On communication: Communication is really tricky for a business. You can never please everyone and sometimes less is indeed better. Can't really say whether Reaper's great, terrible, or likely somewhere in between, but there's a reason people go to school just for marketing/communication. It's about keeping the customers engaged and happy, without getting their expectations impossibly high. All I can say to this is best of luck to Reaper as it makes subtle changes here and there moving forward.

 

Backing the next Kickstarter?: As someone who used this Kickstarter to give me 2-3 years worth of painting (at my current pace at least), hard to say if/how much I'll back the next Kickstarter. Probably depends on if they offer things that really are different than what I have. If I had to make some requests, probably more fey, more aquatic stuff, and more non-European heroes/soldiers/mythological monsters.

 

On Expectations: Seen a lot of people express expectations. "I was in Wave 1, therefore...", "I'm in the EU Zone, so...", "A business should...". We do have at least some control over our own expectations. I think I was fortunate that as Wave 12 with the Frost Giants I had very low expectations of when to receive my box and was pleasantly surprised it was yesterday. Still, for anyone who's been frustrated I would suggest to reframe expectations, and you may find that you'll get less annoyed by delays or other complications. 

 

Favorite Mini: Dragon Turtle. That's going to be a fun one to paint, play games with, and just have on display.

Least Favorite: Probably the three crystals in Dark Reach. Not bad, just that they're... small crystals. Perhaps that should be a challenge to paint them in a way to make them more interesting? Add runic symbols?

 

Anyways, hope this is helpful to some people. Overall very happy with the purchase.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Peacemonger

[Darsc Zacal]

1 hour ago, dwarvenranger said:

Well, everything is accounted for and assembled. Only a few things had to be boiled. I believe that there was only one error, unless this fella is supposed to have a big hole in his belly:

 

I dunno. I see it as an opportunity.

 

Sculpt some teeth into that hole, paint his lower abs as eyes, and boom!

New chaos creature!

 

[Jason Zavoda]

 

Working through my second bottle of locktite today. I have  nerve damage to my fingers so the hardest part to assemble have been the smallest pieces, normally heads, as they are hard for me to get a hold of. I have a pair of spring tweezers that you push to open while the spring forces them closed so they are great for holding onto the small pieces but rounder heads still want to pop out of their grasp. Its still not a big problem.

 

Everyone probably knows this but dry fit before you glue so you can see how the pieces are meant to line up. Ive assembled a few dozen minis at this point and only had trouble with the wings on the female demon core set #72. I had to hold the wings in place for several minutes before the loctite gel set enough. The connector is small and the wings heavy by comparison.

 

The apes and the snakemen are a breeze to assemble. I want to assemble everything before I contact reaper about the two tiny missing minis from my core set.

[Green Eyed Monster]

30 minutes ago, Jason Zavoda said:

 

Working through my second bottle of locktite today. I have  nerve damage to my fingers so the hardest part to assemble have been the smallest pieces, normally heads, as they are hard for me to get a hold of. I have a pair of spring tweezers that you push to open while the spring forces them closed so they are great for holding onto the small pieces but rounder heads still want to pop out of their grasp. Its still not a big problem.

 

Everyone probably knows this but dry fit before you glue so you can see how the pieces are meant to line up. Ive assembled a few dozen minis at this point and only had trouble with the wings on the female demon core set #72. I had to hold the wings in place for several minutes before the loctite gel set enough. The connector is small and the wings heavy by comparison.

 

The apes and the snakemen are a breeze to assemble. I want to assemble everything before I contact reaper about the two tiny missing minis from my core set.

Look into Pearl Tweezers.

They have a cup end that makes it easier to hang onto small/tiny rounded objects.

Available in both regular and spring versions in a couple of sizes.

GEM

[Kro]

4 hours ago, dwarvenranger said:

Well, everything is accounted for and assembled. Only a few things had to be boiled. I believe that there was only one error, unless this fella is supposed to have a big hole in his belly:

 

Yeah, you're missingthe bottom of his apron