funded Reaper Bones 5: Enthusiasm and Commentary thread

[YronimosW]

This Kickstarter was filled with understated and underrated minis, actually - for example, "Dungeon Dwellers" was full of them. 

 

The girl with the sword and laser in the Chronoscope expansion - sort of a not-Dejah-Thoris, Princess of Mars - stood out to me as a great new mini, and I think I would have liked to have seen a whole third of that expansion dedicated to similar characters plus some appropriate sword-and-raygun wielding aliens from the same sort of not-Barsoom planetary fantasy setting... sure, it's going to be a niche setting (sadly, since there's a HUGE amount of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom's DNA running through D&D), but for me it was sort of a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been, had Reaper done more than just put that one mini in the set; and, with all the other stuff going on there, almost nobody noticed her.... 

[Sirithiliel]

5 minutes ago, YronimosW said:

This Kickstarter was filled with understated and underrated minis, actually - for example, "Dungeon Dwellers" was full of them. 

 

 

dungeon dwellers, sadly, just never grabbed my fancy. all i want from it is the treasure dragon, really. But i always lean towards big monsters that are fun to paint, so i suppose it's understandable that to me that expansion wasn't exciting

[YronimosW]

Fair enough - and, they wouldn't be "underrated" if everyone thought they were great! 

[Rob Dean]

It looks, at the moment, like I’m in for:

 

Bones 5 Core Set
Townsfolk
Troll Bridge Encounter
Goroloth
The Spiders of Emrith Kul
Encounter at Gallowgard
Pirate Ship
Sirens
Brinewind Extras (x2)
Greek Odyssey Expansion
Dark Depths Expansion
Brinewind Expansion

 

The Dungeon Dwellers and the other encounters are possible; as the deadline approaches I’d have to assess what games I’m considering out then.  There are some fun pieces in Fan Favorites, but I think they will need to wait for retail.  If Henchmen are unlocked, they are in, too.

 

As far as budgets go, one of the things I have always loved about “this hobby” (and for me, that’s miniature wargames both fantasy and historical, and roleplaying games using miniatures) is that you can do a lot on a shoestring if you have to.  The corollary is that you can squeeze a shoestring budget into some tight circumstances...if you’re committed to do so.  Entertainment from the public library, or a few more potatoes in the beef stew would yield a project.  

[criticalhit]

Here's my tentative purchase history per month, for a total of $501 plus shipping:

 

November ($125)
    - Core Set ($120)
    - Core Set Extras: Zombies ($5)
December ($50)
    - Expansion Packs: Dungeon Dwellers ($50)
January ($50)
    - Expansion Packs: Greek Odyssey ($50)
February ($50)
    - Expansion Packs: Fan Favorites ($50)
March ($42)
    - Add-On Options: Dragonfolk ($10)
    - Add-On Options: Townsfolk ($20)
    - Add-On Options: Storm Giant ($12)
April ($42)
    - Add-On Options: Valfuryx ($14)
    - Add-On Options: Aganzarax ($14)
    - Add-On Options: Shavynra the Slayer ($14)
May ($42)
    - Add-On Options: Krateryx, Shadow Dragon ($14)
    - Add-On Options: Kalanzar the Wicked ($14)
    - Add-On Options: Ildraedis the Devourer ($14)
June ($50)
    - Add-On Options: Troll Bridge Encounter ($18)
    - Add-On Options: The Spiders of Emrith Kul ($14)
    - Add-On Options: Encounter at Gallowgard ($18)
July ($50)
    - Add-On Options: The Dwarf King's Crypt ($20)
    - Add-On Options: Charnel Pit of the Ghoul Queen ($16)
    - Add-On Options: Shadows of Ravenhome ($14)

Edited November 3, 2019 by criticalhit

[YronimosW]

As an aside, a big shout-out to Reaper's sculptors and artists for touching base with us in these discussions, and giving us previews and so on of their work-in-progress throughout this Kickstarter.  For those of us who haven't been watching Reaper's videos and streams and so on, the sculptors and artists have been the public face and voice of Reaper Miniatures.  Thank you to any of you who see this, that human touch is greatly appreciated! 

[Pangolin d'AntEater]

15 hours ago, Bane Of Humanity said:

Oh course now that there is a buglips 
We need minis for all the forumites...

Hmmm... A Pangolin... Now that would be cool.

[ksbsnowowl]

1 minute ago, Pangolin d'AntEater said:

Hmmm... A Pangolin... Now that would be cool.

They added one at the last minute!  They call it a Kaiju...

[Pineapple]

Does anybody know if there's a particular significance behind the color choices of Sophie's dice?

[ksbsnowowl]

 

@Dan Goodchild - I copied (and added a bit) to your excellent "What to Expect" list that you've been posting in the KS comments, and replying with it when people had questions that were answered by your list.  Hope you don't mind.

 

Quote

To steal (and add to) Dan's excellent summary of what to expect going forward:

So, what happens next?

• Kickstarter is currently plowing through the job of charging each of us for our pledge.

• Once that's done there will be X number of charges that didn't go through. They will give backers about 7 - 10 days to correct the situation. At the end of that time they will try to charge those X pledges again using whatever payment method is on file.

• Any pledges that haven't been successfully charged by that point are cancelled.

• Once the successful pledges are finalized, Reaper will be able to download a simple list of pledges. That list consists of nothing more than your email address and your pledge amount.

• Once Reaper has that information, they can import it into their pledge manager. That's why it's critical that your pledge manager account use the same email address as your kickstarter account.

• In the past, Reaper have shut down the pledge manager during this import and reconciliation process. This year they're using a new pledge manager system so that may or may not be necessary; watch for kickstarter updates for more official information.

• Once your pledge is imported, the pledge manager basically functions as any other online store with your pledge showing up as a credit to your account. Select what you want, pay for it out of your credit and if your purchase (including shipping and any applicable taxes) exceeds your pledge credit, you can pay the difference and finish your checkout.

• As long as the pledge manager remains open, you will be able to go back and make additional purchases as often as you wish.

• Note that (once your KS pledge credit runs out) your credit card will be charged EACH TIME you check out within the PM. At that point it is just like any other web store; the only difference is the length of time until they ship what you just paid for.

• All of your individual orders will be combined and ship out when Reaper gets to the shipping phase of fulfillment.

 

[Argentee]

See, this is where I think the 'chronoscope' expansions go wrong (stick with me here). Chronoscope is Reaper's 'everything not fantasy' line, and a lot was said about how it was the poorest selling expansion in Bones IV.

 

But Bones IV had Lost Valley.: Prehistoric figures, Not fantasy, therefore: Chronoscope. Bones 3 had Mythos expansion.. once again not fantasy, therefore: Chronoscope. But neither were lablled as Chronoscope, they were given names that described what was inside.  I can't help but wonder if the Bones IV Chronoscope had been a little more tightly themed and named 'Pulp Sci Fi' or 'drive in movie sci fi', would it have done better?

 

Bones V we're back to a scattershot Chronoscope expansion... even more so than Bones IV. And I'm wondering if it will help or hurt? If Mandapur pass had had a pulp adventurer instead of a dwarf, it would be Chronoscope... would a pulp adventurer sold more or less of them? Ravenhome would also be pulp if the adventurer held a gun. Would a set of modern zombies, rednecks, and trailer by itself as an encounter do better or worse than tossing them into the same expansion as steampunk, pulp, and post apocalyptic robots?

 

I'm disappointed that the teased encounter with a model A never happened. Having a pulp encounter (Model A, Mythos Monster, a half dozen humans, and maybe a few small terrain bits such as barrels of bootleg whiskey, piles of tires/crates, and a lamp post or larger bits of crumbling brick walls) and being able to compare how it sold with the Chronoscope expansion sales would be a useful data point.

[ksbsnowowl]

Just now, Pineapple said:

Does anybody know if there's a particular significance behind the color choices of Sophie's dice?

I doubt there is one.  But many "intro starter sets" (such as the 3rd edition D&D Basic Game, and I'm sure the 5e one is similar) have a set of mis-matched dice of several different colors.  It's very handy when you are teaching someone completely new to the game.  Telling them "roll the orange die" is a lot easier than saying "roll the d8 for your longsword damage" ...and they stare confused for 10 seconds, then pick up the wrong one anyway, because they aren't familiar enough with the "weird dice" enough to recognize the dice type by shape.

 

Here's an illustration from the 3.5 DMG, for example:

[Pangolin d'AntEater]

6 hours ago, Evilbookworm said:

So I have a problem.  Just went through, I want all 5 chromatics, the pirate ship, brinewind, fan favorites, the core set, the siege weapons, and a few other things.  That comes to about 600, I only did bones 4 beforehand and that hit 350. If I spend that much on miniatures, the adult half of my brain is going to torment me for months, even if I spread it out.  What's a guy to do?

No problems there. Just don't Adult. Play is by far the most relaxing thing to do, and whilst playing, the adult brain half can't get a look in for that stupid idea called SENSIBLE. (vastly overrated IMHO)

[lexomatic]

1 hour ago, ksbsnowowl said:

So there was a snafu with my card (of course my card company sent me a new card during the last month...) so the initial charge was declined because the expiration dates didn't match.  I'm 99% positive that the issue has been corrected, and KS has successfully charged my credit card, but this card doesn't show pending charges immediately in my on-line account portal, so I can't actually SEE it there... and my paranoid self wants to make sure that I'm "in the clear" and not let this linger and forget about it, in case something is still wrong.

 

After I think I got things resolved, I got a KS email titled "Yes! Reaper Miniatures Bones 5: Escape from Pizza Dungeon has been successfully funded." ...and in the further-down bits of the email it has a section on my pledge details:

 

 

I'm assuming this means I'm good, and this is proof that KS has successfully charged my CC, and I am officially a funding backer at this point, yes?

 

Like I said, this is my first Kickstarter, and the first declining of the charge to my card has me paranoid.

I would email reaper with your backer number and a quick explanation if you have any doubts. I'm not sure what kind of contact you'd receive if there was an issue

[Pangolin d'AntEater]

4 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

Where's Sophie?!?!??

Is that like a "Where's Wally?" book? Not heard anything about one them being published..