Am I alone in buying pretty much only reaper minis?

[Gadgetman!]

Okay...   

I definitely have most Reaper minis. Midlam is at 40% of the numbers of Reaper minis, Oathsworn is at around 20%, Black Tree(lots of Dr. Who) is at 30% or so, 

So my collection of Reaper is more numerous than the next 3 largest together. 

 

Not counting .STLs of course... I have no control there... 

 

[EvilJames]

I'd say most of what I have now is Reaper,  with a hefty lead on all other brands from the bones kickstarters, followed by Ral Partha. The rest are a growing collection of Northstar, and a number of random Kickstarters, some of which I don't think I can get any more. There's a decent amount of Impact in there as well. There's even a drawer of second hand GW (mostly Tyranids) that I should really do something with. I'm not really buying much anymore.  For whatever reason I just stopped painting as much in 2021 and am trying to get back into doing it more frequently and have been working my way through my shelf of shame and build my skills back up. Also I may have purchased a 3d printer and have been playing with that as well ( so I really need to get back into painting  more often. )

[Wolf Munroe]

I like Reaper a lot, but I like metal miniatures.  The new stuff Reaper has been putting out this year has been plastic, and I don't go out for plastic. 

They "released" some new Dark Heaven Legends earlier this year, but most, if not all, of those were just the existing products that had been in the metal Dungeon Dwellers line before they changed it to an all-plastic line.  I don't have the old metal Dungeon Dwellers yet, so they're still on my shopping list, but they're not really new, just rebranded/re-SKUed as Dark Heaven Legends now.  

My wishlist for existing metal Reaper minis is multiple hundreds of dollars long, and I'm whittling it down here and there.  I haven't been shopping much directly on the Reaper site this year because, as the manufacturer, Reaper has to charge their own MSRP for their products or they're undercutting their own resellers, and the Reaper shop freebies this year have been Bones USA plastic minis.  I'd rather get a discount on purchased metal products from a reseller than get plastic freebies so I'm mostly buying from a Reaper reseller that has a good discount on MSRP.  I'm hoping Reaper still do some metal seasonal miniatures though, as I've got a few of those now.  If they had some metal limited releases, I'd be looking to order direct again, at least for those purchases.  (Nothing like a limited release to get me to actually buy something instead of just wishlisting it.) 
  
The bulk of my miniatures are Reaper Miniatures, followed by Dark Sword Miniatures, older metal Bombshell Miniatures, and some Otherworld Miniatures. 
I'm really into MSP/MSP-Bones paints.  Planning to order a Reaper paint set this week when my money clears. 

Sorry to sound like I'm complaining.  I am, but only because I love Reaper stuff and their product offerings and my product desires are moving further apart.  I'm still hoping they put out some more metal miniatures in the future.  I've posted a few suggestions on the metal miniatures suggestions thread on the forum. 

[Moxtopus]

If I didn't count my old school, Warhammer, self-printed, or board game minis, then Reaper would be my top brand. Comparing wargames/board games to rpg minis is kind of apples and oranges to me. You need a lot of minis for those games.

 

I have a lot of Reaper minis because I collect them. I don't collect any other rpg mini brands.

[Fencig]

I love Reaper Dark Heaven, very much so, and every time i get one i'm amazed a how good they are, but I can't imagine not buying/owning Ral Partha, Grenadier, and many others. Probably an " age thing"

[strawhat]

I think that the largest portion of my minis collection is actually still Wizards of the Coast D&D prepaints, but the quantity of those has gone down from my original high point.  I should reduce the collection a little further as I could use the cash.

 

After that, I think it's Reaper.  Between Bones Kickstarters and side-purchases I've amassed quite a few.

 

Then it's GW.  GW might actually have the edge, but I'm not sure where all of them are...I know I trashed a bunch when we moved.  But most of my older (80s-90s) minis are still around somewhere.

 

Then I've got some FFG Star Wars Imperial Assault and a few others from other games.

 

But I'm gonna say that the collection is mostly Reaper.

[Star in VA]

I have found that it when it comes to my current "little plastic people" addiction. I have become a little picky about what I pick up retail.  It usually comes down to "is it something I really need for my game?" or "is it something I want to add to a current collection I have".  I used to spend quite a few coins on the pre-painted WizKids blind booster boxes, because it really combines every addiction I seem to have: Gaming Miniatures and Mystery Boxes (I am a sucker for a mystery box/bag...... My wife almost had to have a mystery dice bag purchase intervention.  Things have settled down a bit, because Wizkids as gone completely out of their mind with the some of the prices they are charging for really questionable quality.  Dropping $12-$15 on a blind box of 4 minis on an impulse is one thing, but $50 for one blind box dragon from the Fizban's line is robbery and the pricing for the pre-painted Critical Role sets I really feels like I'm being taken advantage of (and not in a good way).

 

Now with Reaper, it is different, at least for me.  I get almost everything Reaper puts out at this point regardless of the need.  The minis are high quality and the pricing is reasonable (for the most part).  With today's inflation and shipping/transport market pricing is just a scary thing. 

 

With Reaper miniatures I feel like I can just pick up some figures without having to "justify' why to myself.  The only thing is: do I like it..... if yes, then I get it.  I may not have need today, but how knows about tomorrow.  For me, Reaper Miniatures are putting high quality things at decent prices because they play and they understand the struggle.  I don't feel like they overprice and overcharge for their figures (or paints) because they would want to have decent stuff for decent prices.

 

The best example I can give.  I am a huge fan of Critical Role and I did pick up 3 of the latest sets from WizKids (NPCs of Taldorie, NPCs of Wildmount, and the Guest Stars of Critical Role).  I have a shadowbox hanging in my game room, where I display my Critical Role minis (starting with the ones from Steamforge).  Those 3 sets ran about $150 (I have a gamers discount at my local game store, so I paid less) and there is still 2 sets of "monster" figures I need to get which are about $80 each, so to get the five sets $310 today for all of it and I do have buyers remorse almost off the quality of those first three sets. Now, I just got shipping notice from my Bones 5.5 (which should be here by this weekend), In doing the math, I spent about $250 on 5.5 (granted I did not in 6-7 different smaller transactions, but I haven't even received the figures yet and I have the opposite remorse.  I wish I would have gotten more, because the quality from Reaper, I know I am going to regret only getting one Mossbeard or not getting more than one Dragon's Don't Share.

 

I guess this turning into more a little rant than I was expecting, sorry about that.

 

So to answer your question.  I will and do purchase almost everything reaper puts out, because all the figures are incredible and great.  I purchase mini from other companies based on need or if it is "Franchise Exclusive".  If I end up needing something for an upcoming game, I always 110% check reaper for the figure I need and will 100% purchase it, if they have it available, if not, I will check for the figure on secondary markets before purchasing from another brand.

 

P.S.  Dear reaper..... I desperately need more Dire Vegetables for my Overgourd Garden!!!

[themudhead]

No. You aren't alone in having only metal minis. I will only buy metal minis and have lots of them. Once Reaper is done moving everything over to plastic (just my observation and opinion, I don't really know but this is how it seems) I will be looking elsewhere for my metal minis. Possibly Otherworld Minis or quit buying altogether. I won't buy plastic or rubber repaints.

 

[Fnordlover]

I buy Reaper minis in bulk. They represent most of the minis I own due to the quantity that come from Kickstarters. That said, Reaper just doesn't produce enough minis that are in the sphere of my interests to qualify them as the majority of my buys.

[MaskedRiderChris]

I love the Bones minis--especially Bones Black and the newer Bones USA series--and keep a bunch of them on hand at all times because they inspire me to create original paint jobs and mess with different color schemes. The details may not always be there in the older Bones series minis, but they're a lot of fun to paint anyway, and the poses much of the time are really good and dynamic. I'd say approximately half of my pile of shame is various Bones series minis, with a few Pathfinder metal minis in there as well. So yeah. Definitely a Reaper fan here, and as a Texan, I like giving my Texas companies business. 

[Highlander]

The early Bones minis put me off plastic ... the issues with paint adhesion and lack of rigidity caused me to stick with metal.  And I never developed a technique to clean mold lines without shredding the surface of the figure.  I haven't painted a newer Bones figure, but am willing to try. 

 

HST, Reaper figures, in general, are the most paintible of the lines.  I have learned, the hard way and over and over, that an appealing mini may be -- due to its sculpt -- nearly unpaintible.  At least at my skill level.  I'm guessing we all understand what I'm saying -- tiny details hidden in recesses or behind arms or equipment.  Reaper seems to have sculptors who understand that someone is actually intending to paint the figure and who sculpt accordingly.  Not always, but often.  Other lines and other figures are often a waste of money, unless collecting is the only attraction.

 

However, due to the mass of my unpainted minis approaching that of a black hole -- and considering that I do not want to cause the end of the solar system should that mass be exceeded -- I am very deliberate now in acquiring minis.  And I have made attempts to rid myself of a couple hundred that I know I will never paint.  I expect that at ReaperCon I will acquire the minis in the swag boxes and less than ten from other sources.  And, as I have been doing recently, I'll purge the swag boxes immediately and give the minis I don't want to various attendees.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Highlander

[method72]

I have currently purchased 97 Reaper miniatures packages, (I keep a spread sheet to track everything) and 62 reaper paints.   Over all I have been very happy with the product, minus the occasional bent spear or sword, that takes a little corrective action to set it right.    The company seems to be very forth coming with information, and are quite active and responsive to the community, and many of the folks there seem to have a passion for this stuff, it's not just a day job to them.  There are still over 100 reaper minis on my 'wish' list, so I will be continuing to purchase reaper models for quite some time.

 

I have purchased multiple minis from some other companies,  mostly the Wizkids licensed D&D and Pathfinder stuff like the Tarrasque, Tiamat, Beholder, and Dracolich  etc.  Since those are such iconic monsters I grew up with, I had to have them, even though I feel like they really are very over priced.

 

But over all I am a reaper fan, really like the learn to paint kits, I think they did a good job on them and making the entry point into the hobby quite affordable.  I love their minis, and have been very happy with their paints,  although I think the metallic paints are somewhat lacking, and are not my favs.  I am also not a fan of the reaper brushes either.  But let's not make this into a 'Brush' discussion, as that is a very delicate subjective topic.

 

The one thing I wish they could do, would be to price match the competition, I have found many, many reaper products  both paints and minis much lower priced on gnomishbazaar, which puzzles me.  If reaper is the manufacture, shouldn't they be able to offer the absolute best pricing on their storefront to customers?  For example the Dust King and Crypt is $6.99 on the reaper store front,  but only $5.25 on GB... not sure why there is such a difference between them. 

[Serenity]

1 hour ago, method72 said:

The one thing I wish they could do, would be to price match the competition, I have found many, many reaper products  both paints and minis much lower priced on gnomishbazaar, which puzzles me.  If reaper is the manufacture, shouldn't they be able to offer the absolute best pricing on their storefront to customers?  For example the Dust King and Crypt is $6.99 on the reaper store front,  but only $5.25 on GB... not sure why there is such a difference between them. 

It is because Reaper will not give discounts like resellers do.  They sell at full retail.  I believe this is because they don't want to take business away from the FLGSs and online stores that support Reaper and the miniature hobby.  The free minis of the month (currently that's one 3D printed mini and a choice of several Bones minis) and the occasional bonuses like the Christmas Sampler bags, free Christmas minis, and Ghoulie bags are, AFAIK, the only promos Reaper does online.

[RogaDanar]

We live in the golden age of miniatures! Between number of people in the hobby, games available and manufacturers available, we are swamped with choices. Enjoy it young people, it wasn't always like this. 

I have an inordinate number of GW 40k and a smattering of fantasy, but the vast majority of what I have is Reaper. The game I am playing at the time is what I collect the most. Right now I am doing a bunch of DnD with minis, so I need a lot of specialty figures. Reaper is the best bang for buck there, especially with the kickstarters. Are Reaper the absolute best sculpts for my personal taste? No. But they are really good. Also, Reaper feels like they will experiment a bit more. Who else has six armed skeletons? Having said all that, the rule of cool means I will buy anybody's stuff if I like it

3D prints are improving rapidly so they are probably the future, but I still like a traditional sculpt. 

[kristof65]

On 3/1/2022 at 10:27 AM, Inarah said:

 

They do have a nice product, and I've bought a lot of it.  But if you're into other genres like sci-fi, historical, or pulp adventure you have to look elsewhere, which makes me sad.  Lately it seems like I've bought 2-3 other brands for every Reaper purchase.  I still love the company, but wish they'd broaden their offerings.  

This pretty much speaks for me now, too.

 

Reaper will always be the first place I look, but since I'm doing more sci-fi these days, they have less to offer me.