Bones 6 Enthusiasm and Commentary

[Cyradis]

Bones Painter Sophie Bust? Heck yes. Please.

 

For this Kickstarter, I do see potentially $116 worth of things to interest me, but.... also currently likely to stay at the $50 I have in right now and put it to Briarwood. I do like the dragon and the tavern for sure, and they'd be worth while. BUT....

 

There is a resin fancy figures Kickstarter beginning in a few days that I am SUPER interested in. And Kimera is doing one, and while I'm not going for the figures, I do want their paints.

 

And my airbrush's air compressor just pooped out so I had to replace it. BOO.

 

I think Reaper does fit the "figures for D&D and general tabletop play" niche the best. WizKids may have licensing, but Reaper does it better. That does mean as I change as a painter, I'm less in need of this niche though. I hope that the dungeon denizens has a lot of really irresistible sculpts. I do want to keep supporting Reaper, and I do use monsters. They need to work a little harder to claim some of my fun-money.

[Cintra]

Okay, new thought. If they aren't going to break up the core for Add-Ons, except for specific cases (like the ants), what subset of the core do you think would be worth them offering as Add-Ons?

 

I vote for the mudmen, especially if they can be offered in translucent. Then they could be painted with translucent paints as lava-men, as various types of oozes, maybe a purple with sparkles mana-ooze. Okay, I can do all of those without them being translucent, but I think they'd get a higher uptake if they were clear.

[Jeronimus]

1 hour ago, Cyradis said:

I think Reaper does fit the "figures for D&D and general tabletop play" niche the best.

I agree, but I do think that if this is their niche, they could build for it much better. Look at common monsters that somehow aren't abundantly available. Quality animal sculpts are appealing, which I think explains why the ants are a breakout success. Provide more than one sculpt, an RPG encounter rarely features one of an enemy and the painting DM likes variety on the table - you're better off looking at board games, otherwise. Those briarlings from the last kickstarter were great, but two sculpts isn't enough for a monster that usually comes up in large groups. (Yes, at that point I should go to the catalog if I want it and look for those figures to buy, absolutely, that should probably be Reaper's primary model and the result of these kickstars, a good and expansive, searchable catalog of quality figures)

 

Another reason the encounters worked so well. Kind of a light version of what Steamforged has been doing with their Epic Encounters line; you get a box full of figures, which in their case comes with a booklet of maps and a small 5e adventure with stat blocks. They'll have multiples of the same sculpt, but I still think it's a pretty good concept.

[Joshinminn]

On the Twitch update the just said when Sullenhall Part 4 unlocks, they will also unlock Part 5. Same for Briarwood Vale. They also said that the Denizens and Hakir expansions will be meted out in three parts instead of five. Seems a good solution to unveil more minis faster!

[Fnordlover]

41 minutes ago, Joshinminn said:

On the Twitch update the just said when Sullenhall Part 4 unlocks, they will also unlock Part 5. Same for Briarwood Vale. They also said that the Denizens and Hakir expansions will be meted out in three parts instead of five. Seems a good solution to unveil more minis faster!

I take this as the first sign that this Kickstarter is not going to their expectations, and that they're rearranging those expectations of what level of funding is going to be reached. As long as GG and SoS fund then I'll have gotten what I really want from this Kickstarter. I whish them all the luck in the world, and hope they manage to surprise me.

[Cyradis]

1 hour ago, Jeronimus said:

I agree, but I do think that if this is their niche, they could build for it much better. Look at common monsters that somehow aren't abundantly available. Quality animal sculpts are appealing, which I think explains why the ants are a breakout success. Provide more than one sculpt, an RPG encounter rarely features one of an enemy and the painting DM likes variety on the table - you're better off looking at board games, otherwise. Those briarlings from the last kickstarter were great, but two sculpts isn't enough for a monster that usually comes up in large groups. (Yes, at that point I should go to the catalog if I want it and look for those figures to buy, absolutely, that should probably be Reaper's primary model and the result of these kickstars, a good and expansive, searchable catalog of quality figures)

 

Another reason the encounters worked so well. Kind of a light version of what Steamforged has been doing with their Epic Encounters line; you get a box full of figures, which in their case comes with a booklet of maps and a small 5e adventure with stat blocks. They'll have multiples of the same sculpt, but I still think it's a pretty good concept.

 

Yes and no - everyone needs basic adventurers. Problem is that Reaper has a LOT of basic adventurers already. That's why I'm not in for the core set this time. They're great. But need is filled. And board games have notoriously horrid casts. I'd rather get Reaper adventurers, if I needed adventurers.

 

I do think the Encounter sets were an extremely good idea last time and I'm surprised they didn't reveal a few early on this time. It is really nice as a DM to have a pack ready to go.

[GoldenPiggy]

3 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

 

Yes and no - everyone needs basic adventurers. Problem is that Reaper has a LOT of basic adventurers already. That's why I'm not in for the core set this time. They're great. But need is filled.

Maybe next time they should leave adventurers out of the core set (or maybe keep a few, mostly unusual races/classes), but have an expansion of, say 40 adventurers for $50?  That way anyone building a collection can get a nice value, and anyone with plenty of adventurers can skip them.

[Chaoswolf]

Or keep the adventurers in the core, but make most of them unusual race/class combos.

[izzylobo]

22 minutes ago, GoldenPiggy said:

Maybe next time they should leave adventurers out of the core set (or maybe keep a few, mostly unusual races/classes), but have an expansion of, say 40 adventurers for $50?  That way anyone building a collection can get a nice value, and anyone with plenty of adventurers can skip them.

 

So, the problem is that *every* Bones Kickstarter is someone's first Reaper KS - or even their first KS period. And the Core really is intended to be the opening salvo, and a sort of catch-all "if you get one of these, you'll have a decent assemblage of minis for gaming". They try and mix things up and not repeat themselves (too much), and there are flights of fancy and exceptions to the rule, but that's the... core... of the idea. A hundred bucks (and some change) gets you a whole passel of minis to paint up for gaming. 

 

The Expansions and Options and Add-ons and Encounters are where the folks who already have a Core-or-few go to score their weird unique stuff - they know that people like me, who have been around since the beginning, might get a core set if there's enough new/unique minis in it, but they shouldn't count on it (and, indeed, I don't think I've gotten the Core since Bones III or IV) - but I'm still going to spend plenty on the Encounters, etc. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by izzylobo

[Nunae]

17 minutes ago, Fnordlover said:

I take this as the first sign that this Kickstarter is not going to their expectations, and that they're rearranging those expectations of what level of funding is going to be reached. As long as GG and SoS fund then I'll have gotten what I really want from this Kickstarter. I whish them all the luck in the world, and hope they manage to surprise me.

My speculation: They thought they'd use the initial burn to reveal the first three expansions, some of the less show-stopping options and ofc, some Core Set stuff and go on to more jaw-dropping things mid-campaign to counter the lull.

But without incentives to pledge early+state of the world (less disposable money)+KS fatique (noone can really say how much each of those factors impacted the whole without more data) we didn't breeze past those goals and now multiple goals in a row didn't really spark pledge increases.

 

Looking at the map, the last two options were Pathfinder Chibi Goblins (probably niche) at 830k and Ragged Wound Orcs at 650k. So for a long time now there was no reason to increase your pledge after figuring out if you wanted the initial three expansions.

 

It's a good idea to get those expansions early and they seem to generally sell well, but three unlocking parallely combined with a lack of more interesting options gets a bit dull (bc we already expect to see all 5 parts of each expansions anyway). 

We could see how fast funding increases with the unveil of the ants when people had something to throw money at. I'm hoping for that effect again with the next option unveil. Hopefully it's the anniversary dragon or an encounter set.

[vulture]

36 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

I do think the Encounter sets were an extremely good idea last time and I'm surprised they didn't reveal a few early on this time. It is really nice as a DM to have a pack ready to go.

I agree I was really hoping for them early on, but they didn't materialize. I think they scratch the itch for just about everyone.

They address the uniqueness and/of multiples issue(s) - as pointed out previously, to have an "encounter" you generally need multiples, and these had on-theme multiples! spiders, leopards, jaguars, dwarf zombies, ghouls/cultists, vampire ladies, yeti. Actually playable and fun, and unique, and splashy / exciting, and terrain with a great price point. what wasn't to love?

 

Hopefully they can fit a few in before the end; I know they have a half dozen planned, but they missed the boat on not leading with those. who knows, maybe they will make for a killer closing week?

 

***

 

Maybe a "core" is just an antiquated idea. sure, lead with the vanilla, but don't then bloat it out (vanilla + everything!), move on to other themed sets and encounters (salted caramel! Ube! peanut butter cup!).

 

Now I just want some ice cream.

Edited April 11, 2022 by vulture

[Iridil]

Quote

I'm hoping the next two reveals are an add on and an encounter that really get excitiement going... and because I want those encounters!

 

Somehow I just quoted myself!

[Inarah]

41 minutes ago, Fnordlover said:

I take this as the first sign that this Kickstarter is not going to their expectations, and that they're rearranging those expectations of what level of funding is going to be reached. As long as GG and SoS fund then I'll have gotten what I really want from this Kickstarter. I whish them all the luck in the world, and hope they manage to surprise me.

 

They have said they expected things to slow down, and I'm watching todays vod with Ron saying "Yeah it feels a little slow right now and we expected this and we did plan for the kickstarter to run a certain way but we also planned if we needed to make some changes we would already have these built in." 

 

 

1 hour ago, Joshinminn said:

On the Twitch update the just said when Sullenhall Part 4 unlocks, they will also unlock Part 5. Same for Briarwood Vale. They also said that the Denizens and Hakir expansions will be meted out in three parts instead of five. Seems a good solution to unveil more minis faster!

 

Ron: "That's going to clear up some room so we can add some more options in."

 

Also Ron: "We've got some encounters, but this time we're not calling them encounters we're calling them Legendary Tales."  and "Jason (Weibe) finished one of his this week, and oh my god you guys are going to flip out!"

 

Jon said that every Wed. they are going to have a social media goal to add something to the core set. So check your FB, Twitter, etc for that.   One of the goals is "something very special" that was requested by fans and is being sculpted by Gene VanHorne. 

 

More from Ron: "The Lost Tombs of Hakir is going to be primarily a lot of egyptian themed, there is a lot of terrain, there really is a lot of terrain in this one, a lot of really cool stuff like that. There are some monsters, there's a few characters, the concept behind the adventuring characters, there's not a lot, there's going to be an Egyptian style group of characters, there's only 3 right now, the one you guys saw, a female, the barbarian. There's also going to be an anthropomorphic character in the party and there's also a wizard."

 

Something special is planned for Friday but Ron was very scant with information on that.  Also brought up the possibility of a reveal on Thursday night's show. 

 

So.... IMO things are moving along more or less as planned, this is the slow period they expected, but there are some new reveals expected this week. 

 

 

 

[Marvin]

I’m admittedly not as excited for this project as I’d like to be, but I’m excited that this arrived in time for game night!

 

[Ratmaster2000]

I think the biggest thing they should have done for the core set, (and this is just MHO) was NOT have the zombies be the bonus. There were so many other cool things they could have chose and they (IMO) were the weakest (for me anyway).

 

At this point, I may be in for only the sullenhall and the ants probably. Nothing against any of the mini's, great as always, but as others have said, with THREE core sets at my disposal there is not much I need for normal adventures. Now as everyone has said, if there was something niche, I may change my mind. Since ants got split out, I am hoping more gets that treatment (I really want those sophies). Am disappointed that the queen is not in the breakout:( 

 

I am also disappointed there are no busts,kaiju or 3 stage adventurers (Ron verified that on a recent reaper live when I asked. He said they showed it last year and it MAY be shown or probably NOT AT ALL). And what happened to the cool "encounters" idea from 5?