MINIATURE BASICS - Comparing the Two Major Budget Miniature Lines
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 03. 2018
- ✂ Tools & Supplies I Recommend: www.blackmagiccraft.ca/essent...
$ Join the "Fellowship" on Patreon: goo.gl/ZZ4vBf
👕Grab a BMC Shirt: bit.ly/BMCmerch
#BlackMagicCraft #Episode079
This week I discuss the two best lines of miniatures for people just beginning in the hobby, Reaper Bones and Wizkids Unpainted.
REAPER BONES : www.reapermini.com
WIZKIDS: wizkids.com/unpainted/
PURCHASE MINIATURES ON AMAZON
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
REAPER BONES
(USA) amzn.to/2tgG83v
(Canada) amzn.to/2CZsmSC
WIZKIDS
(USA) amzn.to/2tdC04p
(Canada) amzn.to/2Fh3dVr
➳ www.blackmagiccraft.ca
➳ Facebook: goo.gl/hvNgQL
➳ Join the Tabletop Crafters Guild: goo.gl/RMMqoh
Background music:
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
creativecommons.org/licenses/b... - Hry
Addendum.
- I totally forgot that Reaper DOES actually license official IP from Paizo/Pathfinder. It’s just the D&D stuff they do not.
- This series is geared towards absolute beginners. I’m not going to recommend high end, expensive models to people that have never painted a single model before. If you’ve been painting minis for years and don’t like the quality of either of these lines, that’s fine, but this series is to get people started and I firmly believe these two lines are great starting points.
- Basing, cleaning mold lines, washing, priming, painting....these are all things I will get to in future parts of the series.
Add to that: IP licenses for Savage Worlds, and Numenera. (Edit: Matt beat me to it!)
If you go to hero forge.com you can create your own hero mini. Dude ive been watching your tutorials and ive learn a lot. Thanks for sharing your knowledge .
I dont mean to be offtopic but does someone know of a trick to get back into an Instagram account?
I was stupid forgot my login password. I love any tricks you can give me!
@Leonel Ace Instablaster ;)
I bought a Reaper Bones Dragon Tortoise miniature while I was traveling. I got home and found that the modular mini had been packaged with two left legs. I didn't want to drive back to the store I bought it from two hours away to return it, so I emailed Reaper Mini and showed them photos of the the legs and asked if I could get a right leg. I threw in my address just in case. Before I even woke up the next day, they had emailed me to apologize and had already mailed me a completely new mini. When I got the replacement in the mail, they had thrown in some paints too! Overall awesome customer service! Just thought I'd add this here in case anyone else loses the packaging game!
Can’t beat that kind of service.
buy two sets, send photos of one have two right legs and another one has two left legs, repeat with those they send you as apology.
I once purchased their 'Cinder' red dragon in metal. It came with two right arms. One email and a few days, and I had the replacement. Now, I have a dragon's right arm for my wizard's work table. How kool is that?
That’s a solid move on their part. As a beginner looking to buy some starter minis, that’s certainly something I will remember. Great customer service is amazing advertising. :)
I got a headless cultists once. Looked like there was a bubble in the plastic where the head should have been. Called them asking about exchanging it, and jokingly mentioned that the cult was falling apart without their leader. The guy responded by sending a whole damn cult. I think there were six minis and a few accessories like a fire pit and alter.
Their customer service is incredible.
We also offer free shipping when you use the correct currency and meet the minimums for free shipping.
That’s great! Honestly it’s so rare to find. Companies that offer free shipping outside of the US. As a Canadian I am really grateful for that, and it was the deciding factor for me when it came to investing in miniature paints.
I can't click like enough times on that comment.
@@StarshipsSteel correct, you can only click it once without unliking.
The only problem with so many cheap minis available is that I've found myself in a bit of problem where I'm buying them way faster than I can paint them! I have so many. Help!
Such is life....I think that’s standard for the hobby :)
Black Magic Craft For sure. That's not even counting all of the D&D Adventure System board game minis (which are great bulk buys for people starting out), Zombicide, and Massive Darkness minis. At least I'm rarely bored these days lol.
Such is life in the first world. Down here in Argentina most minis cost between 10 to 30 dollars if not more (not to mention you earn way less than in USA)
Honestly, if Canada didn't have such shit shipping...
I need to search for someone that can paint these minis for me since I suck at painting stuff.
As a new DM and hobbyist, I am enjoying the straightforward Basics that you're providing for a starting point!
Reaper's customer service has always been excellent, including when dealing with military and overseas orders. Buying directly from them has always been easy.
I have to second this comment, If you get a broken, or missing piece from Reaper, they are easy to get a hold of to fix the problem. Wiz kids I still have a silver dragon which came with 3 legs that will never be replaced by wizkids.
TIP: tackle boxes make for great miniature storage and organization! Plus, you can usually find them at yard sales for super cheap!
I love the miniature browser but I disagree about buying directly from the Reaper site. While it is certainly more convenient, I implore you to order through your local store whenever you can. Yes, it might take a little longer for the miniatures to arrive and you'll have to pick them up but when purchased in this manner you're supporting your local game store which is very important!
If you have an LGS that either stocks a significant quantity of Reaper minis or that actually gets special orders in timely, maybe so. I'd prefer to support a good LGS, if only to keep a good LGS in business.
But even the otherwise good LGSs, in my (extensive*) experience, are very bad at special orders. At this point, I _might_ give a new store one chance, but that's it.
Further, Reaper does an excellent job of supporting the industry as a whole and retailers in specific. (If you're a retailer with dead stock, contact Reaper about their exchange program to see this in action.) Ordering directly from Reaper is fast and convenient, both for retailers and end users.
* I've played one sort of adventure game or other since 1974 and I worked in the adventure gaming industry for almost 9 years.
NOPE, they have hard insides and will chip the paint right off if you move the box around, Use foam or something on the inside if you really need a tacklebox
Well, it's easier to buy from the website when the closest game store that would even SELL minis is no less than an hour away.
I always get mine from a gamestore called The Guardtower in Columbus. It's not local because it's hours away from me but we make a whole days trip out of it, including getting the Sparano's Pizza next door. Can highly recommend the place to Ohio rpg lovers!
I freaking love this channel! I've never painted a mini or played a table top but I love seeing this stuff come together... almost tricks me into thinking I can do it!
640 Bones Dark Heaven Legends. 43 Pathfinder Bones, 14 Savage Worlds Bones, 4 Numenera Bones and 86 Chronoscope Bones. With many more on the way from our 4th Bones Kickstarter.
Of course, this is dwarfed by the volume of metal figures we offer! Those are in the thousands.
Hey Matt, thanks for those numbers. I knew it was a lot!
I backed bones 4 and am eagerly awaiting those. Hope you enjoyed the vid, sorry for totally forgetting the fact Reaper has Pathfinder and other licenses.....I was in D&D tunnel vision, my apologies, I realized too late to edit.
Not a problem but I thought I would officially clarify what you said. ;-)
I am doing $1000 order of bones 4... only in for $100 at present but pulling the trigger before july deadline.
On a golem arcana jones right now.
I know I'm late to the party.... but one trick I've just learned to help with basing Reaper minis?
Since you can't take them OFF their base without damaging the mini, take a 25mm or 32mm standard GW base, turn the GW base upside down, and with a small dap of Lock-Tight glue, secure the Reaper mini to the GW base.
Then... take some Elmer's glue and pour it in around the Reaper mini. Allow it to dry overnight, repeat as necessary, filling in any bubbles as needed. If you prefer... Zap will also work, though I've had the best luck with Elmers.
Once you're done, base using Citadel Texture paint, or whatever you desire.
*Note... yes... inverting the GW base will result in the bevel of the base being inverted, so if that bother's you, I'm sure you can do the same thing with official Reaper bases.
I hope this helps.
Reaper Bones minis are also INCREDIBLY handy if you run games for kids. I have a game right now that has players from Age 10 to Age 13, and minis that can survive an enthusiastic ten year old is a godsend! (The youngest player was eight years old when she started in the campaign - she is now running her own game for her school. :) Next week she is eleven.)
Just visited reapers today in Denton Texas, it's right by the Goat Bridge. It was incredibly amazing and huge inside. Definitely worth the visit.
I’d recommend wiz kids for dms looking for monsters, since you’ll get 2 per pack for most creatures. I’d recommend reaper bones for PCs or bosses
I love this series. Minis are one of my favorite parts of the hobby so I'm really excited to see all the awesome content coming
This explains so much. I've received/ purchased countless Wizkids minis weather it be Nolzur's or their Deep Cuts lines and as soon as I got done painting them there would be spots of where the grey primer is poking through. It was so frustrating because i would cover up those spots repeatedly but it wouldn't work. I am going to have to watch a mini cleaning tutorial later. Thank you for resolving my issue, I could never figure out why my paint wasn't sticking in certain spots. Thank you so very much!
Thank you for starting this series! One of my biggest problems I was having was exactly what you stated at the beginning. There are very few--up to date--beginners for mini painters.
So happy you're doing mini painting tutorials! I'd love to see a 'project' vid where you step through painting a specific mini, then maybe some shorter vids concentrating on technique.
Yes, I know there are others already out there, but you've a unique, concise way of approaching these tutorials that speaks to me (and my attention span) for some reason.
best primer ever is $4 at home depot its barbecue primer made to withstand high heat, anyways it goes on smooth, drys in seconds! and is really easy to paint on. I recommend.
With the reaper bones, you CAN prime them (and I do) the best primer I have found for them that doesn't cloud up or screw up the mini has been The Army Painter primers.
I know......but that’s a video topic on its own, which I will get to eventually. The general rule is don’t spray bones with aerosol primers, but there are exceptions.
What a great video! As a completely new entrant to the hobby I love that you started with the very most basic step of just choosing a mini. Great work.
That object source lighting at 7:17 is beautiful! Fantastic work!
Dude I just found your channel and love it. I’ve always been afraid to paint minis because I’m afraid it’ll look like crap, but your channel is really helping me out and making me want to go buy some stuff and try it out. Thanks and keep it up
Another great video Jeremy. I have been buying paints and figures for some time and have painted a few in the past but hope to start painting more now that I have a small collection of paints and washes for my miniatures. cant wait to see your style of how you paint your miniatures.
I am very excited for this new series! I too just started to get into getting minis and panting them.
Mold line city with the WizKids stuff, which means you are scraping off the primer to remove it. Also once in a while you will get a mini that has for whatever reason gotten a crappy pour and detail is lost. Also as you pointed out, the scale of the Wizkids stuff is significantly smaller compared to almost all of the other major brands. It makes it hard to mix and match, especially with the hero figures. I have purchased gobs of them, but if it wasn't for the price point, I would pass. The Reaper Bones...WYSWYG. Both product lines are great for filling out your monster list, but I personally have started to go with other more "premier" manufacturers to get my hero mini's like Dark Sword, Reaper Warlord, etc. Looking forward to hearing your take.
“If it wasn’t for the price point, I would pass”
....that’s the whole point, these lines are super cheap, and I think of a good quality relative to the price. Great models for people to start on, and screw up on....and great for just filling out hordes or generic monsters.
Agreed.
I definitely prefer Reaper's Bones minis for rank-and-file monsters - I don't find most to be especially chunky or cartoonish, the detail has been great as Reaper's mastery of their manufacturing process has improved with experience, the price (especially through the Kickstarters) is tough to beat, the selection and range of genres is amazing (the Chronoscope range of Reaper Bones minis covers a number of genres outside of generic fantasy, including Sci-fi, pulp and Lovecraftian horror, superheros, steampunk, and more), the Bones models range from tiny up to giants and gargantuan dragons and other monsters that tower over the tabletop (this makes fielding a large number of big miniatures, even a Tarrasque stand-in, quite affordable!), the Bones plastic is extremely durable and light, painting them is easy, and they take Krazy Glue and can be cut so easily that they practically beg for novices to experiment with modifications like head, arm, and weapons swaps, and re-basing. All of this combines to make Bones miniatures a fantastic choice for use by dungeon keepers for tabletop RPG monster pawns and for beginner and casual hobbyists to paint and mod - it really encourages your players to get creative and buy and mod their own hero minis!
For some gamers, the fact that Reaper's generic knock-off monsters don't look like the illustrations in the Monster Manuals or have the copyrighted names is perhaps a deal-breaker, but that can be a feature rather than a bug depending on your point of view (I actually like the way the knock-off monsters like the "Eye Beasts" don't precisely match copyrighted monsters and routinely make up my own monsters and ignore the manuals, so the generic quality of many of such monsters really encourages me to reuse the models for a variety of different monsters!)
My biggest complaint about Reaper Bones is that some of the sculpts, especially the early ones, don't really hold their shape very well, with characters and monsters leaning at crazy angles from the ankles - the boiling water trick mentioned in the video helps, but not a lot with the older models (the newer grey "Bones Black" models seem to have fixed a lot of this problem), and - again in the older models - a couple of the models seem to have had manufacturing problems, with very soft details, hands missing fingertips, and that sort of thing (I haven't had that complaint since the first Kickstarter, so they seem to have worked that bug out!)
The Wizkids line has some nice and useful models, but I find them a little more expensive, and I agree about the mold lines and sometimes pour manufacturing/QA results with a couple of the Wizkids minis I've bought suffering from some rather unfortunate mush-heads. The detail and sculpts can be a little more delicate and realistic, but not enough to matter for general RPG purpose. These might make OK hero minis, but a lot depends on one's opinion of the poses and such (I think most of the Reaper minis look a little better in that department, but it is a YMMV situation....) I like these miniatures the most for the "dungeon dressing"/furniture and civilian models.
I think that for advanced painters painting competition pieces and shelf-queens that never get tabletop use, metal is probably still the best choice... metal minis tend to be very expensive compared to the plastic, it tends to be heavy and fragile, and it's rare to find particularly large monsters in metal as a result and something of an adventure to modify or assemble from multiple parts, but it seems like sharp edges tend to be far crisper and detail sharper, something like 40 years of manufacturing and a low learning curve for manufacturers to get started in metal casting means that there's a bewildering variety of metal minis available out there, and there's really nothing quite like the heft of real metal to make your miniatures feel like serious business! Metal seems to me like overkill for routine table-top use, though, in an age where so many plastic minis are cheaply and widely available....
Love all your stuff, but can honestly say I'm VERY excited to see your minis vids. Keep up the great work!
Well done Jeremy! I've been collecting (and intermittently painting them) since the 80s when they were all cast in lead. Times have changed (for the better) for sure! You hit all the bases clearly and concisely. Also a nice shout out for the Canucks in the group!! Reaper has been awesome over the years, and Justin from Whizkids is very active on the Facebook, which all leads to top level customer service.
A+++ vid on an A+++ topic.
Thanks for this playlist it made breaking into the hobby super easy to start.
Looking forward to the rest of this series. Have been collecting both series as well and have been putting of painting most of them for a while. Or just slap dash painting of the monsters.
I'm brand new to minis, so I am really happy to see you doing this series.
I have not read all the comments, but just wanted to throw this out there. I brought this to my local hobby stores attention. Not all wizkids are primed with Vallejo anymore. I bought 2 sets of the clear hellhounds, one is primed witb Vallejo and the other is not which makes them a lot more frosted.
I have an excess of Bones minis thanks to the Kickstarters. I always prime them, either with Vallejo primer (brushed on or via airbrush), gesso, or lately Reaper's Brown Liner. The Brown Liner may be my favorite so far, as even watered down a bit it has great adhesion and does not obscure detail. Gesso is great as well for the tooth it provides and it also contracts, so what might seem like too much on a model will usually fix itself.
I do a lot of the boiling water then ice water bath and that corrects almost all of the warped parts. I've left minis in the boiling water for 15+ minutes (for thick pieces, giants, etc.) with no ill effects. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for this video,,,, my son, nephew and myself are new to DnD,,,,, this vid helped a lot about both lines of minis
The most of the Reaper miniatures are in the so called "heroic scale". So you have slightly larger heads and hands in relation. Also weapons and armor are usually unrealistically large in heroic scale (like they are in Warcraft for example). Wizkids, on the other hand, puts more emphasis on realistic proportions and lesser chunky equipment. That's also the reason they do not really fit together.
But I love the comic style of Reaper and my collection is mostly composed of characters from them and Games Workshop. The Only Wizkids Miniatures i own are from the D&D Boardgames (Castle Ravenloft / Wrath of Ashardalon / Legend of Drizzt).
It’s a matter of taste, but I personally dislike heroic scale....especially when it goes really extreme like GW stuff. But, it’s an aesthetic that some like, some don’t.
What gets me about Reaper are the faces. The features just don't work for me. I'm guessing this is a caused by "heroic scale" and that exaggeration makes a mini easier to paint.
There might be a lot of CZcams channels out there teaching folks how to prep and paint minis but they aren't Black Magic Craft. BMC and Runehammer are my go to's when it comes to D&D. I just enjoy y'all's content better than any of the others that I've seen and I have explored CZcams enough to have seen a lot. Keep doing what ya doing and thanks for doing it!
Thank you! I know many come to me for my particular method of teaching, so even subjects that have been covered before I can approach in my own unique way.
Thanks for this series. I've been thinking about getting into mini painting, and this will help me tremendously! Much appreciated.
Hope it helps you out, the whole series will be geared towards people with no experience.
As a major note, Reaper does have some licensed minis for Pathfinder (And Savage Worlds)
AzraelThanatos Also Numenara
I was going to say the same thing. Indeed, they have a bunch of characters from the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.
I totally forgot about this until it was too late. My head was focused on D&D properties.
Wow that was a fantastic video. Really looking forward to the rest of this series!
Priming Bones works great with the Army Painter spray primer.
barbecue primer thats made for high heat drys in seconds and is $4 I recommend trying it.
Wizkids and Bones are the only lines I seem to find at our local store. Thanks for making this, it's good to get a feel for stuff before actually doing it
Great video...catching up on my backlog. As a “semi” pro painter, meaning I get paid to paint, I find wizkids and reaper to be excellent minis for gaming. Ultra detail resin is nice....nice and breakable. I look forward to all your stuff!
Liking these videos. Good input on washing the minis with soap regardless if they are pre primed. Sometimes this info is hard to find!
#TeamReaper
I love the Reaper Bones figurines, it's what my family and I have always used!
Great video sir! Thanks a lot for the insights, they are really helping since I just started to collect unpainted miniatures. I own a decent ammount of D&D minis from the previous editions and have to admit that, compared to the new ones, 3rd edition minis have a certain special look. On the other hand, the reprints from the Dungeon Command boardgames look just amazing. I only have two gargoyles so far, but anyways, a good addition to the collection. Keep up the great work!
I'm new to the channel and just catching up, so forgive me if you've covered any of this. Some perspectives from someone who's been throwing paint at miniatures for 30 years. I've got dozens of WizKids pieces, and probably over 1,000 Bones thanks to all five Kickstarters. And CAV.
Reaper's Bones line has evolved. Most of what you're showing was released with their first Kickstarter, and they really have made a lot of improvements. Contrary to what you said, they didn't switch plastics. They adjusted the formula to make the material a little more rigid, and they added a bit of dye to it to counter the problem with the detail being translucent (and therefore hard to see.) The newer PVC formula holds detail much, much better than their initial line, and the heavier pieces (like dragon wings) are less prone to drooping in hot weather (a big problem with large pieces in the early Bones runs.) They've still got the more bulky sculpts, but the detail is probably superior to WizKids stuff now. You did clarify that they do hold a Pathfinder license, but it is a less extensive selection than the WizKids stuff. They also have licenses for multiple Savage Worlds setting, and have a vastly better selection of non-fantasy pieces (modern, sci-fi, western, etc.) Oh, and any model you get from Reaper these days, even the older ones, will be cast in the newer formulation.
A quick word on the bulky sculpts - they were inspired initially by Warhammer (and marketed against them) rather than D&D, which informed their style. When Reaper was founded in '92, the 28mm revolution was just beginning, and Reaper were one of the first to compete with Games Workshop directly by matching their scale (the old standard was 25mm.) (Reaper - forgive me here, the GW/Reaper history has been pretty confused over the years. The first version I heard was in '96 when a game shop owner told me that Reaper was a handful of disgruntled GW sculptors who broke away to form their own company.)
Next, while Bones are marketed as 'ready to paint', there is a major caveat. Bones PVC is hydrophobic. It repels water. A lot of advanced painting techniques require thinning the paints, including the base coats. This will not work on Bones unless you prime them! So even though they can be painted out of the box, I highly recommend that new painters prime them anyway. They're also a little harder to clean the mold lines on compared to WizKids, although the newer PVC formulations has improved this considerably.
WizKids miniatures are so-so. They have some great poses, and they've got good detail (although their faces are notoriously bad.) One thing, though: the pre-primed feature is more of a con than a pro. There are two problems with it: First, they don't clean the mold lines before they prime. That means that you have to scrape the primer off to clean them up, then re-prime those areas anyway. The second is that primer should be thin, just enough to give the paint something to bond to. WizKids miniatures glop that stuff on so thick that it destroys a lot of the detail. In fact, I've taken to stripping the primer off of WizKids miniatures prior to cleaning and re-priming them in order to recovered the detail. This adds extra steps (an overnight, messy, chemical-infused step) and makes them less convenient than unprimed.
My personal recommendation for new collectors is to buy the bulk of their stuff from Reaper, and use WizKids to fill in the holes left by licensing (your umber hulks, beholders, and so forth, plus some D&D/PF specific races that are under represented in Bones.)
Reaper manufacturing store is right down the road from me so its a major plus to go in and be able to see what I'll be getting.
Man I’m so excited for this series! All you vids are great, but this is gonna be awesome.
Just found your videos. Love em! Keep up the great content! Looking forward to going through your older videos.
I'm a novice painter who has been painting minis for 40 years! I primed a bunch of Reaper with different colored paints and many of them ended up tacky. I know many will gasp in horror at this, and it may come back to bite me later, but I just put an appropriate wash/glaze over them and they are no longer sticky. You also have the benefit of the wash undercoat to help guide painting. The main thing I'm worried about is that they will become tacky again over time (something I can't tell right now)
DO NOT prime bones with spray cans. Some have got good results with Krylon and army painter, but it has been hit or miss for most. The best is either brush priming straight from the bottle OR (my personal favorite) airbrushing Badger Stynlrez.
Timely. I just backed Bones 4 and I'm looking forward to painting them!
Very happy to see you going into this part of the hobby
I have a lot of minis from many years ago. i got into painting just for fun and for some gaming i did.
I have used some craft paints but the bulk were painted with enamels. Now I need to find out how'
to strip them and then work on the repainting of them. Thanks for the new series. I should mention
that all are metal, old school lead at that, Ral Partha and other now defunct companies.
Dyrck Hughes there are a lot of tutorials on youtube about stripping minis, I prefer acetone, but that works only for metal minis
Thanks. I will start a couple tonight. It has been a while since I painted these and I hope it wont take months for the old stuff to come off.
If it’s enamel paint on metal minis I would try acetone. This is also how I strip preprinted minis.
For bones type plastic soaking in Simple Green seems to be the standard.
Thanks...got a couple soaking now..
I am just beginning to paint miniatures. I have painted one Wizard from the Bones line. I am fighting with shadowing and layering. Thank you for the information.
another decent psuedocheap option for fantasy minis would be Runewars great high quality plastic minis
For those looking for really detailed minis the “pathfinder deep cuts” and wiz kids “nolzurs magnificent minis” lines are incredible high quality sculpts that aren’t super pricey. The selection is small though. These both come pre primed but as was said in the video I would still prime them to get a better paint. Glad this series is happening as I’m new to this as well.
Also, we cast our figures mostly in PVC plastic. The dark gray is simply colored gray. We do cast a few things in ABS or polystyrene for the rigidity of the plastic, however this is limited to items that are very flat or without "undercuts," like our crypt model and the Spider Queen legs.
Wow, I sort of featured on Black Magic Craft :P My painted eye beast is the pink one, second from the left, in the Reaper store. Lovingly called "Pink Eye".
Sorry I didn’t click on yours for the screenshot ;)
I'll let you off the hook this time.. If you should ever show the rust monster or earth elemental in their store though, remember me :P
I just yesterday ordered my first batch of minis ever. From reaper. And today you post this video. And now I'm full of regret for not picking wizkids. Damn you, you beautiful man.
As someone who has painted both, i still prime both minis. I'm not a fan of the wizkids priming and bones just needs primer to make the paint hold.
I also prime using stynylrez from badger through an airbrish on all my minis. Reaper also makes a very good brush on primer that flows nicely through an airbrish as well.
This series is geared towards absolute beginners, so any techniques using an airbrush will be avoided.
I also “prime” my bones, but using a highly recommended technique of acrylic craft paint not thinned. It bonds really really well. I’ll cover the few safe methods in a future vid in the series.
Yeah I bought the airbrush because you can't really Prime outside with spray paint in the winter living in Chicago.
Almost all aerosol primers and bones minis do not get along. But I found that Rustoleum camouflage spray paint works very well on bones.
So happy you made this! Love your stuff brother!
I'm not very educated on the whole tabletop gaming scene, but this was super helpful and now I wanna buy and paint some minis..
Nice job! I agree. There are a lot of beginner videos out there, but they do lack that total clean slate beginner approach that you're doing.
& a BIG thank you for stating:
1) mini painting is a part of crafting. I'm glad that it's still allowed on the TCG FB group. Besides, what would go with that sweet sweet dungeon you crafted? Why this sweetly painted mini of course.
2) and because of #1, being a decent mini painter myself, my skillset becomes more valuable to DMs and players that may not have the time to spend on this part of gaming.
I’ve been doing more mini painting than terrain building lately, it’s a totally different type of fun.
Working on a board game so this definitely helps. Already checking out the reaper mini website.
May already be listed, but scale... 15mm, (old school grenadier, etc ) vs 25/28/30mm? I know there are several online references, but that would probably be anpther good topic to cover... I am just about done building my styro slicer, and before I get tucked in with a sheet of xps foam, I plan on assembling a small papercraft pre-made design, that I can use like a artists dummy when it comes to scale... I am also probably going to want a decent mini (or 5-10, lol) for use alongside /on terrain, to help show scale of new things I build... Maybe a overview of the two products, and giving a few shout outs to specific models you found (similar to some you showed here, ) but maybe focused on adventurers, or townsfolk, in one, and maybe an overview of monsters in another...
As a head's up for people who prefer to use rattlecan primer, there are ones that do work on Reaper Bones; you can do a quick search for them on the Reaper Forum. The problem is that the polymer Bones are made from doesn't react well with the solvents used in certain types of rattlecan primers; I believe its mainly the lacquer based primers that have this problem. The other thing I would recommend, even if you decide not to use primer on Bones, is to give the miniature one last cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, preferably 90% or higher, to remove an dirt and oil from handling, any of the mold release that might still be on it, and any chemicals present; this will help a lot with adhesion.
As for the WizKids miniatures, I have to say I was very impressed with them overall. As mentioned, they still have their issues; the mold lines are the biggest one for (but usually easy enough to clean up without much of a problem) but also primer coverage in some spots can be pretty gloopy at times, so you may find you have to use some sculpting tools to bring the details back out before painting. The only thing I would have liked to see them do differently is the character models; they come two to a pack and are meant to represent your character at a lower level (usually simpler gear and poses) and a higher level (more intricate gear and poses) but I would have preferred instead that they split that up and offer a pack with low levels characters of both genders and high level characters of both genders (i.e. Male and Female human fighter low level, and Male and Female human fighter high level) but that's purely a matter of personal preference.
Yea, the issue of priming Bones is a video on it’s own, and one I will get to shortly. I just wanted to warn people not to spray their bones....I’ll cover the specifics of that (what can work, what wont) later in the series.
I'm a little confused by this. I use xenothol highlights on my bones with rattlecans and although they start out tacky, when I paint them they are fine. I'm interested to see the don't use rattlecan primer vid
Michael Thompson So, most times that tackiness tends to remain (in fact this is the first time I've heard that it doesn't) and as a result you quite literally just wipe the paint and primer right off the miniature with very little effort and pressure. After the second time this happened to me, I did research and found out about the reaction with certain types of primer.
I generally have very good luck with Krylon's Camoflauge line of primer, but very, very occasionally I do run into problems with them getting tacky. I have had zero problems with Vallejo's brush on primer though, and that's my go-to now, especially when the humidity is higher than normal.
Hello, I just found your channel and I wish I found you channel like 6 months ago I would have had a lot of my question answered. I like your channel and I do paint miniatures and I have just started to get good enuf to start painting the bigger dragons. Right now I am watching your channel to fill in a lot thing I still am not sure about. thank you for making these videos.
When it comes to Bones priming I have done a LOT of research. I have only had one successful spray prime under optimum conditions with Army Painter Color match (Apparently the regular white and black primer doesn't work well). The best method I have found is a regular cleaning with dish detergent, thorough rinsing then a bath in rubbing alcohol, then once dry a coat of Vallejo brush on Primer. Excellent surface to work with. Most of the Bones I used this method on passed the thumbnail test easily. Also you can use the recommended method of simply painting on the mini with Reaper Paint or use Reaper liner. I also sometimes varnish with Vallejo brush on Primer. Using Spray Primer doesn't seem to work well sometimes with Bones (they stay sticky depending on the brand).
When it comes to the Wizkids stuff the biggest drawback seems to be the mold lines. I have had Zero issues with mold release. I have painted a bunch and I would not recommend washing them unless they have mold line issues and you have to handle them to file those down. Then wash them before you re-prime.
When using the boiling water trick I have found allowing the mini to sit in the water for at least a full minute helps things out. Putting them in the water briefly might temporarily fix the issue but it will bend back later. Gotta leave it hot for awhile. I never used a heat gun.
Lol guess I'm lucky, since I use Army Painter Panzer Grey for priming my minis. Was wondering what everybody's going on about.
I prime mine with acrylic paint haha. Haven't had any issues. What are you guys doing with your minis?
Great review buddy, dead on! Looking forward to this series!
A good source for a bulk purchase of minis are board game sets. I grabbed a Magic the Gathering Mini game from Toys R US for $10 (usd) went across the street and found the same set at the "$5 and under store" for less. Another source is the $40 to $50 (usd) licensed games such as D&D:Wrath of Ashardalon, Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt and Temple of Elemental Evil. Each containing 40 to 50 mini's and an assortment of dungeon tiles. These come with a variety of beast, monsters, heroes and villains. Bonus is that you get a few short form games to add to the collection. If my math is correct these come even cheaper than the Reaper bulk sets that are about to drop and they all have bases.
Also look for gaming auctions. This summer I found a used gaming auction at my local game shop and ended up with a complete set of Descent 1st Edition with all the expansions for $150. I forgot what my exact count was but I believe I ended up with around 300 minis from that purchase. I also nabbed an original Hero Quest game with all components and a mint condition box for $112. Sorry had to brag about that one. No painting for those though.
I haven't really looked but I haven't seen many tutorials on CZcams in how to straighten out Miniatures would love to see this on your Channel.
It will be covered in this series for sure.
I actually ran into the issue of paint adhering to one of the Wizkids models. I honestly didn't think I would need to have to clean it off since it was pre-primed in the box.
Excellent review on two amazing miniatures companies. Which are available here in the UK, I am going to share this video to my Facebook account page. Hope it helps you out
Speaking of bones, if you want to get in on some inexpensive mini's, Bones 4 is still taking late backers (not as great as those who backed the original kickstarter, but still great prices compared to when they hit retail), and the pledge manger is now open to September 3rd (from July 31st). Go to Reaper's website and click the link to pledge manager to get started!
Wizkids Beholder- UN-TOUCHABLE! The best Beholder ever.
Looking forward to this series!
Just a heads up, I orders the Proxxon table, I used your link too. It’s on back order though, but I’ll be up and running soon!
Another great video with good advice. Thanks for sharing.
"What did you just say, BMC? They offer free shipping to Canada? How exciting, how EXCEPTIONAL..." - A person from any other country than the US or Canada...
As a Canadian it certainly is a big deal for us. This lovely country is freakin’ huge and shipping even within Canada can be expensive... :)
One important note is genre. If all you’re looking for is D&D or Pathfinder then it’s really a choice of which one you want to look for based on what is noted in the video. However, for for other genres such as science fiction and horror. I haven’t seen any wizkids minis for those, while Reaper does some minis for those genres in their bones. Though it is safe to say that you can find both genres in the more expensive metal minis.
Thank u so much... I was wondering about these
It would be nice that the wizkids models come pre-primed, but I would have to re-prime it anyway after cleaning up that ghastly mold line.
Innocent_Bystander Oh god yes! It's a nice gesture but nothing looks good with obvious mold lines.
It's still a nice gesture, and I primarily use Vallejo myself(would say I prefer it, but haven't used much else to compare), so it'd be a nice compatibility. But OH MY GAWD did you see that ginormous fugly mold line along the arm when he was showing off the pre-primed feature?
Idk what they use to prime, i honestly think it’s mixed in with the injection plastic because there is no overspray or missed spots too be seen, even weird parts underneath the model. I’ve had a ghastly time getting the WizKids models to a place where they will hold paint like a normal model. Even airbrushed primer rolls off and gets repelled sometimes!
Pretty sure they use an airbrush, since that's what Vallejo Surface Primer is designed for.
Actually, having worked on some of them, a lot of the mold lines can be cleaned without scraping primer off the details beneath; it depends on location and how pronounced or recessed the seam is.
For a newcomer to the hobby who wants to get into collecting and painting, I'd (personally) recommend Reaper Bones every time. I've only ever had a few bad experiences with a Bones mini when it came to painting, while Wizkid's Nolzur line has _mostly_ been bad experiences.
awesome, i was just talking to my kid about buying miniatures last night. thanks this helps.
Great video! It's interesting how different the taste is. I personally would only suggest these minis to people new to the hobby that want to play with their minis (as most people probably do). I can only speak about bones but as someone that only collects and paints, these minis really aren't the best to learn the prep and painting techniques. I personally find metal a lot more forgiving in prep and easier to paint. Ofc it depends on someone's budget too! I do like bones for their big sculpts though as the loss of detail is not as noticeable. Glad I found this channel for more ideas :D
Yea, the whole point of the channel is building stuff for in game use....to use minis on. So I wouldnt have even considered the idea of painting minis not to play with.
Black Magic Craft I think a lot of people enjoy building dioramas and painting mainly for display purposes :) and I'm sure while I prefer metal a lot of more advanced painters prefer resin models for show pieces and contests. I just figured it was worth mentioning for like-minded people ^^
I've had a bit of a journey with WizKids... the first minis I ever painted were in the Nolzur D&D line, and I was well happy with them. I didn't know what a mold line was and didn't care. From that perspective, for a new painter I think they are brilliant.
After a year or so painting, though, I've now developed a Flaw in my Eye which means I see things like mold lines. Even worse, I see things like goopy, overdone primer. And Nolzur minis have plenty of both! And now it's unbearable to even start painting a mini when I can see all this. And I can't remove the mold lines without noticing the goopy primer obscuring all the detail. So now painting Nolzur minis is super time consuming because first I have to strip the primer, so I can remove the mold lines, fill the gaps, and then reapply some Vallejo primer much more lightly with my airbrush (yeah, it's been a busy year :-P).
Very much wishing they sold an "unprimed, unassembled" line... Because as you say, the sculpts are awesome and they have the D&D IP!
The reaper headquarters is about 2 hours from me. Was exciting to go there
Only about an hour from me, but I tend to order online.
An important fact on "plastic" minis. Do not leave them in a car that is parked and gets warm/hot. As mentioned in this video heat allows them to bend and fix them out of the box, However, heat in a hot car will also cause them to become bent and drooping. Once painted heating to fix these issues becomes very difficult. Paint often becomes messed up during the process. So... never leave them in a car if it is warm and sunny. I had a case of about 100 little dudes all painted and ready for battle which turned to sadness after they sat in the car trunk during an afternoon. My metal minis were fine btw.
Good call....something I wouldn’t think much about since my stuff doesn’t leave my house.
I'll second that; living in the US southwest at altitude can generate ridiculous amounts of heat in a sealed car!
For Europeans who are looking for mini’s: Check the Reaper store list! I found out they have quite a few stores in Europe that are affiliated with them.
I checked with a store here in the Netherlands and they told me to just send in a list with what I wanted and they’d order it along with their next large order. No shipping fees or anything, just the mini price.
Dunno about Wizkids, but that’s a solution for getting Bones here 😁
I haven't got to your video on base coating bones figures but yeah i can agree bones base coating is risky, found army painter's spray base coat do not cure and is super sticky but gw chaos black spray primer is fine and also fixed the army painter base coat issues.
My local game shop never has Reikland Fleshshade or Nuln Oil. Can you mix Black with Lahmian to thin blacks/reddish borwns down to work as a wash?
7:02 the reason the reaper minis look the way they are is cause each one was hand sculpted in greenstuff to make a master for the metal minis spin molds you can see this if you look at tge pictures on the metal minis they have pictures of the greenstuff masters which sometimes have metal bits added on they reused this same masters and possibly same molds for the bones minis which sadly makes them have defects sometimes like how the metal version of the knight mini i have has a full head but all the bones ones including the one on the website display photo have a hole in the head with a bubbley lump in it but alot of them are really good
I now this video old, but i have never had a problem with my wizkids when they are ready to paint. I recommend wizkids
Wizkids minis are really good. I've painted a lot of them and they are decently easy to paint and fairly detailed too.
Have you heard of the new pilot Frixion pens. They make a whole line of them including markers and highlighters. You can use heat to remove the ink to erase it. This makes making Maps easier to make and to edit.
Reaper Legends are slightly more expensive, but far better quality and easier to paint in my opinion. To me the Wizkids look funny scale wise on the table, especially with the flat bases. Love to see how you fix the bent weapon issues with Reaper Bones. I've destroyed several minis trying the heat gun and other tricks you suggested. For me, can't beat the metal legends line for price, quality, and no wonky weapons. Good video though.
I never use the included flat wizkids based. I don’t like them.
To prep Reaper Bones I soak them overnight in denatured alcohol. it seems to make the surface more matte and allows primer to mechanically adher better to the surface of the plastic. Not sure exactly what is happening but my guess would be the alcohol breaks down the plasticizers on the plastics surface.
A great many of the Reaper BONES minis are plastic versions of their older metal minis. Since they have been around so long, they have employed a large number of different sculptors, including Sandra Garrity whom I believe even worked for Ral Partha way back in the day.
Some of the sculptors work is far more cartoony and oversize than others. I can generally tell you in advance if I would like the mini or not simply by who sculpted it.
I really wish Reaper still made their square metal bases though.
7:48 How do you get such a strong sheen/"wet" look? Amazing work!
Matthew Ramsey high gloss varnish
Late to the party but i still want to give my two cents that i got when starting this hobby at the age of 13:
Get anything from Mark Copplestone.
Affordable metal miniatures. Single special minis cost 6,- max, a blister of 5 cost 12,- max.
Metal minis can easily be paintstripped and repainted. So no mini is wasted if you don't like the final result. This can be a stress relief and let's you try out stuff that might not work the fist time... But you can "train" to get better without the need to buy more minis.
Copplestone did a great job sculpting minis without to much detail. They are reduced to the details that matter and you have enough room to add your own detail while you learn to get better.
They are a bit bigger (less 28mm and more 30mm) so they are way easier to paint even without ultra-fine and expensive brushes and advanced skills. Washes still work well but are not a necessity.
Mark Copplestone is making minis for DECADES and so he has a wide spectrum of genres. Sci-fi, Fantasy, Apocalypse, Future Wars, 1920s Gangster Mobs, Terminators, Predators, Zombies, Military, Medieval, Cavemen... Mad Max, Lara Croft... And the list goes on and on and on ;)
Happy painting!
Will you also be doing a video and brushes what type to get for beginners