*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on using minis in your games. Do you use them or not? And why? If you're interested in some new minis - check out Epic Encounters by Steam Forged Games. You can shop their minis here: amzn.to/3xjjSUc Find each chapter of the video easily by clicking on the timestamps in the description above.
I use Lego Minifigures as well! No painting required, and equipment can be adjusted easily. B-grade Minifigures can also be bought from the known Chinese vendors
I learned how to print my own. Bought a 3D printer back in October, and have since printed 22 Miniatures with it. It would have been more... but the first miniature I did was a 16 piece behemoth that I promised would be the first one that I printed.
The biggest positive is that it eliminates misunderstandings. “How did the ogre punch my Wizard? I thought my Wizard was way in the back out of melee.” The biggest downside, aside from price, is that it stifles imagination. The DM is limited to what he or she has minis for. While the player is limited to what is on the map, which means for example that a player couldn’t ask the DM if there’s a table in the tavern he can flip over and use for cover.
What I've been doing lately is letting the *players* place most furniture to go along with their descriptions or intent. I just set down the essentials or the bare bones. Am considering letting them have "cover tokens" or somesuch.
Which is the main advantage of being proficient with virtual tabletops like Dungeon Fog, you can add in that tavern table or torches on the wall (fyi sconces) for player creativity
I couldn't agree more. It really does help with positioning, etc, but does stifle imagination. I try to keep maps very simple with only key objects to encourage players to think about what else might be present. I also find that transport is an issue, or minis limiting GM's options because they are limited to what mini's they have. This is why I tend to use tokens. One token could represent any number of things so I'm not limited in what I can put on the table, and I can carry dozens of tokens in my pocket, saving plenty of space when moving from A to B.
@@paulosborne3253 I am experimenting with paper print out “minis” that I fold into a pyramid/triangle (two faces) so it stands up a little rather than flat. It’s easier to see across the table and you don’t have to hover over the map to see clearly. I may try cubes next. Either way, sizing a printing paper minis is inexpensive, easy to make, and fast to make before a session (assuming you have a good printer, heavier weight paper, glue stick, and cardboard/wood token blanks for anchors)
"Does it have a..." "Could I ..." questions in mid combat are way better than the AOE metagaming that miniatures bring to life... You got some comunication issue going around? they only happen once or twice, people have this awesome tool called conversation, in wich they engage in some sort of arguing to understand what each person is talking about, a often, this leads to agreements and become more careful in how they speak to each other with some sort of magical mechanism we have inside our heads that allows learning hoe other people understand what we are speaking about and how to better put what we are trying to convay based in previous knowloge of other interactions. "Is there a...", "Can I...." "Is he ...." is enough to get refferences. You only need to know what you want to interact with and that is the only referece you need. "I move 30 feet away from..., in direction to...." "Could I move to ... " "Am I able to reach .... if I ...." Miniatures are cool, but the game becomes way too narrow. Could you still ask the same questions and do the same thing? Absolutly, but getting this visual feedback brings a lot of certainty and shuts down a lot of the questions, not only for the player, te table or the DM and brings out the most broken combos of terrain manipulation. We all know how an "sure, why not?" moment usually becomes memorable. The more mechanical a digital-gaming you want your table, the more your strict to the rules and more strict you are with what was planned, and the thing about strict behaviour is that it can be predicted and manupulated with consistancy. The more theatre of the mind and roleplay/exploration focused you want your campaign, the more open you are to the sugestions and become curious to what it could lead and will have a blast doing it, no matter the consequences. Its a preference in the end, you just need to know if you want to be more like a book or like a videogame.
Other disadvantages are: 1) it can encourage 2D thinking unless you can build 3D terrain and balance the minis, use flying platforms etc. 2) it can encourage combat rather than alternative.resolutions because people want to use the minis for tactical battles. 3) it can limit where you play to the house where the minis live. 4) it can limit imagination, if it isn't visible on the map it isn't there. That said it really supports game mechanics involving distance and does all those other good things you discussed. Whatever works best for your group I guess but always bear in mind the disadvantages so you can counter them with good descriptions and encouragements to not be bound by what is on the table.
1, 2 & 4 are cop outs. I get 3, if you can’t transport them conveniently it’s a hassle. But for 1, no idea what that means. 2D thinking? What about minis disqualify you from using elevation tactically? For 2, that makes no sense. I’ve never heard of this happen. Imagine thinking that you shouldn’t do something fun because “what if you decide to do that instead of something else because it’s more fun”. Finally, for 4, I just make my own terrain. If it’s a barrel or something, you can always just draw a barrel on cardboard and cut it out
My players only really thought 3d after I made terrain. But I do feel that tactics gets a lot of help when you have something to represent enemies and players.
@@spacemanproletariat4279 He didn't say it prevented 3d thinking, just that is encourages 2d thinking. In my experience minis kill creativity. People don't think outside the box when they are out they focus on basic hit and move strategies. Sure you can overcome the inherent mindset limitations that minis encourage, but why bother when for many people and group they don't bring anything at all to the table. It is like roleplaying with an anchor on for many. It also tends to cause what I call the Final Fantasy effect. Suddenly you have stopped playing the game you were playing and zoomed into the combat screen where you are playing something more like a boardgame. It really depend on the players and the table though. I know players that struggle to understand if they don't have the visual representation on the table and players that can't imagine anything they don't see on the table if minis are used.
I started using minis in my game and it has turned into a full-blown hobby. I went from just getting the prepainted ones to painting them myself, and now i'm saving for a 3D printer to take it to the next level. Painting minis specifically is really fun and even therapeutic. I'd recommend it. Even if you think you aren't gonna be any good at it, you're probably better than you think. I thought i'd suck but now all my friends want me to paint the minis they get online for them. You can do it too! c:
Some of my players and I are more visual learners, so mini are really helpful. A lot of times, even for minor scenes and exploring, I like to make a quick sketch of the area and put the minis out. For example, if the party is doing downtime, I might draw a really basic map and include points of interest (like a politican office, their guild hall, a couple of major shops, etc) and have peopl put their minis where they want to be. It help remind players who's with who in these scenes, and cuts down on players wanting to be everywhere at once, since, well, they can see they are at the market when the conversation they wanted to interject into is at the Lord Ericson's estate
A negative is storage space. As a parent I can barely have space on my desk that isn't invaded by my children's stuff. I regularly have to purge old things to try and keep a semblence of hobby space. Still planning to get into minis but have to install more shelving or purge some things.
I love printing and painting miniatures, and my collection of enemies is always growing. Not huge yet, but I print and paint things in the "order" I think I will need them. Which lets me accurately represent most enemies in my campaigns. At the start of a campaign I always tell my players to describe how their character looks. We then together go through my library of minis to see if I have the right one to print, and if I do not go online (myminifactory, thingiverse, whatever) to find it. So every player always gets a mini that represents their character as closely as possible. If they want to paint it themselves, great. If not, I ask them to give me directions such as colour scheme and I will paint it for them, asking for feedback and potential changes until they feel that the character is wholly and truly theirs. And after that, they own it. I give it to them forever. It has resulted in all of my players getting a much much stronger connection to their characters, and the process to get there is a lot of fun. And because of the whole process it usually even results in them thinking about and developing their character way more than they would have done otherwise.
I inherited thousands of minis from my brother (plus some I acquired myself), and I love using them.. I have several tackle cases, boxes, and a trunk to hold them all, so they're stored nicely and organized. We game at a friend's house, so I'll only bring enough minis for maybe a few planned encounters, a random encounter I rolled beforehand, and a few random people for crowds, fill ins, summons, etc. I did get a hero forge mini for my character (one of my players wants to run a few sessions now! 😁), which has made everyone at the table invest in their own character minis. So proud, lol ..
I have collected miniatures for years starting with Heroquest and Dragonstrike. I like using miniatures for spatial awareness for myself and the players awareness especially new players.
I am a miniature collector and painter only for RPGs. I use maps for my reference as a GM, and then instead of having a map, I have pieces of terrain (walls, dais, pillars, plastic trap pieces) that can be placed on a battlemat as the game progresses and the players find new things. I have spent a lot of money on terrain, but just to set the scene, even paper cutouts to represent pillars, walls, etc, can still set the scene for a miniature game. I agree with you on using miniatures on setting the scene for players.
I get my players to design their characters in heroforge so we all have a mental image of the characters but when we get back to playing in person I plan to use them, these & miniatures from other hobbies/games.
Since I got into the habit of drawing "modular" maps, I do prefer using minis. My biggest gripe, however, is either when I'm playing in another GM's game or running my session with my minis and I get the "Oi, that's not what your character looks like, that's a Space Marine and this is D&D!" line. Minis are a stand-in, they aren't perfect representations of characters. I don't care what minis you use, as long as everyone knows the Hunter from the Bloodborne board game and the Fallout Brotherhood Paladin mini are kobolds and the Imperial Guardsmen from 40k are the party. I don't understand why there's this compulsion to have so many distinct minis, just use what you have. If your players usually play online D&D, but have a Kill Team setup, don't rag on them (unless they're cool with it) for bringing a Space Marine to be the party's rogue. I realise things like Heroforge exist, but it all costs money, and imo it's better to have usable minis than having near-perfect representations. Also, if you want a cheaper way to get minis, the secret is board games. Drizzt, Ravenloft, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne come with a bunch. Might work out to be cheaper than buying standalone minis (definitely better than buying enough minis for a wargaming army).
If you aren't picky you can use any miniature figure in your game. I personally use a lot of the Minecraft blind box minis to as stand ins for random enemies or npcs. Doing this is a lot cheaper than some other miniature options.
Why stick to just one method if one can use all? I use minis, I use little pictures from web printed on paper (cut in some shape and have it hanging on bent staples at the master screen if needed), I use little tokens which are sold for decoration ... Anything goes. I even use toy figures from Kinder Surprise, change them with super glue and color. I also build some miniatures myself.
I've been playing and running since the 80s. While I admire the craftsmanship that goes into minis and terrain pieces and can appreciate the artistry of it all, I have always been incredibly reluctant to use them. Whether as a player or a GM, I've found them to be a speed bump to play, even if just used to set the scene. Worse, when I've played where they've been used for combat, I find the combat becomes stunted, bogged down, and almost chess-like in approach. I have minis, but seldom pull them out for anything more than to admire their appearance. Sadly, I am finding more and more younger gamers struggle without minis, at least from what I've observed with the RPG clubs I've volunteered to run at my local library. The kids seem to have a blast, but it's a goddamned tedious, time drag, boring moment for me to run...so much so, I've begun to create situations where it's more appealing to avoid combats so I can avoid minis. I want to give them a fun and enjoyable game for everyone involved, which includes me the GM. Too each there own. If you love and use minis, keep at it! If you're like me, that's fine too! As long as everyone is having fun, we all win.
Used minis from my 1st PC back in the 80s thru now. I have a vivid imagination, yet using minis helps me stay aware of where everyone else is and what they're doing. Also helps me get into character for rp to have some visual representation of my character. Even when no one else at the table uses minis, I still prefer to bring mine along to "guard my dice" and help everyone visualize what my character looks like.
Wow! I never thought I would see a "using minis" video here. One piont that wasn't touched on was that the maps and minis can actually help the players to imagine the scene. One of the players in my group self reports as "Not very creative or imaginative" and struggles to follow along with descriptions of places. The miniatures and maps (we use terrain) really help her to imagine what the setting is like. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
It has become a thing for me to create and print my characters, I normally use Heroforge, and it works quite well. (now in a starwars, and a Shadowrun campaign), I have even painted a few, had a paint day with my mates spent like 6 hours on 1 figure :D
I love having minis for major enemies just for the effect the reveal has on players but use digital tokens for mobs and npcs. Honestly the generic enemies just get in the way. For my players I have some legos or small toys they can borrow but they're on their own if they want something better.
Me, who plays digitally with friends across the country and on different continents: I mean I could use minis... But I don't think my players would get much from it since we use a VTT
As player and GM I like use minis (real or digital if we play online). It gives better action and story to everyone. For online I use custom character creation sites for NPC and ask players to make PCs too! And for real games I just use wood-carved cheap thingys to represent enemies and PCs. BUT I have custom painted mini of my first ever character and I love it a lot for memories etc.
I always preferred Miniatures / Tokens and a map over imagination. It just makes it so much easier instead of "ok where am i again?" every other round.
I use minis! When I moved to my new place, I got a full cabinet and display case that I keep them all in (sorted so that I can easily find what I'm looking for).
For minis I find art online, print it on standard size paper, cut out and paste to backing board. Players do the same. Then we colour in the remaining backing board as we like.
I'm a fan of mini's. Definitely help with strategy and tactics. I'm lucky enough to have a good income, so about once a month I end up ordering a main NPC from Hero Forge color. Slowly the main characters in my world are coming to live. With juggling my players schedules we tend to have a lot of space between sessions. Gives me time to edit the video and get it on CZcams. 😉
How do you not have more subscribers? I love your videos, man. The content material, knowledge of it, and especially your personality and speech are righteous! Kindly keep up the great work!
I have used Minis and maps since back in the 80’s. I am not a fan of theater of the mind, never have been. Theater of the mind I am always having to repeat things, always have to answer questions like “Is this person in my fireball range?” “Can I reach this person?” Can you describe the room again” - mean while, with a well set up map and minis, those questions just go away. I simply plan ahead and have everything ready as described in the video. Set decorations (some I make by hand, some I print, some I’ve bought, some are just toys), help the players so much in seeing “I’m 10’ away from the rope that holds up the chandelier - I can go cut that and drop it on the BBEG”. Theater of the mind works better for games like World of Darkness games, it was, in my opinion, never good for D&D
To me better than minature figurines would be just Simply those plastic paper holders that we can sometimes see in board games. because they use a piece of paper slided in the plastic bottom that just holds it tight. Thanks to that you can just print your player characters and NPCs as easy as printing your CV document. So if there will be need of player changing his PC, it can be done very simply, at little to no cost of working printer, and also still giving great information about We see how they look like and how big they are, just like Tokens but more in flat 3D dimension.
I don't think full map-style game boards are entirely necessary, but I think having some representation IRL of what everybody looks like with scale, and maybe something to set the scene, like a backdrop with some props and/or buildings, could do a lot. Maybe a map that the characters have, for instance, but nothing that would give more information than they need or would have ingame. Maybe a full map of a dungeon that is covered room by room, and is only revealed as you explore, like in the legend of Zelda.
My first token was a cork from a spent bottle of Wild Turkey from college,....actually don't know where it has gone now. With at least the heroforge, going into the details and putting it on the figure gives me a nice REMINDER of why I'm playing my PC in the first place. My Artificer is a toy maker first and foremost, so I have rubber ducks and bubble gum everywhere!!
I generally try to have the minis I intend to use prepped for that day hiding away in a box so that my players cant see em. Bigger minis might be sitting behind me, but I'll keep a decent slew of ones I'm not using with them so that my players won't know what they are facing. I also think its a good idea to only bother doing full maps and such for encounters where the player actions might matter more. Talking to a king can be kept to just a king mini, a couple guards, and the player minis (informing the players there are more guards around, these are just the ones standing between you and King Theodore the Terrible).
I like to move back and forth on using theater of the mind, and gridded combat. Though, I have found that I like using tokens, instead of minies. I have the players draw and color meaningful images on each side of the base token (active and incapacitated), before I seal them in clear vynal. It's similar to your player panted minies, but with a little less overhead.
Minis can be an addiction, just ask any mini wargamer lol. But in all seriousness if money is an issue and you dont feel confident in your painting skills, Bones figures are always a great option and they are sold in many gaming stores. They cost around 5 dollars and are decently detailed with surprising variety in the line. They are perfect for practicing painting
I suggest using paper cutouts if you can't afford to buy a mini for every character you will need. I currently own only few minis - one for my Warhammer mage (though it fits almost any fantasy mage) and few sci-fi soldiers from Infinity The Game starter pack (which I can use whenever I play something sci-fi oriented). My friends play a lot of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and/or 40k as well as Neuroshima Tactics, so all in all, we are already pretty well stocked with minis in most cases. Anything else we need? Paper cutouts. It's a great way to cut down the costs and still have a visual representation for those hordes of nameless goons and basic xp-fodder like bandits, kobolds, goblins, etc. While not as cool as painted 3D minis, you can also often find illustrations of monsters or characters that are way cooler than any mini would ever manage to be (stuff like really intricate patterns of scales or machinery like Michael Bay's Transformers). You can also just quickly draw a stick figures with basic representation of gear they use (shield and sword, spear, bow, etc.), cut it out and make improvised 3D markers with only a pencil, sheet of paper and scissors.
3d printer, Heroclix modded with greebles and green stuff, ect to go cheap (after the initial investment in a printer). Fun thing about using minis is that it can provide some great unexpected combat goodies.... Random scatter piece (desk, table, ect), if a PC is getting his/her butt kicked, that bit of cover might be just what they need to avoid getting hit :). You also don't need to map out and do minis for normal stuff. Just set up while the rest of the game is going on. You'll catch on to having a good flow going after a few sessions.
I use Animal Adventures and have a couple boxes of their minis and a campaign book. My 13 year old loves it :D Minis and Terrain are great :D I set up all the minis and terrain needed for that day ahead of time . so i might have 3 map areas out on the table with terrain bits and bobs ready to go and all the npcs are hidden behind my screen ready to plop down when they get into a fight.
Minis in a box? I use to toss mine in the dice bag to make sure they made it to the game session. We did mini campaign when we played D&D 4e. It really change the feel of the way we played D&D, it went from an adventure game to a combat game. Combat games are fun, we played mini games like Mordheim, but it is not what we are looking for when we want to play D&D.
I do collect minis and thus have a few (a few hundred)... The most important negative for me is that one can hardly find the exact mini you need... Yes, there are Heroforge, Eldrich Foundry etc. who make the situation much better. My second point of importance is the "real visualization" you speak about. It comes at the cost of that imaginary Picture for the players. Just as a battle map or a sketch of the castle etc. using this stuff is a break of immersion. If that is wanted, as it would be in D&D combat, I can understand using the stuff. Personally, I do not want that break of immersion, I want players deep in their minds with their imagination soaring thus I use more story-oriented combat etc. Frankly, I always thought it comes down to the type of GM you are and the game you play. The more tactical-board-game the better minis are, the more immersive and imaginary the less useful they are. You have achieved however that I shall try using minis (which I have in abundance) again in my next game.
I have all my minis on glass shelves (ok not all of them, but the most common ones or the ones i need for the campaign) in another room, before the session starts i am taking a box with me and go “shopping” for what i may need this session. This box is beside me when we start playing. Problem solved. Takes no time to whip out a map and minis. Granted i never come to use all of them in that session, but they are always at hand.
I use pennies (soldiers) nickels (leaders) & electric panel punch outs (Huge foes) with numbers or letters on them to represent any foes. No hunting for special minis. I do have several mini giant races & dragons to use for scale with my players character minis. Combined
I find that minis are the most enjoyable when you can make a character to fit the mini, or are lucky enough to find a mini that fits the character immediately.
Hi. Recent subscriber, dig the channel. I like miniatures. The task of having them is daunting to me; storage, numbers and cost. It's a lot. But they're definitely cool and fun to have.
What's your thoughts on creating monsters that aren't a part of the monster manual and it's subsidiaries. I of course don't leave my players oblivious to the monsters attributes and do still use the standard monsters. I just want them to enjoy themselves as well but know they're getting bored of the standard affairs so far the only thing I used was a wall of carnivorous vines in a cave, I set up the scene with clues to the nature of the plants and they enjoyed the encounter I'm just having a bit of a creative block designing more new things for them to encounter. I know this is long sorry.
I came in contact with gridded combat on my first DnD game. Until then, all combat was managed with theatre of the mind. In my opinion, the more detailed the minis and the terrain, the more wargamy it gets, the more boring I perceive combat.
Minis ftw. But then, Ive been a wargamer for most of my life. Miniatures are a significant part of the hobby for me. ToM runs into major issues when things get too complex. Theres way too much to remember, generally. Additionally, communication is inexact. *I* might have everything nicely arranged in my head, but does everyone around the table have the same image theyre working with? Its bound to lead to confusion and mistakes ('oh, so hes not in range? Damn, will need to think of something else... oh, hes in cover? What about from Xs location?). Minis are just better for stuff like that. Or even just placeholders.
After going through the pandemic and having to do digital for the last two years. Couple weeks ago all my players came to the table for the first time in two years. We broke out all my minis and ran an amazing session. All I have to say is minis are necessary because playing online sucks.
Actually I think the biggest danger with minis that you didn't mention is that it limits your encounters, which has the potential to severely hurt your game's story and gameplay alike by restricting the kinds of encounters the enemies the players can fight. If you want to play on a grid, you don't need miniatures. WotC, and other companies, have sold you the lie that you need to buy their Official miniatures in order to play this way, but you can really just print out 2d tokens and use whatever monster you want.
I use 42 inch tv for live battle map 15mm fantasy miniatures. Only for the combat bits, otherwise the tv has a big map of the world. With sound effects in background, ie tavern or forest
3d printing makes minitures a much cheaper prospect. there's a lot of places to get cheap mini's now thanks to 3d printing. Also getting the files to print your own is a lot easier than you think.
I just love using Lego (Lego compatible) Minifigures 😄It’s just so much fun creating the PCs minifigures and getting their reaction of said figures xD every pc always said „Holy shit the figure looks just like I imagined it“.
Hey Guy, Nice video as always. I have way too many minis (is that possible? ha ha ). I have two nice Feldherr cases for my standard minis but storing my large minis just rattle around a large box. Not good. I am searching for a really good case or set of cases for my large minis. Any thoughts? Thanks again for the video. I always enjoy them. take care. Ernie
Negatives? Storage space!!! These suckers are a huge space filler and that can be rough for many people. (Living in Japan… it’s an issue!) as a parent it also is a problem.
Minis help new players (or neuro atypical players) visualize the information they are experiencing as a player - that’s all the reason I need to include them
Not true for all of either category. I'm so thankful as a new player I joined a group that didn't use them. I would have fallen into the crutch of just looking at them and the map and not thinking outside the box or asking about other things.
(4:45) - Negative : In today's environment, where a majority of people are still told to sequester / stay home / keep distance / no large gatherings, etc, having an over the board game can be highly unlikely. Thus trying to play with mini's in an online world doesn't make much sense. (I really miss over the board games :( )
A few more negatives... I think it takes away from your imagination doing our thing. It makes everything a bit more juvenile. It makes the game harder to get into. Game prep just got a lot more complicated and tedious as far as I'm concerned... I just love simplicity. The only positive I see - the scale thing. Though I did start playing more in corona times, so online dnd is my absolute favorite. I love making maps in dungeondraft and wonderdraft, finding interesting monster and character art... and it takes up zero space and costs nothing aside from the one time cost when you buy software. (I avoid subscriptions like the plague)
Several problems I have with miniatures in gamming: ( First a disclaimer. I have many painted miniatures and I enjoy that seperate hobby.) Having said that the figures that are representing your characters will never match up. Even if you had a personally created figure to match your character, eventually that character will die. So you come close. Now it comes to the monsters. I can only paint so many. If the party is faced by a mob of goblins, I will have to substitute the back ranks with zombies, orcs and peasants. So the effect is again lost. *BIG IMPORTANT POINT* The last time I gamed with miniatures, one of the players took his figure (well painted I might add) from his side of the table and flipped it about five feet (150cm) to join in a combat. As I said the last time... I now use tokens Pachisi tokens are fine for monsters Monopoly pieces work for the characters. Combat positioning works fine and the wizard knows he's the top hat.
My biggest problems with miniatures (aside from cost), and the reason I have made my own tokens with symbols and numbers, are; Having loads of miniatures to transport from A to B. Not having the right miniatures and therefore being limited in what I can present to my players. Playing systems that aren't fantasy based and therefore struggling to find suitable miniatures to represent non fantasy people and creatures. I do find tokens alleviate all these problems though.
Financial stability over gaming... or as I like to say: Life before Game. Because of life, I cannot afford Minis, nor the space for them. Solving this are Pawns, but i go a step further and go digital (host has a projector).
"You have to make a map" Literally why I funded an AI-driven dungeon maker on Kickstarter. Kinda wish I'd have paid for beta access since it's up now. >.>;
Why you should NOT be using minis (unless that is what you actually want to do): - They are expensive. - They take a lot of work, if painted. - They are hard to carry to your friend's place, if that is where you are to play. - They are hard to carry to your friend's place unnoticed (this applies when linked with terrain). - They can be broken or knocked down by accident. - They suck if you want to run a monster you do not have mini for, or amount of monsters you don't have enough minis for. - Together with terrain, or the battle map, they do not work very well with open areas. Longbows have 600ft range, and if you have a ranger with sharpshooter feat and some encounter does not take place in a dungeon, they (rightfully so) will want to have the ability to make use of that range here and there. - Setting up the battle map, terrain and minis takes time, and you often need to do that during the game, slowing the game down. - The argument that the players know how a monster/character looks thanks to a mini does not hold up for me. They are small, and you won't have perfect minis for everything. A painting shown on screen is easy to see, big enough to present, and something you will never run short of with internet connection available. Also, you don't have to spend time saying "this is an adult red dragon mini, but he is in fact ancient, and twice the size". As soon as you have to do anything like that, how are minis better than a painting? Apart from the ability to be touched? If you use a virtual tabletop, even in a home game (with a TV for example), all of these negatives are negated. And there are ways of working around some of the issues I listed above other than a VTT on a TV. You can of course also just use the theatre of mind - no battle map representation - and that can surprisingly often work just fine. But VTT being used in a home session is another, surprisingly effective way. Please - don't take me wrong, minis are very cool and if that is a hobby you want to get into, cool, enjoy! But if you are not sure about the issues I listed out, think twice whether the mini approach is really the right approach for you.
Well...I'm gonna be dumping €76 on different bux sets so I can make the model I want for my character. The rest can be mixed for warhammer 40k, though I don't play drukhari...maybe iyanden??
Imo miniatures a pretty cheap hobby if you’re an adult with a steady income. Of course one could argue that’s because I don’t paint them quickly enough.
A negative possible argument is that many of the miniatures will need to be painted, which will take time., and some players are not as artistically skilled as some other players.
*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on using minis in your games. Do you use them or not? And why?
If you're interested in some new minis - check out Epic Encounters by Steam Forged Games. You can shop their minis here: amzn.to/3xjjSUc
Find each chapter of the video easily by clicking on the timestamps in the description above.
Can you make a suggestions guide on good ways to organize and store minis?
I like painting them, but as a theater of the mind DM, can't use them.
Wait, it's been five years since you left Africa. Wow... Time flys by.
I just use Lego (and compatible) minifigure. Since I already got a ton of those, I might as well ... Duplo ones are nice to represent giants, too.
Anything is great to use if your party enjoys it. I used wwe figures until I had an abundant amount of minis
I use Lego Minifigures as well! No painting required, and equipment can be adjusted easily. B-grade Minifigures can also be bought from the known Chinese vendors
I learned how to print my own. Bought a 3D printer back in October, and have since printed 22 Miniatures with it. It would have been more... but the first miniature I did was a 16 piece behemoth that I promised would be the first one that I printed.
The biggest positive is that it eliminates misunderstandings. “How did the ogre punch my Wizard? I thought my Wizard was way in the back out of melee.”
The biggest downside, aside from price, is that it stifles imagination. The DM is limited to what he or she has minis for. While the player is limited to what is on the map, which means for example that a player couldn’t ask the DM if there’s a table in the tavern he can flip over and use for cover.
What I've been doing lately is letting the *players* place most furniture to go along with their descriptions or intent. I just set down the essentials or the bare bones. Am considering letting them have "cover tokens" or somesuch.
Which is the main advantage of being proficient with virtual tabletops like Dungeon Fog, you can add in that tavern table or torches on the wall (fyi sconces) for player creativity
I couldn't agree more. It really does help with positioning, etc, but does stifle imagination. I try to keep maps very simple with only key objects to encourage players to think about what else might be present.
I also find that transport is an issue, or minis limiting GM's options because they are limited to what mini's they have. This is why I tend to use tokens. One token could represent any number of things so I'm not limited in what I can put on the table, and I can carry dozens of tokens in my pocket, saving plenty of space when moving from A to B.
@@paulosborne3253 I am experimenting with paper print out “minis” that I fold into a pyramid/triangle (two faces) so it stands up a little rather than flat. It’s easier to see across the table and you don’t have to hover over the map to see clearly. I may try cubes next. Either way, sizing a printing paper minis is inexpensive, easy to make, and fast to make before a session (assuming you have a good printer, heavier weight paper, glue stick, and cardboard/wood token blanks for anchors)
"Does it have a..." "Could I ..." questions in mid combat are way better than the AOE metagaming that miniatures bring to life...
You got some comunication issue going around? they only happen once or twice, people have this awesome tool called conversation, in wich they engage in some sort of arguing to understand what each person is talking about, a often, this leads to agreements and become more careful in how they speak to each other with some sort of magical mechanism we have inside our heads that allows learning hoe other people understand what we are speaking about and how to better put what we are trying to convay based in previous knowloge of other interactions.
"Is there a...", "Can I...." "Is he ...." is enough to get refferences. You only need to know what you want to interact with and that is the only referece you need. "I move 30 feet away from..., in direction to...." "Could I move to ... " "Am I able to reach .... if I ...."
Miniatures are cool, but the game becomes way too narrow. Could you still ask the same questions and do the same thing? Absolutly, but getting this visual feedback brings a lot of certainty and shuts down a lot of the questions, not only for the player, te table or the DM and brings out the most broken combos of terrain manipulation.
We all know how an "sure, why not?" moment usually becomes memorable. The more mechanical a digital-gaming you want your table, the more your strict to the rules and more strict you are with what was planned, and the thing about strict behaviour is that it can be predicted and manupulated with consistancy. The more theatre of the mind and roleplay/exploration focused you want your campaign, the more open you are to the sugestions and become curious to what it could lead and will have a blast doing it, no matter the consequences. Its a preference in the end, you just need to know if you want to be more like a book or like a videogame.
Other disadvantages are: 1) it can encourage 2D thinking unless you can build 3D terrain and balance the minis, use flying platforms etc. 2) it can encourage combat rather than alternative.resolutions because people want to use the minis for tactical battles. 3) it can limit where you play to the house where the minis live. 4) it can limit imagination, if it isn't visible on the map it isn't there. That said it really supports game mechanics involving distance and does all those other good things you discussed. Whatever works best for your group I guess but always bear in mind the disadvantages so you can counter them with good descriptions and encouragements to not be bound by what is on the table.
1, 2 & 4 are cop outs. I get 3, if you can’t transport them conveniently it’s a hassle. But for 1, no idea what that means. 2D thinking? What about minis disqualify you from using elevation tactically? For 2, that makes no sense. I’ve never heard of this happen. Imagine thinking that you shouldn’t do something fun because “what if you decide to do that instead of something else because it’s more fun”. Finally, for 4, I just make my own terrain. If it’s a barrel or something, you can always just draw a barrel on cardboard and cut it out
My players only really thought 3d after I made terrain. But I do feel that tactics gets a lot of help when you have something to represent enemies and players.
@@spacemanproletariat4279 He didn't say it prevented 3d thinking, just that is encourages 2d thinking. In my experience minis kill creativity. People don't think outside the box when they are out they focus on basic hit and move strategies. Sure you can overcome the inherent mindset limitations that minis encourage, but why bother when for many people and group they don't bring anything at all to the table. It is like roleplaying with an anchor on for many. It also tends to cause what I call the Final Fantasy effect. Suddenly you have stopped playing the game you were playing and zoomed into the combat screen where you are playing something more like a boardgame. It really depend on the players and the table though. I know players that struggle to understand if they don't have the visual representation on the table and players that can't imagine anything they don't see on the table if minis are used.
I started using minis in my game and it has turned into a full-blown hobby. I went from just getting the prepainted ones to painting them myself, and now i'm saving for a 3D printer to take it to the next level.
Painting minis specifically is really fun and even therapeutic. I'd recommend it. Even if you think you aren't gonna be any good at it, you're probably better than you think. I thought i'd suck but now all my friends want me to paint the minis they get online for them. You can do it too! c:
Some of my players and I are more visual learners, so mini are really helpful. A lot of times, even for minor scenes and exploring, I like to make a quick sketch of the area and put the minis out.
For example, if the party is doing downtime, I might draw a really basic map and include points of interest (like a politican office, their guild hall, a couple of major shops, etc) and have peopl put their minis where they want to be. It help remind players who's with who in these scenes, and cuts down on players wanting to be everywhere at once, since, well, they can see they are at the market when the conversation they wanted to interject into is at the Lord Ericson's estate
A negative is storage space. As a parent I can barely have space on my desk that isn't invaded by my children's stuff. I regularly have to purge old things to try and keep a semblence of hobby space.
Still planning to get into minis but have to install more shelving or purge some things.
I love printing and painting miniatures, and my collection of enemies is always growing. Not huge yet, but I print and paint things in the "order" I think I will need them. Which lets me accurately represent most enemies in my campaigns.
At the start of a campaign I always tell my players to describe how their character looks. We then together go through my library of minis to see if I have the right one to print, and if I do not go online (myminifactory, thingiverse, whatever) to find it. So every player always gets a mini that represents their character as closely as possible.
If they want to paint it themselves, great. If not, I ask them to give me directions such as colour scheme and I will paint it for them, asking for feedback and potential changes until they feel that the character is wholly and truly theirs. And after that, they own it. I give it to them forever.
It has resulted in all of my players getting a much much stronger connection to their characters, and the process to get there is a lot of fun. And because of the whole process it usually even results in them thinking about and developing their character way more than they would have done otherwise.
I inherited thousands of minis from my brother (plus some I acquired myself), and I love using them..
I have several tackle cases, boxes, and a trunk to hold them all, so they're stored nicely and organized.
We game at a friend's house, so I'll only bring enough minis for maybe a few planned encounters, a random encounter I rolled beforehand, and a few random people for crowds, fill ins, summons, etc.
I did get a hero forge mini for my character (one of my players wants to run a few sessions now! 😁), which has made everyone at the table invest in their own character minis. So proud, lol ..
I have collected miniatures for years starting with Heroquest and Dragonstrike. I like using miniatures for spatial awareness for myself and the players awareness especially new players.
Even as someone with a great imagination, I LOVE minis! They really do make the game more real, and my favourite minis to paint are my own PCs.
I am a miniature collector and painter only for RPGs. I use maps for my reference as a GM, and then instead of having a map, I have pieces of terrain (walls, dais, pillars, plastic trap pieces) that can be placed on a battlemat as the game progresses and the players find new things. I have spent a lot of money on terrain, but just to set the scene, even paper cutouts to represent pillars, walls, etc, can still set the scene for a miniature game. I agree with you on using miniatures on setting the scene for players.
I get my players to design their characters in heroforge so we all have a mental image of the characters but when we get back to playing in person I plan to use them, these & miniatures from other hobbies/games.
Yeah, same! Do NPCs there also.
Also you can print your heroforge minies pictures and hang them near the table as reminder 🤔
Since I got into the habit of drawing "modular" maps, I do prefer using minis. My biggest gripe, however, is either when I'm playing in another GM's game or running my session with my minis and I get the "Oi, that's not what your character looks like, that's a Space Marine and this is D&D!" line.
Minis are a stand-in, they aren't perfect representations of characters. I don't care what minis you use, as long as everyone knows the Hunter from the Bloodborne board game and the Fallout Brotherhood Paladin mini are kobolds and the Imperial Guardsmen from 40k are the party. I don't understand why there's this compulsion to have so many distinct minis, just use what you have. If your players usually play online D&D, but have a Kill Team setup, don't rag on them (unless they're cool with it) for bringing a Space Marine to be the party's rogue. I realise things like Heroforge exist, but it all costs money, and imo it's better to have usable minis than having near-perfect representations.
Also, if you want a cheaper way to get minis, the secret is board games. Drizzt, Ravenloft, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne come with a bunch. Might work out to be cheaper than buying standalone minis (definitely better than buying enough minis for a wargaming army).
If you aren't picky you can use any miniature figure in your game. I personally use a lot of the Minecraft blind box minis to as stand ins for random enemies or npcs. Doing this is a lot cheaper than some other miniature options.
Why stick to just one method if one can use all?
I use minis, I use little pictures from web printed on paper (cut in some shape and have it hanging on bent staples at the master screen if needed), I use little tokens which are sold for decoration ...
Anything goes. I even use toy figures from Kinder Surprise, change them with super glue and color.
I also build some miniatures myself.
I've been playing and running since the 80s. While I admire the craftsmanship that goes into minis and terrain pieces and can appreciate the artistry of it all, I have always been incredibly reluctant to use them. Whether as a player or a GM, I've found them to be a speed bump to play, even if just used to set the scene. Worse, when I've played where they've been used for combat, I find the combat becomes stunted, bogged down, and almost chess-like in approach. I have minis, but seldom pull them out for anything more than to admire their appearance. Sadly, I am finding more and more younger gamers struggle without minis, at least from what I've observed with the RPG clubs I've volunteered to run at my local library. The kids seem to have a blast, but it's a goddamned tedious, time drag, boring moment for me to run...so much so, I've begun to create situations where it's more appealing to avoid combats so I can avoid minis. I want to give them a fun and enjoyable game for everyone involved, which includes me the GM. Too each there own. If you love and use minis, keep at it! If you're like me, that's fine too! As long as everyone is having fun, we all win.
Used minis from my 1st PC back in the 80s thru now. I have a vivid imagination, yet using minis helps me stay aware of where everyone else is and what they're doing. Also helps me get into character for rp to have some visual representation of my character. Even when no one else at the table uses minis, I still prefer to bring mine along to "guard my dice" and help everyone visualize what my character looks like.
I used an old articulated ent figure from a LotR birthday cake recently and it intimidated the carp out of my players, it was fantastic.
Wow! I never thought I would see a "using minis" video here. One piont that wasn't touched on was that the maps and minis can actually help the players to imagine the scene. One of the players in my group self reports as "Not very creative or imaginative" and struggles to follow along with descriptions of places. The miniatures and maps (we use terrain) really help her to imagine what the setting is like. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
It has become a thing for me to create and print my characters, I normally use Heroforge, and it works quite well. (now in a starwars, and a Shadowrun campaign), I have even painted a few, had a paint day with my mates spent like 6 hours on 1 figure :D
I love having minis for major enemies just for the effect the reveal has on players but use digital tokens for mobs and npcs. Honestly the generic enemies just get in the way. For my players I have some legos or small toys they can borrow but they're on their own if they want something better.
Me, who plays digitally with friends across the country and on different continents: I mean I could use minis... But I don't think my players would get much from it since we use a VTT
As player and GM I like use minis (real or digital if we play online). It gives better action and story to everyone. For online I use custom character creation sites for NPC and ask players to make PCs too! And for real games I just use wood-carved cheap thingys to represent enemies and PCs. BUT I have custom painted mini of my first ever character and I love it a lot for memories etc.
I always preferred Miniatures / Tokens and a map over imagination. It just makes it so much easier instead of "ok where am i again?" every other round.
I use minis! When I moved to my new place, I got a full cabinet and display case that I keep them all in (sorted so that I can easily find what I'm looking for).
I would definitely subscribe to a channel that's just Guy doing dialogue as he creates stories with his minis. 😃
For minis I find art online, print it on standard size paper, cut out and paste to backing board. Players do the same. Then we colour in the remaining backing board as we like.
I'm a fan of mini's. Definitely help with strategy and tactics.
I'm lucky enough to have a good income, so about once a month I end up ordering a main NPC from Hero Forge color. Slowly the main characters in my world are coming to live.
With juggling my players schedules we tend to have a lot of space between sessions. Gives me time to edit the video and get it on CZcams. 😉
How do you not have more subscribers? I love your videos, man. The content material, knowledge of it, and especially your personality and speech are righteous! Kindly keep up the great work!
I have used Minis and maps since back in the 80’s. I am not a fan of theater of the mind, never have been. Theater of the mind I am always having to repeat things, always have to answer questions like “Is this person in my fireball range?” “Can I reach this person?” Can you describe the room again” - mean while, with a well set up map and minis, those questions just go away. I simply plan ahead and have everything ready as described in the video. Set decorations (some I make by hand, some I print, some I’ve bought, some are just toys), help the players so much in seeing “I’m 10’ away from the rope that holds up the chandelier - I can go cut that and drop it on the BBEG”. Theater of the mind works better for games like World of Darkness games, it was, in my opinion, never good for D&D
To me better than minature figurines would be just Simply those plastic paper holders that we can sometimes see in board games. because they use a piece of paper slided in the plastic bottom that just holds it tight. Thanks to that you can just print your player characters and NPCs as easy as printing your CV document. So if there will be need of player changing his PC, it can be done very simply, at little to no cost of working printer, and also still giving great information about We see how they look like and how big they are, just like Tokens but more in flat 3D dimension.
I don't think full map-style game boards are entirely necessary, but I think having some representation IRL of what everybody looks like with scale, and maybe something to set the scene, like a backdrop with some props and/or buildings, could do a lot. Maybe a map that the characters have, for instance, but nothing that would give more information than they need or would have ingame. Maybe a full map of a dungeon that is covered room by room, and is only revealed as you explore, like in the legend of Zelda.
My first token was a cork from a spent bottle of Wild Turkey from college,....actually don't know where it has gone now.
With at least the heroforge, going into the details and putting it on the figure gives me a nice REMINDER of why I'm playing my PC in the first place.
My Artificer is a toy maker first and foremost, so I have rubber ducks and bubble gum everywhere!!
I generally try to have the minis I intend to use prepped for that day hiding away in a box so that my players cant see em. Bigger minis might be sitting behind me, but I'll keep a decent slew of ones I'm not using with them so that my players won't know what they are facing.
I also think its a good idea to only bother doing full maps and such for encounters where the player actions might matter more. Talking to a king can be kept to just a king mini, a couple guards, and the player minis (informing the players there are more guards around, these are just the ones standing between you and King Theodore the Terrible).
I love using minis. And during the prep time before game as I am setting up, I organize my minis before the session begins.
I like to move back and forth on using theater of the mind, and gridded combat. Though, I have found that I like using tokens, instead of minies. I have the players draw and color meaningful images on each side of the base token (active and incapacitated), before I seal them in clear vynal. It's similar to your player panted minies, but with a little less overhead.
Minis can be an addiction, just ask any mini wargamer lol. But in all seriousness if money is an issue and you dont feel confident in your painting skills, Bones figures are always a great option and they are sold in many gaming stores. They cost around 5 dollars and are decently detailed with surprising variety in the line. They are perfect for practicing painting
I use all my old Warhammer Fantasy models etc. Comes in handy ♥️
I suggest using paper cutouts if you can't afford to buy a mini for every character you will need.
I currently own only few minis - one for my Warhammer mage (though it fits almost any fantasy mage) and few sci-fi soldiers from Infinity The Game starter pack (which I can use whenever I play something sci-fi oriented). My friends play a lot of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and/or 40k as well as Neuroshima Tactics, so all in all, we are already pretty well stocked with minis in most cases. Anything else we need? Paper cutouts. It's a great way to cut down the costs and still have a visual representation for those hordes of nameless goons and basic xp-fodder like bandits, kobolds, goblins, etc. While not as cool as painted 3D minis, you can also often find illustrations of monsters or characters that are way cooler than any mini would ever manage to be (stuff like really intricate patterns of scales or machinery like Michael Bay's Transformers).
You can also just quickly draw a stick figures with basic representation of gear they use (shield and sword, spear, bow, etc.), cut it out and make improvised 3D markers with only a pencil, sheet of paper and scissors.
3d printer, Heroclix modded with greebles and green stuff, ect to go cheap (after the initial investment in a printer).
Fun thing about using minis is that it can provide some great unexpected combat goodies.... Random scatter piece (desk, table, ect), if a PC is getting his/her butt kicked, that bit of cover might be just what they need to avoid getting hit :). You also don't need to map out and do minis for normal stuff. Just set up while the rest of the game is going on. You'll catch on to having a good flow going after a few sessions.
I personally love minis It really makes it much more fun and easier to imagine your game. It can get expensive but it doesn't have to.
I use Animal Adventures and have a couple boxes of their minis and a campaign book. My 13 year old loves it :D Minis and Terrain are great :D I set up all the minis and terrain needed for that day ahead of time . so i might have 3 map areas out on the table with terrain bits and bobs ready to go and all the npcs are hidden behind my screen ready to plop down when they get into a fight.
There is nothing like seeing your character come to life in a custom painted miniature 🤗
I'm just happy for yet another reason to kitbash characters for our party and help our GM to paint NPC's.
Minis in a box? I use to toss mine in the dice bag to make sure they made it to the game session.
We did mini campaign when we played D&D 4e. It really change the feel of the way we played D&D, it went from an adventure game to a combat game. Combat games are fun, we played mini games like Mordheim, but it is not what we are looking for when we want to play D&D.
Guy, you look great! I hope you're keeping well :) - great content as usual, can't wait for the GM book too! Cheers!
I do collect minis and thus have a few (a few hundred)...
The most important negative for me is that one can hardly find the exact mini you need... Yes, there are Heroforge, Eldrich Foundry etc. who make the situation much better.
My second point of importance is the "real visualization" you speak about. It comes at the cost of that imaginary Picture for the players. Just as a battle map or a sketch of the castle etc. using this stuff is a break of immersion. If that is wanted, as it would be in D&D combat, I can understand using the stuff. Personally, I do not want that break of immersion, I want players deep in their minds with their imagination soaring thus I use more story-oriented combat etc.
Frankly, I always thought it comes down to the type of GM you are and the game you play. The more tactical-board-game the better minis are, the more immersive and imaginary the less useful they are.
You have achieved however that I shall try using minis (which I have in abundance) again in my next game.
I have all my minis on glass shelves (ok not all of them, but the most common ones or the ones i need for the campaign) in another room, before the session starts i am taking a box with me and go “shopping” for what i may need this session. This box is beside me when we start playing. Problem solved. Takes no time to whip out a map and minis. Granted i never come to use all of them in that session, but they are always at hand.
I use pennies (soldiers) nickels (leaders) & electric panel punch outs (Huge foes) with numbers or letters on them to represent any foes. No hunting for special minis. I do have several mini giant races & dragons to use for scale with my players character minis.
Combined
I find that minis are the most enjoyable when you can make a character to fit the mini, or are lucky enough to find a mini that fits the character immediately.
Hi. Recent subscriber, dig the channel.
I like miniatures. The task of having them is daunting to me; storage, numbers and cost. It's a lot. But they're definitely cool and fun to have.
“NO I didn’t see you playing with your dolls again !!”
“Good !”
What's your thoughts on creating monsters that aren't a part of the monster manual and it's subsidiaries. I of course don't leave my players oblivious to the monsters attributes and do still use the standard monsters. I just want them to enjoy themselves as well but know they're getting bored of the standard affairs so far the only thing I used was a wall of carnivorous vines in a cave, I set up the scene with clues to the nature of the plants and they enjoyed the encounter I'm just having a bit of a creative block designing more new things for them to encounter. I know this is long sorry.
I think there is a site to get custom monsters or heroes made. I don't know much they are, as the company builds the minis from the ground up.
You could always get into kitbashing too.
Looks like Guy forgot he was recording at first and we saw what he does with his spare time :P
Another negative thing IMO is the time it takes to paint all the minis (in additional to the cost)
I came in contact with gridded combat on my first DnD game. Until then, all combat was managed with theatre of the mind. In my opinion, the more detailed the minis and the terrain, the more wargamy it gets, the more boring I perceive combat.
Guy looking pretty healthy these days, good on ya
I saw the title and immediately screamed 'HERESY!' XD
Minis ftw. But then, Ive been a wargamer for most of my life. Miniatures are a significant part of the hobby for me. ToM runs into major issues when things get too complex. Theres way too much to remember, generally. Additionally, communication is inexact. *I* might have everything nicely arranged in my head, but does everyone around the table have the same image theyre working with? Its bound to lead to confusion and mistakes ('oh, so hes not in range? Damn, will need to think of something else... oh, hes in cover? What about from Xs location?). Minis are just better for stuff like that. Or even just placeholders.
After going through the pandemic and having to do digital for the last two years. Couple weeks ago all my players came to the table for the first time in two years. We broke out all my minis and ran an amazing session. All I have to say is minis are necessary because playing online sucks.
I have always loved minis. I try not to use them all the time as I believe, changing things up helps keep thing exciting.
Actually I think the biggest danger with minis that you didn't mention is that it limits your encounters, which has the potential to severely hurt your game's story and gameplay alike by restricting the kinds of encounters the enemies the players can fight.
If you want to play on a grid, you don't need miniatures. WotC, and other companies, have sold you the lie that you need to buy their Official miniatures in order to play this way, but you can really just print out 2d tokens and use whatever monster you want.
Love the painting story!
I use 42 inch tv for live battle map 15mm fantasy miniatures. Only for the combat bits, otherwise the tv has a big map of the world. With sound effects in background, ie tavern or forest
Pawns (2D minis) and meeples are my go-to as a GM.
3d printing makes minitures a much cheaper prospect. there's a lot of places to get cheap mini's now thanks to 3d printing. Also getting the files to print your own is a lot easier than you think.
I just love using Lego (Lego compatible) Minifigures 😄It’s just so much fun creating the PCs minifigures and getting their reaction of said figures xD every pc always said „Holy shit the figure looks just like I imagined it“.
Hey Guy, Nice video as always. I have way too many minis (is that possible? ha ha ). I have two nice Feldherr cases for my standard minis but storing my large minis just rattle around a large box. Not good. I am searching for a really good case or set of cases for my large minis. Any thoughts? Thanks again for the video. I always enjoy them. take care. Ernie
Negatives? Storage space!!! These suckers are a huge space filler and that can be rough for many people. (Living in Japan… it’s an issue!) as a parent it also is a problem.
Great video !
Minis from Epic encounters are fine. But what you think about campaign in that box? (Chambers of the Serpent Folk)
As a mini painter, the answer is yes get them.
My dice come in a clear plastic box. They get transferred to a bag. Now I have a small plastic box, perfectly sized for the mini.
Tbh I just get miniatures because they're fun to paint
Minis help new players (or neuro atypical players) visualize the information they are experiencing as a player - that’s all the reason I need to include them
Not true for all of either category. I'm so thankful as a new player I joined a group that didn't use them. I would have fallen into the crutch of just looking at them and the map and not thinking outside the box or asking about other things.
(4:45) - Negative : In today's environment, where a majority of people are still told to sequester / stay home / keep distance / no large gatherings, etc, having an over the board game can be highly unlikely. Thus trying to play with mini's in an online world doesn't make much sense. (I really miss over the board games :( )
For me:
Pros: I get to paint them.
Cons: I can't do theater of the mind and need to prepare more.
Because it ends arguments over "where they were" when a trap or spell goes off. Next question.
A few more negatives... I think it takes away from your imagination doing our thing. It makes everything a bit more juvenile. It makes the game harder to get into. Game prep just got a lot more complicated and tedious as far as I'm concerned... I just love simplicity.
The only positive I see - the scale thing.
Though I did start playing more in corona times, so online dnd is my absolute favorite. I love making maps in dungeondraft and wonderdraft, finding interesting monster and character art... and it takes up zero space and costs nothing aside from the one time cost when you buy software. (I avoid subscriptions like the plague)
Several problems I have with miniatures in gamming:
( First a disclaimer. I have many painted miniatures and I enjoy that seperate hobby.)
Having said that the figures that are representing your characters will never match up. Even if you had a personally created figure to match your character, eventually that character will die.
So you come close. Now it comes to the monsters. I can only paint so many. If the party is faced by a mob of goblins, I will have to substitute the back ranks with zombies, orcs and peasants. So the effect is again lost.
*BIG IMPORTANT POINT* The last time I gamed with miniatures, one of the players took his figure (well painted I might add) from his side of the table and flipped it about five feet (150cm) to join in a combat.
As I said the last time...
I now use tokens Pachisi tokens are fine for monsters Monopoly pieces work for the characters. Combat positioning works fine and the wizard knows he's the top hat.
My biggest problems with miniatures (aside from cost), and the reason I have made my own tokens with symbols and numbers, are;
Having loads of miniatures to transport from A to B.
Not having the right miniatures and therefore being limited in what I can present to my players.
Playing systems that aren't fantasy based and therefore struggling to find suitable miniatures to represent non fantasy people and creatures.
I do find tokens alleviate all these problems though.
Financial stability over gaming... or as I like to say: Life before Game.
Because of life, I cannot afford Minis, nor the space for them. Solving this are Pawns, but i go a step further and go digital (host has a projector).
I dont play without minis. Its part of my hobby. Ive tried it without and I dont find it as immersive. Its hard to do strategy etc.
"You have to make a map"
Literally why I funded an AI-driven dungeon maker on Kickstarter.
Kinda wish I'd have paid for beta access since it's up now. >.>;
I use 1-3 inch punch outs with printed icons.
Why you should NOT be using minis (unless that is what you actually want to do):
- They are expensive.
- They take a lot of work, if painted.
- They are hard to carry to your friend's place, if that is where you are to play.
- They are hard to carry to your friend's place unnoticed (this applies when linked with terrain).
- They can be broken or knocked down by accident.
- They suck if you want to run a monster you do not have mini for, or amount of monsters you don't have enough minis for.
- Together with terrain, or the battle map, they do not work very well with open areas. Longbows have 600ft range, and if you have a ranger with sharpshooter feat and some encounter does not take place in a dungeon, they (rightfully so) will want to have the ability to make use of that range here and there.
- Setting up the battle map, terrain and minis takes time, and you often need to do that during the game, slowing the game down.
- The argument that the players know how a monster/character looks thanks to a mini does not hold up for me. They are small, and you won't have perfect minis for everything. A painting shown on screen is easy to see, big enough to present, and something you will never run short of with internet connection available. Also, you don't have to spend time saying "this is an adult red dragon mini, but he is in fact ancient, and twice the size". As soon as you have to do anything like that, how are minis better than a painting? Apart from the ability to be touched?
If you use a virtual tabletop, even in a home game (with a TV for example), all of these negatives are negated. And there are ways of working around some of the issues I listed above other than a VTT on a TV. You can of course also just use the theatre of mind - no battle map representation - and that can surprisingly often work just fine. But VTT being used in a home session is another, surprisingly effective way. Please - don't take me wrong, minis are very cool and if that is a hobby you want to get into, cool, enjoy! But if you are not sure about the issues I listed out, think twice whether the mini approach is really the right approach for you.
yes it is!
Well...I'm gonna be dumping €76 on different bux sets so I can make the model I want for my character. The rest can be mixed for warhammer 40k, though I don't play drukhari...maybe iyanden??
Imo miniatures a pretty cheap hobby if you’re an adult with a steady income. Of course one could argue that’s because I don’t paint them quickly enough.
Also. Counters flat on a map for your camera are better than minis
A negative possible argument is that many of the miniatures will need to be painted, which will take time., and some players are not as artistically skilled as some other players.
Apostrophes are not used to pluralize.
Not today bank account, not today.
No comment. As they say, "I ain't mad at ya".
How does someone become a sponsor 😀
Drop us an email or join our discord.gg/greatgm group and we can discuss.
Next: why you should NOT use apostrophes to indicate plurals.
Hey. Don't knock standees. Take a look at skinny minis from kickstarter
negative: you may restrict yourself to using monsters for which you have minis