Thursday, February 23, 2012
What Is Wrong With WOTC?
How is it possible that WOTC continues to miss the boat on pre-painted minis?
Paizo has already issued their Heroes and Monsters set of pre-painted minis, and are providing periodic previews of their next set, Rise Of The Runelords, slated for an early summer 2012 release. You can find the previews of the next set of pre-painted Paizo minis at the Paizo website.
I've mentioned several times on this blog that I am not a Pathfinder player. I find Pathfinder too fiddly. But I appreciate the Pathfinder character art and the related miniatures. Here are four miniatures that will be coming out in the next set of pre-painted minis.
Are pre-painted miniatures so unprofitable, that WOTC can continue to abandon this source of revenue, not to mention the spin-off interest it generates in the related game system?
While we like to use minis that we paint ourselves, I find that the WOTC pre-painted minis were great for fillers. Don't have enough kobolds? grab a few plastic goblins!
ReplyDeleteI purchased most of my wotc minis used from game stores or on the cheap when they went on clearance.
I like the Paizo figs but I feel like they are just too expensive. Their troll is twenty bucks when you can buy a pre-painted plastic troll from reaper minis for five.
I like the Reaper pre-painted figs as well, although they don't have the breadth of the new Paizo line. Of course, I bought a case of Pathfinder figs, so my cost per mini was around $4. A tad steep perhaps, but i'm reasonably satisfied with the price/quality.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer non-proprietary character-based minis myself, but after what WotC passed-off as Warduke, Paizo would have to go waaaay out-of-their-way to screw these iconic character-based minis up.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with just how well they are capturing these characters in the pre-painted mini line.
ReplyDeleteResponding to the OP, I don't think WotC has turned their back on miniatures. If you get a chance check out the presentation for upcoming items from WotC.
ReplyDeleteThey'll be releasing a miniatures game (I think it's called Dungeon Command), so - if priced right - you RPG groups will be able to buy a nice quantity of miniatures (I think they're going to be prepainted, but I'm not sure).
They are also planning to get back into the random pre-painted minis as well. No ETA yet though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it's a a Canadian thing... but "I find Pathfinder too fiddly" is very close to how I describe it. I usually throw a few other modifiers in to emphasis just how fiddly I find it.
ReplyDeleteMy take is that this set, focusing as it does on a particular AP, is going to have more iconic PF characters and major NPCs in it than the average set, FWIW. Of course, maybe Paizo and Wizkids are playing around to discover whether a more general set like H&M or a more uniquely PF set like RotR sells better.
ReplyDeleteThat last figure's actually pretty effective. Good mix of elements, accessories, and his pose isn't too distracting, nor does it take up much space.
ReplyDeleteIt's terribly off-topic, but I've tagged you and your blog for a blog-chain I'm participating in. Fairly harmless, and it's quite alright if you choose not to participate. Below's just the run-down, and my part is, of course, on my blog.
The Rules Are:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4. Tag eleven bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!
6. Have fun!
Looking forward to your response, either way.
Cheers!