Ersatz Doomchildren minis + thinking about pre-painted minis

Not by design, but these guys are going to make some awesome, awesome Doomchildren (from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons). Basically, the fetishes from Diablo 2. Knife-wielding demons. (The blowgunning types are more like Horde Pygmies from DFM1).




Sure, DF2 doesn't say doomchildren are smiling and green. But it doesn't say they aren't . . .

I need bunches of these. Which is good, because people will probably be selling them off in lots on eBay when they end up with too many.

I'm glad to see more plastic minis coming around. I love, love, love metal minis. I love to collect them and paint them. But they don't travel so well, I don't have as much time to paint, and mini for mini they cost more. So pre-painted plastic is really handy if I can get minis in bunches for fodder types. Do I need a "character" mini? No, I have them. I need goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, rats, spiders, demons, etc. in bunches. Bunches of bunches, if possible. I can only hope Reaper does more varieties of its line.

I'm not a big fan of booster packs and random minis, though. I understand it - just off the top of my head, random means less SKUs to stock, vastly less risk for the store since any given pack could sell, collectors need to over-buy to get all the stuff they want, creates a big secondary market (which causes potential buyers to spread their risk by buy packs and then selling the bits they don't need, which means more sales*), and encourages that "one more pack" gambling instinct.

I totally get it.

I'm more firmly in the secondary market . . . although the Pathfinder guys look so good that I might pick up a block of boosters or two if I can get them for a reasonable per-mini price. I'd have more of the D&D minis if I could find an FLGS that was selling them without an eye to "price reflects rarity and game power." Not to me it doesn't. I couldn't care if it's common or rare, it's what it could represent in my GURPS game, and how much is too much for that.

Still, I like the pre-painteds. My players are unlikely to break them, travel is unlikely to break them (I don't game at home anymore), and they are done out of the box. Although I do usually add distinguishing touches, re-paint, and touch them up, it's a job of minutes not hours.


Wow, that went far afield from my point - which was, I love the look of those goblins and they'll make great ersatz doomchildren. Heheheh.



* I did this myself, when I needed the boars from some Savage Orc Boar Boyz. I bought the box on eBay, used the boars, sold the orcs to recoup most of the cost. The guy who bought the orcs needed the orcs for biker variants, but not the boars, and my auction cost him less than buying as bitz. We all got a good deal, and in the end GW sold an extra box of minis they wouldn't have sold otherwise if we couldn't spread the pain.