REVIEW: Reaper Bones - Kobolds

Ever since I first learned of them, I have been dying to pick up some of Reaper Miniatures Bones line of gaming miniatures. I really liked the concept of them. Low cost, good quality miniatures that you can populate a dungeon, army or whatever with while being kind to your wallet. So far, so good!

Above is Reaper's Promo for Bones

After placing my order with The Warstore I eagerly counted down the days to arrival. Neal from the Warstore advised me of a back order on the kobolds I ordered and this only made me more excited. These guys had to be awesome if an online retailer like him had stocking issues with the product!

Having ordered three blister packs of kobolds, my tiny little warband arrived after only a small delay. Eagerly I opened my package to review my newest additions to my collection.

QUALITY: I'm not sure if this is an issue due to the size of the model (small), or an issue with the Bones line in general, but I found the casting to be of slightly lesser quality than the metal miniatures Reaper produces. Don't get me wrong, I thought they were very nice! I just found it wasn't on par with the exceptional quality I would generally expect with their product. I would compare the casting of these models to the pre-painted collectible miniatures that Wiz Kids produces, but a bit better. In addition, there was no flash or mold lines on the figures. Some bending of weapons was required to straighten things out but it was definitely less work than you would spend with a regular plastic or metal miniature. 

PAINTING: These models painted up alright. Reaper advertises that a basecoat spray is not required, and I followed that advice. I did experience some issues with paint adhering, especially if I tried to thin it out at all. Reaper suggests using their Master Series Paints - a high quality acrylic. I used paints from Games Workshop's Citadel range, a range that I feel is comparable in quality to my experience. Next time I will definitely base the minis for ease of painting, but otherwise I was satisfied. As advertised, the paint did not chip after sufficiently drying. 

VALUE: At the time of writing, Reaper advertised these models at USD $3.49. I paid a little less through the Warstore. I feel that I got a great deal on this, even if I were to have paid full MSRP. These are indeed a great way to stock up on commonly used monsters or NPCs for a gamer like myself. I estimated that I spent about $0.50 a mini on this order, and that is great compared to the usual $2.00 I would spend per figure for similar premium models (Games Workshop, Reaper, etc). 

OVERALL: I would strongly recommend these miniatures, if you have need of larger quantities for goons, cannon fodder, meat bags and the like. Despite the small issues of quality I experienced with the casting I don't think that is sufficient reason to not use these models. I think I'll continue to use metal cast or high quality plastics for player characters or other personalities but these do the job for everything else. 

And just to note: I was not compensated in anyway for my review. My dollars were spent for my toys.

Thank you for reading!

Retro D&D Miniatures, Part Two

Welcome back! Today I'm going to wrap up my coverage of my classic Dungeons and Dragons miniatures that I began last week. You can read the first part here.

Starting off we have this cool human archer. It uses a classic archer's pose. You can see here how out of proportion some of these miniatures could be. Later on, of course, you'll see this transform into the "heroic" scale of today but it was necessary back then due to limitations on the production process.

Next up is one of the first figures I painted from the set, a human barbarian. I don't really know what's up with the skirt hiking pose, but I love this figure! He was easy and fun to paint up. I also experimented with a snowy base on this model for a bit of variety in my collection.

This was the first model from the set I painted up. I really like the classic bards from their run with Grenadier. My only regret is he's a little bit too Ronald McDonald. Still though, I'm pleased with the result!

I think this guy was listed as a "lantern-bearer" when I was researching these miniatures. Classic D&D more so than its modern counterparts made use of hirelings. So many things in current game settings are manageable by PCs through the use of magic or magic items that poor folks like this humble guy are being put out of work! One day I'll run a mini-campaign that's low fantasy so he can come out of retirement.

This is a human paladin produced by Grenadier. Once again, they continue their tradition of ill-fitting helmets and flowing hair. Another interesting theme in these early minis is the prevalence of Christian religious markings on the clerics and paladins of the era. With him as an exception, I've tried to paint the humans from this set in similar colors so that I could use them as a group in an encounter if I wanted to. In a Pathfinder campaign I'm currently running, one of the players uses him to represent his paladin. 

Here's another human archer. I like this guy for his hooded appearance. He's also blessed with actual boots instead of those dreadful shoes a bunch of the poor little guys are sculpted with. I think he makes a good ranger or bandit leader, lording it over the others with his boots!

This human rogue might be my favorite human from the set. He's much nicer in terms of proportion than the others. The trade off though is that he looks much smaller due to having more accurately sized anatomy. I went for greys and a snow base to help promote a sinister feel for this fellow. 

The only female I found in this set of figures was this human sorceress. I tried to do her justice but I don't think I could overcome her face sculpt, the poor thing. In keeping with the "retroness" of this minis I went with a color scheme to complement the time in which they were produced. 

Here is the last figure that I have completed at this time - a human wizard. He's definitely has the Gandalf vibe oozing off him. I chose deliberately different colors to help give him a bit of his own personality. Hopefully he won't feel too second banana after that.

Unfortunately, I never had the time to finish the other figures from the set before posting this. I promise to revisit this topic with an update once the last of the miniatures are completed. I hope you have enjoyed reading and thank you for your visit!

Retro D&D Miniatures, Part One

I don't know about you, reader, but I got the role-playing bug from my father who started with the original Dungeons and Dragons. As I child I enjoyed pouring over the books, modules, maps and especially the miniatures! Above all, they were what I loved about gaming and to this day they are still very important in how I enjoy my gaming sessions. To me, a game isn't complete without some sort of cool model to represent one's character. I enjoy making these representations for myself and for my friends who may be hobby impaired.

My wife knows of my love for gaming loot, and snagged a cool set of retro Grenadier minis from etsy a couple of years ago for my birthday. Further inspection of the set showed that the box, insert and miniatures are from mixed sets entirely! Even so, I greatly enjoyed receiving this gift and have had a swell time working on them to curate them into my collection. Without further ado here are some images of the completed models from this "set" for your viewing pleasure!

First up is the insert for the box. The insert itself is from the Dungeon Explorers set, and the box is from a wilderness themed set. The close ups below show the listing of the figures and a corresponding image to help identify the contents, like in a box of chocolates.

I really like the swagger of this dwarf rogue. I think his hat is awesome and his beard is stylin', tucked into his belt. He sees use in my current Pathfinder campaign as one of the PC's mini. 

The elf rogue shown here suffered from some storage issues. It may not come across clearly in the image since his face is partially obscured, but the poor guy got hit with "lead rot," the oxidation of the metal from poor storage. He now could double for the Phantom of the Opera! Cleaning up the figure and including a paint and seal job can preserve them in most cases, so here's hoping.

Next up is this pretty spiffy gnome fighter. I like this guy in particular as the miniature has a greater sense of action with his sword arm pointing forward. During the '70's and '80's production techniques for dynamically posed miniatures was still being experimented with so it was unusual to see anything like him.

Here's another gnome fighter from the set I received. You can see that he's posed a bit more stiffly than his counterpart. In addition, you can see many details between the two. Even today, it's common for a sculptor use the same base for several models - especially in multi-part kits such as what Citadel produce.

This monster is my favorite from the entire set, and I think he's very unique. Some research I conducted shows that he was boxed in a Grenadier set as a "Lesser Orc." It just shows that back in the early days of the industry there wasn't always much communication between the publishers and the companies. He was really fun to paint and I think he would make a great monster PC - some sort of goblinoid such as a hobgoblin or maybe an orc or half-orc?

I just came back from seeing The Hobbit when I started this halfling, and I think it shows in his costume. I'll shamelessly admit that I was inspired by Bilbo's wardrobe and accouterments when I painted up this little guy!

Next week I'll conclude with the rest of the set. I still have a handful that need to be painted so I hope a deadline serves as the proper motivation. Thank you for reading!

Greetings and welcome!

This blog will cover topics related to my interests in role-playing games, war gaming and collecting miniatures. My current goal is to provide an update at least once a week as my schedule permits.

I welcome feedback and if there is a particular topic you would like to see covered please let me know.

Thank you for reading and I hope you come back!