Reaper Miniatures has just released a new line of polymer miniatures, Dark Heaven Bones, that is billed as having today's quality at yesterday's prices. While I can't vouch for the quality, the pictures look pretty good, and the prices are, indeed, a throwback to the 1980's. For example, a pack of six kobolds for $3.49, and a large Purple Worm for $2.99 (the same miniature in metal costs $27.49) . This line only has 12 products at present, but I'm sure they'll be adding more shortly. I'm not a fan of resin miniatures; I prefer the heft of metal,. But at these prices I may just have to re-evaluate my prejudices. I've long wanted that Purple Worm miniature, but have never been able to justify the price.
Reaper appears to have gone in the opposite direction from GW who have switched all of their metal miniatures to resin, then raised their prices despite the cheaper casting material.
You can check out this short promotional video for Reaper Bones:
While I like the idea, I am too big a fan of metal minis to switch to plastic.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Matt. I love metal too, and I would hate to see it disappear as a casting medium. Citadel no longer casts in metal at all; their miniatures are now plastic and resin only.
ReplyDeleteBut, damn. I haven't seen prices like these since I was a kid. It is awfully tempting to try. I suspect I will order that Purple Worm.
Just in case you ordered that purple worm and liked it, you should check out the fire giants on the new Bones Kickstarter.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min?ref=home_location
@Shannon: I've actually been thinking about supporting this Kickstarter; you get an impressive quantity of miniatures at the $15 level.
ReplyDeleteOld thread, but because of the cost of making plastic injection molds ($10K+), only models which will have large runs can economically be made in plastic. Reaper even said that, if it wasn't for KickStarter, they wouldn't have the funds to risk starting a Bones line. Although metal is more expensive than plastic, the initial cost of the mold is *much* less, so miniatures with small runs (especially specialized miniatures) will still be made.
ReplyDeleteActually, Reaper launched their Bones line long before they launched a Kickstarter. Their Kickstarter was intended to grow the line more quickly than they would otherwise have been able to.
ReplyDelete