Kickstarter: Bones II miniatures by Reaper

Hubs (AC) and I jumped on the crazy bandwagon of Bones this time when they launched their second kickstarter – it was more monsters than humanoid figures, to complement their Bones I campaign.

We’re getting (miniature) truckloads of minis, and I CANNOT WAIT. I was so excited I had already begun researching about painting on Bones material and getting inspiration for colour palettes even before the campaign ended.

There are a couple of outstanding pieces, and one of the mega highlights – and I mean MEGA – is the huge diorama of a incensed dragon and greedy adventurers on ruins. Let the pictures speak for themselves:

Before the campaign ended I was telling AC how incredulous it is that there wasn’t a wicked spider sculpt included in either campaign. Well, that conversation was cut short when we woke up and the campaign had ended and in the 4 hours after we had gone to bed they had added Cardirith the spider as an add-on purchase!!

I AM SO STOKED about this. In any case, the campaign is over and we will get the minis next year – right now Reaper is asking all backers to confirm their pledges (they are allowing us to increase our pledges by paying through PayPal), which is a smart move. I myself have added 88 USD to my pledge. Can’t imagine how much the other 14,000+ backers will add.

In the meantime, I have my Bones townsfolk to paint (thanks LC!)! They are prepped and I’ll put up an article on my experience painting them.

Why I went into miniature painting

Why did you go into miniature painting?
I loved roleplaying ever since I was introduced to it (was intimidated for my first game but that went away fast), and miniatures (especially painted ones) bring a spark to the game I feel makes the imagination grow even more.

Numenera, land of craziness born from your imagination’s offspring.

But miniatures are so expensive! How did you take the plunge?
I would say, wait for a sale. Seriously. This hobby is expensive, and I finally catapulted myself into it (that’s how it felt like) when there was a Paradigm Infinitum warehouse sale and tonnes of miniatures and paints (and more) were going for 30% off.

I finally got my hands on some miniatures I really wanted (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Flagellants) and bought a hobby starter set and some ruins as well.

Wait, Paradi- what?
If you live in Singapore and you love to boardgame/roleplay/tabletop wargame, Paradigm Infinitum (PI for short) is The place to go. It’s a great place to check stuff out, and the awesome helpful staff are always ready to help. The other reason you need to know this, especially if you are going into miniature painting, is that they are basically one of the few shops that sells miniature hobby craft paint such as Citadel, Vallejo, Army Colour and related stuff (i.e. primers, textures, epoxy).

That said, my husband went to Funan The Digilife Mall (I still call it Funan The IT Mall) recently and saw a new games store called Battle Bunker (on 19 Nov 2013) that sold tonnes of warhammer stuff, INCLUDING Citadel paints!

So? Can’t I use acrylic paints from art/craft stores? Aren’t they cheaper?
Sure you can! Acrylic craft paints such as Folk Art and Apple Barrel ($3 for 59 ml) ARE cheaper. Citadel/Vallejo game colour bottles also contain less paint ($6 SGD for 12-17 ml). But I started with a Citadel starter kit and I’ve used Folk Art for bigger projects, and I find paints developed for miniatures really are finer, and better for painting miniatures!

But I’ve never painted, and it’s so expensive! What if it doesn’t turn out the way I want?
I wasn’t sure either, but as I went more into learning how to paint, I discovered that painting is REALLY therapeutic. Get a good light source, good chair (so you avoid hunching), paints brushes, palette and miniatures and you are ready to go! The best part? It’s your mini! You decide the colour scheme and if you don’t like how it turns out, you can strip it of its paint job and try again!

What colour code were we using for the dungeon party again?

Ok..but, but!
Enough buts! Something that also really helped me get into it was the enthusiasm, encouragement and support from my friends and family. LC taught me to paint (I tried briefly and it was horrible, then he taught me about layers), my husband gave me a whole bunch of miniatures from Descent to paint without any pressure (I could paint whatever I wanted – yay!), and of course, saving enough money to buy miniatures I really wanted? That’s da bomb!

What’s there left to say, except GO AND TRY IT OUT (:

Bones townsfolk (miniatures)

I HAVE A BUNCH OF TOWNSFOLK YAYYY – which LC generously gave to me! TOO AWESOME.

Here’s some of them:

When the liquid material is cast into a mould to make the miniature, some of that liquid can seep in between the mould, creating a flash line.

You can see that the flash lines on one of the miniatures (holding the pitchfork) are HUGE. The rest have very small flash lines. These lines (even the small ones!) need to be removed before painting, otherwise the paint will accentuate the lines and make them look less realistic.

While my xacto knife here can cut it quite cleanly; I needed really good lighting in order to cut it as close as possible to the figure and not into it instead, since Bones miniatures are flexible and soft.

I’m going to use these guys for roleplaying, so I’ll update when I’m painting them! Follow me on Twitter at @gamermins to see my #miniaturemonday updates, where I post photos of miniatures I’ve painted. One every week!

Update: Battle Systems kickstarter (terrain)

Aaaaaand BATTLE SYSTEMS JUST GOT FUNDED!!! (a few seconds ago!)

Bonus for all you still deliberating, they did mention they will try to hold their packages open (complete with free stretch goals) for a while after their kickstarter ends for the benefit of those who haven’t got paid and can’t afford it while the campaign is running. But move quick, because IT IS A TONNE OF STUFF and because it won’t hold forever! So keep yourself updated with them.