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Minis twice the size

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
jim11735
Dec 22, 2011 11:26:58 Random thought, looking for feedback. What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis? I think that would create better toy / mini crossover.

You could modify the whole size categorization - Small as 1", Medium as 2", Large as 3", etc. - instead of just doubling each, though 8x8x8" Gargantuan minis sound really coo!

Aside from messin with the mini industry and tweaking collectors, my real concern would be gameplay at twice the scale. I think it works better old scool when parties of four jumped solo monsters in dark dungeons than 4e where I often convert a Standard monster to a group of Minions to keep the bad guy's numbers in the double digits.

As a kid, we played on a piece of cardboard with 1" lines about 1/4 the size of my chessex battlemat. When you ran away, you just left the immediate melee and it sort of didn't matter how many squares away you were anymore because the distance was measured in feet not 1"s.

Since WotC launched plastic minis, they were intended for skirmishing. If you pulled back on the skirmishing and filling battlemats for the sake of filling battlemats, I think minis designed for twice the size could lead to some pretty cool toys - that I think would help D&D and minis.
#2
bone_naga
Dec 22, 2011 12:03:00 Some of us happen to like skirmishing and filling battlemats. The current scale allows the game to be compatible with a wide variety of other games, including board games like heroquest, older D&D minis, warhammer, etc. And a small map works fine for a small area, like a dungeon room, but what about a battle outdoors? I don't want to have action figures scattered over my entire living room like I'm 10 years old again just to fight out an epic battle.
#3
AbdulAlhazred
Dec 22, 2011 13:22:35 I think cost is another consideration. You CAN actually get a pretty nice variety of larger scale figures (and non-humanoid monsters are really relatively sized so they don't have a 'scale' per-se). They just aren't cheap. Maybe WotC could make them cheaper, but they'd still be more than the existing 25mm minis.
#4
wrecan
Dec 23, 2011 7:34:16 My gaming table isn't big enough to handle epic tier fights if we doubled the size (technically octupling the volume!) of minis.
#5
pluisjen
Dec 23, 2011 7:41:53 I don't have that kind of storage space available. I'm happy the miniatures are small enough that they all fit in a small box. If you double the size they'll take up 8 times the space. I don't have 8 boxes
#6
Grand_Theft_Otto
Dec 23, 2011 11:39:32
Random thought, looking for feedback. What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis? I think that would create better toy / mini crossover.

It would be terrible from a business standpoint. 28mm is the standard. You dont grow your market by making it incompatible with everything else people own. Its like if suddenly people started making DVD's in a format with no real advantage, but required you to buy a new player and TV (that also couldnt play older movies or watch TV).

#7
Steely_Dan
Dec 23, 2011 12:06:44 The action figure/toy soldier part is what I most distance myself from in 4th Ed.
#8
Mirtek
Dec 23, 2011 19:09:45
What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis?

I would hate it and not buy any of these minis. It takes too much space on the table, it takes too much space to store such minis and they would be incompatible with other mini lines.
I once was excited when I heard that there would be WoW minis, my exitement died the moment they announced the scale of these minis and I have not bought a single package
#9
Aetharion
Dec 24, 2011 16:44:19 I wouldn't like it, and it would stop me from buying any new official miniatures. Several reasons why:

1) It is inconsistent with earlier miniatures expansions, and you would need to use only the one type or the other.
2) The battlemat I'm currently using is currently a tad too small for me to feel comfortable pitting the players against anything with move speed 10+. Paradoxically, the battlemat itself also takes up too much space on the table we're sitting at. We've learned to manage with the current size, and it's going well enough, so we don't need anything to screw it up.
3) It would be too costly for WotC to produce them. Remember that something that is doubled in three-dimensional size increases a lot more in mass.
4) Their current shoddy paint jobs are acceptable, but not at a larger scale.
5) It would break the border between "25-28 mm skirmishing/wargame miniatures" and plain collectable miniatures. The current size fits with other product lines, and I've been using eg. skeleton miniatures from Warhammer to make minions in D&D, since it's both cheaper and prettier than just buying 10 of the Lords of Madness Skeleton mini.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 jim11735 Dec 22, 2011 11:26:58	Random thought, looking for feedback. What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis? I think that would create better toy / mini crossover. You could modify the whole size categorization - Small as 1", Medium as 2", Large as 3", etc. - instead of just doubling each, though 8x8x8" Gargantuan minis sound really coo! Aside from messin with the mini industry and tweaking collectors, my real concern would be gameplay at twice the scale. I think it works better old scool when parties of four jumped solo monsters in dark dungeons than 4e where I often convert a Standard monster to a group of Minions to keep the bad guy's numbers in the double digits. As a kid, we played on a piece of cardboard with 1" lines about 1/4 the size of my chessex battlemat. When you ran away, you just left the immediate melee and it sort of didn't matter how many squares away you were anymore because the distance was measured in feet not 1"s. Since WotC launched plastic minis, they were intended for skirmishing. If you pulled back on the skirmishing and filling battlemats for the sake of filling battlemats, I think minis designed for twice the size could lead to some pretty cool toys - that I think would help D&D and minis.
#2 bone_naga Dec 22, 2011 12:03:00	Some of us happen to like skirmishing and filling battlemats. The current scale allows the game to be compatible with a wide variety of other games, including board games like heroquest, older D&D minis, warhammer, etc. And a small map works fine for a small area, like a dungeon room, but what about a battle outdoors? I don't want to have action figures scattered over my entire living room like I'm 10 years old again just to fight out an epic battle.
#3 AbdulAlhazred Dec 22, 2011 13:22:35	I think cost is another consideration. You CAN actually get a pretty nice variety of larger scale figures (and non-humanoid monsters are really relatively sized so they don't have a 'scale' per-se). They just aren't cheap. Maybe WotC could make them cheaper, but they'd still be more than the existing 25mm minis.
#4 wrecan Dec 23, 2011 7:34:16	My gaming table isn't big enough to handle epic tier fights if we doubled the size (technically octupling the volume!) of minis.
#5 pluisjen Dec 23, 2011 7:41:53	I don't have that kind of storage space available. I'm happy the miniatures are small enough that they all fit in a small box. If you double the size they'll take up 8 times the space. I don't have 8 boxes
#6 Grand_Theft_Otto Dec 23, 2011 11:39:32	Random thought, looking for feedback. What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis? I think that would create better toy / mini crossover. It would be terrible from a business standpoint. 28mm is the standard. You dont grow your market by making it incompatible with everything else people own. Its like if suddenly people started making DVD's in a format with no real advantage, but required you to buy a new player and TV (that also couldnt play older movies or watch TV).
#7 Steely_Dan Dec 23, 2011 12:06:44	The action figure/toy soldier part is what I most distance myself from in 4th Ed.
#8 Mirtek Dec 23, 2011 19:09:45	What if WotC doubled the scale of the minis? I would hate it and not buy any of these minis. It takes too much space on the table, it takes too much space to store such minis and they would be incompatible with other mini lines. I once was excited when I heard that there would be WoW minis, my exitement died the moment they announced the scale of these minis and I have not bought a single package
#9 Aetharion Dec 24, 2011 16:44:19	I wouldn't like it, and it would stop me from buying any new official miniatures. Several reasons why: 1) It is inconsistent with earlier miniatures expansions, and you would need to use only the one type or the other. 2) The battlemat I'm currently using is currently a tad too small for me to feel comfortable pitting the players against anything with move speed 10+. Paradoxically, the battlemat itself also takes up too much space on the table we're sitting at. We've learned to manage with the current size, and it's going well enough, so we don't need anything to screw it up. 3) It would be too costly for WotC to produce them. Remember that something that is doubled in three-dimensional size increases a lot more in mass. 4) Their current shoddy paint jobs are acceptable, but not at a larger scale. 5) It would break the border between "25-28 mm skirmishing/wargame miniatures" and plain collectable miniatures. The current size fits with other product lines, and I've been using eg. skeleton miniatures from Warhammer to make minions in D&D, since it's both cheaper and prettier than just buying 10 of the Lords of Madness Skeleton mini.