WotC's D&D and Star Wars Miniatures Games

DMAC

So, I'm pretty much addicted to the pre-painted miniatures for D&D and Star Wars. I picked up a couple of packs of Harbinger, the first D&D set, just to see what they were like and ended up getting that collector's obsession and have bought dozens of packs of every set since. There's something about the collecting/random aspect of them that totally sucked me in.

I've used the D&D minis for roleplaying but haven't played the skirmish game. Conversely, I've played a few games of the Star Wars skirmish rules, but haven't had a chance to use them for roleplaying yet.

The latest Star Wars set, Bounty Hunters, just came out last week. I've "only" bought 3 packs so far but pay day is tomorrow...

There's a demo showing how the SW Miniatures rules work here:
http://mi.wizards.com/swminis/demo/SW_MinisDemo.html

I also came across this:

http://www.vassalengine.org/community/index.php?option=com_vassal_modules&task=display&module_id=126

I haven't had a chance to mess with it yet, but it appears to allow for online play of the skirmish game which could be fun.

Wikipedia entry for Star Wars Miniatures

Wikipedia entry for D&D Miniatures

Athenor

I'm interested in this only passively. I've always been a Wizkids whore, thanks to my love of FASA and Fanpro.. but that has started to wane thanks to a lack of players and money.

On the other hand, I love how WotC designed their elements to work with d20's rules, and have thus greatly increased the possibilities available to them. And what's more, the bigger stuff just looks fucking cool. I'd love to own the red dragon sculpt... and then to think that the unit is in proper scale? Oh mama.

DMAC

The "huge minis" for both Star Wars and D&D have been very cool. I have a huge Crab Droid, a Basilisk Droid, and a Snowspeeder from the Bounty Hunters set so far and they look great.

I've heard of people setting up huge convention games recreating the Battle of Hoth now that there are snowspeeders/AT-ATs/AT-STs available.

DMAC

WotC has finally posted more info on the Starship Battles game, including the basic rules for anyone who's interested:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/starshipbattles

Rankenphile

I like them for playing regular D&D, but wish I could buy individual units without having to buy packs or resort to ebay.

DMAC

My local comic/game store has a good selection of singles for both games. It's nice to be able to pick up more of a particular mini when you get tired of buying packs.

syndalis

Some day soon, I'll post pics of my D&D minis collection.

I probably have 2000-3000 of em.

Cymoro

I was just watching a Star Wars miniature game today, and it looked pretty awesome. Three people were playing, two empire, one separatist. One of the empire players had about 12 stormtroopers out on the field, and the other empire guy's sith lords and the drones were having an all out war.

Well, the stormtroopers sat back the whole time, and when the other two guys were down to small numbers, they got bumrushed by the stormtroopers. I now need to get in on this action.

Morskittar

DMAC wrote:

WotC has finally posted more info on the Starship Battles game, including the basic rules for anyone who's interested:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/starshipbattles

Oh shits.

I've got a few SW and D&D minis lying around from the first few sets of each... but the space combat game might get me back in. As long as the first set has B-wings.

DMAC

It's supposed to be a 60 figure set so there's a good chance we'll see the most common Rebel ships (X-Wing, A-Wing, Y-Wing, B-Wing).

The rules look pretty good. Simple enough to pick up and play but with enough complexity to make it rewarding to adjust your fleets/strategies.

Der Waffle Mous

oh shit. Space combat?


I needs this.

DMAC

The gallery for the new D&D set, Blood War, is up on the WotC site now:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mg/bw

Tanis Half-Elven shows up as a "Free League Ranger"


Bluespawn Stormlizard


Large Water Elemental


Owlbear Rager




There's also a new Starship Battles preview with the A-Wing and the Millennium Falcon:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/SBPreview3

Echo

If that's the quality of the finished stuff and not studio jobs, I'm pretty damn impressed. Things have come a long way since I tried Mage Knight when it was released.

DMAC

Yeah, there's nothing there that looks "staged" to me compared to pieces from recent sets. You still get the occasional crap paint job but they've gotten better and better with each release. The clear plastic minis they're doing now are very cool.

Rankenphile

I've boughten a shitload of these off of ebay to use for my D&D games, and they're definately getting better. Some of the first sets were pretty laughable, but the more recent ones turned out very good. The paint job on my Hill Giant barbarian is pretty rad.

Although I did end up having to repaint my Flameskull. Seriously, it looked like black and green bullshit.

DMAC

Looks like the Starship Battles game is in stores tomorrow (Friday, November 24). It's pretty pricey but I think I'll at least pick up some single ships for use as visual aids in the RPG.

DeVryGuy

I have a few minis, but I'm a lazy DM who just uses any appropriately sized mini for the monster my players of fighting. They are badass, but I dont have the bankroll to purchase them.

These were practically made to store and transport minis though

DMAC

I'm finally getting to use my minis in the game I'm playing in. I've put together a bag of thugs, a bag of undead, a bag of dungeon creatures, etc. so that the DM doesn't have to spoil the adventure by asking me what to bring. As a visual person, it totally throws me off when we don't use miniatures for combat.

Librarian's ghost

Did anyone else notice that the website for the starship game lists it coming out in November 06? So is this out already? only 6 more days till December.

DJ Eebs

I've got a few Star Wars and slightly more D&D minis. Never played the D&D game.

DMAC

timspork's ghost wrote:

Did anyone else notice that the website for the starship game lists it coming out in November 06? So is this out already? only 6 more days till December.

As I said, I was told at my local game store that it would be available today (Nov. 24) and WotC usually insists on a synchronized release of its games in North America.

Librarian's ghost

So I got the Starship starter set that comes with the Super Star Destroyer and the Mon Cal ship. It's worth it just for the SSD model, very nice. However I'm having a little bit of trouble wrapping my head around the rules which is weird because I understand WH40k rules fine. I know wtf eh?

Anyway I'm curious what "random" ships everyone else gets. I got an X-wing, A-wing, Tie Fighter, Jedi Fighter, Vulture Droid, Scarab Droid, Sith Infiltrator, and Rebel Transport.

Athenor

This looked like the first thread on this.

I saw the SW starter and packs in Target today.

The starter was $40, and the packs were $20.

Seriously, WTF? That's -INSANE-.

I mean.. er.. is it worth it? It looked like an excellent Executor model, albeit a bit fatter than I'm usually used to..


But the MonCal "Star Defender?" I've never heard of that model before.

And do the boosters possibly come with ships that big?

Exar Kun

Athenor wrote:

This looked like the first thread on this.

I saw the SW starter and packs in Target today.

The starter was $40, and the packs were $20.

Seriously, WTF? That's -INSANE-.

I mean.. er.. is it worth it? It looked like an excellent Executor model, albeit a bit fatter than I'm usually used to..


But the MonCal "Star Defender?" I've never heard of that model before.

And do the boosters possibly come with ships that big?

That is the starship battles game, and is much more expensive than the regular minis game.

I have been playing the SWM game since it came out, and I really enjoy it.

Good pacing, fairly balanced pieces.[/i]

syndalis

All of those drawers are full, and sorted by creature category (good outsider, human, aberration, etc.)


A very small sampling of the larger minis I have. A restaging of one of the crazier battles I have ever run.

Athenor

Damn, Syndalis. I wish I didn't have my other addictions, so I could invest that heavily. =P

Alright, I can't stop thinking about the SW space battles game.. I am such a sucker for space combat.

Where can I find more info, especially in regards to if it is worth it or not?

DMAC

There's finally a full gallery of the ships for the Starship Battles game here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sbgallery

I haven't sprung for a starter set yet, but I have been buying the individual ships as singles from my local comic/game shop to use in the RPG. The starter is expensive because it comes with the two huge ships, but the boosters aren't any more expensive than the SW/D&D boosters with huge figures and the capital ships are about the same size. Maybe with Christmas money.

Athenor

They look really detailed, at least with the larger ships. I would need to have players, though, because I've already got all these in titanium form, and these models look to be just those in plastic. =P