"How many people use paper minis?" Topic

Just looking at the news articles and saw there where three items in a row all advertising paper minis. I would say there are pretty regular news items for paper miniatures which would leave me to believe they are quite popular (other wise why bother making and selling them?)

Having said that I've never used them, know anyone who has or ever seen a game involving paper miniatures. So are there TMP members out there who use paper minis? If so why do you plump for paper over plastic,metal or resin?

Actually I love to see any pictures of a big battle war-game using paper miniatures just to see what it looks like.

Regards Jon

I have used Budget Battlefield minis for Space Marines.
Made several people angry for that.

Have used an awesome counter set by a TMPer (CPBELT?) for WarMaster.

Have also used them, on occasion, in RPGs.

I do not.

I don't know what inspired your question. Perhaps it is what I too have noticed. That being the number of adds and announcements on TMP of late for paper terrain and figures. There have been a lot of them.

I have not used the print and play stuff but some of the paper terrain looks interesting. In the past I avoided the paper stuff because of color printing issues with my printer. Now that I have a new printer I may revisit the idea of paper terrain but the 2D paper figures have not caught my attention.

Al

They got me into Napoleonics……

I've since moved on to lead……

I think they are fantastic. Why wait two years to get something painted when you can have stuff ready in a few hours? Much better than silver armies too!

Of course you replace them with regular miniatures at some point and now we have plastics in different scales too. The other great thing is that you can try different figure ratios, basing, armies, etc. all for much less than going through the traditional way of painting first for months or years.

I purchased the "Panzer Flats" minis and printed some out. I have also used paper buildings so far though.

The only paper I have used are the USBorne paper medieval village(that I bought in the early 90's)-I use them for my 15mm buildings.I've thought about the paper mini route,I even have Junior General book marked,but just have not found the inspiration to do so.

I do not. I can see their use for an intro into a period or for new folks. However, I cannot see any miniature gamer only ever using paper figs if they have the resources available to buy metal, resin or plastic ones (at least not to any great degree).

Thanks,

John

I have considered it, but just can't get into the idea. I like 3D and the feel of metal.

I don't use them very much these days. But a few years back I gamed almost entirely with Microtactix or Arion Games paper figures. Not together mind you, as the two styles of paper figures didn't mesh well with each other.
I had a huge collection of Games Workshop models at the time, but for some reason I really enjoyed gaming with the paper figures instead.
With the cost of printer ink these days verses the price of say a couple bags of Billy V 1/72 plastics at 40% from Hobby Lobby. Well its fair to say that paper figures are not always the cheapest option out there.
That said, I have had the urge recently to print out some of the wonderfully silly Squarn army from Microtactix once again. They are some of my favorite looking minis in any medium (paper, plastic, or metal).

I like to use card models for buildings, as well as some vehicles (1/300 ships, 28mm boats, 1/60 planes, some 28mm trucks). I have some terrain as well. I am building 20+ blocks of Chicago in cardstock for pulp and zombie games. I am starting on starships to use for 2HW's Star Navy rules.

I used cardstock figures when I did RPGs back in the 80s, but nowadays I only use those for solo gaming.

Like many others, I use some paper terrain, but never paper miniatures

I have a set for the Battle of Saratoga downloaded from the Junior General site. They're great for a quick game to test out rules or see if a period is the flavor you want, while keeping the expense down to nearly nothing. Someday I may explore the AWI more thoroughly with plastic or pewter, but for now paper satisfies my gaming itch.

I think, by the way, that paper is best suited to periods that feature definite rank and file formations, as opposed to warbands or "scrum" type melee. The rows of little flat soldiers work well in the era of musket volleys. But that's just my general feeling, not a hard rule. YMMV.

Never. If I had to do paper would just do a boardgame.

I can remember when plastic was considered the end of a golden era. No real wargamer would play with plastic, then I compared my Airfix Napoleonics with my 25mm Scruby Mexican War figures.

Obviously I like both paper figures, vehicles, and scenery, but I've got armies of painted plastic and metal on my shelves. I figure, play what you've got and blow cigar smoke at the scoffers.

No, I'm with Bashytubits, once you use paper that's a boardgame. In fact, I'd like to see paper terrain/minis as an option that I can turn off since I'm not a customer for those items.

What started me gaming in the 60's was a book (Charles Grant IIRC) that was illustrated with an ancients battle using German metal flats. I bought a bunch of Ochel prepainted flats and gamed with them for quite some time. I still like my flates and paper are not that much different but I much prefer metal flats or 3d figures of any material.

I use paper terrain, especially buildings, bridges and such.

Like Parzival said above, paper is good for ranks of troops. They are also great for role playing games. Highly portable from house to house and easy to modify for various player characters.

When OneMonk went free for a short time, I grabbed the Elfs and I have a small army of 28mm elf on my hometown. They are really neat.

Occasionally, both top down and profile, or I just draw counters. Usually when I'm trying something out.

I've used them to quickly start playing some new rules. Also, I've used paper minis for a travel edition of Guncrawl.

Buildings yes, figures no.

Regards,

J. P. Kelly

When I get into a game I will usually work on a "real" army for my self and then print up a paper army that I can use as an opponent if I'm playing with someone that doesn't have their own army. It is much quicker and cheaper than building two real armies.

I do not use them myself. However, members of my gaming group have used them for terrain and vehicles/planes. Not for figures…so far.

They are fantastic for RPG's -- I can't afford metal/resin/plastic figures for 350+ monsters! I have played AD&D for 33 years, but I have not used all of the original 350+ monsters in my games yet… Many of the monsters I have used, were one-time-use creatures. For these, paper figures are perfect: quick to make, no painting required, cheap to acquire. They work fantastic.

For my tabletop wargames, I very much prefer 3D figures, painted. I have, on a couple of occasions, used paper flats, but I prefer not to, as I don't like flats for mass wargames, and they don't store the best being easily damaged. (For RPG's, there are only a few, of each type, and they're often a single-use item…) Cheers!

What I would love to see are paper minis that have a front, back, and 2 sides – like the christmas tree paper decorations. That would really help with the presentation.

I've also considered using paper standees for civilians in some games. Maybe leaving opponents paper until spotted.

Minis? No.
Terrain? Yes.

Who made your Napoleonics, PzGeneral?

I have used the Billy Bones paper miniatures for ECW games at a large convention.

I have always used painted metal mini's up until recently when I came down with ms and found I could no longer paint figures, I could not afford to pay for armies anymore so a top-down unit allowed me to still play!

Of course being the font of all knowledge on Fold flat terrain I use paper all the time, hills and building all the time. Trees are 3D printed flats. Trouble is I have not found fully cut out 2D Trees. I would be tempted If I had access to them.
My 2D trees.

Minatures, well is complicated. Terrain type minatures, boats, space ships etc. I have used an occationally 2 1/2 D helicopters and my figures are almost top down flats in many cases but 3D printed. I certainly think if I went back to Ancients with troops in dressed in line I would use flats perhaps plastic as they are already cut out.

I would be tempted to 2D card flats for my 12mm modern infantry but I hate the white outlines and they are too small to do cut out sillowettes.

Back in the noughts, I made paper minis for a few games to get them to the table quickly and cheaply. But as I eventually accumulated a collection of metal, plastic, and resin miniatures, I abandoned them, and they've collected dust for fifteen years or so now. (There's no point in throwing them away as they take up so little space.)