"Buying Minis: By Genre or Game?" Topic

You were asked – TMP link

When buying minis, do you look for them by genre or by game? Yeah, I know, size, scale, style, phase of the moon under which they were cast… and so on. This question assumes you have other criteria, but wants to know which of these you use. Do you look for a specific game, or look for figures based on a genre?

85% said "by genre"
5% said "by game"

I buy what figures are good for AWI in general. No game worth playing penalizes me for having Volunteers of Ireland vs deLancey.

There aren't any AWI figures made for a particular ruleset, are there?

Some manufacturers favored particular rules sets. Black Powder was written and promoted by the Perrys.
But that's about it.
The Perrys are a famous example of "Hey! We want to play Camden soon, but nobody makes Volunteers of Ireland!"
"Hold my beer…"

Only 10% just buy whatever figures catch their eye?

The data might be skewed.

~,~

By specific game do you mean "Warhammer" or by specific game do you mean the battle of Gettysburg, using whatever rules I happen to fancy?

EC I was asking someone to explain what was meant by "game" and "genre" while the poll was running and never got a response. Evidently quite a number of people think they know, but I wonder whether they're all using the same definitions.

I'm actually surprised at the 85%.

When I look at listings for sale (which is not the same as asking how do you make your purchase decision) here and elsewhere, a little more than half list a game or manufacturer without a scale, milieu/genre, and force.

Now, I don't know nothing about games that I don't own. If I see Bolt Action Brits, I'm pretty sure they're WWII British infantry. I can never remember whether Bolt Action is 15mm or 25/28mm, so I just skip the listing.

Do the Perry Brothers do more than Napoleonic Wars figures?

I buy a lot (by my reckoning) from Splintered Light and Old Glory. Enough to know they make multiple scales or "German" could be a lot of different eras and forces.

Listing a game and manufacture is not bad. In fact it's good info to have. But it's not enough. I really don't want to click seven links and conduct three web searches to figure out what is for sale.

MiniMo, the other 90% of us invent some way to include the eye-catching figures in some sort of overall scheme, so it doesn't count. Mind you, frequently it's along the lines of "these figures will be part of the pulp army I haven't started building yet."

I guess I'm in the 10%

I usually make a purchase by genre, but every once in a while I see something and think that figure(s) are so nice I will find a ruleset to go with them.

By last book, movie or tv program.

+1 Bashytubits