"Dumb Concept, Great Minis?" Topic

Did you ever get into a new miniature game where you thought the background or rules were unexciting, but the figures/models were enticing?

No. I have certainly bought miniatures that I liked without any thought about the game for which they were made, but that's never gotten me interested in the game.

Infinity, though to be fair it's a good game that just doesn't click with me.

But fantastic minis.

Star Wars Legion. Crap rules. Live the minis.

Most everything Firelock makes is gooooorgeous, but the Blood and Plunder rules aren't the sort of thing at which you can become proficient easily. I've played a few practice and con games but I've never managed the sense I really understood what I was doing.

A local gaming club was going to start a Quartermaster moderated game cycle at one of our FLGS's. Our start date was to have been Feb 2020.

Bang went that plan.

Dystopian Wars.

As above, I have bought minis with no regard for the game. Being cheap, I usually buy them after a game has tanked. Sometimes that means I get a starter set with the rules in it. I don't remember the last time I made it through the reuls before I gave up on them.

I assume all my GW purchases fall in this category. I do still play the original Space Hulk.

As above …. I wouldn't say the games I didn't play were dumb comcepts, just not ones I wanted to play.

Sure – never let odd rules get in the way of painting a cool mini

Star Wars Legion. Crap rules. Live the minis.

Yup. Hate games where makers, gizmos, and do-dads pile up around and overwhelm the minis on the table. Wrote my own rules, have had a blast (no pun intended) with utter simplicity.

Rogue Trader / 40k.

It has never been a great rules-set, and the background has always been a confused and contradictory hodge-podge of different sources.

But with the right people, it is still fun.

I'm currently on the cusp of this issue with Silver Bayonet. The figs are beautiful, but the premise is more than a little too contrived to really engage me.

If "get into" implies actually playing the game, then no.

I have bought figures meant for games I don't like, but with the intent of using them with other rules.

the background has always been a confused and contradictory hodge-podge of different sources.

I've always liked the 40K background. Even though I do not play the 40K game, I do play the setting.

The fact that it is confusing, inconsistent, and poorly correlated makes it, for me, a very realistic background. It's more like history than many profiessional (military) wargame backgrounds.

If you're not asking "writeen when?" and "by whom?" about history, it's not history. I try to achieve some of that in my scenario writing, but I could never match the sheer volume of 40K fluff.

Mage Knight and Hero/Horror Clix: never played any of the rules sets, but I loved, and mined, the figures. I did the same with WotC's ChainMail(?) game: the pre-painted, collectible mini's were fantastic, but I never tried the rules. They, too, went OOP (the mini's).

For a while, you could mine e-Bay for great deals on fantasy mini's suitable for D&D RPG play, as well as other fantasy mini's games (2e BattleSystem, for me). I miss the MK figures that got dumped on e-Bay for cheap prices; the D&D collectible mini's were never as low in price as the MK stuff, but there were still plenty of deals to be had, until they were mostly bought up by gamers, like me. I built up a few armies using OOP mini's from 'dead' games, where the former players were dumping them on e-Bay to recover some of their investment.

I also have mined Paizo's Pathfinder mini's for my 2e AD&D games, as well as my 2e BattleSystem games (my fantasy mini's pull double duty, serving in both games). Inexpensive pre-painted mini's are a wonderful thing to dig into, if they are useful to you. I've modified some Hero Clix for use in my fantasy games, as well, mostly with a new paint job to change their race. I will harvest any useful pose of figure if the size and sculpt are right, for my needs -- paint covers a multitude of improper genre issues. Cheers!

+1 to Wargamer Blue: Dystopian Wars. The ships were gorgeous, (I still have an old FSA US Fleet that I never played). The rules sucked horribly, and the new stuff out there by the new makers just make me say "eh."

The second one was All Quiet On The Martian Front". Loved the figures, (except for the stupid HO 18mm scale which they should have gone with 15mm), but the rules were awful.

MAge Knight Dungeons were/are great rules! We transferred those to all the 'Clix games we played and it was great. The stat dial for the various 'Clix allows lots of variation in combat effects without inordinately complex rules.

You should give the rules a read and maybe play a few scenarios.

I re-based all of my Clix figures, throwing the Clix bases out. The concept of picking up a mini to alter its base settings, turns me off: with the figure being picked up every time something happens with it, I fear a lot of fudging would be going on with the players (including me!) adjusting their positions on the table… I am accustomed to the bases, distance moved, etc., being critical in the game: can the charging unit make contact with the enemy, or will they stop just short, blowing themselves by not making the last inch?

The Clix concept just never appealed to me. It appealed to my three sons, though. They played it for a couple of years. Then they donated their figures to me for my fantasy games, so they still get to play with them in my AD&D and BattleSystem games (minus the Clix bases). Cheers!

HeroClix and MK Dungeons (HooroClix and HaloClix) are played on a grid, so fudging is not a problem. No different than any other minis game played on a grid.

The system lost me when they moved info off the dials on to cards. It basically became like a game where you have to buy all the army books to know what has possible in the game. Meh.

No it is the other way around with me. I have to be interested in the period or the conflict first, then I go looking for figures. I am not one to start a project based on the figures alone. Just because the Perry's comes out with a new figure line doesn't mean I am going to respond to the dog whistle. Can you say Cartelist Wars or FPW. I was playing FPW before it was cool. How about that fan boys.

Murphy; Which edition of the older rules? 2.5 the last set is a pretty good system, I feel.
But yes, the minis from Spartan were indeed amazing, and the early rules weren't that great. I am restricted by several binding obligations to comment on Warcradles' version of either.

Dystopian wars
warmachine battles
Flames of war great minis iffy rules allowing unrealistic

"Rogue Trader / 40k"

How dare you Sir! I say, how dare you!

Dystopian Wars & Legions. I thought the premise was weak but the ships/figures were neat. I was able to pick up multiples of most everything in both ranges cheaply when the company folded. Dystopian Legions figures can be used as "Space 1889" type Victorian SF.

I never cared for the warhammer background. Then they blew it up and the replacement was worse.