The Problem with Plastics

What's wrong with plastic miniatures?

This, for a start.

Reaper Bones - because money.

This is after several goes with the hair dryer to try and straighten the bend. The mace was finally, permanently straightened by cutting it off above the hand and reversing it. News Flash: it's now a permanent weak spot, despite gluing. This figure is well on it's way to completion, and it will look fair-to-middling once finished.

Plastic cannot hold fine detail the way metal can - by nature, it's a softer medium. And logically, the detail is less crisp. Is that why the manufacturer's suggest you don't prime the mini? Is the detail so lacking that even a single coat of primer will serve to efface it? You be the judge.

Nolzurs Marvelous Miniatures are not immune to this - pictured below is a Female Gnome Thief, which is an admittedly niche concept: 

For starters, this isn't a picture of the miniature, it's a computer render. Because it looks much, MUCH better than the actual miniature. It's Corporate Marketing.

Even when it's shown "painted", Bishōjo style, it isn't. It's been cg coloured: 

They even duplicated the angle of light, from the 3d render. That's talent...wow.

I tried painting the top example, and I've been painting miniatures for THIRTY years. That result is almost humanly impossible. I say almost, because I'm sure some savant could do it - but you probably can't and neither can I.

Also, since she's a tiny miniature in a half-crouch, how is the brush supposed to get in between the arms? My money is, the CA Designer has never physically sculpted a miniature in their life; instead of looking for trouble spots for a brush to reach, they just went with "the rewl of kewl."

Make no mistake, plastic minis are part of the New School Corporate Gaming philosophy. There is no material benefit for the consumer, but the manufacturer, by using cheaper, lighter materials, saves pennies on the dollar. Multiplied, those pennies add up.

If you're using plastic for unpainted game pieces, like a fantasy version of Parcheezi, then plastic figures are fine - you can even paint them a single colour, just like the game.

If you're looking to paint with a reasonably rate of return, stick with metal. Life is too short to paint plastic miniatures.

Half-Orcs, Rats and Kobolds

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

These Half-Orcs are old Grenadier/Mirliton casts. One of the players in my AD&D 1E game made a joke about skipping out on their contract with the Coin Lords of Athkatlos, I decided to paint these as a potential Brute Squad, to send against them; should they break their bond, these guys will break their legs.

28mm Half-Orcs by Grenadier/Mirliton

There's also a half-orc assassin, also Grenadier/Mirliton, for the subtler approach:

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

25mm Half-Orc Assassin by Grenadier

The rat packs are from Ral Partha, for their AD&D line. My set has been gathering dust for 20 years, as I originally had intended to use them for a game of Call of Cthulhu, but the opportunity passed. Now that I'm running a table-top RPG/combat game of AD&D, these rats will prove useful again.

25mm Giant Rats from Ral Partha

Finally, some plastic Kobold Characters from Reaper Miniatures (Bones). Let me start off by stating that I don't like painting plastic figures. The detail usually isn't as fine as metal, the medium doesn't accept paint as well (even if primed) and the miniatures bend/break more easily and are more difficult to repair.)

(I will have a longer, more critical post on plastics, the economy of the New School, Corporate Games and other jolly topics, out shortly...)

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

28mm Plastic Kobolds from Reaper Bones

All things considered, these came out halfway decent - except half-decent isn't all-the-way decent. I just noticed I forgot to paint the weight-stones on the back of the spellcaster's cloak (sigh).

Left side is the tribal spellcaster - either a cleric/witch doctor or a magic user/shaman. Usually very helpful to throw the players and their carefully-laid plans into confusion. On the right is the chieftain/leader. I realised after finishing him that he's probably supposed to be wearing a combination of chaine maille and leather, not steel. Oh well...plastics.

There's another 20 common warrior kobolds that are waiting on the paint blocks. Now that I've found some Reaper Kobolds in glorious metal, I don't think I'll be finishing them...