Reaper Miniatures: Bones

[Darsc Zacal]

Yeah, this is getting a bit confusing, as from the quote you posted point 2 says it's not the same material while point 6 says it is a flexible plastic...

Only one way to be sure. We'll have have to wait for Harry to tell us once he's received his order.

[Bubbatron]

out of interest how big is the purple worm ? ive seen shots of the ogre etc next to other minis, but was wondering on the size of it for a conversion i have in mind, and going off the price it may well be a must buy !

[Dai-Mongar]

out of interest how big is the purple worm ? ive seen shots of the ogre etc next to other minis, but was wondering on the size of it for a conversion i have in mind, and going off the price it may well be a must buy !

Found this shot on the Reaper site:
http://www.reapermini.com/graphics/g...03009A_w_1.jpg
Seems to be about 3 1/2 to 4 inches.

[LonelyPath]

Miniature Heroes is your baby.
Taking orders now.

Thanks Harry

[Bubbatron]

Found this shot on the Reaper site:
http://www.reapermini.com/graphics/g...03009A_w_1.jpg
Seems to be about 3 1/2 to 4 inches.

Thank you very much, obviously my search-fu is weaker than yours !!!

[zoggin-eck]

So, did anyone else on here get some yet?

I impulse bought a Dwarf today, very happy with it. The plastic is slightly bendy, but only on the weapon handle, but still not much, and thinking about it, so would a metal miniature. The shield arm, I had to put quite a bit of pressure to get it to move, so quite solid.

I did fear they'd be quite soft, as I can't stand the soft plastic used for Dust Tactics, for example (I was surprised at myself how quickly my enthusiasm dropped the moment I opened my first boxes, despite being in the "who cares what material it is?" crowd before I actually owned any).

[Harry]

Got mine.
Its soft but not soft like old Airfix soft and the surface takes paint well.
I have undercoated with spray and painted with citadel acrylics and tried bending the bendy bits and the paint holds up well to flex.
Obviously it bounces well.
I think it will be very robust for gaming.

.... and at that price you can't go wrong.
If it was finecast prices I wouldn't touch it.

At that price I will keep buying.
Where as I will not be buying fine cast.

[zoggin-eck]

Cool Harry, glad to hear you like them, too. Actually it was the memory of my Airfix (and other 1/72nd scale models) Warhammer Ancient armies, as well as Dust, which I was making me concerned about these models.

The finecast comparison, I agree with, but I feel this kind of material suits Reaper more than any other model maker, if that makes sense. To me, Reaper models are often quite solid lumps of models (and I mean that in a positive way! I quite like chunky solid models as a change of pace to skinny, breakable, dynamically posed models) and the single piece plastics suit them well. Converting isn't such an issue, as Reaper models aren't really that easy to convert beyond a weapon or head swap anyway. Anyway, I bought this model the moment I saw it, and plan to buy more, while I wasn't convinced with GW's new material once I saw it in person (I generally don't get caught up in internet opinions on models, I much rather see it in person. Hey, I actually kind of like the SoM monsters...)

What I really like is that there is no cleanup or preparation time. Just open the pack and plonk it on a base, if needed.

[Darsc Zacal]

Haven't bought any yet, only because I'm waiting for their next Bones releases. As soon as those are out, I'll be placing an order with Reaper.

Very encouraged though by all the positive comments I've heard about them though.

[GomezAddams]

Snap - the purple worm might make for some good 15mm Dune games. If not, another random encounter beastie.

I'll pick some up when I order my reaper con ticket next week I think.

[Caiphas Cain]

Ordered the ogre yesterday, we'll see how it is.

Edit - I stopped at a games store and impulse bought the dwarf warrior today, since he was $1.99.
It's not very similar to hard plastic it seems. The weapon shaft was quite bendy, but other then that, I don't think there will be problems from that. Also, you can't paint on it without priming first, unfortunately. The paint doesn't stick, however, perhaps washing the model could help. If I had payed five bucks I wouldn't be too happy, but at two? I think I'll be getting more. Also, there are practically no mold lines, which is nice.

On a somewhat related note, what are the cthulu-esque models that reaper makes called? I quite liked the one I saw, but didn't have enough on me to get it.

[Caiphas Cain]

Two days after is enough to not qualify as a double post I think.

I got my ogre today, which was quite a surprise. The email confirmation said please allow one to two weeks for shipping, so three days was nice. Same stuff as before, but the ogre had a couple mold lines, which were a pain to remove. The material is too soft to be able to scrape the line off with the hobby knife, and it was difficult using the file. Still, at that price I'm not too upset.

[New Cult King]

Sounds pretty encouraging all round though, especially the price. And the detail on that dwarf seems quite "crisp"

[Schmapdi]

I got my first "Bones" mini today - (also the Dwarf - my FLGS only had two blisters to choose from) - and while I'm not a particular fan of the sculpt the material itself is very nice. Very bendy and strong (you could probably break the hammer off if you had a mind too - but you'd be hard-pressed to do it on accident). Mould lines were very minimal and easy to clean with my hobby knife (a file worked too - just as a test).

I'm going to try to put some paint on it tonight/tomorrow to test the whole "no primer" thing - but even if that's a bust - this material is great, and I'll be happy to see it spread throughout Reaper's lines. Hopefully like a particularly virulent plague.

The best $1.99 I've spent in a long time. Kudos to Reaper for working to keep the hobby affordable

[zoggin-eck]

My (barely) local store has the full range, now, so I got the ogre and troll today.

The ogre had a bit more flashing, and as said by Caiphas Cain, isn't as easy as hard plastic to remove. he's bigger than I thought. I wish his head was a little more separate, so I could buy multiples and use spare ogre head on him (the head is a little small for me, as well as for variation).

The troll is a model I've always liked.

On these two models the material is obviously bendy, whereas the dwarf is a bit more of a solid ball so it isn't as obvious. Not too bad, but I imagine the skeletons are quite bendy. However, I'm not sure why this bothers me so much, as metal spears and thin parts bend, too!

[Schmapdi]

An update - I did indeed try to paint him last night - and I'd say the "no primer" thing is a little iffy. Here's my findings:
Reaper's MSP (of which I only have skintones) did seem to go on ok.
GW Foundation (in this case, Calthan Brown - now OOP) also seemed to work pretty good.
"Normal" GW paint (Chaos black) didn't work very good at all. I had to go over areas multiple times trying to "blackout" the metals. Even when I trried to put it on very thick (i.e. no water on my brush).

So I guess the answer to "Do you need Primer" is "it depends." I can see why the Foundation paint worked ok, but the MSP is very thin and it worked pretty good too. I'm not sure why. Nor can I figure why "basic" GW paint did so badly - especially chaos black, which covers pretty good usually.

So for my second test - since I decided to prime him, I put him in the simple green to clean the paint off of him. The results of relatively short soak (~12 hours, I usually do 36ish) are as follows.
The Reaper paint and GW Foundation came off fine - with a bit of Foundation in the deepest recesses of his beard. I'd call it normal.
The black however - despite it's difficulties in going on - didn't come off very well. I'm not sure why. A longer soak might have helped - but also a longer soak might not be advisable becase:

The material seemed to get a lot softer in the Simple Green, as if I had soaked it in hot water. I had to be careful scrubbing it in fact, because I was afraid I'd break the hammer off. (Which also might account for why the black didn't come off so well). Interestingly though - after a bit of time removed from the SG the material seems to have returned to normal. At least mostly - it might be slightly bendier than before - it's hard to say with certainity. I don't think a Simple Green soak will be a problem for most Bones minis - but things like Skeletons could be problematic. And you'll have to be extra careful with weapon shafts and other thin bits.

Overall I remain un-qualmed about Bones though, as the primerless painting was never a real selling point to me. I will be a bit more careful when stripping them though.

Also - for the record (and I'm not just being contrary) I didn't find the mould lines to be any harder to remove than normal plastic. But they were very minimal on my dwarf - so maybe that is why?

[Dai-Mongar]

At the price they're selling for, I'd just buy another one rather than strip it, but thanks for the heads up.

[frozenwastes]

I've gotten a good number of these. I find the best way to paint them is to give them a black or brown wash first. It preshades and changes the surface enough that further paint goes on without any problem.

I have an order for the rest of the line and will probably get all the bones Reaper releases. I use them for RPGs and fantasy skirmish gaming like Song of Blades & Heroes or GoalSystem Fantasy.

[TimLeeson]

Only thing that appeals to my taste is the Purple worm, but I love it. Thinking of buying a boat load of them to use as Chthonians for Azathoth-Wars.

[Caiphas Cain]

The purple worm is the only one that doesn't appeal to me.