Using the "correct" minis

Joshua Dyal · Post by **Joshua Dyal** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:46 pm

Maybe I'm just a bit anal or something, but to me it kinda bugs me when you have to use the "wrong" minis for your team. I played against some Wood elves (a trial game -- they guy wanted to try the team out) and we didn't have any elf miniatures, so he just used the plastic humans as linemen and one plastic black orc as a wardancer. I'm fine with it for that kind of game, but long-term, I want to have elf miniatures for elves. Not only that, I want them painted. I know of some groups that don't really care what you use -- you could be moving pennies for linemen, nickels for throwers, dimes for catchers, etc. or whatever in the world you feel like as long as you can differentiate them.

So, in an effort to gauge the "general climate" on this issue, what are your thoughts?

mrinprophet · Post by **mrinprophet** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 2:57 pm

I couldn't agree more regarding appropriate figs. I'd let someone slide if it was a one time thing, but I not on a consistent basis. That's why I now have all of the 3rd edition teams. I'd let someone slide a little longer on the paint job, but some teams really need them, like the Amazons. Without paint they are too similar. Just my $0.02.

Lucien Swift · Post by **Lucien Swift** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:01 pm

i've been on a crusade against proxy miniatures and unpainted teams for a decade... you'll never win that war.... i think you'll find that most people would like everyone they play with to take the time to at least _try_ to get something close (and i mean close, there's plenty of times i'm happy to let people be flexible, i have a guy in my new league who's playing a human team with norse minis as line, catchers and throwers and chaos warriors for blitzers... that's fine with me, he likes the aesthetic and we can all tell what minis are what and it's not even hard to justify.. plus, he can collect about 20 minis and field any of human, norse, or chaos, and do so in a believable, reasonably accurate fashion, for a minimum investment in time and money, which i understand)...

anyway, you'll find a lot of people would like to see the teams be accurate and painted, most will never get so lucky... me, i'm happy with accurate, i've given up on painted... offer rewards to coaches (i find extra gold is very tempting) who get accurate minis and even more to those who paint their minis, you'll get better results than chastising alone...

in the long run, though, some people are too cheap or non-committal to do any work... they'll just borrow your unpainted humans every week and that's that... it sucks, but is it better to have another coach, or better to have a better-looking table... your decision...

Grumbledook · Post by **Grumbledook** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:05 pm

Well aint it in the rulebook that if a player takes a mutation (only choas and skaven) that they have to represent it on the miniture?

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:35 pm

It also says in the rules that you have to have an offical painted citidal miniature for every coach and cheerleader. There are certain things that people tend to ignore since they are there only to make GW money. I know I try to model most mutations and such but don't always get it done. Also proxy minis are fine with me as long as you can tell what's what.

Martin

longfang · Post by **longfang** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:41 pm

In a tourny you should.
In a league, if the teams are being bought and painted through the course of a season then it's not a problem, but someone playing in a league should make the effort to get a team up together.

Lucien Swift · Post by **Lucien Swift** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:47 pm

when it comes to staff minis (coaches, cheerleaders, wizards, etc) i have always said that it was ridiculous to deman people to have these figures in addition to their teams... most gamers i know have to scrounge for the pennies to buy their team minis, and hardly ever get around to painting those...

in order to encourage the atmospheric enhancement of staff figures, i have always tried to add special rules for staff minis in addition to their existing role, and then stipulate that these bonus abilities are only available when you have miniatures for them.. to further increase the likelyhood of actually seeing people bother, i also allow for 1 model for every full 5 cheerleaders and/or assistant coaches combined, which allows for a lot of wiggle-room on these figs...

you'll find that with these sorts of breaks and benefits, you get a lot more people addin these things to the game...

DaFrenchCoach · Post by **DaFrenchCoach** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:47 pm

Hum... I must admit I played elves for years with the plastic human team included in 3rd edition.

Since a year, a little bit mor ein fact, I stopped smoking, and I decided to buy minis with this cash saved. It was something really useful, especially at the beginning, because it shows you what you had instead of smoking.

Coming back to the subject, I have now a lot of minis... but still unpainted for the great par tof them. I can't stop more things; I only need some time to paint it

Post by **Thadrin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 4:55 pm

A guy in my league bought a Treeman for his Woodie team. He didn't have a mini for it. I was his next opponent.

What did he use? A twig glued to a Slotta base.

You gotta love ingenuity like that.

I hate using a team before I've finished painting it....and I have 5 awaiting paint as it is.
My dwarf team is now over the 50 mini mark thanks to all the off field minis I have bought for it. That siad, it can now also be used as an Old World team and a Dungeonbowl team, and has one of every star player mini and a full coaching staff including 5 cheerleaders (last seen being used as Reroll counters) and 4 musicians.

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 5:13 pm

Thadrin wrote:....it can now also be used as an Old World team and a Dungeonbowl team......

But not at Xmas, otherwise engaged.

longfang · Post by **longfang** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 5:14 pm

Post by **Thadrin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 5:37 pm

Dragoonkin · Post by **Dragoonkin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 10:11 pm

I used proxy minis for our entire first season of LRB rules because mine were "on backorder" from New Wave.

Of course, the Commish ordered them for me and I paid him...so I don't think he'd give me trouble about it.

But it was worth it.

My Bunny 'zons rule.

Deathwing · Post by **Deathwing** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 10:43 pm

I guess the loose rule of thumb is 'within-the-bounds-of-possibilty'.
Played some Welfs at Tulips that were actually Helf figures. No problem at all with that kinda thing...but there's just something inherently wrong with using a Mummy to represent a Gutter Runner!

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Thu Oct 03, 2002 10:51 pm

When I played 2ed I always used the plastic humans or orcs to represent the team I was playing, I was also poor and couldn't afford to buy the minis for the different teams (though I almost bought Dungeonbowl for the elf and dwarf minis). Now I have all the 3ed teams plus a number of unofficial ones. Basically I would say that substituting minis is fine for a one off game or maybe a small tourney between friends,etc, but for league play the actual minis should be used (and painted too).