About nine years ago Reaper Miniatures launched a fateful Kickstarter campaign for a new line of plastic models: Reaper Bones. I pledged, even though I hadn't painted a single miniature since high school. I've pledged all of the subsequent Reaper campaigns and re-found a pretty enjoyable pastime. Today my reward package for Reaper Bones 5: Escape from Pizza Dungeon arrived, and it's pretty impressive:
Every iteration of this Kickstarter has shown steady improvement in both the quality of sculpts as well as the quality of casting. The first few campaigns used a relatively soft PVC-like plastic. The advantage of this material was it was relatively cheap, but it was only so good at holding details and had a tendency to droop or bend. Reaper has gradually tweaked the formulation and the current material, Bones Black, is stiffer and retains much sharper details—it seems almost as good as most metal castings. I believe Reaper Bones 5 is the first set to use this material exclusively.
Although I've pledged all five campaigns, I've steadily been decreasing my orders, in part because I've had less time to paint, but mostly because I now have a fairly large collection of painted miniatures. Since I mostly DM, I mainly need monster figures and at this point, other than some rather rare monsters, I've got a suitable miniature for most encounters.
Bones 5 is making me rethink that strategy: although I have many examples of monsters that are included in this set, such as kobolds, skeletons, or undead, the quality of the newest sculpts is so much better than those from earlier campaigns. Also, I'm a much better painter than I was nine years ago. So I'm thinking about revisiting some of these familiar figures. For example, these giant rats have far more detail than the ones included in the first Kickstarter.
Although I have several, very nice owlbear sculpts, the newest one is so good I'll probably need to paint this one up even though, realistically, how many owlbears are you ever going to need in one encounter?
Similarly, the troll from this set has got a fantastic pose that doesn't really come across in a photo. Some miniatures you really have to hold in your hand in order to appreciate the quality of the sculpt.
I really have fallen behind on my painting with the pandemic due to all the online gaming, but I'm hoping that ironically, with the relaxation of most restrictions, I'll have some more time to practice.
