Woot Woot Woot!!!!! Can you tell I am excited.

I was digging around the wotc site and they came up with D&D battle sheets for the chainmail figures!!!!! Yes, and I purchased a huge box of them from the $0.99 blow out sale that was on line..... I can try the game out w/o having to buy anything and just borrow the rule book... sweet.

< Link to commercial site removed by MOD >

Another thing to realize about this game is that it isn't meant to be a stand alone miniatures game, it is designed to be a supplement for Dungeons and Dragons.

I wouldn't expect a tournament format for this new miniatures line like Mage Knight. The figures do look cool, but I think WOTC doesn't want to have another failed attempt at a miniatures game like Chainmail. They are just trying to enhance one of their core products.
Xanathon

I would not be adverse to buying a few boxes to check it out!!

Xanathon- Have you read the write up on the WotC web site?


"Actual game-play can also benefit from random packaging. Wizards is aiming with the D&D miniatures not only to boost miniatures use in role-playing but also to build up competitive tabletop play within the D&D universe. Sealed box tournaments, even sealed-box dungeons or encounters are instant possibilities. "



It sounds like they are also trying to push it as a stand alone game as well as saying they will support the tourney scene.

To be honest no I hadn't. I was talking to the owner of a local venue (gaming store) here in St. Louis and that is what he had told me.

I had heard about the miniatures game that WOTC was bringing out, but I normally just look at the product once it comes out and base my opinion on it then.

It sounds like this might give WizKids some healthy competition which they need right now.

Thanks for the clarification Terin.
Xanathon

You should check out the write up, they have previews of about 20 figures or so and I think with the backing of a big company like WoTc/Hasboro it very well could give Wizkids a run or at least a little shake.

It will be a competitive game playable by it self just like MK. Because of the huge fan support of D20 DnD you can expect tons of people all over playing it. Its going to be big at first whether the rules are good or bad. Whether it sticks around will depend on the support and the playability of the game.

I have to say, I think no one is going to know until it's released. Having seen the reaction to the game from two of the three audience types (the D&D players & the Mage Knight players), I think they have a huge hurdle to overcome.

A large number of the D&D players are strongly against the collectible format, some are willing to give it a try. The ones who are proud miniature painters are strongly against it. The Mage Knight players might try it, but it's going to be hit & miss there.

Personally, I think the success of the game is going to be how the D&D players take to it. We'll see how that goes in the first few weeks of the game.

G'day, people!

From what I can gather, the new D&D Miniatures Game has the following purposes:
* To provide miniatures for use with Dungeons and Dragons (the role-playing game).
* To provide a new stand-alone skirmish-level game
* To provide a new stand-alone mass-combat game

I think MageKnight will keep the edge on it wrt to ease of use - those clicky-bases are inspired. However, the Brand Recognition (people know the term "Dungeons and Dragons") will be important, as well as the cross-over aspect with the role-playing game.

I'm speculating here, but I expect that the starters will come with the rules for the skirmish-level game. A separate hardcover rulebook will include the mass-combat game for those who want to play in that style.

Bases will be non-clicky, but scaled on 25mm for medium-sized figures and 40mm for large figures - thus appropriate for the normal D&D RPG miniature scale. (A bonus over MageKnight, the figures for which you have to "ruin" to use with normal D&D scales. "ruin"=rebase, which kills the clicky-base aspect. oops).

The game will be released in September, according to EN world.

A booster will contain 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 4 commons. When taken into account with the totals of 27 rares, 33 uncommons and 20 commons, that means if you get perfect distribution, from 27 boosters you will get:

1 of each rare
2.45 of each uncommon, and
5.4 of each common

(As far as things go, that's not so bad).

Whether or not it succeeds is way too hard to call at present. As I see it, MageKnight has its primary appeal to skirmish miniature wargamers who don't want to spend too much money on figures or time painting the blasted little things.

D&D miniatures is less focused than that, as I note above. Whether or not it can cater to the needs of those three groups of people sufficiently enough to remain viable as a product.
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As for myself, I'm primarily a D&D player who thinks the idea of the new miniature game to be excellent. I am interested in the figures for both use with the RPG and the mass-combat options. For skirmish-level games, well that's what the RPG is for, isn't it?

I have a small number of MageKnight figures (100 or so), though I rarely play MK at present. I like the game, but the time I'd possibly spend playing is taken up by work and my two D&D campaigns.

Personally, I think that MK doesn't have much to worry about the D&D miniature game on the skirmish level front, but as a mass-battle game and RPG supplement, it is likely to do better.

Cheers!

I think the success of the game is going to come down to two things.

1. Rather or not the new game can ditch the "Chainmail" image.
2. Rather or not the rules of the game are simpe and compact, yet still provide a fun experiance.

With the new game being a non-clicky, there is a world of oppertunity to capitolize on the limitations of the click format. Erratta of figs will be simple, either the rules or the point cost of the fig can be changed. Also, the game can grow in time. Rules can be added and expanded. There is a world of growth.

The D&D mini combines the best aspects of MK (prepainted cheap mini's) with the best aspects of regular mini gaming (deep gameplay that can be changed without making past figs useless). The game will not succeed if it is cluttered with the same bogging rules that killed chainmail. If rules are streamlined to easy play, they will have a hit. If rules are clunky junk...itleast we'll have a market for cheap mini's as every store in the world tries to dump their stock. Either way, players win.

I think the success of the game will depend largely on wether meteors strike all of WK factories and their home office...

Adam [ag]

i like the even distribution
nothing ticks me off worse than spending like five dollars for a blue and three yellows
i think the quality is as good as mk
and it's a far more balanced system from the looks of things
maybe wizkids will wake up now and either balance out the special abilities or put more figs in the boosters or better yet put in a better distribution

Wizkids does do even distributions, it just happens that yellows, blues and reds all fall with in each distribution range. Not always the best way to distribute.

A new sneak peak is up in the Whats new section:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20030615a

All I can say is wow! These figs look so cool, and most of the skulpts look far better than your average MK fig (along the lines of the titans). Rares will have better paint jobs then commons which is ok I guess. The more I think about it, the idea of a handful of "stat" cards during a skirmish is a vastly superior idea than a clicky base. The figs look more realistic (the base doesn't have wierd numbers and colors), you can actually modify the base a bit (for realism buffs), and a stat card can hold vastly more information than a clicky base. All this for just a bit more space taken up by a handful of cards. Also if you play casually it is far easier to modify the figs and come up with your own stats.

Wizkids may of had great ideas with clicky bases and prepainted mini's, but they may fall behind the learning curve of their competitors.

good points bshugg

The warmachine game has a cool system for tracking damage and such, cards that can fit in a standard 9 card binder sleeve, and then you can mark off hits and spells with an erasable marker...not too bad. If WOTC adopts a similar strategy, keeping track of stats should be easy.