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 Thunderfrog wrote:
I think he's talking about re-released stuff that is the exact same in function.

Grizzly Bears. There's like 10 different versions of a 1 colorless 1 green bear/mammal.

He used Magic as his example of choice of releasing new stuff that's better than old stuff. It's just not true apart from creatures (and that was part of shifting the game towards creature combat during draft rather than power creep).

FFG, unlike Wizards, will creep the power level of their games up. X-Wing is a great example. The Contracted Scout is so efficient that half the top lists at UK Nationals were just 3 identical Contracted Scouts.

I guess on the plus side is that I don't expect enough waves of this game to actually get developed and released for them to creep it up too badly. So the people who buy it and like it will probably have less to deal with than playing against a competitive X-Wing player.

The material that Fantasy Flight's most recent board game miniatures - Descent 2nd edition and Imperial Assault - are made from seems to be the same stuff that they've always used (at least, it's the same as the stuff used in Doom and Descent 1st edition). The sculpting and casting have improved over the years, though.

str00dles1 wrote:


Did you see them in person? Or get to touch them? The models are the same quality as all of their current star wars imperial assault figs. Last time I checked imperial assault, they are not soft rubbery figures. More sturdy and stuff harder plastic feel. Same figs for this game but multi part

People see mass battle game and think the quality is all going to be crapo. I was there, I touched it and talked to FFG. Its not crapo

I have eyes and their are pics from multiple angles. They look "crapo". The skeletons faces look like cheap rubber halloween masks. Why do I need to feel them?

Edit: I was using the word "runbery" to describe the soft details not the material.

So stoked for this. Xwing is by far the best miniature game at the moment. I expect this to play great as well, and like the minis.

GW priced me out a long time ago, I buy something to paint once or twice a year, but haven't played a game of warhammer in years. The $$/time you need to keep up with GW is insane.

Also, lol at people on here saying magic is cheap/balanced. A standard deck will cost you $350 or so, and with the rotations you only get to play with cards for a few years before they are illegal. That and like 5% of cards see play, with mythics clearly being the best cards.

RIPferdy wrote:
So stoked for this. Xwing is by far the best miniature game at the moment. I expect this to play great as well, and like the minis.

GW priced me out a long time ago, I buy something to paint once or twice a year, but haven't played a game of warhammer in years. The $$/time you need to keep up with GW is insane.

Also, lol at people on here saying magic is cheap/balanced. A standard deck will cost you $350 or so, and with the rotations you only get to play with cards for a few years before they are illegal. That and like 5% of cards see play, with mythics clearly being the best cards.

Honestly I always thought GW was insanely expensive when I was younger, but as I have gotten older and had access to more disposable money... They are still expensive but entirely reasonable for a luxury hobby. If it wasn't for games like Malifaux and Infinity or historicals I would probably be fine with the prices.

If Runewars keeps the stupid card system of x-wing then it's going to end up being one of the most expensive miniature games out there. So I really hope it doesn't.

As for MTG, at any given time there are usually more than ten different decks that have reasonable matchups with other decks in the metagame. They definitely use more than 5% of the standard card pool between them and range in price from $50-$350. You are quoting the high end. I do still dislike having to switch out your deck too quickly, but it's not as bad as you made it sound.

The biggest problem with this setup, despite the gameplay possibilities, is that FFG rebalances the game by selling newer stuff in later packs.

Others have pointed this out, but this is a lose lose situations. I don't mind buying cool new stuff for a game I like, but I will not buy stuff to fix problems that the designers created.

This is the reason why a lot of wargames limit their reliance on building stats into boardgame components, it's hard to update the rebalance. At the same time, with components, you can explore more gameplay elements that would usually be tedious to track.

I live in Seattle, basically the biggest nerd havens of nerd havens with 8+ gaming shops in a 20 min drive.

no one really plays GW games, and each shop has weekly x-wing nights that are thriving. If you havent checked it out, you really should, its great.

also re:
"As for MTG, at any given time there are usually more than ten different decks that have reasonable matchups with other decks in the metagame. They definitely use more than 5% of the standard card pool between them and range in price from $50-$350. You are quoting the high end. I do still dislike having to switch out your deck too quickly, but it's not as bad as you made it sound."

opened up top 8 mtg and looked at the most recent tournament, lol:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13266&f=ST



Automatically Appended Next Post:
this one has better diversity, but 7/8 of them are above $330, with two of them being over $400 and the cheapest being $220. For $220 with this game you are going to get two full armies that wont rotate out in 6/12 months.

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13294&f=ST

And it does kind of stink that sometimes you have to sink $15 or $30 for an xwing update, but those do come with new models, and like everyone has said before, just copy the cards if you want, no one cares. It's just as easy as downloading a sigmar .pdf. I've done it in plenty of tournaments around here. With warhammer you were buying a $50 rulebook every year or so. (sigmar is getting back into this model with all the mini-clan books, I'd have to buy the new pointbook/new disorder book/new savage ork book/new ironjaw book for all the new formation rules and points. That's like $200.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vertrucio wrote:
Others have pointed this out, but this is a lose lose situations. I don't mind buying cool new stuff for a game I like, but I will not buy stuff to fix problems that the designers created.

I am super curious as to what miniatures game you play then??

 Lockark wrote:

str00dles1 wrote:


Did you see them in person? Or get to touch them? The models are the same quality as all of their current star wars imperial assault figs. Last time I checked imperial assault, they are not soft rubbery figures. More sturdy and stuff harder plastic feel. Same figs for this game but multi part

People see mass battle game and think the quality is all going to be crapo. I was there, I touched it and talked to FFG. Its not crapo

I have eyes and their are pics from multiple angles. They look "crapo". The skeletons faces look like cheap rubber halloween masks. Why do I need to feel them?

Edit: I was using the word "runbery" to describe the soft details not the material.

Congratulations, you have an opinion! Join the rest of humanity over there and realize that your opinion is countered by people who think differently. It's obvious that str00dles is excited by this game so what's your point in belaboring your apparent dislike other than just trying to be Captain Buzkillington? Lord/Lady Buzzkill? King/Queen Buzzkill of the kingdom of Wetblanketshire?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

RIPferdy wrote:

 Vertrucio wrote:
Others have pointed this out, but this is a lose lose situations. I don't mind buying cool new stuff for a game I like, but I will not buy stuff to fix problems that the designers created.

I am super curious as to what miniatures game you play then??

Obviously none since they're all like that.

I would hazard a guess that the miniatures stand up perfectly well at a realistic arm's length and on the tabletop (where actually having more distinctive proportions can sometimes be an advantage).

Will reserve judgement until am able to see them in person, but that's been my general opinion on a lot of miniatures that people decry for being too blocky or basic (not everything needs the detail level of something like Infinity or Mierce, and in some cases its actually an advantage and feeds into the overall aesthetic of the game).

Automatically Appended Next Post:

RIPferdy wrote:

 Vertrucio wrote:
Others have pointed this out, but this is a lose lose situations. I don't mind buying cool new stuff for a game I like, but I will not buy stuff to fix problems that the designers created.

I am super curious as to what miniatures game you play then??

Obviously none since they're all like that.

 Vertrucio wrote:


There is a difference in degrees when we're talking about games that rely on a lot of boardgame style components that integrate stats into them.

For example, while Warmachine makes extensive use of stat cards, those can be changed out quickly with an edition change with players not having to buy much new components besides a cheap set of cards or a new book.

Meanwhile, imagine if they tried to do a new edition of X-Wing or STAW that changed up all the stats or added more? One look at the conversion kits for FFG's other boardgames shows how much stuff you'd have to buy to convert things over. Or what if they wanted to issue a balance correction? Well they'd have to issue a new card alongside an Errata doc. A traditional game could add an extra rule without the need to update a component or card.

Therein lies the difference between the typical prepainted, component heavy, miniature games and more traditional miniature games.

This isn't a bad thing, because if you read my post, you'd see that it also comes with significant advantages too, but this is just one downside. And I'm interested in this game despite the downsides.

Issues arrive in all miniatures games due to changing rules (Warmachine is in MKIII now, Bolt Action just released a new edition, 40K is in it's 7th version, WHFB is deader than the do-do). All companies change and even sometimes completely drop game systems.

I get that the card thing is a concern but it's no worse than any other manufacturer's gimmick used to drag as much of our hard-earned money out of us as possible.

 agnosto wrote:

Obviously none since they're all like that.

There are a large number of rules publishers who do not also make miniatures. Since they don't have a release cycle of miniatures to fix previous releases with, they simply don't do that. If there's a problem, they put an errata on their page and that's that. If they do another print run, they'll hopefully include the errata.

They are most certainly not all like that.

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

Obviously none since they're all like that.

There are a large number of rules publishers who do not also make miniatures. Since they don't have a release cycle of miniatures to fix previous releases with, they simply don't do that. If there's a problem, they put an errata on their page and that's that. If they do another print run, they'll hopefully include the errata.

They are most certainly not all like that.

Well, gee, yeah we can move those goalposts all the way out and include the multitude of free rules out there too. Context of the conversation is important since the examples being thrown around were from Warmachine, MTG, etc.

 agnosto wrote:

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

Obviously none since they're all like that.

There are a large number of rules publishers who do not also make miniatures. Since they don't have a release cycle of miniatures to fix previous releases with, they simply don't do that. If there's a problem, they put an errata on their page and that's that. If they do another print run, they'll hopefully include the errata.

They are most certainly not all like that.

Well, gee, yeah we can move those goalposts all the way out and include the multitude of free rules out there too. Context of the conversation is important since the examples being thrown around were from Warmachine, MTG, etc.

MTG doesn't as their development cycle is so long that by the time the player base finds a problematic interaction they missed the people who made the set haven't done any design or development work on it for over a year, so there's no way they could reactively fix problems. The set that would provide that opportunity has already been sent to the printers months ago. Warmachine does. 40k generally doesn't. Bolt Action doesn't. Flames of War doesn't. Infinity? Not that I know of.

It's not guaranteed that a given product line that includes both rules and miniatures will engage in the practice, but FFG definitely has a track record of doing it. In fact, I can't think of another game that has more instances of it than X-Wing.

The goal posts were set when you used the word "all." It isn't even universally true of those that bundle rules and miniatures and certainly false when you look at the hobby in general.

Will it be true of Runewars? I think it's a safe bet.

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

Obviously none since they're all like that.

There are a large number of rules publishers who do not also make miniatures. Since they don't have a release cycle of miniatures to fix previous releases with, they simply don't do that. If there's a problem, they put an errata on their page and that's that. If they do another print run, they'll hopefully include the errata.

They are most certainly not all like that.

Well, gee, yeah we can move those goalposts all the way out and include the multitude of free rules out there too. Context of the conversation is important since the examples being thrown around were from Warmachine, MTG, etc.

MTG doesn't as their development cycle is so long that by the time the player base finds a problematic interaction they missed the people who made the set haven't done any design or development work on it for over a year, so there's no way they could reactively fix problems. The set that would provide that opportunity has already been sent to the printers months ago. Warmachine does. 40k generally doesn't. Bolt Action doesn't. Flames of War doesn't. Infinity? Not that I know of.

It's not guaranteed that a given product line that includes both rules and miniatures will engage in the practice, but FFG definitely has a track record of doing it. In fact, I can't think of another game that has more instances of it than X-Wing.

The goal posts were set when you used the word "all." It isn't even universally true of those that bundle rules and miniatures and certainly false when you look at the hobby in general.

Will it be true of Runewars? I think it's a safe bet.

Meh. I don't really care. If it's a good game, I'll play it. Hell, I've dumped thousands into GW's crap rules over the years so this can hardly be any worse than that, the bar's pretty low when compared to companies like GW and Mantic have rules cycles that run every 2-3 years.

 agnosto wrote:
Meh. I don't really care. If it's a good game, I'll play it. Hell, I've dumped thousands into GW's crap rules over the years so this can hardly be any worse than that, the bar's pretty low when compared to companies like GW and Mantic have rules cycles that run every 2-3 years.

That's probably the best take to have on it. If it's actually fun, play it. For many though the quasi stealth collectible aspect is a turn off. All my x-wing is done with an android app, and I don't play in tournaments, so it hasn't been an issue for x-wing for me, but others around me are always talking about how they are short cards to play in some event somewhere ore are going on about how the new card that comes with a given ship will finally make a previously released ship "worth taking." I'm all "I don't care if you think they suck, the game is called X-Wing and I'm flying one dammit!"

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:
Meh. I don't really care. If it's a good game, I'll play it. Hell, I've dumped thousands into GW's crap rules over the years so this can hardly be any worse than that, the bar's pretty low when compared to companies like GW and Mantic have rules cycles that run every 2-3 years.

That's probably the best take to have on it. If it's actually fun, play it. For many though the quasi stealth collectible aspect is a turn off. All my x-wing is done with an android app, and I don't play in tournaments, so it hasn't been an issue for x-wing for me, but others around me are always talking about how they are short cards to play in some event somewhere ore are going on about how the new card that comes with a given ship will finally make a previously released ship "worth taking." I'm all "I don't care if you think they suck, the game is called X-Wing and I'm flying one dammit!"

This ^. I loved it at gencon. Ive spent way way way more and 40k and other bad rule sets that this will be cheap alternative. I don't do tourneys. Card limit isn't gonna be a issue.. If they do the same suit as x wing and you need lots of cards for a tourney, you'll dump the cash for it. If not you buy it once then take it to your friendly fedex and get scans done and sleeve em.

frozenwastes wrote:

 agnosto wrote:
Meh. I don't really care. If it's a good game, I'll play it. Hell, I've dumped thousands into GW's crap rules over the years so this can hardly be any worse than that, the bar's pretty low when compared to companies like GW and Mantic have rules cycles that run every 2-3 years.

That's probably the best take to have on it. If it's actually fun, play it. For many though the quasi stealth collectible aspect is a turn off. All my x-wing is done with an android app, and I don't play in tournaments, so it hasn't been an issue for x-wing for me, but others around me are always talking about how they are short cards to play in some event somewhere ore are going on about how the new card that comes with a given ship will finally make a previously released ship "worth taking." I'm all "I don't care if you think they suck, the game is called X-Wing and I'm flying one dammit!"

I agree. If I were a tournament player, I could understand the angst as well but since I've played in exactly 3 tournaments in my entire life, apps or army builders suit me just fine as well. I think that people who play competitively take on the responsibility for increased costs in any hobby with wargames certainly being no exception.

GW's gone to the non-stealth collectible route with a rule book published with every release. I can't keep up anymore so I don't play; it doesn't help that the lack of cumulative apps or anything outside of army builder (which isn't able to say what the rules actually do)...in short, it's a bloated mess and I don't have the requisite time to sort through 10 books to find the what some special rule does.

This is how I see playing 40K becoming; the answer to your rules question is somewhere in here:

Maybe I missed it, and I don't play X-Wing, but why wouldn't you have enough cards for a tournament? Don't the models come with all the cards you need? Do they get eaten by womp rats while you sleep or something?

 agnosto wrote:

 Vertrucio wrote:


There is a difference in degrees when we're talking about games that rely on a lot of boardgame style components that integrate stats into them.

For example, while Warmachine makes extensive use of stat cards, those can be changed out quickly with an edition change with players not having to buy much new components besides a cheap set of cards or a new book.

Meanwhile, imagine if they tried to do a new edition of X-Wing or STAW that changed up all the stats or added more? One look at the conversion kits for FFG's other boardgames shows how much stuff you'd have to buy to convert things over. Or what if they wanted to issue a balance correction? Well they'd have to issue a new card alongside an Errata doc. A traditional game could add an extra rule without the need to update a component or card.

Therein lies the difference between the typical prepainted, component heavy, miniature games and more traditional miniature games.

This isn't a bad thing, because if you read my post, you'd see that it also comes with significant advantages too, but this is just one downside. And I'm interested in this game despite the downsides.

Issues arrive in all miniatures games due to changing rules (Warmachine is in MKIII now, Bolt Action just released a new edition, 40K is in it's 7th version, WHFB is deader than the do-do). All companies change and even sometimes completely drop game systems.

I get that the card thing is a concern but it's no worse than any other manufacturer's gimmick used to drag as much of our hard-earned money out of us as possible.

I do think that this is very much a sliding scale though, and also a question of intent by the manufacturer. It's used in some cases as there genuinely is the need for a rationalisation of rules, compilation of supplements etc. as well as loopholes or balance issues that have only become apparent after significant player feedback. I think in this case a new edition is very much justified (would probably class early 40k/WFB editions, Bolt Action, Infinity etc. in this category). The company releases the new rules because there is very much a requirement for it (of course, the bonus for them is that its a money generator, assuming they have the pre-requisite loyal player base)

On the other hand you have a new release which is pretty much just to create sales, without the real need for it. We can see this where the sales department has had a direct input in the creative process in order to prompt sales of a different kind of miniature range or kit; we've seen this with the past few editions of 40k and WHFB. Sometimes this will bring with it a an actual improvement in game mechanics or the player experience, but I think this is more often than not an unintended side effect, not the intent behind the change and is usually deeply divisive in terms of the change in mechanics that it brings.

All companies fall somewhere along the scale - from what I have seen of FFG so far, they seem to have found that sweet spot of releasing quality updates while also potting themselves a lot of sales in the process. Hopefully that trend will continue with Runewars, and we won't get updates for updates sake.

 Necros wrote:
Maybe I missed it, and I don't play X-Wing, but why wouldn't you have enough cards for a tournament? Don't the models come with all the cards you need? Do they get eaten by womp rats while you sleep or something?

Think the issue is you want 6 of the same upgrade so that's buying 6 of the same model. Or if one of the named ships has a upgrade, that many others can take because of same symbol you need to buy more ships for more of those cards. The best solution is use a app or just photo copy the cards and you have a million. but some tourneys don't allow photocopy

 Necros wrote:
Maybe I missed it, and I don't play X-Wing, but why wouldn't you have enough cards for a tournament? Don't the models come with all the cards you need? Do they get eaten by womp rats while you sleep or something?

you often want cards that come with ships other than the ones your using for your list,

so for official tournaments you need to buy cards on the secondary market or buy ships just to get the cards

 agnosto wrote:

 Lockark wrote:

str00dles1 wrote:


Did you see them in person? Or get to touch them? The models are the same quality as all of their current star wars imperial assault figs. Last time I checked imperial assault, they are not soft rubbery figures. More sturdy and stuff harder plastic feel. Same figs for this game but multi part

People see mass battle game and think the quality is all going to be crapo. I was there, I touched it and talked to FFG. Its not crapo

I have eyes and their are pics from multiple angles. They look "crapo". The skeletons faces look like cheap rubber halloween masks. Why do I need to feel them?

Edit: I was using the word "runbery" to describe the soft details not the material.

Congratulations, you have an opinion! Join the rest of humanity over there and realize that your opinion is countered by people who think differently. It's obvious that str00dles is excited by this game so what's your point in belaboring your apparent dislike other than just trying to be Captain Buzkillington? Lord/Lady Buzzkill? King/Queen Buzzkill of the kingdom of Wetblanketshire?

Oh. Opinions don't matter? gak. I guess we all have been wasting our time posting our opinions. Quick! Someone get ahold of Yakface, turns out he has been wasting his time and money running a website were people post opinions. Turns out the whole message board part of dakkadakka is a waste of bandwidth that could be used for more productive things.

Don't worry, I'm sure he will get that sorted out and we can all stop posting our opinions in quick order.

I also will be happy to take your hand in marriage so I can be your Queen of Buzzkill and together we can rule as its king and queen.

 Lockark wrote:

 agnosto wrote:

 Lockark wrote:

str00dles1 wrote:


Did you see them in person? Or get to touch them? The models are the same quality as all of their current star wars imperial assault figs. Last time I checked imperial assault, they are not soft rubbery figures. More sturdy and stuff harder plastic feel. Same figs for this game but multi part

People see mass battle game and think the quality is all going to be crapo. I was there, I touched it and talked to FFG. Its not crapo

I have eyes and their are pics from multiple angles. They look "crapo". The skeletons faces look like cheap rubber halloween masks. Why do I need to feel them?

Edit: I was using the word "runbery" to describe the soft details not the material.

Congratulations, you have an opinion! Join the rest of humanity over there and realize that your opinion is countered by people who think differently. It's obvious that str00dles is excited by this game so what's your point in belaboring your apparent dislike other than just trying to be Captain Buzkillington? Lord/Lady Buzzkill? King/Queen Buzzkill of the kingdom of Wetblanketshire?

Oh. Opinions don't matter? gak. I guess we all have been wasting our time posting our opinions. Quick! Someone get ahold of Yakface, turns out he has been wasting his time and money running a website were people post opinions. Turns out the whole message board part of dakkadakka is a waste of bandwidth that could be used for more productive things.

Don't worry, I'm sure he will get that sorted out and we can all stop posting our opinions in quick order.

I also will be happy to take your hand in marriage so I can be your Queen of Buzzkill and together we can rule as its king and queen.

lol. No, the kingdom is Wetblanketshire, please try to get it right or this marriage will simply not work out.

On to another topic because this has certainly strayed.

Withholding judgement until I see the models in person and have tried the game myself.

I'm sure the game itself will be fine. FFG had a good track record. It's just not having good models hurts when trying to get the game adopted. Like. You can have a few stinkers in the range and still do good as GW and PP has shown. But kings of war has struggled to get any traction here not because of the rules but because the model ranges swing between "ok" and horrible. Few stand out as greats.

People only started playing it with old whfb armies because of age of sigmar. And no one plays it with mantic models.

Mainstream WarGamers are a picky group of people. They like their war games to be the "whole package", when really we should just use the models we like in the games we like. The GW and PP way of thinking that their models should only be used in their games have rubbed off on most gamers to extend to all games.

FFG have a pretty exceptional track record of delivering very 'clean' rules systems (often that can fit on 16 pages of A4). I have no worries in this area.

Tbh as far as miniatures go there is definitely a sliding scale where I will accept 'good' or 'average' miniatures if the cost is right.

My concern here is actually the fluff, for the size, scale and market penetration that I imagine FFG want they are really going to need people to buy into the IP. If GW had boxed a little smarter over the years they could have leveraged the 40K IP much more succesfully than they have and instead of watching 'Pacific Rim' we could have been watching Space Marine movies.

RIPferdy wrote:
I live in Seattle, basically the biggest nerd havens of nerd havens with 8+ gaming shops in a 20 min drive.

no one really plays GW games, and each shop has weekly x-wing nights that are thriving. If you havent checked it out, you really should, its great.


And it does kind of stink that sometimes you have to sink $15 or $30 for an xwing update, but those do come with new models, and like everyone has said before, just copy the cards if you want, no one cares. It's just as easy as downloading a sigmar .pdf.

Nobody is saying X-Wing is not popular...it is.

We are commenting on the power creep ship/card system in regards to staying "current" or competitive" does not make X-Wing a "cheap" miniatures game. You are paying $15-90 an update and not playing with those ships (especially if the card appears in the other faction) sometimes as early as after the next release schedule of new ships/cards as it completely changes the "meta" every time. A prime example is the "Fat Han" lists that were popular a few releases back that relied on having the C-3PO card from the Corellian Corvette which is one of the most expensive ships in the line and not even usable in regular 100 point play.

Also, copying the cards is completely different than AoS .pdf files. The files are free and meant to be shared, by copying X-Wing cards you are actually engaging in copyright infringement and breaking copyright law. Lucky for you nobody actually cares to enforce this particular law where you live. Where I live, none of the tournaments will allow you to bring a copied card or a list made purely from an app.

Rune Wars looks to have a similar upgrade system so you WILL be buying a lot of stuff that you won't be using if you want to stay "current" or "competitive". Thus there ARE cheaper alternatives out there that are great gaming systems like Guild Ball, Malifaux, Infinity etc. where you don't have to buy the newest stuff to be on par power level-wise with everyone else.

If your event is part of FFG's organized play system, there will be no copied cards or app generated lists allowed. As for copyright, the only way I see FFG going after the apps and wikis would be if they came out with their own app with actual purchases involved. Till then, their organized play rules ensures they're not really negatively impacted by free apps.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Two words:

Proprietary Dice

A mass wargame with its own special dice. Yeah... no thanks.

Proprietary dice do seem to be their "thing" sadly :(
the real shame is it means that when the game finally goes out of print it's a lot harder to pick it up. I can play the WEG D6 SWRPG easily, or the D20 SW stuff,

10 years after FFG loses the SW lisence? fat chance finding those dice

Nope, it's not actually that big of an issue since Runewars and the setting is their own IP.

Custom dice are fine, likewise, being afraid of something being rendered useless is the same as being afraid your miniatures will be made useless.

Custom dice are a good mechanic that people don't use enough because there isn't a standardized set to use. But the idea behind custom dice does preclude a standard set.