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If it makes you feel any better I have started painting my bones models

But yes, their communication has been pretty pants, especially to those still waiting for their Bones and especially, from what I understand, to their Canadian backers.

Pretty stupid they are not putting out announcements left and right keeping people updated. It is a shame as I have always thought Reaper were reasonably good at this kind of thing, and they are now squandering good will in a lot of places.

They might've just been overwhelmed by the massive fulfillment effort, even with their being a company more ready to handle this kind of thing.

I'm looking forward to seeing more Bones in my local shop sometime in the near future!

I like the minis (especially the larger stuff which I thinks works better with the material)

but the communications at the tail end of the process have been horrible and REALLY need to be addressed

although playing devils advocate it's not impossible any domain sending about 20K identical emails as an official reaper update would need to do could indeed have ended up flagged as spam (idiot backer: I've got my stuff, why are they emailing me, flag message as spam),

thus labelling Reaper and or KS as a spam site with some ISPs requiring extensive chasing to get sorted out and Reaper may have been told to stop sending updates because of this

(but since they should have the email addresses of unfulfilled backers it should be possible to just email them alone)

So this happened...

ReaperBryan wrote:
Interestingly, there are several figures that we ourselves felt did not translate successfully. Those figures, while included in rewards as promised (including Undertaker/retail pledges), will not be released to distribution.

I don't have the list in front of me, but thought you all might be pleased to hear that we did a critical evaluation and are pre-canceling several items because they consistently do not meet our quality standards.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
If it makes you feel any better I have started painting my bones models
But yes, their communication has been pretty pants, especially to those still waiting for their Bones and especially, from what I understand, to their Canadian backers.
Pretty stupid they are not putting out announcements left and right keeping people updated. It is a shame as I have always thought Reaper were reasonably good at this kind of thing, and they are now squandering good will in a lot of places.

Yeah, I have mine as well, but that's not the issue. It's everything else you posted, quite rightly.

RiTides - they're simply not communicating. That's a choice. Suggesting that they're so overwhelmed that a 15-minute has been a physical impossibility for the last month+ to trash out an official update, or to even post one on Facebook or their own official forums is ...disingenious. Bryan makes a post every week or two, saying "I know your'e frustrated - we're working on it." which is frankly barely better than CMON/McVey.

Orlando - it's through the KS messaging system, and as I pointed out above, they also have Facebook and their own official channels if they actually wanted to communicate with their backers...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So this happened...

ReaperBryan wrote:
Interestingly, there are several figures that we ourselves felt did not translate successfully. Those figures, while included in rewards as promised (including Undertaker/retail pledges), will not be released to distribution.

I don't have the list in front of me, but thought you all might be pleased to hear that we did a critical evaluation and are pre-canceling several items because they consistently do not meet our quality standards.

So... which models are we stuck with that are gak

 Alfndrate wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So this happened...

ReaperBryan wrote:
Interestingly, there are several figures that we ourselves felt did not translate successfully. Those figures, while included in rewards as promised (including Undertaker/retail pledges), will not be released to distribution.

I don't have the list in front of me, but thought you all might be pleased to hear that we did a critical evaluation and are pre-canceling several items because they consistently do not meet our quality standards.

So... which models are we stuck with that are gak

Juliette, Female Sorceress

Townsfolk: Mom & Kids

Drago Voss, Male Assassin

Ellen Stone

Dita,Steampunk Witch

My own Juliette and Mom & Kids were fine, as was Ellen Stone, but Drago... not so good, and Dita is missing altogether.

The Auld Grump

Dita was great, I thought...

I've still not checked through all of my models... should probably do that

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I've still not checked through all of my models... should probably do that

Same here.

I'm guessing it will be one or two of the large minis with thing legs that may or may not support their weight

(depending on the exact plastic mix used, but they proably can't choose to make them stiffer or they risk tearing during mould release)

the Jaberwocky & Deathsleet seem to be the two with this

and 4-5 of the smaller minis seem to have a fairly high reporting rate for missing noses so I guess they may be for the chop too

although they might be able to fix these by a bit of mould re-cutting depending on whether that bit of the mould never fills or whether the nose is formed then tears off when the mould opens (and whether this surgery would leave the mini with an acceptable 'face')

My Juliette has a flipper arm.
Ellen Stone, and Berkeley have really soft facial detail. Mr Bill quality.
A couple of the Wizards with the devil horn hand gesture came out bad also.
But the other couple hundred minis I got seemed to be just as advertised,
if not better in the case of the Cthulu and Nethermaul.
The Frost Giants were impressive.
I only wish I could have got all the giants and dragons at the time.

I am defiinitely keeping an eye out for stuff at my local now.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
I'm guessing it will be one or two of the large minis with thing legs that may or may not support their weight

(depending on the exact plastic mix used, but they proably can't choose to make them stiffer or they risk tearing during mould release)

the Jaberwocky & Deathsleet seem to be the two with this

and 4-5 of the smaller minis seem to have a fairly high reporting rate for missing noses so I guess they may be for the chop too

although they might be able to fix these by a bit of mould re-cutting depending on whether that bit of the mould never fills or whether the nose is formed then tears off when the mould opens (and whether this surgery would leave the mini with an acceptable 'face')

Sorry - I should have been more clear - the figures that I listed above are the ones to fail the test, no guessing involved. They listed the numbers on the Reaper site.

Deathsleet and the Jabberwock will more likely see a change in formula than a removal from the catalog - they need a firmer plastic, but the detail is coming out fine. They are not among the figures listed for removal.

The listed miniatures, on the other hand do suffer from Missing Face or Fingers Syndrome.

A change in the plastics formula is easier than redesigning the mold, and a lot less expensive.

The Auld Grump

 skrulnik wrote:
My Juliette has a flipper arm.
Ellen Stone, and Berkeley have really soft facial detail. Mr Bill quality.
A couple of the Wizards with the devil horn hand gesture came out bad also.
But the other couple hundred minis I got seemed to be just as advertised,
if not better in the case of the Cthulu and Nethermaul.
The Frost Giants were impressive.
I only wish I could have got all the giants and dragons at the time.

I am defiinitely keeping an eye out for stuff at my local now.

Great to hear

Although I lol'ed at "flipper arm"

that clockwork dragon / Wyrmgear is just awesome... I've built mine and can't wait to get some paint on it

http://www.tabletopwelt.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=214565&stc=1&d=1375966377

I have to sign up and log in at that site to see the pic, maybe upload a copy to the Dakka gallery?

You could just come by my place and see it in person... actually, didn't you already?

I also find that many of the models have abscent noses. Like there is an anime look going on or something. Sort of a bummer.

oh, didn't know ou have to be logged in to see it. sorry for that.

REALLY glad I bought that model!

I can't wait to get my Clockwork Dragon built.

I am afraid my girlfriend is going to steal it though, so I might have to get another one!

I almost started on mine last weekend, but I found it needs a bunch of heating to make the legs line up with the ground. So it got put to the side for now.

 Azazelx wrote:
I almost started on mine last weekend, but I found it needs a bunch of heating to make the legs line up with the ground. So it got put to the side for now.

Mine, too. And the legs keep reverting back even when dunking at rolling boil for 15-20 secs, then ice water while holding straight. I concluded he needs to be based.

I'm going to get a sheet of board from the hardware store and cut to size for the base-needed models.

A couple others are doing the same thing with memory, but not all. Some hold the new configuration after heating just fine, like Cthluhu's wing: perfect with a quick dunk in boiling water.

Edit.- needed a few more words

 Alfndrate wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So this happened...

ReaperBryan wrote:
Interestingly, there are several figures that we ourselves felt did not translate successfully. Those figures, while included in rewards as promised (including Undertaker/retail pledges), will not be released to distribution.

I don't have the list in front of me, but thought you all might be pleased to hear that we did a critical evaluation and are pre-canceling several items because they consistently do not meet our quality standards.

So... which models are we stuck with that are gak

IMO anything with fine details thats on the small end of man size. Bones is great for big things (giants, dragons), and mooks you want a lot of, but I would never use it for a PC or special figure. I have both Ebonwrath and Deathsleet in metal, and dont notice any significant drop in quality, particularly compared to the friggin stupid savings in medium translation. But I do have some metal figs of the medium sized bones, and even a simple basecoat and wash reveals a significant difference. Its simply not worth the 2-3 bucks I'd save on a figure I use every session. But for just throw down dudes (orcs, goblins, undead, lizard men), its awesome. Hopefully Reaper realizes this, and we see more generic monsters in the next release and less PC minis. The villager with a pitchfork and torch, lizardman or gnoll are probably going to sell a crapton more minis than the blacksmith figure.

Incidentally, what paints have you guys had good/bad luck with? I've been priming with Vallejo primers with an airbrush and haven't had any of the stickiness issues some people have reported w other primers. Used P3 and reaper paints, no issue either. But GW metallics (leadbelcher, warplock and chainmail) have been sticky.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 RiTides wrote:

 skrulnik wrote:
My Juliette has a flipper arm.
Ellen Stone, and Berkeley have really soft facial detail. Mr Bill quality.
A couple of the Wizards with the devil horn hand gesture came out bad also.
But the other couple hundred minis I got seemed to be just as advertised,
if not better in the case of the Cthulu and Nethermaul.
The Frost Giants were impressive.
I only wish I could have got all the giants and dragons at the time.

I am defiinitely keeping an eye out for stuff at my local now.

Great to hear

Although I lol'ed at "flipper arm"

Yep, total Thalidomide baby.

I've been priming with automotive primer (unfortunately have to do a double layer due to wanting a white base coat, so I have to prime grey so I know the model is covered, then white over the top).

Had no issues with melting, stickiness or any other problem. I did have a bit of an issue with paint shrinkage but I think that is because I put too much on/did not wait long enough between coats rather than because of the material.

Will let you know if I get any damage from paint strippers when I get round to cleaning them off

I've had poor results when brushing on the Vallejo polyurethane primers as well as Vallejo GC "Extra Opaque" (ie Not-Foundation). Haven't tried every shade of either, but no luck with either so far.

After laying down the first coats with a layer or two of Foundation, all is good in the world. Also, super-thinned-down liquid green stuff works very well as well(!)

 Alfndrate wrote:

So... which models are we stuck with that are gak

Actually, I'm going to recycle a post mate to a mate on another forum who got seriously frustrated with Bones in general and Ebonwrath specifically - which I will recycle again at some stage when I take some pics of finished Bones for my Blog...


I haven't looked closely at many of mine yet, bit I figure it's all in the attitude, brah. I knew that Bones would be good for cheap gaming figures and not something to do my best work on, so I'm using them to "play" with. I know I've been gak for photos recently (midwinter does that, since I tend to use natural light), but I've painted the Crypt-coffin and "iron" golem using a copper and verdigris wash technique a bit different to what I've done before. They look quite reasonable as finished figures - more than fine for Pathfinder-ing, and I got in some good practice on figures I just don't care all that much about. The Iron Golem had gak-awful details on the chain, pouch and bag on his butt, so I just knocked them up quickly and decided not to worry about them much. I have a couple finished models that are fine for gaming, and was good practice on that particular verdigris technique on two different kind of models (armour vs flat "scenery" surfaces). The pre-KS $3 Bones troll I painted turned out merely "okay" (and the Army Painter varnish fethed it up), but I got some good practice in blending human-ish skin tones into troll-green, which will do me well when I paint something like a new $20 GW troll down the line. The mushy details on both the Iron Golem and that Troll prevent them from ever being able to be showpiece models, but I got what I wanted out of both - decent RPG miniatures and practice on a specific technique/look. I know you did the same with the Bones Ogre you painted awhile back.

Now I'm painting the "clay golem" as a Carnage Demon (inspired here) because I'm wanting to play with reds on large organic areas and blending up and down. Deciding whether to to go orangey, or pinky. Going down to a dark cadmium red or even black in parts. (If I'd painted him a "normal" flesh tone it'd be all about practicing freehand tattoos). Next will be the stone golem because I want to play with sandstone looks, and chipped/weather-worn paint (on his skirt). Rather than concentrating on getting a great model, the price allows me to just use them as figures to play with and experiment on. - it doesn't mean I'm trying for a gak result, but "okay" and "decent" are good enough.

FWIW, For a bones figure that does paint up very well, I finished my two purple worms a few weeks ago. I'm surprised at how well they turned out.

My best advice would be to use them not as your top-flight display figures, but technique-practice models. You might luck out on some and be happy with them as both. I'm going to use them for a combo of that, stuff to use as I teach my wife to paint, and semi-speed-painted gaming models for Pathfinder. When something turns out to be a whole bunch of fun or finishes as an awesome model as well as one of the other criteria, that's a bonus.

Furry figures like the Owlbear? Practice painting fur, countershading, paint washes, ink washes, ink glazes, oil washes. The rats - practice snouts and the transition between the pinkish bits like the snout/ears/feet/tails and the black/grey/white parts of the fur. Use the skeletons to practice different shades of bone (yellowed vs whitened). Lots of practice canvases for different types of cloth and if you like, freehand on all those adventurers - I know you were talking about not enjoying painting white. Coat D'Arms has a shade called "unbleached wool", and P3 have their Menoth White shades. Use these as trial fodder.

Not to get all telling you what to do and gak, just suggestions based on what I plan to do with some of them.



And I've noticed that htis thread has now made it's way from Misc Miniature Games across to Dakka Discussions....

 Azazelx wrote:
I've had poor results when brushing on the Vallejo polyurethane primers as well as Vallejo GC "Extra Opaque" (ie Not-Foundation). Haven't tried every shade of either, but no luck with either so far.

I've found the brush on Vallejo primer went on perfectly and stuck really well. I did wash the figure in soap & water and let it thoroughly dry first though.

Liquitex acrylic gesso is going on great on bones as well.

Which one? I'm using the large 200ml bottles of Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer (which brushes onto normal plastic and metal models without a problem). I've tried Panzer Grey and possibly one or two others but I've forgotten which one(s).

I have the grey Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer. I've used it on about 10 bones miniatures so far, but the gesso works even better on the bones material.

The lighter grey (just called "Grey"), or the darker (Panzer) one? It's the latter that didn't work well for me, so far. Though I'd have expected them to all work equally well or badly, with just the pigments being different.

I haven't got any Gesso. I'll pick some up next time I do a Blick order. I need to replace my MIA Series 7 000 brush, and get some S7s for the wife as well. Maybe some brush soap as well.

The light grey.

The gesso I'm using is liquitex stuff that gets recommended whenever gesso is talked about as a primer. I've also tried cheaper store brands and discount brands and they ended up getting used up as terrain primer.