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Working on a plan for next year. One of the things i want to do is a Advent Calendar. Mostly since i have never seen a model company do one before. The calender would have 24 different models. So here is my question i would like to pass on to you guys and gals, what would you like in the Calendar? Here is a list i would like to limit this idea to, please put your vote in the comments the one with the most votes is the one i will make for next year.

1- Holiday Theme - 24 Man-sized models that are based on or around the Christmas holiday. Things like Santa, Krampus, Snowmen, Jack Frost, guys from the Christmas Carol that kind of thing.

2 - Native Theme - 24 man-sized or smaller models from all over the the Americas and Polynesia. This set would include Warriors/ Heroes, Shaman/ Wizards, Man-sized or smaller spirit beasts, and Gods/Goddesses that fit in to what Paymaster Games is currently doing

3 - Classic Fantasy - 24 man-sized or smaller models that fill your traditional fanasy tropes.This set would include Warriors/ Heroes, Wizards, Man-sized or smaller monsters. Think about it this way this would be your D&D dungeon crawl in a box.

4- Slimes - A set 24 of randomly themed Slime Models. These models are Man sized and can cover your needs for Hero, villians and NPC that you man need on the table top.

5 - A solid mix of random stuff.

Please do not just like, i really do need a vote here.
Paymaster Games

That's difficult. I like the idea of some Chrismasy figures that also have other uses. Which kind of leads to me tending towards a nativity scene. But given that that's not an option I would either go for the classic fantasy theme for wide appeal or for a mix of random stuff for similar reasons.

Will these be metal or SioCast?

If SioCast, I’d say Native. There are lots of companies putting out Christmas minis and Fantasy minis, but I can’t think of anyone putting out Polynesians (in plastic or resin).

Holiday themed would be just as a painting project. On-theme for the season, but not very practical. Classic fantasy is a lot more useful.

 Dolnikan wrote:
That's difficult. I like the idea of some Chrismasy figures that also have other uses. Which kind of leads to me tending towards a nativity scene. But given that that's not an option I would either go for the classic fantasy theme for wide appeal or for a mix of random stuff for similar reasons.

'Dungeon nativity scene' i find strangely compelling. You could either go the practical route and have the various parts of the scene be useful miniatures by themselves, like pack and draft animals, 3 generic wise persons, innkeepers, shepherds and so on, or go the more comedic route and have the crib be a mimic, have gold, frankincense and myrrh elementals and stuff like that. The comedic option would be cooler, but may not be practical for you if you are at all afraid of hurting some peoples religious feelings.

Also: Gelatinous Crib. Just think about it. Gelatinous. Crib.

Dungeon Nativity could be fun.

But I’d also point you to Silly And Characterful things. In GW terms, I’d be thinking festive Gobbos, Squigs or Nurglings.

Not necessarily of a specific in-game use, but highly characterful things which attract attention and demand to be painted.

Just in case, you guys see he wrote “native” and not “nativity”, right?

I like the Native theme. It'd be nice to get an assortment of islanders and plainsmen all in one place, especially if they're representing multiple cultures.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Just in case, you guys see he wrote “native” and not “nativity”, right?

I think the discussion of nativity is under the umbrella of “holiday themed” Instead of 24 random snowmen, santas, reindeer etc, you go with a tighter theme, and at the end of the month your advent calendar is now now a nativity scene that you can break out every year.

Which is frankly more compelling to me then just a holiday wintery mix.

This might be a cultural misunderstanding on my part, but I thought Santa, snowmen, etc. were all excluded from nativity scenes.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
This might be a cultural misunderstanding on my part, but I thought Santa, snowmen, etc. were all excluded from nativity scenes.

Generally yes? Nativity scenes are generally Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, 3 wise men, some livestock/critters.

The idea of doing that as an advent calendar was not in the OP, but one that just kinda tangented off.

You could do a "holy month" calandar, featuring priests from the various different religions with a holiday around this time - starting of with the good ol' catholic/orthodox/protestant priests (or witch hunters to spice it up) to Roman priests of Saturn (Io, Saturnalia!), ancient Judean priests etc.

Those could be mixed in with figures of holiday season lore, such as Krampus, a Christmas Elf (though I'm imagining Legolas in a Santa Elf hat more than the little toy builders - but maybe both?) and things like that.

Hopefully that would give people incentive to get a holiday themed grouping of essentially character piece minis that would still be useful.

I'd vote for a mix of options 1-3.

I've vote for a mix of Christmas and classical fantasy. Basically classical fantasy with a winter theme. A dude in fur with a beard who could be painted red as Santa or another color as some sort of druid/ranger of the far north.

An elf with tools who could be a toy maker or a craftsman.

Some stuff like an animated snow golem, a sled, a reindeer, again can be Christmas or winter or fantasy. Travelers in cloaks, two people singing, other diorama characters could round it out.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Just in case, you guys see he wrote “native” and not “nativity”, right?

Yep, i was discussing a nativity scene under point 1, the holiday themed stuff.

Native-themed content of course could be cool as well, but i'm not sure how big of an appeal they would have. Polynesian and Melanesian cultures are almost totally absent from the miniature market bar some historical miniatures.

 Nevelon wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
This might be a cultural misunderstanding on my part, but I thought Santa, snowmen, etc. were all excluded from nativity scenes.

Generally yes? Nativity scenes are generally Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, 3 wise men, some livestock/critters.

The idea of doing that as an advent calendar was not in the OP, but one that just kinda tangented off.

Around here, collecting extensive - and expensive - nativity scene sets is a thing old people do, usually in the form of either hand-crafted wood figures or in porcelain. In most cases, you start with the 'core cast' and add more and more outlandish stuff over the years, including angels, exotic animals and so on. My grandmothers set is at around 30 figures, and includes a fully detailed manger, complete with light and sound installations

Wouldn’t the under-representation of Polynesian and Melanesian minis be a good reason TO sell them?

I’m really confused by Kid “Reaper Minis” Kyoto wanting them to make more of what Reaper already sells and compete directly with Reaper in both Christmas and Fantasy categories, where Reaper has huge back catalogs in both metal and Bones. There’s already plenty more of the same out there.

I guess my association with the name “Paymaster Games” is “they make Pre-Colombian natives from the Americas and the Pacific”. I wouldn’t ever look to them for a Wizard, elf or Santa. And if I had ever found them by searching for wizards, elves or Santas, I’d find a very limited range that would not encourage me to load up the cart for free shipping.

Advent calendars would be expensive to produce as you have the extra material and packaging so I'd guess Paymaster wants to find something that would actually be profitable for him to sell?

Even though Reaper minis has similar stuff they don't see an advent of it all and would appeal to the widest audience -- D&D players.

I misunderstood that he meant a physical advent calendar. I assumed he meant an online promotional advent calendar, like so many other companies have. (I had just come from TTcombat’s advent calendar site, so that flavored my reading.). Yeah, I’ll agree for a physical advent calendar aimed at the larger gaming market, generic fantasy is likely the best way to go. I don’t believe it will lead to knock on sales as it would be so removed from his existing product range as to render it useless as advertising, but for sheer “what do we get for that kid who likes Warhammer gak, the one who’s so annoying to shop for” factor, generic fantasy archetypes is great.

Until amazon sells a “Calandar of Advantage”with a set of 40 similar minis for $28 that pops up first in searches.

A physical advent calendar would need to be in customer hands by early December, right? He’d have to have it available in November to take orders, then make and ship them all in a matter of days, or else have them premade and risk not selling enough?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
This might be a cultural misunderstanding on my part, but I thought Santa, snowmen, etc. were all excluded from nativity scenes.

I mean, at least since the kids came along, in my house the nativity scene tends to include Santa, Batman, Lego, and at least one giant plastic lizard. Can't speak for everyone else, though.



On topic - I do like the idea of the 'Native' theme, as something that there isn't a lot out there of already. If you make it an ongoing thing, then choosing a different regional theme each year would keep it fresh.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


I’m really confused by Kid “Reaper Minis” Kyoto wanting them to make more of what Reaper already sells and compete directly with Reaper in both Christmas and Fantasy categories, where Reaper has huge back catalogs in both metal and Bones. There’s already plenty more of the same out there.

Well the question here is what would sell for an Advent Calendar. If I'm buying one I expect some sort of Christmas theme, but in order to make models that can be sold all year long I would make them generic enough that they won't sit for 11 months a year.

I've never run a miniatures business, so take any advice from me with a grain of salt, but that's my feeling.

That being said I would really recommend Reaper consider an advent calendar next year. The only investment would be packaging, they have more than enough figures to fill it. Limited edition, numbered run to limit risk, yeah. that could work.

Ok thank you for your feedback. I have an idea of what i want to do.

A different question is up for discussion. How much are you willing to pay for a gamer advent calendar?

You will get 24 models (Metal or SioCast, they are the same price). I the rough costs in front of me. I just want to see what i would have to sell it for matches what you guys are willing to pay.

Thanks for your Feedback

$100 would be an easy purchase for the novelty and if there were at least a few minis I liked -- but I'm not sure that price point is ever realistic now days for that many models as well as the packaging at the volume you'd likely have.

I'd go up to $150 if really liked the majority of the minis.

It’s been a while since I picked up random minis. No idea what a single sculpt from a non-GW source is. I also tend to think of prices from a few decades ago, so add salt as needed.

When I buy minis for wargames, $4-6 a pop is not bad. 10 in a box, boxes are 40-60, works out. Very dependent on size, detail, use etc. 24 minis at 4ish is 100 bucks. Assuming I liked most of them, I might pay that.

Now one of the issues with bundle deals is that it’s only a discount if you want everything. If I look at the advent calendar you are offering, and think some of them are crap I’m not interested, the price per model of the remaining minis goes up. At some point it crosses the “nope” threshold. And with bundles, I expect at least a little deal over buying things a la carte.

You also have the sticker shock if you price it too high. For some minis, $10 a pop is reasonable. But would I pay $240 for a batch of them in a holiday wrapper? Even if I would pay that individually? Nope. Too rich for one shot, especially around the holidays when I need to save.

It’s hard to give hypothetical prices for a theoretical product. $50-60 is approaching the range where as long as I thought a handful of things in the set were cool, I might grab it just for the fun/novelty/painting project. Not impulse buy range, but not at the point where I’m thinking about what else I could be spending the money on. $75-100 i might go for it if I liked the bulk of the contents. That’s a chunk of hobby budget in one place.

2-5 is out. Either too specific or competes against less expensive stuff.

Reaper's Xmas metal models are $10 each. So a bundle at a lower price would be more appealing. But, even with Christmas, you have different audiences: comedy, cute, fantasy versions.

I’d pay the metal model prices for specific minis in SioCast, especially the blinged-out character minis. But what are the odds I want every mini in the calendar? Not 100%, so the price would have to be more attractive.

I agree that $50 or $60 is a good price.

So Magister Militarum already do a nativty / advent set, here : https://www.magistermilitum.com/christmas-nativity-set.html

It's a very traditional nativity set in 24 pieces so you can open and paint them during advent, but without them being explicitly packaged as such.


I don't think you'd be competing with them (or I wouldn't have linked), but a similar pack of low fantasy minis that you could use for a Christmas scene, generic fantasy or winter fantasy would work.

A lot of the Frostgrave players would snap up a 24-pack of mixed Christmas monsters, scenery and crew.