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Attack Of The Miniature Clickies
Thanks to GamerDad for its 'Unplugged' column discussing the phenomenon of 'clickies', miniature collectible RPG figurines with stats included in the figure's base. The article argues of traditional tabletop wargaming: "With the high entrance cost in time and money, it is difficult to bring new people into the hobby. Younger gamers suffer from a lack of cash, while older gamers suffer from a lack of time." These easier, supposedly cheaper alternatives are then evaluated, including lines such as Mage Knight ("As the first 'clicky' game released, it has grown into the largest"), Heroclix ("a decent game with a great theme"), and Lord Of The Rings (praised "for its 'large, messy battle' feel.") But the article ends with a caveat: "My gut instinct is to warn any kid away from all collectible games. Children (and adults) are too easily sucked into a cycle of buying 'just one more' booster pack and hoping they find something great inside."
The incredibly high prices of a miniatures game with the endless buying spree of a collectible card game. Either branch of gaming is a money sink, but when you combine the two...
After selling off my Magic collection 10 years ago I swore never to buy another collectible game ever again, no matter how good it was. It's amazing how many games you can afford to get when you're only buying them once.
Oddly enough, the same philosophy fits computer games (MMPORGS) perfectly as well.
In this case it was to M:TG from 1995-1999. I can't begin to tell you how much time and money I spent on this game. The term 'Cardboard Crack' is very appropriate.
For me first it was the collectable aspect; trying to get complete sets of card. I eventually acquired several. Then it got more into the playing and strategy, acquiring those cards that could complete that 'killer' deck or combo.
But around 1999-2000 my priorities started to change so I sold most of my 'good' cards but still have a huge box left sitting in the bottom of my close. The only rare card I've kept is a Shivan Dragon signed by the artist for somewhat sentimental reasons.....
I've seen my three oldest sons go through similiar 'addictions' with Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and others. The good thing is that my wife and I hold the purse strings for their purchases.
As for the 'clix' type of games; I've played the Battletech version a time or two. It is OK but I really prefer the old map-and-miniature version (another of my gaming addictions).
I play Mechwarrior pretty often. I do have a pretty large collection, but that's mostly because I buy a booster anytime I play the game at a game store (which for awhile, was often 2 - 3 times a weekend). I don't play quite as much anymore, but I still play 2 - 3 tournaments a month, plus a casual game with friends here and there.
I collect pieces solely based on playability. One of the problems plaguing all collectible games is that most figures introduced in expansions simply are not that competitive. I think much of that is just do to the nature of this type of game, but if some company can improve this somehow, I think I'd be pretty quick to hop on board. I'm sitting on a large number of not-very-good pieces that, quite frankly, no one wants.
All that being said, as a game, MW is a great one. It's much cheaper to play competitively than Magic: The Gathering (a typical competitive MtG deck costs $150 - $500). You'd be hard pressed to put together a competitive MW army which costs $150. The rules and pieces are fairly well balanced, and my friends and I continue to find new and interesting strategies. Competition is really what I enjoy about this game, which is why I'm heading to Origins for Nationals in June =]
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
I collect D&D miniatures, which is a collectable game like Mage Knight (except you get the stats on a card). I have yet to play one game with these miniatures using the rules for their game. Instead, I use them in pen and paper campaigns during battles.
For 8 miniatures at $10, they are a very cheap alternative to buying a metal miniature and painting it (and with my painting skills, they usually are better painted).
I remember back in the day, when only limited run boosters were packaged in the foil packs, and the Magic Revised Edition 15 card boosters came in red printed packs with a convenient white border at the top and bottom. Most book and gaming stores that carried them back then, at least around me, let kids pick out their own packs so they could get the "lucky" ones or whatever. That was perfect for the discerning kid like me who wanted a little more for his $3.95 than just a guaranteed number of uncommons and rares.
If you pulled down on the packaging you could force the top border of the cards under the white area near the seal and quite clearly read what the first three or four cards were. Usually whoever was at the counter didn't pay attenttion to what you were doing as long as your hands stayed in the box and didn't go near your pockets. In all I got 2 Shivan Dragons, a Force of Nature, and a couple Sera Angels using that little trick.
But to keep this post a bit more on-topic, I agree, these kinds of games are disgustingly addictive. Even after you have a considerable collection to trade and play from (I have 11 playable magic decks right now, none of them prebuilt decks) you can always seem to find just one more card that will tweek this or that deck's strategy that you just have to spend $5 or $10 or $25 to get it from some uber-dork in a dusty comicbook basement somewhere.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
It's like that dawn of the dead movie, once you're biten, you are lost!. I started with the D&D minis, just because I wanted to get a few cool ones. Now I can't stop, by the way, check out maxminis, a friendly trading community.
Problem is, most minis that are good for RPG use (Ogres, Trolls, Giants, Drow) are good for the Skirmish, so while the RPGers are going to want multiples of those, the Skirmisher wants at least one or two because they are collectors, so it makes some minis very hard to get.
I am considering selling my 300+ collection and switching to using counters. No more collecting, I know exactly what I'm getting (no random stuff) and MUCH cheaper.
To bad Wizards of the Coast is releasing a Star Wars plastic miniature line