So a bugbear, a werewolf and 3 goblins walk into a bar...

Ok, so there was no bar...not even a tavern. Well then let's just focus on the fact that Reaper has some new members of their Legendary Encounters Pre-painted Plastic minis line coming out this summer. Sweet!

I was over at Spike Page's awesome blog Ubiquitous Orcs, reading a post about Reaper's Warlord tabletop minis skirmish game being released in a new rev (version 2), and I decided it had been a little while since I visited Reaper's site, so I headed over there to see if there were any more details on the new version.

It was then that I saw these:

Bugbear

Werewolf

3 Goblins

"Yes, please. May I have another? And another? And another?"

Man, I freakin' love that Jeff Dee drawing. Always have. That lighthearted halfling looks like he just stopped in from the local frat toga party. Bottoms up!

Ok, so back to the minis: I really like Reaper minis, especially their current pre-painted line, as I am having trouble finding time to sit down and paint the buggers myself....ugh. I have tons of WotC's plastic D&D minis too, but I seem to favor the Reaper minis when they are an option. I've noted on a few occasions my usage of their LE plastic line figs. I especially have gotten some good mileage out of two of these figs for both a Human Cleric of Kord and a Elf Archery-style Ranger that I currently have as 4e characters. Heck, I even used those same two minis when my son and I played Dungeon! the boardgame.

My feelings on the pricing is somewhat mixed. I think $5.79 for 3 goblins is ok - $2 a piece for something you know you are getting, and can plan for your usage requirements isn't too bad.

The Bugbear at $4.99 is getting pricey (I do have a number of Bugbears from WotC - mostly the same guy though, IIRC) but the sculpt and paint job as shown on this new Reaper one looks pretty darn nice.

The Werewolf though, is the real tricky one, IMO. It's listed at $3.99 which unless this thing is sized along their current Minotaur or maybe even Troll's scaling, then that just seems too high to me. I guess I may be skewed a bit on that one, as I also have picked up various werewolves in Heroclix, Mage Knight, and other collectible miniature game used and/or commons bins at local gaming shops and conventions, spending anywhere from 15 cents a piece for the smaller ones to 70 cents in the bigger/nicer versions. Here's one of my cheapos:

Sure, I usually have to re-base those, mostly for cosmetic purposes, but still that makes this Reaper one a bit tough to take. We'll see though. Maybe when I see it for real-realz, I may just have to have it too.

Now, looking back on some older pics I saved off to my HD, I recall that Reaper had previously posted some future releases for the LE pre-paints, including gnolls, kobolds, a mummy, an ettin, a dwarf warrior, a war dog, a succubus, and even a type V demon... err... marilith... err... female demon. In fact they also already had goblins in that list. However those earlier posted guys sported a different paint job. Potential gang wars? Don't wear the wrong color, bro':


Oh, they also have a Giant Spider in the mix too:


But honestly I will likely pass on that one. It's showing a $3.99 price tag, and unless it really blows me away, I will probably stick with my Target $1 bin ones, or some new smaller ones (about half the size of the Target one) that I just snagged for 35 cents each. I bought four of those critters thanks to the advice of Mr. Moldvay:

I guess time will tell. First if these things actually are released or not (like the last "next" batch?), and secondly just how many gold pieces I'll hand over to get me some.

Now, back to the original premise...sorta: If you are ever in a bar/tavern/etc, especially once named after a certain wild animal of a certain color (ie: The Black Stag, The Red Lion, The Purple Worm...hehe), and you see a bugbear, a werewolf, and a trio of goblins come strolling through the front door, I leave you with three simple words of advice (again illustrated *awesomely* by the great Jeff Dee):

"Hit the deck!"