Reaper Bones Review

[TrystanGST]

I'm sure a lot of you Kickstarter backers have been scouring YouTube for reviews of the casting material, and may even be a bit disconcerted by what you've seen (I know I was). So I went to my LGS store and bought a few of the Bones that are currently available to see what the fuss was about.

It's true. The stuff is very flexible. Everything I've seen has been cast as one piece. I don't think that will be the case for some of the largest kits (think dragons), but it will certainly cut down on prep time. I haven't seen any flash, and very few mold lines. A little trimming/scraping will fix that. It didn't seem to sand well. The polymer will hold plenty of detail for your D&D/rank and file troops, but I'm not sure it's going to be able to measure up to resin, or even some of GW's sharper plastics. Think old school metal.

I'm not sure how to straighten bent bits, as I didn't play with it too much. Reaper claims it's ready to paint out of the box. I guess all minis really are, but we prime them anyways. I painted one of my skeletons fresh from the packet. I'll let him cure overnight and report back tomorrow how that holds up.

One last thing - price. Wow. I got a minotaur that's about the size of a GW ogre for $3.50. I got a pack of 3 skeleton spearmen for $5.00.

I don't see this replacing the high end resin kits any time soon, but as an army filler and tabletop supplement, it's right on the money. Come on March!

P.S. - I'll put up some pics tomorrow. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask here or via PM.

[marjedi]

The are roleplaying game miniatures, and are not really requires to be epic all the time.

But they are really cheap.

[boubi]

Perfect for training painting skills... I bought it for that. Different mini types and style to train my painting skills (fast painting mostly). And I am sure that at the end it will look quite good. I plan to paint few of them in the coming year and let my son play with them. I believe he will like it.

[me_in_japan]

Thanks for the review, Trys I'm with everyone else on this - for the price they're charging, as long as the minis don't look like a piece of chewing gum scraped off the bottom of a shoe and then blasted with a ten gauge, I'll be a happy camper. I'm sure they won't be top-end high detail minis, but that's not what they're being marketed as (unlike certain other manufacturers who do market shoe-gum as high end miniatures...)

[Pygmalion]

I got some to try as well.

There was a little flash on one, but it was easy to remove with a little paring with an exacto knife. The plastic is soft and flexible, but not that soft and flexible.

The detail is a little less crisp than on Reaper's metal minis of the same models. Up close it looks a little waxy and like a candle version of the pewter ones. It's not up to competition level, I guess, but it's still pretty impressive.

I primed as well, even if they say you don't have to.

The price is low enough to make armies plausible.

[TrystanGST]

Exactly my thoughts too. I was mistaken about the one piece cast. The Minotaur is actually 4 pieces, pre assembled. The paint that I put on the skeleton last night is staying put, even with my twisting and bending the hell out of it. Reaper has made some excellent table top minis.

[Dedwrekka]

Exactly my thoughts too. I was mistaken about the one piece cast. The Minotaur is actually 4 pieces, pre assembled. The paint that I put on the skeleton last night is staying put, even with my twisting and bending the hell out of it. Reaper has made some excellent table top minis.

That last part was my concern. I bought a hell of a lot of them on the kickstarter I'd hate to get them and find that the paint cracks when you move it or bend it

[freakinacage]

I bought some of the first lot when they came out. I think it's rubbish for smaller/thinner things (although great if you just want, as mentioned, filler material) but for stuff like the purple worm, it is superb. Clean is minimal which is good as it's a pain with the placcy. I had a couple of pieces that seemed to have been glued together and have held. Dunno if they were pinned and whether this will be the norm, but they seem sturdy enough. They paint up a treat

[Pygmalion]

They don't pin them, but they do preassemble them, with superglue apparently. They announced that that is going to be standard for the Bones line.

There was some discussion of this on the Reaper forums. Basically if you wish to pin it or adjust the positioning, you're going to have to cut it apart first. This isn't too difficult, actually.

There was also some talk about straightening bent weapons with hot water and setting, or inserting one's own pins, but I haven't tried any of that since my figures are just fine.

I did wonder how the plastic would hold for fairly thin weapon blades, though.

[freakinacage]

I'd imagine it's too wobbly. i had the warg with morning star thing and ended up replacing it with a maul from heresy

[TrystanGST]

That last part was my concern. I bought a hell of a lot of them on the kickstarter I'd hate to get them and find that the paint cracks when you move it or bend it

I can report that it doesn't. I spent all day bending the heck out of the skeleton, and even scratched at it with my thumb nail. Paint stayed put. And this was without primer.

[StillLifeMiniatures]

That's good to know. I bought into the kickstarter without really thinking the material would be bendy. When I found out I was worried that I just bought a ton of crap but it seems to be a good product. I'm looking forward to getting the big beasties.

[TrystanGST]

That's good to know. I bought into the kickstarter without really thinking the material would be bendy. When I found out I was worried that I just bought a ton of crap but it seems to be a good product. I'm looking forward to getting the big beasties.

Me too. That's why I bought a few, and more importantly why I posted this.

[Pygmalion]

The main thing to remember if you do prime Reaper Bones (because that's okay), is don't use solvent-based enamels such as Krylon primer, which can soften the plastic and make it sticky and unworkable.

Water-based acrylic primers work just fine, if you feel the need to prime.

[PegaZus]

The main thing to remember if you do prime Reaper Bones (because that's okay), is don't use solvent-based enamels such as Krylon primer, which can soften the plastic and make it sticky and unworkable.

Water-based acrylic primers work just fine, if you feel the need to prime.

***slowly moves his foot over to the cabinet and toes the rattle can under the desk***


Didn't think about the enamel primer. Thanks! And since they aren't supposed to need primer, I'm going to go crazy trying not to. Maybe I'll pretend that they are preprimed. Yeah. That works.

Until I stick some GS on 'em. Guess its the brush-on for me then.

[Einion]

They don't pin them, but they do preassemble them, with superglue apparently. They announced that that is going to be standard for the Bones line.

There was some discussion of this on the Reaper forums. Basically if you wish to pin it or adjust the positioning, you're going to have to cut it apart first. This isn't too difficult, actually.

Freezing might be a better option, this may allow the joints to be snapped apart with relative ease.

I can report that it doesn't. I spent all day bending the heck out of the skeleton, and even scratched at it with my thumb nail. Paint stayed put. And this was without primer.

Good to know, thanks.

Einion