Reaper is solidly my favorite mini company. I live in the same town as the factory and have gotten to speak to a lot of the employees and artists of the company and they are all so nice and helpful. Reaper does an EXCELLENT job of engaging with their fans and taking suggestions through their forums and discord communities about the kinds of models we want to see. I also love their paint range and always recommend their company to start for beginning painters. And they also run a small yearly convention for reaper fans where you can meet and hangout with other painters of all skill levels as well as meet a lot of the sculptors and studio painters for the company. The Reaper community is one of the biggest reasons I have continued painting and gotten better at it.
The thing about Battletech is that its core fantasy is, frankly, 40 years old. The rest of the industry has passed it by, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s really, really great! But that all speaks to the miniature quality. It’s not trying to go after each mini being a tool for self expression, or a tool to push yourself as a painter. It’s about painting a big stompy military sci fi mech and rolling lots of dice and checking result tables to see what happened. It’s simply not trying to be like everyone else.
@@Acsabi44 40k Is 37 going on 38 yrs old, Batletech is 3 years older than 40k, GW is a mini company with a game and btech is a game company. Two totally different focus's (you dont need minis to play battletech many people play with cardboard cutouts or megamek online using 2d pixel art) He should have ranked Ironwind Metals who make battletechs metal minis (still would rate low) but those box sets are intentionally low detail relatively cheap mass produced minis and were meant to be.
I was just thinking of the cardboard standees and the old Ral Partha metal minis for battletech. The art and sculptures were all over the place. Also, the wizkids click bases of the Dark Age era were, IMO, absolute... trash. So, as a range of minis for Battletech, the new plastics are streets ahead compared to the older minis. Also, they are getting more dynamic poses, and Catalyst is toying around with optional parts for minis. Also, all of the minis are still valid, I can put the card board standee, Ral Partha, Iron Wind, and Catalyst minis all on the same board at the same time. Could the Catalyst minis be better, yes. Are they as bad as described, no. I know, typical Minnesota nice.
I will also shout out how accesible Battletech is from a miniatures standpoint. You can crack open a force pack, with 4 prebuilt mechs with stats included and put them right on the game table and get started. Also 4 mechs is a pretty standard size for a force. The ease of purchase to play is incredible. I would personally like to see some more dynamic poses though, and some of the edges and details could definitely be sharper but that does seem to be getting better with time.
I live in Fort Worth Tx, went up to the Old reaper factory (this was around when bones was on kickstarter). I asked and they gave me a small factory tour and even let me take a picture of their first test print of the Tiamat model (they just asked I not post on social media until it was officially announced). They were awesome guys to talk to and you could tell their passion for DnD and tabletop games was everywhere. Also got to play a MTG pre-release there since they had their own attached games store.
They were about 15 minutes away from where I lived in Carrollton, TX. They are such a warm and friendly company, made up of wonderful people who really love the hobby--and I think their minis reflect that. I make up a background or story for every mini I paint, and Reaper minis really invite that, with their human-sculpted figures. There are no game rules or aesthetics to consider; you just paint everything the way you want to paint it, without feeling guilty about it. Their high-end large monsters often cost less than a single GW model, and little, if any, assembly is required! I may be biased by the friendliness of the company, but I've been painting Reaper minis since the beginning, and going back to them is always a pleasure!
So many companies that didn't get a mention, there's enough for a part 2 to this: Modiphius (Fallout: Wasteland Warfare); Oathsworn (Burrows&Badgers); Goblin King (Moonstone); Iron Wind (Battletech metal minis); Mantic (Kings of War)
Add to that list North Star (Frostgrave, Stargrave, Oathmark), Atlantic Games (various fantasy and sci-fi that aren't WH/40K honest, guvnor!), Warlord Games (2000AD games, Mythic America, Warlords of Erewhon, Gates of Antares).
This was tremendously useful. My niece recently told me she was interested in getting into miniature painting and I had no idea where to start looking. I found lists of places, of course, but none of the lists actually went into detail about what you'd be getting. So, this was great, thank you!
Kingdom Death: Monster also has it's Black Friday sale coming up this month. The game and kits will be for sale at a DEEP discount at midnight EST on Black Friday for those interested.
Agree with most of the list but I would knock GW down to an A+ max (the price and the core infantry same body weakness) and bump up CB as the infinity sculpts are just top notch, they are the most dynamic and unique on the market (maybe only comparable to KDM) so Id move them up to A tier at least. Sure, GW does better large miniatures but man are the Infinity regular size (which is small, yes) just absolutely amazing. I know the list would get exponentially long with how many BG minis are now available but I think some large ones that could easily be included are; Knight Games (really surprised this one isn't here especially with atomic mass), Monolith (MB, Conan, batman, etc), Dimension Games (their celestial resin is amazing), Into the Unknown (a KDM competitor, especially their LE resin craft boxes), Shadowborn Games (small sample but Oathsworn models are amazing), Limbo Miniatures (similar to Dimension Games), Go On Board (their Witcher models are fantastic and CP 2077 look to be just as good), Reggie Games (their large monsters are top notch), Awaken Realms (OK sculpts but they have mega diversity), Ludus Magnus Studio (OK, but they have some fantastic model and some resin), Lazy Squire Games (terrible company, great sculptors), Archon Studios and infinite other BG companies. You could probably just make a video dedicated to BG minis that's 5x as long as this one.
i hope they keep up thier success so people look at them in comparison with these others. I think they are GREAT quality for the price, but i'm not going to say they are quite where GW are, but i think they ARE a much better value!
Yeah, Wyrd games models are expencive but with just few boxes you have a playable group. For a busy dude it's great that you get different armies ready to play relatively fast. Biggest downside are assembling and how some minis don't even fit on their bases.
CMON actually started out as a mini painting review site, AFAIK. Not a board game manufacturer. People would upload their painted mini and ask, Cool mini or not?
As someone who started painting with Wizkids Nolzur’s minis and thought I was a shit painter for years because of them, I agree with every word here. They’re only good for a terrible painting experience and are generally awful. Just buy Reaper.
Just a FYI Jon, a lot of Marvel characters have very different costumes in different comic runs, so you can usually go "off script" from the most popular scheme into a less popular or even wholly unique scheme.
No reason you can't give your take on a character as well, just like the comic book artists do when taking on a book. One of the great things in comics is when artists do that, also how we get some new characters as well! Go nuts with it!
As a DnD player, I love Epic Encounters. Cause you get a thematic set. Need some goblins? Sure, here are some spear warriors, spellcasters, etc. Skeletons? Sure, here's a handfull. And they are durable, highly reusable.And the Hydra boss - it's gorgeous!
I just built my first GW minis. Ork Kommandos. I am about to prime them but all I can think is, “these aren’t built to paint. How am I going to get my brush past all these things I glued on?!?” I am about to see what it’s really like but I am not sure that More Detail Bits = a better mini.
Start out worrying about the skin, weapons, and armor. If you come out the gate fixating on the greebles, you'll ruin your enjoyment. Jon is a mini painter first and foremost. You don't hear him glowingly relate his recent gaming experiences. He's overwhelmingly concerned with the process of painting minis for display. You're concerned with putting a mini on the table to get shot by an Ultramarine.
@@fenreer01 I am going to zenithal hi-light then give contrast paints a try on the skin followed by airbrush glazing. Once the skin is done I am just going to start “working my way out” clothes, then weapons, then little bits. I am just worried about getting to all the places on the skin to begin with. I guess I will know in a week or so what it is really like.
@christopherkelly9153 a size 3 or 4 synthetic round brush will be your friend for contrast paint. Big enough to hold paint, small enough to not slop everything all over.
@@kaynadinstilleverge3843 They do but they are non-heroic 28mm no? I was a bit disappointed with how small they were when I backed a few of their campaigns.
@@forouza1 maybe earlier campaigns were. Their latest is 32mm scale. I'd have to set some of my minis side by side to see just how much larger newer ones are overall.
Newer Para Bellum plastics are much better quality than the ones you had. The art direction is still a bit iffy, but the plastic is approaching GW quality.
Ahgawd, it is not. Bought a box of the most recent stuff (mech spartans and djinns) and engineering and soft edges, poorly fitted pieces on bigger models. They are years behind GW and I don’t even play any GW games.
I originally got into painting miniatures with Battletech back in the 90's after playing the original Activision Mechwarrior game. Those old Ral Partha figures were pretty good quality for the time and I could afford one every few weeks with my allowance as a kid. I still have and occasionally paint one of those figures for the nostalgia. I love Battletech for the fun it gave me over the years but I can also accept that it has struggled to keep up with changes in the game industry.
I nearly totally agree on the list, but I personally would put corvus belli on an a+/s-. There cool designs gave me my painting spirit back. Morats are the best
I think pricing needs to be more of a factor in overall score. GW gets an A+ for quality for most stuff but a F for price. A grade of a C for quality but it only costs under $10 for the mini is way more appealing.
I will never understand how a metal miniature is a pain to put together when its like 1-3 pieces but a plastic miniature with two halves for a chest, two arms with detached hands, a weapon, two legs, and one random foot on a tactical rock or tiny parts like pistols in holsters, capes and backpacks is "easy to work with". Oh and all those tiny details in brittle plastic? AMG is notorious for this. Try assembling Toad and not breaking his tongue. Or X-23/Honey badger and not breaking their claws (And don't get me started on how honey badges HEAD is 3 tiny pieces.)
This! Plastic is so fiddly and so easy to mess up. Oops! I just cut of that tiny bit because I breathed at the wrong time. Try getting rid of mold lines on plastic is always a chore too.
Regarding the battletech models. I had the exact same wish as you as i come from 40k. However after meeting many battletech players, that prebuilt static model is a HUGE selling point for them.
98% of my none 3d printed minis are Reaper. I have always loved Reaper minis. I agree with you about them having personality and I think it is because they are hand sculpted. Someone put part of themselves when sculpting them. And I agree with them being a B because of the quality of some of them, maybe a B+. I also agree with everything you said about Wizkids minis being crap, If F- was a grade it is what I give Wizkids. What sucks is that my local store has slowly progressed from selling Reaper to Wizkids because they are the "official" minis for Wizards. It has gotten to the point that I have to order mine from Reaper directly.
12:39 I think the thing that impressed me about ParaBellum isn't just their mini quality, it's how far they've come in such a short amount of time. Their first kits, like the 100k Men At Arms, are super rough, on round sprues with massive gates and fairly soft details. Comparing that to some newer minis, like the elite cavalry options, the difference is might and day. The sprue is better, the gates are smaller, and overall quality is massively better. And it's a difference of 6-7 years, I think? They may not be up to GW standards, but with the pace at which they're improving, I honestly don't think it'll be long before they get there!
I'm currently assembling and painting dudes and dudettes for a role-playing campaign in the LotR universe, and the choice is over-fricking-whelming. This video is a god-send, my man!
Something that Para Bellum does that I think everyone should get in on is putting numbers on the pieces themselves. So a lot of the newer kits say you have 3 bodies on a sprue, all the pieces that go to that body (say torso halves) all have a 1, 2, or 3 obviously on the mini in a place that you won't see once assembled. So convenient.
By no means a defense for Conquest is that their quality got at least 2x better with their 3rd faction, but more importantly their hero models are resin and are some of the best models you will find!
You should review newer Para Bellum models. The Steel Legion are the first kit they released 5 years ago. They also can look a bit static because they are made for a rank and file game. Also their resin is probably the best in the industry.
ninjon has some weird takes here, he sometimes factor in price yet all the higher tier models are absurdly expensive compare to what archon/para-bellum produces....
Lowkey, Jon should have bought a recent mini from each range so that his bias was up to date. Like bringing a 1st Edition AoS Liberator to a current discussion on minis.
-Archon studios is fantastic and have grown a ton in a short amount of time. I think they also make the conquest minis. Stick with their kickstarter and dungeons& lasers line for the best value! -I know CMON is represented but I love their miniatures from their OoP line wrath of kings. Quirky, detailed enough, simple to build, and great to paint. -I really love bones for the value, epic encounters for the story telling, and Wargame Atlantic for simplicity and bits.
I've found CMON to be pretty good quality. I've painted all of Ankh and I'm currently working my way though Marvel United. Super fun to paint, and the cost is very low per mini, as low as $1.06 per mini depending how and where you purchase them. Also, has the quality of GW mini improved recently? It's been a while since I painted them, but I always found them to be pretty average.
I think the Reaper metal mini's are pricewise of higher tier. What's your opinion of the metal mini's from Reaper, cuz you showed a dwarf with pints! and talked about plastics and such...
CMoN is a joke. I ordered a copy of Super Dungeon Explore and the Forgotten King expansion. One of the player minis was missing an arm and their customer support told me I was simply out of luck.
I have to say, the newest conquest models are exponentially better than the old sprues. I recommend checking out anything from the newer factions to see the improvement.
My dude, build an MCP or Shatterpoint model and raise that ranking. Especially the newer kits from the last year or so and you’ll see that the models have minimal mold lines, details are sharp, and gaps are nearly nonexistent. They are beautiful to paint and you can frequently adjust colors as you wish, especially with MCP. Do that tonal underpainting you do on Namor or the new mutants or Shadow King and promise you’ll raise that grade to at least a solid A if not low S.
14:47 Based AC 6 use. But that really does make me feel like their should 100% be a miniature war game of Armored Core especially with added customization of parts. You could have a skirmish game of 3 or 4 AC’s and ordered parts individually with arms, legs, chest, booster, etc. all being ordered separately so that you could build out your individual AC’s along the in game specs and those specs would apply to movement or damage or range on the table
Cool video. I disagree about the Kingdon Dead models, more in terms of availability than quality of workmanship. Because of that I wouldn't give them such a high place, but I understand that you like the game :) Best regards
CMON plastic is one of the things the GW mold line remover felt pretty good. Using a modelling knife felt like you do more damage than remove mold lines. Don't know if there is any logic or science to that, just my opinion.
19:05 as far as I understand they avoid actual sharp / spiky details on their min's, so they abide by laws for selling toys to kids (which are pretty strict). Fun fact, that's also why there mold removing tool is blunt.
I found a good white metal miniature company for plenty of unique fantasy minis. They're called Midlam Miniatures. A UK company and if you need relatively cheap metal townsfolk it's excellent for it.
I bought that Reaper Brewmaster a couple weeks ago because I found it so charming. So funny to see it in this video. Also, I've become a big fan of the Frostgrave/stargrave minis. Not the world's best plastic, but the price is right and they're really customizable.
Going to have to agree with others that Games Workshop probably deserved an A tier. You admitted that the cost is a pretty big downside and that alone should be reason to knock them down to maybe an S- or A+. For me personally you also really need to be into their particular brand of lore and character design. I'm not a fan of like 80% of the stuff they put out, kinda like how you don't enjoy Marvel or Star Wars models as much. They have a very particular brand that you need to be invested in or else the amount of models that excites you shrinks drastically.
Considering I'd be spending multiple thousands on one army ( genestealer cults and sisters being the worst ) I'd say that's a massive barrier to entry. For me it's A tier at best
I pretty much learned how to paint minis using reaper and their paints. I still paint them up but I have a preference for Infinity miniatures and the occasional GW minis. I've also leveled up my painting with wizkids miniatures, they're okay if you're just starting out.
As a Conquest fan boy i totally agree with your placement of them based on the Steel Legion box, but would be intrigued to know if you have seen any of their post 2021 stuff when they switched to Archon studios in poland. The sculpts and sprues have come a long way since those first models to the point they are redoing the sculpts entirely
For Marvel Crisis Protocol I like to dig into the comics to find alternate costumes from one shots and what-if style comics so that I can still be comic book accurate, but still have a more unique feel.
Nice to see Conquest, but why did you pick one of the oldest kits? If you check out a product released in the last year, the quality of their sculpts and their kits have increased exponentially since the steel legion was released, and they're even going back and refreshing the old model kits (steel legion is even getting a refresh in January).
“Rest assured, you are a good painter.” Ahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahah, now THAT’S funny! My mini painting makes baby jeebus cry!
I am discouraged he said nothing about Ravaged Star. I have fallen in love with many of the models and although they are all single pose their level of detail and quality of plastic is amazing.
Awesome coverage!! Would love to see an episode where you rank the STL sculpt houses Bite the bullet? Loot Studios, hero forge, beastarium, rescale etc. would love your feedback and opinions on those as well
You're missing a lot of big options here that are far more available than KDM, such as Mantic, Northstar/Osprey, Wargames Atlantic, and Archon Studios. Archon in particular is the only company aside from GW I would rank as an S, they really are producing GW quality plastics but at Reaper prices. I understand you can't review all the options but if you haven't already you really need to give Archon a chance.
And I was just curious how Archon Studio would look ;_; They are starting to pop allover the place around here, with big boxes of mini-packs, terrain packs, single monsters.. but never pulled the trigger to try them out.
I Got the Deuslair kickstarter 28 mm scale, highdetailed soft pvc, use spruegoo and get no seams, It s a massive amount of minis for the money (EU!). Should be on Amazone by now... Looking out for their next kickstarter and waiting for some SF minis and a higher scale :p
Wyrd has come a long way with plastic kits. Generally the worst stuff to build is from early 2E, and the worst offenders in core sets got resculpts in 3E. Kits were so infamous is why they made the Masochistic Modelers shirt. Still better than when it was true scale metals.
I'd like you to add Archon Studios' Deuslair minis. They are AKA Dungeons and Lasers and have a new crowdfunding project planned for Q1 2025 - Also on the CMON, if you follow them on crowdfunding platforms you can get the price per mini down significantly lower, and usually the same with Reaper as well.
Thank you for sharing this information. Very helpful at the time of investing in miniature. Now with this information my compulsive miniature buying obsession has been activated 😂
I agree that the range from Atomic mass is a bit restrained, but their newer models are VERY close to GW's quality. I would give them an A. Otherwise, I approve of the list. Some of those companies are so close to getting to the next tier, can't wait to see what the future hold for them! Kingdom death is a tough one, their minis are freaking amazing (I would argue better than GW because of their design), but the range is tough to evaluate. Lots of variety of humans and some weird ass Monster. Not super easy to use in other games.
I've never had a worse experience than I did assembling creature caster and kingdom death minis. Idk if the models I chose were the problem, but they were truly awful. When I'd run into gaps for assembly in either sets I bought from each company, they were huge and would need miliput, uv cure resin, or greenstuff to fix. I would recommend that anyone interested in them, look for reviews of the models that you're interested in buying
Only downside to KDM (aside from the price) is the model build instructions are pretty weak. Having to go to another website to find better pictures of the assembly is rough, especially for the bigger more complex monsters
Oh you should take a look at Goblin King Games! Those Moonstone minis are gorgeous and the game is really fun! I really love infinity/Corvus Belli. Sleek and really good models for scifi and amazing characterful minis for a fantasy setting. Love them all.
24:50 I disagree, transferring the whole range to Siocast would be a step down in quality instead of a step up. Cleaning/prepping metal mini's is quite a bit easier than Siocast. With siocast you can't really scrape the mold lines, you have to cut them. I do hope, like you said, that they will improve the Siocast casting process (or someone else does and they learn from them), then maybe.
Reaper is solidly my favorite mini company. I live in the same town as the factory and have gotten to speak to a lot of the employees and artists of the company and they are all so nice and helpful. Reaper does an EXCELLENT job of engaging with their fans and taking suggestions through their forums and discord communities about the kinds of models we want to see. I also love their paint range and always recommend their company to start for beginning painters. And they also run a small yearly convention for reaper fans where you can meet and hangout with other painters of all skill levels as well as meet a lot of the sculptors and studio painters for the company. The Reaper community is one of the biggest reasons I have continued painting and gotten better at it.
The thing about Battletech is that its core fantasy is, frankly, 40 years old. The rest of the industry has passed it by, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s really, really great! But that all speaks to the miniature quality. It’s not trying to go after each mini being a tool for self expression, or a tool to push yourself as a painter. It’s about painting a big stompy military sci fi mech and rolling lots of dice and checking result tables to see what happened.
It’s simply not trying to be like everyone else.
40k is close to 50. It is okay to improve.
@@Acsabi44 40k Is 37 going on 38 yrs old, Batletech is 3 years older than 40k, GW is a mini company with a game and btech is a game company. Two totally different focus's (you dont need minis to play battletech many people play with cardboard cutouts or megamek online using 2d pixel art) He should have ranked Ironwind Metals who make battletechs metal minis (still would rate low) but those box sets are intentionally low detail relatively cheap mass produced minis and were meant to be.
I was just thinking of the cardboard standees and the old Ral Partha metal minis for battletech. The art and sculptures were all over the place. Also, the wizkids click bases of the Dark Age era were, IMO, absolute... trash. So, as a range of minis for Battletech, the new plastics are streets ahead compared to the older minis.
Also, they are getting more dynamic poses, and Catalyst is toying around with optional parts for minis.
Also, all of the minis are still valid, I can put the card board standee, Ral Partha, Iron Wind, and Catalyst minis all on the same board at the same time.
Could the Catalyst minis be better, yes. Are they as bad as described, no.
I know, typical Minnesota nice.
@@nunrab Ironwind is the old ral partha employees with all the old molds, they still make alot of the older minis from ral partha too.
I will also shout out how accesible Battletech is from a miniatures standpoint. You can crack open a force pack, with 4 prebuilt mechs with stats included and put them right on the game table and get started. Also 4 mechs is a pretty standard size for a force. The ease of purchase to play is incredible. I would personally like to see some more dynamic poses though, and some of the edges and details could definitely be sharper but that does seem to be getting better with time.
I live in Fort Worth Tx, went up to the Old reaper factory (this was around when bones was on kickstarter). I asked and they gave me a small factory tour and even let me take a picture of their first test print of the Tiamat model (they just asked I not post on social media until it was officially announced). They were awesome guys to talk to and you could tell their passion for DnD and tabletop games was everywhere. Also got to play a MTG pre-release there since they had their own attached games store.
They were about 15 minutes away from where I lived in Carrollton, TX. They are such a warm and friendly company, made up of wonderful people who really love the hobby--and I think their minis reflect that. I make up a background or story for every mini I paint, and Reaper minis really invite that, with their human-sculpted figures. There are no game rules or aesthetics to consider; you just paint everything the way you want to paint it, without feeling guilty about it. Their high-end large monsters often cost less than a single GW model, and little, if any, assembly is required! I may be biased by the friendliness of the company, but I've been painting Reaper minis since the beginning, and going back to them is always a pleasure!
So many companies that didn't get a mention, there's enough for a part 2 to this: Modiphius (Fallout: Wasteland Warfare); Oathsworn (Burrows&Badgers); Goblin King (Moonstone); Iron Wind (Battletech metal minis); Mantic (Kings of War)
Volume 2?
Add to that list North Star (Frostgrave, Stargrave, Oathmark), Atlantic Games (various fantasy and sci-fi that aren't WH/40K honest, guvnor!), Warlord Games (2000AD games, Mythic America, Warlords of Erewhon, Gates of Antares).
I was surprised Mantic didn't make the list especially because they have some stuff that works well as proxies for GW stuff.
This was tremendously useful. My niece recently told me she was interested in getting into miniature painting and I had no idea where to start looking. I found lists of places, of course, but none of the lists actually went into detail about what you'd be getting. So, this was great, thank you!
Kingdom Death: Monster also has it's Black Friday sale coming up this month. The game and kits will be for sale at a DEEP discount at midnight EST on Black Friday for those interested.
I completely agree with the reaper sentiment. I get excited by those models, even with their melted-crayon faces
Oh this should be entirely non controversial
😂
😂
Agree with most of the list but I would knock GW down to an A+ max (the price and the core infantry same body weakness) and bump up CB as the infinity sculpts are just top notch, they are the most dynamic and unique on the market (maybe only comparable to KDM) so Id move them up to A tier at least. Sure, GW does better large miniatures but man are the Infinity regular size (which is small, yes) just absolutely amazing.
I know the list would get exponentially long with how many BG minis are now available but I think some large ones that could easily be included are; Knight Games (really surprised this one isn't here especially with atomic mass), Monolith (MB, Conan, batman, etc), Dimension Games (their celestial resin is amazing), Into the Unknown (a KDM competitor, especially their LE resin craft boxes), Shadowborn Games (small sample but Oathsworn models are amazing), Limbo Miniatures (similar to Dimension Games), Go On Board (their Witcher models are fantastic and CP 2077 look to be just as good), Reggie Games (their large monsters are top notch), Awaken Realms (OK sculpts but they have mega diversity), Ludus Magnus Studio (OK, but they have some fantastic model and some resin), Lazy Squire Games (terrible company, great sculptors), Archon Studios and infinite other BG companies. You could probably just make a video dedicated to BG minis that's 5x as long as this one.
Archon games from Poland are the closest in terms of quality to GW in my opinion.
Especially their newest models. They have taken huge strides in the last two years.
And Soo affordable. And the latest Prismacast terrain is Awesome, I've got 5 sets of this so far.😊
Ha. No, they are not.They have a long way to go.
I think the new conquest minis are made by archon
i hope they keep up thier success so people look at them in comparison with these others. I think they are GREAT quality for the price, but i'm not going to say they are quite where GW are, but i think they ARE a much better value!
I can't get behind Reaper being higher than Wyrd, and if GW is S tier fine, but Atomic Mass needs to be solidly in A tier if that's the case
Yes, Wyrd got robbed.
Yeah, Wyrd games models are expencive but with just few boxes you have a playable group. For a busy dude it's great that you get different armies ready to play relatively fast. Biggest downside are assembling and how some minis don't even fit on their bases.
CMON actually started out as a mini painting review site, AFAIK. Not a board game manufacturer. People would upload their painted mini and ask, Cool mini or not?
As someone who started painting with Wizkids Nolzur’s minis and thought I was a shit painter for years because of them, I agree with every word here. They’re only good for a terrible painting experience and are generally awful. Just buy Reaper.
Just a FYI Jon, a lot of Marvel characters have very different costumes in different comic runs, so you can usually go "off script" from the most popular scheme into a less popular or even wholly unique scheme.
Yup, I've done that with multiple figures where I didn't care for the costume that they chose.
No reason you can't give your take on a character as well, just like the comic book artists do when taking on a book. One of the great things in comics is when artists do that, also how we get some new characters as well! Go nuts with it!
As a DnD player, I love Epic Encounters. Cause you get a thematic set. Need some goblins? Sure, here are some spear warriors, spellcasters, etc. Skeletons? Sure, here's a handfull. And they are durable, highly reusable.And the Hydra boss - it's gorgeous!
Yeah EPIC miniatures is fantastic. Plus, it can occasionally be discounted online for very good prices which makes them a tremendous value for TTRPG.
Conquest actually updated their sprues with newer releases, they're a lot closer to gw sprues now
I'm really enjoying the Moonstone miniatures. So quirky! Worth checking out if anyone is interested in interesting projects.
Yes! I love them too.
I just built my first GW minis. Ork Kommandos. I am about to prime them but all I can think is, “these aren’t built to paint. How am I going to get my brush past all these things I glued on?!?” I am about to see what it’s really like but I am not sure that More Detail Bits = a better mini.
Start out worrying about the skin, weapons, and armor. If you come out the gate fixating on the greebles, you'll ruin your enjoyment.
Jon is a mini painter first and foremost. You don't hear him glowingly relate his recent gaming experiences. He's overwhelmingly concerned with the process of painting minis for display. You're concerned with putting a mini on the table to get shot by an Ultramarine.
That Kommandoes kit was one of the biggest puzzles I've ever had to solve to assemble miniatures. I promise they are not all that bad
@@TheBigDirty716 thank you! I was really wondering why they made it such a pain to find the pieces.
@@fenreer01 I am going to zenithal hi-light then give contrast paints a try on the skin followed by airbrush glazing. Once the skin is done I am just going to start “working my way out” clothes, then weapons, then little bits. I am just worried about getting to all the places on the skin to begin with. I guess I will know in a week or so what it is really like.
@christopherkelly9153 a size 3 or 4 synthetic round brush will be your friend for contrast paint. Big enough to hold paint, small enough to not slop everything all over.
Reaper will always be my favorite mini company. They were my first minis and they bring so much joy to paint.
No Archon Studio? My heart is broken
My first thought. They make great minis.
@@kaynadinstilleverge3843 They do but they are non-heroic 28mm no? I was a bit disappointed with how small they were when I backed a few of their campaigns.
@@forouza1 maybe earlier campaigns were. Their latest is 32mm scale. I'd have to set some of my minis side by side to see just how much larger newer ones are overall.
Hey ninjon, Im super happy for this video. I enjoy painting a lot and GW minis are so expensive, so seeing a breakdown of whats out there is amazing!
Newer Para Bellum plastics are much better quality than the ones you had. The art direction is still a bit iffy, but the plastic is approaching GW quality.
I bought a box of hundred kingdoms knights and hated the sprues, got some city states, and the quality is night and day difference
Ahgawd, it is not. Bought a box of the most recent stuff (mech spartans and djinns) and engineering and soft edges, poorly fitted pieces on bigger models. They are years behind GW and I don’t even play any GW games.
I can confirm. The quality jump between Old Wadhrun and New Wadhrun monsters is stark
I also agree with many others who say that GW should be bumped down to A or B+ tier, while Corvus Belli should definitely be up around A tier.
I originally got into painting miniatures with Battletech back in the 90's after playing the original Activision Mechwarrior game. Those old Ral Partha figures were pretty good quality for the time and I could afford one every few weeks with my allowance as a kid. I still have and occasionally paint one of those figures for the nostalgia. I love Battletech for the fun it gave me over the years but I can also accept that it has struggled to keep up with changes in the game industry.
I nearly totally agree on the list, but I personally would put corvus belli on an a+/s-. There cool designs gave me my painting spirit back. Morats are the best
CMoN started as a website for posting painted miniatures.
Thank you, I thought it was just me.
I think pricing needs to be more of a factor in overall score. GW gets an A+ for quality for most stuff but a F for price. A grade of a C for quality but it only costs under $10 for the mini is way more appealing.
Loved the reference to miniac's video in the miniature.
Great vid !
I will never understand how a metal miniature is a pain to put together when its like 1-3 pieces but a plastic miniature with two halves for a chest, two arms with detached hands, a weapon, two legs, and one random foot on a tactical rock or tiny parts like pistols in holsters, capes and backpacks is "easy to work with". Oh and all those tiny details in brittle plastic? AMG is notorious for this. Try assembling Toad and not breaking his tongue. Or X-23/Honey badger and not breaking their claws (And don't get me started on how honey badges HEAD is 3 tiny pieces.)
Because glueing plastics actually welds the pieces, so that's an advantage over metals, unless you drill & pin each metal piece.
This! Plastic is so fiddly and so easy to mess up. Oops! I just cut of that tiny bit because I breathed at the wrong time. Try getting rid of mold lines on plastic is always a chore too.
Regarding the battletech models. I had the exact same wish as you as i come from 40k. However after meeting many battletech players, that prebuilt static model is a HUGE selling point for them.
Would be good to see a boardgame miniature rankings - Awaken Realms, Archon, Reggie Games Fantasy Flight etc. along with CMON and SFG.
98% of my none 3d printed minis are Reaper. I have always loved Reaper minis. I agree with you about them having personality and I think it is because they are hand sculpted. Someone put part of themselves when sculpting them. And I agree with them being a B because of the quality of some of them, maybe a B+. I also agree with everything you said about Wizkids minis being crap, If F- was a grade it is what I give Wizkids. What sucks is that my local store has slowly progressed from selling Reaper to Wizkids because they are the "official" minis for Wizards. It has gotten to the point that I have to order mine from Reaper directly.
Fun fact, a $75 pledge to the Kickstarter was $150 shipping for the recent catalyst games Kickstarter. And they wouldn't give refunds lol
Located overseas? I know I spent way more than that and only paid about $150 shipping here in the states.
The way the Mercenaries kickstarter was handled was one of the worst consumer buying experiences I've ever had in my life
@@TheBigDirty716 Shall I tell you the tale of Robotech RPG Tactics...?
12:39 I think the thing that impressed me about ParaBellum isn't just their mini quality, it's how far they've come in such a short amount of time. Their first kits, like the 100k Men At Arms, are super rough, on round sprues with massive gates and fairly soft details. Comparing that to some newer minis, like the elite cavalry options, the difference is might and day. The sprue is better, the gates are smaller, and overall quality is massively better. And it's a difference of 6-7 years, I think? They may not be up to GW standards, but with the pace at which they're improving, I honestly don't think it'll be long before they get there!
I got in to CMON with Relic Knights. Never got to play a single game of that despite having every model for 2 factions.
Relic Knights minis (CMON version) are like 12 years old...
I'm currently assembling and painting dudes and dudettes for a role-playing campaign in the LotR universe, and the choice is over-fricking-whelming. This video is a god-send, my man!
Something that Para Bellum does that I think everyone should get in on is putting numbers on the pieces themselves. So a lot of the newer kits say you have 3 bodies on a sprue, all the pieces that go to that body (say torso halves) all have a 1, 2, or 3 obviously on the mini in a place that you won't see once assembled. So convenient.
By no means a defense for Conquest is that their quality got at least 2x better with their 3rd faction, but more importantly their hero models are resin and are some of the best models you will find!
Really entertaining video once again - thanks dude!
You should review newer Para Bellum models. The Steel Legion are the first kit they released 5 years ago.
They also can look a bit static because they are made for a rank and file game. Also their resin is probably the best in the industry.
ninjon has some weird takes here, he sometimes factor in price yet all the higher tier models are absurdly expensive compare to what archon/para-bellum produces....
Ninjon is a GW shill, fuk him
I really love Battletech as a universe but would defnitely like to see better models
Lowkey, Jon should have bought a recent mini from each range so that his bias was up to date. Like bringing a 1st Edition AoS Liberator to a current discussion on minis.
-Archon studios is fantastic and have grown a ton in a short amount of time. I think they also make the conquest minis. Stick with their kickstarter and dungeons& lasers line for the best value!
-I know CMON is represented but I love their miniatures from their OoP line wrath of kings. Quirky, detailed enough, simple to build, and great to paint.
-I really love bones for the value, epic encounters for the story telling, and Wargame Atlantic for simplicity and bits.
I've found CMON to be pretty good quality. I've painted all of Ankh and I'm currently working my way though Marvel United. Super fun to paint, and the cost is very low per mini, as low as $1.06 per mini depending how and where you purchase them. Also, has the quality of GW mini improved recently? It's been a while since I painted them, but I always found them to be pretty average.
Their newer stuff is better, he was showing older models. Some of the marvel zombies models are better then Crisis Protocols older models.
'Ankh' minis are fantastic! 'Rising Sun' minis as well.
I adored there wrath of kings line. All the factions were unique smash ups.
I think WizKids needs two different scores.
Medium sized creatures and below: F
Large and above monsters: B
Not a bad point.
Talking Battletech, uses Armoured Core footage o.0
Me: Citadel minis sure are expensive! Also me: KILL TEAM STARTER SET BUY BUY BUY
Don't agree with every conclusion, but love the methodology and thoughts. Great stuff, way better than the average tier list video.
I think the Reaper metal mini's are pricewise of higher tier. What's your opinion of the metal mini's from Reaper, cuz you showed a dwarf with pints! and talked about plastics and such...
He should have said plastics only this time. There's even more metals with all the small producers.
CMoN is a joke. I ordered a copy of Super Dungeon Explore and the Forgotten King expansion. One of the player minis was missing an arm and their customer support told me I was simply out of luck.
Well Super Dungeon Explore is Soda Pop Miniatures, soooo...
I have to say, the newest conquest models are exponentially better than the old sprues. I recommend checking out anything from the newer factions to see the improvement.
My dude, build an MCP or Shatterpoint model and raise that ranking. Especially the newer kits from the last year or so and you’ll see that the models have minimal mold lines, details are sharp, and gaps are nearly nonexistent. They are beautiful to paint and you can frequently adjust colors as you wish, especially with MCP. Do that tonal underpainting you do on Namor or the new mutants or Shadow King and promise you’ll raise that grade to at least a solid A if not low S.
Bushido from Gct studios have great looking miniatures, too
14:47 Based AC 6 use. But that really does make me feel like their should 100% be a miniature war game of Armored Core especially with added customization of parts. You could have a skirmish game of 3 or 4 AC’s and ordered parts individually with arms, legs, chest, booster, etc. all being ordered separately so that you could build out your individual AC’s along the in game specs and those specs would apply to movement or damage or range on the table
Cool video.
I disagree about the Kingdon Dead models, more in terms of availability than quality of workmanship. Because of that I wouldn't give them such a high place, but I understand that you like the game :)
Best regards
CMON plastic is one of the things the GW mold line remover felt pretty good. Using a modelling knife felt like you do more damage than remove mold lines. Don't know if there is any logic or science to that, just my opinion.
19:05 as far as I understand they avoid actual sharp / spiky details on their min's, so they abide by laws for selling toys to kids (which are pretty strict). Fun fact, that's also why there mold removing tool is blunt.
0:57 I know it's sped up footage, but that kid made me chuckle.
I found a good white metal miniature company for plenty of unique fantasy minis. They're called Midlam Miniatures. A UK company and if you need relatively cheap metal townsfolk it's excellent for it.
second 10, i feel reassured already.
I bought that Reaper Brewmaster a couple weeks ago because I found it so charming. So funny to see it in this video. Also, I've become a big fan of the Frostgrave/stargrave minis. Not the world's best plastic, but the price is right and they're really customizable.
Love this list. I feel like it’s very fair.
Going to have to agree with others that Games Workshop probably deserved an A tier. You admitted that the cost is a pretty big downside and that alone should be reason to knock them down to maybe an S- or A+.
For me personally you also really need to be into their particular brand of lore and character design. I'm not a fan of like 80% of the stuff they put out, kinda like how you don't enjoy Marvel or Star Wars models as much. They have a very particular brand that you need to be invested in or else the amount of models that excites you shrinks drastically.
100% agree
Yeah, if we are giving a bump for cheap minis we should give a dip to GW for how expensive it is. A Tier for me.
Considering I'd be spending multiple thousands on one army ( genestealer cults and sisters being the worst ) I'd say that's a massive barrier to entry. For me it's A tier at best
I pretty much learned how to paint minis using reaper and their paints. I still paint them up but I have a preference for Infinity miniatures and the occasional GW minis. I've also leveled up my painting with wizkids miniatures, they're okay if you're just starting out.
12:36 Reaper is what brought me into the hobby with their bones core set 2.
Shoutout to the new Trench Crusade project, their minis look incredible.
KDM is S tier - come on, Jon, you know it....Great vid!!
Reaper new and re releases are USA made highly detailed siocast and print minis they print for retail that would make them A quality IMO
1:24 😂lmao
Right we’re not WWII model old 😆
As a Conquest fan boy i totally agree with your placement of them based on the Steel Legion box, but would be intrigued to know if you have seen any of their post 2021 stuff when they switched to Archon studios in poland. The sculpts and sprues have come a long way since those first models to the point they are redoing the sculpts entirely
Mantic is another company to look at. Their models have dramatically increased in quality in the last several years and their cost is very competitive
The frustration there is that the quality of the plastics have occasionally improved, but their sculpts are still...really really really bad.
Warlord games has some beautiful plastic and metal models, fantasy and historical
For Marvel Crisis Protocol I like to dig into the comics to find alternate costumes from one shots and what-if style comics so that I can still be comic book accurate, but still have a more unique feel.
Archon Studios really needs to be in this video. It's great plastic (almost as good as GW) and cheaper than GW.
Kingdom death monster imo are far and above the quality of anything else I’ve seen. Love them
Oh I do love a tier list
Nice to see Conquest, but why did you pick one of the oldest kits? If you check out a product released in the last year, the quality of their sculpts and their kits have increased exponentially since the steel legion was released, and they're even going back and refreshing the old model kits (steel legion is even getting a refresh in January).
anyone else see the fly or roach walking on top of the a song of ice and fire box at 13:44 ?
He flicked it across the room, I think.
It was the box elder bug he flicked across the room.
@@lilalexei01Oh, dude...now I'm going to have to find an Elder Bug to bring to every game night...
"But I am still gonna...." well played.
You should take a look on moonstone once in while. The rules are great and the miniatures are very good, ooze character and are hilariously whimsical!
A lot of the metal miniatures from Reaper are fantastic.
“Rest assured, you are a good painter.” Ahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahah, now THAT’S funny! My mini painting makes baby jeebus cry!
I am discouraged he said nothing about Ravaged Star. I have fallen in love with many of the models and although they are all single pose their level of detail and quality of plastic is amazing.
Awesome coverage!! Would love to see an episode where you rank the STL sculpt houses Bite the bullet? Loot Studios, hero forge, beastarium, rescale etc.
would love your feedback and opinions on those as well
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Echoing the KDM Black Friday Sale and Archon Studio sentiment. Especially Archon's newer releases.
You're missing a lot of big options here that are far more available than KDM, such as Mantic, Northstar/Osprey, Wargames Atlantic, and Archon Studios. Archon in particular is the only company aside from GW I would rank as an S, they really are producing GW quality plastics but at Reaper prices. I understand you can't review all the options but if you haven't already you really need to give Archon a chance.
Love the vid man! keep up the epic work!
I understand you can't review them all but was surprised you did not do Northstar Miniatures, Stargrave, Frostgrave, etc.
And I was just curious how Archon Studio would look ;_;
They are starting to pop allover the place around here, with big boxes of mini-packs, terrain packs, single monsters.. but never pulled the trigger to try them out.
I Got the Deuslair kickstarter 28 mm scale, highdetailed soft pvc, use spruegoo and get no seams, It s a massive amount of minis for the money (EU!).
Should be on Amazone by now...
Looking out for their next kickstarter and waiting for some SF minis and a higher scale :p
Wyrd has come a long way with plastic kits. Generally the worst stuff to build is from early 2E, and the worst offenders in core sets got resculpts in 3E. Kits were so infamous is why they made the Masochistic Modelers shirt. Still better than when it was true scale metals.
I'd like you to add Archon Studios' Deuslair minis. They are AKA Dungeons and Lasers and have a new crowdfunding project planned for Q1 2025 - Also on the CMON, if you follow them on crowdfunding platforms you can get the price per mini down significantly lower, and usually the same with Reaper as well.
Dont worry Jon, absolutely noone saw you knock over those couples boxes in that one shot.
Thank you for sharing this information. Very helpful at the time of investing in miniature. Now with this information my compulsive miniature buying obsession has been activated 😂
I agree that the range from Atomic mass is a bit restrained, but their newer models are VERY close to GW's quality. I would give them an A. Otherwise, I approve of the list. Some of those companies are so close to getting to the next tier, can't wait to see what the future hold for them!
Kingdom death is a tough one, their minis are freaking amazing (I would argue better than GW because of their design), but the range is tough to evaluate. Lots of variety of humans and some weird ass Monster. Not super easy to use in other games.
I've never had a worse experience than I did assembling creature caster and kingdom death minis. Idk if the models I chose were the problem, but they were truly awful. When I'd run into gaps for assembly in either sets I bought from each company, they were huge and would need miliput, uv cure resin, or greenstuff to fix. I would recommend that anyone interested in them, look for reviews of the models that you're interested in buying
Only downside to KDM (aside from the price) is the model build instructions are pretty weak. Having to go to another website to find better pictures of the assembly is rough, especially for the bigger more complex monsters
14:45 talks about how cool Battletech could be, shows Armored Core cinematic 😆
Oh you should take a look at Goblin King Games! Those Moonstone minis are gorgeous and the game is really fun!
I really love infinity/Corvus Belli. Sleek and really good models for scifi and amazing characterful minis for a fantasy setting. Love them all.
24:50 I disagree, transferring the whole range to Siocast would be a step down in quality instead of a step up. Cleaning/prepping metal mini's is quite a bit easier than Siocast. With siocast you can't really scrape the mold lines, you have to cut them. I do hope, like you said, that they will improve the Siocast casting process (or someone else does and they learn from them), then maybe.