There are a lot of options out there.
If you have access to a scanner you could scan in the character cards and use Paint or some other common program to crop and resize the pictuer, then print it on card stock.
There may even be some non-copy right art that you can get of the internet, it does not have to look exactly like the art on the card.
In Talisman, both minis and cardboard figures are just fine, as there aren't too many of them and the cardboard figures do look really good also. Plus they fit in the art of the board and cards.
I paint the minis, so that's what we are actually using now in Talisman.
In games like Wings of War or Tide of Iron the game wouldn't be the same without minis. Descent is another one where the minis (have most of them painted as well) are a necessity - the game would be much less fun without (painted) minis.
The absolutely best FFG figures I've seen are the prepainted airplanes in Wings of War ! Talisman and Descent figures vary a lot, some are excellent, some are horrible (well in Talisman, perhaps the Dark Cultist is the only really poor one).
kalle said:
The absolutely best FFG figures I've seen are the prepainted airplanes in Wings of War ! Talisman and Descent figures vary a lot, some are excellent, some are horrible (well in Talisman, perhaps the Dark Cultist is the only really poor one).
Why is the dark cultist poor?
In my eyes, it's a good miniature.
Anyway, i like all miniatures that they made for the revised edition..
I can't say that there are bad miniatures..
I have many games from FFG and I like miniatures a lot. Painting takes a lot of time, but the figures look excellent and bring the game to life.
In Talisman you don't really need to have miniatures. Standees are better for many reasons, first of all Character customisation. I find that plastic figures are a bit lost on the enormous board, especially unpainted ones. Descent/Runebound/Doom/WoW are absolutely miniature games: some of them have smaller boards (with smaller spaces) others have dungeon tiles.
Talisman miniatures are fine and some of them are amazing: Wizard, Merchant, Dwarf and Druid are my favourites, with lots of details. Miniatures depend from the relative pictures, some were improved (the Monk and the Troll), some look tiny and uninspiring (the Prophetess and the Thief) and some were misinterpreted (the Warrior, who hasn't the best picture by all means). He who doesn't like the Dark Cultist miniature, perhaps find it not as exciting as the picture (she has nice legs, miniature doesn't)...
I'd rather have standees, but I'm happy with miniatures too.
A quick option for those that are of a ho-hum mind set about minis would be to just paint each base a different, bright color. Or (look away mini painting afficianados) paint the entire mini one color.
Scounging toy stores for small, pre painted, figures can work too. They won't be an exact match for the card but some people are ok with this.
The_Warlock said:
He who doesn't like the Dark Cultist miniature, perhaps find it not as exciting as the picture (she has nice legs, miniature doesn't)...
That may be part of it...
No, her facial sculpt is problematic, it's really hard to paint, due to lack of details in the miniature. It may have to do with the female figures having small heads, and thus their face details perhaps disappear in the moulding process. I use white spray as base color and then very thin, dark paint to paint the minis, and it gives good result when the miniature has details in it. With Dark Cultist, I cannot get the painted result as good as Troll, Dwarf or several others.
Nice to paint Talisman minis : Dwarf, Toad, Philosopher, Troll, Merchant, and most of the rest. Prophetess is OK also.
Harder ones : DC, Elf (same problem with the head), ??
I'll try to get good pictures here one day in enough light to show You what I'm talking about.
Feldrik said:
There are a lot of options out there.
If you have access to a scanner you could scan in the character cards and use Paint or some other common program to crop and resize the pictuer, then print it on card stock.
There may even be some non-copy right art that you can get of the internet, it does not have to look exactly like the art on the card.
Actually I was thinking of home brew characters... I have the BI version of Talisman with the 4er upgrade... so I have all the original standees as well as the minatures (which my group never uses). Plus, so long as you aren't distributing the scans, you can just scan the card and make a standee. Wait... there is one problem... FFG's version doesn't come with stands for standees. Tsk tsk.
JerusalemJones said:
Which made me wonder -- why can't a company come out with both options for a game? Obviously, people like both options, but minis are often more popular with painters than without. If Talisman (or Arkham, of BSG, or whatever) came with both types of characters, people could play with the ones they liked the most. Does this seem like a crazy idea, or something that just might be worth looking into?
No, it isn't a crazy idea. And FFG should think about how it could be handled for better profit. Produce the game with standees... like most games... and sell the miniatures as "expansions" for those who want to collect and use them. Ta da!
Velhart said:
Why is the dark cultist poor?
In my eyes, it's a good miniature.
Yes, none them are bad miniatures, some are just easier to paint nicely... And the Elf is actually also a very good figure..
It's really hard to get a good picture of these little heros, but I hope this image shows the point :
As can be seen, the Dwarf is real easy to paint nicely, as well as the toad, and some others. The faces of some heros are the difficult parts, but for example the philosophers head is very good (as should be given he's profession), and thus can be painted well.
As can (perhaps??) be seen from the minis below, the faces can be painted well enough, if the details are there in the miniature...
I beg to differ. Some of those figures are horrible to paint, specifically the Dark Cultist. Either mine was malformed or there just isn't enough detail to paint it well. Some of the figures turned out better than others.
As regards standees vs miniatures. It's horses for courses, really. I'd prefer standees for TV show/movie licensed games, such as BSG, Buffy etc but I certainly prefer the miniatures for Talisman over the cardboard.
I'd be a bit miffed if I had to fork out extra for miniatures. Unless they were pre-painted or relatively cheap.
Overall, I couldn't see plastic miniatures costing that much. Mass produced, a set for the standard game wouldn't be anywhere near the cost of the pewter or pot metal single ones many had seen and purchased.
On the otherside, it's very easy to produce standees from the character card art... IF one knows where to get the stands if needed. The problem there is that many aren't designed like those used in Talisman.
http://www.rolcogames.com/search.php?runsearch=true&catid=9
http://www.boardgamedesign.com/pages/parts4sale/stands2.htm
http://www.grandprixintl.com/misc/card_stands.html
JC beat me to it, I had found those same sites to link here as well.
There is a site called Game it Yourself that has free games to down load. Some of these have standees, they are of the more cartoony style of art but very cool because of that. They look like fun games too. Lost Treasures and Dungeon Plungin' have the best ones.
Kalle...very nice work, your skills show a lot of practice, patience and talent!