I just picked up the conversion kit, and I was wondering if FFG is going to "reprint" the minis from the first edition? I'd buy it (for games and I enjoy painting them), and the prices on the older editions are skyrocketing. Has anyone heard/read anything?

I have not heard a thing from FFG about re-printing the old plastics. I'm sure if we ask them and there is a huge following for this, I'm sure they'll look into it.

I've seen plenty of people stating in numerous threads that they'd buy the plastics to add to D2e. I for one would also buy a set. I'd go for the Altar of Despair plastics since it was the only expansion I didn't get my hands on.

Who else would buy core/expansion based plastic boosters of hero/monsters if FFG started producing them?

Have you looked on eBay?

Most of the hero minis are still easily available in Runebound and its expansions, assuming of course you're not opposed to buying a second (perfectly good) adventure game in order to get them. I think the only ones you can't get that way are the heroes from Well of Darkness, which are also available in Drakon (also out of print, it would seem, but probably much cheaper.)

And the DQ heroes and promos, of course. Those aren't in any RB expansions.

The monster minis aren't available anywhere else, though.

Have fun on eBay - to get all the first edition plastic is running $300 - $500.

Rico said:

Probably wouldn't be any cheaper new through FFG if you wanted the whole set. We're talking about 25 monster groups! Some quite large too.

It will never happen. We are lucky with what we got for the short period of time, but it is time to look forward to the future. You will forget about the old monsters as soon as you see what they are coming out with next. That I am sure.

IronRavenstorm said:

What "short period of time" are you talking about? First ed was released 7 years ago and the last expansion with miniatures, Tomb of Ice, about 3 years ago.

What trademarks would one recommend to obtain proxy figurines of past heroes and monsters ?

Do "standups" exist in printable form? (I have a set of plastic stands for such cardboard figurines - it only would to for 1 square figurines, of course, the multi square figurines would be placed flat on the map)

Maybe not all the minis but a "Best Of" collection with cards/sheets for 2E would be nice. If not, I will just build up with 2E and forward. I don't have the cash to obtain the entire 1E collection and the Conversion Kit would be a waste without it.

Malgamus said:

I don't think the CK is a waste at all if you don't have the plastic. Just proxy your existing minis or even tokens. Having 25 more monsters is great.

Robin said:

http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/

I don't work for him, and don't get a comission, but I've used these in the past with other games. Not the same feel as miniatures, but much cheaper.

Thanks for the information.

If I go for the conversion kit, I will see if I will give those a try.

Columbob said:

I should explain myself here. Being both a archaeologist and a historian I tend to see time differently then most people. I view anything within the last 100 years as recent history, and anything ten years ago as something last week. Sorry, about the confusion.

Does anyone know if the conversion kit will convert the heroes I got from Dungeonquest? I have 4 dungeonquest hero cards (that came with the game but are for first edition)

schmoo34 said:

Yes, it will.

schmoo34 said:

From the Press Release:

The Conversion Kit Includes:

• Forty-eight Hero sheets, representing the heroes from Descent: Journeys in the Dark (first edition), The Well of Darkness, The Altar of Despair , and The Tomb of Ice expansions, plus the heroes introduced in DungeonQuest , as well as the promotional heroes Jonas the Kind, Nara the Fang, Tobin Farslayer, and Truthseer Kel.
• Fifty Monster cards, representing the twenty-five monsters from Descent: Journeys in the Dark (first edition) as well as The Well of Darkness , The Altar of Despair , and The Tomb of Ice expansions.
• Three Familiar cards for Pico, Skye, and Brightblaze.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3459

If FF did an expansion pack (or packs) for the the conversion kit that included the 1e minis, I'd definitely pick that up just to flesh out what I have missing. The prices for the 1e expansions on ebay is just astronomical.

Telomeres said:

You're talking about well over 100 miniatures, some quite large. It would take a box the size of the current game to ship them all in. How much do you think FFG would charge for so many plastic minis? The price would be astronomical.

Columbob said:

A few people have said this now and I don't get where it's coming from. The current prices for all the old Descent stuff is far above retail due to most of them being out of print and hard to find. Even if the sets were all available at retail price again the price would probably be more acceptable to the few of us who really just want all the heroes and monsters for variety's sake.

To say the price of releasing the miniatures would be too high seems to imply that it would cost more than the retail price of the original sets, which included all the other books, tokens, tiles, etc. in addition to those miniatures. Why is it so hard to believe that releasing JUST the miniatures alone wouldn't be more reasonably priced by comparison?

jjcole said:

Take a look at the Arkham Horror miniatures line and how much they go for. Sure they're pre-painted, let's say that's worth half the price. The investigator (heroes in Descent's case) figures would still go for $2 a pop. There were 80 miniatures in the D1 big box. Even assuming a price of $2 a head, that's $160 right there, or twice the price of the game box. And even that's assuming $2 for a large dragon figure (yeah right). I don't think you could expect to pay anything less. Now add in the rest of the heroes and monsters from three big expansions, you wouldn't pay under $300 for the lot.

And I don't see FFG releasing the DQ minis elsewhere than in the DQ box either. Go buy it if you want those 6 heroes, you get a super fun game to go with them.

I just don't understand why you think they would go for so much more than the box they originally came with. Do you think they were taking a loss of profits just to get a game out there? Obviously not, and while I'm not saying they would or should release all the original miniatures, I don't see why releasing say just the Descent 1E Base miniatures would cost them more to produce than (and thus be sold at a higher price than) the original game box which contained all of those miniatures already, plus all the other content, plus had to actually pay for all the man hours put into developing the game.

If they released just the miniatures, there's no development time, there's no other content, there's just the small fraction of the original content that needs to be manufactured and distributed. It should cost far less to produce than the original box and all its content and development costs did, so why would it have to retail for more than the original box did?

Plus there would be fewer miniatures overall since second edition group limits prevent some of the first edition miniatures from being necessary.

I'm not familiar with Arkham miniatures even if they're the same cost to produce as Descent miniatures, if they're sold individually that fact alone makes them cost more overall if you just add them up. It would cost more to buy a ton of individual miniatures than it would to buy one large collection of them.

Unless the printed in bulk, it could be quite expensive. It is not like they can just print what they need when someone orders it. They would need to print a thousand copies for the price to be as low as the original set. I don't expect they intend to sell 1,000 copies of the minis for a game that is out of print. Just my 2 copper.

Maybe I am wrong.

jcbbjjttt said:

I agree, but if there's not enough interest to make enough copies to make it affordable, then they wouldn't make it at all. Which is probably the case.

Wow, wasn't expecting such an explosive reply.

To be fair, I wasn't saying that a box of minis should be cheap, I would expect it to cost around the same as the retail cost of the original expansion. As it stands, Altar of Despair and Tomb of Ice are selling on eBay for $250 and $100 each, which is pretty close to $10 per mini for AoD, far more than the $2 per stated above.

Another option could be to sell or release 3D models for the minis so people with 3D printers could print their own pieces.