Villagers in ‘Bones’ plastic from Reaper Miniatures
When Kickstarter was a new website and before the heady heights of tariffs and international trade, Reaper Miniatures ran a series of campaigns called ‘Bones’ to make some of back catalogue out of plastic and produced in China.
It was a more innocent time and allowed me to get my hands on lots of fantasy models for RPGs. Unfortunately, I don’t play many so the collection sat gathering dust.
But last year I organised the colection and finally decided to do more painting and first on the table was a collection of 10 villager or villager like models.
Reaper Miniatures
Reaper Miniatures are a US based company who have been making models for years now. They are primarily aimed at RPG players so they have lots of single character models and monsters… a lot of monsters.
Regularly readers will know I have painted some of them in previous articles including a rather big and fun War Mammoth.
If you’re looking for well priced, single piece (or nearly) plastic models then Reaper could be for you. They are mostly sold via their own website but some FLGSs and online stores carry the range as well.
Villagers in Wargaming
Who doesn’t love some villagers to make a Skirmish, Campaign or Narrative game really ‘pop’. They don’t have to hold weapons – sometimes a plate of food is enough. And their colours can be different to other models in your collections.
They will very rarely be the protagonists but every story needs some NPCs, bar staff, merchants or guides.
Pictures
What about the minis?
As single pose models they are easy to get on a base, undercoat and paint. They also take the paint well – in fact Reaper have said that the Bones plastic doesn’t need an undercoat. A statement I have never been brave enough to test.
The models are different and fun poses with the halfling chef of course being the favourite.
However the quality of the earlier Bones plastic is not brilliant for detail, especially around the faces and whilst you can see detail it is difficult to bring out on the model.
But I don’t mind, they are NPCs after all, and they don’t all need headshots like they are auditioning for Baldurs Gate 3.
I’m very happy to add them to my collection and they will live in my generic Silver Bayonet box for now. But that box is rapidly becoming an ‘NPC’ box all of its own.
Buying a Box?
As mentioned above, these are available from Reaper Miniatures directly and you may be able to pick them up via your local FLGS.
Prices vary with the Courtesans being available for $10 for 2 (for example). It’s a bit expensive if you want to buy 10, but I can’t imagine many readers will need or want that many.
— Declan and Eeyore
