Poll

In a choice of Counters vs. Minis, how likely would you use counters?

Never! Minis only!
50 (23%)
Rarely. I would only use counters as the last resort (after I run out of minis).
67 (30.9%)
Occasionally. I'll play with whatever's on hand to get the numbers I need.
56 (25.8%)
A lot. Sorry, but I just can't afford a big minis collection.
37 (17.1%)
All the time. Who has shelf space for minis?
7 (3.2%)

Total Members Voted: 217

Voting closed: 01 September 2013, 12:44:43

Author Topic: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?  (Read 27769 times)

BloodReaper

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #30 on: 25 July 2013, 14:36:42 »
my group uses megamek counters, printed on 1" hex paper, and we use custom hex maps.  its cheap, easy, looks good, and costs are minimal.  i dont like the standees.

we have also stuck them on magnets, and played out huge multi-weekend regiment sized battles on the wall, without worrying about cats.

i do think it would be neat to have a small cardboard box with front, right, left, back, top, and bottom views of units though, and could mount magnets to them inside the box as well.

fuzbuckle

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #31 on: 25 July 2013, 17:35:05 »
I don't like to proxy, so I will use counters in place of minis if necessary.  That said, if catalyst put out counter packs that were the quality of Pathfinder's pawns boxes, I would most certainly use those. (High quality, no painting, great artwork).
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Highball

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #32 on: 25 July 2013, 19:20:45 »
Both
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WONC

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #33 on: 25 July 2013, 23:23:50 »
I own exactly two minis (the plastic Summoner from a little while back; wish I'd managed to also pick up the Hellbringer), so I use custom made counters and the 4th edition's cardboard cutouts when I play. They work wonderfully for me and my buddies, when we actually get a chance to play in person.

I'd like to get more minis, as much for the aesthetic quality as gaming purposes, but I'm not wonderfully solvent when it comes to my gaming fund. Aside from that, my mini putting-together talent is... unique. I am excited about the idea of more plastic minis, though. They seem to be a bit more "WONC-proof" than the metal ones, if you know what I mean.
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Raj Whitehall

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #34 on: 27 July 2013, 07:16:23 »
Mini's only.  Luckily my gaming group at the time had more than enough mini's to cover all scenario's.  And for our style of play. where line of sight counted a great deal, the mini was the only option.


FedComGirl

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #35 on: 28 July 2013, 23:52:04 »
I'd use counters all the time. I usually mixed counters and minis when I played. I didn't like proxying as I'd forget what it was. It'd be so great if there were counters for all the units. I loved the Reinforcements Pack. I wish I'd gotten more.

Minis are great and look better on terrain but I still used counters. If there were counters for everything available I'd use them more than minis. They're be easier to transport and I just can't afford minis at this time.  Outside the introductory box I haven't gotten any minis since FASA and RalPartha. I'd love to but I can't right now. Most of my fun money goes to books (print and/or PDF). But I'd certainly find money for counters.

Red Pins

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #36 on: 29 July 2013, 07:41:12 »
...I had to choose all "I can't afford a large mini collection."

Nor could I afford the space.  I've played for over 30 years, and not needing more than a couple store-bought map sheets, some scraps of paper for counters, and some 10-cent photocopies of RS are a major reason why I'm able to say I still play the game.

Still, I had to change to MegaMek recently after my gaming partner graduated university, and I miss the (Thunk), (Thunk), (Thunk), of figurines moving across the board.  Really, really miss it.
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mike19k

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #37 on: 29 July 2013, 12:23:38 »
I said "Rarely. I would only use counters as the last resort (after I run out of minis)." but that is only because I have hundreds of minis, as I have been collecting for almost 30 years now, when I started I used the counters a lot, and I have no issue with them at all.

Wrangler

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #38 on: 29 July 2013, 17:11:42 »
I am one those "Minis only" folks, only because i was able get my collection together before Ironwind Metals had to raise their prices.  However, I know many who aren't.  I won't be against seeing people use the old folding paper silhouette  pictures as counters to save people money and frankly make the game attractive.

Many of my newer Battletech friends don't own but few miniatures, many use laminated counters with tiny pictures of unit with its name on it.  Cheapest way to get them now. Since harder to order Iron Winds through FLGS these days.   
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Tai Dai Cultist

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #39 on: 29 July 2013, 19:56:14 »
I've got no problems with the so-called "Cardstock Commies".

I'm no WYSIWYG whore as I have no problem with proxies, but I'd sooner see a paper standup showing the correct mech on it than some other mech mini proxied over.

The only exception would be if someone brought a beautifully painted mini.  Those are worthy proxies.. but other than that, I think the Cardstock standups look better.

Snake Eyes

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #40 on: 30 July 2013, 18:48:41 »
I will use what i have, i would rather have minis, but counters work in a pinch O0

caioaf

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #41 on: 30 July 2013, 19:08:43 »
Counters only. Besides my MWDA Centurion I never even saw a Battletech mini. Being a BT fan outside USA is kind of hard, you know?

BirdofPrey

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #42 on: 30 July 2013, 19:53:29 »
Do you guys even make counters?

I mostly use minis since it looks better (my group also plays on hexed terrain), but wouldn't be adverse to counters on the flat maps.
Cardboard certainly is easier to transport; it's lighter and takes up less space.

Jaim Magnus

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #43 on: 31 July 2013, 12:38:32 »
I much prefer to use mini's if I have them, but will use counters, so long as the opposing player isn't confused.
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Fear Factory

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #44 on: 01 August 2013, 02:59:17 »
PLASTECH!!!!!!!

EDIT:  It's the middle ground.  I use the good minis for the player characters.
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RebelRunner

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #45 on: 01 August 2013, 19:17:03 »
Minis only. I sculpt my own (polymer clay) for now, but will probably buy some Regulan militiamen and Wobbies for them to face off against, in a month or three.

dirty harry

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #46 on: 04 August 2013, 11:57:58 »
Our gaming group has accumulated enough minis to play out several regiments, so normally there should be no reason for counters.
If it is one of the new fancy designs from one of the recent TROs, that don't have a mini ready, proxying is no problem.
So when do i need cardboard counters? Extreme rare occassion, mostly AT material. So if i would really need a cardboard counter, i would use it, but there are not very much situations that would force that upon us.

snakespinner

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #47 on: 05 August 2013, 03:18:14 »
Mini's only.
I am lucky that there are some big collectors that i know, plus i have been collecting a few.
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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #48 on: 05 August 2013, 23:35:42 »
Mini's only. if I don't have mini's I use proxys. Heck I even prefer to have mini's for buildings and dropships if I can.
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mike19k

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #49 on: 06 August 2013, 11:01:37 »
Mini's only. if I don't have mini's I use proxys. Heck I even prefer to have mini's for buildings and dropships if I can.

I would love to see more dropship and building mini's.

Legendmaker

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #50 on: 07 August 2013, 20:42:20 »
In the events I run. I use miniatures only as I run full terrain non hexed games.

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #51 on: 07 August 2013, 22:22:51 »
Miniatures.I have plenty of choice in my collection.
Rather players are short around here. :(
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LastChanceCav

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #52 on: 10 August 2013, 18:22:41 »
I have been playing battletech since the 80s. The first time I used minis was after I picked myself up a box set.

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Saint

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #53 on: 11 August 2013, 07:16:03 »
I have a regiments worth of minis and I have the third smallest collection in my group. One of our players (TheMaster1955) has over 1,000 so we are never short.

That being said I still have my card board stands from second Ed. just incase I need them. O0
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Battleclad

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #54 on: 11 August 2013, 09:27:43 »
I have yet to make the jump to tabletop (yay for megamek et al.), mostly because of a deficiency of gaming groups in my area for BattleTech. That said I do play another tabletop and I use solely mini's for that. But I've always considered papercraft mini's to the best viable option between true mini's and counters, sadly not a lot of systems use those. Which is a pity as they can pre-fabs in the back of the sourcebooks that can then be photocopied/used and coloured/painted to suit the players need. Plus so long as you use tabs and not glue they pack down nicely for storage purposes.
« Last Edit: 11 August 2013, 09:30:54 by Battleclad »

Orion

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #55 on: 13 August 2013, 12:43:52 »
Started with cardboard standups, but haven't needed them in years.  I have about 40 minis, and I'll proxy as needed.  I'm willing to use the cardboard from my 4th ed box, but I would use one or the other - not mix them during a game.  If I got into the game today, I'd like use whatever came in the box, and not pay for anything else.  I'm not a mini collector - I just happened to acquire some on the cheap.  As for terrain, I think it looks great in a static diorama, but isn't worth the effort to play on it.  A large number of paper hex maps is far better than one static piece of terrain that is used over and over.

A problem I see is that even if cheap plastic minis are included in a box set, too often they get painted up nicely, and then need special carrying cases so they don't get damaged in transport.  With the cardboard, having everything in one box, and not caring so much if they get beat up, I see as a distinct advantage.

At times, I wish the boxed sets included a set of cardboard standups, and then maybe a lance of plastic to get people interested in something better.  And have free or very cheap downloads so that people could print out new cardboard when they needed them.  My preference is that the cardboard is closer to map scale than mini scale, but that's just me.
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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #56 on: 14 August 2013, 18:37:37 »
Last count had somewhere around 200 Battletech minis between me and Liam's Ghost and probably another 200 of non-Battletech minis we don't mind using as stand ins.

So for the purposes of this poll I had to select the second option.

FedComGirl

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Re: July-August 2013 Poll: Counters, Minis, or Both?
« Reply #57 on: 17 August 2013, 17:13:59 »
Quote
Never! Minis only!
Rarely. I would only use counters as the last resort (after I run out of minis).
Occasionally. I'll play with whatever's on hand to get the numbers I need.
A lot. Sorry, but I just can't afford a big minis collection.
All the time. Who has shelf space for minis?

There should be a category for:
I want to use the units now without having to proxy.

Although I'd still have to go with I can't afford minis. But if I could afford minis I'd still want counters so I could use new units right away without having to wait.