Ocho Games has come up with a nifty alternative to miniatures: 1″ ceramic tiles with artwork on them.
I like the concept — simpler than minis, more durable than counters — but at $1.10 per tile, they cost as much or more than prepainted plastic D&D miniatures (which can be bought individually in all sorts of places), and a lot more than Fiery Dragon counters, which cost about 3-5 cents apiece. What do you think?
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If you compare them to poker chips, the weight and feel will lend something to the game… but then again they don’t have the same function as poker chips.
I’m a mini painter. I have a ton a unpainted minis just hanging out because I don’t have enough time and I can’t clone myself. Even though they are primer gray I still like what a mini brings to the game. I don’t think I would replace my minis with tiles, but I might add tiles to the mix. Getting me to paint a zombie horde in time for them to eat my players is impossible. That would be a place where buying 20+ tiles would be worht it to me.
The pros as I see it:
Much easier to store than minis
Last longer than cardboard or paper counters
Wouldn’t move if you had a fan in your gaming area
Areodynamic
Cons:
What if they scratch or break
Price
Can’t show position by laying down (need additional markers for that)
Facing (a mini can fit in close quarters and be faced any direction… the full 1″ square prevents you from rotating one 45 degrees when it’s in a field of others)
I want to know how scratch resistant they are. Also, how sturdy are the tiles?
I’ve got to take a pass on this one, too. I’d be a little worried about durability, and the price just isn’t in my ballpark. I like my metal and plastic minis, but the most useful (and economic) I’ve found by far is PIG’s Disposable Paper Minis. I can print up an Orc, Skeleton, Elf, Zombie, or whatever in B&W or color, pre-numbered and ready to rock. I don’t care about durability–they get a little ragged I print out what I need. Between those and FD counters (and a few plastic and metal minis I have around), I’m set.
I usually try to rely on verbal description for the creatures and use plastic game pieces with differing colors. It’s a little cheesy though but it’s incredibly cheap to pull off. I’ve got mini’s for the PC’s and a few I use every so often for the big bad’s of the game.
This gave me an idea though. Get some small 1 inch tiles in a box and do numbers on them, or kanji or symbols, etc. The concept is damn nifty and if I need some good artwork on the tiles I think this would be right up the alley for that.
Darn it, looks like I didn’t actually post yet again… Martin – is it at all possible that you can set up the board to post a warning before you navigate away before actually committing the post – I’m starting to think that 50% or more of my responses have been to the bit bucket.
These look like really expensive counters, that don’t have sufficient advantage to offset their additional cost.
I had a lot more to say about counters vs miniatures, maybe I’ll post again later.
Frank
Javaboy: Yep, I have my doubts about their scratch resistance too — I can understand the cermaic being pretty hardy, but do the pictures rub off easily?
Like John said, wood would be more economical, and while it’d lack the heft of ceramic tiles, it’d be pretty durable.
Frank: I might be able to add a line to the preview screen that mentions that you’re on a preview screen — is that along the lines of what you had in mind?
I was thinking some blogs pop up a warning box if you try and navigate away without having posted (try it on blogspot – type in a comment, but don’t post yet, then navigate to another page via your favorites). The preview screen is pretty obvious if you’re paying attention. Trouble is I often don’t pay enough attention, and all the other blogs I use don’t force a preview.
Frank
Hmm, it even posts the dialog if you try and close the window…
Frank
$1.10 a pop is too pricey to consider buying them, but I like the concept. Now I’m wondering if maybe I couldn’t make my own. Blank tile + swiped art printed to sticker paper = nifty custom counters.
Frank: I’ve added a warning note to the comment preview page — I’ll try that out for a little bit and see if it does the trick. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi all and thanks for your comments on our Monster Tile product. I wanted to post some information out here to answer some of your questions.
So here we go…
1.) Do pictures rub off easily? (General Durability)
We put our tiles through some hefty testing to make sure that we offer a product that will last. The images that we print onto the tiles are durable enough to withstand moderate abrasion and wear/tear. In other words, you cannot rub the images off with your fingernail. I like to compare the image durability to that of a coffee mug with a picture on it. Also, we’ve been playing with Monster Tiles in our own game for over a year and have yet to have one break or scratch. I think you’d be surprised to see how durable they really are.
2.) I can buy a plastic mini for just as much as I can buy a Monster Tile. What gives?
Well, $1.10 is our MSRP for one of the medium-sized monsters whereas WOTC’s plastic miniatures go for $1.62 per miniature (based on MSRP) and are randomized so you don’t know what you’re getting. However, you don’t usually pay MSRP for those minis (I totally understand that) and can get them for as little as $.99 per common or uncommon mini from a retailer.
Let me say that we are currently working on distribution which will ultimately give gamers, like yourselves, a break on the price. Also, we are still a young company and have been working hard to refine our manufacturing process so that we can reduce our cost and pass those savings on to our customers.
All of that being said, what price would you expect to pay for a gaming token like ours?
In addition to giving you this information I’d like to add that my partner and I wanted to create an alternative to metal/plastic miniatures that accurately represented the monsters out of the SRD with professionally drawn art. We hired V-Shane (who you will find at http://www.wacomknight.com) to do our first two series of Monster Tiles and our Dungeon Accessories set (which will debut at Origins this year). We are using Larry Elmore’s art for our NPC Series (which will also debut at Origins this year) which was colored by V-Shane.
We strive to make a quality product at a decent price for those people that don’t have much to spend on gaming accessories.
All of your input is appreciated and we hope that you understand that it can make a huge difference in how we do business. So if you ever have an idea, concern, question, or just want to talk please feel free to contact us directly via email (david@ochogames.com for me or brad@ochogames.com for my partner). We’ll respond honestly and quickly.
Sincerely,
David DeHart
Co-Owner
Ocho Games
david@ochogames.com
Thank you for stopping by to discuss your tiles, David — that was a textbook example of how a publisher should respond to concerns that were raised about their product, and it speaks very well of you and of Ocho Games. 🙂
To answer your question, at $0.25/tile I would definitely give Monster Tiles a shot. For $10.00 I could put together enough beasties for a substantial adventure, and they would of course be reusable down the road. $0.25/tile would be an amazing price, and probably not doable on your end.
At $0.50/tile, I’d spend a few bucks on them to see what they were like. I have 4,000+ counters, so it’d be tough for MTs to unseat them at my table — unless their “feel” was a lot better at the table than counters.
At $0.75-$1.00/tile, I’d buy a few if they had monsters on them that I liked and (as with $0.50/tile) give them a shot. I’d be unlikely to buy very many, again unless they were a blast to play with.
If you’re interested in a sending me a small sample set, I’d be happy to review Monster Tiles for Treasure Tables. Based on the details you provided, I think that’d be a review that would interest my readers. (Just drop me a line at martin(at)treasuretables(dot)org if you’d like to do this.)
Good luck in the ENnies! 🙂