I visited our friends at 1985 games at Gen Con this year, and I got a good look at their flat-pack miniatures. I’ve really enjoyed their Dungeon Craft tile series, so I was excited to see what their miniatures looked like. They were kind enough to give me to packs to review, and I finally cracked them open to take a look.
Forgive the poor lighting in the pictures below. I am not a good photographer.
What’s in the Pack?
Each pack contains 15 miniatures (11 medium sized and 4 large sized), plus matching bases for each so that you can use every mini in the pack simultaneously. The packs zip sealed, so you can also reuse them for storage.
The packs each contain a few duplicates, but you’ll still get a diverse set. I got one Orc pack and one Undead pack. The Orc pack has a lot of duplicate mediums, while the Undead pack only has only one medium duplicate. I’m happy with the spread in both packs. If I’m using multiple enemies in an encounter, there are nearly always duplicate cratures.
Minimal Setup
Each miniature comes with protective film on either face to prevent damage during shipping. Peeling the film off is exactly as satisfying as pulling the protective film off of a new phone.
Once you’ve removed the film, grab the circular base of the matching size and push the tab at the bottom of the miniature into the slot on the base. The slots are a slightly tight squeeze to keep things from shaking loose, but a gentle tug will pull the miniature free for storage.
Standing Alongside Standard Miniatures
The scale of the miniatures is perfect for use on your standard combat grid. You don’t need to worry about collisions or snapping fragile parts of miniatures, and they don’t take up nearly as much space as my unpainted boxes of Bones miniatures. They also look nicer.
At $14.99 a pack, you’re paying roughly $1 per miniature. Compare that to Reaper’s inexpensive Bones miniatures line, which starts at $2.99 for the cheapest miniature that they sell, and then remember that they’re unpainted. $1 per mini is a steal.
It’s probably more fair to compare Flat-Pack Miniatures to standees or “pawns” like those produced by Paizo. The Monster Core pawns boxed set costs $74.99 and comes with 450 pawns, which works out to about $0.17 per miniature. That’s cheaper, but it’s also card stock instead of durable plastic. I would expect them to wear down over time, but I’ve never put my hands on them, so I don’t know for sure.
Currently there are only two sets of flat-pack miniatures, so the diversity of options is very limited, but it’s also a new product from a tiny company. I’m excited to see future packs expanding the line.
Another Hit
I’m very happy with the flat-pack miniatures. They use 1985 Games’ consistently excellent art, the plastic feels sturdy, and the form factor is great for a DM or GM who might need to haul their miniatures to their games or who might not have a lot of space for bigger, bulkier miniatures.
Flat-Pack Miniatures are avaiable on the 1985 Games online store. Many of their other products are available on Amazon (affiliate link).
More to Come!
1985 Games is actively crowdfunding thier new Milk Carton Dice. Each set is fruit themed and comes with a color-coordinated set of 7 dice, plus a sticker and a metal pin featuring a fruit cat critter. They’re really cute.
