Bones II Unboxing

It is not that often I do an unboxing. My package from the Reaper Bones II Kickstarter arrived last week. I was busy so set the models aside initially while I pulled out the paints and DVDs to go over. I backed the first Reaper Bones Kickstarter as well and am happy with both purchases. This one was delayed due to unforseen extensions on transit times, getting stuck in customs for a few months, and then landing in California during the dock worker strikes. This delay was the one thing I think could possibly even be considered a negative during the kickstarter for me, and it was more a minor nuisance or inconvenience than an actual problem for me.

No, thank you!

The box itself was packed a little tighter than in the pictures. I had pulled everything out and looked at it as well as gave the kids some of the air pillow wraps to play with before taking any pictures.

Always a cat tail

My order consisted of...
1x Bones II Kickstarter Core Set
50ishx Assorted bases - Fifty sounds about right
10x Mouslings
24x Reaper Master Series High Density Paints
2x Painting DVD sets
1x Dragons Don't Share set

All the things!

I was going to put the models away when I thought I should take pictures so I took everything out of its packaging. The models on top and the bags on the viewer's bottom right are the models from the core set. The bases were an extra thrown in for free as part of the crowd funding effort. I am almost done with a first viewing of both DVD sets. They were the things out of all this I was anticipating the most.

Close Right

I realize it is a mess, but I am too lazy to go through and throw a wash over everything and just wanted a quick couple of shots before chucking the lot into bins.

Close Center

Bones is not my favourite material to work with, but neither is it my least favourite. The material is the same as what Reaper used for their prepainted minis, except obviously they do not come painted. The value even when paying full retail is hard to be beat if looking to amass models for quick and dirty paint jobs. I doubt we will see Bones models placing at next year's Crystal Brush, especially since the majority if not all are also available in metal, but they are an exceptional value.

Close Left

Anybody looking to work with Bones will likely want to skip the traditional primer. I have found in the past washing the models with a bit of dish soap and ensuring all the soap gets washed off is sufficient. Some people have reported some primers acted funny when used on Bones while others have had no issue. I never tried priming Bones and that has worked for me. You might also want to use one of the more flexible paint brands out there if you find your paint cracking. Vallejo Model Colour (not Game Colour) was originally produced and marketed with prosthetic modeling in mind for costume and movies. It uses a vinyl binder where some other acrylic brands might use a resin or other binder which is less flexible. I have used other brands of paint on Bones with no issue, but I have heard others had not always been so lucky.

Dragons Don't Share

I paid extra for the Dragons Don't Share set. I am not normally a fan of dragons, but for the price I thought I could use the tower for terrain. I actually kind of like this dragon so won't turn his base into its own terrain piece, but the rest can be used as one terrain feature or is set up to split into four pieces of individual ruins separate from the dragon's base. This set had a different sculptors work on different pieces of it so Reaper could have one unifying piece that represents their most utilized sculptors in one place if I am not mistaken.

Mouslings!

I have some metal Mouslings and love them. Reaper do a few other critters as well. These are great for when I begin to take things too seriously. These were not part of the core set so cost a little bit extra, but I have found in the past that Mouslings are worth their weight in gold. These are lighter than most Mouslings so may prove to be worth three times their weight in gold to me. There are a few games out there based on playing mice such as Mouseguard, but there is no reason these same models can not be used as player characters or townspeople in a game of D&D.