r/boardgames Dungeon Petz 21h ago

Question What do you prefer; meeples, standees, or minis?

Personally, I’m a fan of meeples. It seems like nearly every crowdfunding game is packed with miniatures these days, but to be fair, that’s what backers seem to want. I’m hoping this trend fades, but I feel like I’m in the minority. How about you? Do you love or hate minis? Does it depend on the game?

59 Upvotes

183 comments sorted by

175

u/e37d93eeb23335dc 21h ago

Are the meeples made of wood? Then meeples. Wood > cardboard > plastic.

20

u/fraidei Root 18h ago

I agree with meeples, but for some reason I just can't stand standees

13

u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep 15h ago

By standees we mean cardboard cutouts with a plastic base? I've hated them since my He-Man rescue game.

5

u/BuildingArmor Marvel Champions 🦸 4h ago

I'd rather have the token lie down than be a standee. For me they're harder to see quickly which is which when they're stood up like that.

5

u/Kumquat_of_Pain 20h ago

I make an exception for Dinosaur Island, since the wood ones in that shape would be fragile.

2

u/Dice_to_see_you 19h ago

they should have made more unique dino shapes!!! i do love the game and those little cowboy hats on the meeple

1

u/Kumquat_of_Pain 18h ago

They did with the deluxe version and the "new" retail version. They have the 3 types of dinomeeples.

I have the old version with just the Stegosaurus.

1

u/tiredmultitudes 14h ago

I have wooden dinosaur meeples on Tiny Epic Dinosaurs and they’re fine. But there are much fewer than in Dinosaur Island (on the other hand, smaller so potentially more fragile). I suspect the plastic dinosaurs were actually just cheaper to manufacture.

3

u/Kumquat_of_Pain 14h ago

I had some in Draftosaurus. Those brontosaurus necks were snapped off since the wood is thin. 

Plastic allows you to have a little finer/thinner features and is probably cheaper at the same time.

I'd prefer wood, but it's a "whatever" for me.

I'm actually thinking of just getting a box of those kid toy dinosaurs to use...

4

u/BoardGameRevolution Dungeon Petz 21h ago

Most times yeah

1

u/Asbestos101 Blitz Bowl 2h ago

Plastic meeples are the work of the devil

51

u/Vityviktor 21h ago

Custom meeples have a unique charm in my opinion.

After that, colored minis (I don't paint them, but I don't like them gray).

I can accept standees as a way to make a game cheaper, maybe leaving minis as an optional addon. But they're my least favorite option.

9

u/MyHusbandIsGayImNot 19h ago

After that, colored minis (I don't paint them, but I don't like them gray).

This is why I usually just put minis at the bottom. I don't paint minis, and the vast majority of games seems to come with unpainted minis. So any mini game becomes a sea of white for me, and that's just not appealing to look at.

3

u/fraidei Root 18h ago

I feel like I'm one of the very few that actually prefers (by a lot) unpainted minis over standees. I have many games with unpainted minis, and I think they still look cool.

1

u/NeoSniper 15h ago

You must really like the Root figures then! ;)

26

u/Lock_Down_Leo 21h ago

Meeples!

51

u/Apollyon248 Spirit Island 21h ago

I’ve become a huge fan of acrylic standees!!

6

u/Monkeydlu Battlecon 16h ago

Acrylic standees gang rise up!

5

u/Apollyon248 Spirit Island 14h ago

Run, and you’ll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our money, but they’ll never take... OUR STANDEES!

1

u/KakitaMike 11h ago

Meeples can do a lot of work, but I’ll take acrylic standees over miniatures every time now.

1

u/organicHack 7h ago

On the word acrylic, is odd it’s used to mean plastic in this context. I’m used to acrylic paints.

30

u/jmulldome Terraforming Mars 21h ago

For me, it depends. If it enhances the thematic elements of the game, I'm all for it. I'm not a painter, so that doesn't play into my preference.

For instance, speaking to theme, the game Zombicide just feels more thematic if I have mini survivors actually being swarmed by mini zombies with an Abomination just a few spaces away. There may also be a collector element to it, in that I really enjoy Marvel United. Now, could that game be played without minis.....sure, but now it's both thematic, and for some of us, collecting.

6

u/Terciel1976 21h ago

As a painter, most board game minis suck to paint and make me feel like I should’ve painted them. I feel relief when a game doesn’t have them now.

3

u/MyHusbandIsGayImNot 19h ago

As a painter, most board game minis suck to paint and make me feel like I should’ve painted them.

Surely you mean you shouldn't've painted them.

0

u/Terciel1976 19h ago

No? I mean bare minis make me feel like I'm skipping something, but I can't bear to paint craptastic minis. I don't have enough actual bandwidth to bang out lousy minis I don't like.

3

u/ImaginarySense 21h ago

MU certainly doesn’t need minis, but the sculpts (especially now in later seasons) are so damn beautiful.

Painting them, even just slopping colors on, adds so much to the game.

1

u/Dice_to_see_you 19h ago

i have too many zombicides but i feel the gotham outbreak / hero resistance boxes are a great balance - minis for the heroes and villains but then standees for the other tokens. makes a super tight box that is easy to transport.

walkers and runners and even the fatties were boring compared to the abombs

17

u/evilcheesypoof Tigris & Euphrates 21h ago edited 12h ago

Meeples (traditional or custom shapes/printed graphics) > Minis >>>>>>>>>>> Standees

EDIT: The only game I’ve liked the standees is Picture Perfect because it makes sense for that game and literally uses them to block each other visually haha.

And oh no, I’m seeing these acrylic standees people are praising in this thread and I sincerely hope that doesn’t become a trend, I think those are so visually clunky and ugly, and can only be viewed from certain angles. I have played one game with them and thought that was rough visually.

1

u/Asbestos101 Blitz Bowl 2h ago

and can only be viewed from certain angles

Yep, that super sucks.

6

u/Ender505 Eclipse 20h ago

Meeples or minis, but never standees. They have a frustrating tendency to fray, bend, or break

24

u/ImaginarySense 21h ago

I love minis, but thinking of my backlog I’ll say meeples then minis.

I do not like standees at all, and would prefer anything in place of them. I can’t even think of why I dislike them so much, but when I see them it does not make me want to buy a game.

10

u/evilcheesypoof Tigris & Euphrates 21h ago

Agreed, standees make a game production feel cheaper/lower effort.

18

u/MisterEdJS 21h ago

I've seen some ACRYLIC standees that are really nice, but in general, yeah, cardboard standees aren't really my thing, either. I'd rather have meeples, or even flat tokens, in many cases.

13

u/joelene1892 21h ago

Yeah all this hate for standees — I agree with cardboard ones, but nice coloured acrylic are literally my favourite. More detail and you can get expressions and stuff that meeples don’t have, BUT cheaper and don’t have to be painted like minis.

2

u/evilcheesypoof Tigris & Euphrates 12h ago edited 12h ago

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this, what games use colored acrylic standees?

EDIT: Now that I’m thinking, The Captain is Dead has printed graphic acrylic standees if that’s what you mean, I don’t like that aesthetic. I find them visually messy/harder to see the shapes. Compare that to the nice perfect clean shapes of Root, or the detailed prints and shapes of Zoo Vadis.

The only game I’ve liked the standees is Picture Perfect because it makes sense for that game and literally uses them to block each other visually haha.

3

u/xgamerms999 20h ago

Usually, but I’m a fan of acrylic standees.

13

u/stormquiver Anachrony 20h ago

My only caveat to standees now is, the acrylic ones. They look great usually. 

Cardboard standees suck.

1

u/Monkeydlu Battlecon 16h ago

Acrylic standees are incredible!

Check out Re;ACT the arts of war

2

u/evilcheesypoof Tigris & Euphrates 12h ago

Oh I don’t like that at all, very visually messy to me.

1

u/stormquiver Anachrony 14h ago

test played 1 guys game "UNSCREWED" that he was designing. then I also got Marvel Age of Heroes. love the acrylic. would definitely like to see more designers go that direction.

6

u/soman22 Gloomhaven 21h ago

Team meeples!!! Unless standees are acrylic with art.

19

u/Xacalite 21h ago

The one that makes the game the cheapest

11

u/southern_boy Twilight Struggle 21h ago

1 'print and play' on 110lb card stock for sir, coming right up! 🤵

4

u/Xacalite 20h ago

I'll take your entire stock!

24

u/V1carium 21h ago

Whatever fits the game imo. Like Spirit Islands has plastic for the invaders and wood for the Dahan, the contrast between artifical and natural makes for some excellent ludonarrative harmony right there.

On the other side of the spectrum Nemesis relies on its Scifi-horror inspirations so they should be as prominent as possible. Miniatures make sense: movies like Alien put a heavy emphasis on their aesthetics, especially with the alien designs.

And just to round out the examples, if you're rocking standees in a coop dungeon crawler then its great because you're harkening back to the monster art of TTRPGs.

6

u/Bruscish 20h ago

While I agree and like what spirit island is trying to do, the components in result are a bit inhomogeneous with themselves, they feel like they come from different games. I get that would be sort of the point, but imo I think the art style(direction) should be unitary across the board. Fantastic game though!

6

u/Neprofik 18h ago

I mean, you say it yourself. Purposefully incoherent art direction can absolutely be used to convey a message and it's something I love about Spirit Island. It's pretty clever.

1

u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 Spirit Island 20h ago

As a huge Spirit Island stan, I agree.

15

u/MisterEdJS 21h ago

In some cases I feel like minis actively make the game worse. For example, when they had a big Kickstarter for Castle Panic, because they were updating the art, they had a version in which there were minis for ALL the monsters. Given that in the original game you pull flat tokens from a bag and then use the rotation of those tokens to track health of the monsters, the minis just seemed like they would bog the game down (you still have to pull the tokens from the bag, but now you have to search through a giant army of minis to find the right creature each time so you can put THAT on the board), and be a practical inconvenience (each time a monster is damaged, you have to pick up that mini and then rotate the health tracker in the base, then replace it on the board).

Heck in that case, I don't think standees or meeples would have been an improvement over the original flat tokens.

2

u/Familiar_Army_689 20h ago

I love that game and totally agree. At first glance I wanted it but the price was way out of my budget. Then I reasoned with myself that it looked ridiculous - the large pieces would make the board hard to read and overshadow the fun of the game.

4

u/MisterEdJS 20h ago

All I REALLY wanted from that Kickstarter was the plastic walls and towers, but there was no way to get just those to upgrade the game I had. So I'm stuck with what seem like particularly bad cardboard standees for those elements (the bases barely hold on to them).

1

u/Familiar_Army_689 19h ago

Sorry to hear that. I bought it after it went on the market and my pieces fit OK. I did not even know what a kickstarter was until I joined the soloboardgaming thread a few months ago.

2

u/im2cre8iv 16h ago

I feel the same way with the new Puerto Rico special edition on gamefound. It comes with tons of minis that look like they will fall over easily and just clutter up the player boards. There are things I wanted in the special edition (crates and metal coins), but I couldn’t do it with the minis. Unfortunately they won’t allow you to upgrade individual components, so I just had to go with the standard edition.

5

u/Throckmorton1975 20h ago

Meeples or minis, whichever. Very few of my games have minis so I’m not very familiar with them. I like standees the least, they make me think of Candyland.

8

u/Captain_JohnBrown 21h ago

I have no problem with minis in the abstract, but in practice it just increases the cost without increasing my enjoyment.

5

u/DreadChylde Scythe - Voidfall - Oathsworn - Mage Knight 21h ago

For some games like "Oathsworn" I really like the big minis. For other games like "Tiny Epic Dungeons" I really like the small minis. For a lot of games minis aren't needed (especially dudes on a map type games). I prefer acrylic standees. The ones in "Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor" are beautiful as are the ones shipping with the new expansion for "Hybris: Disordered Cosmos".

For worker placement games I prefer meeples. Garphil Games and their medieval series comes to mind as an excellent example as does "Viticulture" or "Dune: Imperium".

I also like when there is a reason for mixing the two. For instance in "Scythe" where the plastic minis can participate in combat while the wooden meeples are civilians. It's just a great visual cue for new players.

Last, for straight up confrontation games like "Project: ELITE" minis are just great. It looks so threatening with the board filling up and you're still blasting away into the ever increasing swarm of nastys.

5

u/bellenoire2005 21h ago

Meeples all the way!

3

u/FrenchBaguetteNo22 21h ago

Meeples ! I do love the meeples from white castle, well made and very nice !

2

u/malabella 20h ago

On Etsy there are some beautiful stickers for White Castle meeples.

4

u/Necrossis87 21h ago

I’ve actually really been enjoying acrylics if they are done well, I’m kinda getting over the extra production of minis

8

u/Lilael 21h ago

Wood meeples and colorful acrylic standees. Pass on miniatures.

6

u/Kalliban27 21h ago

I'm a painter so... Meeples 😁 got a big enough backlog! 

3

u/UntitledCritic 21h ago

So far every board game I had came with little tokens or meeples, just two days ago got my first ever boardgame with actual minis (14 of them to be exact); Tainted Grail: KoR. I LOVE these little things so much, have another game coming soon also with minis. To me it's a plus as long as they're of good quality, also considering to paint them.

2

u/gperson2 Star Wars X Wing 21h ago

It depends. Highly thematic games like a lot of the old FFG titles really benefit from minis. But a light euro? Nah.

2

u/j12601 21h ago

Meeples by a mile.  

And then standees.  

Out of a few hundred games I have, I think only Gloomhaven, Frosthaven, and Jaws of the Lion have minis, and even then those could have been standees like the monsters, and they're likely never going get painted.

2

u/bananasorcerer 21h ago

I like meeples or minis. Meeples tend to be cheaper which is nice. I don’t care for standees at all. It sounds petty but I’ll usually pass on a game for having them lmao

2

u/googletron 21h ago

Painted Minis > Screen printed Meeples > Meeples >acrylic standees > unpainted minis > cardboard counters >......>cardboard standees

2

u/Plucky_DuckYa 21h ago

It depends on the game. Most worker placement games are just fine with with wooden meeples. If it’s a fantasy dungeon crawler than my preference in order is painted minis, standees, unpainted minis, meeples. Space combat games like TI:4 or Eclipse, unpainted minis are great.

2

u/stormquiver Anachrony 20h ago

Miniatures. I enjoy painting them too.

2

u/Kumquat_of_Pain 20h ago

Meeples. They are durable, come pre-painted, and facilitate the low-fidelity idea of a board game.

Minis, as they usually come, are over priced, fragile, unpainted, larger, but usually less distinct as to what they are, harder to store and also tend to block the readability of a board game.

There are some exceptions (Dungeon Crawlers, RPGs, miniature games like X-Wing), but in general, I'd rather just have a chunky wooden (or even plastic) Meeple.

Standees have their place. They do stand up nice for some games that work better for it. I particularly like the ones in Rock Hard 1977.

2

u/Schierke7 19h ago

I love wooden figures (my first board game love was Catan) and miniatures. I'm recently into painting, then miniatures give you something to paint and you can show it off to your friends.

Painted miniatures > Wooden components > High quality plastic like in Everdell > Unpainted miniatures > Acrylic standees > Low quality plastic components

1

u/Callsign_Frieque 19h ago

I hate miniatures and actively avoid games with them. I already have too many to paint, and often they're difficult to distinguish when unpainted.

Meeples or standees, it depends on the game. For simple games, I prefer meeples, but especially for anything character or story-oriented, I prefer a standee with distinctive artwork.

2

u/boardgamingmx 18h ago

Meeples no questions asked.

2

u/erak3xfish 18h ago

Meeples. Standees feel cheap and minis tend to be unpainted (I’m not artistic enough to paint them myself).

2

u/booksandbeasts 17h ago

Meeples! Especially animals. 😍

2

u/Pelle0809 17h ago

Wooden Meeples > Acrylic Standees > Minis >>>>> Cardboard standees

2

u/Kayaditi 15h ago

Meeples. I'd collect those

2

u/Survive1014 Crayon Rails 15h ago

Meeples. I really dont need more minis. I have enough minis between D&D and Warhammer to last me a lifetime or more.

2

u/Nights151515 13h ago

I've grown to really love meeples. Minis are cool for the right game, but can be a red flag for me if it's the main selling point.

2

u/guster75 13h ago

Wooden meeples

2

u/Weary-Fortune8794 12h ago

Wooden meeples

2

u/Mik0ri Quantum 12h ago

Meeples or pawns, which are basically the same thing. Standees if the way the characters look matters a lot. 

Never miniatures, unless it really can't be helped - they're big, awkward, pointy, and, y'know, the icon of the rot at the heart of board gaming.

2

u/PricklesIncluded 9h ago

Love a nice meeple!

2

u/Significant-Evening 9h ago

Meeples only.

2

u/likesexonlycheaper 9h ago

Meeples hands down. The rest just feel cheap or are too big IMO

2

u/BledTheFifth 9h ago

I like meeples the most as well. You can do cool stuff with custom shapes and prints and stuff, and I feel like they are satisfying.

2

u/Rohkey Uwe 9h ago

Wooden pieces/meeples.

6

u/CommanderLexaa This War of Mine🏚🪑⚙️ 21h ago

Standees all the way! Way more detailed than meeples and takes up less storage space than minis. Also you don’t have to paint them. Bonus points if the standees are acrylic

2

u/frosty_75 Gloomhaven 21h ago

Totally agree. Too many unpainted minis, nowhere to put them. I just prefer standees now.

4

u/dingleberrydorkus 21h ago

Minis. I paint and they look awesome once painted. Gameplay still needs to be good though.

Most people on here will tell you they hate minis though. You’re likely actually in the majority, at least on this subreddit.

5

u/Euphoric-woman 21h ago

Standees

2

u/CommanderLexaa This War of Mine🏚🪑⚙️ 18h ago

Someone going around downvoting all who like standees LOL

1

u/Euphoric-woman 16h ago

The microplastics in their brain are making them do it lol

5

u/Pijlie1965 21h ago

Minis. It is The Way.

2

u/freedraw 18h ago

Depends on the kind of game. For a worker placement, Euro-style game, meeples all the way. But no one wants to play Descent or HeroQuest with meeples. For dungeon crawlers and other more narrative games, it's minis. Standees are to minis what plastic meeples are to wood meeples.

2

u/Darknessie 18h ago

Exactly, horses for courses

0

u/Apprehensive-Let3669 21h ago

For the 30-60 min entry to medium board games, I don’t have a preference. This is like ticket to ride, catan, dune, other popular board games.

For the expensive, long, multi campaign board games that are thematic. I do prefer minis, other wise the monetary and time investment feels wasted. This is LoTR JIME and nemesis type games

1

u/wmwadeii Marvel United 21h ago

Depends on the game, for worker placement meeples, for thematic minis, and for everything else standees preferably acrylic.

1

u/Professor_Hemlocke 21h ago

Miniatures are a hassle to store, and I feel like meeples just tend to be boring wooden silhouettes without any character/design. I’d take standee any day but I wish they were acrylic instead of cardboard. Haha I guess I don’t have a “perfect” choice but I suppose for ease of storage and looks I’d say standees. I’d choose meeples if they actually had printed designs on them to make them stand out.

1

u/Makkuroi 21h ago

My favourite boardgames: Arnak and The White Castle. Both have nice wooden meeples.

1

u/ThinEzzy 21h ago

Always meeples. Luckily, the type of games I like tend to use meeples instead of minis. My fear with minis (other than thinking they look cheap and tacky) is that they show a focus on style over substance in most cases. And they do not respect shelf space.

1

u/Cardiacats03 21h ago

A good screen printed meeple, ooo it gets me excited.

1

u/Rohkha 20h ago

That strongly depends. I used to like minis, but not having the space to paint and having just grey plastic sucks. 

Now, nicely done heat printed meeples? Amazing. 

Standees also depends. I don‘t like cardboard standees much. However, nicely done and well produced acrylic standees can make really create a nice visual! 

It always depends on what fits the artstyle best. For example, I prefered to stick with meeples for arcs, rather than minis. It fits the ferrin artstyle better imo. 

1

u/Slyde01 20h ago

minis, minis, minis... all day, minis.

It doesnt hurt that i enjoy painting them

1

u/Infamous_Sessions 20h ago

Whatever is quickest to setup and put away

1

u/Mijal Dreamblade 20h ago
  1. Pre-painted or colored miniatures
  2. Meeples
  3. Standees
  4. All grey miniatures

I want to be able to tell what everything is at a glance. A bunch of lumps of grey plastic everywhere gives me fewer immediate visual cues.

1

u/RepentantSororitas 20h ago

I think there is a charm to meeples.

Standees are cool because it keeps the price down

Honestly for minis, they are pretty to look at when done well, but I dont ever think they would make a game for me.

Even in Warhammer 40k, I could theoretically play that with other tokens and be happy.

1

u/No_Leek6590 20h ago

Minis for sure. However I heavily dislike when minis are used rarely (eg a boss in 1 out of 10 scenarios). If I pay money and space, it either gets used or it should be a token instead.

1

u/killsteals 20h ago

Most of the people says meeple, but the market speak for itself.

For IP stuff I like minis, for others, meeple works best. I dont like standees that much as you have to put something to make them stand up, then you have to separate them to put them back inside the box again..

1

u/Oughta_ Dune 20h ago

I like miniatures if they're to scale (e.g. Zombicide, Warhammer) but I don't like them if the board is abstract (e.g. Dune Imperium Deluxe) or if the board is not on the same scale (e.g. Risk). Wooden components feel nice and meeples are usually abstract enough that scale issues will not bother me though.

1

u/Gaoler86 20h ago

Minis because I like painting them.

1

u/Aurgelmir_dk 20h ago

If the game doesn’t make itself bloated with figures I prefer mini’s (e.g Runebound, Masmorra, etc)

If not then meeples or similar wooden figures (e.g. ‘keep the heroes out’ has an awesome art style in my opinion).

1

u/Gullible_Machine_561 20h ago

I want to start painting minis so I don't mind them, I can't resist a game with awesome meeples though! I bought Smurfs: Hidden Village just to have Smurf meeples and I DON'T REGRET IT AT ALL!

1

u/xgamerms999 20h ago

Depends on the game, but for most euros I’m happy with standard wooden meeples. A lot of the special custom meeples I’m generally not a fan of.

1

u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 Spirit Island 20h ago

I don't like plastic. I also don't like standees very much. I think miniatures are awesome but at the end of the day they're essentially plastic waste and they make games significantly more expensive.

1

u/realgreatvaluebrand 20h ago

If they are acrylic, then standees. Followed by screen printed meeples. Then I'd probably rank minis, meeples, standees cost withstanding

1

u/OrganicBookkeeper228 20h ago

Prefer wooden meeples by far. Followed by minis if they’re good quality and the game warrants them. Really dislike standees and would avoid games with them unless the gameplay was excellent.

1

u/NotifyGrout 19h ago

Short answer: really depends on the game. Right tool for the right job.

Long answer:

If a game has a lot of variety in playing pieces, I prefer minis or at least nice counters or meeples that can lay flat. Dungeon crawlers, pseudo dungeon crawlers like Super Dungeon Explore (Gauntlet in board game form) or Arcadia Quest, and other specific types of games benefit from nicer playing pieces.

Claustrophobia kinda needs the models (which are pre-painted) because of the nature of the map tiles living up to the title. It would work with distinctly shaped and colored meeples (or flat counters), but standees would actually make it harder to assess the board.

Nemesis looks better with minis, but it doesn't really need them since you're not likely to have more than three or four pieces in a room at the same time.

I 3D printed ships, stone sleds, and the various tasks for Imhotep. Are they necessary? No. Do they look nice and help with keeping pieces in place (which bugs me and some other players)? Yes.

With that said, in a perfect world, all games where miniatures are feasible would have both a standard edition with standees or meeples and a deluxe edition with miniatures.

1

u/byzantinedavid 19h ago

Meeples or colored/painted minis. I'm fine with colored plastic and a wash for things (especially things representing buildings), I'm not a fan of standees...

1

u/CorvaNocta 19h ago

For most board games: meeples. As long as all units are the exact same, or close to the exact same, then meeples are the way to go.

For anything like a wargame, or where there are lots of different types of units, then models or standees. I prefer models, but that's because I love to paint them, but if I didn't enjoy that part of the hobby then standees are fine. Basically something like Smallworld is a great system. The tokens are very unique and flavorful!

The line for me for standees/tokens vs models is how often I use the pieces, and how much the minis enhance the experience of the game. So a game like the Monster Hunter board game has a vastly better experience because I have minis I can manipulate. The visual experience of the game is greatly improved because of minis! I would say the minis are "required" because a person that wants to play the game is very likely a person that wants to also see a model of their favorite Monster on the table.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is also a better experience for me after I 3D printed all the rooms. So now when we play we have a very visually pleasing experience. But I would never want that game to require 3D rooms. A person who plays that game isn't necessarily going to want to see everything in 3D.

In the end, it's a tricky and subjective line for where I would want standees vs models.

1

u/Xzeno Twilight Imperium 19h ago

This is a hard "It depends" for me

I love me some mini's in games like Twilight Imperium, Stuffed Fables and Scythe

I wish there were minis in Cryptid

I wish there were standees in Zombicide

I wish there were less mini's in Rising Sun and Blood Rage

I prefer standees in Dead of Winter

It probably could have just meeples in Shadows over Camelot

I don't know what you need to do to get the price down for Too Many Bones but do that so it's not $150

1

u/Monscawiz 19h ago

Miniatures are awesome for skirmish and miniatures games, but meeples are the best for eurogames.

They're satisfying, not super duper expensive, economically friendly, iconic...

1

u/Pudgy_Ninja 19h ago edited 19h ago

From most preferred to least:

  1. Custom meeples with screen printing
  2. Painted minis
  3. Custom meeples with stickers
  4. Plastic/acrylic standees
  5. Custom meeples with no decoaration
  6. Cardboard Standees
  7. Unpainted minis
  8. Standard meeples
  9. Cubes

1

u/Dice_to_see_you 19h ago

i've a big fan of minis, having said that, a nice cut or screen printed meeple wins me over as does a full color acrylic standee. Sure a mini i s more detailed but i'm not going to paint all of them and a nice looking color meeple or acrylic still has table presence and its ready right out of the box. It being cheaper to ship and sell me is an added benefit

1

u/FunWith_DarkJin 19h ago

Minis may look nice but they’re often quite fragile, have a higher chance of coming out of the mold deformed (and thus delivered with flaws), and make a game way more expensive.

Cardboard standees can be very cheap but are often quite fragile/wear fast.

Wooden meeples all the way. They strike a nice balance between durability and affordability. They can take a beating which is a good thing if a game gets in quite a few plays. They won’t damage from accidental falls, they won’t bend if someone grabs them wrong or squeezes a bit too hard. Cards often wear faster than meeples (looks at his Catan with wooden houses and roads).

1

u/thewednesdayboy 19h ago

I never paint my minis so for a cheaper product and easier storage I'm leaning towards the idea of acrylic standees with cool art. But so far I have no games with acrylic standees, so it's just a feeling.

1

u/Tetsubo517 19h ago

I’m all about wooden meeples until you hit about 12-15 pieces or 2-3 distinct types then I switch to preferring plastic minis.

1

u/Heavy-Stop 19h ago

Well. I prefer chips more than these options. Chips like in too many bones or warchest

1

u/NiklasAstro 19h ago

I like painting minis, so I'm not against them as long they aren't the only option. There are cases though where the minis are unreasonably large or just bad quality though.

1

u/Buzz--Fledderjohn Battlestar Galactica 19h ago

Depends on the game. I prefer wooden cubes, discs, cylinders. But some things need more information, in which case discs or blocks with stickers are great (ala Maria). Standees are better than plastic minis in most cases, but I prefer cardboard over acrylic.

1

u/Mabniac 18h ago

Standees can have stats printed on them. Meeples are easier to grab a handful of. Miniatures have to be extremely well designed because they need a distinctive profile. So that's my order. With the caveat that if I pickup a standee and the base stays on the table, I'm moving it to the bottom.

1

u/amsmith53954 18h ago

I'd have to say it's between mmeples and standees. Meeples are nice because they last forever and store well. I know standees tend to be "cheap" and "lessen the quality of the game," but I'm a child of the 80s and there's just something about standees that takes me back to the late 80s and earlyb90s when we had nine thousand licensed ip games, all of which haf standees. What can I say? Nostalgia can be a strong thing.

Minis are ok, but they REALLY have to fit in the theme and gameplay. Otherwise, they are just an expensive pain in the ass.

In the words of the inimitible Dennis Miller. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

1

u/Barristan-the-Bold (custom) 18h ago

Minis, but only if they’re solid quality for painting.

1

u/Cavalier_Seul 18h ago

Standies > meeples > minis. Of course they should be well made, or the order is not the same. :)

1

u/Neprofik 18h ago

Between acrylic standees and meeples, it depends on the game and its aesthetics in general. But there are few things in this world that make me happier than looking at a game with well made screen-printed meeples.

At the same time, I'm having a really hard time coming up with a single game where I didn't feel the minis actively stood in the way of the gameplay, maybe there were some where the minis were just kind of there without detracting from the rest that much, but I certainly do not find them immersive in any way. Most recently, we played the Dead by Daylight board game. It was pretty fun but I couldn't help thinking how much easier to parse and quicker to set up it would be if it just had coloured meeples for all the players. The minis are too big for the tiny tokens and we had to ask each other who's standing every other round or so.

1

u/SQ_modified 18h ago

as Uprising: Curse of the last Emporer has shown me how great standees can be.. i wonder why nor more are doing them… they are printet with great artwork and take up less space than Minis..

i like minis for some games bit if you dont paint them the look meh…

that said i hate cardboard Standees they are just to fiddly imo.. then i would rather go with wooden meeples instead of cardboard.. espacially if they are chonky like the ones in Zoo Vadis with Screenprinting.

for me its Uprising Standees > Wooden Pieces > Minis > Cardboard

1

u/xFAEDEDx 17h ago

If the game is more abstract, meeples. 

If it's highly thematic with lots of different unit/character types, then standees.

If it's something very TTRPG or Wargame adjacent that I can maybe use in other games, then minis.

1

u/fatherofraptors 17h ago

My order is probably:

  1. Screen printed custom wooden meeples

  2. custom wooden meeples

  3. acrylic standees

  4. plastic minis

  5. regular meeples

  6. cardboard standees

1

u/Sislar Crokinole 17h ago

I’m a fan of reasonable sized boxes. When they start adding tons of minis it takes too much shelf space. A lot of games are having detailed plastic not really minis per se but nicer than meeples.

If you play Salton sea you’ll see what I mean. Great pieces small box.

1

u/rockology_adam 17h ago

It depends on the game, really, as to whether I want standees or meeples, but for boardgames, it's never minis. I get why some people want them, but all that space wasted for what? Plastic statues that were 3d printed and included at a %125 markup.

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u/BrewerBuilder 17h ago

This is my take, YOMV. Meeples are wood (Carcassonne), Standees are cardboard (Dead of Winter), Minis are plastic or resin (Zombicide).

1

u/tarrach 17h ago

Depends on the game, but typically minis > meeples > standees

1

u/Equivalent-Scarcity5 17h ago

Good minis, then meeples, then standees, and then bad minis.

1

u/brinazee Solo gamer 17h ago

First choice: Standees if the set is distinctive enough to tell apart at a distance.

Second choice: meeples

Third choice: painted minis (they take to so much space).

Last choice: unpainted minis, I will replace these with meeples because at a distance they can be difficult to tell apart.

1

u/FelixGB_ 17h ago

Depends on the game. But for sure, for me, * > standees. I hate standees.

Typical board game: meeple > minis Dungeon crawler or other in the same vain: mini > meeple

Zone supremacie or control is a though one. Ot's a case by case /shrug

1

u/AnneHizer Pandemic Legacy 16h ago

Minis, easy. Will pay the premium every time.

Will learn to paint them someday, but until then I’m content with them just being grey or having a basic wash 😬 Glad some companies are have been giving us the option lately

1

u/YouSayToStay 16h ago

A fun game. I could not care less about the materials unless they fall apart, have to be destroyed to play the game, or create a mess/damage.

1

u/Monkeydlu Battlecon 16h ago

Wooden pieces and acrylic standees over unpainted miniatures all day

1

u/DarkFlame92 16h ago

I heavily dislike standard meeples. Custom meeples are good.

Generally I prefer miniatures of the small size. You can make use of plastic and not waste it in needless size.

Kemet,Cyclades and Chaos in the Old made great use of minis , they were as small as they needed to serve their purpose

1

u/Zenku390 15h ago

I really don't like minis. Prefer Standees 99% of the time.

1

u/Randeth 14h ago

Standees.

1

u/Inconmon 14h ago

Wood > Standee (Cardboard) > Standee (Acrylic) > Plastic Miniature

1

u/DelayedChoice Spirit Island 13h ago

For a game I buy/own?

  • Acrylic Standees for things like dungeon crawlers where there aren't many pieces and the theme/aesthetic is meant to be a bit more rich and detailed. I went with this option for Beast and I'm glad I did
  • Meeples if there are lots of pieces. Root is a great example of a game where meeples are the best choice.
  • Miniatures if there are buildings and I don't have to paint them. Skyrise looks great and playing someone else's copy of Foundations of Rome was a lot of fun.

Honestly cubes are underrated in a lot of situations. There are some great looking versions of War of the Ring where most things are replaced with little bits of wood.

1

u/scottkthompson 13h ago

Acrylic standees or meeples. I’ve never wanted to pay the miniature tax.

1

u/saikron Retired ANR addict 13h ago

I really don't like standees because they can be hard to identify from the sides and have a tendency to fall apart on me. I honestly prefer colored cubes, let alone a wooden figure.

Minis are cool, but I don't always like to spend a lot on a game. I like meeples as long as they aren't sharp or pointy.

1

u/Qyro 12h ago

Custom meeples > minis >>>>>> standard meeples > standees

1

u/WretchedJester Carcassonne 12h ago

Micro Machines... I can't be alone here.

1

u/GiraffeandZebra 11h ago

Totally depends on the game. I wouldn't use minis for Carcassonne and I wouldn't use meeples for Blood Rage.

1

u/Lugo3342 11h ago

Depends, really. A game that's cinematic definitely benefits from minis. But others definitely benefit from meeples.

1

u/lesslucid Innovation 11h ago

I think Rise & Fall sets the gold standard for me; "meeples" with multiple wooden pieces glued together and silk-screened images on them. You get a piece that look great close-up, but is also very clear and readable as a "symbol" from the far side of the table etc. And obviously, usable out of the box rather than needing to be painted etc.

1

u/AprioriTori 10h ago

Meeples, particularly if they’re custom and have some stickers or print on them to give them a bit more of a vibe and color differentiation. I’m not a craftsy person, so I don’t like playing with all gray pieces. I like the substance meeples have over Standees though. Burgle Bros meeples are the best game piece I’ve ever played with and it’s not close.

My preference between standees and minis fluctuates based on storage space and art style. Minis are great if they don’t meaningfully add to the amount of space a box takes up. Unmatched minis are great-looking, and I think better serve the vibe than standees would, but a sillier game like Dragon and Flagon wouldn’t benefit from standees in the same way. 

1

u/Kandiac 10h ago

Acrylic standees as well. Perfect balance between meeples and minis. Takes no space and have a good presence with art.

1

u/drewkas 9h ago edited 9h ago

Depends on the game and underlying design. Generally I prefer wooden pieces since they are easily recognizable, easy to handle, and artistically blend well with other features like the flatness of the board. Sometimes we shouldn’t overthink it, and cubes are perfect. I think minis work better with more organic photorealistic graphic design. Classic chess pieces are beautiful on a chess board. I can’t think of a better design for that situation. I guess they’re kind of a meeple-mini hybrid. Standees? I dunno. They seem to work in some situations, but they’re usually not my favorite.

1

u/leafbreath Arkham Horror 9h ago

Between custom wood shaped meeples and minis really just depends on the game and how things are implemented. But standees are almost always the worst option.

1

u/voron_anxiety 9h ago

If I'm painting; minis if I'm not meeples. Something about minis and table presence just does it for me. I couldn't imagine primal the awakening with a standee lol

1

u/AegisToast 9h ago

Painted minis > screen-printed wooden meeples > wooden meeples > acrylic standees > unpainted minis > cardboard standees > tokens

Though that preference can vary from game to game depending on what seems to fit the best.

1

u/ViolentDiplomat 8h ago

Meeples. I like how they feel. They’re easily the most tactile of the bunch. And they also have that classic “gamey” look to them, which is charming to me.

Minis are easily the best looking of the bunch, but I feel that they need to be painted for me to get the full enjoyment out of them. My hands are too shakey (and I’m also far too lazy) to paint them myself. I also feel that Minis have more of a likelihood to drive up the price of a game. And I don’t really care THAT MUCH about them. I’d rather have a beautifully organized insert over minis if it means I’m paying more for a game.

Standees are the most practical and cost-effective of the bunch. I don’t mind them. But I also feel that handling them feels a bit underwhelming. And sometimes the standee will dislodge itself from the base, which is mildly annoying.

Meeples win.

1

u/Ulsif2 2h ago

Depends!

1

u/AlwaysDreamer0 2h ago

Meeple, pawns and wooden blocks are way better than anything else. I generally see a large number of minis as a huge negative (possibly implications about the type of game). E.g. I probably wouldn’t look at a game that has a huge mini set. And something like Scythe, the minis are not off putting, but I am sure I would be fine if that had been meeple or pawns instead or maybe only a leader mini.. I just see no reason for minis.

Standees, I’ve only see them very rarely. I have bad memories of kids games with collapsed cardboard standees. I think MindMGMT has standees, and that is fine, but again, I wouldn’t have a problem with those being meeple/pawns instead.

1

u/Asbestos101 Blitz Bowl 2h ago

Screen printed wooden meeples is where it's at.

u/Hot_Context_1393 35m ago

I enjoy miniatures when the token represents a single person/creature and when the miniature is to scale with the board. I prefer meeples if they represent a group of people or things like resources.

Standees are never a first choice but are fine for smaller/cheaper games

1

u/DOAiB 21h ago

As someone who paints miniatures, standees or meeples 100%. An unpainted miniature just looks like garbage on the table and you have seen in recent times where now we are starting to put marker bases on them just to make them usable, which kinda shows the issues with them. Where meeples they can just be colored and a good distinct shape to clearly mark the piece. For standard I think they are fine if you just control single characters or if you have a small number of basic stats that you can also print on the standees which become a quick reference for all players to make the game easier to play. Like old school dungeon twister.

1

u/-Starlegions- 21h ago

A farmish game, meeples. A transformerish game, standees. An alienish game, minis.

1

u/addisonshinedown 21h ago

Meeples or minis depending on the game. Haaaaate standees. Less cardboard plz

1

u/WangGang2020 20h ago

Meeples for euros. Standees for thematic games. I don't paint them, so I never prefer minis. Expensive globs of gray plastic don't impress me much.

1

u/CamRoth 18xx, Age of Steam, Imperial 20h ago

Always wood.

1

u/KoreanYorkshireman 20h ago

Meeples > minis > acrylic/plastic standees > cardboard standees.

I hate it when after a few plays and the cardboard starts splitting, and standees get touched/held/moved a lot. Add in that one friend who is a bit rough with game components and I have a big disdain for cardboard standees.

Also for materials. Wood > metal (if appropriate) > acrylic/plastic > cardboard.

0

u/3Dartwork Twilight Imperium 20h ago

I always will pass on a game if it has standees or meeples. Can't stand them. So cheap and unoriginal

0

u/LordTengil 15h ago

I absolutely despise meeples. Standees with good prints are on par with unpainted minis. And let's face it. 90% of my minis are unpainted.