This is a post that I saw on Facebook in one of the board game groups that I’m in. And I think that it’s an interesting topic to talk about. Obviously, it ties into a bit of what I talked about yesterday, which you can read here. As one way to get down costs is not have to make minis. Minis are a cost that is very high to start and the more of the same ones you make in your board games the more that cost goes down.

So which is better for a board game a standee or minis?

What Are The Different Options?

So, before we dive into maybe why one might be better or not, let’s talk about the different options. I am putting this as standees versus minis, but there are more options as well. There are the flat tokens that you could use, pawns, meeples, standees, acrylic standees, and minis and probably some things I’m not considering that can represent these different items on the board.

Each of them has some benefits and negatives to it. Those will come through as we talk about the different reasons you might want one. And I’m not going to talk about tokens, pawns, or meeples. They work well for some games, especially for tokens when you want a lot of information available to the players without it being on cards next to the game board.

What Are Their Purpose in the Board Games?

It’s probably the most obvious question to ask when thinking about standees or minis. How much do you use them in the game? The more you use them, the better it might be as a mini. If I manipulate it a lot or handle it a lot for whatever reason, it might be a bit trickier to deal with it as a standee if I’m rubbing off the color on it.

Now, that is a printing issue potentially as well. You can print nicer standees that will last longer. But their shelf life for color is going to be shorter than a mini. Granted, they do have color. But when I consider this debate, I like to think about how it is going to be used.

Do You Paint?

Another very important thing to consider is if you paint minis or not. Painting is a hobby that I keep on wanting to dabble into. But for a lot of gamers, painting the minis is almost as much of the hobby as playing the game. It is something that Henry Cavill even talked about on the Graham Norton show, you can see his quote here. But it is very much the case where painting is a lot of work.

So, if you do paint and you do like that side of the hobby, it likely will sway you towards the minis. If you don’t paint, now you need to decide, do you like the color of the standees? Or would you prefer the 3D nature of the minis even though they are going to be grey on the board?

Which Adds More to Immersion?

Really, this is probably the biggest deciding factor for me. Yes, there is a functionality element as well. But a lot of the time I am considering what it does to the immersion in the game. Often times, especially if there is 3D terrain, even if out of cardboard, it might feel odd or break immersion to mix mediums or mix types from 2D to 3D or vice-a-versa.

I think that the theme of the game really makes a difference from what I can tell. For example, standard fantasy, I generally am more interested in minis, at least for some things. Gloomhaven, the mixed medium doesn’t break immersion but I like the minis and I don’t care that I don’t have them painted. Same with Tainted Grail because the world is darker so it doesn’t feel out of place.

On the flip side, if something uses bright and vibrant colors, if I don’t play a character matching that, on the board, it can feel like the immersion breaks. It feel like my piece is not as good as the rest of the world. So a standee might be better there.

So Should Board Games have Minis or Standees?

Obviously, I just made my argument that it depends on the game. I do think that both are a lot of fun, and really good minis can make a game way more amazing. Instead of talking about which is better, both are good, let’s talk about some games that I think work better with minis or better with standees.

Marvel United (and X-Men)

This is one that you might think it wouldn’t matter if it were minis or not. But I think minis are fairly important for Marvel United. A standee or token could work, but you’d lose so much of the art and the dynamic poses that the miniatures bring to the game. The game is so light that it’d feel wrong if it were just little standees. And I think it’d be harder to find the heroes that you want if they were standees as well.

Super Fantasy Brawl

Another one that would be considerably worse with standees. Another lighter game that is probably bigger than it needs to be because of the minis, but the minis make it feel more like you are battling. Without the minis the game would feel very small and very simple. It would still offer the fun choices and good light skirmish game play, but it wouldn’t make for as epic a fight.

Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

This is one where I’m glad that it has standees in it. The reason being is that you need a lot of standees on spaces on the board. If you build up troops in one area, you still want to be able to see that area. There is text on them, so until you know the game well, you’re going to want to see everything. Plus, this has not acrylic standees, but nicer standees.

Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1

This is one where I don’t think I’ll mind the mixed mediums of standees and minis, but because of the anime artwork, I might prefer minis. The game is vibrant because of that artwork, and my grey minis, unless I get better at painting and focus more on that hobby, is going to be a bit boring compared to what the rest of the game offers. Even the tiles in the game are crazy and awesome offering spot gloss on areas where there is water or other things that should shine.

Epic Seven Arise

This is one that I might have backed if I would get only standees. While the minis are very dynamic, it is again that anime art style. You put the characters in their dynamic poses on acrylic standees and the game would pop more on the table. But again, this falls into the category, for me, of being more interesting as standees because I don’t paint. And it would be more vibrant if I didn’t have to paint them.

Those are just some examples that I can think of. Obviously, I don’t even own one of them. But do you have a game you prefer with minis or a game without? And which do you prefer, a mini or a standees? If you were to really get down to it, I think I prefer acrylic standees, at least for a lot of games.

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