4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

I liked the geek shirts the best.  I hope to see more of these video reviews, while I’m not into mini-painting I can dig the format.  Would be nice to see the video shot from Jim’s gamer garage, it could be the Wayne’s World of D&D reviews.

That was awesome! Do more!

Thanks for the kind words guys, we really appreciate it. We would like to make some clearifications though.

1. The video is not meant to replace the hundreds of books and magazines out there that teach the theory of miniature painting. Books are a much more efficient medium for providing compact information. But,(and a huge but here) books will not teach how how to paint. Just like books can’t teach you how to play a guitar - you need to see it being done.

2. We actually thought we were pushing the envelope at 4 hours! Actually, one of the goals at miniature mentor is to create a library of information for you guys -not just one or two videos that teach everything. We plan to cover everything, from bases to orc flesh to true-metalic metal. Which is why we negotiated video tutorials with some of the worlds best painters. It is impossible to create one DVD that teaches everything, because there is just SO much to learn.

3. Too pricey - well we are planning a subscription service that will allow access to the downloadable video as an amazingly low monthly price. We currently working with out service providers and programmers to get this up and running. For those people who have already purchased a DVD or download - we will provide a special link to waive any initiation fees for the subscription service. Again, only once we get that working.

4. We got tons of master classes planned that focus specifically on things like flesh, and metals and making proper blacks and whites.

5. All of our tutorials feature techniques from only the best painters. Thats right, the guys that keep winning those awards.

6. You will learn how to paint! And not just basic painting. Before you know it you will be producing minis as good as (and hopefully better)than these guys. LOL!

yes - advanced tutorials is coming out in March. There will be four of them (aprox 45 mins each) that will focus on black cloth, white cloth, non-metalic metal, and realistic skin tones. Pricing to be announced. Also, next month we will be busy taping 4 tutorials with Mathieu Fontaine, Allan Carraso (his coolminiornot ranking is # 3!!!!!), Dimitri Peyrard (nobody does true metal like this guy) and Christope Lettellier.

Wow, the added info from the folks at Miniature Mentor definitely gets me excited.  I do pretty much everything on a budget (If the cereal’s not on sale, I’m not eating it that week), and the video subscription service seems to offer a good shot at being able to learn more on a budget.

I’ve been painting on and off for 2-3 years with a collection of perhaps 10 or fewer painted minis, but a video like this seems like a product that would not only boost my painting to the next level, but perhaps my enthusiasm and confidence as well!  I’m stoked.

And thanks for the video review - shibtastic!

Nice, I thought the video review was a great way to review the guide.  I have a couple of suggestions for the DA review crew. 

1) It seems like you are more hesitant to criticize on a video than you are in printed format, while I think this is understandable, I think it is something that you have to accept it is always (at least to me) to say something bad about a person than it is to write it, there is a certain mount of anonymity in writing that is not there in video. But when it comes down to it people read/watch reviews for the good and the bad, sometimes even more so the bad.  I know when I am going to make a major purchase I sort reviews buy lowest rating.  Something I do when I write a review (heh the RARE occasion) is to (try and)say something negative for every positive.  You can tell how good a product is by how nit picky the negatives are and you can always decide to leave them out of the final draft if they are too minor.

2)A nice condensed wrap up at the end from each of you would be GREAT.  Something along the lines of Chibbs: “I liked Mini Mentor because of A, B, C.  I did not like it because of 1, 2, 3.  But over all, from an experienced painters view I give it a B.” Jim: “I agree with you somewhat Chibbs, but I liked Mini Mentor because of A, B, C.  I did not like it because of 1, 2, 3.  But over all, from an experienced painters view I give it a C.”

3) Maybe restate the product and where it can be found at the end of the video.

Miniature Mentors crew:
1) Glad to see you all posting here and addressing the issues DA had with the product.  It shows you care about your product.

2) Have you thought of multiple audio tracks?  I do not know how plausible that is with the downloaded video, but it should not be hard (from a tech standpoint that is) for the DVD.  I know there might be other limitations (time, money etc) but it might be worth thinking about.

3)D@$#%n you for making me want to dig out my minis and start painting again, my wallet, my wife and my kid can not afford it. Well maybe I can start painting minia- HEY LOOK!!! Something shiny… now what was I saying?

Just wanted to reiterate that I thought you all did a great job on your first video review.  You both looked at the camera and annunciated your words well. I like that you had the video playing in the background it gave a GREAT view of exactly what you are getting with this product.  I think you could have been a bit more firm in you criticism and the review would have benefited from a recap and “rating” at the end.  All in all I liked it… I give it a “B+” (see what I did there, I followed my own advice:))

WOW, BUTCHERED my first sentence.  Sorry, I was so busy with spelling I forgot about you know, WORDS AND GRAMMER!  Lets try that again:

“1) It seems like you are more hesitant to criticize on a video than you are in printed format. While I think this is understandable, I think it is something that you have to accept. It is always (at least to me) harder to -say- something bad about a person than it is to write it, as there is a certain mount of anonymity in writing that is not there in video.”

Yea, that is better. Well that is what I get for writing while I am playing Mass Effect.

EDIT BY JIM: Removed italics as they cause a problem with the front page of the site.

The link you guys have after the video doesn’t seem to work for me.

Nevermind - fixed it.  Just a code error (the href was pasted in twice).  Good review.  I liked it a lot.  Not enough to run out and buy some minis to paint because I just frankly don’t have enough money to do so, but the video does look pretty cool.

Were I a miniature painter, I might consider investing in this kind of product to get better at it.  Most of my gaming, however, is done online so money spent on miniatures would be wasted for me.

That said, it looks like a halfway decent product from the review.

I do have to ask though, does it really cost $20 to buy 2 DVDs and burn them, buy a case for them, and mail them to someone?  The difference in cost between the download and hard copy versions seems a bit excessive to me.

Glad to hear that it was just a good product, and that is the reason for the tone of the video.  As I said, over all I think you guys did a great job, esp for your 1st time.

I look forward to seeing more videos from you guys.

Nice review, guys.