How many monsters do you need?

[RodgeRules]

Kellar's Keep and the Witch Lord expansions come with quite a few additional gobbos, skellies, etc. How many of these do you actually need to get through the quests? I'd like to paint a complete set including the expansion baddies but if I'd only ever need 12 orcs out at one time, I'd stop at 12 rather than paint the full 16. Curious if this has come up before?

[Oftkilted]

Kellar's Keep and the Witch Lord expansions come with quite a few additional gobbos, skellies, etc. How many of these do you actually need to get through the quests? I'd like to paint a complete set including the expansion baddies but if I'd only ever need 12 orcs out at one time, I'd stop at 12 rather than paint the full 16. Curious if this has come up before?

That depends on whether the group stays together, or splits up.

If the group is always together then having all the monsters painted up isn’t probably absolutely necessary but if the group splits into multiple mini-parties inside the quest you can end up needing more than just your “base amount”.

To ensure that you have at least for the most needed for a single room deployment complete the following:
1 Gargoyle
1 Sorcerer
4 Chaos/Dread Warriors
8 Orcs
6 goblins
4 fimir/abominations
4 mummies
12 skeletons
6 zombies

From there just finish up the rest as you see fit!

[Pancho]

Like Oftkilted said it really depends on whether the group splits up or not. But in my experience many of the monsters included in those two expansions are overkill and will never actually be needed.
I would have been much better for new monsters to have been included in those packs, rather than too many of the same old, but that’s besides the point (I can still dream though).

[Oftkilted]

It is interesting, Kellar’s keep is the same number of greenskin models as was initially provided to double the number of “greenskins” (orcs, goblins, Fimir).

RotWL on the other hand adds two additional sprues of Undead, not just a simple “double”. (A sprue being 4 skeletons, 2 mummies and 2 zombies and some random skulls.)

I’ll bet that it was just an easy “add in the base sprue” for Kellar’s Keep, and they looked at the number of models for RotWL and said something like ... that needs more models.

[lestodante]

Of course, because their sprues feature 17 greenskins but only 8 undeads. So they doubled the number of minis in the ROTWL to put almost an equal number of miniatures in each pack.
But I also would have preferred if they put in only one standard undead sprue and the second one to be different with new figures; maybe a combination of 2 classic skeletons, 1 mummy, 1 zombie and then 4 extra figures, including the 3 bosses for this questpack!

[Shadzar]

Depends on how people play. If they open one door at a time, only the monsters in the halls and the one room.

If they run around opening ALL the doors trying to play Gauntlet video game, then probably more than you own from one copy of the game.

[Malcadon]

I have too many figures to use in a single Quest, so I like to prepare ahead of time to have what I need for a given Quest (or two, if the night is long), plus a few extra for Wandering Monsters. This is the same with furniture and tiles. My expanded HQ set is separated into a number of boxes and containers and having to dig through piles and tackle-box compartments for the right piece of something mid-game is a hassle that disrupts the flow of the game.

I would keep the figures, furniture, doors and tiles I need arranged in a model kit box with the lid placed in a way to grab what I need without the players seeing what they are going to encounter. This allows me to set the board quickly as the players open doors or stumble into traps, and to surprise them with non-standard monsters, traps, puzzles and/or friendlies (NPCs) I might have at the ready.

For the most part, I try not to throw too many monsters at the players, as that can quickly turn into a grind. My players like a good challenge; not a repetitive endurance test.

[Pancho]

Malcadon that’s a nice point about keeping the items you will need for the quest hidden from the players until needed. It all adds to the surprise!

[Kurgan]

Return of the Witch Lord really does throw a ton of undead monsters at you near the end. So you "need" all those extras to play it right. We're talking single rooms packed with skeletons.

Normally, yes, you can make it by substituting a monster of the same color if you run out, and as pointed out in later expansions, you can substitute a monster of similar strength (these are what the official rules say). If worst comes to worst, you say "this eraser is a goblin, this thimble is a skeleton, this lego brick is a chaos warlock, and this penny is a chaos warrior." You can fold a piece of paper and say "this is a gargoyle." Or you can just modify the quest, as Zargon that's your right, to fit what miniatures you DO have.

But yeah, it sucks. We'd all rather have the exact right miniature every time for every possible instance, and make that magical quest where you have four boards going at once, all filled with every kind of monster and it takes 3 weeks to complete. That's the trouble once you start collecting and 3d printing, etc.

But the initial reaction is correct. You should only "need" what the game comes with. Every expansion assumes you have the Game System but not necessarily that you have every other expansion. ROTWL gives you a ton of new undeads for a reason, because the quests are designed with them in mind. The way many games go, you won't ever run out of monsters, unless people are splitting up, running from room to room, etc.

[RodgeRules]

Thanks for all the tips! I will shoot for Oftkilted's list to start. This seems in line with Kurgan's response about actually needing some of the additional undead in ROTWL.

Per other comments and my original hunch, I am sure they threw the extra sprues into these two particular expansions just to make sure folks felt like they were getting a value, even if they truly weren't needed.

In any case, I am working through my first eight greenskins right now. They are a great refresher in between other painting projects. Modern minis are generally festooned with tedious details so these plain ones are just plain fun. I will post pics when they're done!