[CanRay]

Don't drink coffee.  That makes me jittery.

[Onion Man]

The guy that says crater-making is a local hobby has jittery hands?

[CanRay]

I said it was a local hobby, not my personal one.

I'm a gun nut.  My hands are steady enough for a book. 

[bigity]

From playing warhammer 40k I can tell you painting is half the fun of playing any game with minis. But I also think shadowrun shouldn't have minis as well as alot of other games. The only thing they do for me is act as a crutch for imagination and money suckers.

From playing 40k I can tell you painting sucks and I suck at it.  Playing the game was 100 percent of the fun

Necromunda painting was more bearable, being:
1) You are painting like 8 guys instead of 40, and heaven help you if you were playing IG or Dark Eldar or Nids
2) They are gangers and would realistically be wearing garish colors and look sloppy

SR doesn't really need them as much as other games but they sure are handy for keeping people loosely in agreement of were stuff is, but any kind of map/markers work for that.  I wouldn't mind something like the pre-painted cheap minis WOTC was/is? pushing for D&D or Star Wars though.

[Charybdis]

Seeing as we game remotely, we use online tools like SKRBL to try and make sure placements are understood by all parties.

Mostly it's not an issue. SR4 mechanics lend themselves to a fairly abstract placement of PC's and foes, so arguments about placement are few and far between

[Nebular]

My group started out playing Pathfinder (transitioned from D&D when the 4E nonsense came about) and we've got a large collection of the D&D Miniature models that we've collected and tossed into what is affectionately referred to as "The Critter Box", so we use those if want a physical representation of everyone on a map. Sure, it doesn't exactly fit the theme, but we can at least identify that the mage figure is for the magician, the big burly orc is the brawler, and so on.

Now that we've come to the realisation that the 50" TV that we're been sitting in front of for quite some time can be plugged into my laptop and used as a second monitor, we've taken to using mapping software and placing markers on there to show everything. Much easier for everyone to see than the setup we had used before (a grid of 1" squares covered with plexiglass so we could draw on it with a grease pencil which was hard to see some times if you were in the wrong spot), plus I can throw up player handouts, reference documents, and anything else I need without having to remember to print it (I keep forgetting), or finding that it would be helpful for them.

[theKernel]

Now that we've come to the realisation that the 50" TV that we're been sitting in front of for quite some time can be plugged into my laptop and used as a second monitor, we've taken to using mapping software and placing markers on there to show everything. Much easier for everyone to see than the setup we had used before (a grid of 1" squares covered with plexiglass so we could draw on it with a grease pencil which was hard to see some times if you were in the wrong spot), plus I can throw up player handouts, reference documents, and anything else I need without having to remember to print it (I keep forgetting), or finding that it would be helpful for them.

Aren't you a fancy pants lol

[Charybdis]

<This> option has had me drooling for years

[theKernel]

W.T. FRAK?!?!?!?!?! 

[Nebular]

Now that we've come to the realisation that the 50" TV that we're been sitting in front of for quite some time can be plugged into my laptop and used as a second monitor, we've taken to using mapping software and placing markers on there to show everything. Much easier for everyone to see than the setup we had used before (a grid of 1" squares covered with plexiglass so we could draw on it with a grease pencil which was hard to see some times if you were in the wrong spot), plus I can throw up player handouts, reference documents, and anything else I need without having to remember to print it (I keep forgetting), or finding that it would be helpful for them.

Aren't you a fancy pants lol

Very fancy, yes! Wish I could say it was my TV! It took us two years to finally realise that the TV is actually just a big monitor that's sitting there while we play and that it doesn't magically disappear during our Friday night games. (Five computer geeks huddled around a table next to that behemoth, and it took us that long to make the connection. I'm ashamed for us all.) I'm using SR Squad Manager for mapping. You can pop open another window for the map and reveal just sections of it which is pretty neat. The only draw back is that it's in German, so there's been a bit of a learning curve and taking notes with Google Translate, but we've all been really happy with the results.

[AJCarrington]

Some additional miniatures links:

Hasslefree Miniatures
Consortium
Sedition Wars (Studio McVey)
Reaper - Chronoscope
Infinity
RAFM - some great drones
MERCS

AJC

[John Schmidt]

<This> option has had me drooling for years

The problem with that table is that it is projecting down from the ceiling, so you are going to cast shadows when reaching over to move your mini. Don't get me wrong that is still a huge leap forward in game tables.

However, people are doing some very interesting mashups with a bottom based projector and mirrors, as well as touch table using the Wii Remote, and even LCD screens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaB4ZGkyaVA
http://www.youtube.com/user/Zombiesrcomng#p/a/u/0/PghNU-5PEPg

Back on topic though...I picked up a fair amount of Reaper's - Chronoscope figures at Origins and they look great! AJCarrington's suggestions all seem to be spot on. 

[Critias]

Infinity

+1 on these guys.  I've been thumbing through their rulebook and drooling over some of their miniatures lately, and it's in part because most of them would work fine for someone in a Shadowrun game.  They've got a neat aesthetic to them, and I'm hoping to try out a game or two at Gencon if time permits.

[AJCarrington]

Sorry guys...screwed up one of my links previously posted (though the Killer B minis are still kind of neat).  Correct link follows:

Merc Minis

AJC

[Onion Man]

<This> option has had me drooling for years

The problem with that table is that it is projecting down from the ceiling, so you are going to cast shadows when reaching over to move your mini. Don't get me wrong that is still a huge leap forward in game tables.

However, people are doing some very interesting mashups with a bottom based projector and mirrors, as well as touch table using the Wii Remote, and even LCD screens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaB4ZGkyaVA
http://www.youtube.com/user/Zombiesrcomng#p/a/u/0/PghNU-5PEPg

Back on topic though...I picked up a fair amount of Reaper's - Chronoscope figures at Origins and they look great! AJCarrington's suggestions all seem to be spot on. 

Go to a Microsoft Demo store.  They (and at present, only they) have the sexiest tabletop screens in the universe.  Demo screens are set up to run board games and such, but they CAN run maptool and they can not only respond to touch, but they see what's above them and can even remember who's allowed to touch what pieces so you don't have to let your friends with greasy fingers touch your super sexy nerd-tech and smudge it all up.

The flagship Microsoft Demo store is in the Mall of America, weerily close to what was supposed to be one of the nicest Apple Stores in the country... as always, when set up next to eachother Apple shows itself as inferior and overpriced (and Apple Geniuses have to regularly come in to the Microsoft store to have products brought to the Apple Store serviced by a Microsoft tech, one of the in-house techs I know is collecting invoices that show Apple paying Microsoft to do the work they simply can't).

Expect this technology to be mainstream in 12-15 years.  Smartscreens that can see.  No more need for cameras.