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View Full Version : Miniature's but from where do I get them?



Krazzman
2012-07-29, 12:10 PM
Hello again Playground,

I'm searching for some opportunities to get Miniatures. Last Session we really missed a battle plan while playing. While creating one is quite easy my Google-Fu somehow leaves me when I search for minis.

I have some Warhammer Fanatsy Minis... but only Skaven and a Bit-Box(mainly skaven) at my Parents home.
But since picturing enemies and playercharacters/nsc's as the same skaven model doesn't work in the long run. Does anyone know some "cheap" or better said cost-effective way to get Monster and Player-Minis? Without having to fall back on the overpriced Warhammer/Wizard boxes (and yeah I consider 10 Euro for a 3-Piece set of Miniatures quite overpriced).

TL;DR: Cheap way to get minis of PC's/Monsters/NPC's

Sooo, any ideas?

slaydemons
2012-07-29, 12:42 PM
Well I remember seeing something about paper mini a little while back hold on let me find the link.

Here we go I don't know how old this is but its cute
http://www.apolitical.info/webgame/heroes/

and this is the 2008 thread for it, perhaps you start up a new thread in the art section asking for help, well if they don't already have a thread
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72946

Tyndmyr
2012-07-29, 12:59 PM
Is this a "any and all minis" or specific mini's?

I find that the warhammer mini's are pretty awesome for the things they cover...but are bloody expensive, and require painting and assembly.

For the really high end(custom PC minis and the like), shapeways, etc will have some options out there...but not cheap. That said, if you want to wear a monocle and put a pinkie to your mouth while announcing that your figurine is solid silver...go nuts.

Paper stuff is fairly easy, and quite cheap. Bit of time cutting things out, taping, etc, but not a bad idea to keep cost down.

glass beads make good all-purpose indicators, but are not particularly awesome model-wise.

Reaper minis sells a lot of individual fantasy figs...again, not terribly cheap, but decent variety.

Krazzman
2012-07-29, 01:05 PM
Is this a "any and all minis" or specific mini's?


any and all. I think. I would like to have Plastic or "Metal" models. Assembling and Painting is not that great problem (except our miniature paint is probably dry by now [3 years not painting is a long time]). But the thing I wanted is something like 3 to 4 different Dwarf Minis, one Sword'n'board, one two handed Hammer one with crossbow etc. so like having archetypical things.
While it would be easy to buy a few boxes of bretons, high elves, dwarves etc. I think the Monster selection is going to be a problem as we'll be needing quite much from them.

supermonkeyjoe
2012-07-30, 05:47 AM
Lacking both the skill and time to assemble and paint Games workshop/reaper minis I find the best option is to trawl ebay for job lots of the official Dungeons and Dragons miniatures, not only can you get them pretty cheaply but they're a hell of a lot more resilient than traditional assembled minis.

dsmiles
2012-07-30, 07:42 AM
Reaper's Dark Heaven Legends are relatively cheap at about $4-$5/mini. They have some pre-painted plastics as well, along with their new Bones line of resin minis (Here) (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min?ref=live).

There are supposed to be more DnD minis coming with their new game, whatever it's called. *shrug*

oxinabox
2012-07-30, 08:32 AM
when i first started roleplaying I when though my families' box of kinda surprise toys,family meal toys etc. from when we were small.
A surpisingly good range, sure nothing as acurate ate a Drow with a cross bow,
but a copper warrior with a cross bow, yes.
I guess you could pick up something like this from garage sales.

Another option is glass marker stones (AKA fairy stones),
Fairly generic so let the imagination fill the gaps.
I've seen dice used for this purpose 2, "I attack the red guy",
"Dude number one draws his sword."

I've moved to systems that discourage battle maps.
Occasionally I will draw out a map on a whiteboard.
With letters indicating where people are.
This is mostly to illuminate the terrain (normally indoors, so counters, walls, pews, side rooms).

Krazzman
2012-07-30, 11:19 AM
Reaper's Dark Heaven Legends are relatively cheap at about $4-$5/mini. They have some pre-painted plastics as well, along with their new Bones line of resin minis (Here) (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min?ref=live).

There are supposed to be more DnD minis coming with their new game, whatever it's called. *shrug*

So if I give them 100$ for their Kickstarter I get a pack of Minis?

saxavarius
2012-07-30, 12:58 PM
If you have them Lego people are pretty good for the PC's and you can use small blocks for different enemies; just use different color combinations and write down which block goes to which enemy

saxavarius
2012-07-30, 12:59 PM
If you have them Lego people are pretty good for the PC's and you can use small blocks for different enemies; just use different color combinations and write down which block goes to which enemy

Krazzman
2012-07-30, 02:54 PM
If you have them Lego people are pretty good for the PC's and you can use small blocks for different enemies; just use different color combinations and write down which block goes to which enemy

sadly my mother gave them to my cousin... before I came to the conclusion that I could need them later on... but... that could be a way....

Kudaku
2012-07-30, 03:23 PM
Not sure if you're playing 3.5 or Pathfinder, but the Pathfinder starter box comes with a fair amount of different cardboard tokens (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pf1DJVOyMD0/T5Ajn8rcXTI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/VFsbd-XdSTI/s1600/IMG_2765+pathfinder+beginner+box+minis.JPG), both monsters and heroes. If you can hold on a while longer, they have the Bestiary Box (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8qab) coming out sometime in august with one (or several) cardboard token(s) for each monster in the Pathfinder Bestiary.

From experience I can say that the tokens are affordable and work very well in general. They're slightly less robust than full-on miniatures, and will sometimes crack at the bottom where they slide into the plastic holders - a way to stop that is to use tape on the bottom of each token. One option could be to get relatively expensive minis for the heroes as they will be used often, and use the inexpensive tokens for monsters.

Krazzman
2012-07-30, 03:23 PM
Ok, does anyone know how this works with kickstarters? I'm really tempted to invest 125 dollar for this (100 for vampire level + 25 for shipping to germany).

Has anyone also done this? If yes how likely is this?

Elyssian
2012-07-30, 03:33 PM
@Krazzman-
Reaper is a solid company and Kickstarter has a good reputation from what I have experienced. I'm in on Reapers Bones mini kickstarter and if you want you could always order one from there website or pick one up at your local gaming shop to see them in person before ordering thru kickstarter.

Togath
2012-07-30, 03:36 PM
While I'm not sure how or what kickstarter is, I did buy some reaper miniatures for PCs in my campaign, they metal ones at least are very good looking in my opinion, though depending on the amount of lead in them(about 0.2% to 30% if i remember right), also dont worry too much about the lead in the pewter miniatures, I'm pretty sure it's hard to get lead poisoning from pewter, I think.

Krazzman
2012-07-30, 03:38 PM
While I'm not sure how or what kickstarter is, I did buy some reaper miniatures for PCs in my campaign, they metal ones at least are very good looking in my opinion, though depending on the amount of lead in them(about 0.2% to 30% if i remember right), also dont worry too much about the lead in the pewter miniatures, I'm pretty sure it's hard to get lead poisoning from pewter, I think.

Jeah the problem I have is... our Local Gaming Store has closed his doors last month...and we only have that ****ty elitary Games Workshop Shop here... And shipping to Germany makes this quite expensive. But is it better to Kickstart or to buy what we need? (Better in this case equals cheaper^^)

EDIT: Please tell me they aren't credit card exclusive... or are they for the kickstarter?

Elyssian
2012-07-30, 03:53 PM
Not a fan of Games Workshop myself, but for kickstarter you do have to pay thru amazon.com with a card be it debit or credit. Also all the mini's for the kickstarter are plastic not pewter. I do believe if you buy directly from reaper you can use paypal.

Tyndmyr
2012-07-30, 04:24 PM
Jeah the problem I have is... our Local Gaming Store has closed his doors last month...and we only have that ****ty elitary Games Workshop Shop here... And shipping to Germany makes this quite expensive. But is it better to Kickstart or to buy what we need? (Better in this case equals cheaper^^)

EDIT: Please tell me they aren't credit card exclusive... or are they for the kickstarter?

Kickstarter is probably just fine if you want what's in the reward packet...but basically any online purchasing is going to rely on a credit card in some form.

If you prefer cash, you can probably buy a limited funds card...we have them here in the US, and while not as convenient, they're a way for someone to shop online without a permanent card.

Krazzman
2012-07-30, 04:46 PM
Kickstarter is probably just fine if you want what's in the reward packet...but basically any online purchasing is going to rely on a credit card in some form.

If you prefer cash, you can probably buy a limited funds card...we have them here in the US, and while not as convenient, they're a way for someone to shop online without a permanent card.

I don't want to sound cocky... or something else but I just don't need one? The few occasions (ordering from Amazon in the UK and now this Kickstarter) I don't see the point in Credit Cards. I for my part don't want another card to clog up my portemonnaie. Why should I if there are alternatives like PayPal (even if it's not working for some people) or having things like the ELV in germany.

I did this now with the card of my father but... yeah I hope this doesn't sound too smuck or cocky or **** like this.

Tyndmyr
2012-07-30, 04:56 PM
I don't want to sound cocky... or something else but I just don't need one? The few occasions (ordering from Amazon in the UK and now this Kickstarter) I don't see the point in Credit Cards. I for my part don't want another card to clog up my portemonnaie. Why should I if there are alternatives like PayPal (even if it's not working for some people) or having things like the ELV in germany.

I did this now with the card of my father but... yeah I hope this doesn't sound too smuck or cocky or **** like this.

Well, a lot of stuff doesn't take paypal. So, long term...yeah, you'll probably want a credit or debit card eventually. Paypal's fine for the stuff that takes it, but there will probably always be a wide range of places that don't want to/aren't able to integrate with paypal, etc.

Anxe
2012-07-30, 06:44 PM
You can also build your own minis with modeling clay from your local craft store. Just build what you want and then bake it in the oven for a few minutes. These minis will tend to be more on scale with legos than with the traditional scale, but its cheap and you'll get exactly what you want.

pres_man
2012-07-30, 11:39 PM
Also realize with the kickstarter you aren't going to get the miniatures until next year some time (March apparently). But yeah, I think it is a pretty good deal (and yes I am saying that so more people pitch in and I get more miniatures in my reward package but is also).

elizasteave
2012-07-31, 01:17 AM
I haven't got the one as of now, but if its regarding the cost effectiveness and reliability. I really don't see any other place other than that of ebay or Google. Else a person can only get them from his friends and relatives.

Malak'ai
2012-07-31, 01:22 AM
You should check out The RPG Shop
http://www.rpgshop.com/miniatures/fantasy-miniatures/.
Nice looking models for cheap.

And for a bit more expensive option, check out Reaper Miniatures
http://www.reapermini.com/miniatures.
Real nice, good quality mini's, even official PathFinder ones.

Jay R
2012-08-01, 09:56 AM
Steve Jackson games introduced Cardboard Heroes (http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/) thirty years ago. They are now available as PDFs, so once you buy a pack, you can make as many as you like, just by printing them on light card stock.

Free versions are available here (http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~leif/FRP/cardboard.html).

Also here (http://www.etyries.com/dario/index.htm). And here (http://www.thefantasytrip.org/pieces.php).



Oh, and here are various useful buildings (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fpm/archive), as free pdfs.

Exediron
2012-08-01, 01:48 PM
Ral Partha is the best, in my opinion, if you can get your hands on them. Iron Wind Metals still makes some of their molds, as well as having some good ones of their own. Reaper is always a solid choice - very large selection, but they're often of a larger scale than the older ones. I haven't seen any Grenadier figures in ages, but some of my favorites come from there, too.

As far as cheap sources go, I don't know. Somewhere between $4.99 and $6.99 US is the going rate for a single figure of the sort I usually buy. I would imagine that plastic figures are cheaper than metal.

EDIT: You could also try to find and add someone to your gaming group who participated in the recent OOTS Kickstarter - they would have access to the sheet of printable miniatures that was given as a reward for that, and if they were in your group I'm pretty sure using theirs would be legitimate.

fusilier
2012-08-01, 04:40 PM
There are many many manufacturers of miniatures out there. Searching can be tricky, both because there are a few that are popular and sold just about everywhere (reaper and warhammer), and there are so many manufacturers you can be overwhelmed.

When performing an online search, remember to include the scale and genre: 28mm fantasy miniatures

There are some manufacturers who work in metal, and are actually cheaper than plastic minis! So bear that in mind. Specifically you might want to look at mega miniatures. http://www.megaminis.com/ Besides their own stuff, they also sell some of the old Grenadier line of miniatures, which was something of a contemporary to Ral Partha (much of Grenadier's fantasy line is now produced by Mirliton in Italy).

Old Glory Miniatures is another company that does bags of metal miniatures for cheap (around a dollar a mini), but does mostly historicals. Is the quality as great as more expensive miniatures? -- no, but it's not terrible, and it's a great way to fill out large armies or hordes.

Finally, when you do find a manufacturer that you like, search around and see if there's a distributer, or other company dealing in their miniatures. Sometimes they will offer a deal, when buying directly from the manufacturer will cost full price (for example, I get my Old Glory minis through warweb.com).

Good luck in your search.

Essence_of_War
2012-08-01, 04:55 PM
I've used these guys:

http://www.beholderthebargains.com/servlet/StoreFront

They have a great inventory of DnD related mini's at reasonable prices. Shipped quickly (US/Canada only). Everything shipped in excellent condition. I'd certainly use them again.

dsmiles
2012-08-01, 07:13 PM
So if I give them 100$ for their Kickstarter I get a pack of Minis?
Yes. Approximately 85 minis for 100 USD.

I don't want to sound cocky... or something else but I just don't need one? The few occasions (ordering from Amazon in the UK and now this Kickstarter) I don't see the point in Credit Cards. I for my part don't want another card to clog up my portemonnaie. Why should I if there are alternatives like PayPal (even if it's not working for some people) or having things like the ELV in germany.

I did this now with the card of my father but... yeah I hope this doesn't sound too smuck or cocky or **** like this.Most Kickstarter projects also accept PayPal. I'm not sure if Reaper's does, or not. I'm kinda broke this month, and can't support it. :smallfrown:

Exediron
2012-08-01, 08:50 PM
Specifically you might want to look at mega miniatures. http://www.megaminis.com/ Besides their own stuff, they also sell some of the old Grenadier line of miniatures, which was something of a contemporary to Ral Partha (much of Grenadier's fantasy line is now produced by Mirliton in Italy).

So that's where the Grenadier stuff ended up. Thanks for the tip! Quite reasonably priced, too (at least the Mega Minis ones).

Krazzman
2012-08-02, 04:39 AM
Yeah, we probably go with the reaper minis that'll come in March.... I'm really excited for those... already thinking about black or white grounding.... Black would probably make them look darker/dirtier while white could be better for certain things like "bright" fur...

Wait, they broke the Giant-Mark... if more people fund it... do they add the elves to the vampire set? And do they want the shipping in the funding or later on?

The problem I have with importing minis is either:
Games Worksh**. Don't get me wrong I like what they did to the skaven and other miniatures to make them more affordable but... their metal figures require in the most cases I had hard work to get a good painting job or to cleanly get them out of those grits. And still with steelglue they loose some parts dam easy... I had to glue the akkumulator for one of my warlocks about 7 times... and just recently it fell off again...
Or (shipping) cost.
Ordering them in a bunch might be lessening the shipping but it is still overpriced. I pay the same for 3 books or for 1 to 5 minis when ordering in those shops. And most of the time I don't want to pay 5 to 12 euro for 1 Mini.

fusilier
2012-08-02, 12:29 PM
So that's where the Grenadier stuff ended up. Thanks for the tip! Quite reasonably priced, too (at least the Mega Minis ones).

I like Mirliton's miniatures, but the shipping is so high, it's not worth it unless you do a large order. You also have the exchange rate to deal with.

killem2
2012-08-02, 03:12 PM
Hello again Playground,

I'm searching for some opportunities to get Miniatures. Last Session we really missed a battle plan while playing. While creating one is quite easy my Google-Fu somehow leaves me when I search for minis.

I have some Warhammer Fanatsy Minis... but only Skaven and a Bit-Box(mainly skaven) at my Parents home.
But since picturing enemies and playercharacters/nsc's as the same skaven model doesn't work in the long run. Does anyone know some "cheap" or better said cost-effective way to get Monster and Player-Minis? Without having to fall back on the overpriced Warhammer/Wizard boxes (and yeah I consider 10 Euro for a 3-Piece set of Miniatures quite overpriced).

TL;DR: Cheap way to get minis of PC's/Monsters/NPC's

Sooo, any ideas?


Ok, there are a few ways to go here.

I have in the past taken magic the gathering cards cut out around the art and then mounted them to like a penny.

I have also taken the same cards (or other cards if the art works), and punched holes through them with a 1" or 1.5" hole punch (depending on medium or large creature). You can then glue them to wood circles if you want or use them as is.

troll and toad.com has a random miniature sale 1.29 per mini and you get something form their over stock at random. good way to pad your collections.

The wizard of the coast board games, all come with 40 minis and if you watch amazon just right, you can snag some of them for 40-45.00 with free shipping. The minis are not painted but you can paint them. This will give you a nice stash of all sizes and types but only to a certain degree,


Google or amazon up Dungeon Command, these are a bit better than buying singles but worse than the board games above. These come with painted minis.

Both dungeon command and d&d board games use minis from d&d mini game.

Next up is mage knight. You can find large lots of these online being sold for a decent bulk price. No one uses them anymore, because you can't!

For animals, check out hobby lobby or amazon for tubes of those little plastic animals. Check out Safari LTD for plastic figures (they have awesome dragons that would fit perfect).






-----------------


Now, those are ways to get things that in some way look fantasy like. If you don't care about that, you can always ebay up hordes of lego men, or similar type building block humanoid figures.

For larger sizes more like huge size, you can snag old action figures from the 80s/90s really easy in bulk, put them on bases, and get fantasy clothing for them like cloaks or whatever.

Forderz
2012-08-02, 10:33 PM
You know, I've discovered through personal experience that the blind bag ponies you can grab from target are the perfect size and scale for miniatures.

Just saying.

I'll see myself out.:smallcool:

killem2
2012-08-03, 02:32 PM
You know, I've discovered through personal experience that the blind bag ponies you can grab from target are the perfect size and scale for miniatures.

Just saying.

I'll see myself out.:smallcool:


are those just ponies or are there humanoids in there? I've never seen those.