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View Full Version : Most cost-effective source of bulk unpainted fantasy miniatures?



PhoenixPhyre
2018-10-02, 03:03 PM
I want to practice painting miniatures more. But buying individual Reaper Bones (at $2-$4 each) gets expensive fast, plus it means I have one or two of a lot of different things.

Any ideas as to a cost-effective source of 28mm (or 28mm compatible, I can rebase to standard D&D sizes) bulk fantasy miniatures?

Things I've considered:

* Getting one of the D&D board games (run about $44, come with ~30 minis).
** Pros: varied, D&D specific. Right sizes.
** Cons: varied. Also get all the other pieces (which I don't care about as much)
* Buying a starter army for one of the fantasy miniatures games. Kings of War runs around $90 for ~60 models.
** Pros: focused (get lots of undead which are useful as minions, or orcs, or knights, etc).
** Cons: more expensive minimum investment, have to rebase (since their "large" creatures are 40mm, not 50mm).

Others? Thoughts?

DMThac0
2018-10-02, 04:06 PM
I've hunted for the same thing and tbh I haven't found a reliable outlet beyond using sites such as Ebay, it will be interesting if anyone has had better luck.

LordCdrMilitant
2018-10-02, 06:08 PM
I run sci-fi, and generally use 40k miniatures, but I wouldn't call them cost effective.

That said, there's probably a wargame out there that will suit your needs. $90 for 60 miniatures is pretty good, all things considered. It's also generally possibly to buy miniature infantry in 1/48 scale for historical dioramas.

All things considered, buying wargame pieces isn't that cost-ineffective, because now you have an army too, and can use them for that!

Grod_The_Giant
2018-10-02, 06:13 PM
Googling "fantasy army men" got me lots of cheap plastic figurines that looked like they'd be about the right size. How 'bout a bag o' zombies (https://www.amazon.com/Zombies-Zombies-Accessory-Twilight-Creations/dp/B00NIHZGOC)? Or this 90-piece set (https://www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Fantasy-Creatures-Playset/dp/B0746TKNSL)?

Darth Ultron
2018-10-02, 06:32 PM
Have them custom made is the best way to go.

What you want to do is find yourself a local person that already crafts metal miniatures. Either for displays, jewelry, model railroads, or such.

They likely sell there stuff for a couple dollars each, but if you order bulk, they are often willing to cut a deal.

And the best part is, you can get pure custom ones made. Give them a picture, and they can make it.

Also I should mention wood too. Wood miniatures can be a lot cheaper them metal ones. And wood does work great for bulk orders too. Wood works great for things like elementals, fully armored types and bigger ones like dragons. And if you have someone who already makes small wood animals, they will likely have bears and owls, and can make something like an owlbear easy enough.

Of course, you want really cheap, plastic is the way to go.

Jeraa
2018-10-02, 06:57 PM
Googling "fantasy army men" got me lots of cheap plastic figurines that looked like they'd be about the right size. How 'bout a bag o' zombies (https://www.amazon.com/Zombies-Zombies-Accessory-Twilight-Creations/dp/B00NIHZGOC)? Or this 90-piece set (https://www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Fantasy-Creatures-Playset/dp/B0746TKNSL)?

Tip for anyone looking for stuff like this. Make sure to read the comments and descriptions. Many of the cheap sets are far too large to fit on a standard D&D grid (1 inch = 5 feet). The 90-peice set above is a lot cheaper than normal miniatures, but the pieces are also 2 inches tall (far bigger than a standard mini). I ran into the same problem a while back. Most of the cheap stuff is usually simply too large.

Fable Wright
2018-10-02, 11:04 PM
The most cost-effective way is to find a friend with a 3D printer. If they're printing minis for you at cost, it costs roughly 3-5 cents per 28mm model for PLA models. At cost, you could have them print you 100 identical minis for $4.

Mind you, I specify friend for this because you're potentially taking up their build plate for several days; don't expect that from a distributor, as time, money, warehousing costs, etc. are factors.

This might or might not help you, but if you can get some PLA and time with someone's printer, it's your best possible bet, no questions asked.

Beleriphon
2018-10-04, 03:51 PM
Tip for anyone looking for stuff like this. Make sure to read the comments and descriptions. Many of the cheap sets are far too large to fit on a standard D&D grid (1 inch = 5 feet). The 90-peice set above is a lot cheaper than normal miniatures, but the pieces are also 2 inches tall (far bigger than a standard mini). I ran into the same problem a while back. Most of the cheap stuff is usually simply too large.

The zombies are for the Zombies! board game (great game BTW, loads of fun, especially the expansions) and are just the right size, if not slightly too small.

Jeraa
2018-10-04, 06:31 PM
The zombies are for the Zombies! board game (great game BTW, loads of fun, especially the expansions) and are just the right size, if not slightly too small.

Yeah the zombies are fine and should work well. It was the other one linked, the 90-piece fantasy set which is too large (unless you are going for large sized creatures).

PhoenixPhyre
2018-10-04, 07:59 PM
I ended up picking up one of the board games and an expansion horde of skeletons for Kings of War. All the others I found were the wrong size or super expensive.

Thanks everybody!

weckar
2018-10-05, 08:21 AM
A local store here sells miscastings in bulk for 25p each.

Telok
2018-10-05, 09:52 PM
I love my 3d printer. I've bashed up minis for 4 armed races, asteroids, plant monsters, and soon the players get to fight a dwemer centurion sphere... as soon as I get it painted.

Anxe
2018-10-07, 10:27 AM
Craigslist could also be a starting point, but that depends on your location.

I've also used legos in the past. They aren't cheap, but if you already own a ton of them you aren't spending more to get what you want.

The scale thing isn't necessarily a problem as long as you commit to using that scale.

EDIT: I realized my post doesn't necessarily help your situation, but it could help others that are just looking for cheap minis to play with right away instead of painting practice.

Jay R
2018-10-07, 12:59 PM
Cardboard hero pdfs from Steve Jackson Games, and a friendly print shop.

One $5 packet from this website (http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/), and you can print an entire army of orcs, or whichever set you choose.

Print them on light cardstock, and when you assemble them, glue a penny (or small coin from your own country) to the bottom, and they are quite stable.

I have an army of orcs, a herd of velociraptors, large numbers of wolves and lions, etc., all from these sets.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-10-07, 01:11 PM
Cardboard hero pdfs from Steve Jackson Games, and a friendly print shop.

One $5 packet from this website (http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/), and you can print an entire army of orcs, or whichever set you choose.

Print them on light cardstock, and when you assemble them, glue a penny (or small coin from your own country) to the bottom, and they are quite stable.

I have an army of orcs, a herd of velociraptors, large numbers of wolves and lions, etc., all from these sets.

I have boxes of the Pathfinder pawns (a similar product). I was mainly looking for paintable ones.

Hand_of_Vecna
2018-10-08, 11:03 AM
There are a lot of board games ranging from light war he's to pseudo RPGs that come with about 1 plastic mini per dollar of the price with some being larger non humanoid minis.

Conan
Blood Rage
Rising Sun

This genre seems to be holding value well, so down the line you could resell a halfway decently painted set at a small profit. Not worth your time at an hourly rate, but nice to get something if you don't choose to keep them.

Rhedyn
2018-10-08, 11:30 AM
...Or this 90-piece set (https://www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Fantasy-Creatures-Playset/dp/B0746TKNSL)?

These are very much a "get what you paid for"

As in, they suck. But I needed a lot of minis on the cheap and this provided that. I would not bother painting these.

snowblizz
2018-10-10, 02:32 AM
Cardboard hero pdfs from Steve Jackson Games, and a friendly print shop.

One $5 packet from this website (http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/), and you can print an entire army of orcs, or whichever set you choose.

Print them on light cardstock, and when you assemble them, glue a penny (or small coin from your own country) to the bottom, and they are quite stable.

I have an army of orcs, a herd of velociraptors, large numbers of wolves and lions, etc., all from these sets.

I've we are pitching cardboard minis then surely the Giant's Monsters for Every Season (https://gumroad.com/richburlew)deserves a punt.



For real minis it's gonna cost a bit. As someone who paints/ed wargaming minis as a hobby you usually get what you pay for. A lot of the absolutest cheapest carp in the pond won't easily take paint. Casing issues abound and has absolutely naff detailing. Which may render the excercise of painting rather moot.

I'm also going to point out you can strip paint off miniatures. Especially the "white metal" types can be easily stripped at home. Plastic is a bit trickier as the material cannot survive some of the more commonly available chemicals that'd strip paint. Availability of substances that can (more gently) strip plastics varies a lot locally, ie when asking people for advice I find it's always something very local to them.

Eldan
2018-10-10, 03:36 AM
Maybe find your local miniature store and ask around if someone has some old stuff they don't need anymore? For practise painting, stripping some old plastic crap and painting it over is not the worst idea and they will probably have decent detail to practise on.

malachi
2018-10-10, 09:07 AM
The most cost-effective way is to find a friend with a 3D printer. If they're printing minis for you at cost, it costs roughly 3-5 cents per 28mm model for PLA models. At cost, you could have them print you 100 identical minis for $4.

Mind you, I specify friend for this because you're potentially taking up their build plate for several days; don't expect that from a distributor, as time, money, warehousing costs, etc. are factors.

This might or might not help you, but if you can get some PLA and time with someone's printer, it's your best possible bet, no questions asked.

You could also try a local library to see if they have a 3d printer for use. Not sure which areas would, but my local library does.

LordCdrMilitant
2018-10-10, 11:25 AM
My experience with 3d printers hasn't been very good.

What 3d printers are those of you who are satisfied with the results using? My experience with them so far has effectively relegated anything below the high end to "neat toy". I've tried to print miniatures, and they just don't tun out well at any level of detail at about 1" scale. I've also used it to try to print some components for machines, which was just a bad idea in the first place for many reasons.

Lord Torath
2018-10-10, 11:38 AM
Aotrs Commander has access to one; he's using it for minis in his Alien Ergonomics (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569083-Alien-Ergonomics) thread.

We use a Replicator 2, but you can get the same level of performance from a £200-ish Wanhao Duplicator i3 mini (we know, my mate has one and we are concidering getting on as ancillery to the main one if I have to be printing stuff instead of using Shapeways for sale). While the build plate is small, it is sufficient to print pretty mcuh anything for 144th scale, RPG-figure size infantry and all bu the largest starships.

The trick is that you need decent software. Early this year (because of my mate's Wanhao) we bought Simplify 3D, which was about a hundred quid, but the improvement in output was like having a new printer. So you DO absolutely want to spend the extra pennies for the software.

(Should be noted, of course, that to get the most out of a printer, you either need to be a CAD jockey or be prepared to learn.)

LordCdrMilitant
2018-10-10, 11:58 AM
Aotrs Commander has access to one; he's using it for minis in his Alien Ergonomics (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569083-Alien-Ergonomics) thread.

I see.

The gun truck in the background looks like it turned out well, but overall I think the results from the photograph looks kind of like what I ended up with. I may just have been expecting more out of it.

Telok
2018-10-10, 02:02 PM
I'll pic and post my printed in-painting stuff tonight for you. I've probably spent ~$400 USD for 50+ minis, 4 ~$40 bobbins, and some other misc. bits. But I'm also still on the first spool of pla. Soon I'll get to the glow in the dark spool that I got as a present.

cesius
2018-10-10, 06:19 PM
If the aim is practice then you can also use Simple Green to strip acrylic paint very easily in order to recycle a mini or batch of minis. Soak for a day or two and then gently clean in warm water with an old toothbrush.

Telok
2018-10-10, 09:45 PM
Ha. Finally. Ok So I have a Korean Prusa i3 diy knockoff (the instructions & video weren't in English but they were good enough anyways), I use Blender and Cura 3d Print for software.

"Studio" (ibb.co/jueoM9) and a close up (ibb.co/hCohg9) with a couple metal minis for comparison of detail.

Not the best pics but it should give you a feel for the detail level that you get pretty much out of the box.

Rhedyn
2018-10-17, 12:33 PM
Ha. Finally. Ok So I have a Korean Prusa i3 diy knockoff (the instructions & video weren't in English but they were good enough anyways), I use Blender and Cura 3d Print for software.

"Studio" (ibb.co/jueoM9) and a close up (ibb.co/hCohg9) with a couple metal minis for comparison of detail.

Not the best pics but it should give you a feel for the detail level that you get pretty much out of the box.
Did you make yours a dual extruder with support material or are these minis post removal of supports of the same material as the mini?

Also what is your post print processing? Are you sanding them down? How involved is that?

I've been looking into 3D printing options. Is the resolution of the printer an issue or are you more limited by the CAD model fidelity?

Fable Wright
2018-10-17, 02:17 PM
I've been looking into 3D printing options. Is the resolution of the printer an issue or are you more limited by the CAD model fidelity?

In the process of calibrating my Ender 3, but:

1. Resolution is a function of your slicer settings and printer tuning more than anything.

2. Surface roughness will depend on layer height resolution; I've heard good things about texture at the .06mm resolution, but still calibrating my retraction and temperature settings. I wouldn't sand for projects with small details; go very high resolution instead, and primer will hopefully even out the roughness.

3. Same material supports, most likely. Craftware and Simplify3D will be the best slicers for same material supports.

farothel
2018-10-17, 03:12 PM
If you really want cheap minis, check out second hand websites. On sites like ebay you can do bargains. I bought most of my Warhammer minis that way, as Warhammer isn't really the cheapest option out there. And if you get metal ones (they are slightly more expensive, but have better quality), you can easily strip any paint of them and redo them to your liking. I wouldn't do that with plastic ones as they melt from most paint strippers.

Telok
2018-10-18, 04:47 PM
Did you make yours a dual extruder with support material or are these minis post removal of supports of the same material as the mini?

Also what is your post print processing? Are you sanding them down? How involved is that?

I've been looking into 3D printing options. Is the resolution of the printer an issue or are you more limited by the CAD model fidelity?

I'm running single extruder right now. One of the reasons I git the model I did was so that I could add another extruder if I wanted to. But I haven't yet.

Post processing is removing the support structures, getting gribbly bits off, and then putting the parts that broke off back on. The extruder, when it lifts up to travel to another part of the model (up-across-down can be faster with less model warping / hot plastic pulling risk than just going straight across), leaves a tiny little wisp of plastic sticking up. Those need to be cut or filed off, although I've lest them on a couple plant and demon models as spiky bits. Then there's the ankles...

Humanoid models without robes or cloaks tend to be thin at the ankles (I haven't tried a horse yet, they're probably just as bad) and like to break there while getting them off the build plate or removing supports. You can be extra careful, but that will take extra time. Other thin arms or objects (swords are an issue sometimes) have a tendency to snap a bit too. Personally I have a pin drill, dental tools, and a number of modelling blades and files that I use, plus superglue of course. But I've been modding and swapping bits of metal and plastic models for years (I started with the model airplane kits when I was 10), so this tends to be more of an opportunity than a problem for me.

Your real limit for detail is the printer. I'm running 0.1 mm resolution on mine, a compromise between speed and detail when making ~28mm figures. Bit I can also do things like build up like facial features using acrylic paint or carve smaller features with really points blades and tiny drill bits.

I've got three WH40K ships printing now, they're 1 to 2 inches in length. When that's done I'll see about uploading some pics of them as printed, supports removed, and then trimmed down, so that you can sort of see what the process is like.

snowblizz
2018-10-19, 03:11 AM
I've got three WH40K ships printing now, they're 1 to 2 inches in length. When that's done I'll see about uploading some pics of them as printed, supports removed, and then trimmed down, so that you can sort of see what the process is like.
Be interesting to see.

Some of the problems you mention exist for injection molded plastic pices you remove from a sprue anyway (cut in a bad palce with tension and you can snap stuff, though not ankles, only their super fine best model making resin evvar had that problem). Like basically all the Warhammer/40k stuff.

Also, take a trick out of the Giants book and have them people wear boots. Thicker ankles and no tricky toes to sculpt :D.

Telok
2018-10-20, 01:35 AM
Sorry that took so long. It was a 3 hour and 20 minute print but life slowed things down considerably.

https://thumb.ibb.co/crLKVf/IMAG0268.jpg (https://ibb.co/crLKVf)
First is still on the build plate with brims and supports. Masking tape isn't optimal but it works until I bother to go get more painters tape.
https://thumb.ibb.co/iBy6Af/IMAG0269.jpg (https://ibb.co/iBy6Af)
Second is after removing the supports but the models still have the gribblies on them.
https://thumb.ibb.co/cyNcGL/IMAG0270.jpg (https://ibb.co/cyNcGL)
Lastly with the gribblies removed. The top fin on the middle ship cracked, I've stiffened it with glue but I'll probably figure out a way to add metal to it. Staples, cut or bent straight, make pretty good supports and pins at this scale. On the big ship the middle top-side lump broke off while I was trimming some stuff out from the inside. If I were to do this one again I'd go into Blender and tighten up some spots in the mesh, there are some very minor gaps in the engine section (paint will cover them just fine) and the bit that broke could use a firmer connection to the rest of the model.

I also have to remember to check the models before I print them. I've got a couple people here without bases. It's not a problem, I can print bases and drill-pin-glue, but it's annoying to forget to check and have to do so.

HMS Invincible
2018-10-20, 09:46 AM
Given the average quality and resolution available, I'd probably wait until the next generation of printers comes out.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-10-20, 10:42 AM
Given the average quality and resolution available, I'd probably wait until the next generation of printers comes out.

And the effort required. You have to be good at both the physical (which I'm not), the artistic (which I'm also not) and the computer side (which I'm ok with). For me, 3d printing is in the "cool, but not for me" category for now.

Rhedyn
2018-10-20, 12:20 PM
And the effort required. You have to be good at both the physical (which I'm not), the artistic (which I'm also not) and the computer side (which I'm ok with). For me, 3d printing is in the "cool, but not for me" category for now.
I'm seeing it more as an engineering hobby that produces something I actually want right now.

Jophiel
2018-10-24, 08:51 AM
There was a Magic: the Gathering board game called "Arena of the Planeswalkers" that comes with a bunch of minis. It's out of print now and for a while you could find $5 copies of it at Five Below and other discount/clearance stores. I don't know if you'll have luck there but it's still pretty cheap on eBay or discount websites (https://www.hollar.com/products/magic-the-gathering-arena-of-planeswalkers-strategy-board-game).

It comes with five pre-painted minis that you could always repaint and twenty-eight unpainted figures so you could be looking at as low as 30¢ a piece. The sculpts are pretty decent considering the price. The bases are sized for 1.5" instead of a standard 1" so you'd either need to trim them down, re-base them or decide that you just don't care -- especially if they're just painting practice. The figures themselves are a good match for 28mm though.

There's two expansions for it as well, one (Zendikar) runs about $10 on Amazon with sixteen figures including this big feller (https://nerdhubblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/dscn0959.jpg?w=676) and another (Innistrad) is harder to find for under $25 but comes with with twenty-four figures so it's still relatively inexpensive.