Cheap Miniatures

[Waspinator]

This is a bit of a how-to guide describing a way I've found of doing cheap miniatures.

First, you need some bases. I like the ones from One Monk, found here:
http://www.onemonk.com/Bases.html
The 25 mm ones are a good size for most gaming grids and I would call them almost as good as plastic minis once you've done something to weight them down (gluing a penny to the bottom of the base is useful). The nice thing about those is that you get a pretty useful little base that you can put just about anything in and once you've got your files put together with the figures you want, it's very easy and cheap to print and make more.

Since I'm not sure if copyright problems could result from me posting anything I've cobbled together from them myself, I'll just say that if you download one of the free figure sets that he has, get an image of a Stormtrooper or something, and copy the new image over one of the figures in the set (with a corresponding mirror image copy), you can very easily make your own little "figures" of just about any character that you want. And it is a LOT cheaper than buying any kind of pre-painted plastic mini would be.

[valadil]

I've just been going with eBay. I can usually get 5-10 unpainted minis for a couple dollars, but I also picked up 120 old Mage Knight figs for $10. They make great mooks and minions.

Of course I buy these things because I'm addicted to painting, not because I need any more minis.

[Gerrtt]

I got on eBay and bought a used copy of HeroQuest for 8 bucks once. Lots of Goblin, Orc, and Undead models as well as some heavy armored knights, a lich looking guy, some lizardy guys and the 4 heros (Barbarian, Elf, Wizard, Dwarf). Not a bad deal, plus the game is cool.

I've also DMed a gameday event and the store owner gave me lots of leftover stuff from previous years as well as a minis booster pack for doing it.

I'd love to paint the HeroQuest models, but I lack time and money for such artistry. They will remain green, red, white, and grey it seems.

[Waspinator]

Those probably work great too, but I personally like the printable ones for one reason if nothing else: speed. They're very quick to make. For any kind of plastic ones, you have to go to some store or order them from some web site and that takes time. Then, if you're going to paint them, that takes a significant amount of time per mini if you want them to look good. For paper ones, once you've put together the image for the sheet that you're printing, you can just save it and reprint it if you ever discover you need more orcs or whatever.