How should I get miniatures for my game?

ilikepie · Jun 12, 2009

I've run almost all of my games recently using old tokens and taped-together graph paper. It's completely fine, but I would really like something nicer, and I want to get some miniatures and tiles. The members of our party are a Deva Druid, a Dragonborn Paladin, a Human Wizard, an Eladrin Ranger, and a Human Cleric (the wizard is going to miss our next few games so I'm putting in a drow rogue NPC from the adventure). At first I was considering getting the Arcane Heroes 2 and the Starter Set (for the tiles), but I realized the Starter Set had no miniatures. I could have sworn that I once saw a starter set that contained an Eladrin "wizard" with a bow and many other figures, and somewhere I saw something that said it came with a Dragonborn paladin and Human cleric, but I can't find it. There are very few individual miniatures I can find, there are absolutely no deva minis and only one druid, which is a female elf that definetely couldn't pass for a male deva. There seems to be a human wizard in Arcane Heroes 2, a Human Cleric (with a mustache) in one of the Divine Heroes sets, and at least an Elf Ranger, but absolutely no deva or dragonborn (besides a ROGUE). I also am not sure where to get a bunch of monster miniatures. I'm currently running H2, which needs a few goblinoids, duergar, undead, and gnolls. If anyone can help me find any of these things, I'd be very thankful.

Bumbles · Jun 12, 2009

Your friendly local gaming store may be one resource, either in selling them directly, or allowing you to advertise your interests and communicate with other people around you.

Failing that, there are plenty of online stores and sites you can search, but I have no idea if you'll find anything you really want. You could also try Cardboard Heroes like these.

Instead of tiles, I prefer a battlemat, such as the ones from Chessex, or you can print something out with a trip to Kinko's, they can put them on laminate/card stock even.

ilikepie · Jun 12, 2009

So do you think buying tiles is just a waste? A battlemat does sound good, but the dungeon tiles will look nicer. I just don't know if it's possible to make the H2 encounter maps using the tiles.

Does anyone know what the next Player's Handbook Heroes miniature sets will contain?

And are Dangerous Delves minis useful or are the contents too random for a specific adventure?

alleynbard · Jun 12, 2009

The tiles are great but there are many encounter areas in H2 (and beyond) that you cannot accurately build. One of the major issues with the official tiles is they are not horribly user friendly with the official adventures. Ironic, I know.

Another issue with the official tiles are the sheer number you need to buy for them to be useful. Many of the sets simply do not have the "props" you need to build common things like bedrooms. I have a ton of tiles and I still run into this issue. I am currently running H2 and even when I have the right tiles to build the room shape, I rarely have the right tiles to handle the dungeon dressings.

That said, there are a number of online sources for tiles. The advantage here is you can print what you need, apply them to posterboard, and re-use them over and over again. In time you will have a rather robust set to handle most options. For instance, you can check out the following companies and generally find what you need. In any case, you will likely need to mix and match before you can achieve what you are looking for. I know that Fat Dragons sells 3-d prop sets while Empty Room provides the props at the end of their pdfs for you to cut out and use if you would like.

EN World PDF Store - SkeletonKey Games - - RPG PDF downloads
EN World PDF Store - Empty Room Studios Publishing - - RPG PDF downloads
EN World PDF Store - Fat Dragon Games - - RPG PDF downloads

There are more, but these are just a few of my favorites. These can be used in place of or in conjunction with the official D&D tiles.

When it comes to miniatures for Wizards, I highly suggest buying monster minis on an individual basis. It is just more cost effective. I tend to favor
Miniature Market but many other posters can suggest places they prefer.

Hope that helps.

alleynbard · Jun 12, 2009

Here are the singles sold at Miniature Market.

PHB Heroes

Back to the battlemat/tiles question. I started with a battlemat and rather enjoyed it. But I did prefer the look of the tiles and I was willing to sacrifice exact replication of an encounter to get that look. If you are thinking about the battlemat option, I would suggest the Paizo flip mat (http://paizo.com/store/gameAids/gamingMats/steelSqwire/v5748btpy83yx). You can use wet erase or dry erase markers on it.

But, if you are going to invest in tiles (which can get expensive) I would definitely start with one of the online options. Most of the earliest, and most flexible, tile sets that Wizards produced are now out of print and can cost upwards of $99 per set. If you started with the upcoming release (Arcane Towers) you wouldn't be able to build most of your encounters and you would be left waiting until new sets were released or, by some happenstance, find the older tiles at a reasonable price. I would point you to Caves of Carnage, the most recently released set, but that won't help you with H2 at all.

alleynbard · Jun 12, 2009

Last post.

Your final option are the more "deluxe" dungeon sets. There are two cardstock options that I highly recommend:

Fat Dragon
Worldworks

You can print these and build them yourself.

The most deluxe and mind boggingly expensive choice in this option is Dwarven Forge

Moon_Goddess · Jun 12, 2009

Alleynbard, you forgot about SkeletonKey Games E-Adventure tiles.

They make the quailty of WOTC's tiles look pathetic in my opinion.

Edit, nevermind I notice you listed them in your first post, oops.

Henrix · Jun 12, 2009

One Monk Miniatures makes rather cute standup paper figures. Cartoony, but cute.

Zinovia · Jun 12, 2009

I have bought individual minis from Troll and Toad and had good luck with them. I like the fact that they have them sorted by creature type as well as by set. They also sell bundles of random figures, or themed figures (orcs, or goblins, or whatever). Unfortunately their pictures leave something to be desired, but once you have found a mini you like, you can find a better pic on the official WotC D&D minis gallery.

As for dragonborn, because WotC wanted them to look good (have more paint steps) all the initial dragonborn minis were rare. This means they are now expensive. A dragonborn in one of my games is using the Baaz draconian figure from the Dragoneye series, which is fairly cheap.

I use a battle mat (with a hex grid), but add props from Worldworks, Fat Dragon, and other sites that produce fold-up paper models. I like the fact that the WorldWorks tiles can be printed with a hex grid rather than square.

Good luck in your quest to collect minis and tiles!