Are there RPGS which sell WotC miniatures one by one?

I was against buying miniature, but my girlfriend would like us to use them in our games, at least for the characters.

I wonder if anyone have seen any RPG shop around which have opened the packages and sell miniatures one by one for a reasonable price (my girlfriend pointed out that this might not be even legal).

There is absolutely no possibility that I buy something without knowing what I am going to buy. It is also unlikely to find suitable minis from other players, unless you have minis yourself to trade, which of course I don't, since I imagine that they would sell only the ugly ones. At the same time I would like to buy only minis from the current D&D line, unless there exist other lines for the same cost.

I know I am making this very difficult

Li Shenron said:

I was against buying miniature, but my girlfriend would like us to use them in our games, at least for the characters.

I wonder if anyone have seen any RPG shop around which have opened the packages and sell miniatures one by one for a reasonable price (my girlfriend pointed out that this might not be even legal).

Click to expand...

It is of course perfectly legal for people to sell something once they have bought it. That includes selling individual miniatures. (Same thing that happens with Magic the Gathering cards.)

Anyway, I would recommend that you consider walking around to your local roleplaying/wargame store and take a look at what miniatures they have on offer. And I don't mean the stupid Hasbro randomized packs of money bleeding.

The other thing you can look at doing is buying miniatures from companies that make specific miniatures. Sean Reynold posters put together such a list on his message boards:
http://pub17.ezboard.com/fseankreynoldsboardsfrm3.showMessage?topicID=56.topic

A friend of mine in Perth has a set of generic D&D-type miniatures - pewter I think. No idea where he got them, but that at least shows that such things are available.

Ok. Did a quick Google on the terms miniatures + wizard + fighter. Here's an example of what I got:
http://pen-paper.rpgshop.com/default.php?cPath=_2_210_340
I think that should suit you perfectly, unless you want something really cheap. Basically, look at the pictures, pick one you like for each character, order, wait for order to arrive, paint or not miniatures, and roleplay merrily away.

Just my thoughts ...

Tessarael said:

It is of course perfectly legal for people to sell something once they have bought it. That includes selling individual miniatures. (Same thing that happens with Magic the Gathering cards.)

Click to expand...

Of course it is legal that I buy a package and then sell the content second hand - to forbid such a thing could be even unconstitutional or severly threatening the basic of private property itself

We were however wondering if shops are allowed to open the packages and selling the minis one-by-one. That is not so obvious... for examples shops are normally not allowed to open a box of donuts and sell them separately, and typically those boxes bear a line which explicitly say "not to be sold separately".

I can imagine that if shops started doing that with random minis packs, it could completely change the sell politics which is intrinsic in how the package is designed - to put it simply, they won't be random anymore

The point is that I won't buy random stuff.

I appreciate the suggestions!

There are several online shops that sell the minis individually.
http://www.usacomicbooks.com
http://www.frpgames.com
...and several others

You can also get individual minis on ebay... http://www.ebay.com

Then there is my favorite route... trading... http://www.maxminis.com

I hope that helps...
--sam

Lalato said:

http://www.usacomicbooks.com
http://www.frpgames.com

I hope that helps...
--sam

Click to expand...

Wow, that was very helpful, thanks! Unfortunately they are both US-based, therefore I guess the shipping cost would something like double the expenses... :\ On the other side, paying in $ means to me some kind of 20% less if I think in euros

However at least now I have a good idea about how much I should pay and how much I should not pay!

Some extra considerations...

Unfortunately the random policy generates an average increase of the price over the original values. Basically it's either "buy what you want if you spend more, or buy what you don't want if you spend less" For example if you look at the second website you linked, if you try to choose the cheapest 8 minis (4 common + 3 uncommon + 1 rare, as in the random packs) you already spend more than double than for a random pack.

However, since I am NOT a collector I care NOTHING for the rare ones, even if on the average they are effectively slightly better. I made a checklist of the minis that I find nice among the 3 sets, and there are about a dozen common, two dozens uncommon and a dozen rare.
Combining the two sites (the first is definitely cheaper, but doesn't have Archfiends) I came up with a total of 27$ for 36 miniatures - without shipping anyway - not bad at all!

Now I only have to find a retailer in EU who does the same

Oops... didn't realize you were in EU.

You should definitely go to http://www.maxminis.com

Check the Marketplace forum and ask for retailers in Europe. Someone there should be able to help you find what you need.

--sam

http://www.popularcollections.com/dungeons---dragons-dungeons---dragons-miniatures.html

Some of them get kind of pricy though.

Try here... http://www.dragonworld.de/

or here... http://www.tcardsuk.com/ (based in UK)

--sam