Buying minis - help an "old newbie"

[Mercurius]

Aside from the stray purchase here and there, I haven't bought miniatures since the 1980s (back in the day when they were actually lead or pewter). I am starting up a once-a-month 4E game with a few "casual gamers" who may or may not be inclined to buy their own minis, but I'm interested in using them along with Dungeon Tiles and I'm looking for a good source. So a couple questions:

1) What are the best miniature sellers online?
2) Any recommendations for "starter kits"--those that include PCs of the basic races/classes and/or a good selection of common low-level monsters?
3) What are the cheap alternatives to minis other than coins and other household items? I've heard of "counters" but never used or seen them.

Thanks!

 

[smetzger]

I still have a lot of those lead minis. We called the figures or figs for short back then.

The D&D Mini pre painted plastic minis are your most economical replacements.
The cheapest way to collect is to ignore the fact that there are Rares in a set and just buy Commons and Uncommons from ebay or an online retailer like
http://usacomicbooks.stores.yahoo.net/ddminatures.html

 

[ethandrul]

follow my sig to get awesome deals!!

 

[Mister Doug]

3) What are the cheap alternatives to minis other than coins and other household items? I've heard of "counters" but never used or seen them.

Some cheaper alternatives:

• Some companies (such as Fiery Dragon), sell cardboard counters that you can use. You can also by electronic versions to print out on cardstock on your own. There are even people who have posted their designs online.
• Steve Jackson Games still makes their Cardboard Heroes line of standies. Some people have posted their own designs online.
• I bought a bag of 20 plastic pawns (kind of like the pieces for Sorry) at a Lakeshore Learning store for like 6 bucks. I keep them in my dice box to use in a snap.
• I bought a bag of 20 wooden disks with a diameter of 1 inch at my local Michaeal's craft store for a couple of bucks. I keep them in my dice box to use in a snap.
• You can also use glass marker stones. I keep some with my dice box to use in a snap.
• I know some people who have used wooden cubes or cylinders. If you have access to wood scraps, this can even be free.
• You can get some inexpensive 25mm plastic toy soldiers from European and Asian toy lines, including ancients and a few fantasy series.
• If you already have kids and Lego around, I knew some people who played a Star Wars campaign using Legos for the battle map and the characters.

All of these are useful at different levels of abstraction, and in different settings... though it's hard to match the look of well-painted minis and nice terrain, but many of these are more flexible and portable than minis. As well as generally being cheaper.

 

[blargney the second]

I use the secondary market for D&D minis on ebay. If you're in the states, I gather Auggie's is a particularly good seller for them.

 

[Jack99]

I can highly recommend Auggies

 

[megamania]

Auggie's has been very good for me also.

E-bay is good also especially when Auggie is sold out of something.

 

[Zaukrie]

Your two best bets are Auggies, and going to the WotC, hordelings, and maxminis forums and posting that you want to buy lots of commons and uncommons. I just sold over 180 DDM to one person, most commons and uncommons for $.25 each.