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<blockquote data-quote="1Mac" data-source="post: 6098480" data-attributes="member: 48998"><p>Thanks! Your question dovetails with Kris and Mark's discussion about various resources for cheap fantasy minis. The quick answer: You can read more about who makes these minis in my other posts, but basically, none of these are MageKnight, or indeed any other sort of collectible mini as the term is normally understood. I tend to look at one of two sorts of sources for miniatures: figure sets for military/history hobbyists, and pieces for boardgames, war games, and similar tabletop games. I'm also looking at figures that are either built in or work with 1/72 scale, which are a good deal smaller than most RPG/CMG miniatures (a human-sized miniature in this scale is about 1 inch tall), which is part of why they are cheaper than most collectible minis.</p><p></p><p>The long answer:</p><p></p><p>For military hobby figures, there are two companies making plastic fantasy figure sets in 1/72: <a href="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=39" target="_blank">Caesar Miniatures</a> and Red Box (under the <a href="http://theredbox.com.ua/alliance.htm" target="_blank">Dark/Light Alliance</a> imprints). There are also dozens of companies making hundreds of historic figures which are easily adaptable to typical medieval RPGs. <a href="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx" target="_blank">Plastic Soldier Review</a> is a great resource for checking out these miniatures. You probably have to buy these sets online: <a href="http://www.hobbybunker.com/" target="_blank">Hobby Bunker</a> and <a href="http://www.michtoy.com/" target="_blank">Michigan Toy Company</a> are the two big American sellers with the best selection, though you can find individual sets cheaper elsewhere.</p><p></p><p>For tabletop minis, I've used two games which are in 1/72 scale: <a href="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=33" target="_blank">Age</a> <a href="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=31" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=32" target="_blank">Mythology</a> and Arcane Legions. Arcane Legions I talk about in great detail in a recent post. The Age of Mythology figures can actually be purchased from <a href="http://www.eaglegames.net/SearchResults.asp?Search=mythology+pieces" target="_blank">Eagle Games</a> on their own and are ridiculously cheap. Some of the monsters are a little undersized but are still quite usable. A few other board games have minis in 1/72 scale: <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/115746/war-of-the-ring-second-edition" target="_blank">War of the Ring</a> is an example I've been tempted to buy, but there isn't enough variety in the sculpts for me to want to purchase the whole game, and you can't buy the figures individually from anywhere I can find. Other games use slightly larger pieces, often in 28mm scale, but often small figures in this scale look human-sized in 1/72, and large figures simply look convincingly larger and are quite usable. These figures are often sold individually on eBay or through other sources. The same goes for minis made for RPGs: the plastic Bones minis from <a href="http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Bones" target="_blank">Reaper Miniatures</a> have some great large figures, plus their gnomes and halflings are apparently about an inch tall, so many work perfectly as humans and elves in 1/72 (it seems the same is true for DDM minis). I'm painting up some Reaper kobolds right now, and they are actually about the size of my Caesar Miniatures goblins, so they work great in 1/72 also.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, there are a lot of companies making fantasy minis in metal, much more so than plastic, but they are often more expensive than plastic figures. This is because metal molds are cheaper to make, but metal figures are more expensive to cast. Still, you might be able to find figures in metal that you can't find in plastic, so they are worth looking into. For 1/72 figures (metal mini companies tend to call it 20mm scale), check out <a href="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/20mmfantasy.html" target="_blank">Splintered</a> <a href="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/20wowa.html" target="_blank">Light</a> <a href="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/15anandcr.html" target="_blank">Miniatures</a>, <a href="http://www.elhiemfigures.com/30.html" target="_blank">Elhiem Figures</a>, or <a href="http://www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk/CP%20MODELS%2020MM%20FANTASY%20MINIATURES.htm" target="_blank">CP Models</a>. Lots of other companies make 15/18mm miniatures that are easily adapted or converted to the slightly larger 20mm scale or used for smaller creatures: <a href="http://www.magistermilitum.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=1159&strPageHistory=cat" target="_blank">Magister Militum</a>, <a href="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/1518mmfantasy.html" target="_blank">Splintered Light Miniatures</a>, <a href="http://oldglory15s.com/Black-Raven-Foundry_c6.htm" target="_blank">Black Raven Foundry</a> and <a href="http://www.lonegunmangames.com/products.php" target="_blank">Lone Gunman Games</a> are promising sources for such adaption and conversion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="1Mac, post: 6098480, member: 48998"] Thanks! Your question dovetails with Kris and Mark's discussion about various resources for cheap fantasy minis. The quick answer: You can read more about who makes these minis in my other posts, but basically, none of these are MageKnight, or indeed any other sort of collectible mini as the term is normally understood. I tend to look at one of two sorts of sources for miniatures: figure sets for military/history hobbyists, and pieces for boardgames, war games, and similar tabletop games. I'm also looking at figures that are either built in or work with 1/72 scale, which are a good deal smaller than most RPG/CMG miniatures (a human-sized miniature in this scale is about 1 inch tall), which is part of why they are cheaper than most collectible minis. The long answer: For military hobby figures, there are two companies making plastic fantasy figure sets in 1/72: [URL="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=39"]Caesar Miniatures[/URL] and Red Box (under the [URL="http://theredbox.com.ua/alliance.htm"]Dark/Light Alliance[/URL] imprints). There are also dozens of companies making hundreds of historic figures which are easily adaptable to typical medieval RPGs. [URL="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx"]Plastic Soldier Review[/URL] is a great resource for checking out these miniatures. You probably have to buy these sets online: [URL="http://www.hobbybunker.com/"]Hobby Bunker[/URL] and [URL="http://www.michtoy.com/"]Michigan Toy Company[/URL] are the two big American sellers with the best selection, though you can find individual sets cheaper elsewhere. For tabletop minis, I've used two games which are in 1/72 scale: [URL="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=33"]Age[/URL] [URL="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=31"]of[/URL] [URL="http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=32"]Mythology[/URL] and Arcane Legions. Arcane Legions I talk about in great detail in a recent post. The Age of Mythology figures can actually be purchased from [URL="http://www.eaglegames.net/SearchResults.asp?Search=mythology+pieces"]Eagle Games[/URL] on their own and are ridiculously cheap. Some of the monsters are a little undersized but are still quite usable. A few other board games have minis in 1/72 scale: [URL="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/115746/war-of-the-ring-second-edition"]War of the Ring[/URL] is an example I've been tempted to buy, but there isn't enough variety in the sculpts for me to want to purchase the whole game, and you can't buy the figures individually from anywhere I can find. Other games use slightly larger pieces, often in 28mm scale, but often small figures in this scale look human-sized in 1/72, and large figures simply look convincingly larger and are quite usable. These figures are often sold individually on eBay or through other sources. The same goes for minis made for RPGs: the plastic Bones minis from [URL="http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Bones"]Reaper Miniatures[/URL] have some great large figures, plus their gnomes and halflings are apparently about an inch tall, so many work perfectly as humans and elves in 1/72 (it seems the same is true for DDM minis). I'm painting up some Reaper kobolds right now, and they are actually about the size of my Caesar Miniatures goblins, so they work great in 1/72 also. Lastly, there are a lot of companies making fantasy minis in metal, much more so than plastic, but they are often more expensive than plastic figures. This is because metal molds are cheaper to make, but metal figures are more expensive to cast. Still, you might be able to find figures in metal that you can't find in plastic, so they are worth looking into. For 1/72 figures (metal mini companies tend to call it 20mm scale), check out [URL="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/20mmfantasy.html"]Splintered[/URL] [URL="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/20wowa.html"]Light[/URL] [URL="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/15anandcr.html"]Miniatures[/URL], [URL="http://www.elhiemfigures.com/30.html"]Elhiem Figures[/URL], or [URL="http://www.cpmodelsminiatures.co.uk/CP%20MODELS%2020MM%20FANTASY%20MINIATURES.htm"]CP Models[/URL]. Lots of other companies make 15/18mm miniatures that are easily adapted or converted to the slightly larger 20mm scale or used for smaller creatures: [URL="http://www.magistermilitum.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=1159&strPageHistory=cat"]Magister Militum[/URL], [URL="http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/1518mmfantasy.html"]Splintered Light Miniatures[/URL], [URL="http://oldglory15s.com/Black-Raven-Foundry_c6.htm"]Black Raven Foundry[/URL] and [URL="http://www.lonegunmangames.com/products.php"]Lone Gunman Games[/URL] are promising sources for such adaption and conversion. [/QUOTE]
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