Clueless...Educate Me About D&D Miniatures.

[Thurbane]

There are no different rarities between figures of the same rarity level. No rare is rarer than the other, they did as many Balors as they did Dromite wilders.

Some are just more sought-after.

Really? That suprises me, actually. From the guys I know (including myself) who buy D&D minis, some "rares" seem to crop up a lot more than others...

 

[PatEllis15]

Really? That suprises me, actually. From the guys I know (including myself) who buy D&D minis, some "rares" seem to crop up a lot more than others...

Regional variation....

Since the first set, distribution has been well worked out. While the "Beholder" or "Large Red Dragon" might be really hard to find near you, over in Florida, they are swimming in them. Just your bad luck.

Also, more popular miniatures appear to be more rare at times, because people are less willing to part with them, this drives up demand, and price on the secondary market, etc. etc.

They've changed my game. I've always used miniatures, but those 40 partially (badly) painted metal mini's were getting very stale. Even painting one figure a day since Harbinger was released, I'd still have more than 1/2 my collection to paint. My total number are in excess of 2000...


If your interested in ALL the figures, case purchases are the way to go. Buy 3 cases (12 x of each uncommon and about 4-5 of each uncommon) will get you most of the rares, and plenty of "trade fodder" with which to trade for the duplicate rare's, or missing rare's you want.

If you want specific figures, but "some of all is ok", but one case, and fill in with singles.

Otherwise, Ebay is your friend.

Pat E

 

[diaglo]

The modern D&D minis are 1:60 scale (1 inch = 5 feet), I think the older metal minis used 1:72 scale. Does that sound right?

it varied over time.

many were 25mm scale

but they shifted to between 28-30mm scale and some companies did 15mm scale.

 

[Stormborn]

I find them very useful and typically after a new set comes out my FLGS opens a ton of them (to sell the rares/complete sets on E-bay i believe) and winds up with boxes of commons and uncommons (and a few rares) that they sell cheap. That helps to make up little units of goblins/kobolds/soldiers. The secondary market is deff the way to go if you want specific things.

I enjoy getting them but so far I have discovered a couple of problems:

1) I can never get all of them. Inevitably I wind up with all the commons and uncommons and needing about 1/2 the rares or more with no desire to spend "collector" prices for them.
2) Occasionally a mini is bent. This is fixable to various degrees and tend to happen on the more common ones, but just be aware that not everything comes out of a box perfect.
3) Storage. I have been buying them since the first set, buying more or less with each set. I need a good storage system that fits in out space limited townhouse.

As others have mentioned distribution has been a problem on occasion in the past, but I think they have that worked out now. And buying via the 'net can eliminate that for you as well.

EDIT: Painting has imporved drastically on subsequent releases. Also scale seems to have fluctuated from one release to the next.

 

[brehobit]

So what's the general consensus on the best way to plunge in.....just buy a case? You guys that buy cases, how many repeats do you get? How "rare" are rares? Etc....

If you are buying for the game, I'd get a case.
If you are buying for D&D, I'd buy from an ebay store (no bidding).

These two are generally the most commonly recommended, though there are a few others on ebay. The actual ordering process is annoying (because of all the clicking you have to do with an ebay store) but both shops ship VERY quickly and I've had great luck with both.
Hubb's
Auggie's

For cases, I think you have to shop around for the best prices, but miniaturemarket worked nicely for me.

Always look for shipping prices. Some folks have very low prices, but then charge a LOT for shipping. The 3 above are very reasonable. (Auggie's is a fixed cost for shipping, Hubb's has lower prices but more for shipping, and minimarket has free shipping on cases).

Mark

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Really? That suprises me, actually. From the guys I know (including myself) who buy D&D minis, some "rares" seem to crop up a lot more than others...

Like the others said: rational variation and luck.

I know I got two beholders, both out of boosters. I got 3 Pit Fiends, all out of boosters. I'd guess they'd make that one rarer if it really were rare.

Plus, some seem "very rare" because everyone wants them, and wants them in multiples.

1) I can never get all of them. Inevitably I wind up with all the commons and uncommons and needing about 1/2 the rares or more with no desire to spend "collector" prices for them.

After how many cases? Or are you only buying loose boosters? Or do you do't buy boosters at all?

After 1 case, you have each common (x4), each uncommon (half of them twice), and exactly half the rares. Another case will get you something like 6 more rares (and 6 dupes), a third could give you the rest, or you could get only one more (or no more) rares you don't have yet. I think the closest I got was all but 2 rares after 3 cases in a regular set, or all but 1 rare in a starter set (with only 23 rares; plus, it was 3 cases of boosters and 2 starter sets).

But with a little luck, you'll get all the expensive ones, and/or can trade those you need for the dupes you don't need.

2) Occasionally a mini is bent. This is fixable to various degrees and tend to happen on the more common ones, but just be aware that not everything comes out of a box perfect.

It's not only occasionally, It happens more or less regularly. It's no problem, though:

Get a cup of boiling water, put the figure (the bent part) into the water for 10 seconds, watch it get back into shape, put it into cold (icy) water. BAM! Figure fixed.

3) Storage. I have been buying them since the first set, buying more or less with each set. I need a good storage system that fits in out space limited townhouse.

Well, I have a room set aside exclusively for D&D and related gaming. I have 6 (going to be 8) Bertby (Ikea) display cases hanging on the walls, and a couple of boxes to store the surplus. Otherwise, large toolboxes from the building centre work well, or tackle boxes.

They're still a lot easier to store than metal minis, since you can just put them into compartments. No padding or anything needed, nothing will break off unless you force the issue.

 

[Stormborn]

I only buy boosters (EDIT: and the occasional loose figure from the FLGS if I need it for a specific adventure or anticipate doing so), and usually just enough until i get to that point where I only need remaining rares. I then trade as I can with a friend until I have at least one of all the ones I want. I like DnD Minis, but not enough to spend all my discretionary funds on them by buying cases.

 

[kenobi65]

it varied over time.

many were 25mm scale

but they shifted to between 28-30mm scale and some companies did 15mm scale.

Though, generally, the definition of "25mm" has crept larger over time.

If you look at the minis from 20 or 25 years ago (i.e., when I started playing D&D, in the late Mesozoic), most humanoid figures were right around an inch tall (in other words, "true" 25mm).

It seems that, particularly over the last decade or so, the metal minis have gotten bigger. I've seen some referred to as "heroic 25mm", or 28mm, or even 30mm. Depedning on the manufacturer and the individual sculpt, humanoid metal minis these days are typically 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" tall.

From that standpoint, the WotC Medium-sized figures are usually around the same height as modern metal minis. The one thing I've noticed is that the Small D&D minis really are...compare a DDM halfing to a Reaper halfling, and you'll see that the Reaper is *much* bigger.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I only buy boosters (EDIT: and the occasional loose figure from the FLGS if I need it for a specific adventure or anticipate doing so), and usually just enough until i get to that point where I only need remaining rares. I then trade as I can with a friend until I have at least one of all the ones I want. I like DnD Minis, but not enough to spend all my discretionary funds on them by buying cases.

I'd say that saving up your money and buying one case at once is the better deal.

I don't know how long it takes inregular boosters to get a full uncommon set, but with a case, you're guaranteed to have them all after 12 boosters (as well as dupes of half of them). You're even less likely to get a duplicate rare (practically no chance for that, unless someone screws up in the factory), you'll have an even distribution of commons (4 each), and you can probably get a discount because you buy bulk.

So how many boosters do you buy from each set?

 

[Ulric]

The old huge boosters (the Giants of Legend Set) had 9 figures (the regular 8 figures and one huge one), while the new huge boosters (from War of the Dragon Queen) has only 8 figures total (7 normal ones and 1 huge).

So are these the only two sets that have huge boosters? And you can only get the huge figures if you buy a huge booster, right? All the other figures in all the other sets came in regular boosters, right? Minus the Icons of course. How about Blood War? Are there huge boosters for this set, or just regular boosters?