D&D 5E What is my best bet for some cheap, decent miniatures?

[Nebulous]

Those bad boys are from the last set, and Wizards decided to go with Very Rare as an extra kick in the butt with that set. The Hydra is one of the Very Rares. How rare are they? I hear you asking. I bought 20! Boxes of that set and got 3. 3 in 160 packs. The ratio of that fig to all the others is just absurdly low, as is all the VRs in that set. Ugh. On the plus side, it is a bad ass figure. I totally have mine, and it's really nice.

Zen

Yes, it IS nice, and I would love to have it. But I already have the green mini hydra and it has worked well. I don't like to collect those in the sense that one would collect trading cards (which I don't either), and i would totally love that heroslayer, but it's singular price is just not worth it. I have seen (and own) non-D&D miniatures, such as a Huge-based fire hydra, that i bought at a Michael's hobby shop for $10.

Edit: Lords of Madness was the last set I actually didn't get, except for a few singles. I wasn't gaming at the time and while I do think it was an excellent set, I couldn't justify spending hundreds for something that would literally sit in a box and collect dust. Still, I'd pick some up now if i could find a few well priced.

I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I got some of the last Pathfinder sets and the quality of the plastic wasn't nearly as sturdy as the DDM ones. I've had bases come off and plastic pegs crack and arms break. They feel weaker, but the DDM ones you could slam against the wall and they'd make their Con save and be fine!

 

[miniaturehoarder]

I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I got some of the last Pathfinder sets and the quality of the plastic wasn't nearly as sturdy as the DDM ones. I've had bases come off and plastic pegs crack and arms break. They feel weaker, but the DDM ones you could slam against the wall and they'd make their Con save and be fine!

Wotc's plastic was supertough, even compared to other Prepaints. More a rubbery plastic like Reaper's Legendary Encounters. Also they used the same plastic for most of the bases so they could be integral bases. I think they also try for single piece construction.

Wizkids makes their bases out of a styrene plastic {it liquefies if exposed to acetone] with a super glue to affix them so that's always a weak point. WK plastic is usually pretty crisp allowing for good detail and they don't shy from multi piecing a miniature, making it look better, but generating more weak points. But that crisp plastic is more vulnerable to damage in addition to all those glue points.

IME Wizkids plastic is ~tough enough~ to toss into a box with a hundred others, but it isn't going to take an actual beating like a Old WOTC plastic could.

 

[Nebulous]

Wotc's plastic was supertough, even compared to other Prepaints. More a rubbery plastic like Reaper's Legendary Encounters. Also they used the same plastic for most of the bases so they could be integral bases. I think they also try for single piece construction.

Wizkids makes their bases out of a styrene plastic {it liquefies if exposed to acetone] with a super glue to affix them so that's always a weak point. WK plastic is usually pretty crisp allowing for good detail and they don't shy from multi piecing a miniature, making it look better, but generating more weak points. But that crisp plastic is more vulnerable to damage in addition to all those glue points.

IME Wizkids plastic is ~tough enough~ to toss into a box with a hundred others, but it isn't going to take an actual beating like a Old WOTC plastic could.

Thanks for clarifying that. Speaking of "tossing into a box", I have two PF dragons on the little plastic elevation pegs and I'm afraid they'll just snap in the box if they get jiggled the wrong way. I guess I should sit them on a shelf somewhere. I really, REALLY like the sturdiness and near indestructibility of the DDM line...

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

All my WOTC and Paizo minis are my most treasured possessions. For the most part they're indestructible and generally come well-painted.

If you're on a budget I'd recommend the flat tokens WOTC was bundling with the 4E redbox or 4E books over the Paizo standup pawns. I played in a game with the stand-up pawns once. Despite being 3D they're actually pretty hard to view without the proper viewing angle, which caused me to start ignoring the minis. Plus they tend to cover up pawns behind them. The pawns made it a bit harder to tell what was happening, which sort of defeated the purpose.

Yeesh...I just researched prices. It looks like those 4E bundles with tokens got really expensive quick. As stand-alone products the tokens still seem fairly priced:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-D-Tokens-.../321650066317?pt=Games_US&hash=item4ae3d6838d
http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-D-BIG-TOW.../371234105475?pt=Games_US&hash=item566f46e883

 

[Nebulous]

All my WOTC and Paizo minis are my most treasured possessions. For the most part they're indestructible and generally come well-painted.

I love, love, love my miniatures too. I distinctly remember when I started collecting metal miniatures. We'd been playing 2e for a while and THIS GUY was our monster/villain for nearly every encounter:

I got so sick of killing him over and over and over and over (even though Jar Jar rightly deserved it). So i went on ebay and bought a bunch of painted metal minis people were unloading, and that pretty much started the addiction. The plastic came next. Now, years later, i don't feel the need to buy as many because I pretty much have every possible monster nuance covered. Whew! Only took a decade!

 

[Sigbjorn_86]

The Reaper Bones line are fairly nice and inexpensive. The selection isn't great yet, but you should be able to find one of each race. Plus they're ready to paint, and since they're cheap, it doesn't matter if you flub it.

You can also sometimes find Warhammer sets on sale. This is how I got a band of orcs and goblins for fairly cheap. They were the LOTR line, so they were less cartoonish.

Unless you just hate painting, I would stick with it. You will get better. I am terrible at shading, but even without all the shadows and highlights, a hand-painted mini looks better than a prepainted one.

 

[Jvirtue55]

I agree with the PAWNS I got rid of my huge plastic mini collection and moved over to Pawns im very happy with the change

Way Cheaper
Look Great
Lot less storage space

 

[Gecko85]

I agree with the PAWNS I got rid of my huge plastic mini collection and moved over to Pawns im very happy with the change

Way Cheaper
Look Great
Lot less storage space

I'm considering doing this myself...although I'll probably still use actual minis for the PCs and use PAWNS for all monsters.

 

[weldon]

I'm considering doing this myself...although I'll probably still use actual minis for the PCs and use PAWNS for all monsters.

I think this is a good balance. I think minis are a lot more interesting and fun than the cardboard pogs, but I can't afford a huge mini collection, so the pogs will have to do in most situations.

 

[Zaukrie]

I am considering selling many minis and moving to pogs, mainly because we will be moving and we are going towards minimalism. But, I have like 2000, and terrain. This is not an easy decision, like getting rid of books and box sets.