Against the Giants picture gallery is up!

[Doug McCrae]

What are some good companies that sell miniatures that are good alternatives with generic figues specifically for D&D?

Reaper Minis Legendary Encounters? I haven't been able to find anyone that sells them in the UK though.

 

[Fifth Element]

Reaper Minis Legendary Encounters? I haven't been able to find anyone that sells them in the UK though.

Those are very good alternatives in terms of quality. In terms of variety of minis available, and in terms of price, not so much.

Which is to say, of course, that I have all of them. It's a sickness, really.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I'd rather pay twice as much for a quality Reaper miniature and paint it myself than ever buy any WotC produced PPM. I'd spend more on a single mini from Reaper than for an entire expansion pack from WotC. Of course, the painting part of the hobby has always been a favorite of mine.

I purchased the original box starter set and a single expansion years ago. Every mini is still in the box in the plastic bags because the sculpts were horrid and the paint jobs even worse.

Every time they release a new set of their minis, I find my choice of staying away from them validated, and this set is no different. There hasn't been a single decent sculpt since WotC started their whole CMG ponzi scheme.

I am an avid minis painter who just doesn't have the time anymore. Also, I got tired of my works of love being destroyed by regular gaming sessions. I find the plastic sculpts to be okay but if I find a particularly horrid paint job, I can usually fix it in about 10 minutes or so. Has really helped save me a lot of time. Maybe doing a few re-paints might change your mind? I suggest giving it a try at the very least.

 

[Thunderfoot]

What are some good companies that sell miniatures that are good alternatives with generic figues specifically for D&D?

That depends if you want names that match sculpts - there aren't any because of trademark laws. But as far as figures with usability, Reaper tops the list and several other companies have great figs for heroes like Grenadier, Privateer Press, etc. You just have to do your homework. Of course they are all metal so if you're looking for plastic the only companies that do those are Reaper (limited but growing) and Dwarven Forge(limited to undead, orcs and goblins that I know of)

 

[JoeGKushner]

That depends if you want names that match sculpts - there aren't any because of trademark laws. But as far as figures with usability, Reaper tops the list and several other companies have great figs for heroes like Grenadier, Privateer Press, etc. You just have to do your homework. Of course they are all metal so if you're looking for plastic the only companies that do those are Reaper (limited but growing) and Dwarven Forge(limited to undead, orcs and goblins that I know of)

Rackham has their Confrontation, Age of Ragnarock line. Solid for hero types and tropps. Not so good for monsters.

Yet.

The Alchemists they have do enjoy some wicked beasties and I'll be picking up a few of 'em.

 

[broghammerj]

I'd have to disagree on that last part. The sales distribution model leads to the secondary market in which the common minis, at least, are very, very cheap.

I can't disagree with you specifically on that statement. However, it is not the commons I care about. In my eyes, you can take just about any humanoid figure and call it an orc, bugbear, gnoll, goblin, kobald, etc. To me they're all the same monstrous humanoid.

What I can't do is call it a fire giant, earth elemental, great red dragon, vampire, death knight etc. I like miniatures that are represented by size and rarity. The secondary market doesn't help with that. When you battle a mindflayer I don't like it being represented by the orc chieftan. I would just assume have a mind flayer.

 

[frankthedm]

earth elemental

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/auggiesgames/Detail?no=2860 Or slap together some rocks & Sand with a bit of glue.

great red dragon

Toys R' Us and several shopping mall entertainment stores stock Awesome dragon toys perfect for the bigger dragons. Shames wotc is being such a and not making any large uncommon dragons in DDM.

vampire

Paint a common human mini's face pale.

death knight

Cut the head off a fullplate mini. affix a skeleton's head.

When you battle a mindflayer I don't like it being represented by the orc chieftain. I would just assume have a mind flayer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Star-Wars-Minia...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247
star war's Quarren assassin is a hand swap away from being a perfect mind flayer.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

The vast majority of DDM boosters are sold to RPG players. DDM players (and former DDM players, like me) buy a disproportionate share of the minis, by a large amount, but "DDM players" is so small a set compared to "D&D players" that D&D players still buy the vast majority of DDM.

And yes, there are many DDM players. Go to the minis room at GenCon and you'll see scores, maybe hundreds, of them. From what I've heard the new version of the game has thinned the numbers -- it certainly drove me away -- but it hasn't killed the game.

 

[Leatherhead]

I have never ever seen anybody ever play a game of DDM.

Not even once.

I played it, once. It was OK I guess, but it felt too much like DnD light.

 

[hong]

Heh. DDM is so RPG-ey.