Do you use miniatures/tokens in your D&D game?

[Master Gunns]

Minis

I use a 24"x48" laminated 1" grid paper with about 300 prepainted minis and about 250 metal minis (of which about 30 are painted).

 

[Menexenus]

We are too lazy to paint, so we use unpainted metal miniatures and pre-painted plastic miniatures for every combat.

I've recently come to the realization that my friends and I have turned D&D into more of a skirmish-level tactical wargame than a role-playing game. For us, the role-playing we do in the course of a D&D session is just an excuse to set up a fight. We spend 2/3 of our time maneuvering on the battle grid, 1/6 role-playing, and the remaining 6th is spent BSing or prepping.

A lot of people would like to blame this on third edition, but, to be honest, I'm not sure how new this is. We were doing major battles on battle grids back in 2e, too. Still, part of me longs for more emphasis on role-playing. However, I doubt that things will change too much for my group, because we all enjoy what we are doing, and (as you can tell by our unpainted miniatures) we're probably too lazy as a group to do what it takes to develop a real emphasis on role-playing, anyway.

 

[tvknight415]

As a player, I use my own hand-painted minis (almost exclusively from Ral Partha, but a couple of Reapers). I encourage my players to find and paint their own minis, but if they want to use a pre-painted mini that's fine. I want them to take some ownership in their character and have their mini represent their character.

For monsters, I've switched to printing off tiles from Fiery Dragon's counter collection digital. Economical when you need dozens of orcs.

For important NPC's (especially the ones that travel with the party), I'll normally use one of my PC figs.

Having the "good guys" using minis and the "bad guys" using tiles makes for much easier recognition of who is who on the battlemat. I've seen tables using lots of pre-painted D&D minis, and sometimes the good guys and the bad guys use the same mini, which can be confusing.

Eric

 

[Wombat]

With D&D/D20, the rules pretty much demand using some sort of battle board for serious combats (not just a "He jumps out at you! Skewwer him!" situation). While I was playing D20 games, I usually hauled out the battle board once a session, sometimes twice. We usually used painted metal minis, but we also used various tokens to take care of matters; we avoided the collectible minis like the plague, disliking both the collectible aspect, the paint jobs, the mix of minis available, and their general flimsiness.

In other games, we rarely if ever use a battle board at all, thus rarely if ever use minis. We prefer this option immensely!

 

[Henry]

We use both cardstock tokens, as well as pre-painted D&D minis.

I've expecially (as DM) begun returning to cardstock tokens, because it's easy to write on them for hit point damage, con damage, conditions, etc. in small print where I don't have to keep track (the players do, and I tell them when the creature's taken enough abuse to die).

The players still like using D&D minis for their PCs, and I often use Minis for the main bad guys (the lieutenants and generals in the war against darkness).

I once ran a similar poll on Dragonsfoot, and, indeed, more people use minis or tokens, than those who do not. Spatial Representation is a large part of D&D to a pretty large segment of people.

 

[sniffles]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love miniatures. The metal ones that I have to paint myself. My primary hobby is painting miniatures. Even if I'm in a game with a GM who doesn't use minis, I paint one for my character. In games that do use minis, I typically end up painting several different minis for my character as mini manufacturers produce new figures that suit my PC better than the one I had. In my dream game every piece of terrain and every NPC or monster would be represented by a beautifully painted mini.

 

[Arnwyn]

Miniatures for PCs and important NPCs.

Tokens (colored and numbered dice) for everyone else.

Uhhh... I chose the middle poll option.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I would have preferred a multi-choice poll as I use almost all of the choices. I use minis I've painted myself, I use pre-painted and unpainted minis, I use Firey Dragon counters (love them when there are large numbers of opponents because of the ability to number them) and I use dice or coins. It all depends upon the circumstances.

 

[KB9JMQ]

I mostly use the plastic D&D Minis. But I still use a few metal ones also.
There are occasional appearances by Fiery Dragon Counters, random dice, paper pieces and snack food items.

 

[Voadam]

The last games have been minis because the players have so many and get into them.

For one old campaign I had my own mini for my wizard and his two bodyguards.

I don't paint.

I used to use dice, ripped up scraps of paper, and lego men, as minis depending on what was on hand "When I turn the die to one that means you killed it." Grids are more important in the current edition and I use battle maps and cardboard heroes dungeon and cavern sets.