I’ve got a ridiculous amount of minis acquired over @40 years: a fair number of prepainted plastic ones from various games, as well as a great grey army of lead and other metals from Ral Partha, Grenadier, Heritage, Rackham, Reaper, Games Workshop, Dwarven Forge and others. They cover fantasy, horror, Sci-fi and superheroic genres.
I briefly tried my hand at painting them, but didn’t have the patience.
When I started, we used them like playing pieces in a board game. Every movement of your PC was reflected by repositioning your mini. Over time, most groups I’ve been a part of have come to mainly use them for the BIG fights or situations when knowing precise locations truly matters.
But the other way I use my minis is simply as inspiration. A cool mini can inspire a PC...or an adventure idea. And I mean that in a continuous, not static, sense. If I’m running a PC based on a mini, I will contemplate that mini when I’m involved in the character advancement process.