GraveDev
Villager
What are your favourite miniature manufacturers, sets, or shops for TTRPG purposes?
When I first started playing D&D 5e a few years back, I picked up a Wizkids miniature for my dragonborn fighter and was very happy with it at the time. Eventually, I began branching out, and now I have a wide variety of minis from all over. Now, I am very interested in hearing which minis other people are particularly happy with or have been pleasantly surprised by. You can also post general reviews of minis and mini sets you have aquired, if you so prefer!
Short summary of the minis I've collected:
When I first started playing D&D 5e a few years back, I picked up a Wizkids miniature for my dragonborn fighter and was very happy with it at the time. Eventually, I began branching out, and now I have a wide variety of minis from all over. Now, I am very interested in hearing which minis other people are particularly happy with or have been pleasantly surprised by. You can also post general reviews of minis and mini sets you have aquired, if you so prefer!
Short summary of the minis I've collected:
- Warhammer: Got some Stormcast Eternals Vanquishers and Orruk Ardboyz from Age of Sigmar, and Seekers in Shadow from Warhammer Underworlds. Obviously very high quality minis, but I find most Warhammer models to be too strict. As in; I find it hard to see myself actually using most Warhammer models outside of games actually set in the Warhammer universe—the Stormcast Eternals won't pass for just any common knight, look at that armour! They are also a bit too big for my taste, since I use a vinyl map with 1" squares.
- A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game: Got the Baratheon, Greyjoy, Bolton and Brotherhood without Banners starter sets, along with a bunch of smaller packs. Some of my favourite include the Winterfell Guards, Darkstar's Retinue, Crannogman Trackers, Lannister Red Cloaks, Rose Knights and Golden Company Swordsmen. I really like the design of these minis—they are often in dramatic poses and their gear is exaggerated yet grounded. Depending on how you paint them, they can be made to look fairly generic, or faction-specific, which I really like. I've slapped some drab grays and browns on a knight to use as a "generic rogue knight", and then painted bright colours on that same model type to use as a "generic royal guard"—it works great! My main complaint is that the models are all pre-assembled and non-customizable. They are what they are. You can't change out their heads or weapons without careful cutting, and even then, you would have a hard time swapping out many of the heads, since they are connected to the body via beard, coif or hood. Also, some of the models really suffer from horrific mould lines and other defects, which is a bummer. These model's are nowhere as crisp as many others I have seen.
- Frostgrave: Got Frostgrave Soldiers II, Barbarians II, and Wizards II, all of which only include women since my collection was mostly dudes with beards after all the ASoIaF minis. I am veeery happy with these minis! They are crisp—bordering on Warhammer levels of crispiness!—customizable, and just look great. They are a joy to assemble, and not too expensive either. Overall, these are likely my favourite at the moment. Love 'em!
- Wargames Atlantic: Only have the Foot Knights from Baron's War, but they are great. They are not as crisp as the Frostgrave minis in my opinion, but they still look great and are fun to assemble and paint. Due to the scale, I am also able to combine these with the Frostgrave parts, which is fantastic. Overall, I really like the one set I have, and am heavily considering getting some Baron's War Foot Sarjeants as well!
- Wizkids: I've got loads of Wizkids minis of all shapes and sizes, and they all look great as long as you do not peer too closely at them. When I first began collecting these minis, I had not yet began painting in earnest. When I began fighting the good fight against the grey tide, I discovered that the models are very sloppy in make. They have a great silhouette, but a lot of the finer details are flat and hard to make out, which is very frustrating when painting. I think I am done with Wizkids minis for now, except maybe some of the larger models—just look at those new dragon models!
