Non-Square Minis?

[Argyle King]

With D&D tending to be the dominant rpg, this has also lead to most minis adopting the uniform square base sizes. This is great if I'm playing D&D, but it's no so great if I'm playing a game which doesn't use squares as a unit of measurement, doesn't quantify all creatures in perfectly square terms, or a game which does neither. An easy example would be GURPS which uses a hex grid and does not assume all creatures measure the same amount of space in all directions.

What are some good sources for minis which are better suited to a game that doesn't follow the D&D mold?

 

[frankthedm]

With D&D tending to be the dominant rpg, this has also lead to most minis adopting the uniform square base sizes.

Not really the case. Warhammer Fantasy Battles and other games with combat unit style formations has far more to do with square bases being common in fantasy minis.

Wotc did a very limited line of minis packaged with square bases back in 2000. The previous silver anniversary minis had organic bases, with the following Chainmail minis adopting the round 20mm, 25mm, & 40mm basing standard until DDM switched all large minis to 50mm several sets later.

Also square bases are rarely integral to the mini, meaning switching to a round base is just a trip to the hobby, crafting or hardware store.

As far as prepainted minis go, square bases are used for few games, notably one expansion of star wars [ alliance & empire], monsterpocalypse and Dreamblade.

 

[Argyle King]

Thanks for the info...


Still, most D&D creatures seem to be assumed to have the same measurement in all dimensions. This tends to (in my experiences) mean that many minis are made to fit that idea. For example, figures for large creatures might have round bases, but they still tend to measure 2 by 2 when placed on a square grid.

Not being very knowledgable about minis, I'm trying to get a better idea of what options are out there for someone who doesn't want all of his minis to fit the current D&D mold. I'm sure they're out there, but I don't know where. ...probably more of an issue with me being unfamiliar with minis than the actual lack of minis; while I've started to paint minis rather than buy prepainted ones, the majority of my experience with minis is with prepackaged D&D minis.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you're using minis that have slots that go into the square plastic or metal bases, know that there are rectangular and round bases available as well.

In addition, some of the more artfully sculpted minis out there have unique bases- some are bean-shapes or otherwise irregular, some are sculpted to look like terrain, etc.

 

[AngryMojo]

25mm Round Closed Bases | Games Workshop 25mm round bases
https://store.privateerpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6206 30mm round bases
https://store.privateerpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=7540 40mm round bases
https://store.privateerpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6208 50mm round bases
60mm Round Closed Bases | Games Workshop 60mm round bases

 

[Dire Bare]

With D&D tending to be the dominant rpg, this has also lead to most minis adopting the uniform square base sizes. This is great if I'm playing D&D, but it's no so great if I'm playing a game which doesn't use squares as a unit of measurement, doesn't quantify all creatures in perfectly square terms, or a game which does neither. An easy example would be GURPS which uses a hex grid and does not assume all creatures measure the same amount of space in all directions.

What are some good sources for minis which are better suited to a game that doesn't follow the D&D mold?

If you want to use standard scale RPG minis, which is 28-30 mm . . . that's D&D and practically every other RPG and miniature wargame on the market for the past several decades. Is it the squareness of the bases that bothers you? Because the actual D&D minis themselves haven't come with square bases for over a decade now.

And, as several folks have noted above, if you own or are looking to purchase square based minis, it's rather simple to swap out the square base for a circular one.

Are you looking to use a different scale? There are a handful of fantasy and sci fi mini games out there that use a larger or smaller scale, but most of them are out-of-print and over. Larger scale games include World of Warcraft miniatures, Mutant Chronicles, an older Lord of the Rings prepainted series . . . gorsh, I know there are a handful more, but can't think of any others off hand. Dreamblade minis are not all to scale with each other, but they generally are "bigger" than D&D minis. To my knowledge, your best bet for larger scale minis are the bargain bins and clearance aisles of gaming stores, both online and off.

 

[Argyle King]

I did bring up the issue of base shapes, but what I'm more after are bases which aren't so uniformly shaped to fit D&D's idea of perfectly square and cubicle creatures.

I think I might need to clarify what I mean a little bit. In D&D, every creature has the exact same measurements in all three dimensions. For example, a human sized creature is 1 square by 1 square by 1 square. Likewise, a large creature is 2 by 2 by 2, and so on. Regardless of what the fluff says the dimensions are, every creature fits into a perfect cube of space based upon its size category. The D&D minis are made to reflect this; all large creatures measure 2 by 2 at the base when placed on a grid.


What I'm looking for are minis which quantified by these perfect cube shapes and placed onto bases which have perfect square measurements on. For an easy example, a large horse might be 1 square wide and maybe 3 squares long.... being 1 by 3 instead of being made to have a perfect 2 by 2 base.

...........................
XXX..instead.of..XX
.......................XX

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Most horse minis by anybody other than WotC pretty much fit on a 1x2 base, rather than 2x2.

As an example, Reaper Miniatures have integral bases, and do not assume square bases, at least for their Dark Heaven line. (The bases used by Reaper are sometimes called 'broccoli bases'.)

WotC's assumption that all critters great and small are inherently square is the exception, not the rule.

The Auld Grump

 

[Argyle King]

Most horse minis by anybody other than WotC pretty much fit on a 1x2 base, rather than 2x2.

As an example, Reaper Miniatures have integral bases, and do not assume square bases, at least for their Dark Heaven line. (The bases used by Reaper are sometimes called 'broccoli bases'.)

WotC's assumption that all critters great and small are inherently square is the exception, not the rule.

The Auld Grump

Thanks for the feedback. I have painted a few miniatures, but they've all been 'medium' size. I'm starting to work up the courage to try tackling something bigger, so I was trying to bone up on my mini size knowledge.

While I have branched out into different games, most of my minis are D&D minis by virtue of how much time I've spent with D&D. Because of that, I was under the impression that most modern minis were square to reflect the square nature of creature measurements in D&D.

The answer to my question seems to be that my initial assumption that most minis were 'square' was wrong.

 

[Dausuul]

Heroscape minis are explicitly designed for use on hexes.