The 5 Best D&D Miniatures

One of my favorite things about role playing games, and Dungeons and Dragons in particular, is the miniature. While I have an active imagination, I'm also a very visual person. I enjoy having physical representations of characters in the game to place on maps during encounters, or sometimes, just to have on a shelf and admire. I also enjoy painting (or re-painting) minis and find it to be an important part of my RPG experience. There are a lot of minis that I really like, but I thought I'd narrow it down to the five that I like the very most.

One of my favorite things about role playing games, and Dungeons and Dragons in particular, is the miniature. While I have an active imagination, I'm also a very visual person. I enjoy having physical representations of characters in the game to place on maps during encounters, or sometimes, just to have on a shelf and admire. I also enjoy painting (or re-painting) minis and find it to be an important part of my RPG experience. There are a lot of minis that I really like, but I thought I'd narrow it down to the five that I like the very most.




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5. Red Dragon

What puts the second 'D' in D&D? Dragons! Of all the dragon minis, even the gargantuan ones, this one is my favorite. I like this guy because he's such an iconic creature that is synonymous with the game. He's also small enough to fit on most any grid map and in the totes I use to take minis to game days. I also love the pose he's in. Some gamers have dubbed it the "Hi kids!" pose, but I find it more interesting than the usual snarling, about to pounce pose that you see dragon minis in. He's great for quests that involve a good, ole fashioned raiding of a dragon's lair.


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4. Beholder Ultimate Tyrant


When you want to bring out the big guns without covering half the map, he's your guy. Despite not being in the name, beholders are the quintessential D&D monster and were even created by Gary Gygax rather than simply borrowed from pre-existing fantasy sources. I love them because of their amazing versatility. With so many eye stalks, they can have a whole host of attacks and abilities all in one creature. Most beholders are able to do a wide variety of types of ranged attacks that keep your intrepid heroes guessing. If they move in close, beholders also have those nasty teeth, especially the big bad purple guy here. On top of all of that, they can float and fly! Ultimate indeed.



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3. Cleric of Moradin

One of my favorite characters to play is a cleric. One of my favorite deities in D&D is Moradin, so this is clearly a great mini for me to use in games. I like clerics because I'm a helpful and compassionate person by nature. In games, I enjoy being able to heal, encourage and otherwise 'buff' my fellow adventurers and allies. I'm also a fan of the way D&D presents dwarven culture, so I like Moradin the creative and usually benevolent god. The mini itself is also cool with the big shield and warhammer.



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2. Farmer

Yes, I love the farmer mini! Why this one you ask? Because he's such a cool looking one. He practically tells a story all by himself they way they have him holding a pig under his arm with a cleaver in his belt and that billhook in the other hand. You can just imagine what he's about to do after this moment in time he's frozen in. He's a handy NPC to have in almost any campaign too. Always need a farmer or peasant for heroes to query, get supplies or a temporary place to stay from etc.



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1. Gelatinous Cube

And numero uno, for me at least, is this bane of adventurers everywhere! This mini is cool being one of the few transparent ones they made. It's also become somewhat rare, making it as cool of a collectable as it is a gaming piece. Describing all the crazy things that happen when one of these bad boys gets ahold of a formerly brave adventurer is a lot of fun. The 'cube is a monster and a trap all rolled, or rather, squished, into one.

 

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Henrix

Explorer
The flying red dragon from the D&D Attack Wing/current set is one of my favourites now. (At least if you, easily, reposition the wings.)

But the farmer is one of those that has seen the most use.
 



Henrix

Explorer
I like the idea of the farmer mini, but the actual production mini seems out of scale with the other DnD minis - he's huge!

Yeah, scale is oftan a problem.


tall20short20guys201.jpg


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neobolts

Explorer
I don't play the minis game, but we do use minis for tabletop play sometimes, and I love the gargantuan blue dragon I picked up. Every table should have a big dragon on standby. IMO the blue looks way better than the red used in the Top 5 list. On all fours and in the PC's faces like a real menace. The "reared back" dragons look like something out of Pete's Dragon to me.
 

I'm going to have to go with the Deathknell beholder over the Legendary Evils one, which is marred by that weird waxy shiny paint they switched to for some reason.

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The pit fiend is also a good runner up IMO.
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The imp is also really good. They managed to get a lot of character in such a tiny figure. We use it for our warlock's familiar, and I honestly can't find a better one in metal/resin.

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My next few arent what I consider the best sculpts or paintjobs, but just highly useful figures I reach for all the time.

The Drow Enforcer stands out well, with the icon on his shield, varied armor color, etc. Much more than the standard black leather, black skin, white hair and metal you see on a lot of the drow pre-paints.

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The Hobgoblin Marshall - I wish the pose was a bit better, but the armor texture, with its mix of metal and leather look great. Even when I pared down my collection last year, I kept 15 of these guys - they're great grunt troops.

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Peasant levy, random bandit - your call. The humble dalelands militia has you covered.
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Jhaelen

First Post
I've always wondered what people see in the Gelatinous Cube mini. I have one and I think it's butt-ugly. I'd much rather have had just about any other rare.
Maybe it's because I also think it's a stupid monster that I never use (unless a module calls for one and I don't find a good replacement).
 

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