What do you do for miniatures?

[Psychic Skeksis]

I'm a miniatures nut who loves d20 Modern. That means I'm frustrated most of the time. Lately I've been buying up WhizKids "IndyClix" line...lots of very, very cool minis suitable for d20 Modern (that is, assuming your campaigns are "modern on steroids", as mine are. ). I have also seen a set of cardboard counters called, simply, "Moderns" (can't recall the manufacturer, but they make a lot of D&D counters). Counters aren't miniatures, obviously, but they're nice in a pinch.

One thing I'm fond of doing is popping out the wheel on the bottom of the WhizKids minis, tossing it away, and then painting the base black. When the paint dries you have a very spiffy looking miniature that doesn't have all those annoying numbers and dials.

Any other ideas?

 

[Shewolf]

We make ours out of Shrinky Dink plastic. Transfer an image of the character to the plastic, color, cut out and shrink (we use HeroMachine for most - if not all - of these) and glue them to a penny (or some other base).

 

[DMauricio]

d20 Modern compatible minis

Of the methods you've listed, I've found that heroclix work really well. (Specifically when you re-paint the minis you want to use as specific NPCs/PCs)
I also use tokens/counters (made from games workshop round bases which have been numbered) as these work well for representing generic thugs etc.

The old necromunda miniatures work too (though these will require some conversion)

Eureka Miniatures http://www.eurekamin.com.au are another place to look, as the minis are cheap and they have a number of modern looking minis (though not all their minis will suit all games)

Some people have also used Wargames Foundry miniatures (but I find them a little expensive)

And minis from Cantebury Miniatures work well (Look under Sci-Fi Adventurers. These are in 25mm scale, so they fit in with Heroclix - provided you re-base them) http://www.canterburyminiatures.inet.net.nz/25mm/sciad.html

Another manufacturer/supplier which is used by the wargames club I'm with is Black tree design http://www.black-tree-design.com/ . They may have minis which also suit your campaign. (Specifically the Dr Who line)

Also, I believe the following thread may be of some use http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68216&highlight=modern+miniatures


HTH


Dom

 

[Jeremy757]

Someone over at the Wizards boards recommened this place:

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/SV/index.asp

There mini's look pretty damn cool and appropriate for Modern.

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

A few months back, I posted a very long list of manufacturers who made miniature products appropriate for D20 Modern, covering all aspects, from metal minis, to paper minis, to miniature vehicles and scenery.

Perhaps someone who doesn't find $35 a year too steep a price for access to the board's search capability could search for it an post a link?

 

[takyris]

You can get a pretty decent miniature for about $.25 US.

Photoshop a face you want, shrink it down to the right size, and tape it to a quarter.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

For the past eight or nine years I've only bought three brands of minis;
Reaper, Reaper and Reaper...
(except for the female death cleric from chainmail, the only WoTC mini I ever "had to have")

We make ours out of Shrinky Dink plastic. Transfer an image of the character to the plastic, color, cut out and shrink (we use HeroMachine for most - if not all - of these) and glue them to a penny (or some other base).

That's Awesome! I've been thinking about doing this for years but haven't bothered to order any Shrinky Dink sheets and try it out. Sure, they're one dimensional, but if you can draw you can have a mini that IS your character. Now I'll definitely have to try this.

 

[C. Baize]

It actually works pretty well...
You can press my www button at the bottom of the post, and go to the tools section to see how we did the Shrinky Dink minis... complete with pictures of what we have, so far.

 

[Shewolf]

That's Awesome! I've been thinking about doing this for years but haven't bothered to order any Shrinky Dink sheets and try it out. Sure, they're one dimensional, but if you can draw you can have a mini that IS your character. Now I'll definitely have to try this.

Having a mini that IS the character was part of the push behind trying it. C. Baize and I have a pair of half-dragon siblings that we would never have found minis for... ever...

 

[ledded]

Having a mini that IS the character was part of the push behind trying it. C. Baize and I have a pair of half-dragon siblings that we would never have found minis for... ever...

You've obviously never met a man with the power of Mad Miniatures Disorder (tm), a saw, a pin vise, some putty, and a bits box

Seriously, I'm a big fan of 3 dimensional minis, but that is often the problem: finding that 'perfect' mini. However, most of the time I will get a mini that is very close to what someone likes for their character, and convert it somehow using a variety of Mad Mini Scientist techniques. I've got nothing against counters or 2-D shrinky-dinks, but I've got a serious hobby neurosis; we play Modern with a variety of 3D buildings, street layouts, real-looking trees, nice little accessories (I've even got *mailboxes*, I tell you), and bunches of scale model diecast cars (and planes, and helicopters...). We've got a pretty expansive room full of scenery that we have gone with, especially after 2 of our group got into Hirst Arts homemade buildings.

I'd post a list of the miniatures that we like the most for modern, but we've done that before so I'll just direct anyone interested to the following threads:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=70273 (a good discussion of modern miniatures and usage)

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65349

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68216 (Dana's near-comprehensive list of stuff)

My personal favorites are Chinatown (great modern oriental minis), Copplestone (affordable and good sculpts), Foundry (some of the BEST sculpts but pricey), and em4miniatures (good sculpts, *very* affordable even though they are a UK company).

O-Scale train diorama stuff works well for modern, things like plasticville buildings and street accessories you can pick up fairly cheap.

Most dollar stores sell the diecast cars in 1:64 or 1:48 scales, both work fairly well and you can often get them, well, for a dollar or two

www.pjcc.com sells clix minis in singles, sometimes incredibly cheap (20 cents or less). Yeah, clix dont often compare to a well painted metal, but you can often short-cut your mook hordes that way, and occasionally you find a few that are surprisingly well done. I like them the most for picking up strange critters and monters for under a couple bucks that would cost 7-10 bucks to get in metal (and then ya gotta paint 'em and hope they show up on the table one day )

Also, check ebay for deals on all these manufacturers... I almost *never* buy minis at retail, and occasionally you can get great deals on lots of unrelated minis or clix.

Most of the conversions I did for some Star Wars gaming we were into, basically taking minis and parts and mixing them up to make races that you just couldnt get a mini for. Some of it worked out fairly well. In modern, I did a mini for Fludogg/Joe in our group (took a guy on a skateboard, added a big fat belly to him, and then painted him up like he wanted). I'm still trying to figure out how to make/get a Stetson on a miniature for Pierce's Brother Cooper.