Miniatures

huds0n · Post by **huds0n** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:02 pm

Dark Sword Miniatures has a great line of officially licensed Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, George R.R. Martin and Keith Parkinson minis.
http://darkswordminiatures.com/

I have about 13 sets of the Elmore and Parkinson line and they are top quality.
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marcuspeddle · Post by **marcuspeddle** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:53 am

Thank you for the great links. There are some very talented people painting out there.

bighara · Post by **bighara** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:43 pm

I paint a lot (and own more unpainted minis than painted). Reaper is a good company for most "standard" fantasy stuff. There are lots of other companies out there, but Reaper is my "go-to" brand I check first for when I need a mini. I also have some Mega Minis as well. They are a little smaller scale than Reaper, but work fine.

I would recommend, if you really want to have minis for your games, looking on some eBay stores for some of the more common DnD prepainted plastics as "filler" minis. Things like orcs, skeletons, zombies, goblins, bandits, etc. You can often get them for $1 or less apiece. They are also -while not the best looking figs in the world- really durable. You can chuck them in a box and not worry about chipped paint, etc. For big monsters like dragons, it depends on what you're after. Some of the metal may actually be cheaper than the Rare DnD's. Then, for things like major villains' and PCs' minis, take a hand at painting some Reapers. I don't recommend Games Workshop in general because they are pricey and -IMHO- not that great a quality for what you pay.

Painting isn't that hard, it just takes a little practice. A lot of the really great stuff you see (8's or higher on Cool Mini or Not) aren't painted for tabletop. They're display and competition minis. Often they might take a painter 20-30 hours to do (or more!). Try a Learn to Paint kit and read some of the advice on the painting forums (Like Reaper's and Dragonsfoot). Here an old article that I found incredibly helpful when I was getting started. It's from WOTC, when they were producing the metal Chainmail line of minis: Paint Like a Pro.

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marcuspeddle · Post by **marcuspeddle** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:21 am

Excellent links. Thank you very much. The painting kit would be a great place to start.

Deogolf · Post by **Deogolf** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:11 pm

Although Reaper has the best looking minis around, I prefer Mega Minis because they look like what an adventurer should look like. Reaper has a tendancy for looking too much like a super-hero! Which is okay at time, but I prefer a more subdued look, especially for lower level play.
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Pat Payne · Post by **Pat Payne** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:46 pm

marcuspeddle wrote:
The last time I saw Dungeons and Dragons miniatures they were made of coloured plastic. When I was in high school I had a small collection of metal (lead, I think) miniatures that I painted myself. Are these things still being made or did they die out with the first and second editions of AD&D?

Marcus, if you're ever looking for minis and are in Long Beach CA, visit the War House on Willow Street. They have thousands for sale, some of which date back to the '80s.

Taranthyll · Post by **Taranthyll** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:48 pm

bighara wrote:
I don't recommend Games Workshop in general because they are pricey and -IMHO- not that great a quality for what you pay.

That may have been true in the past, but not anymore. With the exception of some special characters most of their line is unpainted plastic now, which has reduced the price dramatically. For example a box of 20 zombies is $35 USD. If you're looking for a lot of a particular type of creature (and you can never have enough zombies) this is the place to go. Considering the detail of the sculpts and high quality of their recent releases, you'd be hard-pressed to find better value than this.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:56 pm

All this talk about miniatures makes me wonder what happened to the TLG C&C figures.
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bighara · Post by **bighara** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:47 pm

Taranthyll wrote:
That may have been true in the past, but not anymore. With the exception of some special characters most of their line is unpainted plastic now, which has reduced the price dramatically. For example a box of 20 zombies is $35 USD. If you're looking for a lot of a particular type of creature (and you can never have enough zombies) this is the place to go. Considering the detail of the sculpts and high quality of their recent releases, you'd be hard-pressed to find better value than this.

Less than a penny apiece?
Seriously though,the GW regiment boxes aren't a bad deal overall (I own a few myself), but assembling all of those are a PITA. For things like that, I'd go with the DDMs or some such. To me, it's worth it to pay a few cents more per mini for grunts and have them ready to go. Especially if the OP isn't sure that they want to get that heavily into the painting side right off the bat. Also, and YMMV, a lot of the GW minis are kinda goofy looking.

(FWIW I actually own a bag o zombies and for hordes of humanoids, it's great. They ain't pretty -and they're a little small next to Reaper's etc.- but "BLAM! There's the zombie horde!" is hard to beat.)

Taranthyll · Post by **Taranthyll** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:32 pm

bighara wrote:
. Also, and YMMV, a lot of the GW minis are kinda goofy looking.

Says the guy who uses miniatures from the bag'o'zombies .

You're right though, a lot of the GW stuff is very Warhammer-ish, for obvious reasons. I've always thought the orcs and goblins look really goofy. But I love the Chaos Marauders - I use these guys whenever I need a rampaging barbarian horde (and when don't I)?

Another less goofy option is GW's Lord of the Rings line, if you don't mind the smaller 25 mm scale. I still use a lot of the 25 mm Ral Partha and Grenadier miniatures, so it isn't that big a deal to me.

I have this box of Mordor Orcs http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... Style=lotr

and plan to get this box of Warg Riders, which look fantastic http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... Style=lotr

These require a little bit of assembly too, but to me that's part of the fun.

Deogolf · Post by **Deogolf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:29 am

Taranthyll wrote:
Says the guy who uses miniatures from the bag'o'zombies .

You're right though, a lot of the GW stuff is very Warhammer-ish, for obvious reasons. I've always thought the orcs and goblins look really goofy. But I love the Chaos Marauders - I use these guys whenever I need a rampaging barbarian horde (and when don't I)?

Another less goofy option is GW's Lord of the Rings line, if you don't mind the smaller 25 mm scale. I still use a lot of the 25 mm Ral Partha and Grenadier miniatures, so it isn't that big a deal to me.

I have this box of Mordor Orcs http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... Style=lotr

and plan to get this box of Warg Riders, which look fantastic http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... Style=lotr

These require a little bit of assembly too, but to me that's part of the fun.

The Mordor Orcs look pretty decent - at about $1 apiece, not a bad deal!
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Eulaliaaa!!! Give those rapscallions blood and vinegar, wot?!

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marcuspeddle · Post by **marcuspeddle** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:00 am

Is there a standard size for RPGs? Or is it just important that all your miniatures (if you are fussy) are the same scale? The new WOTC miniatures look fairly large. Much bigger than the miniatures I used to have.

bighara · Post by **bighara** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:17 pm

marcuspeddle wrote:
Is there a standard size for RPGs? Or is it just important that all your miniatures (if you are fussy) are the same scale? The new WOTC miniatures look fairly large. Much bigger than the miniatures I used to have.

Here's a post on Reaper's site that discusses this topic somewhat: 25mm Heroic scale

@Taranthyll. I like the LOTR minis' look much better too (I own the Mines of Moria set, some Mordor orcs, a couple Moria Goblin leader figs, and a Balrog). Though I still think for someone who is new to painting and more interested (initially) in getting minis on the table, buying prepainteds for the "grunts" and saving their painting time for the PCs and/or special critters/villains is the better way to go.

Deogolf · Post by **Deogolf** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:54 pm

Although Reaper states that their minis are 25mm, they seem to be a bit larger than the older Grenadier/Ral Partha minis from the early '80s.

It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me, but I try to keep them as close as possible in size just so as to not look too out of whack.
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Eulaliaaa!!! Give those rapscallions blood and vinegar, wot?!

Be sure to check out Jim's artwork for sale:
http://jimhollowayart.com/id5.html

Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:03 pm

serleran wrote:
All this talk about miniatures makes me wonder what happened to the TLG C&C figures.

I've got one, but would like some more!!
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Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:06 pm

Deogolf wrote:
Although Reaper states that their minis are 25mm, they seem to be a bit larger than the older Grenadier/Ral Partha minis from the early '80s.

It doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me, but I try to keep them as close as possible in size just so as to not look too out of whack.

Yep.

Just for fun, I just lined up the following for comparison:

Reaper - barbarian

TLGs C&C dwarf fighter

Mega minis town folks

Chainmail (old wotc metal) dwarf

Horror clix zombie holding his own arm

Gamers Workshop plastic dwarf

Wotc plastic elf and human

Ral Partha elf and human

The Reaper is clearly larger than all of them, but not by much (but I'll admit, I only have just of couple of Reaps) and the Ral Partha's are the smallest.

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"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

K2h2m3 · Post by **K2h2m3** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:01 am

Acutually I have found Reapers scale to vary from figure to figure. Seems like the newer releases are the ones most likely to be huge.

gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:12 am

Rhuvein wrote:
I've got one, but would like some more!!

Well, I plan on talking Steve into going with DarkSword Miniatures. They've got a sculptor working for em, that did this amazing ranger type. I want that person doing the sculpts for my art. ^_^
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K2h2m3 · Post by **K2h2m3** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:27 am

That would be very cool Gideon!

Hrolfgar · Post by **Hrolfgar** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:30 am

Now days there are many fine miniatures available, but there is no standard size. In general I would say 25mm minis today are 28-30mm compared to the old Ral partha line. In a recent game I ran , a player chose a an old viking miniature to represent his dwarf fighter.

Of the miniatures in my collection the GW lord of the ring minis are the closest in scale to the old Ral Partha and Grenadier lines. Reaper Minis are IMO huge compared to most lines (but are my favorite overall) more like 30-32mm.

I used to by fussy about scale but I have become less so over time.

Hrolfgar · Post by **Hrolfgar** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:42 am

C&C minis by Darksword would be most excellent.

Taranthyll · Post by **Taranthyll** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:54 pm

marcuspeddle wrote:
Is there a standard size for RPGs? Or is it just important that all your miniatures (if you are fussy) are the same scale? The new WOTC miniatures look fairly large. Much bigger than the miniatures I used to have.

The standard size has changed. Back in the '80's most rpg miniatures were 25 mm. These days they are mostly 28mm, which is noticeably larger, but easier to paint, and presumably easier for the artists to sculpt. It isn't important in terms of the game that all of your miniatures are the same scale - it just depends on whether or not it bothers you to have miniatures of different scales on the table.

Taranthyll · Post by **Taranthyll** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:58 pm

bighara wrote:
Here's a post on Reaper's site that discusses this topic somewhat: 25mm Heroic scale

Cool link, thanks bighara. I was always curious about the scale change.

yell0w_lantern · Post by **yell0w_lantern** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 8:07 pm

I've been looking at minis recently and have run across some plastic ones from Caesar that are in 1/72 scale which should be about 25.4mm if you take 6ft as your reference base. You can get 35 goblins for about 13 bucks. I'm considering getting a box. Anyone have any experience with the brand?

Egg of Coot · Post by **Egg of Coot** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:36 am

Hrolfgar wrote:
C&C minis by Darksword would be most excellent.

Yeah. And I know a guy who'd be the perfect choice to paint up all the figures for TLG promos . . .

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Hrolfgar · Post by **Hrolfgar** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:19 am

yell0w_lantern here are some painted caesar goblins someone posted on the TMP board
goblins

TMP also has a pretty good explanation of different scales
scales

1/72 scale minis will be smaller than 25mm, mostly because 25mm are measured to the eyes rather than the top of the head

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Miniatures

Re: Miniatures