The Ultimate Guide to Miniatures for Dungeons and Dragons
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... Our Ultimate Guide to Miniatures will help you find the perfect miniatures for your Dungeons and Dragons game! See below for full list of links to all the resources mentioned in this episode!
4:17 Pre-painted Plastic Miniatures
12:47 Hand-painted Miniatures
19:30 3D Printing
25:48 Paper Miniatures and Pawns
30:25 Digital Tabletops
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+++LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED ON TODAY'S EPISODE+++
+++ Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures +++
See www.minisgalle... for a full catalog of the Icons of the Realms and Pathfinder Battles sets with photos and rarities
Visit www.miniaturem..., www.trollandto..., www.coolstuffi..., www.meeplemart... (for Canadians) for singles
Check eBay, social media groups, and other local sale sites for huge lots of random figures when folks decide to sell off their entire collection.
+++ Hand-Painted Figures +++
Reaper Miniatures www.reapermini...
Figure Finder www.reapermini...
Visit the above retailers for the Nozlur’s Marvellous Miniatures and Pathfinder Deep Cuts lines.
Steamforged Games steamforged.com/ - the official Critical Role miniatures! Their board games include amazing high quality figures suitable for roleplaying games.
Games Workshop, Privateer Press, other manufacturers offer high quality miniatures, but may be much more expensive
+++ Paper Miniatures and Pawns +++
Printable Heroes / printableheroes for awesome artwork for DIY paper miniatures
Paizo www.paizo.com makes a line of cardboard cutouts called Pathfinder Pawns
+++ 3D Printing +++
HeroForge www.heroforge.com offers the ultimate in customized, 3-D printed miniatures, if you have to have “the perfect” miniature for your character.
Miguel Zavala / mz4250 has created a downloadable 3D printable model for the entire monster manual if you want to 3D Print miniatures yourself!
+++ Great RUclipsrs for Painting, Crafting, and More +++
The Crafting Muse / @thecraftingmuse
DM Scotty / thedmscraft
Black Magic Craft / @blackmagiccraftofficial
Miniac / sdubist
Dr Faust’s Painting Clinic / thepaintingclinic
MiniWarGaming / miniwargaming
+++CREDITS+++
Starring Monty Martin & Kelly McLaughlin
Produced by Clayton Masales
For full credits, visit • Dungeon Dudes - Credits
Quick Links and Resources mentioned in this episode:
4:17 Pre-painted Plastic Miniatures
12:47 Hand-painted Miniatures
19:30 3D Printing
25:48 Paper Miniatures and Pawns
30:25 Digital Tabletops
+++ Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures +++
See www.minisgallery.com for a full catalog of recent sets with photos and rarities
Visit www.miniaturemarket.com, www.trollandtoad.com, www.coolstuffinc.com, www.meeplemart.com (for Canadians) for singles
Check eBay, social media groups, and other local sale sites for huge lots of random figures when folks decide to sell off their entire collection.
+++ Hand-Painted Figures +++
Reaper Miniatures www.reapermini.com
Figure Finder www.reapermini.com/figurefinder
Steamforged Games www.steamforged.com - the official Critical Role miniatures! Their board games include amazing high quality figures suitable for roleplaying games.
Games Workshop, Privateer Press, other manufacturers offer high quality miniatures, but may be much more expensive
+++ Paper Miniatures and Pawns +++
Printable Heroes www.patreon.com/PrintableHeroes for awesome artwork for DIY paper miniatures
Paizo www.paizo.com makes a line of cardboard cutouts called Pathfinder Pawns
+++ 3D Printing +++
HeroForge www.heroforge.com offers the ultimate in customized, 3-D printed miniatures, if you have to have “the perfect” miniature for your character.
Miguel Zavala www.patreon.com/mz4250 has created a downloadable 3D printable model for the entire monster manual if you want to 3D Print miniatures yourself!
+++ Great RUclipsrs for Painting, Crafting, and More +++
The Crafting Muse ruclips.net/channel/UC92IlSbAqZY-TQv5pa4V1nQ
DM Scotty ruclips.net/user/theDMsCraft
Black Magic Craft ruclips.net/channel/UC2Rlv-ug-mtnXuMwlpcqFgg
Miniac ruclips.net/user/SDubist
Dr Faust’s Painting Clinic ruclips.net/user/ThePaintingClinic
MiniWarGaming ruclips.net/user/miniwargaming
I refuse to believe Monte is a real human being, playing Dungeons & Dragons in Canada. I believe he's a doppleganger of Donal Sharpson, on the TRY channel in Ireland.
Upvote if you agree. See for yourself, you can see Monte's Irish doppleganger right here for yourself: ruclips.net/video/B70e-01JBbA/видео.html
I'm rolling my saving throw against illusions, Monte isn't a real human being living in Canada, playing D&D. I'm denying this, I refuse to believe this at all, it's an illusion spell meant to deceive me.
...THERE, I got a 17. Minus my wisdom penalty of -1, that makes 16, Surely that's enough to make my saving throw, and see through the illusion that there's this guy named Monte in Canada playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Good work y'all
@@matthill5426 The fumble table says you take 70 points of psionic damage and now think you're Canadian.
@@samprastherabbit Damnit! I immediately buy some pot and start being friendly and polite to everyone!
I DM in China and minis can be hard to come by (yes i know they are made here), so I use M and M's for figures. Which is fun because every time a monster is defeated, it gets eaten.
I used to use starburst when I couldn't afford minis. They take up a good amount of space, and like M&M are multicored to distinguish who is who
This is an awesome option! As a Critical Role fan, what immediately popped into my mind was, "How do you want to eat this?" :)
3 million iq
I've used my meds before
Hehehe - that's awesome! =D
My first campaign with my brothers we used Lego for our miniatures. My brothers made some awesome dragons among other stuff like each of our individual PCs.
I went back to LEGOs few years ago and with my group now well over 40, with have no problem buying custom minifigures and various lego parts to equip our legos. I actually prefer it over anything else. It is most definitely not...cheap unless you go for knockoffs which are more than good themselves
I personally like legos a lot better, since they are about the same price as just buying the miniatures themselves, but you can actually mix and match pieces to find just the creature or character you specifically want.
Nothing wrong with using lego, many of us have done it.
What I did for my first DND game that I held as a DM was that I made tokens for all the characters and monsters using ms paint(the tokens were basically two circles around the picture) and I pasted it on ms office and resized the tokens. Then I would print the file and stick it on a cardboard and then cut it ,giving it some weight
It was really fun to play with and it was really cheap.
I did this because I didn't have Lego's with me at that point of time.
I like to use miniatures because they are cheap and it let's me build the creatures as I see fit, for my first campaign I used a 1X1 large piece with one of those triangle pieces as heads, this way the characters could imagine it will still having it organized.
DungeonDudes: The 3d printer is not going to paint the minis for you.
HeroForge2.0: Oh, shit, hang on.
3d printing can also become surprisingly addictive.
Literally read this comment while heading out to start my printer on a d20
Literally read this comment while heading out to start my printer on a d20
This is an addiction fueled by my friend who is me 3d mini dealer
I actually sculpt mine and my room is a crazy mess of white clay dust
"It's $5 Canadian, so about 2 cents US"
I wish this wasn't so true lol
They're $5 US as well. Maybe I should run over the border and fill up the car...
A Canadian Dollar is worth like 50p, so in the UK, me paying £5 for them means I'm paying twice as much.
@@officialteaincorporated243 in Norway they basically cost 8pounds each...
@@penguinlord3918 do you people use pounds in the country
@@penitentestudios1492 no, but i just converted the amount of norwegian currency to pounds
I've painted mini's for years, but much as i love a decent mini for characters, I think card pictures of monsters is a convenient solution that is portable, affordable, quick to set up and does the job sufficiently.
I used to love painting minis. When I was a kid, we used to make up our own war games with all kinds of random toys that we would add in. Unicorns were always the most powerful, cause they'd have beam attacks from their horns and stuff.
They fart beautiful rainbows that brainwash weak enemies, stronger enemies don't get reprogrammed but have to puke like crazy, and realy powerful enemies just get disgusted by all the cuteness, gives them a headache
I was initially thinking about buying some bulk miniatures but then realized that it would be WAY more cost-effective and much easier to just print the artwork on some paper and stand it up with binder clips.
@Rey Naldo Not as cool as buying food and paying rent
Right, but thats why we have choices to better our situations; so then we can elevate our lives beyond merely paying rent and surviving-
I think basically requiring minis was something that really hurt 4th edition. Going back to allowing for theater of the mind helped 5th catch on so well I think
Though even if you need minis, you can just use anything the appropriate size. My group uses small action figures of random stuff and lego, typically with lego being the enemies.
@@illoney5663 Lego would be really good for setting a battlefield. If you're not good at tracking your position and stuff.
@@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668 I meant as the minis, for the battlefield just buying a grid that you can draw on works fine.
really you not even need minis for 4E. Since they made a lot of things like cut out discs with kits, that you can use. Also most 5e shows which helped make 5e popular to the point it is now, use minis. But most people I see hating 4e seem to dislike it more for the fact that they balanced the classes. Also you can still do theater of the mind with 4e.
I'll disagree, 4e hurt itself bc it didn't look or feel anything like D&D. Played a few games but just because D&D was printed on the box it wasn't D&D. Way too different. 5e goes back to the roots and streamlines and fixes common complaints from earlier editions. Also they had a completely different sales strategy, they have not flooded the market with ever more broken splat books, something prior editions fell into. "Requiring" minis didn't do it. You can always use just about anything as a mini instead.
Hey you guys did it. A great minis video. Thank you. I went the silly route and bought like 40 unpainted minis, then paints and brushes etc. Took a month to get them all done. A guy locally wanted $5 per mini with a limit of 4 colors for that price... So I decided to learn to do it myself. Getting better now but it was surely a steep and challenging learning curve.
I am addicted to hero forge myself. I love being able to make the character in my mind into a physical mini. Thanks for all the other tips though. Love your videos. They're so helpful for people like me getting into the hobby.
Our first d&d campaign as a group we just started, everybody was running around looking for stuff to use as props. We used beer bottles as trees and beer caps as other stuff, we also used other stuff for terrain....to me it was awesome everyone was all for it and that everyone was so imaginative to think as these things as props. And this coming from a PC and not the DM.
I use to work at a prison and inmates did things like this.
I can attest to the time and money it takes to get into miniature painting. But, it's very rewarding. You'll start a mini, and then wonder how an hour passed.
Indeed !
We print our mini's and than paint them!
We enjoy our time doing it!
Man, I've been watching these guys non stop since starting my first DnD campaign about a month ago. These guys are the best source of information, I'm learning so much, and they make me want to start a miniature collection. I'm not even a DM!
This was me 2 years ago, though I'm still learning with every new video
If you don't care about scale, those little bucket toys you find in most craft stores can be great. It's a good way to get some pirates, knights, horses, and similar things for pretty cheap. I looked online and found a 100 pack of little 1.8 inch skeletons for like 20 bucks and 70 knights/archers for 30-ish. Though, don't expect them to look right compared to official minis, unless they're fighting some giant skeletons. Now I just gotta figure out how to make a battle involving 100 skeletons...
I completely agree with the boardgames recommendation. I'd further it by recommending keeping an eye on the local goodwill or half priced books kind of place to pickup appropriately themed games to scavenge on the cheap.
As well as Toys R Us sales, especially when one goes out of business.
@@jasonweible2834 bro. Too soon. 😭
Dude Zavala is the GOAT. I recently started my own collection (it’s only been a couple of months) and I already have around 80 fully painted 3d printed minis.
Hershey kisses are great for enemies. The player that delivers the killing blow to the monster gets to eat the kiss and it's extra satisfying.
Omg thats an awesome idea, i can see my 5th grade math teacher doing that tho XD
I also want to add, you're my favorite dnd related channel, and have inspired me to start my own
Ive discovered a niche that nobody tackles. Thanks for all you do
This was a helpful video. I’m currently playing as a remote player for my group and I’m the only one without a custom mini at the table. I’ve been looking for options on how/where to get one out to my group.
Thanks for all of the advice guys! Great work as always.
I never thought I would like painting minis but it's extremely relaxing , I highly advise it.
I only recently got into painting minis and I love it. So this was a very neat video for me and i really enjoyed it.
Ah. Dudes. You guys are too freaking good at picking your topics and timing them. I need this
I've never played dnd yet but I'm still buying minis just because I love the art style of them
Very nice video, dudes!
I started collecting figures with 3rd edition sets from WotC. It was a bit expensive to import it from Brazil, but it complemented so much our game experience that I acquired as many figures as I could.
Time passed, came 4rd ed and the boxes became a lot more expensive for me - import taxes, exchange rate, set prices got higher. I was able to fill our group needs for more figures with the Reaper Bones kickstarters. I was able to get into the first two campaigns, and that was the start of my other passion hobby of painting miniatures.
When I have to DM an adventure I go to my box of unpainted figures and I chose what monster I will use to beat up the player characters. Quite fun indeed :)
I am not very found of pre painted miniatures because I find the paint job really sloppy even in the more premium figures. I usually repaint figures that are intended for player characters and keep the original painting for the monsters and minions.
All of my models are hand painted and I have all my first paint jobs. They really show how far I've come. I have at least 50+ models many of which are large (excluding my Young Dragon collection haha) I love using models in d&d bc it helps me imagine the scenario better. I have a heard time picturing places or creatures unfortunately so the models help. Not to mention they're fun to paint :)
I have heartwarming memories of buying my first Ral Partha miniature ( it was a Pali standing sideways in full plate with a cloak, his left hand held an shield set to defend while his right held a sword ready to strike). I have often wondered if I could find this guy again, I would love to have him once more!
I'll be honest, guys, Collecting and Painting the Minis is my favourite part of the Hobby. Don't get me wrong, I love to Play, but, I love Painting even more.
i like the preprinted minis from both D&d collections and pathfinder but I also hand make some of my own simpler monsters like the gelatinous cube and elementals etc out of hot glue or polymerclay. I have also found tubes of kids toys for normal animal minis and just invested in a frost grave crewmen set of 28mm minis (which I have to glue together - aka customisable - and then paint) I also buy the ones that come in sets of two that you have to paint yourself. I don't mind it and I currently have the time. I love it.
I have found that the D&D Board games and a small selection of paint and brushes works well. You only need: a detail brush, standard brush, a primer, white, black and prime colours and you are good to go. It does take more time, as you mention.
Damn you Dungeon Dudes. You hook me more than any show I can watch. Such presence.
Love the video. I can’t add much but my personal rules.
Rule1 : When possible get the right minis first. Make sure the best looking mini on the table is the PC. Not only does it draw everyone’s eye to them - they are always the Star. Next the Big bosses and then other combatants.
((Related default: Expect the PC character mini stay either with the DM or where the game will be unless otherwise negotiated ))
Rule 2 - Props are more important then walls. once you have basics get some props like tables and chairs and then terrain. This rule tells you more about the kinds of game I used to play were you are in structure more then outside. The I used to use measuring tape so we used miniature train things for out doors and had cheaply purchased tables, chairs and chest at the right scale (you can get stuff like that for a couple of bucks)
Rule 3 - Visit you local hobby/comic store and make contacts. You be surprised how many people have models they will part with when you are talking to them about starting your game. And if you don’t want to paint a figure but you need them painted a certain way you can find someone there to do it for you. (YMMV -Painters on line can be pricy but in person people do it more for the fun of it)
Rule 4 - if you are going to use flat paper/tokens always tape it to coins Nickels, quarters to keep them from blowing away. Or use trifolded paper as that tends to be blow resistant
Lastly, if you are a DM who is not working at home and does not want to use paper or tokens consider using a mini carry case. Games workshop and many others make them and they make it a snap to be on the move.
I really enjoy miniatures. You and the crew make excellent use of them for the Drakkenheim sets.
Dungeon Dudes! You guys are the best!
Thank you so much for the video!
I've been collecting and painting Warhammer for a long time and we are just getting into DnD for the first time now.
As the "miniatures guy" I dived right into looking for suitable monsters and NPCs, but 20 years of collecting Citadel Miniatures gives you a lot of tunnel vision when it comes to minis. This was a great video to expand my horizon and find more suitable and visually diverse minis, thanks!
Mike Mutiny the best miniatures for D&D are ‘Otherworld miniatures. Check them out!
Ill still Never buy prepainted plastik. Ever.
I pretty much always use unpainted minis. I might try painting them one day, but right now my unpainted ones are just fine. I kinda just think of it like a black and white TV show... It's fine by me.
I used unpainted metal minis for about 13 years. I don't ever think you could get painted minis back Then. Then one day over 16 years ago my sister and I were like guys how come we never painted our figures. The rest was history.
The D&D adventure boardgames like Legend of Drizzt and Shards of Ashardalon are great for a bunch of minis if you can find them cheap.
My husband loves D&D but doesn't like painting the Miniatures. But I love painting them even though I am not into the game.
Works perfect for us.
As one of the Patreons of the Dungeon Dudes I just want to let you know how helpful everyone is on their Patreon Discord. We have tons of fun talking about the Drakkenheim game and bouncing ideas of one another for our games. I am not affiliated with Dungeons Dudes outside of being a patreon. It is just a great friendly and fun community. If you have been thinking about it trust me it is worth it.
Havent watched it yet but I was going to ask you guys to go in depth with your miniatures last week but I decided not to. You guys read my mind! Keep up the great content!!!
As somebody who JUST started DMing and started with Waterdeep: Dungeon Of The Mad Mage, I do not have the time or money to buy and/or paint the massive variety of creatures you can find in Undermountain, and PrintableHeroes was a PERFECT fit for me. Just bought some decently heavy paper from staples, bought ink for the old printer lying around the house, and I have a box full of the first level's creatures - after spending a couple nights going at it with scissors and tape.
.... I also bought two boxes and a brick of WDMM minis but that's beside the point
i got the DM Starter Kit from ArkKnight. 2D plastic minis with awesome artwork. 167 minis with a few duplicates and variants. at $80, split between my group, a very cheap option. we use them all the time.
we also love HeroForge. a lot more expensive, but as you said... having that perfect, customized mini of your character is just so satisfying.
I was surprised they did not mention Arcknight. I could be wrong but that company seems to be an outcast among most D&D podcast channels for some reason. Definitely an inexpensive alternative though.
3d Printing is amazing in the d&d community. It's worth checking out The Tabletop 3D Printing Guild on Facebook. Get an Ender 3. It's crazy reasonably priced and will pay for itself in NO TIME. It takes a lot of love and problem-solving skills, but it's totally worth it.
indeed the facebook group is great and a cheap ender3 printer can if setup right churn out great prints though this can turn into a hobby by itself looking at getting a 2nd printer which is resin based now
Thanks for the tip!
We don't have a 3D printer ourselves, but we felt it was SO IMPORTANT to talk about them because the impact they are clearly having is huge. We're just lucky to have well-informed folks who can chime in with more recommendations!
Staal Hard resin printers don’t have layers I believe
If you are only going to be 3D printing miniatures, I highly recommend getting a resin printer (SLA) over a filament printer (FDM).
Although the Creality Ender 3 is the budget FDM printer that most people should consider getting if they wanted to start 3D printing, it is absolutely not capable of recreating the fine details you need to get high quality miniatures.
A low end resin printer such at the Anycubic Photon, or the cheaper Elegoo Mars is where you want to be looking if your intention is only to print miniatures.
Research is key. Look up reviews on all of the above. Keep in mind what you will be printing.
Andrew Beauman not everyone has the money for a 3 d printer
Great video. Thank you, guys.
Reaper is awesome, but so is Mantic Games.
I can recommand the Dungeon & Dragons Board Games (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, etc.). Wizkids are basing the board games on actual D&D moduls (for instance "Dungeon of the Mad Mage"), so you will get alot of minis from that specific adventure. Though you might have to supplement the miniatures; for instance, you only get two Pterofolk miniatures for the Tomb of Annihilation Board Game, and I think you will need more if you are running the campaign module. Included are (as well as a pretty neat dungeon crawler board game) also cool dungeon tiles, that you can use for encounters: Dungeons, caverns and jungle/wilderness.
Fyi, an orc is not just an orc - there is a huge difference between the aesthetics of a Warhammer ork and a D&D orc.
P.S. You can use hot water to unbend a bend sword - just dip it in boiling water (careful not to burn you fingers!), adjust the bend part and then put it under the cold tap - and voilà!
Back in 95/96 the hobby shop in my town offered a mini painting class twice a month. For $5 you got a mini and all the paints and brushes you'd need to complete the model. Multi Golden Deamon award winner Brian Shaw was the instructor. I really learned how to paint at those classes. I'd even been to his house for beers and more painting tips.
In 03 Wizards launched their own line of pre-painted plastic minis in 8 count randomized packs. They were $7 at launch. Harbinger wad the first set, and I bought 30 or more packs of it. When the second set came out, I bought the whole case from my comic shop. I had so mami minis. There were also cards that came for each mini. There were D&D stats on one side and the miniature battle game rules on the other. That was totally rad.
I love the Nolzur's Minis. They have great details and they are already primed.
just got started on d&d and this was very helpful!
My group hasn't been playing with minis, but we want to try it. We weren't sure how to get the ones we need/want, so this was pretty helpful.
Also wanna throw this out there to help others, because it was one of our ideas:
my brother (who is in my game group) has the Magic the Gathering board game, and I've been looking to get the Dark Souls and Bloodborne board games. All three have excellent, unique minis that would serve well to represent characters in a TTRPG like D&D or Pathfinder. So if you play (or want to play) with minis while also being interested in those games, getting them would help bolster your mini collection.
I really appreciate you guys talking about Lego as a miniature option. I have been building up my collection for the last six years and they always work fantastic at the table. It's a small hobby of mine to always be looking for potential character options and accessories. There are even a few aftermarket sites that specialize in fantasy/historical weapons and armor. Some people give their players a card with their newly acquired magic item. I give them a literal lego magic item they can equip to their character.
On the Paper Standee option, Got to Home depot and get washers, and glue them to that will keep them in place. .... also about painting minis... unless its the ones that's Pre-Primed WASH them in soap and water first, they normally have release agents on them from the molding process which makes paint come off pretty easy.
Awesome topic! Thanks. I’d like to hear the Dungeon Dides’ take on some third party books. Kobold Press, etc.
I have found a most amazing, extra cheap and portable painting station. Flying Tiger (it's a danish franchise of shops that sell an ungodly amount of cheap but supercool stuff) has a wet palette that opens and on one side has the palette proper with loads of tiny holes for the paint and two big ones, and on the other side a "sponge". the sponge sucks, but it's absolutely perfect to paint on, and you can use one of the two big holes to put your wet sponge and the water on the other. it costs 4 euros and it's amazingly practical if you need a portable painting station.
I started the game I run with my kids using Lego and other toys, quickly upgrading to minis for the party and pathfinder pawns for the baddies. I found it really useful to grab some cardstock and some neat art for custom pawns, they fit into the bases from the boxes and allowed my daughter to fight skeleton unicorns the other week.
We still use several rootbeer bottle caps to map out battles, as well as lego figures. They work great!
As an artist i am using the Starfinder Pawns: Base Assortment and Pathfinder versions. The bases are incredible great use!
I am 48 and just getting back into D&D. Just started running my 6 & 17 year old through Mines of Phandelver this afternoon. I played from old ass red box and 1st set of rules. I had a very large collection of Ral Partha and Grenadier lead figures. I learned how to paint from Dragon magazine. I got quite good at it and I'm going to dive right back into it. I think this time around will be exciting! I plan on getting a 3D printer at some point so I can churn out some goblin, orc, skeleton etc hordes. I enjoyed the painting and miss my lead collection. I gave them to my oldest brother when I moved to an area that I was the only person in 150 miles that played D&D when i was 15. He passed away 16 years ago and I don't know where the collection went to. I look forward to getting into the hobby of painting again. Painting in itself is not cheap and consumes time but I enjoy that part. A question, I shot flat clear coat on all my figures after I got finished with them. Is that a thing with the 3D printed minis?
We started small, but now i normally throw 5 or more enemies at my party at a time and have grown a collection to match it, it helps a ton and alongside homemade and official miniature set models it can provide the players alot more options than they might have originally thought
Monty needs to give himself more credit for his paint jobs. That "Hello, I'm Sebastian Crowe" paint job was sick.
I use alot of warhammer horde type miniatures. Looking at some of the privateer press stuff. Love the ogre carrying the two cages of captives. I seen it and immediately thought of a awesome scenario and possible villain.
Ah yes, the “Cage Rager” is a really lovely miniature.
I'm halfway through the watch ... hope you mention, in comparing plastic/metal/3D-prints, how transportable the plastic ones are. Weight-wise and their spears/swords won't snap off in transit.
I agree, plastic miniatures are better than metal. My metal minis are so heavy and fragile compared to the plastic. They're also far cheaper.
Plastic minis can and do break. As can 3d prints.
I bought some Hero Forge Mini's in the "Cheaper" plastic because it has better durability than the premium plastic. The website stated 4/5 in Durability and 4/5 in Detail whereas the Premium Plastic was 3/5 in Durability and 5/5 in Detail. It all depends on what you want and I can vouch that the detail is not lost at all in the basic plastic.
I love your channel, and have been binging so much of it as I’ve been starting my own campaigns (as a PC and DM). One series that I would love you to do is an in depth series of the races in D&D, similar to your class series. For most, you suggested Variant Human or Half Elf, which left some truly fun and unique races, like the Tabaxi, Goblin, or Firbolg unexplored. This could really give new players some fun background and experience looking at some of their racial traits and how to use their bonuses to an advantage.
31:40
I use tokens and my trick for this is that I put them on metal washers. They stay put on a battle mat really well, and can be found in sizes that work perfectly for a typical 1" grid.
Get Anycubic Photon for something like $350 and you can print yourself miniatures that are an amazing quality that matches or even surpasses commercial minis... The only problem I got is I can not find all the models I want in high enough detail quality, so 3d model itself is limiting factor, not a printers capability.... Most of Miguel Zavala's models are made for FDM (printing with molten plastic) printers and therefore he never thought to put many details into these models. But I love that man for what he is doing for the community and I support him on Patreon.
listening to this while making a character for my buddies campaign. it's his first time DMing.
3 of us are joining 2 of our more experienced friends for our first game, tonight. Our minis, at least to start, may be chosen from the dark souls board game, a magic the gathering board game, or what few mage knight figures I still have.
way cheaper than 3D printing, I have loads of fun finding a plastic mini that vaguely resembles my character, then getting some gray sculpy clay and alternating between using an xacto knife and modeling clay to remove and add on elements to turn a standard mini into my custom character.
Most recently I transformed Reaper's Victorian Explorer mini into a staff-wielding half-tabaxi cleric. A little bit of baked clay and super glue goes a long way, it paints really well and blends into the plastic.
One of the guys in my group does this, and it was honestly really surprising to me how good the modified minis can turn out. I never would've known his ratfolk gunslinger was a Bones packrat if he hadn't mentioned it. Of course, it does take some time and skill, but it's a really neat way to make customized minis.
I think you guys nailed it on the head for why you use Miniatures when you said it was tactical I am a 2nd edition dungeon master and we are running undermountain with dwarven forge.
And you better believe that tactics and strategies are a must down there.
I 3d print all of my minis. Running the 3d printer for hours while working on the campaign or painting minis, also while listening to an audiobook -- those things just go together so well.
Miguel Zavala is a godsend for the d&d crafters. He has a Patreon, by the way.
There is a website called Arcknight that has a section called Menagerie, that's how I stocked my table. It's like the flat pathfinder ones you mentioned but it's plastic so you can see through. Easy to transport, easy to set up and break down. I recommend you at least give them a look.
5:20 So they are D&D loot boxes? :D
EDIT: I really miss the Ral Partha days of superior detail, variety for a good price. People pay a fair deal for painted minis for sure. I used to make enough selling them to sustain my hobbies back in the '80s.
i am glad you mentioned a cardboard hero solution., 3d printed terrain and something worth noting, the printers can do it fast and cheap. you can have a great modular dungeon.
Probably not the most accessible option for someone starting out now, but if you were playing 6 years ago, the 4th Edition Essentials boxed sets were all loaded with heavy cardboard punch-out tokens for most of the monsters in the game. I love them.
ah, I remember those, was too young to really get my head around the mechanics of the game when my brother was into D&D, but we still have them and I use them on occasion for my 5e games with friends.
The droopy sword syndrome is similar to warping you see in some resin miniatures. You can easily fix it by taking a hair dryer or heat gun to it, or get boil water pretty hot but not to where it will burn you and stick the mini in the water for a little bit. I find the heat gun works best though.
Miniatures are my new addiction
I agree! WizKids are great. I live in eastern Canada. The packs are about 6-7 bucks each out here but I am sure its cheaper online. I just like to go to the hobby store and see them in person before i buy them. They are indeed great quality and durable. No troubles letting my kids use them. Lots of variety too like the beholder or a skeletal knight on horseback or a 3 pack of goblins for the price of 2 humanoid figures.
Thanks so much. I have wanted to try this with my kids and the paper mini's sounds like a great project.
Looking forward to your next video. Types of terrain from nothing at all to dwarven forge.
Yup, this is coming up soon. And one for other game accessories, too. This episode was a lot of extra work for the additional footage, but really worth it for us.
Was it released?
So, so helpful! This information just hasn't been easy to find for noobs like me. You guys make the best videos!
Love my resin 3d printer
Also, what I did! Was i bought the magic the gathering board games, super, super cheap! They come with a nice amount of unpainted figures and a few painted ones. Those are what i use. I believe the ones i bought went from 15 or so bucks.
Miniatures can be a great addition to the game, but personally I can’t justify the price of building a collection yet. Also, I find that having more on the table can limit player imagination/role-playing to what they see. Anyone else notice this, or perhaps the opposite effect?
We really feel it enhances the imagination and role-playing -- but as we said, we don't use them for everything either.
I use minis myself and the Dudes advice is spot on but also thank you for pointing out the cheaper options for players starting the game. Another cheap DYI idea is to use flip chart graph paper to draw out the adventure I've bought it for as cheap as $10 for fifty sheets. Fifty sheets will last half a year if you get together once a week. I tried the dry erase reusable grids but found me drawing maps out on the fly really bogged down the game. That maybe a reflection of my poor drawing skills.
I honestly might try that one. My Pathfinder GM brings his extra battlemaps for me to use on Wednesday night which is a huge help, but drawing maps on the fly sucks, and I've been looking for a cheap solution--I've been using the backside of gridded wrapping paper in the meantime for complex maps, but it's not terribly effective. My only concern is the scale relative to the minis and having a big enough sheet to fit larger maps on.
Hero forge is legit thats what i do for my pcs as for monsters/npcs i like the pawns they are perfect! Great on the fly
Along the same lines as the printed option or pathfinder pawns is Arcknight flat plastic minis. They come with different colored bases (useful for tracking conditions) and look quite good. I actually combine these techniques because they travel so well. I’ve also purchased coin and tradable card display sheets that can be inserted into a three ring binder allowing me to flip through large numbers of miniatures and even take them out of the three ring binder and hand the sheets to my players for them to pick a particular miniature that they think best fits their character. I’ve gotten different size collectible card display sheets for the different sizes of flat monster miniatures.
When you said “paper miniatures”, I thought you meant origami minis, which cost a google search and less than a cent each.
I made my own pawns (like 40 of them, one for every category of monsters i use) for roughly 3 bucks and my own wet erase gritted mats for like 5 bucks. And it was fun to make!
Guys really awesome job on this video, the Waterdeep miniatures are really cool and you've convinced me to buy a case, I think it's worth it. The other options you've presented are really good too, and this was a really fun video to watch. Oh, and Monty, great job on those painted minatures, they look amazing!
As someone who lives without mini shops or easy delivery options, 3d printing has made my games much better.
There are also skinny minis. Their kickstarter just got funded so I dont think they are for sale until april. But super cool alternatives to prepainted minis
I use 3D prints and slowly building a full collection of "Every Encounter in the modules"
I reserve unpainted minis for either campaign boss level characters, or player characters, other then that I buy prepainted for mobs, alot of my painting and such goes more into custom terrain pieces and other stuff like custom spell effects.
I’ve maintained miniatures for various games that I’ve played for a while and I’ve had the problems of paint wearing off and of course swords bending and breaking. It occurs to me that encasing them in clear epoxy resin would preserve their paint and prevent breakage. If you are motivated and crafty you could turn them down to the 1” size and polish them on a small lathe. Sounds complicated but might be a way to preserve really special Miniatures.
Printable heroes is fantastic, I use his minis, along with PaperForge. Art styles very similar so they look great together, and paying £3 a month to them via for access to any new minis they release and all the variations , thats cheaper than buying a plastic mini each month. And again , they look amazing even if they are on paper.
I've ordered from Heroforge myself, and quite likes the mini I got. Also, I have painted the lower quality plastic ones, and they turne out just as well as the higher quality ones. Mostly I use it now for online games to design character looks.
I'm going to recommend, if you are looking for a large number of a single type of mini, Games Workshop has certain boxes that come out to around 2-3 dollars per mini. The skeleton warrior box is the first to come to mind.
Man. You pulled the balor. I only got a brick and did really well. When the board game comes out I'll be set. But I wish I had some flumphs and a froghemeth.
Yeah, I got a full case so I got the entire set.
Great video guys. Thanks for the info. I had no idea where to start with minis.
Some of my favorite minis are the defects. Ive gotten some really cool defects
Bendy sword syndrome is sorted with bones models by adding boiling water to the area of the model. move item back into position, hold in place and pour cold tap water over area to set the spear, sword back into position (Adult supervision)
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