Does anybody know what a good source is for inexpensive miniafures? In particular Conan-type fantasy figures (for use in The Fantasy Trip) and spacers and spaceships (for use in Traveller)? Also, off topic, but how about bushi-type warriors (sometimes incorrectly called "samurai") as I was thinking about dusting off my copy of Bushido sometime.

I've lost most of the figures I used to have and these Sorry and Parcheesi tokens aren't making the grade as there is no real indication of facing. I made some 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch cardboard squares with a corner arrow (kind of like Marvel Super Heroes or Villains and Vigilantes had) but they are not great for establishing mood.

Oh, and I would be VERY interested in figures for ancient Greek heroes and monsters.

(And if anyone is looking for pirates or musketeers, I found some decently priced and pretty good quality ones and can steer you to a site for that.)

For cheap miniatures check out the Bones line from Reaper. They are fairly decent for the price, paint up well, and come in a wide variety of types. Fantasy has the biggest selection but you can figures for old west, pulp, and space games also.

eBay is a good spot to look.

Conan fantasy figures can be had pretty quickly, actually. There is a Conan board game out by Monolith that comes with quite a few. While the game is not inexpensive, it has many figures in it... like 70 or something.

Many people use paper "standees" nowadays.

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/ I've  used these folks, though it has been quite a few years. They were reasonable then.

Thanks. I won't be painting them as I have neither the time nor the skill that greyish metal color doesn't bother me as they're just for positioning and not conversation pieces.

By "Conan-type," I meant to differentiate from all those "D&D-type" figures I have seen that are rather over-the-top. My communication was probably unclear. My fantasy games are more like a Hyborian setting than the standard pseudomedieval Europe found in most games I've seen. I draw more from Robert E. Howard and 1,001 Arabian Nights and Ray Harryhausen movies (various Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans) so I don't have much need for hobbits and half-elves and orcs.

Are standees good for facing/positioning?

I still use TFT-style flat counters for everything, since they do facing and body piles better than miniatures (and because I'm used to them).

Quote from: Dumarest;958943Thanks. I won't be painting them as I have neither the time nor the skill that greyish metal color doesn't bother me as they're just for positioning and not conversation pieces.

By "Conan-type," I meant to differentiate from all those "D&D-type" figures I have seen that are rather over-the-top. My communication was probably unclear. My fantasy games are more like a Hyborian setting than the standard pseudomedieval Europe found in most games I've seen. I draw more from Robert E. Howard and 1,001 Arabian Nights and Ray Harryhausen movies (various Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans) so I don't have much need for hobbits and half-elves and orcs.

Are standees good for facing/positioning?

They tend to be flat on one side, and that is the facing. So yes, pretty decent bases can help as well, as you can get square or hex bases. Googling "standees miniatures" and take a look at the images.

And I know exactly what you mean by Conan vs high fantasy minis. The Conan game has Picts, pirates, and Bossonians, along with Conan and friends. $100 for 74 minis. http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/230940?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&scid=scplpASMCON01&sc_intid=ASMCON01&gclid=Cj0KEQjwofHHBRDS0Pnhpef89ucBEiQASEp6LIH8cjRnZusqxjZIgqy-HHbLkV1bio0qP6GYHwwvq1AaAm3r8P8HAQ&nocookies=1 For pictures.

http://plasticrypt.com/forum/ Is a place that I just found yesterday that might help.

Quote from: Dumarest;958927Oh, and I would be VERY interested in figures for ancient Greek heroes and monsters.

Wargames Foundry's The World of the Greeks line might work for you. The difficulty could be tracking down a US distributor/retailed that carries them if you don't want to order direct from the UK. Or perhaps Warlord Games' Greeks. That'll at least you get you some heroes. Might take some work to track down mythological monsters.

How much are you looking to spend and what kind of scale are you looking at?

I have some North Star metal miniatures that I think are 1/32 scale but I may be misremembering. I would have to check the site where I got them to be sure. Everything else is cheap plastic toys I mix and match where I can.  I won't really have a preferred scale until I get a larger number of good figures that I want to match with, if you understand me. As long as they fit in a one-inch hex (for man-sized characters, anyway), all is well.

I have about $100 to spend on games and toys for the rest of the year (for me, anyway, the kids seem to have unlimited funds!). So I'm looking for utility (figures I can reuse for different games) and decent quality (so not those ones you buy and then the sword breaks off immediately or it won't stand up).

If I may offer a suggestion based on your situation, the 'flats' / 'cardboard heroes' are probably going to be your most effective solution. They are cheap and easy to produce - the GM of the TFT campaign I'm in - uses nothing else, and comes up with them on an 'as needed' basis. They work fine for facing, and the bases mentioned work quite well. No painting required, either!

In 3-D, as was mentioned, Reaper's 'Bones' line is inexpensive, and the figures very resilient. I'd also suggest Iron Wind / Ral Partha, which are classic figures from the dawn of the hobby and pretty reasonably priced. Huge selection, too. Furniture items? I'd suggest TRE Games and their line of laser-cut wood kits, which is both easy to make and very cheap. Tim also makes all sorts of other useful 'dungeon' accessories, like templates and rooms as well.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;958997If I may offer a suggestion based on your situation, the 'flats' / 'cardboard heroes' are probably going to be your most effective solution. They are cheap and easy to produce - the GM of the TFT campaign I'm in - uses nothing else, and comes up with them on an 'as needed' basis. They work fine for facing, and the bases mentioned work quite well. No painting required, either!

In 3-D, as was mentioned, Reaper's 'Bones' line is inexpensive, and the figures very resilient. I'd also suggest Iron Wind / Ral Partha, which are classic figures from the dawn of the hobby and pretty reasonably priced. Huge selection, too. Furniture items? I'd suggest TRE Games and their line of laser-cut wood kits, which is both easy to make and very cheap. Tim also makes all sorts of other useful 'dungeon' accessories, like templates and rooms as well.

Thanks for the tips and advice! I'm glad I registered on this forum; I've been getting useful information from helpful people.

I played RPGs a bunch from around 1981 to 1992, then nothing much until 2000 with a couple of games here and there, then nothing again until around 2004 or 2005. Since then it has been off and on but more on recently as I get back into my old game collection. I've been able to locate a few players now and then plus a couple of friends I've played with on and off for 25 years. I'm really hoping to get a more regularly scheduled game going soon. So I'm trying to get my materials together in anticipation.

Paizo sell these massive packs of 2D coloured pawns for ca £10.99, guessing that's $14-$15? I also use download-and-print paper minis off rpg.now.

Paizo's figs are very much "D&D Fantasy" rather than Swords & Sorcery, but if you get the ones for a more Conanesque Adventure Path that might work very well. You'll need to buy a pack of bases too, unless you get the awesome Beginner Box or the Bestiary Box.

Quote from: Dumarest;958970I have some North Star metal miniatures that I think are 1/32 scale but I may be misremembering. I would have to check the site where I got them to be sure. Everything else is cheap plastic toys I mix and match where I can.  I won't really have a preferred scale until I get a larger number of good figures that I want to match with, if you understand me. As long as they fit in a one-inch hex (for man-sized characters, anyway), all is well.

I have about $100 to spend on games and toys for the rest of the year (for me, anyway, the kids seem to have unlimited funds!). So I'm looking for utility (figures I can reuse for different games) and decent quality (so not those ones you buy and then the sword breaks off immediately or it won't stand up).

I use 6mm figures for RPGs and you can get non-army pack sets of minis from both Microworld Games and Onslaught Minis by calling/emailing them. (That's what I did, since I didn't need a score of each figure.) You can get an obscene number of 6mm minis for $100. I use the Litko acrylic disks for mounting and mount them on .75 inch circles for individuals and .75 inch hexagons for vehicles/mecha.

In the "Other Games" section, I have an ongoing thread of painted 6mm if you'd like to see examples. K Petersen has an awesome Blood Bowl Mini thread too.

The minis from the WizKids D&D game are pre-painted and not too expensive.

You can also find the 3 and 4e WOTC minis fairly cheap sometimes.

Also there are the HeroScape D&D minis or just any of the fantasy ones from the starters. You can usually get those really cheap if you hunt around.

As for standups.

I like the ones from Onemonk for flat style.

But my personal favourites are the trifold standups. Was first introduced to those in Marvel Superheroes. And TSR put out two more packs of them later.

I think North Star's Frost Grave range is a fantastic resource for roleplayers with their men at arms, barbarian, and gnoll plastic kits.  The Perry's also make a fantastic range of medieval figures in plastic with lots of men at arms, archers, and knights.  Mantic has decently priced sets of dwarves, elves, skeletons, zombies, ghouls, orcs, goblins, men at arms (actually these are terrible and way too big but getting a revamp sometime in the next year or two), demons, sauhugin, and lizardmen.  EM-4 has the old Grenadier plastic Orcs and Dwarves these are a great source of dirt cheap figures.  I really wish there was an equivalent for elves, men, goblins, trolls, and goblins.  Oh well, one more aspiration.

Anyhow, you can do a lot with just toy soldiers and historical figures though the toy soldiers are really sad and poorly done these days.  But if you use 1/32 for giants and ogres HaT and Armies In Plastic have some great sets.  1/72 is the most common scale and ancient greeks make good elves, the old AirFix Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham are still great for humans.

Quote from: Dumarest;959047Thanks for the tips and advice! I'm glad I registered on this forum; I've been getting useful information from helpful people.

Now that is an awesome endorsement! Glad to hear it.