I can thank my friend Russ Taylor for my healthy new addiction to miniature gaming, since he delivered a box-full of random WotC minis to me at PaizoCon in exchange for...well, candy, wasn't it Russ? =-)
Thing is, I don't really like spending money. Can't stand it. And when I figured I'd fill some holes in my new collection and add some terrain to our gaming table, I couldn't believe some of the prices. HOW MUCH for 3 fake plastic trees? Five-dollar for a SINGLE prepaint WotC skeleton? Outrageous! So began my quest to add as many minis and terrain to our group pool as possible by spending the least amount of cash I could.
Here are a few pointers, and I hope you'll post some of your own:
1. Spray-paint styrofoam: I have lots of packing materials from my shops, including big styrofoam boards used as padding in boxes. After experimenting, I discovered that if you cut out forms of ruined walls, or even assemble some stone cottages with glue and toothpicks, them give them a good coat of black spray paint, then they melt and crinkle into a perfect-looking old stone wall. Let it dry, then mist over it with a little gray spray paint, and you've got some killer terrain. I'm going to build a whole burned-out village or something.
2. Armed Kobolds: So, I wanted some more small-sized minis with various weapons, but found that (for example) spear-bearing kobold soldiers went for 3-5 bucks a pop on eBay. But the kobold monks, with their little kung-fu stance? 99 cents! So, get some of them, some super glue, and bend that outstretched hand in and glue it right underneath the hand resting on their chest. Then drill a tiny little hole (you can even bore one out with a tack) right down into their chest, above that hand. Insert silver-painted toothpick tips for swords, or even old broken pewter weapons or axes cut from minis you don't like, and you've got a motley crew of small-sized skirmishers! Their hands are in just the right position for a two-handed grip! I'll post pictures.
3. Owl Pellets: That's right. On my road trip back from Colorado, my gal and I stopped in this tiny little ruined church in North Texas. Years of accumulation of coughed-up owl pellets from the birds in the ceiling, washed clean by the wind and rained, had left millions of tiny little shrew and prairie-dog bones in this big pile in the nave. Real small bones. Like, the same-sized-bones-as-if-you-stripped-the-flesh-from-a-large-or-medium-sized- mini kind of small. I plan to make some "Hall of Bones" rough terrain for use at the game table with some thin plexiglass base. Disturbing, you say? Yes. My girlfriend is very, very patient with me, and hopes I recover.
4. Mage Knight Leftovers: Check eBay and online retailers for some SUPER CHEAP Mage Knight Dungeon packs. I stocked up on acid pools, columns, traps, cages, chest -all SORTS of stuff still-in-the-box for about 4 bucks a package. Pretty cool stuff, too!
There are four cheap ideas from me. Whatcha got?
Toy sections of department stores. Seriously you should never purchase an actual dino miniature. You should go find a toy dino of the appropriate size and use that.
Check board games, some games have really good miniatures for gaming. There was some Orks game or some such a few years back that involved shooting disks at miniatures to do "battle". They would have worked great for gaming miniatures. If I didn't already have tons of orcs already, I would have purchased some (I still would have if they had gone on sale).
"gum-ball" machines sometimes have little miniature guys. It might be a ghost or an alien, or it might be a spidey guy. Who knows, keep a look out and a pocket full of quarters.
I almost forgot, if you still live in a part of the country where McD's (and other ff stores) can sell kid's meals, keep a look out for the types of toys they put in. You might find that for some mcnuggets and a chocolate milk, you get a "Toothless" dragon toy that works great for a huge black dragon.
3. Brandon Pellets: That's right. On my road trip back from Colorado, my gal and I stopped in this tiny little ruined church in North Texas. Years of accumulation of coughed-up Brandon pellets from the Brandons in the ceiling...
Fixed.
get a job in a print shop and print you own carboard tiles, cut your own acrilic minis, pruint your own poster mats... oh, and draw and print your own aper minis! :)
3. Brandon Pellets: That's right. On my road trip back from Colorado, my gal and I stopped in this tiny little ruined church in North Texas. Years of accumulation of coughed-up Brandon pellets from the Brandons in the ceiling...Fixed.
Aww, thanks, Sean! Spell Check must have auto-corrected or something. Not sure how that happened. ;-)
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Before I got addicted to the plastic crack (which was, in turn, a gateway drug into the world of pewter), my group and I used to use Lego figures for almost everything; worked pretty well so long as you can remember that a 2x2 lego is equal to a 5 ft. square (for bigger monsters we just made them large/huge/whatever sized 'bases' out of Lego bricks).
~shakes my fist at all of you~ Stop tempting me! I barely have the room for the junk that I already have without adding minis to the list!
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Owl Pellets:...
Owl pellets indeed...
I call shenanigans upon your entire thread for you, sir, are a con and a cheat! This thread is called MINI GAMING FOR CHEAPSKATES, not 'mini-gaming for the people with loads of money and time to make things with'! Spending nearly a gold upon a singular mini?!?! For shame! You sir have absolutely no idea of what minis on the cheap means!
When gaming on a budget one does not merely throw money at the problem for this is ananthema to the concept itself. These, are how one games 'on the cheap'.
Low levels require low level monsters, and undead in the formz of skeletons and zombies are just the ticket for making that lv 1 soil themselves. Here enters the bag 'o zombies and bag 'o skeletons from twilight creations. For less than a silver per undead minion (that's MSRP even, the internets practically gives them away!) you can have armies at your beck and call to terrorize hamlets and villages allowing your heroes to sharpen skill and sword while you procure your next set of gaming implements.
Gem counters are fairly expensive and can be replicated by inexpensive aquarium/gardening beads at a fraction of the price, and often multiple colors so you'll only need buy the one set instead of purchasing several sets for different counters.
Cap bases are a very simple yet effective way of making any mini you may have fit the appropriate medium (most plastic bottles from 16oz to 2 liters) or large sizes (a gatorade cap fits neigh perfectly).
While on the subject of drinks the rings from these bottles make perfect indicators of various statuses. This is especially important when playing the worst version of the world's most popular fantasy RPG.
The bits bin of your FLGS makes for a fantastic treasure chest of riches. I've found bits of jedi, beholder, and the legendary Stompa in the particular bin I visit, which have made for interesting remains, mutations, and terrain respectively.
Reverse attrition is an effective method for gaining gaming supplies for the less ethical, and/or less inventory minded collectors of gaming merch when you game at public places.
The ultimate in cheap gaming however is to kill them and take their stuff. Please note I do not endorse this method, for it is wrong and I value my life.
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Before I got addicted to the plastic crack (which was, in turn, a gateway drug into the world of pewter), my group and I used to use Lego figures for almost everything; worked pretty well so long as you can remember that a 2x2 lego is equal to a 5 ft. square (for bigger monsters we just made them large/huge/whatever sized 'bases' out of Lego bricks).
Paizo really need to tap up Lego to do a Pathfinder line of Lego. That would rock, and would sit nicely next to the Star Wars stuff on the shelves.....
My cheap fix was paper minis on a foamcore base. Just resize your image, print onto cardstock, and trim. Cut your base out of foamcore to size. Make a shallow cut into the top of the base and slide your cardstock into the cut. I've made everything from chickens to dragons and they never disappoint.