Miniature Recommendations

[zen.cat]

Hi guys,
I've lost count of the amount of times I've needed models for the town guard, generic mercenaries, or some other uniform fighting force that isn't decked out in full plate from head to toe. Most of the paizo models I've seen have been very distinctive, and not ideal for representing a cohesive group, despite being excellent quality. I'm looking for recommendations of where I can get some appropriate models. Ideally they would be:

* Metal
* 5+ figures, with minor differences on each
* A slotted bottom, for fitting into a square or round base.
* Lightly/moderately armoured; not full plate, not leathers.

Thanks!

[Wildonion]

Look and see if you can find a small lot of Bretonnian Men-at-Arms on eBay or at a local game store. A group of ten would probably put you in good order, especially if you could find a couple archers.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440037 a&prodId=prod780921

[thistledown]

I use a lot of lego figures. Once you start into it, you can get extremely customized.

[DesolateHarmony]

I love the paizo miniatures, myself, but I can never find how to buy the ones I want. The stores I frequent have the AP booster packs, and after buying a few of those, I know I don't want any more of them. Most have one usable miniature, and then specific monsters that I have no use for.

Paizo, if you are reading this, booster packs are not what I want. Let me buy pre-painted miniatures singly, or in display packs so I can choose.

RD, if you are looking for group miniatures, look to companies that make armies. Ancient miniature units let you buy similar or the same, in bulk. Even Games Workshop lets you buy those. Just not painted, and thus ready-to-use.

[Beak]

The warahmmer fantasy line is great especially if you are trying to assemble multiple models that have the same identity but with variations on pose, such as guards or knights ect. Also I would reccomend checking out the website http://www.coolminiornot.com , they have a wide range of sci fi and fantasy models and have a site shop hosting for various companies.

[Javaed]

Reaper Miniatures has a ton of good options. Look at these guys for instance:

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/guard/latest/03165

They've got bunches of other sets as well. Just start scanning the website.

[donato]

DesolateHarmony wrote:

Paizo, if you are reading this, booster packs are not what I want. Let me buy pre-painted miniatures singly, or in display packs so I can choose.

Take a gander at this. It is through the website, but at least it's an option.

[Redneckdevil]

I also scavenge around for miniatures and I wanna go ahead and point out something. Why in the world do most of ur classes, u can only find female veraions but quite a bit of the time u wont be able to find a male veraion of it.

Me I usually go with Amazon and Ebay for my miniatures. I have been actually using the 100 zombie bag miniatures for my Towns people, guards, farmers, and etc. look at board games like ravenloft for a good bit of minis for the price as well. Granted they plastic but eh. Reapers are the only ones I get my metal ones from.

[Tinalles]

This sounds like an excellent candidate for Paizo's "builder series" thingy. They've already got a guard and guard captain in the first Heroes and Monsters set. Some repaints, maybe in two different colors of uniform, plus a couple more sculpts, and it'd be good to go.

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

The KS is over, but I suspect you'll be able to buy their items directly from them once they have it up and running:

City Folk

Note their current line of offerings. A pretty inexpensive way to get lots of minis.

[Charlie Bell]

OP: check out the historical ranges at Wargames Foundry. Some historical men-at-arms should be exactly what you're looking for.

[Gargs454]

Redneckdevil wrote:

I also scavenge around for miniatures and I wanna go ahead and point out something. Why in the world do most of ur classes, u can only find female veraions but quite a bit of the time u wont be able to find a male veraion of it.

My guess is that this is a reaction from all the years of the hobby being stereotypically male. Now, companies are trying to be extra careful to appear to be open to female gamers and one of the best ways (in their eyes) is to not only use a lot of female pronouns, but to then (in the case of mini companies) put out female miniatures as well.

[Bigdaddyjug]

thistledown wrote:

I use a lot of lego figures. Once you start into it, you can get extremely customized.

Oh man I never realized the variety of lego minifigures there were until I read this post. Now I've spent the last 45 minutes trying to find a lego minifigure for every one of my characters. Having the most trouble with my sorceress, oracle, and bard. The selection for high fantasy themed female minifigures is very slim.

[thistledown]

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

thistledown wrote:

I use a lot of lego figures. Once you start into it, you can get extremely customized.

Oh man I never realized the variety of lego minifigures there were until I read this post. Now I've spent the last 45 minutes trying to find a lego minifigure for every one of my characters. Having the most trouble with my sorceress, oracle, and bard. The selection for high fantasy themed female minifigures is very slim.

bricklink is your friend / immortal enemy for getting parts. Sometimes new sets take a couple months to get parted out, but they try and keep a complete database of everything, and work as a vender marketplace.

For our purposes, there's 6385 listed minifigs sets, but when you mix the 1243 heads, 1919 torsos, and many other parts...

Full-length dresses are still comparatively rare, but they're getting better at it. And they stay up better on the table. For other figs, I use a 2x3 baseplate for stability.

[Zippykat]

When I first started out I bought a few pathfinder and reaper minis and then started buying Warhammer, Orcs, guards, goblins and ghouls. They work great. A warning though, buy a white ink pen and number the minis so you can keep track of them in encounters.

[Bigdaddyjug]

thistledown wrote:

Bigdaddyjug wrote:

thistledown wrote:

I use a lot of lego figures. Once you start into it, you can get extremely customized.

Oh man I never realized the variety of lego minifigures there were until I read this post. Now I've spent the last 45 minutes trying to find a lego minifigure for every one of my characters. Having the most trouble with my sorceress, oracle, and bard. The selection for high fantasy themed female minifigures is very slim.

bricklink is your friend / immortal enemy for getting parts. Sometimes new sets take a couple months to get parted out, but they try and keep a complete database of everything, and work as a vender marketplace.

For our purposes, there's 6385 listed minifigs sets, but when you mix the 1243 heads, 1919 torsos, and many other parts...

Full-length dresses are still comparatively rare, but they're getting better at it. And they stay up better on the table. For other figs, I use a 2x3 baseplate for stability.

I hate you now, Thistle. I am going to get lost in that site and not get any work done today. And I still probably won't find the minifigs I'm looking for.

So I need:

Inquisitor: uses a bow, kind of an old west feel, cloak reskinned as a duster

Fighter: also an archer, straight up Robin Hood kind of feel

Wizard/Sorcerer: female, robes, staff the whole 9 yards

Oracle: female, medium armor, no weapons

Bard: will use a bow, but will mainly be weaponless, light armor

Paladin: longsword and shield, heavy armor; I found a good one for this yesterday on the Lego site

Ninja: light armor, katana; This one is easy to find as well

Gunslinger: wields a musket, light armor; I found a Revolutionary War soldier with a musket and a cowboy, I would need to combine the 2

Alchemist: there was a perfect Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde figure for this

[thistledown]

Looks like you're off to a good start. For any character, the torso is the most important thing. Then find heads, legs, and accessories to match the torso.

inquisitor:

The new Lone Ranger sets are your best bet for a duster. Lego does them buy extending the paint from the torso onto the legs:
Dan Reid
Butch Cavendish
Admiral Norrington
Aragorn

fighter:

robin hood types had bunches in the old castle sets. For fancier ones, you should look at the Lord of the Rings sets.

sorcerer:

This is what I found that's most like a full-length robe for women:
Zombie Bride
Princess Leia 9495
Princess Leia main
Princess Leia 7965
Arwen
Professor Trelawney
Mary Jane 1
Green Princess
There's also plenty of robes that are just the tops, and plain legs. Look at the Jedi and Ninjas for a start.

oracle:

armored females are rare. The best I found for light armored female is from the current run of collectible figures:
Warrior Woman

bard:

light armor is just printed onto the torso, and there's tons of it. I can't really narrow it down for you there.

Sounds like you got a handle on the other characters.

[Xexyz]

Gargs454 wrote:

My guess is that this is a reaction from all the years of the hobby being stereotypically male. Now, companies are trying to be extra careful to appear to be open to female gamers and one of the best ways (in their eyes) is to not only use a lot of female pronouns, but to then (in the case of mini companies) put out female miniatures as well.

Yet if you're trying to find a female figure in realistic looking armor and not a chainmail bikini or the equivalent you'll still be looking just as hard. I had to scour my FLGS plus several miniatures websites such as Reaper and Dark Sword before I found a dual-wielding female mine in something that approximated full plate.

[Bigdaddyjug]

thistledown wrote:

Looks like you're off to a good start. For any character, the torso is the most important thing. Then find heads, legs, and accessories to match the torso.

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Sounds like you got a handle on the other characters.

OMG the Dan Reid miniature is perfect. It's even got what I assume is supposed to be a sheriff's star pinned to his breast, but I could totally play that off as a sunburst. I am an inquisitor of Sarenrae, after all.

So I've found everything I need for all 10 characters. Just need to find preferably 1 seller that has all of it and that accepts credit cards, because I seem to have forgotten my Paypal info, lol.