Besides dice, miniatures are probably the next most recognizable roleplaying accouterments found at the gaming table. Minis, a vestige of RPGs wargaming roots, are often more than just a physical means for representing characters. For many, the collecting and painting of minis are a hobby within the hobby. For the past month, I have scoured the internet for as many miniature resources that I could, and this week I will be publishing the results of my hard work. I have cataloged and sorted miniature manufacturers by scale and genre. Today, I present what is most likely the scale most used for roleplaying games, the heroic 25mm scale (25mm-28mm). For those unfamiliar with miniature scale, when it is represented in millimeters (which truly isn’t a scale), it expresses what the “toe to eye” measurement of a miniature that represented a 6′ tall man. A 28mm mini uses a 1:60 scale. This is rather convenient for D&D influenced games that use 1″ grids to represent 5′. But there are a ton of scales in use, and one company’s 28mm might be another’s 32mm, sculpting is an art not (usually) an exact science. This means that you might be able to find minis of compatible size for you games from the 30mm-34mm range (which can be found in my next post). You’ll notice that I have included cardstock (or flats) minis. They are definitely worth a look as most of them are free. The website for each manufacturer can be seen if you scroll right.
Heroic Minis Database
If you know any manufacturers of “heroic” sized miniatures or flats that I have overlooked, do not hesitate to link to them in the comments.
Miniatures & Terrain Article Series
If you want minis in other scales, resources to improve your miniature hobby skills (like painting or basing), or looking for some interesting terrain to use your minis on, check out my other articles:
- Non-Heroic Scale Minis Database
- Level-up Your Miniature Hobby Skills
- Terrain, Cardstock, & Tutorials
Great compilation, MadBrew. Actually, I’m kind of digging the plug-in you used. I can see it’s a spreadsheet from Google Docs. Was that a direct export of code from Google Docs, or did you have to do some coding voodoo? I’m interested in doing similar type sheets (on a variety of subjects) on my campaign wiki.
.-= deadorcs´s last blog ..4e DnD Achievments: My Take =-.
@DeadOrcs: Thanks! There wasn’t a lot of Code Voodoo involved. What I did was populate a Google Spreadsheet with the relevant data, then inserted a Gadget, moved the Gadget to its own sheet, and then there is a Publish tab that gives the code necessary to insert into an HTML page. It is JavaScript, so the Wiki will need to support scripts, but other than that it is cake. The gadget should update as you add new rows (but not columns).
If you need any help setting something like this up, let me know, I’d be glad to lend a hand.
@Madbrew…thanks, man! Helpful advice. Good stuff!
.-= deadorcs´s last blog ..4e DnD Achievments: My Take =-.
Great job! I’ll definitely be combing through these looking for good minis!
There’s one you left off: http://www.em4miniatures.com/ offers dirt cheap minis. The quality is decent, particularly for the price. Great for massive hordes or wargames.
I found that link on KQ: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article3132.php has a few more companies as well.
.-= Matt´s last blog ..Oh My Kami! Tsukuyomi =-.
@Matt: I’ll definitely have to take a look at KQ’s list. Thanks!
I bookmarked this page a few months ago to use as a future resource, but can not currently see the table of manufacturers.
Am I missing something?
Thanks for the help.
@Spleenami: Google updated their apps and made the gagdet out of sync. Should be good to go now, thanks for letting me know (have to check the others later too).