How to Get Inexpensive Miniatures for D&D

[@theDMLair]

What are the best ways you know to get inexpensive minis? Board Games with Minis ▶▶ www.amazon.com/shop/thedmlair?listId=ZKV71ZNN8QE4 Reaper Bones ▶▶ www.reapermini.com/miniatures/bones Tactical Tokens ▶▶ tacticaltokens.com/

[@lzlatkus]

the DM Lair well I have tacticle tokens and they can’t break

[@lzlatkus]

I got the tackticel tokens and your letter yesterday

[@superslacker87]

I print my own on a 3D printer. Lots of them available. There's a guy who has made every mini for the Monster Manual, Volo's, most of the adventures,' custom monsters and is currently working on MotF. I support his Patreon for $5 a month, which gives me access to the full library. The printer cost me $200 and the filament costs around $20/kilogram. That makes them 5-10¢ each in raw materials, plus whatever the electricity costs. Edit: All of them are available freely. Supporting on Patreon allows me to access them all in bulk rather than downloading individually.

[@regularchungas9727]

I 3d printed my minis

[@theDMLair]

Awesome Izlatkus! Hope you're enjoying them!

[@hailing3806]

0:49 And I've been a Highschool since Dungeon master?

[@masmurdermonkey9233]

That's what I was thinking, it sounded off

[@Chadok89]

- Are you drunk - I don't know...blue?!

[@theDMLair]

Hey, making videos is hard work, and sometimes you just get confused! LOL

[@cameronf5893]

@@theDMLair You get inspiration for leaving the goof up in there during editing!

[@schemage2210]

@@theDMLair it's kinda like DMing, sometimes I don't know the words coming out of my mouth until it happens. But that's ok because that is where all those cool bits of plot come from that I would never have planned. Like that odd little gnome implying that he isn't mortal.

[@emidaeous8799]

I've been a high school since dungeon master.

[@theDMLair]

Really? Me too! 😁

[@laeclorentzen6111]

the DM Lair *facepalm*

[@willdaffner1110]

Im thinking this is a running gag

[@WitherLord888]

That bit was trippy

[@RiyaanH06]

You mean “I’ve been dungeon master since high school”

[@TacticalTokens]

Before starting Tactical Tokens I think I've used just about everything as a miniature in my home games. From LEGO to Gummy Bears. Rocks to spare change and extra dice. Miniatures are amazing but don't let their price tag stop you from enjoying the game. Get creative. Get crafty. Get cheap. Thank you for including me in this video and for sharing these great tips with everyone.

[@theDMLair]

Anytime. Thanks for making an awesome product!

[@BarbarosaAlexander]

Not cheap at all, but I've used Lego minifigures. As a collector, I have a couple of thousand, but, even a few can be proxies.

[@TacticalTokens]

@@BarbarosaAlexander Honestly, I do miss my days of using LEGO for everything from Minis to terrain and maps. Great times!

[@ateyone3587]

​@@TacticalTokens this is how I've been doing it for my first time being a dm with the first time players, making a homebrew in the background with some modular tiles and printing different unique enemies but I'll miss my Lego zombies once I finish this campaign hahaha

[@TacticalTokens]

@@ateyone3587 LEGO for D&D will always have a special place in my heart!

[@Jori_en]

Man that intro swap caught me off guard and I was laughing for a silly amount of time have a like for that.

[@theDMLair]

You like that? Plenty more where that came from! -Happy Gilmore

[@ChasMann]

That had me rewinding and watching it again to verify I heard it correctly. Had a good laugh.

[@lilraven770]

"I treat my mini's like my children." In a box under my bed.

[@shittown3billionbutepic]

That seems... Like an interesting parent-child dynamic

[@jm-nf8xf]

I've been in highschool ever since I became a dungeon master. Story of my dnd career. Also I prefer tokens over minis, they're cheap and you don't need to worry about the barbarian breaking them. I'll check out the tokens, I want to replace my old ones

[@theDMLair]

Now I will say this although the Barbarian can't break tokens don't put it past him to not swallow them by accident... 😬

[@2000TalesRolePlaying]

Drivethrurpg pdfs of paper minis. They are pre formatted to be sized for game mats and designed to be folded to stand on their own, all you need is a printer and scissors.

[@handlebarfox2366]

and some good cardstock

[@dirigoallagash3464]

Other options: Printable Heroes on Patreon Arcknight Pathfinder Pawns Reaper Bones Kickstarters

[@dirigoallagash3464]

Just got a chance to check out the Tactical Tokens...umm...WOW! Sorry, waaay too pricey for what they are! (imo of course) They are a great idea but a buck twenty five-ish a piece?!

[@xoxlyss]

ArcKnight ArcKnight ArcKnight they actually sell Printable Heroes on their page in a few different packs if you like the art but don't want to print on flimsy paper yourself.

[@KenchiD1]

Last time our DM did not bring Minis, because he thought it would become a Session with lots of investigation and no combat. But we Players decided to storm the thiefs guild. We used pistol ammo of different calibers and some empty shells as minis which worked awesome. I always carry a bunch of different ammunition in my DnD bag for such cases.

[@theDMLair]

Don't we all carry weapons in our DnD bags just in case?

[@Vukela22]

And for boss, hand grenade ofc!

[@insertnamehere6659]

@@Vukela22 I use a defused bombshell for my BBG

[@growingwild8411]

@KenchiD1 You a Texan?

[@taylorsloley4170]

@@growingwild8411 😂😂😂

[@bash112000]

I bought clay, made my own pieces with it. Baked them and painted them. Real easy, made them look like runes/stone statues by painting them to look like stone with moss growing on some. It really adds to the mystical effect when playing with them. I often describe them as "soul totems", telling the stories of Heros and Monsters that once lived

[@dashyburd]

I see your cheap options and I raise you *Monopoly figures* _I'm the monster truck_

[@theDMLair]

Lol. Nice. 😁

[@mennograafmans1595]

I have the euro version. Going around like the leaning tower of Pisa or the peeing guy from Brusselles.

[@danielthemaniel7461]

@@mennograafmans1595 Is he 6'4 and full of muscles?

[@bannedsentinel4464]

@@danielthemaniel7461 does he come from a land down under?

[@johnsalvi3870]

I'll take the thimble

[@handlebarfox2366]

"you can also use candies..." **imagines the stories about the time your player died when he got caught between a hershey's kiss and a reese's peanut butter cup**

[@melissaclaassen9707]

This made me laugh harder than it should have.

[@alexiavya722]

I HAVE BEEN ASKING AROUND THE INTERNET FOR THIS FOR THE PAST 3 MONTHS!! Thank you so much lol ☺️

[@theDMLair]

No problem! (Sorry to keep you waiting. Lol)

[@ArcheoneGaming]

Hey there, i just watched this video so sorry i havent been here for you sooner. Here is an alternative... in case you still need one. The cheapest DURABLE minis that i make are simply... hand made :D Step one: Buy Beer Step two: Drink Beer Step three: grap a Hammer and smash the bottlecap straight. Do this x amount of times. Step four: Buy spray paint (That can be used on metal, not all paints can... Personally i use different colours as well) Step five: Paint your bottlecaps in a base colour (for whatever purpose for example you can make it like Yellow = small, Orange = medium, Red = large) Step six: Flip over the bottlecaps and paint the death base colour (yes similar to how those tokens work...) (i use gray for that). Step 7: Design/create logos bottlecap size and Print them out. (I make a sheet in word in which i place common pictures and shrink them. the images i just steal from PC games). Step 8: Carefully cut out the images (or particular lines etc) a sharp blade like a scalple works best for this. Step 9: Place design on base painted bottlecap. Step 10: Paint the design onto the bottlecap. Voila. An infinite amount of cheap, easilly produced, durable minis that you can personalise to your own style and flavor...

[@persephonehades7547]

My group has chess pieces: the king represents the biggest threat on the enemy side and the leader of sorts for our side, you choose a color for each side, and you fill in enemies/other players as you see fit. It works pretty well.

[@melissaclaassen9707]

I love this idea!!

[@Demiand_]

Betrayal on the house on the hill board game comes with ALOT of numbered tokens for creatures I use to represent groups of different monsters on the map

[@cedriceby3052]

I simply use legos. You can then customize them, change them, and not be afraid when your players start to play with them. The only bad thing is that they are pretty tall in comparison to normal minis, but other then that, there awesome.

[@Grantuu]

Something I do as a beginner DM and big TCG-Nerd is using Magic: the Gathering cards. I'll grab the bulk I have left over from prereleases, drafts and opening boxes and sift through for anything that looks useful. I bought a 1' hole puncher and cut out the appropriate part of the card and viola. Mini-Substitutes. In case you don't play magic or similar TCGs suitable for this go to your local game store or ask friends for their bulk. They might give it to you for free or you can buy bulk online for laughably cheap.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah that's a good idea I saw a video a while back about a guy showing how to take old magic cards and turn them into tokens or something like that.

[@TheodoreMinick]

You can also use a free tool called TokenTool to make tokens from images. It crops and adds a little ring around the picture. It outputs transparent .pngs that work perfectly for VTTs, but load a bunch into your favorite graphics software and you can print out a whole sheet of them. Just take that 1-inch punch and go to town. Ready to use as-is, if you use cardstock.

[@danluna8840]

That’s damn good advice.👍

[@Doughy_in_the_Middle]

1. Wait for the local convention that hits your region. 2. Seek out the Reaper Bones vendor booth. 3. Find......the machine. At Origins for the past couple of years -- although NOTICEABLY absent this year -- Reaper had a sort of "gumball machine" at their booth stocked with minis. The are A DOLLAR each. We have a tradition of going to Origins every year with a couple rolls of quarters and just emptying them into that machine. I'm guessing it's mostly their low-sellers because you often get duplicates, but they also toss in a couple of the really good ones from time to time. There's a wizard one (with a stack of books) that's really highly detailed that I think retails for 4.50 and we paid a dollar for it just like the others. A couple years ago the duplicates were female dwarf rogues. For some unknown reason my mind had them up hiding in a hillside ambush, and said, "Well lookie what we gots here!" This then cemented my "Hill Dwarves" to all be "Hillbilly Dwarves". All my dwarves have that accent now. Don't ask what the elves sound like. Your elven ears couldn't take it.

[@shuffgaming8378]

Lego figures make great minis!

[@anerdwhowritesessays9931]

I use a Lego chest I have

[@thecrazymarioshow]

agreed

[@stephenbryant6536]

Was about to say, they even have half legs for dwarves and halflings. A selection of tails and horns for my wife's tiefling too!

[@Amphibian42]

I have all minis from series 1-7 except the super rare moneybags and stuff, i have tons of doubles so i just let my players build custom minifigs for their pcs

[@Smirkules]

I personally started investing some time and effort into paper miniatures, and found some artists to really be ingenious on this behalf. They are easy to transport. (card Deck holders) and quick to set up. Which really is a huge plus side. Plus easily replaceable. The only down side is the scaling to print. There's very few sources online that give you the right scaling from the bat, so that's something to tinker around with.

[@happenedbychance3392]

I'm a new Dungeon master so I think I might use that, thank you!

[@Smirkules]

@@happenedbychance3392 be sure to use a slightly thicker sheet of paper, I found that really hit that sweet spot, and if you have any issues with the base, a penny underneath the paper could work wonders. Although with thicker paper I didn't find this necessary.

[@happenedbychance3392]

@@Smirkules Oh thank you! That's really helpful

[@TheodoreMinick]

Another option is to print out tokens. They won't be as good as the ones in the video, but they get the job done. There's a free tool called, appropriately, TokenTool, which lets you get any picture and turn it into a token. It's mostly for VTTs, like Roll20, so you might have to tinker with the scaling a little bit, but you can print them out on some cardstock and use them as is (beware fans and other disturbances), or glue them to a slightly more sturdy base, like a 1-inch washer, or a wood disc from the craft store. I picked up a 1-inch round paper punch in the scrapbooking aisle, which has served me well for cutting them out.

[@RPGmodsFan]

In the US, I saw these Dollar Stores. I believe many inexpensive toys found there can be re-purposed as D&D miniatures.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah I have a few of them. The ones I have are a little bit bigger than a standard D&D mini so they don't work quite so well however they are a very cheap option for folks in a budget that's for sure. And I'm sure that there are ones that are the proper size if you hunt around for them.

[@wonderfurret8223]

The downside with dollar stores though is the fact that their toy durability is hit and miss, however small plastic toys for use as miniatures tend to be able to take hits anyways... it's the dang spring-loaded guns and prank toys they that I don't trust.

[@darbizzlebacon]

all this time, I thought you were a dungeon master since high school. Now the truth comes out. You were a High School since Dungeon Master the whole time!

[@ArcheoneGaming]

The cheapest DURABLE minis that i make are simply... hand made :D Step one: Buy Beer Step two: Drink Beer Step three: grap a Hammer and smash the bottlecap straight. Do this x amount of times. Step four: Buy spray paint (That can be used on metal, not all paints can... Personally i use different colours as well) Step five: Paint your bottlecaps in a base colour (for whatever purpose for example you can make it like Yellow = small, Orange = medium, Red = large) Step six: Flip over the bottlecaps and paint the death base colour (yes similar to how those tokens work...) (i use gray for that). Step 7: Design/create logos bottlecap size and Print them out. (I make a sheet in word in which i place common pictures and shrink them. the images i just steal from PC games). Step 8: Carefully cut out the images (or particular lines etc) a sharp blade like a scalple works best for this. Step 9: Place design on base painted bottlecap. Step 10: Paint the design onto the bottlecap. Voila. An infinite amount of cheap, easilly produced, durable minis that you can personalise to your own style and flavor...

[@gavinlaxton5063]

I just use the plain bottle caps

[@RolandTheJabberwocky]

Pathfinder pawns are fantastic for this. They stand up, are in full color, feature full artwork instead of just headshots, and you get hundreds for only 35-45$. The NPC box I bought even had really good choices for all of us (the PCs). The divine soul sorcerer assimar even got a practically flawless token for her character.

[@randydoffing3204]

I wanted to say thanks for the tip on straightening out a bent mini. I recently purchased a Fire Giant mini online and when it arrived the sword arm was bent. It bugged and I couldn't get it to bend back. Then I remembered your tip in this video. As soon as I placed the sword arm in boiling water, I watched it straighten out on its own. It looks great now! So, thanks again!

[@theDMLair]

That's awesome. I'm happy I could help. :-)

[@MrNb22]

good thing it wasnt an ice giant or it would have melted

[@mykediemart]

I'm on to your intros, they are not misspeaks its different multiverse Luke's! I suspect the same for your players who look similar. Cheap Mini Suggestions: Miniature Market has clearance sales I have picked up defunct war games there for less then a dollar a figure, and like Luke mentions you get a game. Recently Conan board game went pretty cheap on Amazon (lots of minis for guards and pirates and well Conan) Walmart sells a how to train your dragon bucket of figs, mostly little dragons some characters. Pathfinder Pawns - thick flat card stock on stand. Dollar store has bags of animals, the wildwest set has a wagon kinda in scale. 99 cent store had magic the gathering board games cheap. Hero Clicks - I found Thor and re based them - prepainted I use washers with a small hole for bases, various sizes, metal so they stick to magnets.

[@theDMLair]

I think you're right. I never misspeak or misprounce anything, so it's definitely a multivers divergence at work! 😁 I need to check out that Conan set, too!

[@mykediemart]

@@theDMLair It was below 50 for amazonday, usually sits at 65, it also has a few monsters and some playmats that are good for DnD, village, ship, Inn. I backed it as a Kickstarter and picked up extra copy last week.

[@figmenter]

We often use standees and tokens in our campaigns. Nothing beats the 3d appeal of minis, still, though.

[@dropthewalls]

The highest level mimics become High Schools once they Dungeon Master.

[@tylerbrewer8863]

We use lego guys. Diverse enough that we can say "the guy with a scarf" or "i wanna hit the red shirt" or something do something like goblins are half lego men w/o legs and the hobgoblins are the legos with legs. We have a guy who's into legos and just has the guys already, but lego minis can be really cheap.

[@EricTheKei]

Since ye asked: Order of the Stick does their "A Monster for Every Season" minis in their comic's art style -- Print & play paper minis in both b/w and pre-colored varieties for cheap-to-free. Dungeon in a Box just finished a $1 million+ Kickstarter for their "Skinny Minis" (nearly-flat plastic minis, but thicker than their competition's), which go for about $5.50~7 per "pack" of minis depending on the pledge level. One "pack" is anything from 16 or so human-sized creatures to 4~8 large and bigger ones; the largest of all are things like dragons that take up an entire sheet by themselves (e.g. they offer 4 adult dragons at a "3 pack" cost). I believe they're still accepting late pledges, look 'em up!. Also, their monthly boxes (3 guesses at the name) each come with a sheet of minis that go with the adventure for that month (as well as normal minis -- box 1 came with a 4-pack of Reaper Bones goblins and a single Reaper Legends mini). Box 1's sheet came with a couple larger minis (owlbear and ogre), a medium or two (including a werewolf) and 10 or so mediums (goblins, wolves/wargs, etc); this plus maps, terrain tokens, and an ongoing adventure campaign. Their subscriptions are set up such that you always start from Box 1, and they will honor emailed requests to just send you a year's worth at a time if you like. ~$30ish per box including shipping.

[@Acqua_Regia]

One other option is to buy with the group (or not) a good 3d printer for beginner. Sure, you'll need a bit of time to study the settings, but then you can print at home the free minis that are avalaible on the internet. And there are some reeeeeally good

[@theDMLair]

Yes I have seen some really good results from 3D printers. And make him out to be much much cheaper than buying them. I imagine it within a few years the mini industry is going to be hard-pressed to keep up with folks and their 3D printers. I Envision prices will be coming down quite a

[@TheodoreMinick]

Ender 3. I have seen AMAZING quality come off that thing. Like, almost as good as resin. And at about $200, it's not too expensive. Especially when you consider that the minis you're printing will cost *pennies* and there's a model for literally every single monster in the monster manual, plus a ridiculous number of others (Google "mz4250 "), it's a steal.

[@a_sad_cinnamon_roll1594]

See the intro would never have happened because if a player touches my minis unless we’re playing I’m mad. And if they break my minis they die

[@anerdwhowritesessays9931]

Me!!!!!!

[@TheodoreMinick]

Yeah, barbarian would be making death saves.

[@theDMLair]

Yeah I hear you. I'm very particular about my minis too. I once had a player using my Minis and he was dropping them a lot. That did not make me happy.

[@a_sad_cinnamon_roll1594]

the DM Lair minis are painful to loose but it’s even worse when they steal drop or otherwise take dice

[@fredricknoe3114]

in game or IRL?

[@ernestasbogdanov5856]

My fellow Dungeon Master created these sets of templates in PhotoShop that we use to print out minies. There is a template for bases of 3 sizes (medium, large and huge) and same for portraits. This allows you to flavor your monster whatever you want by finding pictures online. Print out, cut it, glue up and you have minies - I can make 28 medium size minies for 1 a4 sheet, 6 large or 2 huge. I use this mainly for monsters as they dont tend to last long. Myself I prefer Reapers Metal minies for PCs. Monsters are paper or Reapers Bones usually.

[@theDMLair]

Reaper metal minis are nice!

[@kramerfortuna7228]

Great video, as always! If you run a lot of homebrew content, I'd recommend making some of your own! It sounds like a big deal, but all you need is some picture hanging wire (to build a simple frame), some Sculpey (oven bake clay), and some acrylic paint. I'm no artist, but I've made a little over a dozen minis and I've gotten a lot better already and my players LOVE having custom, hand-made miniatures. They might not look as good as the Reaper minis, but there's something that's just so satisfying about making your own from scratch! I totally think every fan of miniatures should at least give it a try! If you're interested, the wire costs about $7 at Walmart for 100 feet (enough for WELL OVER 100 medium/large sized minis). You can also buy acrylic paint at any superstore relatively cheaply, but if you're looking for more variety, I'd recommend going to Michael's or Jo Ann Fabrics. YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY SPECIAL PAINTS FOR MINIATURES (like Citadel Paints). Sure, Citadel has some high quality stuff, but the paints are already the most expensive part, so it's best to start with something cheaper (though their "Nuln Oil" shade is pretty great for making tiny details stand out more). Finally, you can pick up a 2 ounce pack of Sculpey (enough for at least 4-6 medium figures) at any crafts store for around $3-$4. The best part about Sculpey is that it's easy to work with, it's pretty sturdy once you bake it, and you don't have to worry about priming it... AND it's cheap! Hope I can help someone grow their miniature army without breaking the bank (and possibly finding a new hobby too)!

[@kramerfortuna7228]

Also, I just wanted to say that the intro was PURE GOLD. Love it!

[@theDMLair]

Thanks a lot! That's a really cool interesting idea sculpting your own minis I never thought of that one.

[@VonBlackbow]

3d printing at a library. Takes time but is very cheep

[@Jas_Tas]

You have a 3D printer at your library? WoW

[@theDMLair]

Wow, very cool!

[@johnsalvi3870]

My library does it too.....$1 an hour that it takes to print.....most minis are an hour or less

[@tomculeton91]

My college has something similar, but one of my players found an even cheaper way. They made me 1" discs numbered 0 - 20 (0 is usually a boss monster) to use. Perfect idea for someone on as tight a budget as a college student!

[@1Scimetar]

My favorite source for D&D minis is Heroforge. The premium ones from them are metal cast for about $100, but the ones that I like is the are the STL ones, which are 3d printer files for $6 each and a couple hours on my 3d printer(starter models are $200 on Amazon and let you make all kinds of stuff), I have my home made mini.

[@processingrequest]

I use Lego minifigs in some of my campaigns. Ordering the custom bits for the PCs can get pricey, but using leftovers for NPCs and monsters is fun and economic. The best part is, when there's a big boss battle I get to build an impressive, terrifying model for it and watch my party panic when I set it on the table >:D

[@theDMLair]

Let's be honest terrifying players is half the fun of being a dungeon master. Particular favorite of mine is to take a beloved NPC they've grown quite fond of and would hate to see anything happened to and crushing that NPC before them. Know what I mean? 😈

[@processingrequest]

@@theDMLair 😲

[@processingrequest]

You leave Gary alone!

[@AflacMan13]

Amazon: You can get tubes of plastic figures that fit any theme, then just paint them. Like $10-15 for 50-100 minis, plus cost of paint and a bottle of mod podge.

[@janusjanhaar]

Printable heroes Patreon, Paperforge on Patreon and Trash Mob Minis on DrivethroughRPG are my go to inexpensive mini's since I started out (Havent been a GM for long)Paperforge and Printableheroes can be downloaded for free and they almost don't overlap with their choice of monsters/characters so you can get a lot of different monsters and characters when you alternate between the two. Btw I love your videos, they help out and are fun to watch!

[@ShadowPa1adin]

One of my earliest and best miniature purchases was the Pathfinder Bestiary pawn box. I know it's technically not miniatures of DnD-creatures, but insterad chipboard pawns of Pathfinder monsters, but since Pathfinder shares roughly 90% of it's monsters with DnD you basically have everything you need for a campaign in there. It stores easy too, all in one box, even large to huge creatures.

[@johnr7279]

I have become a fan of buying lots of pre-painted minis on eBay, most of which are not for D&D but the molds seem to get passed around and get used all over. I've now got a large collection of mostly MageKnight minis that work quite well after some touch-up painting and rebasing. I can now paint as well but I am certainly no mini Rembrandt. I liked the ideas you shared in here!

[@theDMLair]

I've picked up some pre painted minis on ebay too. It was a good value, even though they begged for repainting. 😁

[@demitrialmeida651]

0:49 Confirmed mimic

[@Wulf6491]

In line with tactical tokens, craft stores sell dry erase circles, and plexi glass or acrylic circles, which come in 1in, 2in, 3in, 4in and 5in varieties. that covers pretty much ALL size classes, marry that to a wet erase marker, draw an arrow for direction, and you have CHEAP neutral mini tokens that can be customized for every single enocunter. Down side is that you have to prep them, but its real easy to quickly write "Gob 1, Gob 2, Gob 3" and throw them out.

[@blackskullthunder]

Personally I use two things, if I'm not using my actual minis or just a virtual tabletop going to my tv from my laptop, I either use just bits and pieces from around my flat like cardboard and other such things (especially for terrain and buildings and the like) or I use the official boxes of tokens that Paizo puts out for Pathfinder, the Bestiary box is like £30 (or was when I got it) on Amazon and comes with several full color cardboard tokens for every creature in the standard Bestiary, which is pretty universal for D&D (just don't expect Beholders and Mind Flayers and the like)

[@screamingblue7]

My go to for cheap minis is currently Pathfinder Pawns. I’ve painted numbers on the bases for ease of tracking hit points etc. and love the evocative range of images and descriptions they come with (sadistic healer and cut throat lawyer have repeatedly inspired encounters). Boardgamewise, to this day we still use minis from Heroquest (original edition).

[@destroyrebelscum7930]

I like to implement certain monsters in my campaigns that aren’t really in the monster manual, they’re usually just giant insects and such, and I just get those small rubber bags of bugs you can get at craft stores. They look great as giant insects and amphibian enemies!

[@nicktan9739]

What I like to do with my homebrew enemies is print them out as wallet size photos, Bosses on a 4x3, attach binder clips to them as a stand

[@briandaaranda9735]

The image with the washer trick is really good; you can also implement a double-sided washer where one side means the creature is fine and the other means it's been knocked prone. I also love using plastic bottle rings in different colors to represent conditions (such as green for poisoned, silver for Hunter's Mark/Bane/Cursed, black for asleep/unconscious, etc.)

[@captainengland5809]

A few ideas that I haven't read yet: 1. Othello Tokens, black on one side, white on the other. It is a good way to keep track of hp/damage on the white side, so you can just pick it up and edit. (I do recommend finding some way to mark which is which on the black side, so that your players know which is which. (can be found at local game store) 2. A couple companies sell premade punch out standies. Paizo are the ones I'm thinking of atm, but there are many others. (can be found at local game store) 3. ArcKnight has also made plastic standies, but these are more expensive and you don't get the same number of duplicates as the cardboard ones. (may be found at local game store) 4. Troll & Toad sell batches of completely random minis (ranges of 10,25, 50 & 100) These are usually between $2-$4 a mini. The lots of 10 usually also promise to be each different minis or lots of rare/large/huge minis. (Can be found in D&D minitures Lots & Specials) 5. Wyloch's Armory shows a clever way to take official/unofficial artwork and print yourself some paper/photopaper standies that are double sided & they use a Washer for the base.

[@antivire]

The Risk Europe board game is a fantastic mini alternative. It comes with hundreds of pieces ranging from sword and shied guys, guys with bows, guys on horses, and ballistas. I recommend Risk Europe over normal Risk, as the guys in normal Risk have muskets/cannons. It’s about $30 btw

[@mmorton2355]

One mini ult I use is a binder clip holding up an piece of small paper with either a printed or drawn version of the monster works well, packs small and really only cost the price of 10 binder clips and some printing, works best I'd binder clip are less than an inch and for bigger things just use a larger sheet and a larger token base (like a dice lid for 2 by 2 and then I will cut out stuff for other sizes)

[@aidanallen458]

Also it’s a bit of an investment but if you have a 3d printer you can print out your own tokens and minis. I’ve seen tons of cad files available online for free, and in the end you’ll just be paying for the raw plastic filament and the electricity to run the printer, both super cheap. With a steep investment price of around 200-300$ (for low end printers) but can be well worth it if you print enough minis. (Edit:) Not to mention the vast amount of customization that you’re given in being able to hand craft your own minis.

[@dylanfulater6807]

Good video, I actually just facepalmed when I realized a mini from my Betrayal at Baulders Gate would work perfectly for a game I just joined. Another cool way I've found in the vein of the last tip was to print out images and clip them into a binder clip (which have varying sizes) and remove the metal clasps to give a very inexpensive stand. And because of the varying sizes of the clips, it makes it super easy to create monsters that take up more space, even with a small token. Though I may just start using that candy idea, there's never a bad time for an excuse to eat candy.

[@theDMLair]

Binder clips is a great idea! I suggest reeces mini peanut butter cups. The multi colored christmas edition works best. Gives you a reason to stock up. 😁

[@feralart]

I've just straight up used pocket change from the change jar for the more generic foes. Pennies as foot soldiers, nickels for archers, etc. Any major or boss characters would get a mini.

[@JoeIsLeBro]

"I have been a high school since dungeon master!"

[@1AmGroot]

"I've been a high school since dungeon master" That swap caught me off guard

[@theDMLair]

Me too. 😂

[@PoldaranOfDalaran]

Ooh, those Reaper Minis have some great options for the temporary replacement PC and helpful NPC that have joined our Carrion Crown party. And a lot cheaper than having custom ones made.

[@theDMLair]

Oh yeah Reaper minis are great. They're definitely my favorite Miniatures of all of the ones that I've had. I think possibly a close second would be my hero Quest minis but that's only for the Nostalgia factor I think.

[@mikee9464]

Dude. I LOVE the rogue and barbarian characters in the "game table scenes" lol love the voices.

[@theDMLair]

Thank you!

[@rionnachelliot8951]

Alright. Best mini alternative I had was this. Go to a Dollar tree or really anywhere but the cheapest is a 1 dollar store. They sell these bags of stones that I think is supposed to be use for like....idk decorative somehow. Anyway they are made of glass and sometimes come in different colors. They are flat and usually are just within 1 inch in diameter. For non-boss enemies like goblins or bandits or whatever they work great.

[@RaiderAvian]

Had a player get my 3d minis. I gotta say, it depends on the quality of the print itself and the material used. Worse case, you get a mini that is either out of scale, noticeable printing lines (the layers when the printer was building up the structure), distortion due to errors in the process/ support failure that leaves hanging bits or missing pieces, a brittle mini, loss of detail or some/all of the above. Best case with a good set up, you get a mini that has a good detail quality (with the benefit of reprinting for duplicates for groups you can play around with their colour schemes). Combined with the ability to edit the model before printing (such as using hero forge) you can create your own custom made army! If you have the time and dedication to invest in this project, you might find this method more effective than hunting down minis and potentially open a new business venture with other DM/player/fans in your area.

[@Cybermaul]

Reaper is having another Kickstarter right now until the end of October 2019. The price for the base set is pretty good, considering what you get.

[@theDMLair]

Yes, I'm pledged at the 120 base price. The addons are really expensive relatively speakimg so ive stay away from those.

[@jnstewart1976]

I’ve recently stumbled upon your channel, I wish I found it earlier. Great content, and some good humor. Keep up the great work.

[@Cobravenom69]

"When something dies you can eat them!" xD

[@theDMLair]

Until you get full of course. Then you smoke the leftovers and store for later.

[@JustPixelNoIDontWantAnyNumbers]

Similar to your Paper Idea: I ran Lost Mines as my first Campaign for some friends and I wanted to get some miniatures. Being the poor Highschooler that I was, I, of course, was broke af. So I looked around, and found a Forum-article that described how to make little Paper-triangles that you can glue a cent to to give them weight (Of course the Triangels are printed) and there were the creatures you need for Lost Mines and a clear Base where you can insert other picures of Creatures with any Image-editing software you like. Theyve been doing great, although it can be rather hard to store them, I build a little onstudt with some straight sticks and just put them on so they hang above each other. My biggest issue was actually getting all the 1c pieces since my young and dumb Mind decided to do this on a Sunday, aka no Bank was open...

[@oneoftheorder]

Fantasy Flight's Descent board/minies game series can be a mid-low cost option (definitely in the "you'll be spending several dozens of dollars for a decent number of minis"), and they are pretty fun (though it's basically just a very simplified tactical board game version of D&D.) Legos can make decent options, as can some Playmobil sets (this last option is most efficient if you have kids who would like those kinds of toys too.)

[@jasoncustomizer56]

I've been using army men for my minatures.

[@wombatt2031]

I basically use a more Primitive version of the Tactical tokens, what i do is print out pictures of the monsters and just glue them to cardboard. It creates a nice effect where the players can actually see what they are fighting and not just have to "imagine" that a Gummy bear is a troll. Though this mean it has to be the DM that does this, since the players won’t "know" what they are gonna be up against. Unless they print stuff like Guards, Bandits, or goblins.

[@thegeekteacheraus3712]

I purchased a 100 pc set of clear stadees from Wish which only cost me a total of about $8 AU if you don't mind printing and slightly bulking 2D prints of the characters. They also sell unpainted mini's in singles, doubles and bulk from pretty cheap. It generally takes, on average, about a month to receive any order but more often than not come sooner than expected.

[@JoshuaCard]

My method (which was inspired by a tip from Dungeon Dudes) is to just grab an image from dndbeyond and copy it into a Word document. Scale it down to the appropriate size, print a sheet with a couple dozen monsters on it, cut then out, and use binder clips as the bases to hold them upright

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

I have an idea for using Army Men for minis. You can get large packs for $10 to $20, and they often come with terrain elements.

[@dseray9494]

Thank you so much!! I've been trying to find cheap minis for ages, with no luck. This video has been really helpful!!!

[@theDMLair]

Awesome I'm very happy to help!

[@stratagenius1176]

A neat trick I do that I learned from a friend is to photoshop some pictures of minis to cardstock paper (using photoshop to line them up and add bottom black strips to 'em) and then glue the blackstrips flat to something with weight, say a washer or even just use an actual mini base. I also like to use CLEAR packing tape to "laminate" the minis without actually having to go through that process. Best thing about using a tool like photoshop, is you can adjust size of your minis to make them exactly how you want them.

[@iblamecaden]

Thanks For The Video It Helped A Bunch, The Reaper Bone Minis Are High Quality And Cheap!

[@jtjames79]

Printable shrinky-dinks. Because they shrink the DPI detail is amazing. It also gives them a little extra thickness than a cardboard mini. Or you can go with the token format, but you still get that sweet high DPI boost. Getting continuous flow inkjet kit was one of the best decisions I ever made. I can print things for less than a penny a page.

[@brandyourfan9244]

As far as cheap goes, I like printing minis, cutting them out, and attaching 2 mini binder clips.The 2 mini binder clips make each piece stand well. Also, you can use 2 standard size binder clips to make certain pieces stand out more, which is nice for more prominent NPCs.

[@georgeembley2752]

For several years now I've been printing pictures of characters/monsters on cardstock then cutting them out and folding them up into triangles. It takes a little work, but my player's really like them. Plus they can be unfolded and stored flat.

[@Mozumin]

I make miniatures simply using regular paper. I just go on paint dot net (any image editing software can work), resize the image I want to the right width, then paste upside down, paste it upside up (attached to the upside down part by the top part), then make some colored rectangles at the top and the bottom for the base. Then I print the image, cut away the unnecessary paper, fold the miniature and put a piece of transparent tape at the bottom to keep the base together. I keep my paper minis in a cardboard box. They're very light and easy to carry around, and since there are no little parts to break they are rather resistant too. But, of course, they ARE made of paper, so... yeah. Some caution is still needed. I wish I could post an image but if you google image search "paper miniature", the second image result is basically what I do.

[@Mike28625]

The hero quest board games came with a lot of skeletons and goblins, a few heros, and a lot of floor tiles. They might be found at yard sales or on Ebay. There were several off brand d&d style games like that, that i imagine would be kinda cheap and chock full of useful bits.

[@ninjageddongaming5581]

We have LEGO minifigures on LEGO baseplates. Works awesome, plus my Pc’s can make the character they want

[@theDMLair]

Yeah one of my friends was just telling me about making minis out of Legos and even making big monsters like dragons and stuff out of Legos. The really cool idea I've never thought of that before.

[@ninjageddongaming5581]

the DM Lair it’s absolutely awesome because you can literally make any mini you want for cheap. We’ve used it for as long as we’ve been playing

[@TurdFlingingMonkey]

I know this is an old video, but I thought I'd share. Go to the dollar store and buy a cheap chess and checkers board. Use the chess pieces as minis, use the checkers for terrain. Buy some cheap army men (you can often find firemen and policemen and sometimes cowboys and indians too) and use them for your PCs and important NPCs and bosses (i.e. use the chess pieces for generic monsters and the army men for important monsters or NPCs). They usually have plastic dinosaur toys as well that you can use for various monsters. You can get everything you need to run a game for less than $10, and use the chess/checkers board as your dungeon map, using the checkers pieces to establish walls, traps, etc. If you need extra checkers or a larger map you can buy 4 chess/checkers boards and make a square out of them. If you're into painting minis, you can modify the army men using a pair of fingernail clippers to cut off or modify the weapons or equipment on the figure, and repaint them to look more medieval or fantasy appropriate. On another note, I ran a Star Wars RPG once and just used the Kenner/Hasbo action figures as minis. I did have to buy a lot of clone troopers and battle droids (the campaign was set during the Clone Wars) but they were cheaper before Disney bought the rights from Lucasfilm, so it wasn't hard to find them since clone trooper and battle droids were far from rare, and went for about $5, which for a fully painted, articulated mini with customizable equipment was a steal.

[@emmasilver2332]

I usually just cut out cardboard circles of the various sizes, using empty tissue boxes, cereal boxes, and other packaging that would otherwise be thrown away. Then when I have an encounter, I'll just use a pencil to write down the creature types (and a number in case there's a lot of them so I can keep track of hit points). That way if I ever get to a point where I run out of blank cutouts, I can just erase the writing on some of my previous cutouts to reuse them. For someone who can't paint, can't draw, doesn't have enough money to buy lots of accessories to my game, and has to pay money every time I have to print something (college life is expensive, man), this is a good alternative. Then if I ever lose my tokens, it's no big deal; I can just cut out more when I use up more tissues and cereal. I literally don't have to spend a single cent more than I already spend for stuff I already buy. I'm saving money and saving the environment at the same time.

[@wonderfurret8223]

I know a lot of people don't prefer this, but the strategy of theater of the mind can work pretty well, and it is absolutely free. For those that don't know what I mean by theater of the mind, I am talking about just doing dnd with description and imagination alone. No board, not minis, just you, your friends and your dice. However, I have decided to buy a board for dungeon crawling and the main combat of each session. I haven't got any minis yet, but I think I have fallen straight into the idea of it as soon as I saw a gelatinous cube mini at my local comic shop. I couldn't stop laughing at the fact that a clear cube with paintable bones inside exists as a mini.

[@theartofjayden1761]

That intro REALY made me smile. 😆

[@Kamille1028]

I have a hoard of 368+ dice ,they make good tokens because of the numbers on them ,color coding and size differences...it might break immersion for those who have aphantasia...but i found that it made the DM's job easier and works pretty well if you are on a budget or are a dice dragoness ,like me XD

[@VaSoapman]

RuneWars CoreSet is a 25$-35$ box that has a bunch of human soldiers and skeletons. 48mini's total. 4 of them are Knights and two of them are Giant Monsters. Even without the bigger fancy models these are really good sculpts for an amazing price.

[@hatefuldisplay]

I just ordered some Tehnolog 28mm miniatures on Ebay. Apparently, the company is based out of Russia. Still, I netted over 80 plastic miniatures of dwarves, orcs, goblins, and humans for less than 40 bucks with shipping. From reviews of the quality I've seen, these are decent value for the cost and should make it easy for me to create some more epic conflicts without going too deep into my pockets.

[@NUGGet-3562]

"I've been a high school since Dungeon Master" made my day. Thank you lol.

[@jesternario]

A game terrain crafter named Wyloch came up with something similar to what was mentioned at the end of your video. Find a pic for your miniature that you think looks pretty, use a graphics editing program like photoshop to resize it to the appropriate size, surround the creature with a black background that is is 10 pixels larger than the creature, then print out onto cardstock and base. I personally recommend that if you do this method, instead of cardstock, print the miniatures out onto full-sheet label paper, which allows you to glue onto a thick chipboard or thin cardboard without having to get all messy with glue.

[@theDMLair]

That's a cool idea. I like the label paper option best.

[@jesternario]

@@theDMLair It's worked pretty well for me so far, whether it's miniatures, dungeon tiles, or dungeon dressing.

[@TheKidnappedOne]

Paper minis similar to what Wylock has a tutorial on. A bonus to this is there are artist out there that you can support on patreon for as low as a dollar and have access to the majority of their work. Printableheros on patreon is a perfect example of this and I use her(I think?) Stiff almost exclusively right now along side my 3d minis, my players actually love the art that she makes and look forward to some of the minis that I drop on the mat during each session. Oh and she doesn't just have character minis, she also makes some prop minis like trees, rocks, chest, tables etc. Those things always add a fun extra dimension to my maps and battle mat instead of a purely flat map.

[@davidmorgan7257]

Mainstream Hobby Stores; like Hobby Lobby or Michael's in the toy section will have sets of animals, insects, cowboys, dinosaurs, etc. that work fine as minis. From the cowboy set, I used the covered wagon as just that, and a little primer and metallic paint turned the cows into gorgons. The insects became ahnkeg, or just giant versions of themselves. And I have dozens of spiders that I cut away from their original party favor Halloween ring mountings, etc.

[@siulunb2]

Thanks for the info. Your channel is a great help to new DMs.

[@Zanji1234]

:) just use an token generator -> print them -> glue them on round cork, wood or furniture pads and THEN put Epoxy Stickers (or if you want more 3D effect) Cabochons

[@jacobjohnson2409]

Those little things that you put on the inside of table legs that act as visions work well. They usually come in sizes more than you need for chairs so I usually put simple mono-colored stickers on the bottom spot that would peel off and it works very well for small and medium tokens

[@lockwoan01]

Plastic Army Men, or Lego figures might be good. My friend's old group also used beads.

[@UrielOmega]

I have used models from Zombicide: Black plague. 6 hero models, an evil Necromancer, a large monster zombie, and bunch of zombies from basic, runners, and big tough ones. Its over 60$ but all the good models and the game itself. I like it.

[@USMC7372]

Just getting my kids into DnD.... we’ve been using classic green army men and LEGO figures. Work’n like a charm!

[@Raven-xt2uw]

I'm not sure if this is mentioned already but 3d printer

[@Mike28625]

I'm intrigued by the idea of little wooden mini people. Little cylinder body with a round head. You can get big lots of them in various sizes for stupid cheap on Amazon. Drop a bunch in green paint and you've got an instant goblin horde. Or with a little more effort, one can craft a custom character. Like a d&d scale nutcracker soldier kind of thing with weapons and armour. Or simply use them unfinished in concert with flat tokens to enhance the map.

[@TheKingRiku]

I have just started being as descriptive as possible while we play about what my players see and just abandoned minis completely. It's actually been more immersive for my players and forced me to improve as DM.