Minis to Buy & Try: Reviewing My Favorite Miniature Brands
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- Good afternoon! This weeks video is all about miniature brands! I review several brands, including reaper miniatures, games workshop, wizkid, dark sword, thrill studio, Raging Heroes, Terrible Kids Stuff, Brother Vinni, and Hasslefree Miniatures, as well as some brands I would love to try!
Commercial retailers:
www.reapermini.com/
www.games-workshop.com/
wizkids.com/unpainted/
Boutiques:
www.darkswordminiatures.com/
www.ragingheroes.com/
www.brother-vinni.com/
www.etsy.com/market/thrill_st...
www.hfminis.co.uk/
www.terriblekidsstuff.it/
Brands I want to Try:
www.mierce-miniatures.com/
www.boldminiatures.com/
www.celestialgame.com
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My Tools (some of these may be affiliate links):
Sta Wet Palette: amzn.to/2lLOdKm
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Milliput: amzn.to/2lNGifB
Green stuff: amzn.to/2liTj0v
Testors Dull coat: amzn.to/2lN6Mhe
Brightech Light/ Black light: amzn.to/2kdjvsY
Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolor Brush - Round #1 amzn.to/2lLBbMT
Thinner Medium: amzn.to/2lNWNZ2
Glaze Medium amzn.to/2jP4Bcr
Talon Airbrush amzn.to/2kfSiWI
PointZero Portable Airbrush Air Compressor amzn.to/2XVLBqo
Badger Air-Brush Stynylrez Gray Primer: amzn.to/2kgs0DM
Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver amzn.to/2ljRIaL
Dahle Vantage Self-Healing Cutting Mat amzn.to/2kgv2b8 s
MagniPros LED Illuminated Headband & Magnifying Glasses amzn.to/2YFevR1
Winsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolor Brush - Round #1 amzn.to/2n2pQIU
Winsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolor Brush - Round #0: amzn.to/2T1mfHv
The Master's Brush Cleaner & Preserver: amzn.to/2YmPoz0
FW Daler Rowney Acrylic Ink amzn.to/2Rn2smF
Matte Medium: amzn.to/2LuhF1A
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Serpent Sound Studio - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Thank you to everyone who pointed out my mistake on Thrill Studio. It had never occurred to me that someone would buy kick starters / games and sell the miniature piecemail. I feel rather silly for listing them here in this video, but I still stand by my opinions for all the other companies I discuss in this video.
That cat is on a mission.
He was convinced it was dinner time. It was not.
@@LylaMev Don`t you know that cats have always dinner time ;)
That critter has it coming, the Exterminatus should be fun... horrible, but fun 😂
I am happy to see a young woman in this hobby! I have 3 daughters, and they grew up watching dad paint. You make a great role model for them.
Hobbies can be for anyone as long as they are made to feel welcome! 😊
I personally don't paint miniatures but I thoroughly enjoy watching the artist breath life into these extremely small plastic sculptures. I recently came across your TH-cam Channel and I was blown away. Your ability to manipulate paint and shades was beautiful. Thanks for sharing your unbelievable skills and abilities with this unusual medium. I look forward to watching more of your post
Thank you so much, you are so kind!
I love this kind of video because it either introduces me to a new line (yay new toys) or reminds me of brands I had forgotten about (yay new toys again). So thank you for this, love it.
What miniature brand is your favorite?
**I uploaded this video previously and caught an error I had missed, therefore I had to reupload it. If you commented earlier, thank you so much and I'm sorry it's gone! Please feel free to comment again so we can start our conversation anew.
I really like heresy labs models, they Got a fair bit of clothed women,
I would definitely recommend V&V Miniatures they have some great historical minis in various sizes and the female sculpts are realistically dressed
Games Workshop. Yeah they are pricey but in terms of details and casting they are second to none.
I'm surprised that Miniatures from Kingdom death monster are not included. Lots of scantily clad ladies but alternate sculpts for some of them. Overall great 30mm resin models. The actual character miniatures in the game are Resin and with multiple options for weapons and armor. The monsters from that game are also amazing.
You can find them more often then not on ebay sold piecemeal from some chinese company. I've never had any problems with my models but like you dealt with I had a model come broken and I get no response.
While a little more cartoonish Stonehaven miniatures also has a nice line of models to play around with.
My GF and I Both like atlantis models, they are resin and have a high pricepoint for the models it's not bad for some of the best resin sculpts I have painted in a very long time.
If you are looking for dwarves something I get most years for christmas are models from Scibor I love their dwarf miners and have a few of them now.
Lastly, being a fan of oldschool miniatures of the 70s and 80s the ral partha and Grenadier miniatures. I discovered recently Iron wind metals. A company in the US that takes old models and remakes old kits without the use of lead. I discovered them while looking for Battletech miniatures of which they have many.
Darksword is my fav. I agree w you regarding Reaper on all points. Great video. Been painting here for over forty years. Again thanks
Before completely discarding the wizkids lime, try stripping the primer off and try again. In cases like the ranger or the bard you can find whole parts of the sculpt that have been buried under the thick coat of primer they use
Totally agree about Reaper metal and Black minis. They have a massive selection, and really fun sculpts.
I just wanted to say thanks. I've been looking for new sculpts and this has been very helpful. In fact, I've learned most of what I know about painting and equipment from yourself. I always try to watch at least one video a day and have learned from every one of them. So again, thank you very much.
I highly recommend you:
-Otherworld Miniatures
-Black Scorpion
-Crippled God Foundry
-Durgin Paint Forge
-Spellcrow
-and the lovely minis of Moonstone game.
Good video, by the way. I'm subscribed!
In the grinm darkness of the future; there is only GW.
I agree with you on Wizkids. A lot of the hero sculpts are a bit duff, but the monsters are well worth the price, especially if you're willing to spend a bit of time customising and basing them.
You might enjoy Oathsworn miniatures. They have a line of sensibly attired and equipped female characters called Sensible Shoes.
And their Figures for Burrows and Badgers are Awesome
Been awhile since they have done another Kickstarter
Oathsworn are great
Agreed!
Yep
Dark Sword are amazing. I love all their stuff, but I only have the Blood Moon Dragon (D&D ancient black) which is easily one of the best dragon minis in my collection. Plus, I'm a 2nd-edition 90's AD&D kid, and so many of their figures are based on Jeff Easley-era artists and artworks. Great to see them get a shout out here.
Thank you for this; I’ve been painting models, mainly vehicles, for about 3 years and started painting GW stuff about 6 months ago! I’m hooked but had no idea where to go next in my miniature journey.... now I do so thanks 🙏🏽
This video introduced me to companies I've never heard of. Thanks!
Thanks for the great video. You have added to the list of modelers that I need to check out. I mostly paint Wizkids due to price-point considerations and I have to agree with your assessment of their sculps. Many of their monsters look great and are relatively cheap in price. Thanks again and I'm looking forward to the next video.
This looks like the perfect video for a drinking game, when you don't have much time.... Real nice overview.
Brother Vinnie tours through Europe on many conventions, really nice guy, missed seeing him 5-8 times this year.
Happened across this as i watch more TH-cam now than ever. Really good information and an Illinois mini painter! instant sub!
Awesome video. Looking forward to see how you paint and the style chosen for many of these. Keep up the good work.
I'd recommend you check out two UK companies, Northumbrian Tin Soldiers (you might like their Cats of Crumptown and Nightfolk ranges) and Greebo Games (specifically the Cutiemals range). All lovely sculpts, good detail and a ton of character. I'm in the UK, so I can't speak to US shipping times or costs.
Loved the video, btw.
Hey Lyla, we love you slide shots, they are perfectly focused and lighten, looks so profesional, gratz! Keep up the good Job!
Thank you!
Revisiting this vlog after I was searching for nice Fantasy miniatures: I knew that the Dark Sword miniatures looked familiar to me when I found their website. But the other designs are also awesome! It is an art itself to find good resources - thanks for sharing.
I Miss North star miniatures, perfect for kitbashing. Mantic have some cool minis to.
I had a great experience with Spellcrow. Not only was the mini awesome and fun to paint, they sent a bag of assorted pieces with it as a nice bonus. There were barrels and other things to decorate your base with as well as assorted heads, limbs, and torsos. I was able to construct a whole second mini out of them! Awesome company and great customer service.
Thanks for going through the rulebook looking forward to seeing how your crew does
Hi there, have you perused through Bad Squiddo Games' shop ?
No scantily clad minis there... I do enjoy the sci-fi section, very early GW style.
Have some darklands miniatures and are awesome. Super detail.
The best miniatures I have are Rackham, superb sculptures, super detail and until now, none has produced equal. Have a great collection of it and really are beautiful.
Feel it’s worth noting that Hasslefree Minis has a bunch of unclothed male figures as well.
Unclothed dudes never have that sexual objectification aspect though. It's kinda different I think.
Nice information, I 2nd Raging Heroes as they are very good sculpts with a choice in resin or metal when I did my order a few years ago, went for the better quality resin and are amazing. As a note Mierce Miniatures can be very good and done a few of theirs, one of their dragons twice with one more to do and they require a lot of work to get bits to fit and every nail and claw needs to be pinned the gap filled on all three over the last two years. Some others go together beautifully with little cleaning and the new 18" high dragon is fantastic. I will have to agree with the Wizzkids as have done two of their smaller dragons and found them lacking in detail but they can be painted nice to look good and have some nice choices. Another manufacture I like is Titan Forge and have done a couple of their daemons and had feedback from them on my painted version and for them tom use in future promotions so happy there. I also met some of the team at the Spiel 19 in Essen last year and seem a good bunch. I also like the GF9 range of D&D stuff and done a couple of their dragons and a couple of others. Only dislike with theirs is the Red Dragon where the wings keep drooping as the resin bends over time and the warp after the tips touch the shelf, the other big zombie dragon does not have this problem so maybe just the resin mix on the red dragon I got. Thanks for the list I now have some more to try once I clear my huge backlog.
Thanks for making this video! This has helped a newbie like me. Thanks
I love hearing your thoughts on all of the mini related topics. Every video is informative and to the point. Cat drama in every one.
Thanks for the tips I've just started this hobby and excited. Also thank you cat for the laughs 😂
I will have to check out your suggestions 😀. I harken back to Grenadier and Ral Partha, long gone
Some major names that weren't mentioned are Perry Miniatures and Wargames Foundry/Warmonger Miniatures.
Perry Miniatures are sculpted by the Perry brothers who sculpted most of the original GW Lord of the Rings models, as well as some Warhammer miniatures back when GW was still a small operation. They're arguably the best sculptors when it comes to historical models as they strive for historical accuracy. They also have reasonable prices, averaging around $0.50 to $0.75 per model. Their plastic kit for Agincourt French Infantry, for instance, is around $27 for 42 models.
Wargames Foundry and Warmonger Miniatures are where a lot of ex-Citadel sculptors and some of the original molds for Games Workshop ended up. Wargames Foundry is focused mostly on historicals and Warmonger is their fantasy/sci-fi division. They try to acquire out-of-production miniatures, as well as sculpting new models to match. If you like the look of 80s DnD or Rogue Trader miniatures, Wargames Foundry is the place to go.
It's worth noting both companies are small operations located in the UK where a lot of the miniatures are cast by hand. This means it can take quite a while to receive your models if you're located outside of Britain. Metal models from both companies can sometimes require a lot of prep work cleaning mold lines and removing any releasing agent residue that might be leftover on the model. This is because either the molds are old (not so much with the Perry bros. because they have their original sculpts they can re-cast) or because things were done by hand. I think Perry is working on injection molding for their plastic kits? But injection styrene is an expensive endeavor, costing upwards of $80,000 for more complex molds.
Subscribed. Informative video! I’ve bookmarked a couple of these miniature companies I hadn’t heard of before. As for recommendations, red box miniatures is definitely worth checking out, and crocodile games is great if you want some mythical style Greek and Egyptian minis. Their Amazons are the best out there imo.
Warlord games and Battlefront also make awesome minis. They cover many periods of conflict Army painter has a great range as does Vallejo. Totally awesome you led off with reaper. Back in 2008/9 I was on their demo team. Getting back into miniature gaming after 8 years. Well done
I love the Antares range of miniatures from Warlord.
Since you wrote in the description you want to try Mierce: I can vouch for their great quality and detail. I got several from them and they are nice. I'd say not beginner build level, but also not horrible to cleanup and assemble. Oh yeah and as much as they have well dressed females, also prepare for some intimate details on the male ones. I believe this is the only store where you can buy sprue spare parts and got a choice of 'penis sprue' to pick from XD
A little side note for raging heroes: You said they all seem to be from their own world, but it's more likely that most of them are female replacements/alternatives for Games Workshop Warhammer factions. I love them too, though their material and print quality can vary
I'd like to see your review of your favourite 3D print companies e.g. Loot, Titan Forge, Dragon Trapper's Lodge, Archvillain games, Crippled God Foundry, Claymore Miniatures, One Page Rules, Lord of the Print, Mammoth Factory etc. Your top 10 list ranked would be interesting to see. For me Titan Forge is number 1.
Thanks for having a low-hype video. Very useful!
Hi Lyla
Great video !! you featured a few miniature sites I hadn't discovered yet which is excellent. (though possibly bad for my wallet)
As someone who has a ton of Reaper miniatures I agree with your assessment of the quality of the bones classic figures. A lot of mine are bent horribly (easy fixed with the hot water trick)and some have been poorly cast. But they do make great NPCs and Monsters for D&D especially for the price and can be very easy speed painted to be "table ready".
I have also bought the D&D board games just for the miniatures. As the price is great (works out about $2 USD a mini) and you get about 40 mini's in each box which are all classic D&D monsters and heroes that are themed to a specific adventure. The quality is quite good.
P.S. love your cats, they made that video hilarious.
Thanks! The only reason my videos are humorous is because of the cats.
Very nice video. Love your cats. As an latex lover .minis in latex is always good for me
Got in the kickstarter for Hand of Glory miniatures...neat idea..been fun with all the ' attachments"..
If you’re building out any armies, I recommend Perry miniatures for human armies, especially ones with a historical theme, and wargames Atlantic for their undead and goblin kits. Games workshop is also got you kind of covered when it comes to armies.
I recently got back into miniature painting after 12 years or so. I decided to purchase from Mierce Miniatures and very glad I did. The detail is amazing! On the more expensive side but for a good reason.
After so many positive comments I'll definitely have to give Mierce a try!
Honestly a friend mentioned he wanted to play D&D last month and I've played quiet a bit but with no maps or minies so I spent about 700 in getting all the fun stuff as a dm and a crew of now 8 I make sure playthings are easy using Monster cards and have created a whole world so that all campaigns inevitably stick to the big picture...but any way I bought a custom mini from hero forge and day befor last painted it using basic acrilic paint and a massive collection of mini paint brushedfrom craft store..
Major fail but my boss got me DUNGEONS & DRAGONS NOLZUR'S MARVELOUS MINIATURES: PAINT KIT - NYCALOTH and used it with its paint and wow turned out I'm a natural but all this thanks to you your the first channel and vids I went to pertaining to dnd and your content helped so much thank you the 990 cents well worth every penny for sub thank you and keep it up
I think it's an important note to add that Etsy has become one of the new mainstays when it comes to purchasing high quality sculpted minis at low prices. The resin is fairly strong even on 28mm scale. there are many mom and pop printer shops available there for any and all things mini.
When you got up to get the cat I was half expecting to see it taped to the wall behind you 😄
Real talk; Ima hit the subscribe so i can find more lady minis with clothes. XD great vid. Also the meow meow is awesome.
One of my new favorite comments.
If it's still relevant, look at Frostgrave Wizards 2 and Frostgrave soldiers 2. These are wizards and soldiers that happen to be female (hence the naming convention), and the sets are quite cheap. Also have tons of options in them.
If you seek sensibly clad female miniatures I recommend Bad Squiddo.
It’s true
Sisters of battle from games workshop is a good set.
I love Scale 75, Reaper (still going through my pile of shame slowly), wyrd who have a game called Malifaux are very good too, Black Scorpion have some very nice sculpts & have bought several of the pirate ones. I also have a couple of the Hasselfree range. Looking at Arcadia & Kimera minis too, but will check out some of the ones on your list.
I've met Kev White of Hasslefree Miniatures, a short bald guy who looks for all the world like a painter & decorator or a plasterer, I would not have guessed in a hundred years that he was a sculptor. He has a cat allergy. He's done traditional sculpting (I think BeesPutty is his usual medium) for years but he's starting to dabble in digital too. On the Hasslefree website you'll see a lot of nude female figures in the resins section, but I think most of them are intended for conversion work - ie, sculpt your own clothes.
The resins (mold cast resins) are fragile, but I wouldn't say they are _that_ fragile, they're definitely a lot tougher than 3D printed resin miniatures and they are 28mm -30mm size; I've noticed that 3D printed resin miniatures are sometimes sold as 30mm or 32mm, but are actually more like 40mm.
I love that you don't edit out the cat shenanigans.
Hello from Waykegan. Just saw your channel. I will be listening to more.
I would also reccomend taking a look at Iron Wind Metals,Mirliton, and Foundry miniatures...they have some fun,and affordable minis..
Pegasus is a good one, they have some amazing sculpts .. black sun miniatures is another good one too. I've yet to buy any from these but I've got my eye on a few for in the future. Also, thanks for sharing your knowledge on where to look. When you're new to the community its hard to know where to find good stuff to paint. I'm the same as you in the fact that I only paint stuff, I have yet to play any of the games. Although I'm currently painting all the miniatures from the game Talisman that my bro bought (literally all the expansions with like 76 miniature to paint 😱😵) so ill be playing that on New years with all my epic lil painted minis 🤟🏻
Eureka Miniatures have some incredibly characterful and inventive miniatures from frog people, flying monkeys and bunny samurai, to prehistoric humans, Victorian horror characters and pirates ! They’re an Australian company and they have sellers in the Uk and USA as well. Some of their sculpts are visibly dated but the majority are amazing and super original. My favourites are the frog people and turtle people.
I like the Raging Heroes cyberpunkish line, they tend to have more clothes on and a real great, punk attitude to their sculpts. The rest... eeeeh.
Celestial minis I had never even heard of before, but now I'm scouring their webpage for those amazing minis!
Dungeons and Lasers has just started crafting miniatures along with their dungeon terrain. It's only available via Kickstarter right now (actually late pledge at the time of this posting), but you get an absolute *ton* of minis for the money. I'll have to wait and see what the quality is like since they're still in production, but if it's anything like their terrain and scatter, it will be both amazing and an outstanding value.
You might try a small indie publisher: Redbox Games. I get most of mine through Noble Knight Games in Madison, WI. They have a large and distinctive line of characters reminiscent of Faerie /Celtic/Norse swords and sorcery (similar to Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword). Most of the women are interestingly and appropriately attired, including a large range of halfling and dwarf characters.
Another small publisher out of England (similar to Hasselfree) is Copplestone Castings, run by veteran sculptor Mark Copplestone. I think he's distributed now by North Star, which makes the minis for the skirmish game "Frostgrave", which are also worth checking out.
You definitely should have a look to the new fantasy line of First Legion miniatures. Especially orcs, goblins and ogres are amazing! Also the 35mm fantasy serie from Scale75, yes, the ones who made the paints, have some cool ones. Females and dwarfs specially. Lastly Yedharo Models have some good minis too, mainly some massive orcs. Hope it helps!!
This video was very helpful as I tried gw for warhammer 40k and warhammer then went to privateer press for their games and love the sculpts. Definitely give some of these a try. Also shout out to a fellow illinoisian!
Ahh, why didn't I find this video months ago? Great suggestions, I've ordered from Dark Sword and Hasslefree and they were great. I'd also recommend Red Box Miniatures - their minis are geared in a "realistic" way (their armor looks historically-inspired and they're often packing gear like bags and sleeping rolls) and they have some sensibly-armored women as well. Their stock seems a little inconsistent though and it can be hard to find some of their minis.
thanks for the mention! We are working on getting our stock levels replenished. Been a tough year this past year.
I know it's been said before, but needs to be said again. Bad Squiddo Games, it is a one woman run miniature company. Awesome min and owner Anne is awesome too.
If you're ever looking for Orcs or goblins, I can recommend yedharo models (formerly GT studio). For alternative minis to GW characters, I can also highly recommend wargame exclusive and hitech miniatures. (they basically sell knock offs of a lot of GW models, that look awesome in their own right, sometimes better than the old, update needing versions on the GW store)
Hey just came across this video. One great job and two the peuce you got from Thrill Studios was from Ludus Magnas Studios. They are an Italian Company and Phenomenal Customer Service. The model Cronos is an amazing model.
I realize I'm late to the party, just discovered your channel. Thought your review of all the brands I have tried is accurate and doesn't sound like an ad. Might I suggest Atlantis Miniatures for some great creature sculpts.
This was an interesting video I did not know about any of these.
Then again I am more into historical minis like Bolt Action, and if it is fantasy it is more along the lines of Song of Fire and Ice.
Red Box Games
Hi Mini Witch. Thanks for the video. Great info. I was wondering what the large unpainted mini in the first 10seconds of the video is??? I been trying to find it everywhere with no success.
Really enjoyed this review! The "Asian" style minis from Thrill Studio are taken from the "Rising Sun" table top game from Cool Mini or Not ("CMON"). I know because I backed their kickstarter when they came out and I know those minis quite well. I suspect (hope) Thrill Studio made some kind of arrangement to reproduce them because the minis in the game are plastic not Resin (very good quality plastic though) and I think I heard you say that the ones from Thrill Studio are Resin. Many of the Greek figures in Thrill Studio are also from another Table top game from a company called Mythic Games, the game was Mythic Battles: Pantheon. This is great because to my knowledge there is no where else you can get just the minis ... and I don't think I can even get the Mythic Battles: Pantheon game at all. I will have to check out more of Thrill Studio to see what other minis they have. Thanks for taking the time to put this video together.
I can recommend Cadwallon miniatures based in Lithuania they cast extremely high quality fantasy themed miniatures to various scales 28mm to 52mm. I have several of their classic Dota 2 sirens. I absolutely love them & Cads. Miniatures. 😁 I ❤your painting style. Please keep it up. 😁😁
Just found your youtube. Your cats vibe has activated the zooms and annoyances in mine haha
I just got a resin printer so my favorite minis are Archvillain, Mini Monster Mayhem, and Rocket Pig Games.
Brother Vinni: I've really wanted the not Fallout, and not Mass Effect miniatures, but despite how good the minis looked, I had that reluctance to buy from Russia too. But I think you've convinced me to give them a try.
I've ordered a fair amount from Thrill Studios in the past. I found out fairly early on that most of the models I liked from them are produced by CMON (Cool Miniatures or Not) and can be found at much lower prices by either buying the games (Hate, Rising Sun, Zombiecide, etc) or buying the miniatures separately on EBay. Thrill does do a fair mount of sales that makes their value better at times and they do carry a fair amount of more difficult to find miniatures in their defense. You can also find CMON's miniatures at a great price with extra specials included by jumping on some of their Kickstarter campaigns. From my understanding, Thrill does print their own miniatures at this time and have purchased rights to do Artisan's Guild prints.
I have a different topic, old miniatures. To paint or not to paint? I have around 300 miniatures purchased between 1975 and late 1980's, ranging from no paint at all to decent paint jobs (for a 15 year old at the time). Eventually I want to sell them but would love to paint them first. Not sure if this is a good idea, will it devalue them or increase there worth?
I've had really good luck with miniatures from printers on Etsy. Yes, many of them draw from a small pool of 3d sculptors such as clay cyanide, but I find that the sculpts are great, and if you find a good printer, grab on and enjoy the ride!
Thanks for your videos and advice, I have truly enjoyed them and picked up loads from them. Fairly new to miniature painting (Got hooked on Warhammer models and even though I dont have any interest on playing, their figures are my favorites).... Been watching as many tutorials as I can, my biggest challenge would be to consider the idea of switching to a different paint as all my experience is Citadel based... I do use Vallejo and MIG for airbrush but is exclusively for Cars and Planes, miniatures are a whole new universe for me and closet is getting full (Subscribing now). Apologies for the huge message
No need to apologize, I love long comments! I’m glad that I have inspired you so much.
I would mention Otherworld Miniatures as a recommendation. They are a small, UK-based company that sells loads of fun, old-school D&D style miniatures. (usually 28mm scale, pewter or resin)
I find them somewhat overpriced and kind of low detail sculpts, but I like a few I have gotten from them. Best source of classic 1e look monsters tho!
Good video as a resource, thank you. A few days ago I went to Etsy and just put in "miniatures" as a search term and got some really interesting results. There was a ton of dollhouse type stuff (some of this was actually interesting in that there were a lot of tiny animals that could be fun to paint) but intermixed were some amazing fantasy minis. What I found was that a lot of the different sellers were licensed to print and sell various minis from various artists. So you look at the info provided by the seller. Find out what 3D resin printer they're using and what resin. This will give you a great idea of what kind of quality you're going to get from the 3D file. You'll have to do a little research to see what's best but it'll give you a better understanding of what you're getting and what you should pass on. I was also able to find a seller in my own state to cut down on cost and time in shipping.
Kinda surprised you didn't mention Hero Forge custom minis. I hadn't used the site for a few years and was pleasantly surprised at all the changes they'd made for the better. The minis are so much more customizeable now. I've already made up three minis for my grand kids and one for my partner. I hope to order them soon. I'm going to make a special diorama for each of them.
Anyway, this is the first video of yours I've watched. I subbed. I hope to see more cool videos from you.
Thanks for the long reply!
I’ve also used doll furniture for my dioramas! It is much easier than custom building. 28mm is the same as 1:48th scale.
I’ll have to do research on printers/resin, it’s something I hadn’t considered researching.
I didn’t mention hero forge because my little brother has ordered from the several times and been very disappointed. However, that was a few years ago and I’m unsure of their current quality.
I regularily go to etsy and type "Miniature -doll -bobble" to look at what there is. It's worth it to compare prices from different sellers though, since all those Patreon and kickstarter store licenses make it so that there are a lot of repeats with different prices and sizes.
What is a good miniature to start with? Wanting to try this, but not sure what to buy. Not a gamer just interested in the scifi, fantasy aspect. Thanks for any help.
Have you ever painted Minis from hero forge? I love their customization options .
I have several minis from Artel W that I have really enjoyed. I also like First Legion Fantasy models.
Do you have any recommendations for pre-painted miniatures?
I got the wildspire spellblades and was really surprised by them. With the base package you get 15 miniatures for around $25.
I love your videos very informative . I think you Should check out Creature Casters Miniatures as well as their larger scale Figures
Reaper is super good.
Privateer press is another!
Interesting vídeo. Thanx!
Hasselfree are interesting. (And it looks like it was a good idea, that I ordered there miniatures in metal.
and a little point of detail for yur interest: Brother Vinnie is more or less well known down here in Europe: It's just one guy doing the job. (It looks like he isn't realy interested in any IPs from other people, but his Skulpts are pretty great.)
I have been writing quests for my daughter and I in the Pulp/Cthulhu setting - do you have any recommendations for finding 28mm or 30mm miniatures in a 1920-30's theme? Something that could fit in with the figures I've looted from the board games Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu and Cthulhu: Death May Die. Preferably fully-clothed female characters. (great video by the way; I appreciate the pricing guides)
Hi Lyla, for example check out otherworld miniatures - nice metal miniatures and archon studio for plastic miniatures packs. Also I think the dwarf you have shown from hasslefree was from red box games (that one is from USA so closer to you probably) ;)
thanks for the awesome vid
What material minis are best? Is resin better than plastic? Are there different kinds of plastics I should pay attention to?
U should also look at zealots minis. Great video!
Kimera models,Black Sun Minitures and Luxumbra make some outstanding and well detailed resin minitures.Black Sun's minitures tend to be a bit larger.If you like larger monsters and creatures you can check out Creature Casters.They have a distrubition here in the U.S.A.
I subscribed. Your videos have been great. However, your cats have been the star of them. Keep up the good work....and keep the cats cameo appearances :-)
This is an excellent video, I had no idea of half of these!
Also, Creature caster is one of my favorites. Never seen a poor quality model from them.
I just splurged on two of those. I have never painting a statue or mini in my life. Why not start with the hard stuff?
I buy from darksword for a lot of my PCs for d&d, gotta try the other boutique sellers. I gotta recommend Victrix for the historical minis, got their Hoplites models for my Grecian inspired campaign and they are super detailed, just fragile.
It's hard to recommend Thrill Studio, for the prices it's usually way cheaper to just get the games they come from. It's pretty absurdly high, for instance the entire HATE game can still be found in the $100-$150 range, and if you were to buy all the minis from Thrill Studio it's looking like you'd be out about 10x that amount. I guess if you really want an individual piece it could be okay, but eBay sellers are a better place to look for that (especially sinodolls, for $4.74 you can get two mythic battles pantheon minis that Thrill Studio would charge $30 for www.ebay.com/itm/lot-2x-heroes-Figure-Fit-For-Dungeons-Dragon-D-D-Nolzurs-Marvelous-Miniatures/392806445377). I suppose it's not a bad place to look to get inspired for what games to go after but, no offense against the store, I can't recommend people look elsewhere strongly enough.
I do recommend checking out Zealot Miniatures for some inspiring and well made models, their minotaur line is amazing. Also Westfalia Miniatures is really, really great. They just finished a kickstarter for Pride Knights minis, they're a women owned and run studio. When I was getting into this hobby last year I emailed them asking about a specific mini I was looking for that was out of stock, they helped me out and I really love them for how generous they are. Bad Squiddo Games is another woman lead shop with good sculpts, and Oathsworn Miniatures has a line called Sensible Shoes that's pretty great, featuring women in, well, sensible clothing :)
You are the second person to recommend I look on ebay over Thrill Studio. I recommended Thrill Studio because it was the only place I've ever seen these miniatures besides the kickstarter, but I didn't even consider checking ebay! As someone who doesn't play table top games other than DND, I can't justifying buying/backing an entire game just for the miniatures. Buying a few of my favorites (especially from a variety of games) is a lot better for me.
I'll have to check out those two places, especially Westfalia as I love supporting woman run business in this hobby. And the idea of Sensible Shoes miniatures is just fantastic. Thanks for the long reply!
@@LylaMev I totally understand why they're appealing for D&D (that's my primary motivator for minis, though I do play board games as well), and I didn't mean to come across as like shaming you for going with them/recommending them. I do a lot of buying/reselling of miniature board games and am just aware of the prices these things tend to go for. If you're going to end up doing some Japanese inspired stuff, it's worth checking out if Rising Sun is worth the cost even if it's more minis than you need. HATE inspired an entire continent in my D&D world I was trying to figure out what to do with. You can always sell off the extra if you want to create more work for yourself :)
@@ephemeraldgames No shame what so ever! If there is one thing I have learned in my time of youtube is that there is still plenty for ME to learn, including where to shop to get the best prices on miniatures. I've always been wary of buying miniatures of eBay (recasts and such), so since I've never done it it isn't something I recommend. But I'll have to give it a second look.
@@LylaMev For what it's worth from what I can tell the seller I linked to is selling loose minis from games, if they were recasting I would find it hard to believe they're getting exact matches for color and feel of the plastics (maybe it's more sophisticated than I think though). Definitely this is an infinite learning journey, and, well, it's easier for some of us to spend time scouring the internet for deals instead of actually painting >
I beleive you're getting resin from Thrill direct, but lower detail plastic in the games. So if you want a singular showpiece, get the resin direct. If you just want a bunch of crazy monsters, buy cthulhu death may die KS version on ebay.
I came for the painting, but I stayed for the cats.
Great review of some different brands, definitely learned some brands I wasn't familiar with---also, what did the cat knock over? lol
He was playing in a cardboard box!