I'm autistic and I try to have a map or visual representation, even when not in combat. That said, I usually use paper minis both for price reasons and because that way I can get access to a whole lot of different creatures/characters
Bad Squiddo are great and well worth a look! Other miniature companies with female figures, as requested: Oathsworn Miniatures have a whole line of sensibly armoured female adventurers. Hasslefree Miniatures are really premium but have a good variety of female body types. (Note, the sculptor works from the body up so some minis on the site lack clothes.) Otherworld Minis has a few, but I wanted to mention them because of their delightful old school aesthetic. Black Scorpion has a few female warrior types and the sculpts are really really nice. North Star Miniatures Frostgrave line has boxes of multi part plastic female models, as well as a nice line of metal miniatures for adventurers and NPCs.
I'm not familiar with Oathsworn, but the rest of these I've seen. And for female minis on the cheap---Frostgrave has some wonderful sculpts in their box sets. One of the things my girlfriend and I are looking for is something as close as we can get to a female mounted landskenecht for her character. We have both Maika von Oswald sculpts from Hasslefree and we couldn't be more pleased with these---now we just need to find something like that on hosrseback...any ideas? I honestly don't know why there aren't more female landskenects--talk about outrageous clothing and bright colors. I think a unit or a few units of women armed with bills and crossbows would look amazing on a table. Think of these being an elite unit of mercenaries.
My advice to the new miniature buyer is this: buy what looks cool. Then find some excuse to use it. If you end up with a weird ragtag miniatures collection you will be in good company.
Well, that was delightful! I gave all my minis away about ten years ago, and though I love painting them, and sometime playing with them - especially the idea of giving someone the perfect mini for their character, I don't miss shopping for them, or lugging them around, and I'm not playing enough for re-entry into minis to be worth it. Also, small children + limited space + fragile toys + paint = anxiety. Still, love some visual aids, and maybe one day I'll get back into it. And watching my first born play with my dice and tokens and fake coins on my dry erase mat is so fun. ❤
I almost got advertising PTSD when you said "squarespaces on a board"...because, you know. Lovely video mate, you speak with so much passion, it's amazing!
Kimchi, I'll have you know this popped up for me today as I'm assembling the first citadel miniature I've bought in around 15 years. I am now giddily sharing in your energy!
Loved this deep dive into minis! Regarding Theater of the Mind tactical battles, I think a common mistake that people make is relying on an absolute grid-based view of the world, instead of shifting the description model to one that orients itself around targets and landmarks. Absolute position assumes a map and a top-down view. In a narrated combat without a map or minis, the DM and players should try to describe position relative to the monster being targeted and/or one or two fixed landmarks in the scene. It's not important which square they're in - what's important is how close they are to their target or to the object/feature they are trying to interact with. Distances boil down to just Adjacent, Near, Far, and Out-of-Range.
The title caught me off guard but I was pleasantly surprised with how you managed to do such a good deep dive into a otherwise niche topic. Great Work man keep the videos coming.
I don't have the money for full miniatures & terrain, so I pre-draw my combat maps on Gaming Paper & use Rich Burlew's papercraft minis from his "A Monster for Every Season" collection. It works really well. I can use those small post-it notes for status effects!
I often view minis the same way I view the set of a play. A play does not technically need a set, but it can add quite a lot to the experience, and help the audience keep track of things. Also I will say in regards to 3d printing, while the upfront cost can be a little pricey, if you are the sort of person who needs minis a lot or wants to get more specialized ones, it will make the overall process cheaper going forward. However it is also sort of its own hobby.
love the hirst arts terrain, too. By the by, Dungeon Craft has a great device he calls dungeon pizza that makes miniature play in TTRPGs very doable without having to set up a whole war gaming table for your encounters. If table space is an issue--dungeon pizzas are really helpful. I currently have three--one for underground dungeons, one for wilderness and one for town. Soon, I'll do one that's tavern or wooden flood based. For my group, this really makes using miniatures possible--and they really make combats much clearer. For non Euro-centric minis, historical miniatures are the way to go. That and they are typically a lot cheaper too because you can't trademark historical figs---you can find figs from almost every culture around the world. Steel Fist has great Japanese figs along with their wars of the Roses and Italian Wars figs. Also Gripping beast isn't terrible for female shield maiden types--they are more realistic and not so stylized as a lot of figs. They look like women who might actually go into combat--they wear armor, with reasonable weapons. Perry miniatures is one of my very first stops. They have wonderful Arabic miniatures in their line of the Crusades. If you're looking for African style miniatures, they do cover the Zulu wars. Also, just at a glance, the Perry box set of Sudanese tribesmen looks like they could be used in a D&D context. It's 40 figs for 22 pounds---so that might be worth looking into. As for female miniatures, however, you're not going to find many in historical figures, though there are some. That said, Brigade miniatures has some really fun to paint female swashbucklers. Warlord and Foundry are also good but they are definitely on the pricier side of historical war gaming figures. For instance, Foundry has great warriors for almost everywhere if you scour their site. (Just to give everyone a heads up--the pictures of the figs on foundry don't do the sculpts justice--they are better in your hand than they look online. Foundry was founded by a guy who was at GW in the beginning and he broke off to do historical miniatures) Frostgrave has really good figs too--I've recently been painting their set of gnolls--good figs at a good price. Oathmark are also decent figs that are reasonably priced, too. While Hasslefree has a lot of naked figs, they also have some really good non-sexy female figures. If they didn't have Union caps on, I would say that Perry has varied African heads for African American soldiers of the Civil war that you can just glue onto any body. What I'd honestly love to see is a unit of fantasy female landskenects with bills and crossbows and mounted Women at arms for officers. Those would look spectacular on the table. Crocodile games has wonderful Amazons---these girls are flashy and look serious. Again, though, like most fantasy figs, they are pricey if that's an issue. Crocodile Games is owned by a guy who also got his start at GW, as as the name suggests, there is a strong Egyptian and classical Greek influence in their line of miniatures. And yes, paint makes all the difference. I'm not great at painting Asian skin tones yet...yet, but I do fairly well with African tones. Most of my army figs are European--though when I get to my Amazons (I'm saving these girls for a youtube painting/crafting/gaming channel I'm hoping to launch) I'm wanting to do them with a bronze, Mediterranean skin tones.
A few years ago I had free access to a cheap 3D printer that I used extensively to spice up encounters. The quality wasn’t good enough to handle most minis, but it worked fantastically for making terrain. The coolest thing I printed during that time was a full-scale schooner that my minis can inhabit. I think terrain is an underappreciated aspect of the miniatures hobby in the D&D space. There are many ways you can make great-looking terrain for fairly cheap if you know what you want, and it makes encounters that much more engaging and immersive!
Also, Mythico Studios does their own TT War Game that's a high fantasy Americas precontact. Great way to get a lot of Inca, Maya, Aztec, Woodlands, Plains, and Inuit fantasy characters and monsters.
great video! mini reqs below i've found that Privateer Press (Warmachine/Hordes/RIotquest) have a great selection of female scuplts, the vast majority of which are sensibly armored. They also have a decent number of african american/ afro carribean models. Lately they've been adding body diverse minis too! i have these 3 chubby troll priestesses that i adore. unfortunately thats about all i can recommend for better representation in fantasy. there are good minis out there tho. I think trolling ebay for loose kickstarter game minis is a good strategy to get good stuff for cheap. in terms of SF minis -- Corvus Belli (infinity) are a good go to for asian and arab models. they are one of the only SF properties i know of with a muslim interplanetary society. sadly they have a history of making some just mind numbingly sexist sculpts, but they have definitely reined that in recently and they have always also had cool anime armored/space marine style women. There are some infinity Nomad Faction space nuns that i would def use in a sister's army, just sayin. ive been really enjoying the cyberpunk red minis that recently came out. lots of POC, non-sexualized women, and even a few body diverse models. those are the only companies i can really suggest, but if you haven't made an account on miniatures market or a similar site, i suggest you do. be careful tho, its waaaay to easy to drop a hundo on minis when each one is 30-50% off. i am a fiend for minis and i have to agree that my players greatly appreciate this about me. none of them are huge minis people but they have all told me my use of minis elevates the game for them. i would also never want to do dnd combat theatre of the mind, holy hell i hate tracking imaginary distances. if it aint a game with more abstract measurements like 'close-medium-far' we need a board for that shit as far as im concerned. i also really care about having diverse represntation in minis because i like having pieces that can at least somehwat represent the diverse characters my players and i create.
I love Perry Miniatures, I use them to customise my Lord of the rings minis and especially to to increase diversity in my armies. I actually got back into the hobby last year as I was recovering from eye surgery.
First off I think if I were to get into minatures I'd organize them into a couple categories. Historical, Fantasy, Heroes, Animals, Monsters, and Titans (kaiju, dragons, dinosaurs, robots, the big stuff) Another part of me is considering maybe doing everything in legos because I think its more chaotic, childish, and fun but both ways are super cool.
I appreciate the insight into a miniature lover's views! A point of critique: you mention how Chainmail is designed for use with miniatures. While this is true, I think it is important to note that using chainmail rules with d&d rules does not require miniatures. Its combat systems, for example, can be facilitated by declaring targets and noting the number of combatants on each side, as well as their equipment (which is no more information than usual, just AC and weapon-type is needed). Same with morale, it just requires counting losses per side. In terms of confusion about who is where, there's a few methods to note. Primarily is "marching order". Players will declare who is in what order for specific scenarios (hallways, bashing down doors, fighting in a room), and this may be re-used, reducing confusion. Most enemies will consist of one type as well (you're fighting 20 zombies), so it becomes much easier to imagine. And for any time that clarification is needed, a quick mock-up on a whiteboard or notebook paper can serve. Even mass battles could be facilitated via notebook paper. The Referee could note formation types and sizes, and come up with a scale for measuring ranges (1cm = 1 inch), then simply adjust the field via movement, losses, etc. as appropriate. For the players, the Referee could relay "messengers" to the players verbally describing the situation each unit is in, and taking "orders" (take the cavalry around to flank. Archers target artillery. Infantry march forward, but stay out of charge range). That can even increase immersion, serving as a "fog of war", and making the situation feel like a real war tent.
Hah! You like orcs too!!! Played West End's Star Wars rpg a lot back in the day and used the toys... I've been getting back into Battletech mini's and started practising paints on Mansions of Madness.
Speaking on sexy minis, I think it helps to have at least a couple of them mixed in with your more grounded ones for your PCS to use, because theres always the person, male or female, that wants to be the sexy one
I was more excited when I thought it said that you thought Minotaurs were cool, and I was very intrigued to hear your legal-ese on it! Miniatures are great, and I have a decent collection even though I have played pretty much only online for the past 6 years. TL;DR: I'm still pro this video!
It took me awhile to get to this one, but well done. I see a lot of recommendations for mini companies in the comments, too, and I know several people who would love to get their paint-covered fingers on those lists.
Lol, as someone on the spectrum, the "you've met 1 autistic person" thing is very true. Case & point, I much prefer calls to text as I don't like the disconnect between the person and the message that the purely text form takes and enjoy audio feedback where I can catch tone, but I ALSO do like texts at certain points, and prefer it when I'm not just, free with my own time or I'm working on other things. We are a multifaceted people, just like everyone else XD.
Yeah, painting time finally did in my use of minis - I mostly use paper minis now. Okumarts and Trash Mob have some fantastic mildly cartoon-like fantasy minis that are wonderful. Grab some Litko bases to slot them into and go to town.
Big fan of Gaminggeek for 3d printing. He's got a video called "One Page Rules vs Games Workshop Part 1: The Miniatures" where he goes in detail about the price of resin printing, and even if you field one single warhammer army ever, resin printing it is cheaper than games workshop. And then once you own the printer, the cost of printing is like 50 cents a mini. So 3d printing IMHO is always the cheaper option if you are going to own more than maybe 20 or 30 minis.
Finding decently clothed female stls is a real project, but there are so many more options in the stl marketplace than the physical, so you're going to have better luck, though you will wade through "beauties" or "exotic" miniatures that almost ubiquitously come bundled in any monthly patreon pack. The real problem I have found is finding truly monstrous female minis. The quest to find a single female troglodyte a year or two ago was in vain
Little Wars; or Why Gender is Useless in both Love and War You know, I specifically love using minis and maps cause I have aphantasia and it always helps me remember distances, shapes of spaces, enemy numbers, and locations of, like, everything. Also: Heroscape is FANTASTIC for quickly building (and tearing down) hex maps for miniature play. Edit: Van (Thousand_Young on Twitch or @UltharG on Twitter) sells STL files that are WAY BEYOND IMPRESSIVE! LOVE his minis. HE MADE ME A GOBLIN PRINCE FENCER!
Another great video! I have personally struggled with using maps and minis as someone who is almost always the GM because it doubles or triples my prep time while I try to sketch out any maps I'll need for a game or find just the right mini/image for a character or monster! I acknowledge some of that is on me for wanting the "perfect" mini for every specific situation, but I've found it's common for players to associate a creature or enemy with whatever the mini is rather than the opponent I've described. They're super useful as accessibility aids across the board, just wish there was a simpler way for me to use them without burdening an already overloaded brain during the prep process!
Check out Dungeon Craft and his dungeon pizza---it's basically a pink foam disk on a lazy susan, painted up or flocked out to create a theater of the round kind of feel, so the PCs are always in the spotlight. It's a space and time saver instead of pausing the game to draw out a map.
Miniatures are fun, although RPG-wise I haven't experienced many that really play into all they have to offer. Lancer is one of the few ones that really commits to it and is great for it, where you have a lot of powers that rely on positioning, moving enemies, or heck, the size differences between various pieces and so on.
1st Corps has a whole bunch of non-European miniatures, but I haven't bought from them. Fireforge and Wargames Atlantic produce some good, affordable miniatures that include both European and Non-European miniatures. Victrix does a lot of ancient Mediterranean packs. Been eyeing grabbing some Persian, Afghan, and Mongol packs from these companies recently - but I am severely backlogged as it is.
I appreciate this video because I've never understood the appeal of minis. Or playing super tactically when there's good tactical/war games that would do a better job. Also minis create this [false] idea in my head that I need a mini for everything, so if I'm not gonna have minis for this thing I just came up with at this very second as I was running, then why would I use minis? Better to have no minis, than minis just for some of the stuff. So I run theater of the mind unless we are playing an online combat encounter that we know will run longer than this current session. Probably very tactical people won't like this approach, but to me, when somebody asks "where am I?" or "what is here?" my standard answer is "You tell me! :3" My logic is the player's character is there, I'm just ironing out the details, making sure everything is on tone and clear to everyone. I don't really buy the approach that "I'm the eyes and ears of the players" I'll tell you this are barracks, so if you think X would be here in the barracks and we * all * find it reasonable, then there's X here at the barracks.
Had the pleasure of meeting the Perrys at a convention, including watching a sculpting demo. They are the real deal. Feel free to join me in letting go of the "pile of shame" concept. Would Bob Ross embrace that term?
As a German who loves hearing people attempting to pronounce our language, I am BEGGING you to be disrespectful and say the prussian noble names next time
If somebody else did all the work, I could imagine it to be really cool to play with minis, but I look at the money and time investment, not to mention the space that they take up, and I immediately think to myself, "no way will I ever buy some." I am also less materialistic and prefer the flexibility and space efficiency of digital maps and tokens. But hey, if it makes you happy more power to you.
It took me too long to watch this but it was a hecking great video! All my TTRPGs have been theatre of the mind so far but… this defs makes me want to mini . Wish my wallet luckkk 😅
I'm not saying minis aren't fun, too, but expensive things aren't needed to fill out a map. Use a piece of notebook paper to sketch up a scene. Spare dice can represent player characters and M&Ms or other mini candies to represent adversaries (monsters, npcs, etc) and then when the party kills a monster, the person getting the killing blow claims the candies. The sculpted minis are neat, and I really admire the skill it takes to paint them, but I really like keeping things where I can still have both theatre of the mind and representation of the combat field.
Lmao, "Miniature games are meant to bring gamers together" repeated over & over got me rolling XD. It appears someone has been to a miniature wargame event before.
I can't get into minis. I love them, but ya boi don't got no monies. My board game friend goes all in on board games with minis because he likes to paint them. That's how I get my fix. 😅
I'm always like "is it one 'n', or two, in the word, 'chanel', lol". I wonder if this is grammatically correct lol, I assume it is partially subjective, partially depends on context.
I avoided the prohibitive cost of minis by getting into Lego minifigs for my RPG supplements. I may have outsmarted myself. Also, while it's getting better, Lego has representation issues as well.
Honestly, any argument for or against minis sounds to me like a rationalization of the GM's taste. For me, the decision is simple: I don't like to use minis for both practical (money, time etc.) and gamey reason (limited stimulation of visualization skills, which today are atrofied), so I don't use them. I like memory aids, so I use tokens and super rudimentary maps especially for combat. That's as simple as it gets.
3d printing is a good choice. Getting into it might not require getting a printer yourself - there's plenty of people offering services or even already printed things. If you have access to this, I recommend taking a look at Wargames Atlantic - they generally produce plastic kits, but recently started offering a line of 3d models (that didn't make it into the harder to produce plastic). These include women, historical figures from less popular (i.e. not seen fighting The British) places and periods, and even some civilians. The majority of miniatures I painted over the last year were 3d printed (and I do not own a printer, nor do I have a printing service within my country). Personally, I dislike metal models - they are hard to work with. And Games Workshop models - they have wonky scale, highly specific visual style, and often require so much assembly that the process sucks the remaining joy (not to mention, ridiculous prices). Mantic Games fairly consistently include women (and left-handed people! Which is somehow rare), and Northstar is a good choice if you want easily customizable models (their entire Frostgrave/Stargrave/Oathmark range is largely compatible with each other, and a lot of model kits have a version with women).
For as much as I love Cortex and as gorgeous as the handbook is, it took me way too long to notice it on the desk 😅 On topic, I like paper/cardboard minis as a low-cost option. If I can't find artwork to print/tape on them that represents what I need, I can just draw it myself. They can be easier to store too because they can be taken off their bases and laid flat, taking up less space. Shout-out to the Pathfinder 2e beginner box for coming with a few sheets of paper minis.
@@LegalKimchi you bring any GSC allies ever? they will forever be my fave because i loved them as a child before they were even a legit faction. and i love that GW was just like: lets have them just be the entire alien movie series as an army. baldie industrial cultists, freaky hybrids, and legally distinct xenomorphs popping out of nowhere. plus they are one of the only anti-authoritarian factions in the entire setting. i guess other than orks?
@@LegalKimchi the bugs were def my first love. the art in the 2nd edition codex lives inside my head. i'm not as much a fan of the newer models. I miss the hug carnifex and the hive tyrants that looked like diablo enemies. always loved the genestealer design, but i just feel like now most models look like variations on the genies. raveners look great though, and all the big new artillery monsters.
I have been torn between quite a few options. I was thinking of Iron Warriors, White Scars, or Imperial Fists but all three seem like they would be brutal to paint. Orks are up there too because they seem like an army that encourages creativity. I'll probably paint up some Kill Teams to help me decide though.
I'm autistic and I try to have a map or visual representation, even when not in combat. That said, I usually use paper minis both for price reasons and because that way I can get access to a whole lot of different creatures/characters
Bad Squiddo are great and well worth a look!
Other miniature companies with female figures, as requested:
Oathsworn Miniatures have a whole line of sensibly armoured female adventurers.
Hasslefree Miniatures are really premium but have a good variety of female body types. (Note, the sculptor works from the body up so some minis on the site lack clothes.)
Otherworld Minis has a few, but I wanted to mention them because of their delightful old school aesthetic.
Black Scorpion has a few female warrior types and the sculpts are really really nice.
North Star Miniatures Frostgrave line has boxes of multi part plastic female models, as well as a nice line of metal miniatures for adventurers and NPCs.
I'm not familiar with Oathsworn, but the rest of these I've seen. And for female minis on the cheap---Frostgrave has some wonderful sculpts in their box sets. One of the things my girlfriend and I are looking for is something as close as we can get to a female mounted landskenecht for her character. We have both Maika von Oswald sculpts from Hasslefree and we couldn't be more pleased with these---now we just need to find something like that on hosrseback...any ideas?
I honestly don't know why there aren't more female landskenects--talk about outrageous clothing and bright colors. I think a unit or a few units of women armed with bills and crossbows would look amazing on a table. Think of these being an elite unit of mercenaries.
@@andrewlustfield6079 North Star is Frostgrave :)
My advice to the new miniature buyer is this: buy what looks cool. Then find some excuse to use it. If you end up with a weird ragtag miniatures collection you will be in good company.
I like this approach. Let them inspire you.
Very sound advice.
Well, that was delightful! I gave all my minis away about ten years ago, and though I love painting them, and sometime playing with them - especially the idea of giving someone the perfect mini for their character, I don't miss shopping for them, or lugging them around, and I'm not playing enough for re-entry into minis to be worth it. Also, small children + limited space + fragile toys + paint = anxiety. Still, love some visual aids, and maybe one day I'll get back into it. And watching my first born play with my dice and tokens and fake coins on my dry erase mat is so fun. ❤
I almost got advertising PTSD when you said "squarespaces on a board"...because, you know.
Lovely video mate, you speak with so much passion, it's amazing!
Kimchi, I'll have you know this popped up for me today as I'm assembling the first citadel miniature I've bought in around 15 years.
I am now giddily sharing in your energy!
Loved this deep dive into minis! Regarding Theater of the Mind tactical battles, I think a common mistake that people make is relying on an absolute grid-based view of the world, instead of shifting the description model to one that orients itself around targets and landmarks. Absolute position assumes a map and a top-down view. In a narrated combat without a map or minis, the DM and players should try to describe position relative to the monster being targeted and/or one or two fixed landmarks in the scene. It's not important which square they're in - what's important is how close they are to their target or to the object/feature they are trying to interact with. Distances boil down to just Adjacent, Near, Far, and Out-of-Range.
The title caught me off guard but I was pleasantly surprised with how you managed to do such a good deep dive into a otherwise niche topic. Great Work man keep the videos coming.
I don't have the money for full miniatures & terrain, so I pre-draw my combat maps on Gaming Paper & use Rich Burlew's papercraft minis from his "A Monster for Every Season" collection. It works really well. I can use those small post-it notes for status effects!
I definitely feel you on the price of LEGO sets. Hoo boy.
Well two videos in and you've sold me on your channel
This is so cool! Btw, your humor on this is incredible. On point. Fantastic timing. Never too much. Wonderful job!
I often view minis the same way I view the set of a play. A play does not technically need a set, but it can add quite a lot to the experience, and help the audience keep track of things.
Also I will say in regards to 3d printing, while the upfront cost can be a little pricey, if you are the sort of person who needs minis a lot or wants to get more specialized ones, it will make the overall process cheaper going forward. However it is also sort of its own hobby.
Great look at the history and uses of minis! Makes me want to start painting them again more!
This is such a fascinating deep dive, I love knowing the complicated minutia of miniatures
This is hilarious and entertaining while also informative throughout. Excellent.
love the hirst arts terrain, too. By the by, Dungeon Craft has a great device he calls dungeon pizza that makes miniature play in TTRPGs very doable without having to set up a whole war gaming table for your encounters. If table space is an issue--dungeon pizzas are really helpful. I currently have three--one for underground dungeons, one for wilderness and one for town. Soon, I'll do one that's tavern or wooden flood based. For my group, this really makes using miniatures possible--and they really make combats much clearer.
For non Euro-centric minis, historical miniatures are the way to go. That and they are typically a lot cheaper too because you can't trademark historical figs---you can find figs from almost every culture around the world.
Steel Fist has great Japanese figs along with their wars of the Roses and Italian Wars figs. Also Gripping beast isn't terrible for female shield maiden types--they are more realistic and not so stylized as a lot of figs. They look like women who might actually go into combat--they wear armor, with reasonable weapons. Perry miniatures is one of my very first stops. They have wonderful Arabic miniatures in their line of the Crusades. If you're looking for African style miniatures, they do cover the Zulu wars. Also, just at a glance, the Perry box set of Sudanese tribesmen looks like they could be used in a D&D context. It's 40 figs for 22 pounds---so that might be worth looking into. As for female miniatures, however, you're not going to find many in historical figures, though there are some. That said, Brigade miniatures has some really fun to paint female swashbucklers. Warlord and Foundry are also good but they are definitely on the pricier side of historical war gaming figures. For instance, Foundry has great warriors for almost everywhere if you scour their site. (Just to give everyone a heads up--the pictures of the figs on foundry don't do the sculpts justice--they are better in your hand than they look online. Foundry was founded by a guy who was at GW in the beginning and he broke off to do historical miniatures)
Frostgrave has really good figs too--I've recently been painting their set of gnolls--good figs at a good price. Oathmark are also decent figs that are reasonably priced, too. While Hasslefree has a lot of naked figs, they also have some really good non-sexy female figures. If they didn't have Union caps on, I would say that Perry has varied African heads for African American soldiers of the Civil war that you can just glue onto any body. What I'd honestly love to see is a unit of fantasy female landskenects with bills and crossbows and mounted Women at arms for officers. Those would look spectacular on the table. Crocodile games has wonderful Amazons---these girls are flashy and look serious. Again, though, like most fantasy figs, they are pricey if that's an issue. Crocodile Games is owned by a guy who also got his start at GW, as as the name suggests, there is a strong Egyptian and classical Greek influence in their line of miniatures.
And yes, paint makes all the difference. I'm not great at painting Asian skin tones yet...yet, but I do fairly well with African tones. Most of my army figs are European--though when I get to my Amazons (I'm saving these girls for a youtube painting/crafting/gaming channel I'm hoping to launch) I'm wanting to do them with a bronze, Mediterranean skin tones.
My gaming friend and his preteen daughters playtested DnD with Gygax back in the 70s. Love Perry minis.
A few years ago I had free access to a cheap 3D printer that I used extensively to spice up encounters. The quality wasn’t good enough to handle most minis, but it worked fantastically for making terrain. The coolest thing I printed during that time was a full-scale schooner that my minis can inhabit.
I think terrain is an underappreciated aspect of the miniatures hobby in the D&D space. There are many ways you can make great-looking terrain for fairly cheap if you know what you want, and it makes encounters that much more engaging and immersive!
Also, Mythico Studios does their own TT War Game that's a high fantasy Americas precontact. Great way to get a lot of Inca, Maya, Aztec, Woodlands, Plains, and Inuit fantasy characters and monsters.
Aphasia! That’s me! But I also don’t enjoy playing RPGs so . . .
But if I’m watching other people play minis can be helpful.
great video!
mini reqs below
i've found that Privateer Press (Warmachine/Hordes/RIotquest) have a great selection of female scuplts, the vast majority of which are sensibly armored. They also have a decent number of african american/ afro carribean models. Lately they've been adding body diverse minis too! i have these 3 chubby troll priestesses that i adore.
unfortunately thats about all i can recommend for better representation in fantasy. there are good minis out there tho. I think trolling ebay for loose kickstarter game minis is a good strategy to get good stuff for cheap.
in terms of SF minis -- Corvus Belli (infinity) are a good go to for asian and arab models. they are one of the only SF properties i know of with a muslim interplanetary society. sadly they have a history of making some just mind numbingly sexist sculpts, but they have definitely reined that in recently and they have always also had cool anime armored/space marine style women. There are some infinity Nomad Faction space nuns that i would def use in a sister's army, just sayin.
ive been really enjoying the cyberpunk red minis that recently came out. lots of POC, non-sexualized women, and even a few body diverse models.
those are the only companies i can really suggest, but if you haven't made an account on miniatures market or a similar site, i suggest you do. be careful tho, its waaaay to easy to drop a hundo on minis when each one is 30-50% off.
i am a fiend for minis and i have to agree that my players greatly appreciate this about me. none of them are huge minis people but they have all told me my use of minis elevates the game for them. i would also never want to do dnd combat theatre of the mind, holy hell i hate tracking imaginary distances. if it aint a game with more abstract measurements like 'close-medium-far' we need a board for that shit as far as im concerned. i also really care about having diverse represntation in minis because i like having pieces that can at least somehwat represent the diverse characters my players and i create.
I love Perry Miniatures, I use them to customise my Lord of the rings minis and especially to to increase diversity in my armies.
I actually got back into the hobby last year as I was recovering from eye surgery.
First off I think if I were to get into minatures I'd organize them into a couple categories. Historical, Fantasy, Heroes, Animals, Monsters, and Titans (kaiju, dragons, dinosaurs, robots, the big stuff)
Another part of me is considering maybe doing everything in legos because I think its more chaotic, childish, and fun but both ways are super cool.
I appreciate the insight into a miniature lover's views!
A point of critique: you mention how Chainmail is designed for use with miniatures. While this is true, I think it is important to note that using chainmail rules with d&d rules does not require miniatures. Its combat systems, for example, can be facilitated by declaring targets and noting the number of combatants on each side, as well as their equipment (which is no more information than usual, just AC and weapon-type is needed). Same with morale, it just requires counting losses per side.
In terms of confusion about who is where, there's a few methods to note. Primarily is "marching order". Players will declare who is in what order for specific scenarios (hallways, bashing down doors, fighting in a room), and this may be re-used, reducing confusion. Most enemies will consist of one type as well (you're fighting 20 zombies), so it becomes much easier to imagine. And for any time that clarification is needed, a quick mock-up on a whiteboard or notebook paper can serve.
Even mass battles could be facilitated via notebook paper. The Referee could note formation types and sizes, and come up with a scale for measuring ranges (1cm = 1 inch), then simply adjust the field via movement, losses, etc. as appropriate. For the players, the Referee could relay "messengers" to the players verbally describing the situation each unit is in, and taking "orders" (take the cavalry around to flank. Archers target artillery. Infantry march forward, but stay out of charge range). That can even increase immersion, serving as a "fog of war", and making the situation feel like a real war tent.
Hah! You like orcs too!!! Played West End's Star Wars rpg a lot back in the day and used the toys...
I've been getting back into Battletech mini's and started practising paints on Mansions of Madness.
Speaking on sexy minis, I think it helps to have at least a couple of them mixed in with your more grounded ones for your PCS to use, because theres always the person, male or female, that wants to be the sexy one
I like Indus minis which do late medieval/Renaissance minis of Marathas. They have some armored Rajputs that can be used as decent paladins.
I was more excited when I thought it said that you thought Minotaurs were cool, and I was very intrigued to hear your legal-ese on it!
Miniatures are great, and I have a decent collection even though I have played pretty much only online for the past 6 years.
TL;DR: I'm still pro this video!
It took me awhile to get to this one, but well done. I see a lot of recommendations for mini companies in the comments, too, and I know several people who would love to get their paint-covered fingers on those lists.
Oooh, lookit them watches. We got a FANCY nerd over here! ; )
Lol, as someone on the spectrum, the "you've met 1 autistic person" thing is very true. Case & point, I much prefer calls to text as I don't like the disconnect between the person and the message that the purely text form takes and enjoy audio feedback where I can catch tone, but I ALSO do like texts at certain points, and prefer it when I'm not just, free with my own time or I'm working on other things. We are a multifaceted people, just like everyone else XD.
Yeah, painting time finally did in my use of minis - I mostly use paper minis now. Okumarts and Trash Mob have some fantastic mildly cartoon-like fantasy minis that are wonderful. Grab some Litko bases to slot them into and go to town.
Great video. This was a very cheerful way to start my day!
Do you know if that initial inspiration set of plastic toys for monsters is still available anywhere
Was that a Crossbows and Catapults tower getting blown up in the Part One graphic?
Big fan of Gaminggeek for 3d printing. He's got a video called "One Page Rules vs Games Workshop Part 1: The Miniatures" where he goes in detail about the price of resin printing, and even if you field one single warhammer army ever, resin printing it is cheaper than games workshop. And then once you own the printer, the cost of printing is like 50 cents a mini. So 3d printing IMHO is always the cheaper option if you are going to own more than maybe 20 or 30 minis.
Finding decently clothed female stls is a real project, but there are so many more options in the stl marketplace than the physical, so you're going to have better luck, though you will wade through "beauties" or "exotic" miniatures that almost ubiquitously come bundled in any monthly patreon pack. The real problem I have found is finding truly monstrous female minis. The quest to find a single female troglodyte a year or two ago was in vain
Little Wars; or Why Gender is Useless in both Love and War
You know, I specifically love using minis and maps cause I have aphantasia and it always helps me remember distances, shapes of spaces, enemy numbers, and locations of, like, everything. Also: Heroscape is FANTASTIC for quickly building (and tearing down) hex maps for miniature play.
Edit: Van (Thousand_Young on Twitch or @UltharG on Twitter) sells STL files that are WAY BEYOND IMPRESSIVE! LOVE his minis. HE MADE ME A GOBLIN PRINCE FENCER!
Another great video!
I have personally struggled with using maps and minis as someone who is almost always the GM because it doubles or triples my prep time while I try to sketch out any maps I'll need for a game or find just the right mini/image for a character or monster!
I acknowledge some of that is on me for wanting the "perfect" mini for every specific situation, but I've found it's common for players to associate a creature or enemy with whatever the mini is rather than the opponent I've described.
They're super useful as accessibility aids across the board, just wish there was a simpler way for me to use them without burdening an already overloaded brain during the prep process!
Check out Dungeon Craft and his dungeon pizza---it's basically a pink foam disk on a lazy susan, painted up or flocked out to create a theater of the round kind of feel, so the PCs are always in the spotlight. It's a space and time saver instead of pausing the game to draw out a map.
Miniatures are fun, although RPG-wise I haven't experienced many that really play into all they have to offer. Lancer is one of the few ones that really commits to it and is great for it, where you have a lot of powers that rely on positioning, moving enemies, or heck, the size differences between various pieces and so on.
I'm seconding Bad Squiddo minis! They're fantastic. I've found some really good female minis made for the Frostgrave game, which I would recommend
i already fav'ed this the last time i watched it so here is a comment instead. here is hoping this video gets the views it deserves
1st Corps has a whole bunch of non-European miniatures, but I haven't bought from them.
Fireforge and Wargames Atlantic produce some good, affordable miniatures that include both European and Non-European miniatures. Victrix does a lot of ancient Mediterranean packs. Been eyeing grabbing some Persian, Afghan, and Mongol packs from these companies recently - but I am severely backlogged as it is.
I appreciate this video because I've never understood the appeal of minis. Or playing super tactically when there's good tactical/war games that would do a better job. Also minis create this [false] idea in my head that I need a mini for everything, so if I'm not gonna have minis for this thing I just came up with at this very second as I was running, then why would I use minis? Better to have no minis, than minis just for some of the stuff. So I run theater of the mind unless we are playing an online combat encounter that we know will run longer than this current session.
Probably very tactical people won't like this approach, but to me, when somebody asks "where am I?" or "what is here?" my standard answer is "You tell me! :3" My logic is the player's character is there, I'm just ironing out the details, making sure everything is on tone and clear to everyone. I don't really buy the approach that "I'm the eyes and ears of the players" I'll tell you this are barracks, so if you think X would be here in the barracks and we * all * find it reasonable, then there's X here at the barracks.
Had the pleasure of meeting the Perrys at a convention, including watching a sculpting demo. They are the real deal.
Feel free to join me in letting go of the "pile of shame" concept. Would Bob Ross embrace that term?
As a German who loves hearing people attempting to pronounce our language, I am BEGGING you to be disrespectful and say the prussian noble names next time
So mad you almost did the Futurama reference but made it your own, lol, technically correct is the best kind of correct tho
If somebody else did all the work, I could imagine it to be really cool to play with minis, but I look at the money and time investment, not to mention the space that they take up, and I immediately think to myself, "no way will I ever buy some."
I am also less materialistic and prefer the flexibility and space efficiency of digital maps and tokens. But hey, if it makes you happy more power to you.
This is an interesting take! I disagree with a lot of it, but I enjoyed the video very much!
It took me too long to watch this but it was a hecking great video!
All my TTRPGs have been theatre of the mind so far but… this defs makes me want to mini . Wish my wallet luckkk 😅
Badger Games in the United States carry Bad Squidoo miniatures.
Great video
I'm not saying minis aren't fun, too, but expensive things aren't needed to fill out a map. Use a piece of notebook paper to sketch up a scene. Spare dice can represent player characters and M&Ms or other mini candies to represent adversaries (monsters, npcs, etc) and then when the party kills a monster, the person getting the killing blow claims the candies. The sculpted minis are neat, and I really admire the skill it takes to paint them, but I really like keeping things where I can still have both theatre of the mind and representation of the combat field.
I don't have a minds eye, AND I'm awaiting an appointment to access me for autism. I really REALLY need minis or a VTT or I am just lost!
Lmao, "Miniature games are meant to bring gamers together" repeated over & over got me rolling XD. It appears someone has been to a miniature wargame event before.
I can't get into minis. I love them, but ya boi don't got no monies. My board game friend goes all in on board games with minis because he likes to paint them. That's how I get my fix. 😅
You are wonderful.
Omg I'm so glad I found ur chanel hehe
I'm always like "is it one 'n', or two, in the word, 'chanel', lol". I wonder if this is grammatically correct lol, I assume it is partially subjective, partially depends on context.
I avoided the prohibitive cost of minis by getting into Lego minifigs for my RPG supplements. I may have outsmarted myself. Also, while it's getting better, Lego has representation issues as well.
Could always go the 3d printed route. People like Miguel Zavala have put a lot of free printables on the internet.
I like the classic yellow Lego minifigures - they don’t look like anybody 😊
Honestly, any argument for or against minis sounds to me like a rationalization of the GM's taste. For me, the decision is simple: I don't like to use minis for both practical (money, time etc.) and gamey reason (limited stimulation of visualization skills, which today are atrofied), so I don't use them.
I like memory aids, so I use tokens and super rudimentary maps especially for combat. That's as simple as it gets.
3d printing is a good choice. Getting into it might not require getting a printer yourself - there's plenty of people offering services or even already printed things.
If you have access to this, I recommend taking a look at Wargames Atlantic - they generally produce plastic kits, but recently started offering a line of 3d models (that didn't make it into the harder to produce plastic). These include women, historical figures from less popular (i.e. not seen fighting The British) places and periods, and even some civilians.
The majority of miniatures I painted over the last year were 3d printed (and I do not own a printer, nor do I have a printing service within my country).
Personally, I dislike metal models - they are hard to work with. And Games Workshop models - they have wonky scale, highly specific visual style, and often require so much assembly that the process sucks the remaining joy (not to mention, ridiculous prices).
Mantic Games fairly consistently include women (and left-handed people! Which is somehow rare), and Northstar is a good choice if you want easily customizable models (their entire Frostgrave/Stargrave/Oathmark range is largely compatible with each other, and a lot of model kits have a version with women).
Super Geek Mike sent me!
For as much as I love Cortex and as gorgeous as the handbook is, it took me way too long to notice it on the desk 😅
On topic, I like paper/cardboard minis as a low-cost option. If I can't find artwork to print/tape on them that represents what I need, I can just draw it myself. They can be easier to store too because they can be taken off their bases and laid flat, taking up less space. Shout-out to the Pathfinder 2e beginner box for coming with a few sheets of paper minis.
for the algorithm
What 40k army do you play? Genuinely asking because I can't make up my mind personally.
Tyranids and Sisters of Battle. tyranids because i can use them as dnd minis. Sister of battle because they are cool.
@@LegalKimchi you bring any GSC allies ever? they will forever be my fave because i loved them as a child before they were even a legit faction. and i love that GW was just like: lets have them just be the entire alien movie series as an army. baldie industrial cultists, freaky hybrids, and legally distinct xenomorphs popping out of nowhere. plus they are one of the only anti-authoritarian factions in the entire setting. i guess other than orks?
@@LegalKimchi the bugs were def my first love. the art in the 2nd edition codex lives inside my head. i'm not as much a fan of the newer models. I miss the hug carnifex and the hive tyrants that looked like diablo enemies. always loved the genestealer design, but i just feel like now most models look like variations on the genies. raveners look great though, and all the big new artillery monsters.
i have a handful of GSC models but i've never played with them. i do like them
I have been torn between quite a few options. I was thinking of Iron Warriors, White Scars, or Imperial Fists but all three seem like they would be brutal to paint. Orks are up there too because they seem like an army that encourages creativity. I'll probably paint up some Kill Teams to help me decide though.
Not for nothing, I thought this video was about monitors 🤔😂
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Funny cause those cheap plastic minis that inspired monsters got used.