@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I'm a little surprised you didn't showcase any historical models in this video---they are a great value if you're wanting to really flesh out a whole scene. Perry Miniatures is one of my first stops when I'm looking for soldiers or civilians.
Another vote for Otherworld Miniatures- they definitely have a 1st edition/OSR look and feel to the sculpts. Lots of variety for PCs and NPCs. Their monsters are refreshingly different from everything else out there.
The friendly vibe among the cast really added to the fun of this video. For large groups of Fantasy minis, or for lots of conversion options, I'll recommend the Frostgrave and Oathmark ranges from North Star Miniatures, the Forgotten World range from Fireforge, and the Classic Fantasy range from Wargames Atlantic. Each firm produces boxes of bits to make 20+ minis for around £25. They all tend to be in the chunkier heroic-25-28mm scale rather than the more realistic true-25mm scale. They all have a pretty low-fantasy, pulp aesthetic.
Eh, when it comes to Ral Partha vs Grenadier, the specific sculptor is more important than the company. Julie Guthrie, Dennis Mise, Sandra Garrity, Bob Rudolfi? A++. Many of the others? ... ... Not so much. And yeah, those people have sculpted for both companies, and even recently for Reaper and Darksword.
Grenadier and Ral Partha are what I grew-upon, but looking at them now, believe that many of the figures, be it due to the sculpt or the casting process, just ate sub par compared to many contemporary minis. For sure she me of the Ral Partha/Grenadier minis would make it into my hall of fame, the bulk of them wouldn't.
@@GreyhawkGrognard VERY COOL. I still have some of these. Unfortunately they are not in scale with todays miniatures. They are much smaller and the sculpts look puny when compared to reaper and games workshop.
@@GreyhawkGrognard thanks for that. I thought metal was a thing of the past. It makes me sick to think of all my missing minis from the 80s and early 90s that didn’t survive my nomadic early 20s.
This needed one constant "scale" mini throughout! 25/28/30/32mm mini scales are so dicey. Sometimes they make perfect sense, sometimes you get a dwarf who's taller than a firbolg.
Lots of great companies out their making miniatures. Glad you glanced on this. Many times people feel they need to spend a lot to get minis on the board.
Your videos are so much fun to watch. The narrative is very entertaining. I especially enjoy the visual depictions, and I appreciate the time and effort you put into them. I prefer to watch your videos over anything on TV. Keep rocking!
PDM I love this! I just recieved via Hasslefree Miniatures my Hasslefree Lenore that you feature in a lot of your videos as the enchantress. I am so happy with this miniature, and I look to paint her soon! Keep up the wonderful content! We appreciate you!
These Hassle-free miniatures shipped to me in under 9 days from Wales, British Isles, to Kentucky, USA I remember being surprised at how quickly I received it during a Pandemic, via Royal Air Mail.
You have a truly amazing collection. What's cool about it is that it gives the game so many possibilities. A good NPC mini combined with a great DM giving it a personality is some of the things that makes D&D come alive. I've got a collection of around 800 minis that it took about 2 to 2-1/2 years to assemble. Some recent and even some metal ones that reach back to the 80s. My collection was assembled pretty slowly and pretty inexpensively--I am frugal much like Professor Dungeonmaster--but I am happy with where it is at. As a DM, it gives me the ability to host sessions with more realistic battles and of course minis really help players better visualize what's going on. Just over 100 goblins/orcs means that they can always be a part of the game from lower levels to the upper ones as well. Super job and I've also sometimes wondered the many sources of your minis--kudos!
I'm a big fan of the Oathmark plastics, they look pretty good and they're quite affordable, they have elves, dwarves,orcs, and undead. They also use a more grounded "realistic" art style which i prefer. For lower fantasy games historical plastics like Gripping Beast and other stuff made for SAGA are in general a great choice due to their relatively low price compared to purpose built fantasy miniatures.
The Oathmark range also works very well with the kits from Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago, right down to part swapping. Pretty much making the kind of modular kits GW used to do at a fraction of the cost of their current, increasingly monopose stuff.
I love the Oathmark stuff I have seen the only thing to remember with them is that they are more true 28mm then the heroic 28mm other company's do. the human infantry i have are a wee short compared to my other 28mm stuff. still they are really nice sculpts
I absolutel loved Rackham (they were the company that owned Cadwallon previously). Wonderfully designed, perfectly made and fairly affordable for what you get! And the huge miniatures they made were an absolute dream! If you can get your hands on some: buy them! Worth every penny!
there are so many miniature companies with so many miniatures that it would take a series of these to even gloss over them, but thanks for this one . . . hope to see more . . . my favourite minis are Raging Heroes . . . .
Tell tale heart was a great video. It was one of my first Poe experiences when I was young and graduating from Chronicles of Narnia. So yes, it was cool to see what what you did with it.
I still think it's both great and hilarious that your witch is teen titan's Raven (Hasslefree) 9:20 is Empire Militia. Great kit. 12:00 I immediately went and bought that merchant when I saw it in an old video of yours 14:10 ... must acquire now thanks for the info
I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the old Mordheim Human Mercenaries box and the old Mage Knight line. The Mordheim box gave you a lot of customization and Mage Knight had some really interesting sculpts that just needed a decent paint job.
I was gifted Rangers of Shadow Deep for Christmas, and am just getting into the miniatures side of tabletop games. Found this video quite interesting. Great painting btw!
Kev makes excellent figures at Hasselfree, gotta agree with that! I wish CMON still sold miniature singles, they had quite a few interesting limited run miniatures in the past.
I have an idea for a video I don't think you have covered but I would love to hear your thoughts ( as well as your viewers). What do you feel TTRPG's will be like in the future both near and far? Anyone around my age ( I'll be 42 in March) and older has seen some drastic changes to our beloved hobby over the years thanks to upgrades in tech and globalization bringing us much closer together as gamers throughout the world. I realize as far as the near future no changes could possibly be as game changing as what we have seen but I'm excited for many of the possibilities, and I think it would be a fun video for us all to speculate on ( I hope other viewers agree!). My personal thoughts on possible technology that's likely are thus. 1. An app on our phones or other similar device that can create holograms for the game board. Things like spell effects could be replicated, or possibly monsters, heck whole dungeons . combined with even the sound fx that we currently having some amazing possibilities could come about. I don't think miniatures will ever truly go away ( at least not completely ) but for those that don't enjoy the craft aspects of our hobby this would be popular. 2. My friend Theo from " The Gallant Goblin" ( lol , quick plug for an amazing channel) channel when posed this question said he thought VR headsets might be used to greater effect in games . I could see this happening to some extent but still feel our games will continue for a large part to be played on a board. I see this being more in the realm of videogames Cthulhu knows their are enough manga dealing with this very tech. 3. Possible ai programs for a DM and NPCs, the possibilities are endless for running quests. A lot of companies are already making rules for games where we can enjoy them solo I feel this is a logical progression .
Cool collection! If you're strictly into Fantasy stuff, there are a few other ranges off the top of my head that you should definitely check out. 1) Avatars of War: These are heavily inspired by Warhammer Fantasy but they have awesome characters models for orcs, beastmen, elves, dwarfs and Empire guys that make excellent PCs or bosses. 2) Warploque Miniatures: Alex Huntley's style is one of the most memorable out there, and his sculpts are so characterful. They're a bit impressionistic, and give me a bit of a claymation vibe, but I adore them. The ArcWorlde halflings in particular are so good. 3) SciBor Miniatures: If you like Dwarfs... Scibor sculpts some of the best. He's got a lot of other stuff but his dwarfs are some of my favourites. 4) Dunkeldorf: Hands down some of the best metal miniatures on the market to date. They are basically the pages of the old 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer RPG come to life. They are such nostalgic and gorgeous designs, and their latest round of casts were so crisp it was insane. I think you'd love these guys in particular, given your tastes.
I agree with your assessment of the Gloomhaven minis. I'm the painter of our GH group and sometimes I have no idea what a little doodad on the mini actually is.
Back in the day I used a ton of cardboard mini's or figure flats. They do a great job of getting it done, and with the internet you have infinite mini's available to you.
Great tour, nice collection you have there. Good to see a bit of the cast in their own glory. I have recently gotten back into painting minis (I get out and go back every 8-10 years) so it isn't even my second go round, I think it is round four. So many good things out there and so many companies. I have pounds and pounds of old lead I've been carting around for ever. Good inspiration, maybe it is time to make a video of the old gang as well.
I’m not a fan of heroforge. The sculpts are out of proportion and muddy. They are constantly innovating and improving though, and maybe someday I’ll get one.
Yeah, they offer a higher-detail version that looks to be worlds better. It's misleading when you do the builder app and you're looking at a 3D model and then you buy the cheap version and it's got very little detail. Be curious to see a high-detail version.
Heroforge does have a give and take. I purchased one, it did come out as expected. Luckily, I went with the higher detail myself. Personally, I think Heroforge is best for those models you just can't find. Case and point: If you're looking for modern urban setting models. It is a bitch to find to street gang and thug models. I spent hours, days scouring the net searching for such models. There were times I thought they didn't exist. Needless to say I did find about three or four sites that produce such models. This is a poor example if you're wanting bulk models. I for one ain't paying $30 to $40 a model when I need twenty of them. But if you're wanting a specialized model, a like a CJ or Big Smoke, then Heroforge is a good option.
@@baker90338 exactly! If a player or DM wants a Marlin Brando-esq goblin mob boss (for example), I can almost guarantee that it doesn’t exist, which makes heroforge a good option.
Check out the Frostgrave minis. The cultists, soldiers, barbarians, and wizards would be right at home in your set. They also have male and female variants of most sets.
Question: in your first campaign prep video you talked about how towns are built on trade roads between cities and always near fresh water. How would you go about designing a small town on an ocean?
It has to have a river leading inland. Without access to fresh water no one would build a town there. Any town on an ocean coast would have an economy based on fishing and trade.
Did you ever have any Ral Partha or Grenadier miniatures back in the day? They were actual lead initially, which is why many of us called them "leads" rather than "miniatures" or "minis," etc.; then they started transitioning to pewter. There weren't many plastic/resin ones back then in the late '80s/early '90s when I first used miniatures. I also had some from RAFM...and I still have all of them (some of which aren't painted yet!)! These "vintage" ones are often still available on Ebay and such, and apart from some of the rare collector sets/special edition ones, are not too expensive, either!
i've been waiting for this video! i was always curious about the prisoner/victim/commoner figures, very underrepresented in a lot of collections but so fun to throw into a combat grid to complicate things!
Well I do applaud you for including Ral Partha (that's who made the Mordenheim's Laboratory box set). My own collection would lean heavily towards Grenadier, Ral Partha, Dragontooth, RAFM, Heritage, and TSR (all from the 70's, 80's, and early 90's). Unfortunately as you note modern miniature companies are almost all doing 28mm (or "heroic 28mm" which is effectively 30mm), so my own huge collection of true 25mm figures just looks wrong on the table next to them. I do occasionally get monsters in 28mm, but even then there's been scale creep in the rules that has nothing to do with the scale of the figures, so modern giants and dragons are much larger in-game than they were in earlier editions. So even there, I have to be careful lest the figure be totally out of whack with the rest of my collection. +1 for Mrs. Dungeon Master getting the Gabrielle paint job, though. I can definitely see the Xena influence. :-) FYI: the old Ral Partha figures are back in production through Iron Wind Metals. I don't know if they have the Mordenheim's Laboratory figures, but they do have a ton of the old casts, newly done from the original molds, both fantasy and Battletech!
I mentioned in another comment if your a lover of 2nd ed AD&D as I am there is an awesome company from England called otherworld miniatures and their sculpts ( especially the monsters) are almost all copied from the old monster manuals . I collect goblin and troll miniatures in particular and my favorite miniature is probably my old early 90's night goblin that's giving his enemies the finger LOL, that guy just speaks to me and I would love to have a whole army of that sculpt just for the reactions I would get LOL!
Hi, I know this is a bit late, but if you like those cheeky old Kev Adams goblins, there's a company called Midlam Miniatures. They have a range of goblins called "Goblinville", almost all sculpted by Kev.
You ever think about doing an update on this video at all? Reaper is my go-to but if I need a customized mini, I’d rather go Eldritch Foundry as opposed to Heroforge now. Heroforge can be good if you are looking for a more cartoony appearance whereas Eldritch foundry has a more detailed and gritty aesthetic
Another great miniatures company I've found is Bombshell Miniatures. Wide and fun selection with a lot of female models (very classy and tasteful) and others like the Mask and Rocketeer (under different names of course). The ones I've purchased were well sculpted. And the bonus I love about them; they ship your order out within 24 hours of purchase.
The Hasslefree they're referring to is the one in purple. HFH087 Lenore. They make great stuff, small compared to say Reaper but amazingly well sculpted.
Shoutout to the RuneWars Coreset! 48 Great mini's. Soldiers, Skeletons, and Knights. +2 Giant Mini's. Now as it has been discontinued the box is only 25-35$.
While they mostly do historical stuff, perry miniatures and victrix are also very good! especially if you are looking for medieval humans. victrix vikings and perry european mercenaries are some of my favorites.
Love videos checking out minis. My favorite fantasy ones are from Grenadier sculpted by Julie Guthrie. There are a few old Citadel miniatures (before they had stands) I'm still looking for. My favorite "Pulp" miniature is one of the Champions by Grenadier called "309 Normals". It's a librarian lady holding a book, a perfect Investigator of the Esoteric.
Very effective work, it looks like you have a decent selection for much of what you like to run. "We take a look at just about every miniature in my collection...." That ... would take me a very long time indeed. Though if we only looked at painted minis, it would be _much_ shorter. 8-) Note that while it's possible to solder white metal, it's quite difficult. The high thermal conductivity of the metal means that the minis tend to flash from solid to liquid quite quickly, leaving you with a blob before you can attach anything. If you're very talented with a soldering iron and choose low-temp solder, it's just about possible, though. That said, for assembly and repair of metal minis, I've had the best luck using 5 minute epoxy (superglue is too brittle) and pinning the joints. I also use epoxy for poured resin figures. For PVC (Reaper Bones and Wizkids figures), superglue is very effective and my first choice. For polystyrene figures (GW, among many other companies), plastic solvents are my go-to glue (Tamiya Extra-Thin, or just acetone or methyl-ethyl ketone). And for printed resin figures, I normally use a combination of epoxy and regular printer resin with a UV flashlight. It's not just Hero Forge figures that have odd proportions. Nearly all manufacturers sculpt their figures with heads, hands, and weapons that are significantly too large for their heights. This is done because most purchasers like more space to paint those parts of the minis, so figures with those proportions sell better. This has an effect on the scale of terrain and bits as well, because in many cases, they don't look quite right if they're sculpted to the same scale as the heights of the minis would indicate. Any more "25mm" isn't even used as a descriptor by most companies. And "28mm" doesn't match the size (not scale, it's just a size) that the figures are actually cast at. I've seen nominally 28mm figures that are 35mm high from bottom of foot to top of head (about 33mm to the eyes if you believe that old tale that the "scale" is to the eyes). Scale creep is a serious issue -- put an old Ral Partha adventurer next to a modern similar sculpt and the size difference is quite extreme.
I really really loved this video (sadly YT doesn't allow more than thumbs up). I could watch these mini slideshows with comments all day. Perhaps one day we'll see the entirety of your collection. ^_^ Perhaps themed videos (monster collection, magic beasts collection, civilians, dwarves, undead, soldiers, etc)
The Gloomhaven Eclipse mini is holding some sort of dark/night magic in his hand- you can see it vaguely in the character board picture. It's definitely tricky to paint, but intentionally amorphous.
Hello Prof,just watched an RPGModsFan video it reviewed your Dungeon Scenario 'Is There an Elf in the House' really enjoyed the review because i could see your work in review
Brilliant video. As a miniature addict I loved this video and it was great to see your collection. Out of curiosity have you ever worked with North Star miniatures? They do a few sets for a skirmish game called Frostgrave and a mass combat game called Oathmark. They're not GW quality but they're great for how inexpensive they are, and their sculpts really fit a low-magic, grimdark kind of world.
I'm not the biggest fanboy of CMON, but I will say buying Massive Darkness 1 and 2, whenever that second one delivers, will provide a roleplayer who just wants minis for their games a tremendous number at a comparatively great price. And their Zombicide Black Plague and Green Horde games offer additional hero minis for those who want to expand. Maybe pick a dragon from Reaper Bones (that red Pathfinder dragon if they still make it is amazing), and you're pretty much set.
That skull ring into shield conversion is beautifully inspired!
Thanks!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I'm a little surprised you didn't showcase any historical models in this video---they are a great value if you're wanting to really flesh out a whole scene. Perry Miniatures is one of my first stops when I'm looking for soldiers or civilians.
Great shoutout for Michael Ghelfi, use his stuff all the time.
Great music.
Micheal Ghelfi is tremendous.
Another vote for Otherworld Miniatures- they definitely have a 1st edition/OSR look and feel to the sculpts. Lots of variety for PCs and NPCs. Their monsters are refreshingly different from everything else out there.
I don't do any crafting. No time, patience, or space - so your proficiency in that area of the hobby is truly impressive.
Thanks!
The friendly vibe among the cast really added to the fun of this video.
For large groups of Fantasy minis, or for lots of conversion options, I'll recommend the Frostgrave and Oathmark ranges from North Star Miniatures, the Forgotten World range from Fireforge, and the Classic Fantasy range from Wargames Atlantic. Each firm produces boxes of bits to make 20+ minis for around £25.
They all tend to be in the chunkier heroic-25-28mm scale rather than the more realistic true-25mm scale. They all have a pretty low-fantasy, pulp aesthetic.
That War-games Atlantic stuff looks good, thanks
Best minis ever? Look no further than Ral Partha. Yes, I'm old.
Eh, when it comes to Ral Partha vs Grenadier, the specific sculptor is more important than the company. Julie Guthrie, Dennis Mise, Sandra Garrity, Bob Rudolfi? A++. Many of the others? ... ... Not so much. And yeah, those people have sculpted for both companies, and even recently for Reaper and Darksword.
Grenadier and Ral Partha are what I grew-upon, but looking at them now, believe that many of the figures, be it due to the sculpt or the casting process, just ate sub par compared to many contemporary minis. For sure she me of the Ral Partha/Grenadier minis would make it into my hall of fame, the bulk of them wouldn't.
Check out Iron Wind Metals. New casts of the old RP figures from the original molds.
@@GreyhawkGrognard VERY COOL. I still have some of these. Unfortunately they are not in scale with todays miniatures. They are much smaller and the sculpts look puny when compared to reaper and games workshop.
@@GreyhawkGrognard thanks for that. I thought metal was a thing of the past. It makes me sick to think of all my missing minis from the 80s and early 90s that didn’t survive my nomadic early 20s.
I was looking for a video like this. Thanks for making it! It’d be cool to see more direct comparisons between minis.
This needed one constant "scale" mini throughout! 25/28/30/32mm mini scales are so dicey. Sometimes they make perfect sense, sometimes you get a dwarf who's taller than a firbolg.
True.
This was ridiculously relaxing to watch and listen to.
Lots of great companies out their making miniatures. Glad you glanced on this. Many times people feel they need to spend a lot to get minis on the board.
"That's a +6 Bikini" :D thanks Mr & Mrs Professor!!
A fantastic collection of well painted miniatures. Thanks for sharing the information.
Glad you enjoyed it
Your videos are so much fun to watch. The narrative is very entertaining. I especially enjoy the visual depictions, and I appreciate the time and effort you put into them. I prefer to watch your videos over anything on TV. Keep rocking!
Your miniatures are amazing the paint job is very well done! Love your channel I'm learning alot thank you
Thanks. Did you see The Lost City yet? Tons of new minis here: th-cam.com/video/MGeXZcuI3No/w-d-xo.html
PDM I love this! I just recieved via Hasslefree Miniatures my Hasslefree Lenore that you feature in a lot of your videos as the enchantress.
I am so happy with this miniature, and I look to paint her soon! Keep up the wonderful content! We appreciate you!
These Hassle-free miniatures shipped to me in under 9 days from Wales, British Isles, to Kentucky, USA I remember being surprised at how quickly I received it during a Pandemic, via Royal Air Mail.
Glad you like her. Awesome company!
Great seeing the whole gallery! Thanks, PDM!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great work! I f-ing love painting minis, I’d probably still buy and paint them if I didn’t play D&D.
You have a truly amazing collection. What's cool about it is that it gives the game so many possibilities. A good NPC mini combined with a great DM giving it a personality is some of the things that makes D&D come alive. I've got a collection of around 800 minis that it took about 2 to 2-1/2 years to assemble. Some recent and even some metal ones that reach back to the 80s. My collection was assembled pretty slowly and pretty inexpensively--I am frugal much like Professor Dungeonmaster--but I am happy with where it is at. As a DM, it gives me the ability to host sessions with more realistic battles and of course minis really help players better visualize what's going on. Just over 100 goblins/orcs means that they can always be a part of the game from lower levels to the upper ones as well. Super job and I've also sometimes wondered the many sources of your minis--kudos!
Thanks for watching!
I'm a big fan of the Oathmark plastics, they look pretty good and they're quite affordable, they have elves, dwarves,orcs, and undead. They also use a more grounded "realistic" art style which i prefer.
For lower fantasy games historical plastics like Gripping Beast and other stuff made for SAGA are in general a great choice due to their relatively low price compared to purpose built fantasy miniatures.
Thanks for sharing.
The Oathmark range also works very well with the kits from Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago, right down to part swapping. Pretty much making the kind of modular kits GW used to do at a fraction of the cost of their current, increasingly monopose stuff.
I love the Oathmark stuff I have seen the only thing to remember with them is that they are more true 28mm then the heroic 28mm other company's do. the human infantry i have are a wee short compared to my other 28mm stuff. still they are really nice sculpts
This was a fun video. I especially liked the custom minis of you and Mrs. PDM.
I love the one you used for the Minotaur video.
I absolutel loved Rackham (they were the company that owned Cadwallon previously). Wonderfully designed, perfectly made and fairly affordable for what you get!
And the huge miniatures they made were an absolute dream! If you can get your hands on some: buy them!
Worth every penny!
Will do.
Thanks for mentioning the Tell-Tale Heart video, I had not seen it....I have now! Great work Prof!
It took 3 weeks of my life. Lots of pain in there.
there are so many miniature companies with so many miniatures that it would take a series of these to even gloss over them, but thanks for this one . . . hope to see more . . . my favourite minis are Raging Heroes . . . .
Yes! I've been wanting this video for quite some time. Thank you for sharing PDM.
Awesome collection
I love the reaper bones line
I have old citedal and Ral Partha
Good video
Thanks for watching!
Tell tale heart was a great video. It was one of my first Poe experiences when I was young and
graduating from Chronicles of Narnia. So yes, it was cool to see what what you did with it.
Tell-tale Heart video kicked ass! My kids loved it too.
Thanks. I never worked harder on a video.
Yeah, it was really fun, stagey and atmospheric; giving it a late 19th century vibe.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I appreciated the fruits of your labour.
Thanks for the Miniature tour! I recognized a few companies but there were some I never heard about.
Our pleasure!
I still think it's both great and hilarious that your witch is teen titan's Raven (Hasslefree)
9:20 is Empire Militia. Great kit.
12:00 I immediately went and bought that merchant when I saw it in an old video of yours
14:10 ... must acquire now thanks for the info
I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the old Mordheim Human Mercenaries box and the old Mage Knight line. The Mordheim box gave you a lot of customization and Mage Knight had some really interesting sculpts that just needed a decent paint job.
Great vid ... been wishing you’d release one on your beautifully painted minis! Great collection
You continue to be the best D&D channel on the tube. All hail the professor!!!!!
Thank you Professor. These are the videos I truly enjoy. John.
Glad you like them!
Proffessor, We loved your adaptation of The Telltale Heart!
I was gifted Rangers of Shadow Deep for Christmas, and am just getting into the miniatures side of tabletop games. Found this video quite interesting. Great painting btw!
Fun video- thanks for sharing-awesome miniatures
Do you own any otherworld miniatures? Personally one of my favorite miniature brands. They base their miniatures off of earlier editions of D&D.
Yeah they'd be perfect for this channel I think.
Only place to get good Hobgoblins. Just sayin.
Will check them out today. Thanks!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 No problem! I think they would go well with your videos!
Love their pigfaced orcs.
Kev makes excellent figures at Hasselfree, gotta agree with that! I wish CMON still sold miniature singles, they had quite a few interesting limited run miniatures in the past.
Hasslefree miniatures are dope!!! Mine took over 3months to deliver, but totally worth it...
I have an idea for a video I don't think you have covered but I would love to hear your thoughts ( as well as your viewers). What do you feel TTRPG's will be like in the future both near and far? Anyone around my age ( I'll be 42 in March) and older has seen some drastic changes to our beloved hobby over the years thanks to upgrades in tech and globalization bringing us much closer together as gamers throughout the world. I realize as far as the near future no changes could possibly be as game changing as what we have seen but I'm excited for many of the possibilities, and I think it would be a fun video for us all to speculate on ( I hope other viewers agree!).
My personal thoughts on possible technology that's likely are thus.
1. An app on our phones or other similar device that can create holograms for the game board. Things like spell effects could be replicated, or possibly monsters, heck whole dungeons . combined with even the sound fx that we currently having some amazing possibilities could come about. I don't think miniatures will ever truly go away ( at least not completely ) but for those that don't enjoy the craft aspects of our hobby this would be popular.
2. My friend Theo from " The Gallant Goblin" ( lol , quick plug for an amazing channel) channel when posed this question said he thought VR headsets might be used to greater effect in games . I could see this happening to some extent but still feel our games will continue for a large part to be played on a board. I see this being more in the realm of videogames Cthulhu knows their are enough manga dealing with this very tech.
3. Possible ai programs for a DM and NPCs, the possibilities are endless for running quests. A lot of companies are already making rules for games where we can enjoy them solo I feel this is a logical progression .
Cool collection! If you're strictly into Fantasy stuff, there are a few other ranges off the top of my head that you should definitely check out.
1) Avatars of War: These are heavily inspired by Warhammer Fantasy but they have awesome characters models for orcs, beastmen, elves, dwarfs and Empire guys that make excellent PCs or bosses.
2) Warploque Miniatures: Alex Huntley's style is one of the most memorable out there, and his sculpts are so characterful. They're a bit impressionistic, and give me a bit of a claymation vibe, but I adore them. The ArcWorlde halflings in particular are so good.
3) SciBor Miniatures: If you like Dwarfs... Scibor sculpts some of the best. He's got a lot of other stuff but his dwarfs are some of my favourites.
4) Dunkeldorf: Hands down some of the best metal miniatures on the market to date. They are basically the pages of the old 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer RPG come to life. They are such nostalgic and gorgeous designs, and their latest round of casts were so crisp it was insane. I think you'd love these guys in particular, given your tastes.
I agree with your assessment of the Gloomhaven minis. I'm the painter of our GH group and sometimes I have no idea what a little doodad on the mini actually is.
Thank you Professor for this great video! Looking forward to watching it!!!
You are welcome!
PDM, I saw the Telltale Heart video when it was first published, and it's great! Keep up the great work.
If in a hurry or on a budget try using cardboard mini. Okumarts has nice ones on Drive thru rpg. Adventurers and monsters. Female heroes too.
Back in the day I used a ton of cardboard mini's or figure flats. They do a great job of getting it done, and with the internet you have infinite mini's available to you.
some really cool minis there
Great tour, nice collection you have there. Good to see a bit of the cast in their own glory. I have recently gotten back into painting minis (I get out and go back every 8-10 years) so it isn't even my second go round, I think it is round four. So many good things out there and so many companies. I have pounds and pounds of old lead I've been carting around for ever. Good inspiration, maybe it is time to make a video of the old gang as well.
Cool, thanks!
Hey PDM, Enjoyed the video. I was under the impression you had alot more mini's than that, but I enjoyed what you shared. Thanks. Cheers!!
I’m not a fan of heroforge. The sculpts are out of proportion and muddy. They are constantly innovating and improving though, and maybe someday I’ll get one.
Yeah, they offer a higher-detail version that looks to be worlds better. It's misleading when you do the builder app and you're looking at a 3D model and then you buy the cheap version and it's got very little detail. Be curious to see a high-detail version.
@@benvoliothefirst they also do 3D models now, for tabletop simulator.
Heroforge does have a give and take. I purchased one, it did come out as expected. Luckily, I went with the higher detail myself. Personally, I think Heroforge is best for those models you just can't find.
Case and point:
If you're looking for modern urban setting models. It is a bitch to find to street gang and thug models. I spent hours, days scouring the net searching for such models. There were times I thought they didn't exist. Needless to say I did find about three or four sites that produce such models.
This is a poor example if you're wanting bulk models. I for one ain't paying $30 to $40 a model when I need twenty of them. But if you're wanting a specialized model, a like a CJ or Big Smoke, then Heroforge is a good option.
@@chadsmith8966 plus it makes stuff like shadowrun like games
@@baker90338 exactly! If a player or DM wants a Marlin Brando-esq goblin mob boss (for example), I can almost guarantee that it doesn’t exist, which makes heroforge a good option.
Check out the Frostgrave minis. The cultists, soldiers, barbarians, and wizards would be right at home in your set. They also have male and female variants of most sets.
I am painting 20 right now. I'll show how to paint them with a $.50 brush in 2 hours.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Awesome! I have some sitting unpainted so I'll save them to use your advice on them!.
Great video! Always wanted to know more about your variety of minis. And I did watch Tell Tale Heart and I loved it.
Question: in your first campaign prep video you talked about how towns are built on trade roads between cities and always near fresh water. How would you go about designing a small town on an ocean?
It has to have a river leading inland. Without access to fresh water no one would build a town there. Any town on an ocean coast would have an economy based on fishing and trade.
Every one if these are gorgeous!
Thanks!
those "modern" games workshop models are from the early 2000s mate
He's old. So am I - I can remember buy Drastik Plastik Orcs from them in the 80s, and Space Marines 30 to a box. :)
Inspiring, PDM. Thx, I'm pulling out my models!
Did you ever have any Ral Partha or Grenadier miniatures back in the day? They were actual lead initially, which is why many of us called them "leads" rather than "miniatures" or "minis," etc.; then they started transitioning to pewter. There weren't many plastic/resin ones back then in the late '80s/early '90s when I first used miniatures. I also had some from RAFM...and I still have all of them (some of which aren't painted yet!)! These "vintage" ones are often still available on Ebay and such, and apart from some of the rare collector sets/special edition ones, are not too expensive, either!
i've been waiting for this video! i was always curious about the prisoner/victim/commoner figures, very underrepresented in a lot of collections but so fun to throw into a combat grid to complicate things!
cool love all the paint jobs and tips
Perfect, thanks for showing us.
Well I do applaud you for including Ral Partha (that's who made the Mordenheim's Laboratory box set). My own collection would lean heavily towards Grenadier, Ral Partha, Dragontooth, RAFM, Heritage, and TSR (all from the 70's, 80's, and early 90's). Unfortunately as you note modern miniature companies are almost all doing 28mm (or "heroic 28mm" which is effectively 30mm), so my own huge collection of true 25mm figures just looks wrong on the table next to them.
I do occasionally get monsters in 28mm, but even then there's been scale creep in the rules that has nothing to do with the scale of the figures, so modern giants and dragons are much larger in-game than they were in earlier editions. So even there, I have to be careful lest the figure be totally out of whack with the rest of my collection.
+1 for Mrs. Dungeon Master getting the Gabrielle paint job, though. I can definitely see the Xena influence. :-)
FYI: the old Ral Partha figures are back in production through Iron Wind Metals. I don't know if they have the Mordenheim's Laboratory figures, but they do have a ton of the old casts, newly done from the original molds, both fantasy and Battletech!
I'm not buying this for a second! The Professor has a lot more minis than this!!!
Maybe it's a best of?
Think about it - MRS Dungeon Master was in the video - i wouldnt show even 10% of my stuff if i would be in PDM's shoes :D
@@maciejmazur2622 that’s a good point! As a married man myself, I see the logic!
@@maciejmazur2622 I see new packages coming all the time! Lol
@@micheledefazio672 ah but you pretend not to notice! You’re a keeper!
My cmon wizard might be my favorite mini I’ve painted in a long time
A very cool model.
Great work on the show, PDM. The minis are amazing!
Thanks a bunch!
You should check out Westfalia miniatures!
Deathbringer FTW!!!!
"GGGOOOODDDD DDDAAAAAAAAAMMMNNN YYYOOOUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!"
I utterly lost it at that. LOL
Great stuff Professor
I've been waiting so long for this video. Thank you so much
You are so welcome!
I mentioned in another comment if your a lover of 2nd ed AD&D as I am there is an awesome company from England called otherworld miniatures and their sculpts ( especially the monsters) are almost all copied from the old monster manuals .
I collect goblin and troll miniatures in particular and my favorite miniature is probably my old early 90's night goblin that's giving his enemies the finger LOL, that guy just speaks to me and I would love to have a whole army of that sculpt just for the reactions I would get LOL!
Hi, I know this is a bit late, but if you like those cheeky old Kev Adams goblins, there's a company called Midlam Miniatures. They have a range of goblins called "Goblinville", almost all sculpted by Kev.
@@khublaklonk4480 I'll check it out thanks a lot!
Effincool miniatures has great sculpts too... 😉
I have to check them out.
You ever think about doing an update on this video at all? Reaper is my go-to but if I need a customized mini, I’d rather go Eldritch Foundry as opposed to Heroforge now. Heroforge can be good if you are looking for a more cartoony appearance whereas Eldritch foundry has a more detailed and gritty aesthetic
I love your minis, and I love your videos with minis✌️
Another great miniatures company I've found is Bombshell Miniatures. Wide and fun selection with a lot of female models (very classy and tasteful) and others like the Mask and Rocketeer (under different names of course). The ones I've purchased were well sculpted. And the bonus I love about them; they ship your order out within 24 hours of purchase.
The Strumpet at 5:55 is one of my faves. She has red hair for me.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I usually combine neutral background music (Skyrim for example) and Michael Ghelfi to create background music with location specific sound effects.
Here are my words for the robots. How have I not seen the Tell-Tale Heart video? The algorithm failed me.
4:28 the figure in red is NOT a Hasslefree figure. It is Reaper: Hannah Blackruby.
The Hasslefree they're referring to is the one in purple. HFH087 Lenore. They make great stuff, small compared to say Reaper but amazingly well sculpted.
@@TroySpace Yes, however TWO figures are shown with Hasslefree under them, so clarification was needed, I think we nailed it.
Shoutout to the RuneWars Coreset!
48 Great mini's. Soldiers, Skeletons, and Knights. +2 Giant Mini's.
Now as it has been discontinued the box is only 25-35$.
While they mostly do historical stuff, perry miniatures and victrix are also very good! especially if you are looking for medieval humans. victrix vikings and perry european mercenaries are some of my favorites.
I loved your Telltale Heart video!
Heroforge is always hit and miss for me, I always tend to put some extra details on the printed minis with green stuff.
Love videos checking out minis. My favorite fantasy ones are from Grenadier sculpted by Julie Guthrie. There are a few old Citadel miniatures (before they had stands) I'm still looking for. My favorite "Pulp" miniature is one of the Champions by Grenadier called "309 Normals". It's a librarian lady holding a book, a perfect Investigator of the Esoteric.
Great video interesting to see all the videos
@Dungeon Craft. After you buy, Michael Ghelfi's music, are you allowed to stream it on Discord?
Very effective work, it looks like you have a decent selection for much of what you like to run.
"We take a look at just about every miniature in my collection...." That ... would take me a very long time indeed. Though if we only looked at painted minis, it would be _much_ shorter. 8-)
Note that while it's possible to solder white metal, it's quite difficult. The high thermal conductivity of the metal means that the minis tend to flash from solid to liquid quite quickly, leaving you with a blob before you can attach anything. If you're very talented with a soldering iron and choose low-temp solder, it's just about possible, though.
That said, for assembly and repair of metal minis, I've had the best luck using 5 minute epoxy (superglue is too brittle) and pinning the joints. I also use epoxy for poured resin figures. For PVC (Reaper Bones and Wizkids figures), superglue is very effective and my first choice. For polystyrene figures (GW, among many other companies), plastic solvents are my go-to glue (Tamiya Extra-Thin, or just acetone or methyl-ethyl ketone). And for printed resin figures, I normally use a combination of epoxy and regular printer resin with a UV flashlight.
It's not just Hero Forge figures that have odd proportions. Nearly all manufacturers sculpt their figures with heads, hands, and weapons that are significantly too large for their heights. This is done because most purchasers like more space to paint those parts of the minis, so figures with those proportions sell better. This has an effect on the scale of terrain and bits as well, because in many cases, they don't look quite right if they're sculpted to the same scale as the heights of the minis would indicate. Any more "25mm" isn't even used as a descriptor by most companies. And "28mm" doesn't match the size (not scale, it's just a size) that the figures are actually cast at. I've seen nominally 28mm figures that are 35mm high from bottom of foot to top of head (about 33mm to the eyes if you believe that old tale that the "scale" is to the eyes). Scale creep is a serious issue -- put an old Ral Partha adventurer next to a modern similar sculpt and the size difference is quite extreme.
I really really loved this video (sadly YT doesn't allow more than thumbs up). I could watch these mini slideshows with comments all day. Perhaps one day we'll see the entirety of your collection. ^_^
Perhaps themed videos (monster collection, magic beasts collection, civilians, dwarves, undead, soldiers, etc)
Donatello's aesthetic approach to portraying hands has dominated sculptors for hundreds of years.
Heck yeah, really cool you ended up making this video. Forgot about some of these from your early episodes. They all tell a story, don't they?
No remarks or comments about resin 3d printers and how anyone can just print whatever minis they want now, and with fantastic levels of detail?
Useful information here
Thanks!
The Gloomhaven Eclipse mini is holding some sort of dark/night magic in his hand- you can see it vaguely in the character board picture. It's definitely tricky to paint, but intentionally amorphous.
I saw the tell tale heart video. Well done prof DM
Frostgrave minis are highly recommended. Same with Victrix, Gripping Beast, Foundry, and Wargames Atlantic.
those Victrix minis look cool.
This video inspires me to insert LED lights into the bases. Mostly for glowing runes.
Hello Prof,just watched an RPGModsFan video it reviewed your Dungeon Scenario 'Is There an Elf in the House' really enjoyed the review because i could see your work in review
Brilliant video. As a miniature addict I loved this video and it was great to see your collection. Out of curiosity have you ever worked with North Star miniatures? They do a few sets for a skirmish game called Frostgrave and a mass combat game called Oathmark. They're not GW quality but they're great for how inexpensive they are, and their sculpts really fit a low-magic, grimdark kind of world.
Do you ever magnetize your minis? I do partially cause i play 40k and partially cause it makes them harder to break (but easier to lose bits)
Thanks PDM!😊
Any time!
Thank you professor Dudgeon Master I always wanted to know where you got your miniatures especially the female Druid.
I'm not the biggest fanboy of CMON, but I will say buying Massive Darkness 1 and 2, whenever that second one delivers, will provide a roleplayer who just wants minis for their games a tremendous number at a comparatively great price. And their Zombicide Black Plague and Green Horde games offer additional hero minis for those who want to expand. Maybe pick a dragon from Reaper Bones (that red Pathfinder dragon if they still make it is amazing), and you're pretty much set.
CMON has some of the best figures on the market today.