You sit down with your friends to play D&D, and eventually, your party enters a battle. Your DM lays out a battle map. You have to choose something to represent yourself. What do you choose?
Anything will work; dice, a bottle cap, a piece of paper with your character’s initials on it. But none of them feel like a good representation of the awesome character you have lovingly created.
This is where miniatures come into play. Miniatures can help with complicated combat scenarios, improve your overall gaming experience, and help your DM and other players to see your character the way you do.
Here are our Top 5 Best Miniatures for PCs list.
Top 5 Miniatures Websites for PCs
1. Heroforge
If you want to build a totally customized miniature for your character, look no further than Heroforge.
Heroforge’s amazing website allows you to customize nearly every single piece of your miniature, from your wizard’s spellbook to the rivets on your warrior’s helmet. Seriously, anything you want, you can probably customize.
Heroforge started as a Kickstarter back in the day, raising an impressive $360,403. After a few years of building their library of customizable options, they had another Kickstarter where they raised a whopping $3,106,660.00, allowing them to bring full color to their miniatures and even more options.
Even if you’re making something as easy as a human fighter or as complicated as a minotaur cleric, Heroforge has probably got you covered.
The basic plastic starts at $19.99, although I would choose the premium plastic for $29.99. The premium plastic allows for much better detail. If you choose to get colored plastic, the starting price is $44.99. Quite pricey, but if you’re going to be playing this character for a few years, definitely worth it.
2. WizKids Nolzur’s Marvelous Minis
Wizkids is licensed by Wizards of the Coast to make official miniatures for Dungeons & Dragons. For players, I would like to particularly focus on their Nolzur’s Marvelous Mini line.
The Nolzur’s Marvelous Mini line is wonderfully detailed and particularly unique because a pack comes with two miniatures. One is a lower-level version of your character and the second is a higher-level version. If you can find one that represents your character well enough, they are a fantastic choice.
One thing to note is they are not painted, so you will either need to paint them yourself or have someone else do it for you.
Left is lower-level characters, right is higher-level characters
3. Official D&D Miniatures
The official D&D miniatures are pre-painted plastic miniatures licensed by Wizards of the Coast and made by WizKids.
These miniatures are great for people just starting out since they are prepainted and ready to use. Their Icons Of The Realm sets are a good choice for players. The set shown below has a starter set and an epic level set.
You can also try a booster pack that contains four miniatures per box and are randomized. Each box will contain one large figure and three small to medium size miniatures. Though most of these may be monsters, there are usually a couple that will work for players, NPC heroes, guards, noblemen, etc.
You could always buy a couple of booster packs and see if you find a miniature that best fits your character. If you don’t want to collect miniatures, you can always give the extras to your DM for some brownie points. Trust me; they won’t mind.
4. Reaper Miniatures
Reaper Miniatures has been around for a while with high-quality metal or plastic miniatures.
One of my favorite things about their website is their Figure Finder. It’s a nice way to go about finding a character without having to scroll page after page.
It allows you to search for material, gender, race, what they may be wearing, and even what they are holding, bows, swords, wands, etc. This will save you a lot of time and is worth a look.
They have a wide range of over 4500 figures, most of which are unpainted.
5. Miniature Marketplace
The miniature marketplace has one of the largest amounts of miniatures you can find on a website. From tabletop gaming to board games to collectibles, if it has a miniature, they probably have it.
Although their website is large and can be a little overwhelming, don’t let it dissuade you from looking. Their search seems to work well, and you can buy individual figurines instead of large packs. This way, you only get what you want.
It is one of the best miniature sites out there, and you will be able to find what you’re looking for. It just may take you some time. Or like me, you go in looking for one thing and wind up buying 10 to 20.
Honorable Mentions
I have a couple of honorable mentions. These did not make the list either because they are too niche or not quite what I would suggest for players.
Dark Sword Miniatures
Dark Sword is a company I’ve used quite a few times to round out my adventuring parties. I’ve had multiple players buy miniatures from them, and they are of the utmost quality.
I particularly like the Easley Masterworks line and the George R.R. Martin line. Dark Sword also has a very detailed miniature finder that allows you to search by sculptor, race, gender, armor type, and primary weapon.
I’ve always been a fan of more medieval period style/old school fantasy miniatures, and if you are too, this is the place for you.
Here are a few of my favorites.
Games Workshop Lord of the Rings Miniatures
The Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson is one of my favorite trilogies of all time. Therefore, I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings miniatures by Games Workshop. They just make me happy.
The reason Games Workshop did not make my top five list, although I love both Warhammer and the Lord of the rings miniatures, is simply because they are expensive. Individual unpainted hero packs come with two to three figurines and are priced between $30 and $60.
However, if you love Lord of the Rings as I do, then you’ll appreciate these miniatures. If you look for the hero sets of some lesser-known hero sets, such as The’odred, Prince of Rohan, or Haldir & Celeborn, then you may be able to find something that will work for your character.
FAQ’s About Miniatures
Here are some of the top questions people have about miniatures.
What material should you go for? Plastic? Pewter? Bronze?
This depends on several different factors; how much you want to pay for your miniature and are you painting the miniature yourself.
If you don’t want to break the bank, plastic is usually the best option. However, cheaper plastics tend to suffer from what some people like to call bendy-sword syndrome.
If you are painting the miniature yourself, premium plastic is normally a good option because if you are new to painting, pewter and other materials are a little harder for paint to adhere to.
What size miniature should you get?
Most of the miniatures you will find will be somewhere between 25 to 30 millimeters. Since most game mats are one inch/(25mm) squares, these miniatures are the perfect size.
Since most PCs are medium to small characters, 25 to 30 millimeters is generally what you want to shoot for.
Buy painted miniatures or paint them yourself?
Only you can really answer this question. However, something to remember is that painting miniatures is a hobby all in itself. It can be costly and very time-consuming. It can also be very rewarding if you enjoy it.
Personally, I like painting miniatures. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to commit to it, therefore I tend to buy prepainted. It’s so much more immersive to look at a board filled full of painted miniatures than non-painted.
Final Thoughts
Though miniatures are a great addition to the Dungeons and Dragons experience, they are by no means necessary. When I first started playing, we were using grid paper and pencil marks to show where our characters were, and those are some of the best games I have ever played.
Whether you choose to play with miniatures or not, remember that Dungeons and Dragons is about collective storytelling, not who has the biggest collection or is the best painter. Minis are tools to help improve the storytelling experience and help visualize combat.
Now get out there and tell some great stories.
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