In 1991 my buddy showed me a handful of pewter D&D miniatures that he had painted. I had to have some and bought a wizard and a samurai on the spot, pulling some crumpled up Washingtons from my pocket.
That was the beginning of me building a D&D miniatures collection, but other than an occasional orc, rogue, or elf ranger, I didn’t add much to my D&D miniatures collection over the next 20 years. (I instead turned my attention to amassing an army of Stormtrooper action figures.)
But it’s scientifically proven that it’s more fun to play D&D with painted minis, not necessarily in sophisticated grid combat, mind you, but simply as things that are fun to look at or to experience the thrill of flicking a kobold mini across the table when your character slices him through with a scimitar.
How to Build a D&D Miniatures Collection
Lately, I’ve casually taken up miniatures painting, and bought the games Zombicide and Imperial Assault, simply because they are loaded with unpainted miniatures (including tons of Stormtroopers) that I can learn on. I also peruse Kickstarter for miniatures campaigns likes the popular Bones line.
Meanwhile, in interviewing sculptor Bobby Jackson, I really got an appreciation for how minis are created.
But miniatures are expensive and most folks would rather start with painted miniatures rather than take on both collecting miniatures and learning to paint them.
So here is how I built a nice D&D painted miniatures collection relatively inexpensively.
So that’s how I quickly my D&D miniatures collection.
- I bought a few boosters, then bulked it up with a brick.
- Next, I sold my extras or unwanteds for store credit that I turned right around and used to fill in the gaps.
I now have a little mini to represent heroes from a wide variety of player classes. On top of that, I have figures to represent townsfolk and NPCs, plus an owl to serve as my wizard’s familiar. Finally, I have dragons, orcs, giants, elementals, trolls, gnolls, goblins, and kobolds, all the monsters that make D&D so fun.
Oh yeah, I also have a pewter wizard and samurai from 1991, which is not nothing.