Painting Miniatures

[David Roomes]

Ok, just a quick note. I'm playing a new campaign this year and one thing that's different about this campaign is that I'm getting more into miniatures.

Let me explain... I have played RPGs for decades... since I was a teenager. But one aspect of the hobby that I never got into was miniatures. As a player, I would use whatever minis were available (usually borrowing one from someone else). Later on in life, as a DM, I would make custom flat square markers for enemies.

Well, a few years ago, my very good friend Nathan (who played the cleric Ugita in the Jaidor Talisman campaign), left with his wife for California. Before he left, he gave me his entire collection of miniatures. It's about 100 minis, about 60 of which are painted. For this campaign, I decided I wanted to use minis (no more flat boring cardboard markers). I've been painting some of his and purchasing and painting some new minis that I bought online. This is the first time I've ever bought the brushes and paints and everything. And I am having a blast! If you're a player or a DM and you have ever thought about painting miniatures, try it. It's more fun than I thought and, as a DM, I can purchase exactly what I need for the game. I'm assembling quite the well rounded horde of enemies for my players. 

Anyway, that's all. I just wanted to encourage anyone who might be on the fence about miniatures. I never thought I would be into painting them, but now that I've tried it, I like it. Easier and more fun than I thought. And fairly inexpensive too.

Oh yeah, one more thing... there is an amazing website called www.heroforge.com that lets you custom craft your own miniature. Their website has a great interface and you can really customize a mini exactly to your character concept. It's pretty cool. For players, customize your own character. For DMs, create a custom mini for your main bad guy. Years from now, when we all have 3d printers, this will be no big deal. But right now, it's a pretty cool service.

[sid6.7]

I just never got into miniatures but you make it sound fun!  nice website too...

[tanis]

HeroForge is pretty cool, though I'm the weird kind of nut for whom there just isn't enough customization, so I'm tempted to try to cast my own out of aluminum or something, or else carve one from wood or plastic, just to get it perfect.

Still, I really think minis can be a cool thing. My sister (half-sister, really) is 21 years older than me, and during the 80s she played D&D and painted minis, but for a while about ten or fifteen years ago, when she tried to find pewter minis for painting for my nephew, the local game stores only carried pre-painted minis, so I love that it's becoming easier to get the perfect mini, ready to paint, than ever before.

Having said all that, while I think minis can be great, and am thoroughly pro-mini, I also think it can be a lot of fun to play just in the space of theater-of-the-mind, too. A few of my friends from high school did that, and, despite not being the most interesting group to spectate, had a great time playing just during the lunch break, even without all the handy and helpful maps and whatsits.