Reaper Minis for AD&D Campaign

[Thor]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently running an AD&D campaign and I've decided to go with minis. I'm wondering which minis or sets people would start off with. I'm not so much worried about figures for the PC's, more for the things I will use to represent Monsters and other Bad Guys (eg goblins, orcs, etc). Does anyone have any suggestions about what I could use for those as well as for getting a cheaper way to get multiple bad guys (apart from Legendary Adventures figures).

 

Also, I would be looking at getting some of these pro-painted. Where is a good place to look to get pro-painters or do people here on the boards have someone they could recommend?

 

Thx!

[Madog Barfog]

Hi, Thor.

 

I've been doing the same thing for years.

 

Megaminiatures has the best bang for the buck in terms of building armies of bad guys. For example, you can get a box of kobolds for about $20 US. The sculpts aren't Reaper quality, of course, but for a buck a fig, not bad.

 

What I did was get some orcs (old Ral Partha, back when it was not "old") and use those for generic bad guys such as orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, etc. I got some skeletons and used them for any type of undead. Later I got some smaller goblins for little bad guys. Over the years I've built up a nice selection, but it takes time.

 

My players don't mind me recycilng minis they've seen before, since building up a collection of nearly everything needed would be a huge project!

 

Once you get a couple of sets of generic bad guys, you can paint the bosses and other specific monsters you may want to use for your upcoming adventure. I'm sure others can recommend specific Reaper figs.

 

Good luck, and thanks for helping to keep AD&D alive!

[outek]

Depending on what level you're running at, here are some suggestions:

 

Reaper DHL Line:

Low level: Reaper makes multi-pack blisters of Kobolds and Goblins. You can also get some of the DHL Army packs for Orcs and Skeletons.

 

Mid Level: Reaper also makes blisters (with 2-3 minis each) of Gnolls, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. There are also DHL Army packs for Lizardmen and Humans.

 

High Level: Reaper has several different Ogres and Trolls. Also a good selection of higher level CR Undead. Giants and Dragons are also available.

 

NPCs: Any of the Townsfolk blisters, plus any other minis that happen to catch your eye.

 

Animals: Reaper has multi-packs of various animals including Wolves, Dire Wolves, Large Cats (Lions and such), Scarab swarms, Rats (nornal and Dire) and the familiar packs will work for smaller critters. They do have Dire Bears (but as of yet, no smaller bears).

 

There are also some nice minis in Reaper's Warlord Line.

 

Each Level builds on the one before it, and you can take something from the higher level to act as 'bosses' for the lower level monsters.

 

If you have a FLGS nearby, have them get you a copy of Casket Works (Reaper's Catalog). Or you can go through the online store.

 

It just kind of depends on the level and setting as to what you might need (want is a different story ). But for the most part, if you can think of it, Reaper probably has it or something close.

[Mad Jack]

Like Madog said, you can find large amounts of peeps online for not much money if you look hard enough. Outek mentioned the stuff from Reaper. If you don't mind using plastics, Paizo.com has a bunch of the D&D singles for sale, although I'm not sure how their prices are. All in all, they should still be pretty cheap, though.

As far as having them painted professionally, you might want to reserve that for your higher-level monsters. You'll definitely end up paying for that quality. Are you looking for actual pro-quality, or just something better than you can do yourself? Check the sigs of some of the folks on here - a lot of them have links to their personal websites, which will probably mention whether or not they do commission work.

[Mourningcloud]

Also, Ebay is a good place to get some WOTC plastics in bulk. I fleshed out the ranks of my elf, dwarf, wolf, worg, ogre, dragon, orc, sahuagin (great mini!!), hobgoblin, kobold (lots of good ones), and bugbear (several great models) collections by buying 3-12 ar a time.

 

For transportable minis, you can't beat em. Er, actually you can beat 'em- beat 'em, whack 'em, flick 'em across the gaming table at annoying players/DMs, drop 'em out the third story window of the hotel you're con is at; they can take it. Though I don't recommend the out-the-window part; some of the heavier ones can do some serious damage to a car or a pedestrian or a wandering rickshaw boy.

 

Most on this board poo-poo the plastics, but their kobolds are as good as anything Reaper or anyone else has made (there is even one with a pick!), and where else can you get transparent fire/water/ice elementals? They come pre-painted if you are in a hurry, but are easy to paint over if not up to your standards (and many are really not that bad).

 

One last thing I recently learned-the paint they are painted with is a plastic based paint, and sticks to the base plastic of the minis better than paint sticks to metal or even primered minis (I tried rubbing it off-it doesn;t work so well.....) However, this also means that plastic based paints you paint over them (such as reaper or GW) will stick just as well; better than to primered metal. I know this from experience, as the well-layered blonde hair I painted (and never sealed!) on my gnome rogue has never chipped or flaked, and it lies squished with a bunch of other gnomes and dwarves in a compartment of a plastic case.