Post/Author/DateTime	Post
heardfamily 06-03-06, 04:40 AM	I don't know if this should be here or in the D&D miniatures forum, but I'll post it here because it has more to do with roleplaying (I think!). I like to set EVERYTHING up on a grid, even when PC are wandering arount town (they frequently start brawls in the pub anyway, and so fights have to be resolved!). But this creates a bit of a problem. Does anyone know where I could find miniatures suitable to represent common people who are probably unarmed? I just find it hard to believe when my barkeeper is running around his bar with a scimitar as long as his arm, or when his wife, walking through the markets, is represented by some screaming barbarian woman with a club :) ! If anyone could help, it would be much appreciated!
WayneTheGame 06-03-06, 08:08 AM	I believe that Reaper Miniatures has a few commoner packs that have different regular looking people... might want to check those out. Just do a google search for "Reaper Miniatures", since I believe for some strange oppressive reason you aren't allowed to post links to commercial sites here. :confused:
celtredleg 06-03-06, 10:41 AM	Reaper indeed does carry normal peple. I have barkeeps serving girls young and old, blacksmith nmerchant, and a host of others. Vampire wars also has a range of non-fighting types. Several others. Do a search for discount hobbies. Jonny carries a nuimber of lines that include what you are looking for, and they are cheeper than reaper.
MADGator 06-03-06, 12:26 PM	I just find it hard to believe when my barkeeper is running around his bar with a scimitar as long as his arm, or when his wife, walking through the markets, is represented by some screaming barbarian woman with a club :) ! You've obviously neve been married! All kidding aside, though, if you like to set up EVERYTHING on a grid. I reccomend you go the wet/dry erase route. I made my own 2 foot by 4 foot gridded whiteboard in a day for a bit over $20 all with supplies from the local office supply store. If you have the cash, one of the roll up sheets would be even better. You can still use minis for characters and combat, but it's a lot cheaper to represent throngs of commoners with a letter C. Besides, if you use minis, pretty soon the townsfolk everywhere will start looking alike. Send in the clones!
hmmmm 06-03-06, 02:28 PM	I have seen some before. Although if you can't find some then just buy one of those little kids toy town sets and use the people in that.
Dead_Body 06-03-06, 05:13 PM	Little lego guys? ^.^
heardfamily 06-04-06, 12:09 AM	Excellent, thanks for the ideas! Reaper minis...yes, I've heard of them. Are there miniatures any good, I've had mixed feedback over the years? I know it's a tough question, but do you know exactly what Reaper's common folk are called or an item number...I had a look, but what I wanted was quite evasive, although they do sound perfect for what I want. Celtredleg, you mentioned vampire wars and "Jonny", but I can't seem to find them either (perhaps I'm just unlucky). I'm not looking for a link as such, but a hint at a URL would be a great help (if anyone could manage it)... ...and no MADGator, I haven't been married...
hmmmm 06-04-06, 02:46 AM	Little lego guys? ^.^ Yes.
Dragon Snack 06-04-06, 10:42 AM	Some of Reapers sculpts can be stinkers (their "Halflings" are more like "3/4-lings"), but the vast majority are a good value for your money. I prefer them over most other minis (although for sheer volume, DDM wins out). You want to check out their Townsfolk packs, 2583 (barkeep, servers), 2584 (beggar, "lady", blacksmith), 2655 (strumpets), 2677 (bandits), 2825 (commoners), 2845 (undertaker), and 2950 (clergy). It's commercial links that aren't allowed, you can link to Reapers site (just not their online store, support your FLGS). http://www.reapermini.com/ As for "Johnny", celtredleg was giving you a hint when he (forgive the assumption if that is incorrect) said "Do a search for discount hobby" (well, technically "hobbies", but use hobby ;) ). Look for the 99¢ minis. Can't link to that one, since it IS a store...
celtredleg 06-04-06, 11:29 AM	Thanks Dragon, I could not find the Numbers. If you search for Discounthobby, that should do it. Or just type it in. I have had great service from them for years. Unfortunetly, when reaper started running thier prices up, they stoped carring them. They are very helpfull >once I ordered a pack of mixed horses and mules with pack saddles. Unfortunetly, they had sold out, and that pack was discontinued. Instead of just telling me that, they opened a pack of each, mixed them, and sent me that, along with a letter explaining why they were not in a blister. Good people.
MADGator 06-04-06, 11:56 AM	heardfamily: One thing I forgot to say in response to your original topic, common people don't often carry swords, unless they were in the military or adventurers. They cost quite a few gp, and are martial weapons. Townsfolk are more likely to have daggers, staves, clubs, that sort of thing. A farmer might carry a sickle instead. Wealthy townsfolk, though, might be better armed. Rapiers and crossbows are likely options.
celtredleg 06-04-06, 04:51 PM	Farmers might have a wide variety of polearm, as most of those where taken from farm implements to start with. Of a spear, as after all it is only a dagger on a stick. In some times and places, slings where a popular commoners weapon, cheap and easy to carry. Farmers could also have an assortment of axes and hammers as well. Of course they are meant to be tools, but getting slapped up the side of the head with a falling ax is sure goint to hurt.
heardfamily 06-04-06, 05:57 PM	Thaks again for the feedback, it was loads of help. I think the reaper miniatures are perfect, exactly what I wanted. They are a little on the expensive side (especially including the shocking postage costs), but if I want to be pickey (and I do) them I knew there would be a cost. What I think I'll do is purchase a few miniatures, and just 'recycle them'. So if the PC's go from the street to the tavern, I take all the miniatures off the street, and place the ones I want in the tavern. Reaper miniatures has a very interesting range, dragons and giants and goodness knows what, I may buy a little more than common people from them.
heardfamily 06-04-06, 06:17 PM	Actually now that I think of it, before I go and buy anything from reaper, has anyone bought from them before, and if so, can you recommend anything else to buy. I would be particularly interested in anyone had bought any of the huge range of dragons, and could tell me how big they are and what size dragon they could represent (small, medium, huge etc). Before anyone points it out, I know that measurements are recorded on the site, but it doesn't specify if the measurements are in mm, cm, inches etc. Thanks for your patience and assistance!
OravennasBrother 06-05-06, 11:21 AM	Excellent, thanks for the ideas! Reaper minis...yes, I've heard of them. Are there miniatures any good, I've had mixed feedback over the years? Reaper Mini's are among the best in the market. However fro Commoners you might want to go to Old Glory and look for medieval peasants - they have a search function AND categories so you should be able to find the best buys on peasants (generally a pack of 30 figures for ~$30 US) fairly quickly. Be careful when you ggogle Old Glory Miniatures - you might get to the pewter figurine page and you migth get to a similarly named page which belongs on the mature boards. To nice things about Old GLory Commoners - They are true 25mm, so the "heroic" 28-32mm heroes will be easier to move among them, and they look good en mass with VERY simple pain jobs (tan clothing, flesh faces, brown hair and a drak brown wash, viola good looking commoner in under five minutes - the whole pack can be managed in under 2 hours)
Bruunwald 06-05-06, 11:51 AM	Most of my stuff is Reaper, and it's really great stuff, but collecting villagers and other large-numbers types can get pretty expensive, pretty quickly, and they don't make that many villagers in the first place. Mega Minis seems to be attempting to fill the void other minis companies leave, by making great big packs of animals, decor and villager-types. It isn't the fantastic quality of Reaper, Crocodile or some of the others. But it is decent enough, and economical, if you want to fill the streets of your village, or a castle, or something like that. http://www.megaminis.com/ Here are a couple examples. They have thieves guild packs, villagers, courtiers, etc., sheep, goats, alligators, cows, you name it. Very handy when you're a terrains junky like me. http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/90000/MEM-90001.JPG http://www.megaminis.com/MEGA/JPG/MEM/MEM-90007.jpg
pres_man 06-05-06, 02:17 PM	Another thing you might want to do is get a "Bag O'Zombies". They were made for the Zombies board game. For like 20 bucks you get I think a hundred zombies, nice if you want a lot of figs for scrubs like commoners. And of course if you want to throw a hundred zombies at your PCs, well they work for that too.
heardfamily 06-05-06, 09:25 PM	Perfect, exactly what I want, cheap hordes of rag-clad NPC's. I see what you mean too. Reaper miniatures are nice, and great for the PC or important NPC, but for the commoners, you really just want some you can get cheap. Thanks
heardfamily 06-06-06, 06:47 PM	Another thing you might want to do is get a "Bag O'Zombies". They were made for the Zombies board game. For like 20 bucks you get I think a hundred zombies, nice if you want a lot of figs for scrubs like commoners. And of course if you want to throw a hundred zombies at your PCs, well they work for that too. Great idea too. Does anyone know what there zombies are armed with and if they're in different poses...and zombie commoners, talk about neighbours from hell!
Bruunwald 06-06-06, 07:58 PM	I haven't seen Zombies in any local game shop in a long time, but their site is mostly current: http://twilightcreationsinc.com
Watchdog_of_Hades 06-06-06, 09:27 PM	If you have experienced players, they'll realize that just because something's mini looks like a goblin, that doesn't mean it's a goblin.
pres_man 06-07-06, 12:11 PM	Great idea too. Does anyone know what there zombies are armed with and if they're in different poses...and zombie commoners, talk about neighbours from hell! Sorry for the price you can't expect too much, they all look the same, expect lots of "What is trying to shake our hand" comments. On the plus side they are not armed at all except for their ... arms. Here is an image of the bag. Of course you could always paint them differently and thus distinguish between them. Oh yeah, they all have their stomach plug knocked out ("I'm not a doctor or anything, but ..."). http://www.iconusa4.com/online/Images/Board-games/Zombies/BagOZombies_lg.jpg
Dragon Snack 06-07-06, 04:47 PM	The Zombies!!! are a little small as well, but you can't beat their price... Reaper has good customer service, but you don't have to order from them - plenty of places sell their figures cheaper (and often add free shipping on top of that if you order enough). As for the dragons, which ones? They have quite a few, of all different sizes...
Bruunwald 06-07-06, 04:50 PM	Oh yeah, they all have their stomach plug knocked out ("I'm not a doctor or anything, but ..."). LOL That movie is infinitely quotable.
heardfamily 06-07-06, 05:10 PM	As for the dragons, which ones? They have quite a few, of all different sizes... Any of them. I had a look and saw that they were all different sizes too, and I'm not sure which ones would be suitable, or which ones have been successful in the past. Some of them look really good as well (and some just look strange!). However, I have decided that my attention will be averted a little anyway, as the soon-to-be-released gargantuan/colossal black and red dragons look fabulous (from WOTC), and are (in most cases) cheaper than their competition.