You’ve gathered your party, everyone with their exciting and unique characters sitting around the table. Every character gets to know each other, and the crew clicks; it’s like they were made to adventure together! There’s a commotion at the tavern; giant rats burst from the cellars, and combat begins! Wait, the battle map is full of rats, but where are the adventurers?
Nobody brought miniatures! There are so many options when it comes to good tabletop miniatures that it’s hard to push through the decision paralysis. Don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for. Here are some of our top choices when it comes to D&D miniatures for players (and some for DMs too)!
Hero Forge
Hero Forge is our top pick for the best D&D miniatures! The site offers fully customizable minis that you craft using their very intuitive interface. Customization options include type of creature, mix and match clothing, weapons, eyeballs, poses, hair, and even facial expressions! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a character concept that you can’t whip up in Hero Forge. Relatively recently, they also included the option to paint your minis via their site, so when it arrives, you have a colorful character ready for use. If you prefer painting it yourself, they also let you purchase it with no paint on it.
Speaking of buying your mini, Hero Forge has a variety of options for you. The least expensive option for a physical miniature is their regular plastic at $19.99 per mini. If you want something more durable, premium plastic will run you around $29.99. The colors mentioned previously also have an extra price tag attached to them – $44.99. The final physical option is for your heroes emblazoned in the halls of time: bronze character miniatures for a whopping $99.99! Obviously, these are a bit pricy for individual miniatures, but their quality and customizability warrant the higher cost. There are cheaper options for fully digital miniatures from Hero Forge too. For $7.99 you can get the STL file to 3D print your own mini, or for the 3D digital file to transfer to Tabletop Simulator or Talespire virtual tabletops!
While Hero Forge is on the pricier side for physical miniatures, it’s our best choice for those who want a mini that really is their character. Just make sure not to get them killed, okay?
Furry and the Beast
Furry and the Beast is also another good choice for very customized minis! Unlike Hero Forge, Furry and the Beast puts you in contact with a team of professionals to work through what exactly your vision is. You become the project manager in creating your character! Because each and every project they tackle is as unique as the person who presents it to them, the prices will vary. Expect something expensive, though, because there’s no way this quality comes cheap. Their portfolios are expansive and truly phenomenal.
As their name would suggest, their specializations are in anthropomorphic animal and furry miniatures. They do a number of NSFW pieces as well, if that’s your cup of tea. On their site, there are options to order war game minis, start a project with them, and even hire your own sculptor!
Their site has more info, but to get a quote, you’ll need to submit your project parameters and some inspiration!
Buying in Bulk
Hero Forge and Furry and the Beast are the best options for individual miniatures, but what if you’re a DM or running a war game with a whole slew of minis on the board? We’ve got some good options for you if you want to buy in bulk too!
Reaper Miniatures
Reaper Miniatures has been a mainstay in the mini market for as long as I can remember, and is our top choice for bulk minis. They have products from kobold minis to massive dinosaurs to terrifying set pieces! Their “Reaper Bones” series has as many generic fantasy baddies as you could ask for. They all come as grey plastic for you to customize yourself. For small and medium creatures, the price tag is usually under $10 for a posse of minis! If you get into large, unique creatures or big scenery pieces, you could find yourself paying up to $20 apiece. At this price, you could still pick up a solid battalion on a budget.
Games Workshop
Synonymous with Warhammer, Games Workshop is known for finely detailed miniatures. They offer a wide selection of different types of fantastical miniatures – even futuristic ones from their 40k line. The minis they offer are all from the Warhammer line, but it’s all fantasy when you get down to it! These miniatures work just fine on a D&D battle map as well. This does mean you pay a little extra for that branding, though. In the miniature sets we went over, each mini averaged out to around $10. This is more expensive than that of Reaper, but the Games Workshop minis tend to come with a little more oomph. Warhammer rules, painting starter sets, or game boards can be found in the packages! These are a stellar option if you’re interested in Warhammer, since you can double dip in your hobbies.
Miniature Market and Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures
Miniature Market carries many Wizards of the Coast icons as miniatures. If you have a campaign based off of the Forgotten Realms or featuring some known characters, these are a solid buy. Running premade campaigns would also incentivize you to buy these, as they have some bundles for the books! Magic the Gathering characters pop up here too: Teferi, Chandra, and even Strixhaven students. The prices here vary wildly depending on the characters and box sets being purchased. While these are fun, the price ends up being a bit of a deterrent. We would only recommend these if you’re a big fan of the characters in question, or are running the campaign the minis are associated with!
Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures are a Wizards of the Coast-endorsed product from WizKids. Each box of these contains two to three small to medium sized creatures for about $5. These are all creatures directly from the Monster Manual. They also include some generic class and race combos like half-orc barbarian or human fighter! These are relatively inexpensive options, but we would recommend them only if you’re planning on running encounters with repeating types of enemies.
Printable Heroes
This is a unique take on miniatures800rintable Heroes offers a wide array of miniatures for printing out. They present PDFs for printing these minis and little stands to prop them up with. By supporting their Patreon, you get access to 40 pages of these types of miniatures! This is a great deal for the volume of minis they offer. If you like the art style of the minis and the DIY type of mini creation, these would be perfect!
Arcknight
Arcknight offers similar 2D miniatures to Printable Heroes, but with their own plastic casing, making them more durable. They also have spell effects and maps available! Their bundles are a fantastic deal – for $140 you get spell effects, minis, and maps. This is an excellent value for those playing in person and want to make sure they always have the right mini for a situation.
Amazon
There are some cheaper options on Amazon for bundles of minis. What you gain in quantity, though, you lose in quality. We’ve found the best bang for your buck is at Path Gaming. They’ve got large quantities of unpainted minis for around $1 per miniature!
Wrapping Things Up
If you’re a player wanting to customize your own miniature for a campaign, Hero Forge is absolutely the way to go! Furry and the Beast is also a good option, but requires more in-depth work with an artist to perfect your vision.
Reaper Miniatures strike the best balance between quality and price for bulk miniatures by far. If you want to fully flesh out your mini collection, we would recommend a combination of the cheaper and more quality minis. Big baddies could get a fancier mini, while the grunts have more generic ones!
