Mini Scales & Cardboard Heroes
Cardboard heroes are a great buy. The spiral bound set of cardboard sheets is a compilation of all their individual packets of full color heroes and monsters they produced in the 80s. You get over 400 fold-up paper minis, plus tons of flat counters representing debris, slimes, spiders, creepie crawly monsters, etc. It's got everything you need, including oriental adventurers, giants, and extra sets of monsters like orcs, goblins and undead.
While they don't look as good from the sides as a 3-dimensional figure, they are easy to put together and transport (they don't weigh very much after all).
Plus, you can get full sets of cut-out Dungeon Tiles and Cavern Tiles complete with tons of counters representing treasure, dropped weapons, traps, dead bodies, etc.
Each set only costs you US $20-25 plus tax.
Mage Knight figures are okay, but their paint jobs aren't spectacular (they're mass painted in a factory in china). They cost about $8 for a pack of 6, and you don't know what's in a "booster pack" until you open it (it's like buying a pack of Magic Cards). The special rotating bases are oversized to accomodate the "Hero Clix" combat system Mage Knight uses, and crowds floorspace at the 5'=1" 25mm scale used in D&D.
A note on figure scales & availability:
1/72 scale plastic figures are sometimes called "25mm" scale, but actually they are 20mm scale. The figure industry called 20mm "25mm" 20 years ago, and a lot of 1/72 boxes still call themselves this even though the industry standards have changed. 20mm scale minis were traditionally produced for use in making dioramas and collecting big miniature wargaming armies. Most wargamers have switched to metal figs in either 15mm, 25mm or 28mm scale.
Most D&D figures made in the late 70s thru mid 90s are truly 25mm scale. 1/72 figures look slightly small when placed next to one of these true 25mm figures. Mage Knight figures are, incidentally, 25mm scale (sometimes slightly larger).
Ever since Games Workshop became the #1 miniatures manufacturer with their Warhammer games, their oversized 28mm scale figures have gotten popular. Everybody seems to be making 28mm figs to compete!
The minatures company with the biggest selection of D&D type miniatures is Reaper Miniatures, who specialize in special player character figures, sold one to a pack for about $3-4. Reaper miniatures are also 28mm, but are slightly smaller than Games Workshop figs to maintain some compatibility with older true 25mm figs.
1/72 plastic figures look *very* small next to 28mm figs, but on the plus side, you get 40+ minatures in a box for the price of 2-3 Reaper figs.
Personally, for sheer economy I'd go for the Cardboard Heroes. You get all the miniatures you'll ever need, and if you ever upgrade to 3-D figs, you can still use all the cardboard orcs and skeletons (and other stuff) to throw at your players.
For PCs, buy Reaper figs. They have a figure for every PC imaginable, plus a good selection of monsters. You're bound to find a mini from their huge catalog that "looks just right" to represent a PC.
There's a whole bunch of other figure companies that make fantasy figs too at about the same price as Reaper. Try Mark Copplestone miniatures, Excalibur, Wargames Foundry, Heresy and Shadowforge. Games Workshop figs are of extraordinary quality, but they cost 50% to 100% more. Incidentally, if you can find them, the French company Confrontation makes an amazing line of 28mm minis, but they cost as much as Games Workshop.
The 1/72 scale is also economical. You get an army of guys for cheap (though a few figs in each box are unusable--dead guys, sitting guys, crawling guys, etc). If you ever upgrade to 25-28mm metal figs, you might find your 20mm men look too small next to them. Still, a box of 40 1/72 Gauls painted up right, would make a pretty good angry tribe of kobolds...
Hope this helps,
Steve Parsonage
