Good alternatives to proper miniatures?

Reynard said:

Why? Most inkjet and laser printers will print cardstock.

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My laser printer will not (and even if it did, it won't print in color).

The old D&D 4th edition board games are great too. They show up on sale and in other discount or second hand places too.

Durable and decent. Unpainted of coarse but in different colors so you could put them in teams.

jdrakeh said:

Printing them out on cardstock requires me taking them to a local print shop which, honestly, will cost me about as much as buying a box of pawns or something similar will after all of the expenses are totaled (printing costs + transportation to and from the print shop).

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Print them on label stationery then, and stick them to cardstock.

If you have a pound store (or nation-appropriate equivalent) in your area, it's always worth browsing the toys section. You can often find bags of, i.e., army men, or animal figurines, or dinosaurs on sale there. Not particularly appropriate for a fantasy game necessarily, but useful as basic representations of NPCs and monsters.

Skinny minis are great. Look for sales.....

I could ship you two paizo boxes of the pawns or whatever they are called, but I've mined them for a lot of the stuff, so I have no idea what's in them. They also weigh a TON....so shipping would be PRICEY.

MarkB said:

If you have a pound store (or nation-appropriate equivalent) in your area, it's always worth browsing the toys section. You can often find bags of, i.e., army men, or animal figurines, or dinosaurs on sale there. Not particularly appropriate for a fantasy game necessarily, but useful as basic representations of NPCs and monsters.

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I had a dollar jar of farm animals I used for years in my 3E/PF1 games.

If all you really care about is positioning and differentiation then a set of different coloured meeples could cover that and be endlessly re-usable.

So, by poor...lets just say these are "so poor you are wearing a rain barrel with suspenders" type suggestions:

Plastic Minis: Any store with the word Dollar in it, Five Below, and your local discount store like Discount Depot, Wheels, D&K, or whatever will have a selection of plastic minis. Maybe even some fantasy ones. Plenty are of decent quality. And you can always use things like animals, objects and fences just fine.

And with some work and a fire pit, soldering iron, pocket lighter and a sharp knife (and a sewing kit, eyeglass repair kit, a tealight candle, some paperclips, fishing line, tin foil...) you can modify plastic minis in to whatever you want or need.

With some tools and skill, you can made minis out of soap, wax or wood (or bone or stone or clay or dirt or...)

If you can draw, then make tiny pictures..front and back. Then cut them out and attach them to a base. You can do this with a computer too. AI can make you some.

Legos...and other such things. They work just fine. A little silly, sure...but why so serious? You can get the castle sets...but check your local thrift stores for buckets for a dollar.

Decorations in general often have 'mini' figures. With 4th of July over you should be able to find Halloween stuff on store shelves now. And some salt and pepper shakers with tiny plastic skeletons can work just fine.

Model Trains. Have a model train store or a Hobby Lobby nearby. Model trains stuff works just great.

Miniatures. There is a whole world out there of people that make miniatures. From houses to whole scenes. Lots of tiny figures and all sorts of amazing stuff. Like a tiny bookcase..with tiny books.. Check your local crafts store...Jo Ann, Derice, Minnesota Fabrics, Marshalls, And more.

Boardgames with any kind of chits, tokens, figures, or Meeple. Hit up second-hand stores and buy them cheap. They might not match, and they won’t all be fantasy, but that’s the cheapest way I’ve found to get stuff like that.

Craft and hardware stores have all kinds of cheap things you can use. Besides plastic toys of various kinds, there’s bags of flat-bottomed glass planter/design “beads” in all kinds of colors.

You can buy some necklace beads and pins or needles to put them on, and jab them into a styrofoam squares, hexes, circles or conical bases.*

You can do similar things with screws, washers & nuts.






* I actually first did this for a player in our group who accidentally listed his plate-armor wearing warrior as being 6’5” and 150lbs. (He meant 250lbs.) Despite having plenty of minis, I thought nothing quite captured the feel of that good better than a needle sticking out of a styrofoam base. (I still have it, too.)