More Reaper Bones for sale!

I didn't think I'd do it again, but I went and bought another lot of Bones minis on eBay, and as before, I'm putting most of them up for sale. Save up to half off MSRP. Check out my sale page for more info, or just go straight to my seller page. Happy buying!

The nearly-ultimate guide to D&D halfling and gnome miniatures

As I've previously mentioned, I have an interest in adapting D&D miniatures for my own 1/72 fantasy minis collection. Maybe that's why you'll find this post interesting, or maybe you just want to know how big these minis are. The original collectible D&D miniatures line spanned several years, after all, during which time the idea of scale proved to be quite flexible. Maybe you are starting your D&D minis collection and crave consistency in scale, or you just want more information before you start buying.

Whatever your reason, I hope you find this post useful. I'm missing a few halflings and gnomes, so my collection isn't entirely comprehensive, but it's close. I've also included a few halfings and gnomes from other miniature lines.

Sven the 1/72 scale comparison viking is on the right side of each shot. I've also included a 1/72 scale Caesar Miniatures sorceress on the left, as Caesar minis are just a bit smaller, and I thought the further comparison might be useful. Minis are grouped by size in four pictures (note that I'm going by presumed full height, even for minis that are crouching), and I include the name and year of production for each mini. I'm not including the particular release for each mini, as it's not particularly relevant to the secondary market, but the production year ought to show some interesting trends. Click images to enlarge!

The smallest minis, suitable as halflings and gnomes even in 1/72 scale. A gnome rogue from the World of Warcraft boardgame, a halfling wizard (2004), a Talenta halfling (2005), a mephling pyromancer (2005), Lidda the halfling rogue (2003), a halfling tombseeker (2007), and a cleric of Yondalla (2003).

The next size up, still suitable as halfings, possibly suitable as 1/72 humans if you squint. A gnome recruit (2003), a Pathfinder gnome fighter (2011), a halfling brawler (2007), a halfling slinger (2005), a halfling veteran (2003), a champion of Yondalla (2005),  and a gnome fighter (2003).

The next group is shorter than Sven, but within head height of the sorceress. They make fine 1/72 humans or elves, or possibly dwarves. A female halfling cleric (2009), a feybound halfling (2008), a gnome trickster (2006), Tomble Burrowell from the Descent boardgame, a cleric of Garl Glittergold (2004), a dark creeper (2005), and a skullclan hunter (2005).

This last group is within head height of Sven and are definitely human or elf-sized in 1/72 scale. A halfling rogue (2007), a halfling sneak (2005), a halfling enchanter (2007), a halfling paladin (2008), a soldier of Bytopia (2006), and Lidda the halfling adventurer (2004)

You can see that for halflings, the production year centers on 2003-2004 for group 1, 2005-2006 for groups 2 and 3, and 2007-2008 for group 4, especially the ones standing upright. Gnomes follow a similar trend, though they started larger. Of the gnomes and halfling I'm missing, I would guess that the halfling ranger belongs in group 1, Nebin the gnome illusionist in group 2, and Ulmo Lightbringer in group 4 (I'm open to correction!).

I'm also interested in other D&D minis for 1/72 scale fantasy gaming, as I show here. Here are some more recent acquisitions of mine that I think work particularly well for this purpose.

A deep legionaire (2007), a warforged scout (2005, disappointed this wasn't 1/72 human sized!), an abyssal skulker (2005), a kruthik hatchling (2005), and a fire mephit (2007)

D&D miniatures aren't the most cost-effective way to build a 1/72 fantasy mini collection, but they are great for certain character types that aren't readily available in this scale, such as spellcasters, rogues, and female fighters. It also turns out that many are suitable as 1/72 halflings. I've been thinking of using 15mm miniatures as halflings (like these guys), and I'd be interested to see how they'd compare, but that will be a later post.

Zinkies!

It sounds like something Velma from Scoobie Doo would say, but it's actually an apparently failed toy line that I found on clearance at Target. They seemed like something that could work for my peculiar purposes, so I took a chance and bought a couple packs.

The Alien Zinkies in their original package. For under 3 bucks, I figured 36 minis and other paraphernalia could be worth the money.

In addition to the minis shown, the set comes with a magnifier, a storage capsule, a vehicle, a pair of plastic tweezers (shown above), and a capsule for the "Top Secret" figure included in the set.

The "Top Secret" figure, revealed. I'm not sure if this guy is in every pack, or if he is one of many chase figures.

All the Zinkies I bought. The bottom rows are the minis from the Robots set I purchased, which came with similar extras as the Aliens set. There is also a green Soldiers set available that is similarly outfitted.

Zinkies compared to Sven. As you can see, they would probably be more suitable for 6-10 mm gaming, if it weren't for their squat proportions. As it is, I imagine I can come up with some use for an army of squat little xenomorphs or mechanoids.

Zinkies are made from a very squishy, rubbery material, and they aren't terribly detailed. I have no idea how they'd look if painted, or if they'd even be able to hold paint without cracking. I wonder if there's a way to make them less squishy somehow. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them!

Painted lizards!

Man, did these guys ever take a long time to finish. These Warhammer figures have way more fiddly details than the 1/72 minis I'm used to, even though they're both about the same size in this case. Still, despite a few reservations, I'm pretty proud of how my 1/72 lizardmen turned out. Partly for that reason, and partly because I finally figured out how to activate micro-mode on our camera, you're getting a lot of photos today.

The whole saurian regiment.

The lizardman champion is part of the Stegadon Crew I got at a bitz store.

GOOD MORNING!!!

The bruisers are old Saurus warriors with newer weapon swaps.

The shaman guy is another Stegadon crewman with a kitbashed totem, the top part of which snapped off during the dipping process and is currently held together with superglue and prayers. The sorcerer to the right is actually a D&D kobold miniature from the Castle Ravenloft boardgame, but I think he makes a fine 1/72 lizardmen along with the Warhammer minis.

I got these older-model archers in the same eBay lot as the Sauruses (Sauri?).

The melee warriors are either Stegadon Crew or Skink bits I got for cheap on eBay.  The spears are 1/72 scale replacements, so they didn't look ridiculous.

The comparison shot with Sven the 1/72 comparison viking. They are a bit cartoony, but the Skinks and their friends hold up very well as 1/72 scale cold-blooded antagonists.

Things that went well: I'm quite pleased with the basic color scheme. Orange-and-purple was perhaps not the obvious choice, but it works and is quite distinctive. I'm also generally proud of my detail work, especially the faces. I haven't had minis that stare back at me quite like these do.

Things that worked less well: I'm developing a love-hate relationship with The Dip. I thinned it with some Naptha thinner, and it more or less behaved the way I wanted. But it was probably a bad idea to dunk these figures in the dip directly, with all their splayed limbs and crevasses. The sorcerer and archers are single-piece figures with more compact poses, so it was easier for me to wipe off the excess dip; it's not surprising that The Dip had the best effect on them. If I had applied The Dip with a brush on the others, they might have looked less splotchy. The Dip I use is also toxic, messy, difficult to clean, and apparently takes longer to dry than I thought (by the way, thanks to the TMP guys for your tips!). In the future I may try something else, like water-based floor polish mixed with paint or ink.

The lizardmen were a huge effort to assemble and paint, but I really do like the overall results. I'm still very glad my next project will be dudes in simple, monochromatic robes.

A quick scale comparison

My sale is going pretty well, but I still have lots of Reaper Bones, WoW boardgame minis, and other cheap minis for sale. Check out my sale page for more information.

I'm usually purely a 1/72 collector, as far as human-scale minis goes, but since I temporarily have something of a warehouse of all sorts of miniatures, I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a snapshot for the purposes of scale comparison.

These are a little shorter than shown, since they're a few millimeters away from the backdrop, but this should give a relative idea of different scales used in fantasy gaming. To the left is a Reaper Miniatures figure, one of the new Kickstarter Bones. Even though they're advertised as "heroic 25mm," you can see they are quite a bit taller. To the right is a D&D Miniature, from the Dragoneye series. D&D minis are a bit inconsistent scalewise, but this guy is fairly typical.

Continuing to the right is a game piece from the World of Warcraft miniatures game. He's actually about 25mm from foot to eye; I think this puts him in about the same scale as most Games Workshop minis (I could be wrong, though). Finally our old friend Sven the 1/72 comparison viking, who is about 25mm from foot to scalp, making him a bit shorter than the WoW figure. Not shown is an example of a 15mm figure, for the simple reason that I don't own any :). It would be about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of Sven, depending on the manufacturer.

Cultists, and other figure mods

Hey, don't forget I'm selling a ton of cheap plastic minis, including Kickstarter Reaper Bones and WoW boardgame figures. Check out the sale here.

Painting miniatures is great, but sometimes I need a distraction while still doing something hobby-related. Sometimes I need something a little more instantly gratifying than what painting can give me. I'm finding that modifying figures to create something new gives me exactly this: it's creative, I get results I like very quickly, and given that not everything I want is in 1/72 (the preferred scale of this blog), it's often necessary. I describe the basic technique I use here. Of course I still have to paint the little dudes eventually, but that comes later, usually after I finish the concurrent painting project.

Let's start with some evil cultists. I got the idea from Plasticgeneral's and El Senyor Verd's blogs. The bodies are Caesar Miniatures undead, while the heads are from Zvezda peasants or HAT/Airfix Robin Hood figures. I decided to completely carve away the scythes the bodies were holding, and though it looks a little rough, I think it will look okay once painted. I also tried some reposing with the arms, and I may do a little more so it doesn't look like the entire sinister congregation is holding invisible polearms. You can see the yellow blobs of Milliput I used to hide the seems in a few figures, but for the most part everything lined up surprisingly well.

Of course, everyone knows that if you join an evil cult, there's a fair chance you'll wind up turning into a degenerate snake monster (or evil fish beast, or host to an eldritch squid god). These guys got head swaps with Arcane Legions sta figures. The middle guy also got a hand swap because I thought he ought to be holding the nifty snake staff the necromancer-looking guy above has. The hooded fellow on the left (possibly a snakeman in cognito) has a head from a Micro Machines jawa miniature.

Here's a picture I took of some body swaps I did months ago. You can see the original figures and the resulting swaps. We have a Caesar Miniatures knight, an Arcane Legions lion-rider, a CM elf, and an AL jorogumo (spider-monster). The idea for the elf-jorogumo swap was to make a drider, a classic dark-elf/spider monster from D&D. You can see the glob of wood glue I used to crudely fill in the gap between the two halves.

As I was messing around with the more recent headswaps, I took the opportunity to fill in the seams a little better with some Milliput. I also did a few more headswaps using Caesar Miniatures goblins. The goblin wizard on the left has a jawa body (its head went to the hooded cultist above) (P.S., my wife mentioned that the goblin wizard looks like Yoda, who when you think about it basically is a goblin wizard). Next to him is a swap between two goblin figures to make a goblin chieftan. Since I didn't want to waste the leftover bodies, I added some Greek villager heads from Age of Mythology minis to make some halfing barbarians: They aren't quite as crude and radioactive-looking in person.

I'm also messing around with some conversions for a demon army, but that will probably be a later post.

I'm selling Reaper Bones and WoW boardgame figures (and other cheap minis)

So in a fit of eBay-induced enthusiasm, I now possess around 350 cheap plastic fantasy minis in heroic 28mm scale, and I plan on selling most of them. I'll eventually put these on eBay, but I thought I'd offer them up here. I'll sell most of the Bones miniatures for half off MSRP, or less if you buy them in presorted lots. I also have a few large Bones for sale, including Rauthuros the demon and Boerogg Blackrime the frost giant.

For the WoW figures (great cheap gaming minis which I discuss here), I'll sell the large figures and heroic minis for a dollar a piece, or two for a buck for the smaller monsters. I also have a few Arcane Legions and D&D Miniatures I'd like to sell, plus some leftover toy cavemen figures that can be used for ogres, giants and the like.

See what I have for sale here, along with instructions for how to buy. Enjoy!