Over the past 28 years that I've been playing the game, I've amassed more than a fair amount of miniatures (many of which, I am ashamed to say, remained unpainted.
) While I have representations for most, if not all, the standard monsters, there are a number of uniquely Mystaran monsters (kopru, phanaton, decapus, etc.) that I've never found.My guess is that they were never made, but I was wondering if anyone had ever found a source, cast their own, or customized other miniatures. I've certainly found some reasonable substitutes for some: jackal headed humanoids for hutakaan; small, canine gnolls for lupin; rakshasa for rakasta, etc. But I haven't had much luck with the more distinctive Mystaran monsters.
Anyone else have better luck?
Also Lance & Laser makes Blackmoor miniatures, which includes three Thouls as well as Beastmen. I am planning on ordering those, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Great thread idea btw, I've just rediscovered miniatures myself.
Havard
One miniature I use for lupins is this one:
http://www.vesivus.com/minis/Harbinger_Hound_Archon.htm
There is a D&D rakasta miniature believe it or not. It was the last D&D miniatures Basic box set they released, back when Bruce Heard was running the Princess Ark series in Dragon. I can't find a link but I do have the miniature set in storage somewhere.
There are also catfolk miniatures prepainted released by WoTC. And there is at least one Eberron rakshasa miniature which is slightly better than other rakshasa miniatures because Eberron rakshasas don't have their hands reversed. You can find these minis at the same website I linked to above
I also know of some owl miniatures that can duplicate a hsiao, the best being the giant owl miniature from the WoTC prepainted line, although that is too big for a hsiao normally, it works well if the hsiao casts animal growth on himself!
Kopru, phanaton and decapus though...I have never seen anything that is a good fit. Not without a customization project.
(Hmm... now that I know how to put images into posts, maybe I'll come back and edit this to include some pictures.)
I also purchased the D&D set with the rakasta (and the small half-page level progression sheet with class information for the rakasta) -- that was certainly half the reason I got it at the time.
I also remember seeing (at one time) a gator-type humanoid from Reaper (I believe) that would fit great for a gator man, but didn't get it 'cause I knew that my players would rarely encounter those.
I have also used some recent lion-type humanoid miniatures for other types of rakasta (the "simba," I believe..?). My brother painted it (awesome mini painter), and I used it as part of a gladiator campaign (DDA1 and 2) in Thyatis. The simba gladiator was quite tough (good story there).
I'll have to get a picture and post it sometime.
Those thouls look great, though $20 for 3 seems a might steep. I may have to invest in some of those myself.
Thanks!
There were miniature boxes produced (by Ral Partha?) for Classic D&D. I have one of them, it is called D&D Heroes, and included a Rakasta in addition to the other traditional PC classes. It even came with rules for playing the Rakasta.
Also Lance & Laser makes Blackmoor miniatures, which includes three Thouls as well as Beastmen. I am planning on ordering those, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Great thread idea btw, I've just rediscovered miniatures myself.
Havard
I unfortunately don't have any pics of minis I use for the hutaakans, but I'll try to take some and post them. One is an old grenadier miniature from the Monster Manuscript. The other is I believe a figure of Anubis from Reaper.
Do you have pics or links for those hutaakans?
One miniature I use for lupins is this one:
http://www.vesivus.com/minis/Harbinger_Hound_Archon.htm
There is a D&D rakasta miniature believe it or not. It was the last D&D miniatures Basic box set they released, back when Bruce Heard was running the Princess Ark series in Dragon. I can't find a link but I do have the miniature set in storage somewhere.
There are also catfolk miniatures prepainted released by WoTC. And there is at least one Eberron rakshasa miniature which is slightly better than other rakshasa miniatures because Eberron rakshasas don't have their hands reversed. You can find these minis at the same website I linked to above
I also know of some owl miniatures that can duplicate a hsiao, the best being the giant owl miniature from the WoTC prepainted line, although that is too big for a hsiao normally, it works well if the hsiao casts animal growth on himself!
Kopru, phanaton and decapus though...I have never seen anything that is a good fit. Not without a customization project.
I agree that the Crocodile Games minis are very good!
Here's a blast from the past thread you guys might want to look at where we discussed Mystara minis. I still say those Crocodile Games minis were really cool.
(Hmm... now that I know how to put images into posts, maybe I'll come back and edit this to include some pictures.)
Between my Battletech and D&D miniatures, I'm lucky if I paint a few dozen minis a year. (Unfortunately, during the same time period, I probably purchase twice that amount!) Now that my kids are a bit older, I'm hoping to 1) have a bit more time to paint, and 2) institute child labor! As the jewels of my mini collection are my old Heritage Dungeon Dwellers and early Grenadier minis, I'm offering some of my other minis to my kids if they help me paint.
I agree that many of the pre-painted miniatures are nice. I've bought a fair number of MageKnight and D&D minis to fill in gaps in my collection, and for use with the kids. When they were younger, I didn't feel comfortable having them use/touch metal minis, especially since I have a lot of older lead ones. The plastic ones were great, and I didn't have to paint them if I didn't want to!
I have a few gator and lion minis as well. For a reason I can't remember, I didn't use them as gator men either. Are gator men small (like 1 foot?) or I am I thinking of cay-men?
I, too, enjoy miniatures (over 600 and counting, since my youth, over 24 years!). The pre-painted miniatures are definitely an economical way to go, these days.
I also purchased the D&D set with the rakasta (and the small half-page level progression sheet with class information for the rakasta) -- that was certainly half the reason I got it at the time.
I also remember seeing (at one time) a gator-type humanoid from Reaper (I believe) that would fit great for a gator man, but didn't get it 'cause I knew that my players would rarely encounter those.
I have also used some recent lion-type humanoid miniatures for other types of rakasta (the "simba," I believe..?). My brother painted it (awesome mini painter), and I used it as part of a gladiator campaign (DDA1 and 2) in Thyatis. The simba gladiator was quite tough (good story there).
I'll have to get a picture and post it sometime.