If you want a lot, I think you'd be better off getting a 3D printer and doing it yourself or using a local 3D printer (less skill required and, depending on numbers, might be cheaper). Get some STLs (MZ4250 has at least one free one for pretty much every monster in 5e, myminifactory has a few really good ones that you need to pay for, or you can use Heroforge to make custom ones, again for a fee), print them or get them printed and paint them yourself.
The problem with buying minis is that they tend to be quite expensive or randomised, which isn't great for building a comprehensive set. With 3D printing, if you're tech savvy and have that kind of mind, it's an expensive initial layout (getting the printer, accessories, paints etc), but you're talking pennies to make a mini afterwards. If you're doing a lot, that means you can get reasonably cheap high quality minis that you can print as often as you like - a broken mini costs you pennies, not pounds/dollars. If you have friends that want minis too, it can get very cheap.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
As stated above, if you're planning on accumulating a lot of minis, investing in a 3d printer is well worth it. I have printed WAAAAAAAAY more minis than I'll ever need!
If you're just looking for a lot of minis, looking up collections of the Dungeons & Dragons Minis game from 3.5 Edition is a good idea. You can frequently find lots of them for sale on eBay fairly cheaply, and online gaming stores will sell the common figures for anywhere from fifty cents to two bucks a mini. Home 3D printing is no where close to being competitive for making minis, especially in bulk. You not only need a decent printer, you need a good quality for your material, and there's a lot of work involved with placing the supports for the printing, removing the supports after printing, washing and curing, putting the pieces together (because most figures can't easily be printed as a single piece), priming and painting. And unless you're really skilled the end result is probably still going to look worse than a mini you bought from a second-hand gaming products store.
If you want a custom figure for your PC, 3D printing can work well. If you want a bunch of mooks, 3D printing is probably more effort than it's worth.
It's FDM (a filament spool) or resin. Both have their problems, but resin apparently has a steep learning curve. With FDM you many not get the detail of your minis, unless you print them larger. Most painters prefer 32mm or larger minis so FDM and resin would both be fine.
You can get decent printers in either variety in the $2-300 range.
Although things are changing, resin is pretty toxic and fairly messy compared to FDM. A resin bottle ($40) is more expensive than a spool of filament $22.
I would recommend an Ender 3 Pro or somewhere around that price range. You can buy parts and upgrades for an Ender, just as easily as a Prusa (3 times the cost). I should add, the shipping cost alone for my Prusa was close to the cost of buying an Creality Ender, so consider that when buying.
Otherwise, check out Reaper where you can buy their excellent paints and minis. They also have a subscription service with all its benefits.
@6thLyranGuard I think you're referring to resin mostly. FDM you don't need to wash them or wait for curing to complete. Slicers can easily handle optimal supports these days. Supports aren't always needed. FDM is also fantastic for terrain and scatter.
Their NPC kit has 68 models and costs $59, townsfolk kit has 62 minis for the same price.
Their recent Encounter Kickstarter has a creature pack with 32 minis, with a whole heap of stretch goals and the option of buying their 3rd edition stretch goals which was full of awesome minis.
Anyone have a good source of minis in bulk. Found some online but I figured the community might have knowledge of a hidden gem
If you want a lot, I think you'd be better off getting a 3D printer and doing it yourself or using a local 3D printer (less skill required and, depending on numbers, might be cheaper). Get some STLs (MZ4250 has at least one free one for pretty much every monster in 5e, myminifactory has a few really good ones that you need to pay for, or you can use Heroforge to make custom ones, again for a fee), print them or get them printed and paint them yourself.
The problem with buying minis is that they tend to be quite expensive or randomised, which isn't great for building a comprehensive set. With 3D printing, if you're tech savvy and have that kind of mind, it's an expensive initial layout (getting the printer, accessories, paints etc), but you're talking pennies to make a mini afterwards. If you're doing a lot, that means you can get reasonably cheap high quality minis that you can print as often as you like - a broken mini costs you pennies, not pounds/dollars. If you have friends that want minis too, it can get very cheap.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
As stated above, if you're planning on accumulating a lot of minis, investing in a 3d printer is well worth it. I have printed WAAAAAAAAY more minis than I'll ever need!
Do you have 3d printers you reccommend?
Ideally around 200ish dollars
If you're just looking for a lot of minis, looking up collections of the Dungeons & Dragons Minis game from 3.5 Edition is a good idea. You can frequently find lots of them for sale on eBay fairly cheaply, and online gaming stores will sell the common figures for anywhere from fifty cents to two bucks a mini. Home 3D printing is no where close to being competitive for making minis, especially in bulk. You not only need a decent printer, you need a good quality for your material, and there's a lot of work involved with placing the supports for the printing, removing the supports after printing, washing and curing, putting the pieces together (because most figures can't easily be printed as a single piece), priming and painting. And unless you're really skilled the end result is probably still going to look worse than a mini you bought from a second-hand gaming products store.
If you want a custom figure for your PC, 3D printing can work well. If you want a bunch of mooks, 3D printing is probably more effort than it's worth.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Check out Elegoo Mars Pro 2. Not sure the current cost, but that's what I have and it was very affordable. Amazing printer too.
It's FDM (a filament spool) or resin. Both have their problems, but resin apparently has a steep learning curve. With FDM you many not get the detail of your minis, unless you print them larger. Most painters prefer 32mm or larger minis so FDM and resin would both be fine.
You can get decent printers in either variety in the $2-300 range.
Although things are changing, resin is pretty toxic and fairly messy compared to FDM. A resin bottle ($40) is more expensive than a spool of filament $22.
I would recommend an Ender 3 Pro or somewhere around that price range. You can buy parts and upgrades for an Ender, just as easily as a Prusa (3 times the cost). I should add, the shipping cost alone for my Prusa was close to the cost of buying an Creality Ender, so consider that when buying.
Otherwise, check out Reaper where you can buy their excellent paints and minis. They also have a subscription service with all its benefits.
Look up 'reaper mini' in a search engine.
@6thLyranGuard I think you're referring to resin mostly. FDM you don't need to wash them or wait for curing to complete. Slicers can easily handle optimal supports these days. Supports aren't always needed. FDM is also fantastic for terrain and scatter.
Ok thank you i wil look into using them
Dungeons and Lasers has a couple of sets of plastic minis that work really well.
https://archon-studio.com/shop/21-dungeons-lasers
Their NPC kit has 68 models and costs $59, townsfolk kit has 62 minis for the same price.
Their recent Encounter Kickstarter has a creature pack with 32 minis, with a whole heap of stretch goals and the option of buying their 3rd edition stretch goals which was full of awesome minis.
https://gamefound.com/projects/archon-studio/encounters#/section/refunds-and-cancellation