Monster Mini Box - Level One

DMG - Appendix C
Random Monster Encounters

I was originally going to post this on Thursday but the sad news of Ray Harryhausen's death (at the age of 92) has spurred me to post early.  Everyone who roleplays today owes a great debt to his pioneering work bringing some of movies greatest monsters to the silver screen.  For those abut to roll, we salute you.

My recent DIY Gelatinous Cube post got me thinking "how much moolah would it take to put together a monster minis collection for each level of Random Monster Encounter (as per Appendix C of the Dungeon Masters Guide)? 

For those who just want to slobber over pictures of old school minis I've put a pinterest board together showing all the options.

Giant Ant - (Qty 1-4)

• Otherworld Miniatures has their DV6a pack of 3 worker ants (£9) or the slightly bigger DV6b Two Soldier Ants (£9)
• Bugs n Bees are a toy company but they make an entirely passable set of plastic Giant Ants in a big pack of 72 for only $5.99

Badger - (Qty 1-4)

• Dark Sword have a fierce looking pair of Epic Honey Badgers ($12.99)
• Reaper Miniatures do the Angry Badger ($2.43) and Badger: Familiar ($4.93)

Dark Sword - Epic Honey Badgers

Fire Beetle - (Qty 1-4)

• Otherworld Miniatures has their DV4a Fire Beetles as a 3 pack (£9) or a 15 pack swarm (£37.50)
• Reaper Miniatures do a metal 2 pack of Fire Beetles ($7.99) which they've recast in their Bone Material so should be available soon at a much lower price.

Manes Demon - (Qty 1-4)

• Fractured Realities - Not heard of this company before, but they make a 6 pack of some really useable small mane demons ($10.99)
• Centre Stage Miniatures are also an outfit new to me but they are another crowdfunding success story - their 28mm Demons & Devils Kickstarter reached its funding level within 7 hours!! - which contained some nice manes demons (price TBC)

Mega Miniatures Dwarves
(Bob Olley)

Dwarf -  (Qty 4-14)

The DMG is not too specific about what types of Dwarves so I'm guessing it's a war party of some variety.  I have plenty of dwarves but if I didn't I would look no further than:

• Mega Miniatures (via Hurlbat Games Ebay Store) have the old school Metal Magic Fantasy Dwarves range (24 minis) sculpted by master dwarfsmith Bob Olley (£15)

Ear Seeker - (Qty 1)

This creature is too small to be represented by a miniature.

Elf - (Qty 3-11) 

Again the DMG lets us down without going into any detail, so this will probably be a war party again, but why would you encounter a war party of elves in a dungeon, there's still gotta be some logic to it.  You could just assemble a group from player character miniatures, but it is nice to have a group all wearing the same sort of armour and having the same style.

• Mirliton SG have some nicely generic and lightly armoured 5 packs of Wood Elf Archers, Swordsmen and Spearmen (€8.16 per pack) or if you want Evil or Dark Elves they have their 5 packs of Shadow Elves with swords and shields (€8.16)

Mirliton SG - Wood Elf Swordsmen

• Kallistra have some 8 packs of similarly generic looking Wood Elf Swordsmen and Archers (£9.50)

Gnome - (Qty 5-15)

Help me out DMG!! what are these gnomes of which you speak.  I'm going for some sort of war party (if gnomes even have those).

• Stonehaven Miniatures succsessfully Kickstarted an anime looking Gnomish Adventurers set which has stretched quite a ways expanding the range.  Sadly their webstore doesn't seem to include these new minis yet (If I can help throw some webskills at the problem, let me know guys!!) but you can still take advantage of the Kickstarter pricing. 
• Reaper Miniatures do some nice gnome character figures, but I particularly like their nasty looking 06201: Bloodstone Gnome Pulgers 9 pack - but pricey ($39.99)

Goblin - (Qty 6-15)

At last we hit a proper dungeon bash monster, as so many companies do goblins it would be futile to list them all but I like:

• Mirlton SG do their GO002 Goblins with Mixed Weapons 5 pack and GO005 Goblin Archers (which look like Nick Lund's old Chronicle/Grenadier range) for a reasonable €8.16 each.
• Reaper Miniatures have their 4 pack of Pathfinder Goblin Warriors ($10.99), if you like the smaller gremlin style, I know I do.

Halfling - (Qty 9-16)

I'm beginning to hate you DMG.  Seriously why would Halflings be a wandering monster have we just wandered into their village?... in a dungeon!!

• Mirliton have their very useable HM001 Halfmen with Swords 10 pack or HM002 Halfmen with Bows 9 pack (€9.16 each)

Hobgoblin - (Qty 2-8)

• Otherworld Miniatures do some nice oriental looking Hobgoblins available as the 18 miniature BS3 Hobgoblin War Party (£55) or in 3 pack blisters; HG1, HG2, HG3, HG4 and HG6 - 2 Hobgoblin Guards (£7.50)
  

Otherworld Miniatures Hobgoblin Warriors

Humans

Random encounters with humans can be one of 4 different sub types

Bandits - (Qty 5-15)

Mega Miniatures - Thieves Guild
Sculpted by Joseph Ochman

• Mega Miniatures have their Metal Magic Thieves Guild range sculpted by Joseph Ochman. A Bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store .

Berserker - (Qty 3-9)

• Mirliton (an Italian company who seem to have the entire Grenadier range) do a great 5 pack of Barbarian Berserkers (€8.16)
  

Brigands - (Qty 5-15)

•  Mega Miniatures Metal Magic Castle Guard range sculpted by Joseph Ochman.  I'm starting to sound like a stuck record (that's OSR!!) A bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store.

Character - (Qty 2-5)

This is actually supposed to be an NPC adventure party.  Clearly dungeoneering is a competitive business, perhaps someone should form a Guild or something.

•  Mega Miniatures Metal Magic Swords for Hire range ($12)

Kobold - (Qty 6-18)

Dragon or dog varieties, I'm not fussy either way.

• Centre Stage Miniatures has a pack of 5 kobolds ($11.95) which they could really do with adding a photo of to their website (painted would be best).  Heck if they sent me a set for free I'd paint them and send them the photos!! (I can paint... sort of) 
• Otherworld Miniatures has their 26 figure BS4 Kobold Tribe Boxed Set (£42.50) or you can buy them in small 5 miniature packs (KB1, KB2 & KB3) for £10 each and the KB4 Command Group for £11.

  

  Otherworld Miniatures - BS4 Kobold Tribe

• Reaper has recast their 3 metal kobolds ($5.99) as a 6 pack of Bones plastic kobolds (£2.30) which you can bolster with their 2 pack Leader and Sorceror ($7.49) and the Kobold King ($4.99)
  

Orc - (Qty 7-12)

Pig-faced orcs only, the GW slack jawed ones need not apply for this job.

• Fractured Realites have 4 different 4 packs of PORCs (each priced at $15.99) but sadly one of these packs has all their porcine features hidden under cow skulls.  Minimum cost $47.97 or £31.06
  
• Otherworld Miniatures sell a 25 strong tribe of orcs (£70), a 9 strong Warband (£27) and a 3 strong group of crossbowmen (£10).  All minis modelled by ace sculptor Kev "Goblin Master" Adams (Get well soon Kev).  Minimum cost £37

Piercer - (Qty 1-3)

No commercially available miniatures, I guess I have to make my own then, this will be a fun project (stay tuned). 

Giant Rat - (Qty 5-20)

• Otherworld Miniatures do their beautiful 5 pack of DV3a Giant Rats (£11) sculpted by Jo Brumby.  A boxed set of 20 is also available for £32.50 saving you some money.
  
  
• Lead Adventure do a 10 pack of really ferocious looking PA26 Giant Rats (€14.95) guaranteed to scare off any meatshields (and some PCs for that matter).
  
  



Nasty looking Giant Rats from Lead Adventure

• Reaper Miniatures have recently recast their metal Giant Rats ($5.99) as a 6 pack of Bones Giant Rats ($3.49) but also do two scary looking Barrow Rats ($8.99) a 4 pack of Dire Rats ($6.99) and their 2 pack Rat Swarm ($5.99) which should meet all your rodent needs.
  

Rot Grub - (Qty 1-3) 

• Scibor do some Rot & Grub resin bases (€7.52) which would fit the bill, but honestly how hard can it be to model some grubs on a base out of modelling clay?
  

Shrieker - (Qty 1-2)

I already have these but I know many out there don't and no dungeon would be complete without fungi.

• Otherworld Miniatures do their wicked 3 pack DM11 Shriekers and Violet Fungi (£11)

  

  Otherworld Miniatures - Shriekers and Violet Fungi

• Centre Stage Miniatures have their Shrieker and Deadly Fungi (£7.25)
• ScotiaGrendel still do their generic resin Fungi (£8) having a patch of fungi appearing as a piece of scenery which is a monster rather than a single miniature has always made more sense to me.  

Skeleton - (Qty 1-4)

I have plenty of skellies, but if I didn't, I would go for:

• Denizen Miniatures have been selling their Legion of the Damned Skeletons (£1 each) for years and I own a few so have a particular fondness for them.  Frankly their website sucks (Chub, I'd love to help you out with this.) but you can see the whole range at the Lost Minis Wiki.  They are true 25mm and slightly smaller in comparison to other manufacturers but they have honest old school charm and realistic action poses.
  
  
• Steve Barber Models channels Ray Harryhausen with his awesome GMH4 Children of the Dragon's Teeth 6 pack (£7.99)

Steve Barber Models "Children of the Dragon's Teeth" skeletons

Zombie - (Qty 1-3)

I mostly have modern zombie miniatures, so these I actually need.

• Mega Miniatures have the very decrepit Metal Magic Medieval Zombies for $12.
• Mirliton SG have two packs of zombies with hand weapons (UD020, UD021) for €8.16 each

Few...  That was a monster bit of research!! (geddit)  The upshot of which is that it's going to cost a shedload of dosh, between £300 ($470) and £400 ($625) just to stock level 1.  This kind of backs up my love of paper minis, but they just don't have the same weight.  

Mega Miniatures is closing down!!

After 10 years of operation, they have decided to close their doors and will begin selling off their moulds on 1st June 2013.  Hopefully they will be snapped up by another miniature companies and these OSR mini ranges will live on under new ownership.  I'll try to update this post when I find out who has bought which ranges.