Finding minis to paint?

[Flagg]

Couple questions here guys...

Say you want to paint up a specific style mini. Like, for example, a "Dwarf wielding a battle axe and a shield"... How do you go about finding a good sculpt?

The obvious places like Reaper Figure Finder and Ebay come to mind, but in this day and age with dozens and dozens of smaller mini manufacturers, I worry about missing something "cool."

I've surfed the forums a bit and came across a couple references to "Mini Database" projects, but Google didn't give me much there.

Curious as to what other people are doing when looking for something specific?

And then, there's of course modding and conversion options. For someone rather new to the hobby, ie. I don't have a "bit box" of cast off parts, can anyone recommend some place to get a variety of bits, spare weapons, shields, that kind of thing?

This is not for a specific game or anything. More of a tabletop RP thing or possibly display painting. Scale isn't tremendously important, but around 28-30mm is probably ideal.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Einion]

Curious as to what other people are doing when looking for something specific?

Ask here* or on another mini forum. People are usually only too happy to try to help.

*Usually in the General Discussion forum; there's one there from just last week or the week before.

For someone rather new to the hobby, ie. I don't have a "bit box" of cast off parts, can anyone recommend some place to get a variety of bits, spare weapons, shields, that kind of thing?

You'll obviously build up a collection of spares naturally over time, but you can buy spare weapons, arms, heads and some other spares from a few makers. Also many multi-fig boxed sets have weapon sprues, or a common sprue used among a number of boxes, and there are often a couple of extras.

Pretty sure this last has been asked about before, so a search (link here) using the keywords of spares, spare weapons should get you started.

Einion

 

[Flow]

I did find this old thread that has some links to various databases:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?45923

However, something "better" could be made, though with some real effort. What I'd like to see is a queryable list that you could type one or more keywords into a search box and it would automatically (AJAX) update the list for all miniatures that contain the keywords typed. Keywords could describe the miniature, manufacturer, artist, etc.

I could make the front end fairly easily that would allow this (I've done it before); it would be populating the DB that would be the "hard" part.

 

[Bailey03]

I'm not familiar with any of the mini databases so I can't help much there. But, if you've got some time, the Shop here on CMON is a good place to look though a variety of mini companies. Usually you can quickly see whether they might have anything useful (is their range fantasy, sci-fi, steam punk), and then you can scan all of the figures if they fit your theme and style. It's not every company... but it's quite a few.

Another option is to surf the gallery. Most figures have the manufacturer listed (though not all).

And, to suggest a few companies I like that make neat looking figures useful for fantasy RPGs, check out Enigma (here at the CMON shop), Red Box Games (be aware Red Box has different names for the various races, like Dvergr for Dwarves), and of course Reaper. Oh, and since you mentioned dwarves as your example, check out http://stonehavenminiatures.webstorepowered.com/ (they did a dwarf kickstarter last year and now are doing a gnome one).

 

[Flagg]

Thanks for the replies folks!

@ Einion:

Yep, some things lend well to a quick search, others not so much. This kind of topic tends to produce a ton of unrelated hits. (Or maybe I'm just not being creative enough with my search queries) But, I did see someone mention the 3d printing option for bits, and thought that was kind of interesting, albeit a little pricey. Also found the Reaper "Boneyard" which is kinda cool... I do wish I could find some company sold like a "big box o' spare parts" though... y'know, just to have a variety at hand...

@Bailey:

Red Box is kinda meh for me, but Stonehaven looks to have a couple decent dwarf sculpts. Haven't checked out enigma yet, but def will. Thanks for those links. Good idea on the gallery. I did try that but wasn't quite working for what I was hoping for... Trying to find a specific main hand, offhand weapon, pose, etc. CMON doesn't really have that level of search, and the thumbnails are pretty small... Unless I've missed a way to view them larger...

@ Flow
I did see that thread. Sadly there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a searchable database. I was kinda hoping the OP on that thread had done something with it, but appears not.

What I'd really like to see is something link the Reaper Figure Finder, but industry-wide and with a lot more options to search on. You're right though, deploying something like that would be a lot of work. Front end, as you you say would be pretty simple... PHP on a MySQL database would be pretty easy, sounds like you have experience there also. The data side of things though... I see three options. 1) Manual data entry (ugh); 2) User contributions (kinda like wikipedia maybe) or; 3) Manufacturer participation (least likely, but if there's a good enough incentive...)

Or maybe some combination of the three.

If someone were to spend the time, effort, and expense putting it together, there'd have to be some kind of commercial value to it, to justify it I'm thinking. Been thinking about that a bit, so far I'm kinda stumped.



BTW, what got me thinking about this topic was I saw this picture on Google images searching for "dwarf axe tower shield"
View attachment 18795
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/4e/20071121_drdd_1th.jpg

I thought, "Hey it would be cool if there was a mini like this, but with an axe." And "Hmm, maybe there is, but how do I find it?"

So far, the best sculpt I've come across for this is this one, but it's just not QUITE right. Finding a non-"cartoony," noble looking dwarf with the right pose and and weapon/shield combo is kinda tricky lol. I haven't been through all the manufacturers though....

Thanks again guys!

 

[Flow]

1) Manual data entry (ugh); 2) User contributions (kinda like wikipedia maybe) or; 3) Manufacturer participation (least likely, but if there's a good enough incentive...)

Also, scrapers I helped create a movie database a while back and ended up writing some throw away scripts that could pull a lot of data from IMDB pages with nothing but the film code. A page scraper for miniatures would be a pain; you'd have to create a new one for just about every manufacturer. But - it'd work!

What would remain though is entering in keywords for every miniature other than what is on the page. That would definitely require some sort of manual entry, perhaps from volunteers.

If someone were to spend the time, effort, and expense putting it together, there'd have to be some kind of commercial value to it, to justify it I'm thinking. Been thinking about that a bit, so far I'm kinda stumped.

It would kind of sort of have to be just a fan effort done out of love for the hobby. You could stick a couple of google ads on it, but that of course requires lots of traffic to be truly profitable. Those ads would be lucky to generate enough to cover server fees.

 

[Flow]

FRP actually has a pretty good little search engine. Not as crazy as we're talking about, but not bad.

http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=adv_search

 

[QuietiManes]

The odds of finding the "perfect" miniature when the idea of what that perfect miniature is just popped into your head is pretty flipping small. Even if you had the perfect working universal search engine to find it with (just go to a few sites and look around is your best bet with minimal search terms, google search engines are too large and broad for their own good). Conversions are the way to go if you want/need something "specific".

Your local gaming group is probably the best place to find bits, when you are lacking in the huge bits box of your own department. Even if you're new to the hobby and don't know anyone, there's probably a local forum where you can put up what you're looking for and set up a meeting at a safe neutral place, like a coffee shop or game store or something. Locals generally don't expect you to pay the crazy ebay store bits-trader prices either...every Dwarf player has more shields and axes than they'll ever use, and they know it (as an example) -OR- you might be able to trade for any extra bits you do have. I don't know why asking around locally isn't the first suggestion every time this comes up, but, it really should be. Even if there's only like 3 other people in your city that play RPGs or tabletop wargames, your chances are pretty good.

 

[Einion]

However, something "better" could be made, though with some real effort.

Yeah! Not just the initial setup but the constant upkeep.

Related: a number of attempts at pigment-based paint databases for artists; the initial work was nothing to be sneezed at, as with any database, but the need for regular updating is what proved the downfall of every one. And there would be a lot more updates necessary for a mini database.

Another option is to surf the gallery. Most figures have the manufacturer listed (though not all).

:good: That is another good option. Get to see a lot of nice eye-candy along the way too, so it's full of win.

@ Einion:

Yep, some things lend well to a quick search, others not so much. This kind of topic tends to produce a ton of unrelated hits.

That is the way of it to a degree, not just for the esoteric - what search term to use? - but searching for pretty simple things - too many threads include it.

Those facts aside, doesn't mean one shouldn't try There's actually a lot of (largely unspoken) benefit to searching a forum's archives for yourself, mainly because of what you pick up along the way. When I joined one forum back about ten years ago I searched off and on for weeks, starting with the original topics I was interested in and then moving on to the subjects I'd found incidentally along the way.

Anyway pro-searching philosophy aside, starting a thread asking about minis along a given theme is still likely your best bet. Like here, if you have a picture to post showing exactly what you're hoping for that would be well worth including, suggestions are likely to a lot more on-point. A few of the members here have an encyclopaedic memory for minis (or just really large collections) so there's a lot of potential help to be had.

So far, the best sculpt I've come across for this is this one, but it's just not QUITE right. Finding a non-"cartoony," noble looking dwarf with the right pose and and weapon/shield combo is kinda tricky lol. I haven't been through all the manufacturers though....

Related to what QuietiManes said above, this is the kind of thing that tends to get people into sculpting in the first place. I can't tell you the number of amateur sculptors, and even some pros, where they say that they first got into sculpting because nobody made something/the type of thing they were interested in.

The odds of finding the "perfect" miniature when the idea of what that perfect miniature is just popped into your head is pretty flipping small.

And there is that

Einion

 

[Yuggoth]

I have no idea about all that technical database mumbo-jumbo, but I think the dwarfs Scibor produces come very near to the concept picture you showed. Might risk a look if you don`t know it already

 

[Zab]

hephesto'sforge blog. He has a list of some of he lesser known mini companies out there.

 

[Konan]

I'd suggest a decent place to post such a search question would be over on "The Miniatures Page" website. Like here all genres are appreciated and someone will have a decent opinion or direction for you

 

[Flagg]

Thanks for the all the replies to this folks. Much appreciated.

Haven't decided on a sculpt yet. Scibor and Reaper do have some promising halfway decent ones, but I'll probably try surfing through some more of the smaller companies first before making a decision.

As for sculpting my own creation... well, that's a bit more than I'm willing to take on at the moment, but perhaps one day.

@ Konan : Hadn't heard of that site before, will chk it out. Thanks!