When I started playing Dungeons & Dragons battles on a map, I used tokens and Cardboard Heroes instead of miniatures. Today’s gamers have similar inexpensive options ranging from tokens, to cardboard pawns on plastic bases, to printable paper minis, to flat-plastic miniatures.
When pre-painted plastic miniatures reached stores, I figured I would augment my cardboard with a few common monsters: orcs and skeletons and the lot. But the appeal of miniatures proved irresistible and my collection grew unchecked.
If you’re cheaper or more sensible than I am, you can still follow my original plan and collect a small group of broadly useful miniatures—the sort of figures I use so often that I never bother to file them away. Such common figures tend to come cheap too. This post features the most useful figures to buy on a budget. As of posting, I found all the pre-painted selections for sale at between $2 and $5 each. Unpainted picks often come a bit cheaper. To find these figures yourself, paste the figure caption into search and browse the listings that appear.
Typically, pre-painted figures come randomized in boxes, so if you buy a box, the you never know what you get. For maximum value on useful figures, buy singles from online vendors. For bargain hunters I recommend going the web site of a miniatures vendor, selecting all the D&D, Pathfinder, or D&D Miniatures and sorting by lowest cost first. Pages of bargains appear, many for broadly useful figures.
Unpainted figures bring the new hobby of painting miniatures. But the hobby of painting welcomes dabblers more than you may think. Even a beginner can paint figures with more appeal then some slapdash factory job. Just buy a painting starter set, put on headphones, and enjoy the almost meditative flow that comes from painting.
Bandits and thugs
The Bandit Knocker’s club and hodgepodge of armor makes the figure my favorite back-alley brawler.
 Reaper Bones: Bandit Knocker 77510 (sold unpainted) |
 Nolzur’s Marvelous Unpainted Minis: Bandits |
 Storm Kings Thunder #14: Bandit Captain |
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Guards and soldiers
 Heroes & Monsters #08: Watch Guard |
 Heroes & Monsters #9: Watch Officer |
 Deep Cuts Unpainted Miniatures: Town Guards |
 Night Below #13: Greyhawk City Militia Sergeant |
Zombies and corporeal undead
The Terror Wight figure serves as a wight, ghoul, or any other corporeal undead, making it one of the most versatile figures.
 Nolzur’s Marvelous Unpainted Minis: Zombies |
 War Drums #34: Terror Wight |
Reaper Bones: Zombies 77342
Incorporeal undead
Translucent undead figures stand in for ghosts, wraiths, and more.
Rage of Demons #21: Banshee
Not pictured: Boneyard #05: Ghost
Skeletons
Reaper makes a variety of skeletons for their Bones line.
 Reaper bones: Skeletons (various, come unpainted) |
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 Desert of Desolation #39: Boneshard Skeleton |
 Nolzur’s Marvelous Unpainted Minis: Skeletons |
Spiders
The giant spider is large, while the other spiders are medium sized.
 Elemental Evil #08: Wolf Spider |
 Nolzur’s Marvelous Unpainted Minis: Spiders |
Reaper Bones: Giant Spider (sold unpainted)
Giant rats
Reaper Bones: Barrow rats 77198
Wolves
The wolf pack has medium figures, while the winter wolf is large.
Reaper Bones: Wolf pack 02830
Reaper Bones: Winter wolf 77437
Knights
Figures with full helms work best because they double as animated armor, helmed horrors, and the like.
 Underdark #11: Royal Guard |
 Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage #36: Dezmyr Shadowdusk |
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 Reaper Bones: Knight Heroes 77676 |
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Evil spellcaster
 Baldur’s Gate Descent Into Avernus #08: Falaster Fisk |
 Deathknell #36: Grim Necromancer |
Cultists
Reaper Bones: Cultists and Circle 77351
Berserkers
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage #17: Berserker
Not pictured: Monster Menagerie 2 #19: Half-Orc Barbarian
Goblins
Orcs see the table almost as often as goblins, but the smaller humanoids make better low-level foes, so their figures prove more useful.
 Monster Menagerie 2 #03: Goblin |
 Savage Encounters #16: Goblin Skullcleaver |
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 Nolzur’s Marvelous Unpainted Minis: Goblins |
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Assassins and rogues
Reaper Bones: Romag Davl, Thief 30004
Not pictured: Kingmaker #10: Shadow Rogue
Great photos, David. How do you get such good pics?
That Dungeon of the Mad Mage Berserker is terrible. I could find a dozen better.
This is a great post for new GMs. I build my “go-kit” of minis (a box that’s always in my DM bag) from these types of minis. One mini that I get a lot of mileage from is a Sladd (color doesn’t really matter). Having a couple of large minis that are kind of humanoid/kind of monstrous is really handy.
This is great. I know folks are often asking the question of how to get started. I would also suggest looking at the recent themed packs WizKids is offering of visible minis, such as Goblin Warband or Orc Warband or Cave Defenders. These provide a nice monster squad you can use. And, if you end up with a bunch, may I recommend this article for storage and organization options: https://alphastream.org/index.php/2020/03/26/how-to-store-and-organize-your-miniatures/
You can call me cheap, but I just call myself lacking in artistic painting ability….
I swear by printing out paper minis and using clear plastic bases. A little scissor work, a little glue, and I’m ready to run a game
I get a lot of mileage from a large bag of wooden meeples (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meeple#/media/File:Carcassonne_Miples.jpg) I once got from amazon/aliexpress. With a bunch of different colours but no features they are easily used as goons/minions.
AllThingsHeroscape.com has a set of 4 painted warriors for under $6 USD
https://www.allthingsheroscape.com/products/tarn-viking-warriors-heroscape-rise-of-the-valkyrie?_pos=1&_sid=8ab93ddb7&_ss=r
They also have a red dragon (search Mimring) for about the same price.
I also bought this bucket of monsters https://www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Monster-Action-Figure/dp/B00W5WSN5A#immersive-view_1555800754414 for about $20USD and even though there are only 13 unique shapes, they work well for D&D, especially after I painted them. Less than a dollar a figure!
Good luck!
[allThingsHeroscape.com](https://www.allthingsheroscape.com/products/tarn-viking-warriors-heroscape-rise-of-the-valkyrie) has a set of 4 warriors already painted for $5 USD and a Red/Copper [Dragon](https://www.allthingsheroscape.com/products/mimring-heroscape-rise-of-the-valkyrie) for $6 USD and a [set of 30 figures](https://www.allthingsheroscape.com/collections/rise-of-the-valkyrie/products/build-your-heroscape-army-rise-of-the-valkyrie-30-figures-and-cards) for under $30 USD but some of those are robots and army guys, so they’ll need some modifications and repainted.
Ok, don’t laugh too hard at me, but I got [this “bucket of monsters” ](https://www.amazon.com/SCS-Direct-Monster-Action-Figure/dp/B00W5WSN5A#immersive-view_1555800754414) really cheap, and you’d be surprised at how many will work for D&D, especially if you paint them. It’s 100 monsters for, like $18 bucks American.
Edit: [This is a “fantasy creatures” bucket](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0746TKNSL/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for $23.
There are 5 reaper minis I always like having when starting a new game with strangers. They are generic enough to fit most classic party compositions:
1. https://www.reapermini.com/search/77074
2. https://www.reapermini.com/search/77165
3. https://www.reapermini.com/search/77089
4. https://www.reapermini.com/search/77068
5. https://www.reapermini.com/search/77090