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Substituting toys for miniatures
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Gamers who incorporate miniatures into their gaming, be it via miniature tabletop games or as character proxies in role-playing games, can find that the hobby quickly becomes expensive. In today’s economy, paying for miniatures that you have to paint is a pricey proposition. Fortunately, there’s a solution: toys.
 Courtesy Papo |
Long before role-playing games became all the rage, kids were playing with plastic soldiers, cowboys, and Indians. Adapting these figures poses two challenges: they are often not to scale and are unpainted.
Scale is all about finding miniatures that relate to each other appropriately – it won’t do to have a huge Army man next to a tiny tank! For a word about scale, see TheMiniaturesPage.com.
Army men are typically 54mm or 1/30 scale, and they are not necessarily in scale to each other. Some sets include vehicles that are much smaller than the human-scale figures. There are plenty of 1/30 scale vehicle kits, although that will require some assembling on the part of the collector. The downside to Army men is that they’re appropriate to World War II games, so if you’re not playing a game set in that era you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Traditional miniature gaming ranges from 25mm (1/72) to 28mm (1/58) scale. These two ranges can be compatible, depending on what the miniatures represent. In Dungeons & Dragons in particular, fantasy monsters like dragons range in size, so there’s room for flexibility in using differently scaled figures.
Heroscape, a fantasy boardgame from Hasbro that features miniatures from science fiction, fantasy, and history, are one of the few prepainted plastic sets available in 32mm scale. See this thread for a comparison to how Heroscape compares to other miniature scales.
For fantasy beasts, dinosaurs, and normal animals, Papo can’t be beat. These prepainted miniatures come in a wide variety, with a particular emphasis on dinosaurs and fantasy creatures. The humanoid figures are 80mm (1/20) scale, making them unsuitable for most miniature games unless you’re looking for giants. The fantasy creatures and dinosaurs, on the other hand, vary in scale and some are just perfect for gaming.
If you’re just looking for a set of creatures to use that aren’t expensive, then Toobs might be just what you need. These prepainted plastic miniatures vary in scale but are a good deal for the number of figures you get.
If you’re willing to shop around in your local toy store, there are a host of miniatures that would be perfect for your tabletop. Just ask any kid.
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