A Great Big Guide to Minis, Grids and Combat (WARNING: REALLY FREAKIN’ LONG!)
Part 1: Minis
Finding the right Miniature for what you want can be a monumental task, and because there's so many types of Mini out there, I'm breaking this section down in the hopes that it'll help...
Metal Minis
I'm just gonna say it right now, Metal Minis are hard to find. Wizards of the Coast don't do them any more: They're chunky and heavy, but also extremely durable.
If you're looking for Metal Minis in your area, you can find a lot of Metal Minis at old Wargaming Stores and Hobby Shops, and often at a pretty great price because they're so old and badly painted because they're from the 80's.
I know people that have bought Solid Lead Minis from Wargames from the 60's and they look pretty great even today (I mean the paint is a little faded and chipped, but still...), which is a testament to just how durable these things are...
Metal Minis are great if you want Minis that are durable and will last for your whole campaign and beyond, and you can easily order and buy Metal Minis online from companies like Reaper Miniatures and their "Metal Fantasy" Collection, and with Services like HeroForge Minis, you can even make your own Metal Minis, albeit a little bit more expensive than your average Mini.
Plastic Minis
Plastic Minis are pretty much the standard for Minis. You can find both painted and unpainted Plastic Minis in almost every D&D Store and you can often buy them in bulk online or buy individual minis in store for great prices.
Wizards of the Coast (The People that make D&D) have their own lines of both Painted and Unpainted Plastic Miniatures available online, and you can often find individual Plastic Miniatures available in your Local D&D Store, online through things like Amazon, eBay or Miniature Market, or just buy them in bulk through places like the Wizards of the Coast Products Page.
And while these Plastic Miniatures are cheaper than the Metal Minis, they sacrifice durability for cost, and these Minis can often break at the worst of times...
But, as the standard for most D&D games, and available almost anywhere, Plastic Miniatures are your best bet for finding 3D Minis to use in your Game.
Paper Minis
Paper Minis are two-sided Minis that go on little stands, and the art for them is absolutely beautiful...
Most of these are extremely cheap, and some even give you the chance to use your own Printer to create dozens of amazing looking D&D Minis.
Most Paper Minis come as Downloadable Content that lets you print everything at home, while some come on Cardstock that you can pop out and place in their stands.
Paper Minis are absolutely perfect for play, and even when bulk-buying the Paper Minis printed on Cardstock, you can get literally hundreds of Paper Minis for almost no significant cost.
And while yeah, they're not exactly "durable", they're great for saving money, and they're still beautiful to look at.
Pre-Painted Minis
Pre-Painted Minis are almost as standard as Plastic Minis, and they often go hand-in-hand.
Wizards of the Coast Minis almost always have some variety of Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures, while their Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures Line of Unpainted Plastic Miniatures are there for those that want to paint their own.
There are well over 2,000+ Individual Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures out there that are available to purchase from pretty much anywhere, and while Pre-Painted Metal Minis are rare, and the paint jobs are often kinda old, they are available...
But I will give a fair warning that Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures can come with faults: Some break in transit, some have bent swords and spears, some are painted so strangely that characters and monsters can have crazy eyes and look a little too silly on close inspection…
But Pre-Painted Plastic Minis are still great to use, pretty cheap to buy, and it's only in rare cases that you'll be unsatisfied with what you get...
Painting Your Own Minis...
Like I've said, the Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures Line of Unpainted Plastic Miniatures are there for the Dungeon Masters that want to paint their own minis.
This line of Minis is Plastic, and come already covered in a Grey Primer and are pretty much ready to paint right out of the box.
However, while the Unpainted Plastic Minis cost just a tad less than the Pre-Painted Plastic Minis, getting into painting Minis can be an expensive hobby, as you often end up buying dozens of different paints, brushes, and more just to paint a single mini.
But don't be dissuaded from doing it, you can find Paints for Minis on the Wizards of the Coast Products Page and Online where available...
Commissions: There are People out there that you can Commission to paint your Minis for you, and most services are pretty cheap, so ask your Local D&D Store if they can paint your Minis for you, or if they hold classes in painting Minis...
Learning to Paint: Painting Minis takes time and patience, but can be very rewarding in the end, and starting out can be just as easy as looking up a tutorial video or signing up for mini painting classes at your Local D&D Store.
And while your first few self-painted Minis might not look great, overtime you'll become a great painter, and can save a bit of cash over time by buying Unpainted Plastic Minis and painting then yourself, so double win!
Where To Find Good Minis...
There are a LOT of places to find Miniatures, from Metal to Plastic to Paper to Painted to Unpainted, so I'll break it down for you.
Metal Minis: Metal Minis are hard to come by, but can be found online being sold as Individual Minis.
Most old Metal Minis come Pre-Painted but might need a new lick of paint, while some are entirely unpainted.
You can find most Metal Minis at your Local D&D Store, as well as online at the usual places of eBay and Amazon.
If you're looking for Custom Metal Minis, I'd suggest taking a look at HeroForge Minis, and while they might be a little expensive to some people, I think having a custom mini that's pretty darn durable is worth the price.
Plastic Minis: You can find Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures in almost every D&D Store and pretty much anywhere online. You can buy in bulk and get full sets of minis, or buy them individually (and normally for a cheaper price) at your Local D&D Store.
I'd recommend places like Miniature Market and Amazon when looking for Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures, and for Unpainted Plastic Minis, not only can you find those Online and in your friendly neighbourhood D&D Store, but there are plenty of great companies out there that produce some absolutely stunning custom minis for you to paint.
Painted & Unpainted Minis: You can find the Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures Line of Unpainted Plastic Miniatures both online and in-store, as well as the Icons of the Realms Line of Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures for those people that want them.
There are also companies out there that do Custom Unpainted Plastic Minis, like Reaper Miniatures or Gale Force 9, and I'll be sure to leave a Comment with as many Links as I can find...
Paper Miniatures: My personal favourite place for Paper Minis is Printable Heroes. They have a whole selection of Free Downloadable Content that you can print off at home.
But, if you're looking for Paper Minis that aren't just D&D, Paizo makes a line of Cardboard Cutout Miniatures called Pathfinder Pawns.
Cheap Alternatives to Minis...
If you unfortunately can’t afford to spend money on Minis, there are plenty of really fun and really cheap alternatives to Minis.
Tokens from other Tabletop and Board Games, Lego Pieces, even a bunch of colourful M&Ms can still be used to show where your heroes and monsters stand…
Part 2: Terrain
I'm going to break this Section down just like the Minis Section, because there's just as many options for creating Dungeons and Maps as there are for Miniatures and Monsters.
Markers, Maps & Gaming Paper
You can buy Markers pretty cheap from pretty much anywhere, and basic blank Maps that you can draw on and erase with relative ease.
And some advice: Check the Markers you're using on your dry-erase or wet-erase maps, because you don't want to draw in permanent marker by accident and suddenly have that one "Permanent Dungeon Room"...
You can find entire rolls of Blank Maps that you can draw on from places like GamingPaper.com and Chessex.com, as well as Online from Amazon (because Amazon is our overlord, provider of all!), and these Maps come with Hexagonal Grids and Square Grids that suit whatever kind of game you want to play.
Flexible Battle Mats
From my own experience, this has been the most common type of terrain I use: They're flat maps, sometimes a variant of vinyl, sometimes just straight up fancy cloth, but they're the most available thing I can find, and have always been available to me through my Local D&D Store as well as Online in the usual places.
I call these "Flexible" because you can fold them and roll them and they won't warp or bend, and none of the Markers I use smudge or stain these maps in anyway compared to the cheaper options that might not last as long.
These maps are often just a single depiction of a generic area: A map of the woods, some mountains, the dock of a port city...
And some can get pretty weird if you look in the right places. I found a Map for a Githyanki Warship floating over an Ocean, and I've used that specific map about 4 times already!
You can find these types of Maps in your Local D&D Store for pretty cheap prices, and since most of them are maps of forests or mountains or underground caverns, they're gonna see a lot of use…
Dungeon Tiles
A lot of Companies produce modular dungeon tiles that are essentially dry-erase boards that clip together, and I personally think these are the coolest!
You can draw a dungeon room on each tile, and slowly piece them together as the Players explore the Dungeon, and really evoke a sense of exploration and "Fog of War".
You can buy these Dungeon Tiles Online, Wizards of the Coast even produces a line of Generic Dungeon Tiles, but I'd recommend Tac-Tiles with their dry-erase Dungeon Tiles, and again, check that the Markers you want to use don't stain or smudge when drawing lines…
3D Terrain
3D Terrain is great for keeping the sense of immersion during combat, and many times has the word of DwarvenForge been spoken to me as something from the sacred texts.
You can buy modular 3D Terrain Tiles from DwarvenForge, yes, but don't forget that there are plenty of other companies that produce 3D Terrain that's just as good.
You can buy Cut-and-Assemble Papercraft Terrain, buy Terrain that's been sculpted using moulds, resin and plaster, you can buy Miniatures from Wizards of the Coast themselves that are pieces of Terrain like Wagons, Carts, Stalactites and Stalagmites, and all of these are relatively cheap compared to buying hundreds of pieces of DwarvenForge.
But trust me when I say DwarvenForge is BADASS, their stuff is practically indestructible, and it lights up, and it even has a square grid on it too!
You can find all sorts of all kinds of 3D Terrain to enhance your experience of D&D, and you can typically find it in the usual places, but I'll put a whole bunch of links in this Post to help guide those that are looking...
Cheap Alternatives: Wrapping Paper
The other side of Wrapping Paper often has a square grid on it that's normally used for measuring and cutting paper, but I've seen and even used the other side of Wrapping Paper as a cheap and disposable alternative to a battle map, and it even comes with it's own square grid that you can draw on!
Yes, it does bleed and smear a lot when you use Markers, but it's so cheap and disposable that I can hardly complain…
And the best part, you can buy rolls and rolls of Wrapping Paper for ridiculously cheap prices and those rolls can last you a long, long time...
Part 3: Status Markers
What are Status Markers? Why do you need them?
Well, Status Markers are colourful little things you place on Minis to show that the Mini is under some sort of condition or spell effect. Status Markers are great for helping Players and the DM remember Spells and Conditions affecting multiple Creatures over multiple rounds of combat.
And these Status Markers can be anything from old plastic milk carton rings to professional 3D Printed Rings with every condition and spell effect accounted for.
If you're looking for professional status markers for your Minis, you can buy them by the butt-load from eBay, Amazon, and my personal favourite, Dakota Irish, who make some beautiful Status Markers designed to fit your D&D Minis, and they come in a variety of colors to suit your style…
Part 4: Initiative Trackers
An Initiative Tracker let's both the DM and the Players visually track the Initiatives of all the DM's Monsters and the Player's Characters.
And you can place all of them directly in front of you and the rest of the group, letting Players know "Hey, I'm up next!" or "Oh sh*t! It's almost that Bad Guy's turn!".
Many a time have I said "It's your go, what do you do?" and their response is "Oh sh*t! It's my go already?"
With this system, both myself and all my Players can see whose turn it is and who is next up...
My personal recommendations for Initiative Trackers are the 25 Piece Dungeon Master Set from Dakota Irish, and the Initiative Trackers by AxenShield that let you write your Party Member's Name or the Name of your Monster on one of the 8 flags, and flip the flag to the opposite side as turns are taken.
Are Initiative Trackers needed for Fun Combat? No.
Are they fancy as heck and help forgetful Players? Definitely.
Part 5: Combat Risers & Combat Pillars
These Combat Risers (also called "Combat Pillars" or “Combat Tiers”) give you the ability to show elevation and create a 3-Dimensional Space for your Miniature Combat.
It also gives you the chance to have combat at different heights with a series of combat stage platforms, and it's great for aerial combat. And trust me I say it makes underwater combats so much easier, just because it lets you accurately represent three dimensional combat on a map.
You can find multi-coloured and clear transparent Combat Risers on Amazon (like everything else here) and from some of the sites and places I've already mentioned, such as the Combat Risers Clear Mithril Set from AxenShield.
Part 6: Spell Effect Miniatures & Spell Effect Overlays
Spell Effect Miniatures
Spell Effect Miniatures are just like Monster and Hero Miniatures. These Spell Effect Miniatures are often Pre-Painted Plastic Miniatures that represent some of the bigger spells like Bigby's Hand or Spiritual Weapon.
Wizards of the Coast have their own line of Spell Effect Miniatures as part of their Icons of the Realms Line of Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures, with a Set for Spells like Wall of Fire and Wall of Ice, as well as a Box Set called "Arcane Fury and Divine Might", which contains several different Spell Effect Miniatures.
And there's more Spell Effect Miniatures to come! With Wizards of the Coast releasing a new Spell Effect Miniatures Box Set called "Mighty Conjurations", with Spell Effect Miniatures for Flaming Sphere, Forcecage, Guardian of Faith and more!
Also releasing in Early 2020 is Halaster's Tumultuous Templates, a set of Wizards of the Coast Branded Spell Templates that represent a bunch of different Spells, from Burning Hands to Moonbeam to everyone's favourite: Fireball.
You can find these Spell Effect Miniatures as Box Sets in your Local D&D Store, as well as online in the usual places like Amazon and eBay.
Spell Effect Templates & Spell Effect Overlays
Spell Effect Overlays let you as a Dungeon Master check the Range of a Spell, whether the Creature is in Line of Sight with the Caster, and help you as a DM (or a Player) remember Spells affecting an area or Spells affecting multiple Creatures over multiple rounds of combat.
My personal favourites are the Spell Effect Overlays from Arcknight, with Spell Effect Overlays for Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Web, Cone of Cold, Burning Hands, Fear, Dragon Breath, Faerie Fire, Moonbeam, Tidal Wave, Wall of Fire, Thunderwave and More, as well Buff Tokens, Inspiration Tokens, Monster Summoning tokens and so much more that I can't even fit here…
Every template comes on a die cut transparent plastic that's printed on both sides: With cool graphics on one side and notes on the spells effects on the other.
But if you're looking for a simpler template, AxenShield provide Spell Effect Templates and Overlays in various colours, with grids etched on to show the range and area of effect for each spell.
And, like always, you can always take a look on Amazon and eBay and everywhere else on the Internet for alternatives...
