Guidebook to Modern Miniatures

My interest in roleplaying has often gravitated towards modern and sci-fi settings. For those types of settings, you need a good set of modern miniatures to support your game play. There are quite a few places you can purchase miniatures, but I specifically looked for sites that sold miniatures you could use in a modern campaign setting. Of the sites I found, many sell a variety of miniatures including modern, fantasy, sci-fi, superhero, pulp, zombie, war, and much more. I personally e-mailed and contacted each of these sites to talk with them about their miniatures.

FEATURED WEBSITE: Dixon Miniatures

http://dixonminiatures.co.uk/

Dixon Miniatures was not only the first to respond out of all the companies I contacted, but were some of the most professional people I have ever dealt with. There were quite a few companies that offered to send me products for my readers, but Dixon Miniatures was the only company that actually followed through. With the way this company dealt with me initially, they earned a customer for life.

Dixon Miniatures is based out of the United Kingdom and they have a huge line of modern miniatures, as well as a full assortment of other miniature types. Earlier this year, they released a killer set of twenty four different Yakuza miniatures (six sets of four figures). The figurine line was so cool looking; I pretty much created an entire Spycraft campaign out of Yakuza-like enemies just so I got to use their miniatures every game session. They are a top notch company overall and I highly recommend them.

Old Glory Miniatures

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/

Old Glory Miniatures has one of the largest lines of miniatures of any company in the world. When I talked to them about their products, they told me that had a program called the ‘Old Glory Army’. This program cost $50.00 a year but you got 40% off on all your orders. If you spent more than $125 a year on miniatures with them, the program paid for itself. They have a full line of miniatures from historical, to fantasy, to modern.

RAFM Miniatures & Games

http://www.rafm.com/

RAFM has been building a high quality range of modern miniatures for many years. Their modern miniature brand is called USX Modern Day Heroes, which also has a set of rules for modern miniatures gaming. They also carry lines for Call of Cthulhu, fantasy, historical, space, and more. The personnel I contacted at RAFM Miniatures & Games were extremely professional and helpful when I talked to them about their miniatures.

Pulp Figures

http://www.pulpfigures.com/

Pulp Figures sells figures based on a Retro-Pop culture world. Think Indiana Jones or Sky Captain and you should be able to get the picture. A lot of their miniatures are applicable to Call of Cthulhu games as well. The figures are very character-oriented, relying a lot on pop-culture clichés from whatever time period the figurines fit into. This company is based out of Canada. Currently (July 2009), they are offering international airmail to the UK, EU, and Australia at no extra charge.

Reaper Miniatures

http://www.reapermini.com/

Reaper Miniatures was the only company on this list that I did not contact via e-mail. Somehow, they got left off my original list and a polite fan pointed this out to me. It was kind of bad that I left them off the list considering they run a miniatures event each year called, ReaperCon. In addition to an awesome selection of miniatures and ReaperCon, they also have the Reaper Forum which is an extremely active forum dedicated to the company and miniatures. If you’re looking for not only good miniatures, but an online forum to talk about them this site is a great place to look at.

ADDITIONAL MODERN MINIATURE WEBSITES:

All About Miniatures

http://johnleahy.wordpress.com/

Amazon Miniatures

http://www.amazonminiatures.com/

Denizen Miniatures

http://www.historicalminiatures.com/

em4miniatures

http://www.em4miniatures.com/

Ground Zero Games

http://www.gtns.co.uk/store1/commerce.cgi

Iron Wind Metals

http://ironwindmetals.com/

Lance & Laser

http://www.lanceandlaser.com/

Mega Miniatures

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/MegaMiniatures

Metal Maniacs

http://www.geocities.com/doodlemonkie/

Stan Johansen Miniatures

http://www.stanjohansenminiatures.com/

ZombieSmith

http://www.zombiesmith.com/

As I stated in the beginning, this isn’t a comprehensive list to where you can find modern miniatures products. But for those just starting to look, looking for something specific, or looking for a change of pace, these websites will give you a good head start on finding the modern miniatures that you are looking for.

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