I like to augment the atmosphere by using some miniature models...

There are of course the games workshop models but thos have gone from pricey to astronomically expensive.

I was wondering if there are other sources for usable miniatures ?

Lots - most economical that I've found is probably e4m miniatures (2.5 GBP for five plastic rangers (read: space marines) or troopers (read: guard) and 1.25GBP per metal miniature).

On the other hand I'm finding that the plastic GW ranges are quite economical, very compatible and extremely versatile.

I grabbed boxes of the Imperial Guard, Empire Militia and Empire Flagellants and found a wealth of options by combining the parts.

Also shop around on line (ebay or other online retailers) you can even get deals on official GW products from their specialist retailers rather than buying direct from GW stores or mail order.

The answer to your question really depends on your budget.

When I run demos, I simply use common Star Wars miniatures, which can usualy be obtained for anywhere from $0.25 to $1.00 a figure.

On the other hand, for my regular game group, I kitbash a custom figure for each Acolyte - when you're talking about an ongoing campaign that's going to last a long time, $15+ a figure is not that unreasonable.

Now for foes and enemies, I'd recomend going with cheap figures until you see the ones that come up again and again, and then start getting good figures for them too. Of course, for returning villians I go with the same theory as characters - there's something awesome about putting their archnemesis on the table and watching them all say "Oh @$&*!"

right now FFG is having a heck of sale on AT43 figs and Confrontation figs, they might work well for you.

Im looking at the tannhausen figures myself they look....keen.

Thanks for the input guys

I''ve got a rather substantial budget for my hobby so i could buy GW if i wanted but it is more a principal thing...

However as we are playing an ongoing campaign I could try buying a box or 2 on ebay and start converting soe figures...could be fun too

Got some green-stuff lying abround doing nothing so...

I'll check out the options you 've given me and see what's most usefull

Thanks!

Second hand is definitely the way to go, a guy in my DH group recently aquired 4,000 points worth of Empire minis (and if you're not familiar with WHFB, that means a lot of figures) for about 1,000 SEK or about 120 bucks if I remember the exchange rate correctly. So just look around and you'll probably find a lot of good deals.

Check out eBay. Necromunda, Mordheim, 40k, Fantasy... all of those minis ranging from new to well used and crappily painted for cheap.

I picked up 4000 points of BfG Necrons for about $100. I have 4 Necromunda gangs and a decent number of scum/bounty hunters that I picked up for about $150. Some of them were new, some were used. If they're metal you can strip the paint off in a citristrip bath. If they're plastic, its a bit tougher. It really all depends on how much the modeling interests you.

Back on topic, a good sized group of minis made up of witch hunters, daemon hunters, and necromunda gangers etcis more than enough for DH. Toss in a space marine, some eldar, chaos space marines, and genestealers and you'll have all your bases covered for even the more bizarre campaign.

The new-ish Orlock and Goliath gangers are fantastic as they come with weapon sprues for extra customizing.

I'll second what NerdKing had to say regarding the GW boxes. I've been using Imperial Guard, Empire Militia, Empire Flagellants, and Bretonnian Men-at-Arms for the most part with some Space Marine scouts with sniper rifles and Space Marine Command Squad stuff thrown in. Also a good sifting through of my plastic bits kept over the years and dating back to the plastic Necromunda sprues. I found a space marine torso from an old Land Raider kit that actually has the skull and cog symbol of the Mechanicum on it that has been put to use for one of my player's Tech-Priest character. I'm hoping that my group sticks with DH long enough that I will be able to use some of the plastics that Privateer Press just recently announced they're planning on integrating into Warmachine, assuming that they will become available. Depending on the way my campaign goes, I'm considering mixing some WFB Ogre Kingdoms Ironguts and a Space Marine Dreadnought kit to make a couple of Ogryn-based Praetorian Battle Servitors. An armored Ogryn with an assault cannon for an arm and another one with a Dreadnought powerfist ought to do the trick.

I think I've used my Vampire Counts' WHFB army for almost every rpg I run. My zombies and ghouls have become warp-zombies and mutants, and necromancers have made very nice cultists. I picked up the bulk of the army second-hand and the rest I've filled out with a few new purchases when on sale and also modifications of other army pieces to give it that hodge-podge, undead feel.

They scavvy line from Necromunda is perfect for mutants. There is good variety of models and weapons and there are also "plague zombies" and strange plague-dogs.

I find ebay to be a great source of minis. You just need to be patient. Bid a lot, and sooner or later you'll win on the cheap. There is a lot of GW mins there, and the IG tends to go cheap for random painted squads. Also the star wars minis are cheap. The D&D mini have great daemons, beasts and "aliens". The heroclik minis are really cheap, and there are a number of thugs, swat, military, and similar figures. Also cons these days have bins of mage knight, *clik, and what ever with figures for .25-$1 in the market.

PS- Just be careful I once bid on 3 lots of 40-60 herocliks, and won them all for about $9 with shipping... On the plus I'm never lack for super hero minis ever again....

Cervantes3773 said:

PAH!! If you find Necromunda figs cheap anywhere let me know!! They are still pricey on EBay

I agree with several other posters that Star Wars Miniatures are the easiest, cheapest way to get minis on the table for Dark Heresy. But, sadly, they don't have the right feel. Another cheapo option would be HeroScape, by the way.

I have been putting together a few minis for Dark Heresy over the last couple weeks. Most are either Necromunda (original boxed set era) or old, metal Mutant Chronicles. The latter are cheap and many have the pseudo-gothic feel I was looking for. My mechanicus character is my only custom figure. He started as a robed Mutant Chronicles figure, to which I added a BattleTech mech torso and legs as a backpack, plus a different mech's foot, plus a sawed off wood screw for his left hand, plus some polystyrene card cut into a "hockey mask" plus bits of piano wire, cut very short, sticking out of his eye sockets. Too much work to repeat, I can tell you, but the result is tolerably good.

Other good miniatures to consider: Rezolution by Aberrant Games, Confrontation from FFG/Rackham, Dark Age Miniatures by Dark Age Games, and WarMachine/Hordes by Privateer Press. And there was a Starship Troopers miniatures game not too long ago that would be good. And even Games Workshop in a pinch. ;-)

Cheers!

Dave

I bought my collection of Necromunda - roughly 20 Van Saar, 20 Orlock (new), 20 Ratskins, 30 Scavvies, and an assortment of bounty hunters and scum in various eBay auctions. I probably spent $150 on the whole thing, so a little over a dollar a model. I don't think that's too bad. You just have to be patient and know what you're looking for. A little search-fu doesn't hurt either.

/I won a Necron BfG auction dirt cheap because he mistyped a few keywords. Huzzah!

I tend to run with 20 unpainted Guardsmen (£20 from GW) for NPCs and a selection of 10 or so Kinder Egg toys for the PCs (about 800 calories and counting). I really need to mark the Guardsmen to distinguish them.

I just knocked some dust off my copy of Mutant Chronicles: Siege if the Citadel . The minis and game pieces fit in perfectly with our current DH adventure.

Good thing I'm cleaning up for Christmas, I forgot where I had put it.

I use ordinary Warhammer-miniatures in my games, because they are easy to find and dozen IG guardsmen/vampire count zombies/tyranid termagaunts don't cost too much and they can be used as nearly anything the players meet in Dark Heresy, with possible exception of Daemons. I stay away of blister-models unless I really want a special model for some player character or recurring NPC in my game.

One of the most useful things to use with miniatures (in my opinion) is vinyl mat with 1" squares in one side and 1" hexes in other. The reason to use these mats is that you can draw walls/doors/etc. on the mat with water-soluble markers and then wipe it away when you don't need it anymore, thus removing the need for terrain pieces commonly seen with miniatures. I use Chessex reversible megamat ( www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_MegamatsReversible.htm ) which is big enough for larger places but still easy to transport when rolled.