Forgive me if this is asked a lot, but after searching for every possible keyword configuration I could think of, and sifting through pages of old posts, I didn't see a very clear answer.

Aside from purchasing the expansions (which I will be eventually), what other miniatures are close to the same scale as the Descent minis? I would prefer them to be plastic to match the official ones, but whether they are painted or not is not important.

I'm basically looking for some original (as in, not the same as the included ones) pieces for my custom adventures. Some new bosses, escort quest figures/NPCs, etc.

Any info would help! Thanks in advance.

I think Wizards still puts out mini packs, but they are all random. You won't find any 2X1, or 3X2 mini's either. IIRC they are 1X1, 2X2, 3x3 and so on. Generally the smaller Wizard Mini's are a little meh, and low quality.

I do have some of the D&D minis (I assume that's the one's you are speaking of) stashed away somewhere. I'll have to dig them out and take a look at them. I thought about them right away, but could've swore they were smaller than the Descent minis (as in, the bases and height average is smaller). Thanks for the input though. I guess if they do work the best I can buy singles on Ebay.

I haven't found any that are an absolute match, but both Reaper Games Minis and Games Workshop minis are nearly the same size. While they are a little bit larger in scale, they both still fit just fine on the board.

In practicality, the Hero minis tend to be around 22mm slace, the monsters about 30mm scale.

Since this always leads to arguments, let me explain:

Figure scale is based on the height of a figure an average height (6"8") Caucasian human male in that scale, from the tip of the foot, to the centre of the eye. Unless you're in the Americas where it's from the bottom of the base to the centre of the eye, which will adjust the scale by a mm or two.

Note that the height of a figure does not represent it's actual scale unless it is an average height human mentioned above.

Slev said:

6'8" is average height for a caucasian human male? ****, people are getting tall these days. I remember when 6'4" was considered taller than normal.

Does this mean that the scale of the miniatures will get smaller over time as the average height of a human male gets taller? =P

Flixster said:

Well, World of Warcraft: the board game has figures who are roughly the same scale as Descent. A couple of the heroes have bases that are a bit too large, but the vast majority of the figs work. WoW: the Adventure Game likely recycles many of the same hero figs, but I don't think it has any of the monster figs tBG has.

Starcraft figs also fit in the spaces, but they aren't quite the same scale. They're also sci-fi figs so they probably wouldn't fit into any homebrew material you have planned.

Others have mentioned DDM and GW minis, both of which fit nicely in the 1 inch squares of the Descent maps. Those (and other fantasy games of a similar scale) are probably your best bet.

I have a bunch of Arcane Legions figs that I'm considering making single bases for to use in things like this and RPGs in general (by drilling a hole in an empty GW base for the peg on the bottom of their bases.) Again, they're a bit smaller than Descent minis, but not by that much. They'd also require some DIY-ing to make them work in single figure set ups.

Finally, if you are planning on painting your own figs and you happen to have duplicate heroes (from RB or the upcoming RW), you could paint the dupes in a different colour scheme to differentiate them from the originals. That idea may not strike your fancy, but it's an idea nonetheless.

Steve-O said:

Doh!

It should, of course, have been 5'8" (1.5748m).

Thanks for all the input everyone. I pulled out my old D&D Minis, and they look like they'll work pretty well. The bases are bigger, but the scale seems to be pretty close on them. Now, if only they were painted by someone who gave a crap...