BIG SAVINGS on LITTLE MINIS

How I saved HUNDRED$

This is at once, two miniature stories: how I saved money, and how I spent it.

Mini-series, Part One

YEARS AGO when I quit playing AD&D, I sold off most of my collection of miniatures. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was selling all the rest of it, the books, modules, dice, and my old copies of Dragon magazine. All I kept was a handful of my favorite minis and my first set of dice, all which date back to the late seventies and early eighties.

I hadn’t played for a while and didn’t intend to again. The game had grown stale to me, my players had moved away, and I wanted to focus on writing and running the family business. So, pangs of nostalgia notwithstanding, I finally put it all up for sale on Ebay.

Now, I’m not one to regret my choices. After all, I tend to think things through before acting. On the whole I can look back with some satisfaction at the experience and agree with my younger self. I made some money. I freed up some shelf space. I made some buyers happy. And, I’m betting that a lot of that old stuff is still in use out there somewhere.

However, if I could go back in time, I would save out a few more of those (now vintage) figurines, and I would tell my younger self to think twice about the price tag on that first edition Deities and Demigods . . . the one with Cthulhu and Elric . . . that now sells for hundreds of dollars!

Such is life! Sigh.

Today, my older self has a collection of miniatures to dwarf that of my youth. Naturally, we use them to play Mythmaker now. But oh, the cost! For something so small, you might think the price would be less. But if anything, the cost is rising, like everything else these days. Lucky for me we have all we need, almost.

And how many is that? How many does one need? Probably less than one wants. Rather than a number, shoot for that age-old, sure-fire, money saving amount called the bare minimum. That alone can save you hundreds of dollars. But we can do much better than that. We’ll just have to factor in a few other things.

The factors are for me, cost, space, and time. Time relates to cost, in that time is money, but I’ll keep them in separate columns for the purposes of this article. Karen and I have spent about 200 hours on painting between us.

The time factor is important because most people like a mini to be painted when it goes on the table. So, we learned to paint, and we’ve painted hundreds now, which is likely the biggest money saver of all. An upcoming article will focus on our tips for painting. Just know, you can expect to pay about half as much if you paint them yourself. But be prepared to average an hour or two on each mini. And that’s if you go production line.

To me, space is almost as important as time, and so setting a finite limit on shelf space was an early determination. Does this mean I won’t have all 20 of the goblins my players are up against next week, or all 3 of the harpies that await in yonder trees? Yes, it does.

It's fine. At least I don’t have boxes of unpainted minis crowding the attic. When I do have enough of whatever creature we need, great. If not, I use the next closest thing. Early groups, back in the day, almost never had enough. We filled in with dice or chess pawns or coins.

So, by limiting our space, and sticking to it, we are now essentially done spending money. We’re almost done painting too, so WOO HOO!

We have specially built shelves just made for holding many minis. The total amount of wall space amounts to less than 10-square feet. Four-hundred and forty odd minis fit in that much area. To me, that seems like a lot. To people with collections of a thousand or more, it’s not so much. The important thing is, when related to cost, it sets an automatic limit.

We did the same thing with goats years ago, sort of. We built a little shed for them in such a way that it could accommodate only two or three does and their kids, or no kids and four adults. And there was no way to expand the building to accommodate more, even if we would have wanted. This forced us to stick to our plan to keep it reasonable.

I don’t expect as much turn-over of minis as there was with goats.

But, let’s say you’ve got all the shelf space you could want, all the time you need to paint a bunch, and enough money to buy a bunch already painted. Still, you can save hundreds with these next few tips. Of course, the more you spend, the more you stand to save. So, there’s that.

But first, here are a few things you should not try to skimp on, and a few more that are iffy.

1. Buy good paint. It's not like you need a lot of it.

2. Buy brand name minis. Some manufacturers are quite good, some are just good enough, others might work until you get something better. But stay away from knockoffs and unbranded lots.

3. I have no personal experience with this next tip because I heard it and followed its advice. That is, don’t buy mystery lots. Apparently, you can end up with a lot you don’t want.

4. Get good quality brushes.

5. Get a pair of magnifying glasses. Mine have different lenses and a little built-in light. My eyes are good, but for painting of this detail I find these are worth the money.

6. If a particularly expensive mini catches your eye, buy it dammit! I have a few that were $20 dollars each.

And now, three final ways to save money buying minis. Most of my experience is from buying on Ebay. So, if that’s not for you, the following will not help. There are plenty of other sources of info out there, but I do notice that many of them also mention Ebay. I recommend checking them out (search, buy miniatures cheap), and so I am not going to duplicate their advice here.

The following are tips that are not usually mentioned in the typical “How to get cheap minis” article or video. Each one could save you 10 to 20%. I’ve combined two methods to save up to 40% on an order.

I also suggest reading through the entire item, just as you would look through all of its pictures. If you’re still interested by then, add it to your ‘watch list’. If you have questions, contact the seller. Avoid impulse buys (try anyway).

1. Shipping—Many sellers offer free shipping; however, this just means that the cost of shipping is figured into the item price. Some of them will offer to throw in an extra mini if you buy more than one item. Other sellers list a shipping price, but they also offer to reduce the cost if you buy more than one item. Some offer free shipping for orders over $50.00, which can be a big savings. If you don’t see such discounts specifically listed anywhere in the seller’s information, ask them.

2. Offers—These go both ways. Some sellers list their item price, but they state, “or best offer.” The opposite of this is when you add something to your watch list, and soon after the seller reaches out to you with an offer. For born hagglers there is the counteroffer. Start a little lower than you think the seller will go.

3. Auctions—Ebay is famous for its auctions. And why not, they’re kind of fun. Auctions are a great way to arrive at a fair price for something. Occasionally though you can get a great deal. And there are strategies. Ask someone who has had an item swooped up before their eyes. GRRR.

If you really want something, be prepared. First, set your price limit in your mind. Be ready to pay attention during the last few minutes of the deadline. If you make a bid and it is lower than another bidder’s max, you’ll want enough time to make another, and maybe a third. The last few seconds are critical to making ‘the swoop’. Even if you lose the auction, it can be interesting and fun to take part. And its good practice for next time.

Our total cost over the last year of buying minis is still up in the air. (More about that in a minute). We spent about $1200, tax and shipping included. We saved about $350.00 using my buying strategies on shipping, offers, and auctions, and at least $1200 by painting our own. So, we saved more than we spent.

Now for the kicker.

In the course of buying all the minis we wanted, we ended up with a bunch of leftovers. This happens when you buy a big lot because the price is right, but you really only want half of them.

Like I mentioned earlier, some years ago I used Ebay to sell off a collection. Fast forward to today, and hit replay. . . A future article will expand on how you can do the same.

Until then, stay game for more,

Mythmaker