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I am new to the hobby. Started 6 months ago.


I wanted to build a board game that me and my boys could play, and used Heroquest as a template, and started developing it from there, both W40k and Warhammer fantasy settings.

I’ve been mainly buying Warhammer / GW miniatures to fill the ranks. As well as Oathmark, Frostgrave, Firestorm…


My major gripe with GW mini’s is —

1) often very limited options for poses, very rigid design compared with freedom of other brands, even kit bashing is more difficult …

2) I feel sometimes, needless complicated to assemble..
recently got Stormcast Vigilors. Fantastic looking models, but not fun to assemble! Most are an 8 part model, and 1 pose, no variation again!


It’s sad because GW models are admittedly very good…..

Necromunda supposedly is more oriented toward custom games (don't quote me on this, it is what I understand though)
AOS minis I have experienced to be very flimsy and prickly compared to 40K models.

Anyway, if you want to limit yourself to fantasy, you could also look into the new line of Oldworld (a recreation of warhammer fantasy battles) or get familiar with precision knifes, kitbashing is easier when you know how and where to cut an appendix.

I too have few major gripes with GW products and minis. I think a lot of people do.

Still, GW has cleanest sculpts and casts in every box, nobody comes close! Imo. I judge it by how much
mold-lineage I need to clean up, often for GW kits none at all, and that is crazy good.

Blackstone Fortress heroes have 3 piece sandwich assembly that for me was frustrating. But the Magmadroth was a joy to put together, pieces fit/snapped perfectly. It varies.

Hi there. It looks as though you have a desitination in mind, and GW is gettin in the way.

For variation in GW models, look at older kits. GW seems to prefer spactacle over variety, with huge centrepiece models, and models 'full of character'.
Older kits were torso-and-legs, with a range of arms and heads for function. An army of unit options ws easy, as was the head-swap route to a change of theme. Not any more :(

Push-fit is nice for beginners, or games that uses models as playing pieces, but not for wargaming with.

But also, GW models as rank-and-file gets expensive. Mantic and lots of others make cheaper models, often made to fit in and pad out GW armies. As you've found, luckily.

Welcome!

You might take a look through Reaper's catalog. Their figures scale well with GW's, and they're typically fully built, or with only a few pieces. They can add a little flavor and distinctness to your army, or maybe a character figure.

Frostgrave and Oathmark minis are also good, and easier to assemble, but they're smaller than Reaper and GW. Not too much, but it's a little noticible, in case you think that might bug you.

Good luck!

Seconding looking at older GW lines, or going 3D printing. Old kits were "action figure" style, usually with head, torso, legs and two arms all separate which made reposes and kitbashing beginner friendly.

Brent of Goobertown Hobbies recently put out a video about the easiest "make these push-fits look less like clones" with the least effort, which might be of interest:

Hi guys — appreciate all the replies!


Yeah it’s a real annoyance! Because when you have kits with arms and legs you can really make them look unique, and it’s fun to build them.

But the main problem is they are often small compared to GW. Frostgrave, Oathmark are generally great mini’s offering a great range of options, but often look like dwarfs compared to GW Minis!


FireForge Forgotten Realms are the only mini’s I’ve found so far that scale well with GW. They’re really good, and easy to kitbash too. The Dwarf range I really like. Far better than GW due to the range of options for different poses.

Apparently Perry’s Minis scale quite well, and are well regarded?

I am honestly surprised other brand don’t increase their size a bit to scale better with GW? I am sure it would increase their sales as I cannot be alone, in filling the ranks with a variety of brands.

I also want classic archetypes which AoS doesn’t really cater for — classic dwarfs, elves, barbarians etc. for my Heroquest board game creation…


My Stormcast Vigilors, or Battle Sisters — honestly they look amazing, no doubt, but they are not fun to build at all…. They’re laborious due to having zero creative input with their poses.

It seems like such an obvious oversight for GW to remove clearly quite a fun aspect of the hobby…..? 🙄🤦🏻

Try A Song Of Ice And Fire - apart from being a very well designed, modern game (especially compared to GW, the stone age of game design) it has miniatures that already come fully assembled. These miniatures are very nice too, and of course the Game of Thrones setting and characters don't hurt either

When it comes to dungeon crawl games on the market, there are tons which once again are
-better designed than GW ones
-are cheaper than GW ones
-have tons more good quality miniatures that don't need to be assembled

Browsing through BGG with tags like "dungeon crawler, miniatures" will give you a bewildering range of games, with ratings and reviews. Seriously, treat yourselves to the likes of Frosthaven or Oathsworn and prepare to have your mind blown by how much design of such games has progressed since the prehistory of Heroquest.

GW has literal scale creep - their first ranges were maybe half the size of the current figures. Many other companies minis are smaller because they're offered at consistent 28/32mm rather than constantly trying to out-pauldron the previous marines.

Fun doesn't line GW's pockets, wow-factor, FOMO and limited releases get them more $$$. They don't care about the fun or utility of a kit.

It’s annoying — size is another issue.

trying to find mini’s that scale well with AoS and GW in general.

Monsters are fine.


But other human characters are difficult.

I have bought some French foot knights as a stand in for Bretonnian Knights for my board game. But they’re actually small in comparison to Free Cities SteelHelms and other human characters by GW…

:(