Garage Sales

My second source of minis (after online Heroclix stores) are garage sales. There, you can either find kids toys that can be reskinned, or old lead miniature.

Toys are usually not at the right scale, but can make great “Giant” creatures. For example a small plastic spider can make a giant spider in your game. Sometimes you can even find promotional Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings minis that can be easily repainted for your games.

But what I’m usually looking for are people selling old lead minis. It’s usually stuff they (or their kids had) when they are young, and they don’t really know what they are selling. I got some old GW, D&D, Ral Partha and Grenadier minis for less than 1€ each.

For online Heroclix or garage sales, my rule of thumb is that I should not pay more than 1€/mini, with a max of 2€ if it’s a really great one.