2023’s Best Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures (Plus awesome proxies)
We have a lot of options for tabletop miniatures. Mass produced, custom, 3D printed and more. The biggest considerations for DnD miniatures are:
Painted vs Unpainted. You can buy pre painted miniatures or paint your own. There are also options to get custom 3D printed miniatures in color (not painted, but different colored resins used to print them)
Official vs Unofficial (including Proxies). Certain miniature brands have license from Wizards of the Coast to reproduce characters and monsters from the D&D world. Other brands make their own version of creature that can be used as a substitute.
For example a Dragon might not be an official D&D license, but used however you want on your tabletop. The same for a Cleric, Paladin, Thief, Tavern Owner, Goblin, Orc and so on.
3D printed vs Pre Fabricated. 3D printed miniatures can be either made for you by a creator that then ships it to you, or you can 3D print your own miniatures. Printing your own requires some up front investment in a 3D printer, an STL file, and material to print with. You can print multiple copies and sizes, and find free files.
Pre-made/Pre-fabricated are made for you, usually mass produced from plastic and molds. They are typically inexpensive and unpainted.
With all those considerations in mind, let’s get to the Best DnD Miniatures in 2023
The Best DnD Miniatures – Pre Made Options
WizKids Miniatures: Nolzur’s and Icons of the Realms
WizKids is owned by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA), and they hold a license to reproduce D&D miniatures. Wizards of the Coast gave Wizkids that license, but they do not own Wizkids.
The big brands under Wizkids are Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures and Icons of the Realms.
Icons of the Realms Premium Figures are pre-painted and roughly 30mm scale. You can get anything from small figures like Grung, all the way up to a pre-painted Tiamat or Tarrasque.
Icons of the Realm (IotR) miniatures are good for a couple of reasons: They are pre-painted, and they are official D&D content. The cost is not terrible, considering they come ready to go.
The drawback here is that they’re not very high quality. The paint job is typically very basic, the sculpts are not fantastic either.
If you’re just looking to get some figures on the table, these are fantastic. Here are some examples you might be interested in:
The old D&D cartoon figures. Instant nostalgia! The figures are not wonderful, but they definitely scratch the itch of reminiscing about the show.
Red, Black, Blue, White and Green Dragons. They aren’t cheap, but being able to plop down an adult Green Dragon on your D&D table? Come on. So cool.
Bahomet, the Horned King. I may be biased here because the last D&D campaign I ran was Descent Into Avernus. Bahomet is just awesome looking, and he is very impressive on the table.
A great site to see all these miniatures you should be aware of is MinisGallery. They have images of all the Icons of the Realm and other D&D, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Star Wars, Critical Role, Magic: The Gathering and more official miniatures there.
Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures are PVC plastic minis that come primed but unpainted. There are hundreds of options, with more being released all the time.
This wing of Wizkids miniatures are very similar to the Icons of the Realm, with the exception of being unpainted minis. Relatively inexpensive, and officially licensed.
I have a bunch of Nolzur’s. Mostly ones I found in my local gaming store and picked up on a whim. The thing about them is, they are fairly basic. I don’t want to come off as a snob but compared to higher end stuff they have less detail and aren’t as smooth and well crafted.
If you’re just starting out, absolutely worth picking up. Just looking to fill the table for a D&D campaign? Perfect. I’m just pointing out it’s not a high end sculpt.
Here are some of them for you to consider:
This Carrion Crawler looks very cool and it’s a classic monster.
The Beholder is also iconic and a lot of people have painted this version.
I’ll also throw in the Gargantuan White Dragon I have which is by WizKids but technically it’s called “Pathfinder Deep Cuts”. This was tough for me to paint but I got it as one of the first miniatures I ever worked on.
Reaper Miniatures
Reaper is a fantastic option for D&D miniatures. They have a good combination of value and diverse choices. I highly recommend the Reaper: Learn to Paint kit. It’s what I started with and a wonderful way to get going in miniature painting.
Reaper has a few lines of minis. The two to be aware of are Reaper Bones and the Reaper Metal miniatures.
Reaper Bones: These are plastic figures. Reaper Bones claims not to require any primer and you can paint right over them. I’ve found that’s true and I don’t prime mine.
Reaper Metal Figures: Metal is old school minis. This is what I painted as a kid. Not Reaper, but they were pewter/metal. You can search these for some cool sculpts.
The other good thing about Reaper is their Figure Finder. They tag the minis with things like race, gender, weapon, class and more. So if you want a female drow cleric with a mace, try searching that. Hey look, here’s one!
Ultimately I would rank Reaper miniatures as on par or slightly better than WizKids dungeons and dragons miniatures. Not the very best miniatures, but solid value and a ton of options.
Gale Force Nine DND miniatures
To be honest here, I go with Gale Force 9 terrain, but not miniatures. I’m mentioning them here because they do make official D&D stuff.
This Chardalyn Dragon looks sick, but the reviews are bad. I have not personally tried it.
Now the Battlefield in a Box stuff, they are AWESOME. I own a few and I love them. I have these Sacrificial Rocks and they look amazing right out of the box. Nothing to put together or paint. You can use them on your table, or as background in pictures, or whatever you need.
Another cool example are these dragon bones. Perfect to drop on a table right out of the box. No painting or assembly required. Great additions to any miniatures collection.
Games Workshop Miniatures
Games Workshop makes the best quality miniatures on the market. They are expensive, and in my opinion worth it. I’m not sure if the fabricating process, or the plastics they use, or what, but they’re great miniatures.
Now if you’re looking for D&D stuff specifically, you’ll be using proxies. So for example if you need a Barbarian horde, try this Darkoath Set. Or my favorite set of Dwarves. Here are some of mine that I painted back in 2019:
Darksword Miniatures
Couple of things on Darksword. First is that they are very nice people. I get hand written thank you notes and free miniatures when I order from them!
Second is they have a huge variety to choose from. They are all pewter (metal) miniatures. It’s a great site to browse because there is always something you didn’t know you needed. Like maybe a Guinea Pig Mage:
I would also point out one of my all time favorite miniatures can be found here: Female Cleric with Mace and Shield. I love the look, it reminds me of my daughter. We painted one up together. She picked the colors. Here is the professionally painted version:
3D Printed and Shipped DnD Miniatures
If you own or have access to a 3D printer, and are looking for free D&D stls to print you can check out my article on that here. If you’re looking for more option that include paid subscriptions, I have a bunch of choices for you:
HeroForge Custom Miniatures
Hero Forge is a great option for people looking to create a very specific D&D character. If you want a female centaur cleric with a shield and war hammer, you can print that out on Hero Forge.
They also have options to download the stl files so you can print your own. Or print the miniature in color resin so you don’t need to paint it.
Titan-forge Miniatures:
Titan-Forge is a subscription model for stl files that you can print out on your 3D printer. They come pre-supported so all you need to do is load them into the printer and go.
Joining the Patreon is $10 a month. You get over 20 model stls and a lot of bases to print in your subscription. You can cancel after the month expires, or continue to pay monthly. Each month is a new set of stl’s to print out.
You can also buy the titan-forge figures printed here.
LOOT STUDIOS
Loot studios is another excellent choice for subscription based stl files to print. They do not have any printed for you, you’ll have to supply your own 3D printer and of course paint them.
Loot has free stls to try before you subscribe.
Raging Heroes Miniatures
I wanted to include Raging Heroes because I like their art style. This is another subscription based stl resource. I am a fan of angel and valkyrie themed minis and Raging has some really cool models called holy fliers.
Eldritch Foundry Custom Miniatures
Eldritch Foundry is an excellent alternative to Hero Forge. Very similar concept. You can create specific miniatures to your own taste. It’s great for characters you can’t find pre made options for.
While you can definitely find D&D style fantasy miniatures here, they also have super cool sci-fi and steampunk style options.
Best bulk DnD miniatures
If you’re a DM or play a ton of Tabletop games that require a lot of miniatures, the best recommendation is a 3D printer. Instead of buying 10 skeletons, a Giant and 3 gnolls, you can find some free stl’s and print them.
I understand there is a significant upfront cost there, so let’s talk other options.
Icons of the Realms Bricks. The IotR bricks are not exactly cheap, but you’ll get a lot of painted, fairly well sculpted, official D&D miniatures.
Bricks means random, and for me these are good for starting out. Get your collection started quickly and build from there. You’ll get 8 boxes and 32 miniatures total.
Again though these are painted, pretty good sculpts, and official D&D creatures.
High End Board Games: If you’re looking for really high quality sculpts, I would check out items like Cursed City from Games Workshop. Depending on your budget, and what you need, you get a ton of very cool minis here.
For those that do not know, don’t buy direct from GW. You get a 15% discount from buying on a third party platform or your local gaming store.
I own this set personally, and it is vampire, zombie and skeleton heavy. So if that fits what you like and need, check this out. The heroes are amazing. If you’re already into painting miniatures, these are fantastic.
Remember again, it’s unpainted minis. Extremely high quality, but you do need to assemble and paint them. I definitely don’t recommend this for a quick fix. But if you’re a dungeon master, and get this set, do a quick slapchop paint job, you’re off to a running start.
In my opinion these are the best miniatures in my list.
Amazon. Amazon has a few sets that are worth looking at. If you need volume, this set of miniatures can potentially be an option for you. Just be aware it’s 68 minis, but a lot of duplicates. Yes you get a Dragon, but it’s reading a book.
The Arch Devil is cool, but the Bear has shark hands. There is definitely stuff in there I’d use in my D&D campaign, and you can always just use some as proxies. I would look through and see exactly how many you’d really use.
If you use all 68, the value is fantastic. It works out to under 70 cents per mini. If you’re only using a handful, that number starts to swing in the wrong direction.
There is also this set of 56 miniatures for under 40 bucks. Again if you use them all, great value. They are all unique figures, and they’re painted. So literally put them right on the table.
These sculpts are bad though. I mean better than nothing, but don’t expect a good look from them.
Value Tabletop Boardgame Sets. The one I wanted to mention here was Wrath of Asherdon. It’s an officially licensed D&D board game that comes with 42 miniatures, including a large Red Dragon.
There are duplicates but the sculpts are very good for the money. They are not painted, so be aware you’ll have to do that.
Painting Your Own DnD Miniatures
I wanted to add a few sections here for people who are skimming the article. This way it’s easier to find what you want.
If you’re looking to paint your own minis, check out my article here of the most popular methods. That article is on Warhammer painting but it applies equally well to Dungeons and Dragons miniatures. You can get a miniature painted start to finish in under 30 minutes.
The Best Pre-Painted and Color DnD Miniature Options
Another section to help people that are skimming. If you’re looking for Pre Painted miniatures, here are some choices:
Dwarven Forge Painted Options: It’s mostly terrain, but you also have little sets of figures pre-painted. Townsfolk, sample packs, creatures. Have a peak and see if you like them.
Icons of the Realms Pre Painted Miniatures: As I detail above, Icons are pre painted and official Dungeons and Dragons miniatures. Not super cheap, not great sculpts necessarily, but painted and good for the table.
Hero Forge Color Prints: Hero Forge is my top choice for any custom miniature. They also allow you to print in color, which makes painting unnecessary.
The Best Options for Customizable Miniatures
I’ll give you 4 options here:
- Hero Forge – Create your own miniatures from a lot of options
- Eldritch Foundry – Very similar to Hero Forge with different styles
- Upwork – Hire a designer to customize an stl file for you to print or have printed.
- Fiverr – Another source to search for 3D modelers.
Hero Forge is a very good low cost way to get a lot of customization from your miniatures. You can pick race, class, weapons, gender, and a whole host of other options.
Even if you don’t end up here, it’s a great jumping off point. Get something as close as you can so you have a reference.
Eldritch Foundry is very similar to Hero Forge but with a different set of options and looks. I would try both and get as close as you can to perfect.
Upwork and Fiverr are the places to look for a 3D sculptor. If you can’t find exactly what you want elsewhere, have it custom made.
Obviously this can get pretty pricey, but if you’re really after something specific and unique, this is a great way to go.
