We tend to use minis.  At a minimum, battle mats and counters representing characters.

I easily dumped a couple grand on D&D minis towards the end of the run, and bought some of the Pathfinder minis early on, and probably have 2-3 thousand minis, if not more.

Most of the D&D Minis that I've got were cheap, due to people dumping their collections in bulk lots, so I've got pretty decent representation of at least 75% of the Monster Manuals from 3E/3.5.

That said, we tend to use minis, mainly because we have them.  We've certainly gamed enough times using TotM, and have never felt that any system we've gamed with has required battle mats and minis/counters.  We just like minis.  My gamer friends and I all have a pretty decent collection of Reaper minis, and I've bought a few Privateer minis that fit our games as well.

Quote from: Thornhammer;1071195I'm a big fan of a gridded vinyl play mat so I can draw out the battlefield and write profanities and then wipe it off when we're done.

Yeah same here.
I have a 25+ years old large Chessex Vinyl square gridded Battlemat I've been using. It's pretty stained over the years with old ink, but perfectly serviceable.

Quote from: soltakss;1071148One of our players has a collection in miniatures and likes painting them, so we just use his.

Personally, I prefer paper minis, as they are easier to produce, but he hates them.

Maybee they just haven't seen any good flats yet? The ones from Onemonk are really good for example and they even did some 3d and semi-3d stuff.

I use (and have almost always used) flat TFT-style cardboard counters. Very cheap, easily made (especially these days. with the Internet, image editors, and printers), and they don't have the physical issues minis have with storage, body piles, positions on horseback, etc.

GURPS and TFT aren't satisfying/interesting to me to run combats without showing the location and where people and things are - that's where much of the gameplay, tactics, and cause & effect (and for me, immersion and enjoyment) are!

Quote from: Omega;1071388Maybee they just haven't seen any good flats yet? The ones from Onemonk are really good for example and they even did some 3d and semi-3d stuff.

Cardboard counters are functional, and are a very good substitute for figures from a practical view point, but it isn't an issue of "good or bad flats". There is just no way that they can compare to actual 3-D figures for those who like figures for the visual and tactile feel that they offer. Some of the true diehards won't even accept plastic as a figure material.

I'm not above using cardboard figures, but strongly prefer real figures when they are available. There are many advantages to using cardboard, cost, weight, availability, figures are rather limited beyond fantasy settings.


An exception is paper models. There are some excellent paper models that can be quite satisfying for buildings, vehicles, large monsters etc.

Quote from: Toadmaster;1071414Cardboard counters are functional, and are a very good substitute for figures from a practical view point, but it isn't an issue of "good or bad flats". There is just no way that they can compare to actual 3-D figures for those who like figures for the visual and tactile feel that they offer. Some of the true diehards won't even accept plastic as a figure material.

I'm not above using cardboard figures, but strongly prefer real figures when they are available. There are many advantages to using cardboard, cost, weight, availability, figures are rather limited beyond fantasy settings.


An exception is paper models. There are some excellent paper models that can be quite satisfying for buildings, vehicles, large monsters etc.

Those diehards are welcome to buy me some new miniatures, if plastic bothers them so much.

I've used minis ever since I started playing back in the '70s.
I am an avid mini painter and I also craft terrain, set pieces and creatures.
Here is an example of a purple worm I made;
 [ATTACH=CONFIG]3142[/ATTACH]

Quote from: Razor 007;1071457Those diehards are welcome to buy me some new miniatures, if plastic bothers them so much.

In fairness, most that I've run across who feel that strongly about it do step up and provide for their group.

I have a preference for minis, but am practical enough to accept cardboard. They do the job, require less logistics and are far more economical. As far as I'm concerned the level of detail on modern plastic figures is indistinguishable from metal until you pick them up. Plastic has opened up options for figures that were economically and in some cases technologically unfeasible in metal.

Only pointed out that attitude to highlight that it isn't a lack of seeing good cardboard minis that keeps them from using cardboard.

Quote from: Son of Warvan;1071466I've used minis ever since I started playing back in the '70s.
I am an avid mini painter and I also craft terrain, set pieces and creatures.
Here is an example of a purple worm I made;
 [ATTACH=CONFIG]3142[/ATTACH]

Neat worm, what do you make figures from, modelling clay, Milliput?

Quote from: Son of Warvan;1071466I've used minis ever since I started playing back in the '70s.
I am an avid mini painter and I also craft terrain, set pieces and creatures.
Here is an example of a purple worm I made;

Very good.

Is it me, or does the Purple Worm look like the Penisaur from Flesh Gordon?

Quote from: Toadmaster;1071500Neat worm, what do you make figures from, modelling clay, Milliput?

Thank you. It is made from cardboard, paper towels, and a lot of hot glue. The jaws are formed from Crayola clay and the teeth from toothpicks, the base is sand and pebbles.

Quote from: Son of Warvan;1071573Thank you. It is made from cardboard, paper towels, and a lot of hot glue. The jaws are formed from Crayola clay and the teeth from toothpicks, the base is sand and pebbles.

Wow, serious old school, or perhaps more appropriately pre-school.

It looks great and very creative use of simple products.

Thanks again.
But, credit where credit is due, the idea came from a Youtuber who goes by the name DM Scotty. His channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/theDMsCraft.
He does a lot of these type projects and his work is quite impressive. This is my take on his own purple worm project.
Discovering his site really influenced me and got me into the crafting hobby.

No minis. I keep track of PC/NPC locations behind the screen. Unless a character is in a position to have a constant tactical overview of the situation, I don't believe it makes sense for them to have a minis-like view. Combat is messy and confusing.

Instead of minis we use cheap plastic gaming pawns in various colors. I'll often quickly sketch a rough floorplan with no grid. All just to show relative positions.

Quote from: TheHistorian;1072032No minis. I keep track of PC/NPC locations behind the screen. Unless a character is in a position to have a constant tactical overview of the situation, I don't believe it makes sense for them to have a minis-like view. Combat is messy and confusing.

I agree with this, but I'm not sure how I would pull that off.