Like many collectors, I’m a little obsessive-compulsive when it comes to my hobbies. Back when I read comic books regularly, I spent a lot of money picking up back issues and crossovers to complete my collection. This behavior translates into a compelling desire to possess just the right number and type of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures necessary to run every encounter included in an adventure I plan to use.

Not only will I spend hours identifying what existing minis best fit the monsters described in an encounter (and put them into an excel spreadsheet that compares how many I have to how many are needed), but I will also spend equal amounts of time shopping around online for the best buy on singles.

I’ve come across four different online stores that I consistently turn to for price comparison and ultimately making a purchase. If you’re a DM looking to build up your collection for your next 4E campaign, or just need a few odds and ends to fill in some holes, perhaps you will benefit from my experience.

Troll and Toad
A Google search for D&D miniature singles will return about 80k results, with trollandtoad.com at the top. My first impression of the site wasn’t good (long load times, crashes), but I found their product display to be one of the more informative. I also liked that the minis in a set were listed alphabetical, instead of by the series number. The floating shopping cart annoyed me, but at least it eliminated scrolling or clicking a button to see what I had ordered so far.

Selection and price are average. Customer service is Troll and Toad’s selling point. After placing my order (on the weekend), I decided I wanted to swap a couple of minis. I both called and sent an email detailing the mini I no longer wanted and the new one. I got a prompt email on Monday telling me the exchange had taken place and my card had been refunded the difference.

Cardhaus Games
The first site I really spent time browsing was cardhaus.com. They have the cheapest prices on the net. Unfortunately, that also means that they don’t keep singles in stock very long. I found nearly everything I wanted when I first started shopping around, but when I went back a week later to actually make a purchase, they were out of stock.

The other issues I had with Cardhaus were their lack of images on the product lists (you have to click to the individual page for a mini to see a pic), minis were listed by series number, and all their navigation buttons disappear if you have the Firefox Adblocker plugin enabled. I was forced to disable Adblocker if I wanted to make a purchase. Not good.

Even after all that, I was prepared to buy from Cardhaus, but then I saw their shipping options. They only offered Fed Ex. Most of the other sites provided a USPS option (Priority or First class) at half the rate.

Gamingetc.com
Gamingetc.com got my vote for best product list. Not only was it easy to navigate to, but the minis were listed alphabetically within a set, an image was included by each mini in the list, and you could filter by the first letter of the mini’s name. Unfortunately, they’re prices where some of the highest.

Miniature Market
Miniature Market had decent prices, a good selection, a serviceable product listing (images, but ordered by series number instead of alphabetical), and clear navigation. It helped that all they did was minis, so I wasn’t forced to wade through other RPG product lines to find them. I ordered from them at the same time as Troll and Toad, and got my minis from them first (they came in the mail today). I found a nice little surprise in the box–two extra minis: ochre jelly and elf arcane archer. They weren’t listed on the invoice as freebies, so I sent an email back informing them of the mistake. We’ll see what happens.

Update: I heard back from Erik at Miniatures Market about the extra minis. He thanked me for my honesty and informed me that the extra minis were a mistake, but let me keep the arcane archer. The ochre jelly, however, was a rare and worth quite a bit. He offered me a discount if I wanted to buy it, or would refund me the shipping if I mailed it back. I’m going to need an ochre jelly for Keep on the Shadowfell, so I told him to charge me.

Later that day, I got another email from Erik asking what set the ochre jelly was from. Apparently, there are two ochre jellies: one from Archfiends and the other from Against the Giants. The former is the expensive rare, while the latter is a common. I had the common version. Erik generously let me keep the mini for free, and refunded the earlier charge.