"Vendor: VERY inexpensive plastic D&D-type mini's..." Topic

This vendor, Sinodolls (e-Bay store link here), sells seemingly unique, non-standard, non-IP rip-off, D&D mini's, for bargain-basement prices. They're made in China, so take this as you will. For low-priced mini's, they are very hard to beat.

I ordered some, to fill a niche in my armies for mass battles games. Not sure what type of plastic they are (I think some sort of vinyl) so I don't know how well they will take paint. I will update this thread after they arrive, and I have a chance to paint some. Cheers!

Please, keep us informed.

looks like a lot of the WizKids plastics. Some game pieces for Scythe too.

They are probably stolen from the factory production line then sold on eBay.

So they probably are the real thing, just stolen.

That's just my theory.

We dealt with this when I worked on the Happy Meals business.

Often they are factory seconds, with only very minor flaws. But yes, they are "liberated" from the recycling or trash bins and then sold on Ebay. Yes, some are just outright stolen.

Lot of boardgame parts. I think some are from Joan of Arc. Maybe Smog. Bloodrage?

Thanks for the link!
Await you update on how they take paint.
Also how long shipping takes.

These pieces are from various boardgames. I can spot Zombicide, Scythe, Smog, etc. Aliexpress is actually full of stuff like this. They are either recasts or produced from the same factories as "official" game miniatures and sold on the side.

But yes, they are "liberated" from the recycling or trash bins and then sold on Ebay. Yes, some are just outright stolen.

But hey, the companies that made the games saved a bunch of money producing them cheap…

Nice – but those are boardgame parts.

Yes. Some might be Battlelore medievals. The base measures slightly over 1 cm, so I guess about 15mm scale.

Thanks, Gentlemen. I am not familiar with any of those games. I bought a dozen Mantlets, as they looked good, and they were inexpensive. They will also be quite easy, and fast, to paint -- if primer will stick to them.

The rest of the figures are not something I need, but the prices seemed phenomenally low. Hoping they will come straight, and not badly warped. Cheers!

The mantlets (which the vendor appears to believe are some sort of car) did look nice. I assumed roughly 15mm scale to match the medieval infantry so didn't order any.

Some game pieces from Massive Darkness, a CMON Kickstarter.

From the item description: "About 3 cm tall." That, and the photo with the ruler, suggest they are 25mm – 30mm tall. My hope is that they are 30mm tall, for use with my 25mm – 28mm tall, figures. I guess I will find out, for certain, within the next 30-45 days, hopefully sooner. Cheers!

I see Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu in there also. Lots of weird bootleg stuff going on with this seller, it seems like.

Actually that's not fair to say, they may just have a lot of boardgame stuff to unload.

This may sound paranoid – but when I see every clerk at the few stores still open are wearing gloves and masks, ordering something from China makes me a little nervous.
Is it possible these items could carry a virus when they arrive in the US? Sgt Slag, I appreciate the tip on these items, maybe you could give us an update on your health after 14-17 days of receiving them? Maybe you want to wash them very thoroughly when they arrive?

I have thought about that. I received some miniature tree models from China, last week. I took no precautions on those. They are still in the bag, and they will likely sit, untouched, for another few weeks -- waiting for bases to mount them, to arrive.

In short, I would suggest leaving the package to sit for a few weeks, to allow the virus to die off. Or, you can spray the package/items with Lysol, or some other aerosol disinfectant.

TBeyer, I recommend you watch Governor Walz's shelter-in-place video, which he posted, yesterday. It should put the infection into context for you. I am a 36-year survivor of Type I Diabetes. When I get the virus, we will see how my body is able to cope with it. Until then, I will continue to enjoy my life, as best I can. Cheers!

I received my Mantlets, from China. They are decent quality, shipping was fairly quick, from China to the USA: 10 days to arrive at my door. However, they are smaller than I had hoped: they will work fine for 20mm tall figures, but they are small for anything larger than that, if you want them to be taller than the figures.

For me, this is not really a problem. I have Caesar's 1/72 Orcs, and Goblins, which are just short enough to work with them; I also have Dwarven armies, one shorter (1/72 Caesar Dwarves, which I use as Hill Dwarves, as opposed to the taller, Mountain Dwarves), as well as a Gnome army, for which the figures are about the same height as the Hill Dwarves -- 20mm, to the tops of their heads.

They are made of hard plastic, not vinyl. There is some wood grain texture molded into them, on nearly every face. I believe they will work nicely, with a black wash, to bring out their details.

My recommendation is to use them with 15mm-20mm tall figures only, unless you won't mind your figures being taller than their Mantlets. Cheers!

I have a couple packs of the chinese miniatures I ordered about christmas time. I bought them as cheap Characters for my kids to use when the start playing D&D in a year or so, The ones I have are cast in a brown plastic, and the sword bend but dont break. THey are about 32-35mm tall, taller than I like as 28mm is more than tall enought for me in my book for d&d.

However, since I just ordered a epax x1 resin printer, I cant see my self buying any more, as I will be able to print most everything I want, after it comes, and after I learn to use the printer. I have a ender 3 that has been printing dungeon tiles almost non-stop over the last 2 or 3 months. Ultimately, 3d printing is going to become the prime source for models for a large percentage of the wargaming community, but with cheap and decent quality of miniatures coming out of china, (finally or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), maybe people will have another option for filling their miniature needs other than the high price offering from a few certain companies.

I havent painted any of those chinese miniatures, so I dont know how they will take paint. I have to many minis to paint as it is, with a backlog of a few thousand 15mm to paint.

@Albus Malum

Were those figures listed as 'nn Golden Figure fit for D&D'?

I kept seeing them on eBay while I was doing searches for D&D minis, but just wasn't sure about the scale or quality of them.