[Bhikku]

Between 4e and Savage Worlds, I thought I was going to go broke collecting minis for my favorite systems. Instead, a friend and I went halves on a package of cardstock at the office supply store and I raided the unreasonably extensive collection of fantasy art from my old computer. I just paste 'em into a word document, scale 'em down to mini-size, print and cut. Some free pdfs at One Monk provide cut&fold bases that these little cardstock tabs can be inserted into & taken back out to store easily.

The total cost is cardstock & ink & a bit of time spent. The reward is a good payoff - i've always enjoyed being able to unveil some fantastic Brom image to my players and watch them pale as they realize they're fighting this thing.... putting down a mini that dwarfs their PCs is somehow even more fun, even if it's a 2d stand-up. One player requested a favorite Elmore painting for her character, another designed hers with Hero Machine.

I never got into miniatures, and even playing 3.x they felt kind of clunky to someone raised on WEG's Star Wars, but since I got into Savage Worlds and now 4e I've gotten hooked. It's definitely a green eggs and ham thing, as was alluded before: these systems work well, and the minis work well with them, so it's definitely worth a try. You might just find you like it. (And there's no reason to break the bank just trying it out, after all.)