Dinosaur line for Dungeons and Dragons

[Evermore414]

I am interested in buying some dinosaur figures to use along with my D&D and Reaper minis and was wondering if you could give me your recommendations?  My main concern is that I would like whatever line I get to be as close as possible in scale to these other miniatures.  It doesn't have to be perfect but I don't want the Dino's to look horse sized next to the humanoid figures. 

Aside from that I would love some variety in the line.  I would like to eventually pick up some Ice age figures and even some modern animals if the scales still matched up.  Though I'm afraid that even animal lines from the same company would usually not be to scale with the dinosaurs?  Is that true?

Detail and accuracy would be nice but they aren't my main concern.  I don't want anything that looks cheap but I'm hoping not to destroy my wallet either.

I don't know if this helps but I've read that D&D minis are 30 mm scale and Reaper minis are 25 or 28 mm heroic scale, if that means anything.  I also found this pic that appears to be Papo Dino's with some Reaper minis.

http://dinosaurcowboys.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/papo_say-cheese.jpg

I was a little blown away with how many dinosaur lines there are and how good they look but I didn't have any luck finding info on comparing them to other minis.  Any help you guys could give me would be much appreciated!  I think my kids would love combining some Dino's into an adventure!

[Gryphoceratops]

Well it depends on how big the dinosaurs are supposed to be (I don't know if D&D recognizes real species or makes up their own loosely based on real dinosaurs).  Assuming those minis in your photo are supposed to be humans, the papo dinosaurs are too big for the kinds of dinosaurs they represent.  Many of the dinosaurs from the Carnegie Collection are in 1:40 scale which is a bit smaller than that and might work well with the humanoid figures you have posted a photo of. 

Was there any particular kind of dinosaur you wanted to use?  That would make it a lot easier to narrow down. 

[Evermore414]

I've been doing some more digging and it looks like dinosaurs that are 1/50 to 1/60 scale would match up the best.  It looks like most dinosaur lines run 1/40 though.  Do any of you know any lines with a lot of variety that run at the 1/50 to 1/60 scale?

[Brontozaurus]

Well it depends on how big the dinosaurs are supposed to be (I don't know if D&D recognizes real species or makes up their own loosely based on real dinosaurs).  Assuming those minis in your photo are supposed to be humans, the papo dinosaurs are too big for the kinds of dinosaurs they represent.  Many of the dinosaurs from the Carnegie Collection are in 1:40 scale which is a bit smaller than that and might work well with the humanoid figures you have posted a photo of. 

Was there any particular kind of dinosaur you wanted to use?  That would make it a lot easier to narrow down.

D&D used to recognise real species: in the 3rd edition monster manual they had several species such as Deinonychus and Tyrannosaurus. In the latest edition, they're filed under Behemoths and have different names (e.g. Bloodspike behemoth=Stegosaurus).

I know there are official D&D minis for the Stegosaurus and Triceratops behemoths, and I have seen a fiendish tyrannosaurus mini at a convention. I suppose if you wanted dinosaurs to scale with the character minis then maybe you should get a pack of cheap small dinosaurs from a two-dollar shop. Wild Safari and Wild Republic also do tubes of dinosaurs which should be the right size for your minis.

[SBell]

The above has, among others, the Macetail behemoth (AKA evil Ankylosaurus). It's from here http://www.ebay.com/itm/D-D-Miniatures-Desert-of-Desolation-Rares-x7-Drider-Sphinx-Werewolf-Manticore-/150960546135?pt=Games_US&hash=item2325f32157

I don't have that one, but I do have the rage drake (the red one), which is about 3" long. So using the rough scale, the D&D dino is between 3" and 4".

Indeed, that is an odd size for figures. From what I have, the Colorata Dinosaurs may actually be the closest fit (although those aren't to scale either).  I personally have used all sorts of dinos at different scales for D&D--Colorata, CollectA, Safari, Dinosaur King, etc. One DM even used the 1:15 T.rex for a campaign!

So I wouldn't be too worried about exact scale; seek out dinos with a look that you want to use, within a reasonable size range. The Colorata set no longer has an Ankylosaur (I never realized that until I did my comparison just now) but there are several other potential ones.

And for the record, D&D now used Drakes to include theropod dinos, and behemoths to include ornithischians.

[comandantedavid]

This might be of some help:  http://www.stevepugh.net/VTT/dino/

  I'm not crazy about most of dinosaurs put out by miniature companies, but it'll help you get the scale right.

Some of Wild Safari's (not Carnegie) newer dinosaurs might hit the 1:50 range approximately (stego and allo, I think?  apatosaurus if you fudge it?), but you'll have to go individual piece by piece since they do not adhere to a consistent scale.

Similarly, some Favorite soft models will come in around 1/50, but you'll have to check the measurements.

Dinotales/Kaiyodo can help you with some of the smaller genera.

[Splonkadumpocus]

As an avid D&D player on both sides of the DM screen, I believe the scale for D&D battle miniatures is 1 inch=5 feet, making the scale exactly 1:60.