What do you guys use for miniatures?
I've got a friend who's got 20 years worth of painted minis from all kinds of games. I'm constantly trying to come up with things I 'need' a mini for that he doesn't have. Invariably, he'll have one the next week.
I also look for things that aren't gaming minis that I can use. As I mentioned elsewhere, I'm currently buying Safari Ltd animals for a campaign based on
The Mysterious Island. I've also used plastic dinosaurs (the ones that come in a tube have velociraptors that are beautifully scaled for regular minis), I've used the Mongoose Games' Starship Trooper bugs, and I've even used a Mechwarrior construction mech to represent a steampunk robot.
Lately, I've taken to drawing critters in photoshop and printing them out for custom minis.
I bought a bunch of
card bases to stand them up with. They work a champ - except when I did a giant bug and it was paper thin on the table. I've got to rethink that design.