Miniatures are pretty much essential for 4th Edition play; they were only slightly less important to 3rd Edition play, and having used them in 3E and 4E I can see how they would have greatly improved my 2E games. But miniatures can be expensive and time-consuming at the high end, and even the cost of platic D&D Minature commons might be more than some want to spend.

I’ve always liked paper and cardboard options. The cardboard stand-ups from the Dragon Mountain boxed set made a huge difference in the quality of my 2E combats, but paper miniatures of that quality are hard to come by these days. I tried Paper Heroes, but the “lie flat” thing just didn’t do it for me.

Time Spiral posted instructions for great stand-up, paper miniatures. His example graphics are very high quality, and I like the potential for customization. I haven’t had the chance to put these into use yet but I’ll report back when I do.