e've been very lucky recently and managed to get some time with Ramon from Highlands Miniatures (who make STL files each month), he was kind enough to answer some of our questions and we wanted to feature them alongside their fab mini's for people to be able to see what fab alternates there are out there for all sorts of Wargames.
Here we present his answers and of course some images of those very mini's that we've fallen in love with.
TP: How do you work out which themes to create pieces for?
RAMON: At Highlands Miniatures we let our subscribers decide through a poll. Our Patreon community is at the heart of everything we do, so it makes sense that they have a direct say in what gets sculpted each month. We'll typically put forward a selection of fantasy armies that fit within the universe of third-party tabletop games and then our subscribers vote on what they'd like to see next. It keeps the project collaborative and ensures we're always producing miniatures that people are genuinely excited to print and paint. Occasionally we'll also take the temperature of the community through comments and direct messages, which often plants the seed for future polls and campaigns.
TP: What would you say sells your miniatures to people?R: At Highlands Miniatures we focus on a specific fantasy aesthetic rooted in the late 90s and early 2000s, that golden era of fantasy wargaming where designs had character and clarity without being overloaded with detail. It's a mixture of nostalgia and practicality: our miniatures are easy to print and easy to paint, which matters enormously in a hobby where people want to actually finish their armies rather than be intimidated by them. We deliberately avoid the busy, hyper-detailed approach you see in a lot of modern sculpts. Instead we focus on strong silhouettes, readable shapes, and clean surfaces that reward a painter at any skill level. That combination of nostalgic style and print-friendly design is, I think, what keeps people coming back.
TP: What is the turnaround time from designing a concept to having it ready for printing?
R: Highlands Miniatures is essentially the work of a solo sculptor, so it's a full-time job on its own, and the time involved varies quite a bit depending on the type of miniature. For an average 32mm human basic troop, you're looking at somewhere between two and three days of work from initial concept through to the final piece. But that's only the beginning, because a single pose doesn't make a unit. You then have to add variations, alternative weapons, different heads, and dynamic poses to build out a full regiment, and that multiplies the time considerably. On top of the actual sculpting, there's also test prints, and the technical preparation of the files for our subscribers. A full monthly release represents weeks of continuous work behind the scenes.
TP: What is your favourite piece that you've created and why?R: After all these years and hundreds of miniatures sculpted, it's genuinely difficult to single out just one piece. But if I had to pick a body of work that stands out, I'd say I'm especially fond of the Sons of Ymir, our dwarf fantasy army. That whole range holds a special place for me, both creatively and personally. We had a fantastic time sculpting those miniatures and exploring the visual language of fantasy dwarves through our own lens. Beyond the enjoyment of creating them, the Sons of Ymir were genuinely a turning point for us as a studio. They were extremely well received within the community, and that response helped Highlands Miniatures grow and find its place in the miniature gaming industry. There's something very rewarding about looking back at a project and recognising it as the moment things clicked.
R: The work done for Highlands Miniatures is actually quite structured, because our miniatures have to fit specific army lists to be playable in third-party games, so we don't deviate much from those established frameworks. That said, we're always looking for opportunities to create separate projects alongside the core releases — things like our Kickstarters and our Frontiers projects — and I have a genuinely never-ending list of ideas for future projects that unfortunately never quite find the time to be sculpted. A good example is how our Fantasy Fillers & Heroes campaigns evolved. We started that series to complete our fantasy armies with heroes and unique characters that were missing from the monthly sets. We're now developing a brand new series called Fantasy Fillers & Markers, dedicated to creating unique baggage trains and objective markers for our fantasy armies. It's a great example of how one project almost always sparks the next, and the journal just keeps filling up.
TP: What do you think is most inspiring about your miniatures and why?
R: As I mentioned earlier, I think there's a certain feeling of nostalgia in our work that's genuinely welcomed by our community. For a lot of hobbyists, these miniatures evoke a return to a time when things felt simpler and happier: the early days of discovering the hobby as a teenager, painting your first army on a kitchen table, flipping through old rulebooks and hobby magazines. That emotional connection is powerful, and I think it's what makes our miniatures feel meaningful.
TP: Where do you see your business taking you in 5 years?
R: Hopefully Highlands Miniatures will continue creating awesome 3D printable miniatures for a community that loves them, but I'd also love to see us expand into new territories. One direction we're keen to explore is physical production and distribution, moving beyond STL files into other mediums like castable resin or plastic miniatures that people can buy ready-made. We'd also love to develop our own tabletop games, designed around our miniatures and our aesthetic, so that we're not just supplying figures for other people's rulesets but creating complete hobby experiences of our own. The digital side will always be our foundation, but there's a lot of room to grow around it.
TP: If you were given the time and opportunity to create anything you wanted, what would it be and why?
R: I've always been drawn to big display pieces: busts, 75mm figures, or even larger display miniatures aimed at painters and collectors. If I had the time, I'd love to move in that direction and really push myself as an artist. Sculpting 32mm miniatures is deeply enjoyable, and there's something meditative about the constraints of that scale: the small size keeps you focused and prevents you from falling into the trap of over-detailing. But sometimes you want a bigger canvas, something that lets you explore character, texture, and storytelling in a more ambitious way. A display piece gives you room to tell a bigger story in a single figure, and that's an artistic challenge I'd love to take on properly one day.
TP: Who do you admire in the fantasy community and why?
R: What I admire most is the loyalty and gratitude of the community itself — a community that hasn't always been treated kindly by the bigger companies in this industry. Hobbyists have endured price hikes, discontinued ranges, and a general sense of being taken for granted, and yet they remain passionate, generous, and supportive of independent creators trying to do things differently. That resilience and enthusiasm is genuinely inspiring, and it's a huge part of why projects like Highlands Miniatures can exist at all. Without them, none of this would be possible.
TP: What got you all into TTRPGs in the first place?
T: My first introduction, like so many others in this industry, came through the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game and Warhammer Fantasy in the early 2000s. As a teenager I also dabbled in some TTRPGs and board games like Descent, but honestly, I've always gravitated more toward the hobby side of the pastime than the gaming side. For me the real joy has always been in the art behind these games, assembling and painting the miniatures, the sculpts… That's the part that stuck with me, and in many ways it's what eventually led to Highlands Miniatures.
