Anyone can get a great miniature collections very cheaply, thanks to collectible miniatures vith very rare miniatures and stores selling singles. For as low as $25, you can get a basic set of 50 miniatures that has a lot of those extras your player characters are going to meet a lot, plus a lot of different characters for pc's or villains. I've chosen to use Troll & Toad as I've made a lot of purchases with them I'm happy with, and they have a great collection (including Mage Knight) and good photos of everything. You might get some minis cheaper elsewhere but mailing costs might be a bit higher - but I can only tell about international shipping.
Now to the miniatutres themselves. Some of the miniatures have been repainted or possibly modified a bit, but not much.
Street toughs and minions
You want some street toughs, villain's minions, nomads or rough heroes to your miniatures collection?
Luke Cage(link is external), Thunderball,(link is external) Kraven,(link is external) Thug(link is external), Peace Brigade Thug(link is external) and Henchman(link is external) work excellently for this.
Armed ladies
If you want some beauty on the game table - gang chicks, female solos with style or bodyguards, here's a few great examples: Nightshade(link is external), Sin(link is external), Lex Corp Security(link is external), Checkmate Knight Black(link is external) (great for police/swat too), Tiger Lily(link is external) (with little modification). I don't think the photo brings out the best of Nightshade, I was amazed that this amazing miniature can cost just 50 cents. I immediately gave her a role as a npc in my next Cyberpunk session.
Military and Swat
From left to right: HDC Trooper(link is external), S.H.I.E.L.D. Sniper,(link is external) SHIELD Medic(link is external), Lt. Marcus Stone(link is external) (Front), Code: Blue officer(link is external), S.W.A.T. Officer,(link is external) S.W.A.T. Heavy Weapons(link is external).
Metropolis S.C.U.(link is external) couldn't make it to the photo but you might want to check it out anyway.
SHIELD soldiers have stupid paintjobs so I've repainted them, as well as modifed a bit the sniper's weapon. Other SHIELD (or S.H.I.E.L.D) guys are a bit more expensive.
Corporate people & men in suits
Left: Norman Osborn(link is external), Bruce Wayne(link is external), Diana Prince(link is external)
Middle: Gotham City Detective #006 (link is external)(with two repainted versions - and sorry, I just realized this one's $3. Thought of sharing it here though as it's a magnificent miniature and I had already photographed it with the rest of the minis)
Right:Tombstone #003 Marvel HeroClix Secret Invasion(link is external), Black Mask(link is external) (Somewhat modified), Jessica Jones(link is external)
Hmm. Is there something missing? Of course, those heroic guys with guns and whatever you want them to be. While above men in suits can be used for them, most guys with guns are unfortunately a bit more expensive than 50 cents which I kept limit for this article (except for Gotham City Detective which I had supposed to be cheap). There are some options though, especially if you are willing to do a little repainting.
So here we go:
Guns and blades
Pete Wisdom(link is external) (needs little modification)
Two-Face(link is external) (another version(link is external)) (repainted)
Blade(link is external) (Alternative(link is external))
Gotham Undercover(link is external)
and the last one is Officer 7/Officer 13/Officer friendly(link is external) (the last one is the only one left, unfortunately it's a bit expensive - and none of the versions doesn't seem to be 50c so this is another mini that made it to the post even if the post was supposed to be only about cheap ones - sorry!)
Final words
This is my first article about Modern/Cyberpunk miniatures. If you're on budget, in these genres it's quite easy to get a collection that is everything you need for very low cost - a lot of minis you're going to want are probably men in suits & swat/soldier -type.
The miniatures I present in this series of posts have been used in Savage Cyberworld -campaign, and so far I've posted miniature articles about prepainted miniatures fitting for Sword & Sorcery, which is almost complete.