Creating Plastic Miniatures - QUESTION(s) OF THE DAY

I can't really comment on what you've been told. The pricing listed is what I've seen.

Shape ways doesn't make dies / moulds. They just make 3d printed components.

There are are hundreds of plastics producers around the world. They all have a wide range of offerings and prices. Some can make dies while others can produce 3D CAD files while others can produce the parts, while others can do some combination of the three. Here are a few examples:

Protomolds = http://www.protolabs.com/protomold
Lijia Industries in Ningbo China = http://www.cnlijia.com.cn
Rolco Games = http://www.rolcogames.com/

Using a small rubber mold (using rubber) in a normal plastic drinking cup you can make copies of small miniatures using resin. A small "cup mold" will cost about $20 and you can make about 80 copies in such a mold before it breaks down and is unusable. You can only make so many copies a day as the resin heats up the mold and you have to let it cool between pours or it destroys the mold. It's messy. But it works. Resin model kits (with rubber molds) are a proven technology for short runs.
I have also contracted this service with model kit friends. So if you want to make say 50 to 80 copies of a small object (about an inch tall) you can do it in a cup, for cheap. The resin is very durable. They also make "shrinking" resins. Once the resin drys, it shrinks. So a one inch model becomes a 50% smaller model and it's perfect. You could then take this model and make an even SMALLER molded piece. I have sculpted things at 3 inches and then using shrinking resin made smaller copies. it's pretty cool. All of this is available through smooth on and other mold making places. Watch a few videos about mold making and you can see how it's done.

The miniature is not necessary. The CAD file is (or zbrush in your case). The 3d print is for your own purposes as a proof to make sure that it came out how you expected.

It's really a good post about how to develop and manfuacture miniatures pieces.
All above is almost correct for the first steps of developing miniatures. After your approval when you get models made by 3D printers, you need find a professional miniatures factory to make moulds to get physical industrial mainiatures. For playtesting, models from 3D printers are normally enough for your playtesting. Perfect and industrial miniatures need be made by expensive special moulds which need almost USD2000 to 3000 according to different cavity configuration. This special tooling is different with normal tooling by CNY because of detailed miniatures, it need casted moulds. You can contact following miniatures manfuactuer for process detail and costing inf.
Ningbo Lijia Industry Co., Ltd.
www.cnlijia.com.cn
sales1[AT]cnlijia.com.cn

I recommend using 3D design, and having them printed through a third-party site like Shapeways. I do this for my line of historical age of sail miniature ships at 1:1000 scale. Shapeways offers a wide range of materials and textures, and they use industrial-quality machines that print far better than anything you'd use at home. You can print the pieces for your own use and prototyping, and/or offer them for public sale on their site though a Shapeways store.

My own site, if you're interested, is Swash & Buckle Naval Miniatures:
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/swashbuckle

Upload the image using the left-hand navigation "Create A..." > Image. Give the image a recognizable title that is not too long, click on "Choose File" and browse to your file. Next click on "Preview" and if you are happy with the preview, click on "Save".

Next on the right-hand navigation click on the "Title" of your image. This should bring up the image and comments. Next you want ONLY the image, so you right-click on "Open image in new Tab". Then the address bar should display the BGDF link to the file.

Lastly in ANY message, use HTML syntax < img src="..." > < /img > without the spaces. The "..." is the address bar link for the image. Oh yeah, a last detail is below your message there is "Input format", click it and select "Markdown". Markdown allows you to use more HTML commands like Anchors, Headings, Horizontal Rules, AND IMAGES, etc.

Like this:

On the LEFT-HAND side you have A STAR with your ALIAS and then there is a TREE of options: Personal > Blog / Messages / Friends, Create A... > Blog entry / Forum topic ... IMAGE!

On the RIGHT-HAND side you have Dates with message AND if you SCROLL after the messages, you will SEE LATEST IMAGES UPLOADED!

Does that clarify things???

You forgot to REMOVE the SPACES...

https://www.heroforge.com/

check that site

Hero Forge uses Shapeways for their printing, so their "ultra detail" is the same as Shapeways "Frosted Ultra Detail." They are brittle but can be used as masters for production molds.

I am working on a game, and I am wanting to have minis similar in size to Axis and Allies. My understanding is that this is 15mm scale. Because they are so small, I don't need extremely detailed minis... just a bunch of them. Is injection molding the necessary method? How many molds? etc... I remember in the 80's that you would break them off of a "sheet" and that there were multiple sculpts molded in to one. All the info I seem to find are for the bigger, more detailed type of minis. Again, think the AH type of minis...A&A, Shogun, Fortress America, etc... Any advice?