I got into D&D because of those goofy little figures. I was big into building model kits at the time (c. 1979), as well as Lord of the Rings, Earthsea, Narnia, etc. The local game store happened to be next to the comic shop I frequented, and the figures in the window caught my eye. Picked up a bunch of LotR kinda guys.

Then that led to getting my mitts on a board game called "Quest for the Magic Ring". And then I had to get more figures because I wanted to replace the stupid glass tokens in the game with little painted hobbits and orcs and things.

And then I was buying and painting so many of the figs, the guys in the store got to know me (note, I was about ten at the time), and started asking me about "my campaign". I had no idea what they were talking about, and they showed me this weird game with a dragon about to blast some guys on the cover. Looked neat, so saved up my allowance until I had the $10 to buy it.

The rest is history.

Two funny thing about the lead in lead minis...there was almost immediately an exception added specifically for lead gaming miniatures as long as they were marketed as "collectibles" and not "toys" (which was easy enough to do).  Unfortunately "almost immediately" wasn't fast enough; miniature companies caught wind of what was coming down the pike with the initial ban on mostly-lead minis and switched to "pewter" or "white metal"...then the exception came out, and companies just stuck with pewter.

Reaper made high-lead content minis for a while under the brand-name P65 that were markedly cheaper than white metal (but more expensive than the plastic "Encounters" or "Bones" minis) but discontinued the line.  I'm not sure if they didn't sell well or what.  They were the same miniatures, just cast in a high-lead alloy.  I bought one (female barbarian), can't really see any difference between those and the other metals.

Older sculpts were kind of crap but the fantasy miniature market was just finding itself; most companies produced blobby napoleonics, "modern" military (in a hobby where for a long, long time ACW was considered "modern!"), and so forth, so by the time companies started to meet the demand for fantasy themed minis the sculpting had catching up to do.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;816582Two funny thing about the lead in lead minis...there was almost immediately an exception added specifically for lead gaming miniatures as long as they were marketed as "collectibles" and not "toys" (which was easy enough to do).  Unfortunately "almost immediately" wasn't fast enough; miniature companies caught wind of what was coming down the pike with the initial ban on mostly-lead minis and switched to "pewter" or "white metal"...then the exception came out, and companies just stuck with pewter.

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Is there an advantage to using high-lead content?

I got my first minis in 1979, and over the next couple of years dropped something like a thousand dollars on them.  The overwhelming number of them are mid-70s Ral Partha, but there are some Grenadier minis in there too, from boxed sets.  There are a number of ones I have from the mid-80s, which I got from the best painter in our circle as a wedding present.

I've never stopped using them, and they give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Many I've never repainted except to touch them up, and I can look at them and recall the characters they represented and their doings over the years.

If I can get a clear enough phonecam shot of them I'll upload some ...

Quote from: TristramEvans;816583Is there an advantage to using high-lead content?

Depending on the composition of the white metal pewter, it can be much more brittle than lead. Weapons and pointy bits will break off rather than bend like high lead content mini will do.

Rackham had some some of the most brittle sculpts in the industry. The minis were very beautiful but also very fragile. Great for display but not for game play.

Quote from: Ravenswing;816588If I can get a clear enough phonecam shot of them I'll upload some ...

That would be great. I'd love to see some people's collections.

//Panjumanju

Quote from: Panjumanju;816625That would be great. I'd love to see some people's collections.

//Panjumanju

To hear is to obey! See if this works ok for you:

http://s1283.photobucket.com/user/chirinebakal/library/?sort=6&page=1

I've been at this for a while, and cast up a lot of little warriors back in the day. The photos of are the antics we get up to in the basement; we still play, in the old-fashioned way...

Quote from: Panjumanju;816625That would be great. I'd love to see some people's collections.

//Panjumanju

Ask and ye shall receive.  The top left are some of my favorite old Grenadier ones I painted 30 years ago.  Time for a refresh

And this doesn't include the box full of bones minis I haven't put on the shelves yet.

Quote from: CRKrueger;816328They started with Lead but then moved to a Pewter mixture.  You can tell the difference if you bend an arm or something on the mini, the pewter ones will have an audible sound as tin is much less malleable then lead.  There were high grade pewter minis but they were more expensive.

Perth Pewter still does pewter minis, they bought some of the old Superior Models "Wizards and Lizards" line sculpts (like this one), you can find them mixed in.

I just remember the ones I used to buy in the 80s said Lead on them (probably Ral Partha or something), and you could write with them almost like a pencil if you rubbed their sword tips on paper.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;816679Ask and ye shall receive.  The top left are some of my favorite old Grenadier ones I painted 30 years ago.  Time for a refresh

And this doesn't include the box full of bones minis I haven't put on the shelves yet.

I can't believe how detailed some of these miniatures are. They look very interesting.

All the care that goes into them shows.

//Panjumanju

Here's Shaedra, a Paladin PC of mine. Pewter Reaper mini, pretty recent though.

Not sure I want to upload pics of the Citadel Miniatures I painted at age 12...

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;816681I just remember the ones I used to buy in the 80s said Lead on them (probably Ral Partha or something), and you could write with them almost like a pencil if you rubbed their sword tips on paper.

And dull the point of a Sword +1, +3 vs. Trolls? Man what were you thinking?

Nice pics both.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;816681I just remember the ones I used to buy in the 80s said Lead on them (probably Ral Partha or something), and you could write with them almost like a pencil if you rubbed their sword tips on paper.

Got some of those too.

Its also what makes unpainted lead minis hazardous and not just to kids.

The lead ban in California and New York really was overplayed by the industry, the distributors wanted the switch because lead was too fragile and the miniatures companies were only too happy to oblige because it allowed them to raise prices.  Not that long ago there was a manufacturer on TMP who swore up and down that changing back to lead wasn't an option because it didn't work out to be any cheaper.  The thing is the lead they use for casting still has a decent content of tin, zinc, and bismuth and none of those is cheap.  

The reason Citadel had such poor detail on their miniatures in the early eighties is that they were using old wheel weights to cast their figures and had very little of the other metals in their alloy.  This in turn led to the bigger, beefier GW style which eventually came to dominate the market.  Well, that and they didn't have anyone who could match Tom Meir or Julie Gutherie's detail work for Ral Partha and Grenadier.  Don't get me wrong the Perry Twins and Marc Copplestone can certainly manage it now but back in the day their skills just weren't there yet.