Antique Collectibles Porcelain Elizabeth Arden Adomizer

Miniature figures, sometimes called miniatures or minis, are small figures often used in wargames like Mage Knight, Heroclix, Hordes, Warmachine, Warhammer and Spinespur.american & foreign rare collectibles association Some role-playing games can be played with them, as miniatures can help players to visualize factors that affect combat, such as which way each character is facing, who’s fighting whom, line of sight issues, and so on. Some minatures are expertly sculpted, and considerred collectible in their own right.

The toy soldier hobby over time developed into the hobby of collecting, decorating, and gaming with miniature figures. The difference between “toy soldiers” and miniatures is that toy soldiers are traditonally painted, while miniatures come “bare,” i.e., unpainted, and must be painted by the purchaser. This distinction is unclear with the recent inception of pre-painted platic figures like the ones used in Clix games.

Miniatures have most commonly been cast in white metal, which is an alloy of lead and tin, with a small amount of antimony, which improves the alloy’s ability to take fine detail. Because of the high lead content, minis were sometimes called lead figures.

Because of public health concerns, the New York legislature nearly passed a bill in 1993 which would prohibit lead in miniatures. When miniature manufacturers realized that more states were likely to outlaw their products, many began making products without lead, but these new products were often more expensive than their predecessors.

Following almost a year of public discussion, including complaints from miniature makers and devotees, Governor Mario Cuomo signed the bill which declared that miniatures were not subject to the state’s Public Health Law. The manufacturers in the United States continue to use alloys without lead in them in spite of this.

Manufacturers have them available in a variety of types of plastics.

Some war games use box miniatures, a simple cuboid made from folded card stock. Each side features artwork on the outside.

Painting: When playing role playing games and war games, gamers often paint their mini-figurines so that they are able to tell the difference between the characters on whatever surface they are playing on.

Some gamers believe the skillful painting of minis is a hobby on par with the “more serious” modeling of historical and military figures while many others care little about the quality of the paint job. The skill of mini painting is hard, tedious, and takes a lot of time, but can have quite amazing results.

Miniature painting competitions exist at wargaming conventions, however, more and more are becoming prevalent online.

There are professional painting services available for hobbyists and corporations.