Miniature figurines, or minis, are often used in wargames like Mage Knight, Heroclix, Hordes, Spinespur, Warhammer and Warmachine.esquire antique and collectibles burton Players benefit from these miniatures by gaining an accurate visual representation of the battlefield and the characters on it. Many miniatures which are well crafted are collectibles worth quite a bit of money.

The hobby of painting, collecting, and gaming with miniatures is descended from the toy soldier hobby. 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. Differentiation has become more difficult with the advent of pre-painted figures made of plastic like those found in Clix games.

Materials: 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. Minis were sometimes referred to as ‘lead figures’ because of the high lead count.

Because of public health concerns, the New York legislature nearly passed a bill in 1993 which would prohibit lead in miniatures. Prices increased when the manufacturers of these toys began to anticipate more state laws regarding the presence of lead in their miniatures.

It took nearly a year of debating but Gov. Mario Cuomo finally signed a bill that exempted miniatures from the state’s Public Health Law, after much protesting by collectors and manufacturers both. The manufacturers in the United States continue to use alloys without lead in them in spite of this.

Manufacturers produce miniatures in a variety of materials such as polyethylene, plastic or hard polystyrene, however there are some that will use polyurethane based resin.

Many war games require the use of what are called box miniatures, or cubes made of card stock. Artwork representing a concept of each side of the subject is featured on the outside.

Painting: In order to be able to tell characters or units used in role-playing and war games apart on a particular gaming surface such as a battle mat, an unadorned table top, or even on terrain, many gamers paint their miniature figures.

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 results of skilled mini-painting are quite amazing, but the process can be difficult, precise, and time-consuming.

Miniatures and wargaming conventions will sometimes feature miniature painting competitions, such as Games Workshop’s Golden Demon contest, and there are many painting competitions on the internet.

You can hire a company to paint your pieces for you.