The return of the lead mini

[ExploderWizard]

Reaper has announced a new line of minis: P-65 Heavy Metal. Due to the
horrible price of tin, the production of lead minis is coming back. A lot of
thier September releases will be 2.99 like the old days. This is what
prompted the decision:

According to Asia Pulse, Indonesian Director General of Minerals, Coal and
Geothermal Energy, Simon F Sembiring is quoted as saying "It is time for
Indonesia to be able to dictate the tin price on the world market" adding,
"We will control production to keep price stability."

Mini painters rejoice Affordable metal minis are coming back.

 

[zhynn]

On a similar topic

As a related topic, I am just getting back into rpgs after a decade of not doing it. The boardgamey nature of the DnD4E combat system really appeals to me and the other players. We have set up and played one session which we very much enjoyed, but now I need... more minis.

Does anyone know a good place to buy minis that are DnD4E appropriate? The few I bought for our first session were some opened plastic collectible DnD minis and a couple Reaper minis to fill in the gaps.

The Reaper minis don't fit well in 1x1 grid spaces, so they were kind of awkward, but the heft of a metal mini was much more satisfying than the plastic collectible ones. Plus, I couldn't find a dragonborn, so I used a lizardman which didn't really have the right look.

I filled in the minions with pieces from the excellent Battle Lore game. It wasn't perfect, but it worked out.

I would like to start building a collection of minis for playing the game, where should I start?

 

[Scribble]

With all the hub bub about lead in paint and kids toys and stuff this seems... Odd.

Wish I had time to paint minis anymore.

 

[ExploderWizard]

With all the hub bub about lead in paint and kids toys and stuff this seems... Odd.

Wish I had time to paint minis anymore.

No so odd really considering when restrictions on lead in toys/collectables went into effect back in 1994 no such restriction was placed on things like fishing weights which are plopped by the thousands right into our drinking water.

The key to lifting of these restrictions is that the lead based items must be labeled as being for adults only.

 

[Scribble]

Not odd in the sense of, how can they do that, but odd in the sense of, seems like an odd marketing choice when people are hyper sensative to the word "lead" right now.

Or maybe things have calmed down a bit.

Of course, I'm not in the paintable metal minis business, so I'm no expert!

 

[ExploderWizard]

I would like to start building a collection of minis for playing the game, where should I start?

Some reapers fit a 1" square better than others. Try looking at the Warlord line. Most of these are made to fit on 1" uniform plastic bases.

Others like this are Games Workshop. They have fantasy minis that are also sized to fit a 1" base. Just look for miis with the 1" slotted bases and they should work on the map just fine.

This base size problem is the main reason I started using a 1.5" square megamat for my games. The larger square holds the bigger brute figures that are not technically large size creatures.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Not odd in the sense of, how can they do that, but odd in the sense of, seems like an odd marketing choice when people are hyper sensative to the word "lead" right now.

Or maybe things have calmed down a bit.

Of course, I'm not in the paintable metal minis business, so I'm no expert!

I hear ya! I'm sure it was a tough decision. With tin prices looking to get even worse I don't think they had much choice. I just wonder if this will hurt the sales of the Warlord and Dark Heaven lines which will much more expensive.

 

[Gailbraithe]

Does this mean I have to stop eating my miniatures!?!

No, but more seriously, this is actually bad news for hardcore mini fans. While this will leader to cheaper miniatures, the softer lead simply doesn't hold detail the way the tin-zinc alloys do, so this means lower-quality metal miniatures.

But it sounds like this is just going to be a low cost line, so it might be good for filling out ranks. I know that it's a bit of a pain to pay $6+ for one gnoll or bugbear.

 

[Asmor]

I wouldn't get too excited... they'll probably end up getting 'em made in China and they'll be contaminated with lead.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I wouldn't get too excited... they'll probably end up getting 'em made in China and they'll be contaminated with lead.

Huh? The lead will get contaminated with lead? Not quite getting what you mean here.