Kurgan wrote:Wow, they are metal and even made contain lead. That IS old school...
Lead miniatures are still fairly common in the UK and here in Australia. Not sure about Europe. They're generally cheaper to manufacture (I believe) so they're more viable for cottage-industry sculptors to produce and sell. Many wargamers still prefer them because the metal is softer, so it's easier to convert the figures (change their weapons, give them new heads, etc).
The US moved away from lead earlier, in the early 1990s, presumably for regulatory reasons. Games Workshop UK finally started de-lead-ifying around 1996-7 if I recall correctly, but they'd already done so a couple of years earlier in North America.
If you buy old Citadel Miniatures in USA packaging or from a US seller, and the miniatures are from around 1993-1996, they're often white metal / pewter. Buy the same miniatures in UK packaging, or from a UK seller, and they're likely to be lead.
For HeroQuest I've tried to avoid lead minis because it's a family game that children might play (and because I don't like lead minis much anyway). But old Citadel Undead minis are hard to come by in white metal around these parts. My Skulmar is made of lead.
