In the beginning there were little lead and tin soldiers. You might well have seen them in antique shops or shows, relics of our Victorian past; they were a standard of any boy’s Christmas wish. One of the best known and oldest is Britain’s which have been going since 1893. Back then the use of lead and lead based paints was seen as perfectly fine but in these more enlightened times we tend to use acrylics and “white metal” alloys. The art of miniature figure painting was at first limited to the historical wargamer. However along came Gary Gygax and his creation of Dungeon and Dragons in the USA closely followed by the British creation of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Games Workshop.
Citadel Miniatures were the main supplier of White metal figures. They produced a huge range to support the games that Games Workshop created, even working directly with their feature artists to re-create a 3D interpretation. It didn’t matter what game they produced. With the Citadel ready to support it, the company has gone from strength to strength and been a real British retail success story. Cost has always been prohibitive but the development of silicone models has made it much more accessible.
Using the same tech as you would expect Silicone moulding UK specialists like https://www.meadex.co.uk/silicone-moulding/ to do, you can now buy whole army and Bloodbowl team packs at one price rather than having to buy small packs of metal ones.
