Material Matters - The stuff heroes are made of

Over the course of the last two weeks, it happened two times to me that I dropped miniatures while carrying them somewhere. Once at the Legendarium tournament and once at home. At the tournament it was a Davale Numenor warrior and at home it was a Slayer of Men Dol Guldur Nazgul. Both times pieces broke off and I had to glue them together again.

This made me recall a topic I turned over in my head already for some time - which miniature materials do we encounter in our hobby and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Allow me to take you on a small tour through the history of miniature materials in MESBG, what we currently have, what the supposedly pros and cons are and my personal experience and preferences =)

Btw: Thanks in advance to all people who fueled me with background information and other input while writing this post!

I will work my way through the materials and keep the following order of topics for each: Past, Present, Pros & Cons, my opinion.

Metal aka Tin

Past

One of the oldest material for miniatures, not only in MESBG but in the history of tabletop and its predecessors. People from my generation or older probably remember their very first contact with them in the form of small tin soldiers, mostly depicting soldiers from the 17th to early 19th century (Napoleonic Wars etc).

Their material was not pure tin but also contained a part of lead. This stayed till the 1980s and early 90s but already there , it got gradually reduced. So if you have old Warhammer Fantasy or 40k metal miniatures, chances are good that they still contain lead. I do not know if the lead part was big enough to cause health problems but I think we can agree that it is good we no longer have to deal with it ;) Due to the lead, these miniatures are also darker in appearance.

Present

Metal miniatures from GW nowadays are rather bright in their pure form since they are made of so called "white tin" - the missing lead is the reason. For a long time it was common that new or special miniatures on release were made of tin (not always and not for all factions). This was not only limited to heroes, monsters etc but also could be the case for normal warriors. A lot of times these miniatures (mostly when being very popular and with high sales figures) received a re-release in a different material and sometimes even with a different design.

For example the Fellowship of the Ring, the Witch-King, the Balrog, Buhrdur, several trolls etc. This was not always met with approval e.g. many people say that the plastic Fellowship is inferior to their metal counterparts or I heard a lot, how people fancy over the very first metal Mordor Orcs (which since then have never been sold again). Maybe partly because of that, these old miniatures see now and then a made-to-order release for a limited time.

If you like the plastic/resin version of an old metal miniature or not, it cannot be denied that the change makes them cheaper, easier to assemble and sometimes easier to handle.

Many people gonna be happy for their return.
Photo credit: GW

Nowadays it seems like GW moved mostly away from the "first release as metal" approach and translated to plastic. Which I think is a shame but more on that in the following sections.

Advantages

Metal naturally is very resilient. Especially in comparison to plastic and resin. Pretty much any infantry model falling down from a table or your hand won't receive much damage - yeah maybe a blade is twisted but you can easily bend it back. Same goes for similar things that might appear on new models e.g. lances of knights. Correcting errors like this is easy. Additional the tooth of time won't nearly hurt them as much as the other materials (if correctly stored of course).

Tin miniatures are probably the easiest ones to be stripped of paint and add your own. This makes them very attractive to be bought second-hand and not having to care about the maybe bad coloring. Stripping them from paint is easy and won't hurt the models if done correctly. And it can be done over and over again.

There is something really satisfying in holding a metal miniature in your hand or moving it over the battlefield. It feels like "more" compared to the other materials.

This is also connected with the feeling that metal as material, means more value - more on that in my opinion section.

Disadvantages

Metal miniatures can be hard to assemble. Especially the bigger and more complicated the model is. They are easier prone to irregularities. This is more of a problem when they appear on areas that should be flat (placing them on bases) or were two or more other parts meet. There you normally apply the glue and put them together. But irregularities can result in gaps and peaks which make it hard to impossible to glue them together. Or they leave unplanned gaps. In these cases you must make use of modelling putty or superglue + baking Soda and put additional work into it.

I am not sure if people missed the metal Balrog^^
Photo credit: GW

Where on simple or infantry models, the weight of the metal feels good, it can be a pain on fancy and/or big ones. Placing metal infantry on the slope of a hill or on a step proves already inconvenient because they tend to fall over. But trying the same with a Gulhavar, Buhrdur or Balrog is not only impossible but also poses the danger that the falling miniature damages the board or other miniatures.

Really big or heavy models which fall down a table additionally not only damage themselves (their weight works against them) but potentially also the floor.

Weight also affects you negatively when you have a lot of metal models and you try to transport them.

The nature of tin - more resilient than plastic/resin and at the same time soft enough to easily forgive accidents - at the same time makes it harder to modify miniatures.

And while applied force may not break a miniature easily, it does have another unwanted effect: The applied paint can chip off. There are ways to better prevent this but nonetheless it is a possible problem.

And last but not least - having metal as material clearly shows on the price tag. Which is not so much a problem on heroes and elite miniatures - after all you will need only one or a handful.

It does however become a problem when you are faced with the fact that you want to collect an all metal army. Having metal warriors might appear like a cool thing if the design is good or if they are not your only choice. But otherwise you have to prepare to spend a lot of money.

My Opinion

To get it out of the way: I love my metal! If I have the choice between the same miniature being available as metal or resin, I don't need even a second to give my answer. If it is between plastic or metal, it depends on the design. But in general I love having my heroes or elite miniatures in metal.

I do not know if it has something to do with my (or older) generation(s) but having something made of metal feels like having more value. I mean, money wise it definitely is xD But beside that it feels special and fitting that heroes and elites are also made of special material. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are nowadays surrounded by so much plastic, fake wood, glass and "unnatural" material in our everyday life, that we appreciate something "real".

Most of the time you can spot on first sight if a model is made of metal or something else. The limitation in details at the same time gives it a special look and feel that cannot be captured with other materials.

I am so happy this model has nothing to do with the Hobbit movies... I love the design, the weight and the look it has due to being made of metal =)
Photo credit: GW

Also being seemingly a bit clumsy with my miniatures (having dropped multiples ones already several times), I appreciate the resilience a lot.

I do however also feel the pain of what it means to collect a full metal army. My latest next army project will be Khand - one of the most expensive armies to collect due to having only metal miniatures and small blisters (the biggest box contains 10 infantry models for 35 € - for a cheaper price you get 20 Uruk-Hai warriors...). Other armies suffering from the same fate are the Shire (mostly metal), the Rangers (full metal but at least with plastic alternatives), Far Harad (mostly metal) and the infamous Arnor (full metal but also OOP since a long time...).

Needing so many but only coming in blisters of two...
Photo credit: GW

Plastic

Past

There were iniatures accompanying the DeAgostini collectors magazine. Their plastic is brighter and softer/more flexible than the later versions. As far as I was able to find out, this plastic was really only used for the DeAgostini miniatures.