Lead Minis!

Hand-painted metal miniatures were a big part of our game for a couple decades. For my part until I was able to establish a large enough collection of the pre-painted plastic ones that proved to be less time consuming to get in play (no need to spend a week painting) and above all, and this surprised me although it should not have, so much physically lighter in weight to move around.

I literally have about a 2'x2'x3' chest that weighs less than the two 18"x12"x8" wine crates I used for lead miniatures. (Yes, I still always call them lead minis, although I'm unsure how many are actually lead.)

The cool thing about selecting and painting your own character mini was the ability to select a good character fit in terms of armor, weapons, equipment, etc. then paint to match personal and racial characteristics.

Hear are a number of favorite character minis... (I'll follow up with a monster minis post)

Nicodemus, long-played
Grey Elven Fighter-thief.

Please No Name, J.A.S.'s strange fighter
with glowing orbs under his hood.

Sumerled, my brother's barbarian
from before there were barbarians.

Warmanjg, Deangul's long-suffering,
one-eyed dwarf.

Just about every 1st level mage...

Just about every high-level mage.