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For me it's hard to say with 100% accuracy but I'd put it around Christmas 1993 when my roommates and I were really into Epic.  I got the Epic box set for christmas, then some of the old plastic beakies on clearance.  Still have some of the old, pre-Necromunda bounty hunters waiting to be painted.

Y'all?

1993, same for me. Except in this case I was 9 and got an undead chariot for xmas from my dad, and bought the 4th ed. fantasy box when I was 10 the next year. 12 and up, me arse!

- Boss Salvage

2005?!  HA HA!  N00b!
 
Just kiddin', folks.

I bought a bunch of Space Marines back in 1994; I wish I'd gone with something else, but what can ya do.  I got one of the last boxes of 30 Imperial Space Marines (the Rogue Trader ones), and wish they still made those little chainsaw attachments for bolters.

I'm assuming you mean first GW miniature, right?  I got some Ral Partha stuff for Dungeons and Dragons back in 1982 or thereabouts (I was about eight at the time, so I can't be totally certain).

First mini I bought was the old 2nd Ed. "Screamer-Killer" Carnifex in 1997.  Which reminds me that it's sitting in my bitz box waiting to be reassembled and repainted.

Posted By Iorek on 06/20/2007 6:39 AM
2005?!  HA HA!  N00b!
 
Just kiddin', folks.

I bought a bunch of Space Marines back in 1994; I wish I'd gone with something else, but what can ya do.  I got one of the last boxes of 30 Imperial Space Marines (the Rogue Trader ones), and wish they still made those little chainsaw attachments for bolters.

I'm assuming you mean first GW miniature, right?  I got some Ral Partha stuff for Dungeons and Dragons back in 1982 or thereabouts (I was about eight at the time, so I can't be totally certain).

d00d you know me, of course I DON'T mean GW minis.  GW's not even in my top 5 mini companies these days. 

I'm not sure if I'd count the Ral Parthas though if you didn't paint them. 

I still have a couple Ral Partha minis I painted back in the early 80's. Hill Giant riding an Elephant and a couple a crazy monks and a dragon or two. I guess i was 12 or 13 when AD&D was all the rage circa 1981-82

HEY! I just noticed 1987 is 20 years ago. How the @#$% did that happen? Wasn't everything supposed to stop in 2000?

About 1975, I can't remember exactly. I remember it was a 25mm hobbit figure by Minifigs bought from their shop behind Victoria Station.

Figures were terrible in those days though they were a lot cheaper.

I first painted a mini some timearound 1983. It was a Ral Partha figure (no idea any more what it is supposed to represent) that got painted unprimed with one of those little watercolor paint kits. I have no clue how it still has any remnant of paint on it today. What can I say? I was 9.

It was also probably the only miniature I ever attempted to paint until I got dragged kicking and screaming into playing 40k by several friends a few years ago.

1974: Minifigs Middle Earth range Orcs and goblins from an advert in April 1974's Military Modelling magazine. Depressingly, I've miniatures older than most of the posters.

My first miniatures were Citadel Dark elves for D&D in 1986. Atleast I think they were citadel. They might have been ral partha. On second thought I am almost positive that they were partha. Not many places carried citadel pre '87, atleast none that I was aware of.

I do remember asking my dad for an umber hulk sometime around 1979 when we were walking around fox valley mall. He said "$1.50 for a hunk of metal? You must be out of your mind!!!!"

Clearly I was/am, because I play with GW dollies nowadays, paying "$5 for a hunk of plastic? I must be out of my mind!!!"

I still want that umber hulk from years past, and still resent my father to this day. He'll be sorry when I dont attend his funeral... Then he'll be sorry he didnt give his kindergartener son the umber hulk he so richly desired!

For me it was the summer of 1978. I was six years old, and my family was visiting some relatives in Washington DC. While we were there, we visited a little hobby store, and my brother bought that little silver "Chainmail" book that gave rules for fantasy miniature combat; all three of us boys bought some minis...can't remember if they were Ral Partha or Grenadier or what.

Incidentally, I discovered a few weeks ago that I still have that same copy of Chainmail.

Sal.

I had the Grenadier AD&D Halflings box in 1980.

This poll is making me feel very young all of a sudden...

1975, some Heritage Lord of the Rings Orcs, followed by some dwarfs, and the Fellowship. I painted them using Humbrol enamels and a toothpick.

Does Heroquest count? I think the minis in that were Citadel. Firmir in the next Lizardman army book, you know it makes sense.

2005 for me.

When was Tyranid Attack released?

BYE

Back in the day, Ral Partha figures where the shiznet.

Posted By Blackmoor on 06/21/2007 12:24 PM
Back in the day, Ral Partha figures where the shiznet.

QFT. 

1987 for me.  My local hobby shop had cool boxed sets of Grenadier figs, but Ral partha had nicer stuff by the blister.  Standard price was what, $1.25 for a 25mm fig?  Those were most of our purchases.  I also bought a fair number of battlemechs, including the old plastic boxed set, which I still have.

My brother and I also picked up a few old GW chaos warriors, dark elves, and orks.  And I have an Eldar Guardian with shoulder-slung missile launcher as well. 

That was when we first got into gaming other than D&D.  I bought several small games, including Car Wars, which we played a lot.  That Christmas (I think) we got the 2nd edition Blood Bowl boxed set, and I wound up getting a bunch of BB minis after that.

Well, you see, I was good friends with this one girl from middle school. I forget her name now but we both had a crush on each other. We hung out sometimes, but it took a while for me to ask her out. By this time I've been having urges for a while and I asked her if she wanted to do it during one of our dates. Needless to say, it was very awkward. I whipped out my little man, she asked what it was and commented on its miniature size, and I told her it was used to engage in battles of epic proportions. She called me a huge nerd and my lovelife has never been the same.

Posted By Saldiven on 06/20/2007 10:34 AM
Incidentally, I discovered a few weeks ago that I still have that same copy of Chainmail.

Yeah, I've got a copy of that floating around too.  I'ts worth a fair bit of cash to the right collector, too.  The third edition (1979) goes for $45-50, and I've seen the 2nd edition, the first that has the fantasy rules, go for $100-150.

A modest 93 myself. Though it should be said that I had no intention of playing any sort of game, I just wanted to paint a cool miniature dragon. I don't recall the maker, though it was probably GW/citadel, because I remember it looking very much like the current fantasy dragons. I think part of my interest was because a few years earlier, my older brother and cousin had taken up battletech or something and my dad made them this really nice game board.

1996.
I picked up a snakebite boarboy for some unknown reason and wandered over to the counter and paid for it.

my first mini was a pack of union civl war solders 1996, i dont remember who made it as i was 6

my first gw mini was xmas 2001: the uruk-hai paint set and the attack at weather top

I think it was 1996. The second edition of Space Hulk had just been released, and it looked too cool to pass up. One of the better purchases I've made.

87 and i was 8 or 9 and got some dwarfs, at the time i did not even know what they were for or that you were supposed to paint them.

It was around 1988 or so. Some Ral Partha battlemechs, later some fantasy forge stuff (Big bipedal battle striders or somesuch. Look like upgunned/armoured AT-STs)
40k started in'89 sometime. I still have a few of those chainsaw bolter attachments from the RTB001 set (20-30) and the 120 or so that I bought (4 boxes) of marines are still in my army.

'89, and it's not like I'm an old man or anything (born in '81)

Oo, can't say the exact year but it was in the early '80's as a teenager. Back then it was purely stuff for D&D games whcih I had been playing since I was 11 or so. I can remember the first time we actually managed to put a whole dungeon together with proper (mostly) monsters and floor plans. It was great!