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Hey all! I am relatively new to 15mm wargaming and I had a couple of questions and wanted to get some opinions on it. I was going through looking for 15mm hard plastic miniatures (don't want to deal with lead in metal miniatures) and found that most options offered are for WW2. I was wondering if, with a different paint scheme and color alterations to the guns, they could pass for hard scifi? Also, I was planning to mix and match vehicles (such as Cold War tanks with WW2 vehicles) and was wondering if this would just look silly or if it could work? I would also paint the vehicles differently.

Do you NEED to do 15mm? As there are some sci-fi options in 1/72 plastic and 10mm plastic.

ClearHorizon Miniatures has some great sci-fi vehicle kits in 15mm.

Their infantry are metal, though I'd be surprised if there was any lead in the mix. Most companies use a tin alloy that is lead free these days.

Proxie models makes 15mm tanks and artillery pieces that look very much like 40k vehicles.

Dreamforge is selling off WGF's old 15mm WW2 minis, and they have frequent sales that will net you scores of minis for not much money.

If you're interested in 15mm sci-fi, I recommend getting over a fear of lead miniatures which are quite safe if handled correctly and even safer once painted.

15mm Sci-fi is in a golden age with huge ranges of sci-fi troopers and numerous alien ranges (many with well developed ranges). The problem is that nearly all these figures are lead and the vehicles are usually resin or metal. If you want to stick with plastic, that's ok, but you're basically skipping almost everything that is good about sci-fi wargaming.

Proxie models stuff is neat though.

The vast majority of metal models produced in the last twenty years in the UK, US and EU are lead free, they are mostly made of a high tin content pewter. Could be worth asking the manufacturer whether their models have any lead in them.

Thanks for all the suggestions for stuff guys! Yeah, I think I will be sticking with lead-free because no lead > lead. I have looked at a ton of U.S. and European 15mm sci-fi stuff and the only one I have found that does not use lead is Rebel Minis (asked them directly). Every other one I have seen (Khurasan, GZG, Eureka, etc...) all either have lead warnings on their websites or, when they replied, told me that they used lead or would not tell me that their stuff was lead-free (which most likely means its not). I agree that sci-fi has a lot to offer, I just don't want to deal with lead if I don't have too. This also forces me to be more creative if I want to get what appears to be the standard, accepted sci-fi ascetic... (why does all sci-fi have to have the same ascetic or look a certain way to be considered so?)

I disagree about all figs having the same aesthetic. A market that has rebel minis, khurasan and alt armies just to name a few represents a rather huge variety in styles.

Ironically if you stick to modified plastic historical figs you'll probaby end up with as cliched a look as any of the ranges you might be thinking of.

 Eilif wrote:
I disagree about all figs having the same aesthetic. A market that has rebel minis, khurasan and alt armies just to name a few represents a rather huge variety in styles.

Ironically if you stick to modified plastic historical figs you'll probaby end up with as cliched a look as any of the ranges you might be thinking of.

I don't think all figs have the same ascetic. I realize now I misread your earlier post so my bad on that. I know it may not be traditional sci-fi, but then again it's all just for fun so I guess it does not really matter :p How would historical sci-fi be cliche? Odd, most likely yes. But not really cliche. Unless, you are referring to me trying to make them look more sci-fi and by doing so I am drawing on what I view sci-fi to be and therefore I am using my preconcieved notion of sci-fi?

Diglettt wrote:

 Eilif wrote:
I disagree about all figs having the same aesthetic. A market that has rebel minis, khurasan and alt armies just to name a few represents a rather huge variety in styles.

Ironically if you stick to modified plastic historical figs you'll probaby end up with as cliched a look as any of the ranges you might be thinking of.

I don't think all figs have the same ascetic. I realize now I misread your earlier post so my bad on that. I know it may not be traditional sci-fi, but then again it's all just for fun so I guess it does not really matter :p How would historical sci-fi be cliche? Odd, most likely yes. But not really cliche. Unless, you are referring to me trying to make them look more sci-fi and by doing so I am drawing on what I view sci-fi to be and therefore I am using my preconcieved notion of sci-fi?

Perhaps I came across to harsh. I meant that whether it's Ailens (Vietnam in space), 40k (WW1 or WW2 in space) or any other ________ historical war "in space" has been done as much as any other sci-fi style.

Of course it's hard to find much that's truely original in sci-fi, so if sci-fi based on historical style is what you like then more power to you.

Ohhhhhhh. That makes sense Thanks for your input and thoughts on the matter!