Soldiers & Swords miniatures announced that as of mid-December 1992, their products are 100% lead-free. Rob Chellis of Soldiers & Swords recently sent some samples of their new line of 15mm American War of Independence figures to Jim Purky to review. Knowing that I'm a big fan of the AWI Jim kindly sent them on to me and requested an article. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write this. [Editor: I'm even sorrier that I could not fit this article into the Journal until this issue.]

In a nutshell, these new figures are simply FANTASTIC! I had already bought some at the Little Wars Convention and am looking forward to using them in battle soon. These miniatures are cast from what looks like a pewter-like material. They are very well-detailed, being free of any discernible flash or mold marks. They are highly detailed, reminding me at first glance of some of the better-cast Freikorps; figures in my collection. Although lead-free, they are not brittle (you can safely bend a crooked musket without fear of breaking it off) and weigh only slightly less than their lead counterparts.

They paint up very well. I bought several units of painted Continental Line, Rebel Riflemen and Hessians from Steve Lawrence at Little Wars. They look very nice indeed and will fit in well with other brands such as Frontier, Minifigs and Stone Mountain, etc. I have found that mixing brands and poses gives a good rag-tag look to the Continentals,. and these figures will blend in perfectly to that end. They also look very impressive when based with the same figure for a more formal look that is suitable for the Hessians and British regulars, etc.

Soldiers & Swords is also a distributor of the Matchlock Range. The Matchlock Range includes French & Indian War 15's. Included among the figures for review was a package of Matchlock Compagnies Franches de la Marine 15mm figures. These miniatures also display the same high standard of casting and attention to detail that is found in the AWI figures already mentioned.

The Matchlock Range is quite extensive and includes a wide variety of British, American Provincials, Scots, Indians, French regulars and Marines and even French Cavalry. There are also character packs with multiple poses of various rangers, coureurs des bois, and infantry in snow gear or other field modified uniforms. British, French and Indian canoes with crews are also available.

Prices are $2.50 per pack, with eight foot, four mounted or one canoe with crew per pack.

The lead-free Washington's Wars miniatures listed in the flyer from Soldiers & Swords include seven different packs of Continental figures and eight different packs of British of all arms. The flyer also indicated that these will be supplemented over the next few months by various additions such as Hessians, Loyalists, etc. I know that the range has been increased since I already have some new Hessians. It goes without saying that the Hessians can also be used as SYW-era Prussians and other Germanic troops since the uniforms changed very little between wars.

Prices are $6.50 per pack. Each contains either twenty-four foot, twelve cavalry and twelve horses, sixteen command figures or in artillery packs, two guns, one limber, two horses and six crew. This is a very competitive price and should help quell fears that the abandonment of lead was somehow going to cause miniature prices to skyrocket.

All the above mentioned figures are available from:

Soldiers & Swords
40 Jarvis Street
Binghamton, NY 13905
Phone: 607-723-4556
Fax: 607-723-1633