"First 15mm?" Topic

What was the first company to make 15mm figures for wargaming?

When I started in 1979 or 1980 there was already Peter Laing, Mikes Models, Heritage (from USA), Hinchliffe, Mini-figs and I think a couple more.

Peter Laing I think was the first.

I started in 1978 and all I could buy in Sydney at the time was mini fig 1st generation. I still own them and I have resisted repainting them as they are what I could do at 13 years old.

In the UK I think it was Peter Laing but I think Jack Scruby may have already been doing them in the US.

You can find some information on The Courier's Timeline: link

My memory tells me that Minifigs started making their strip figures in the early 70s but from this article it appears that they didn't start making 15mm strips until 1976.

Martian Metals and Mikes Models were also doing 15s in 78 or 79

I think Peter Laing was first. I could be wrong, but his ads appeared in "Military Modeller" magazine in the early 70s.

Jack Scruby produced some n-gauge figures, rather than 15s.

They date back to at least the 1970s, as mentioned above.

I'm old enough to remember back in the day, that the ads and comments on 15mm seemed to be few and far between, and that 15s were generally looked on unfavorably by many in the hobby.

I suspect that is still true today, but certainly less so than back then, and there are a lot more ranges of 15mm figs now than there used to be.

25mm and 20mm being the old stand-by scales, back in the day, with a small smattering of a few others too.

According to that Courier link, "1972: Peter Laing, U.K., invents the 15mm wargaming figure"

Neville Dickinson was working with Dave Higgs somewhere around there, setting up Minifigs.

We didn't appear until 1996 (although QRF had existing a while before that under Mick Bliss)

Peter Laing pioneered 15mm figures.

Can you still buy Peter Laing figures? Loved buying small amounts of ACW figures from them with my pocket money via post back in the late 70s/early 80s. They were tiny with only a hint of detailing. Great charm though.

So 1972 is the earliest we've got. Yikes, that's several years older than I ever expected.

I thought it was air recognition models for ground vehicles for ww2. Which is where (it was rumored) the original panzer-Krieg? Line originated from by Custom cast out of Dayton Ohio in 1975?