Did the first players even use miniatures? If they did, how did they acquire such things?
The main reason I'm asking is because I'm looking for a cost effective way to create my own miniatures. I've looked into pewter molds and different polymer clays and things like "green stuff".
The world of mini making is daunting. If you're the kind of person that likes making their own tabletop games, borrowing from another game is way easier than crafting your own, especially with all the options to choose from.
It occured to me that the first game, the first real fantasy tabletop game wouldn't even have a game to borrow from. How did they do it? Where did all these techniques come from? Did they just use tokens when they wanted to use anything that didn't come from the Chainmail game they played back then?