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Warmonger Group Shot...........

June 12, 2015, 2:40 am
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Quick post as I bought a light box for taking pics and thought I'd start with these babies......


There are loads more being sculpted including Chaos types. All weird and wonderful and most thoroughly needed.....that evil infiltrator Steve Casey has a great heads up over on his blog here.

More later!

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Tom Meier interviewed by Iron Wind Metals......

June 16, 2015, 10:14 am
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One of the sculpting Gods of this hobby......Tom chats about his early days....if you follow the You Tube link here there are more Iron Wind Metals videos....what a place to work!


I remember seeing Tom's work when Wargames Publication (Scotland) Ltd first imported the Ral Partha line into the UK back in the 70s. 50p each - a fortune at the time but oh so 'wow' factor. Still got these old pieces, lovely soft lead.

Loads of Tom's sculpts are being re-released as part of the Iron Wind Metals Kickstarter - 'Ral Partha's Chaos Wars'. I had to pull out unfortunately due to the divorce and the expense of buying a new house but will certainly be picking up a bunch of these releases at some point!


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Foundry's John Pickford Barbarian Warriors - at last!

July 1, 2015, 6:20 am
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Back in March this year the wonderful Clam extolled the virtue of these sculpts on his blog;  Clamshell & Sea Horses. One thing led to another and they joined the coffee table machinations of this elderly mind ie I completely forgot about them.....they were then mentioned on a Facebook group a week ago.......I hastily got in contact with Foundry and lo and behold they arrived a couple of days ago...night shifts being what they are this is the first chance I've had to show them off. Gone are the days of sending off a postal order and then waiting impatiently for the postman.....we live in enlightened times......





Completely old school in style so I have no worries about showing them here. Email Martin on customers@wargamesfoundry.com and tell him I sent you. If, like me, you are a fan of John's sculpting you could do no better than stroll on to Clam's dedicated WIKI site here. Quite frustrating as there are many unreleased sculpts......and you may lose your soul (or more accurately your bank balance) once you tread into the White Knight's private venture area here......


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Me as a Tudor Nobleman.......sweet sculpt......

July 15, 2015, 9:34 am
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A short while ago a good hobby friend, Pete Brown, set up a Kickstarter campaign to introduce the world to a new range of Tudor miniatures designed by Nick Collier and released by 'The Assault Group' .... for some reason it didn't attract the attention it deserved and the Kickstarter was pulled......however I had put some pennies towards a face sculpt and they have just been sent out.......very impressed!



Now available as part of Tudor Pack III....get a piece of me folks whilst they're still hot!

I still don't understand why it didn't fund when Cool Mini or Not / Reaper can command millions in funding.....go figure, every pun intended......The Assault Group still have a massive range of figures that are well worth checking out..........Tudor range here. Tell them I sent you.....Pete also runs The Mouldmaker......source of God alone knows how many miniatures across the hobby universe!

As always; deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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Empire of the Petal Throne 1984 interview with Prof M.A.R Barker

July 16, 2015, 5:26 am
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Creator of one of the most vivid fantasy game settings, I thought this interview with the Professor might be of interest to many! Taken from issue 71 (Nov/Dec 1984) of 'Space Gamer', the magazine is a feast of related articles. Hopefully you should be able to save the images and enlarge them at your heart's content for future perusal.....






The only drawback with the Space Gamer magazine was the general lack of miniatures related articles over the years. They had some capsule reviews but, published by 'Steve Jackson Games' (the US guy, not the UK Games Workshop founder), the company always concentrated of the game side of the industry rather than the miniatures....that's not to say they didn't produce miniatures, far from it, but overall they were not the lead heads they should have been.....they are indeed still going strong, producers of such games as 'Illuminati', 'Munchkins', 'Ogre' and many more...check them out;



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Greenwood & Ball Catalogue - 1975

July 25, 2015, 8:05 am
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Well, I have finally found a piece of software to edit photos on the new laptop......one that I can almost understand. Window Photo Viewer has changed so there are no editing tools like the old simple crop I used all the time......God Bless Irfanview. It's given me an easy way to crop and rotate scanned catalogues....no longer will I have to post wonky pics! On to the goodies......picked up off eBay recently I thought it would be good to share. The errata sheet at the end shows the first pictures of a new range; 'Sword And Sorcery'. I was 14 at the time and didn't discover them till the next year or so. John Braithwaite was the 25mm designer for Garrison, the wargame figure area of Greenwood & Ball. He was, apparently, a lifelong smoker, as was the habit in those days ......my own parents were never without a Player's No.6 either in their mouth or being lit up......great for us children as the vouchers that came with them would allow us to choose gifts from a catalogue...much joy had over Timpo plastics turning up in the post.......halcyon days indeed. Cancer took John in the late 70s however his sculpts live on. Rob Young currently has most of the old molds over at Garrison Miniatures although that site is now closed for business. Rob has left a potted history of the company here and is carrying on as usual in the hobby himself with his own worthwhile blog The Eastern Garrison. As Rob has taken down the catalogu, check out the Lost Minis WIKI listings here.
































Hopefully you can save the files and view at your leisure. Enjoy!



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Fantasy Wargaming a la Tolkien by Gary Gygax

August 11, 2015, 6:32 am
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From Panzerfaust magazine, September /October 1973. I hope you can make out the text. Gary Gygax was then the 'Miniature Warfare Editor'. Interestingly he makes no reference to any line of miniatures so I assume he was avoiding the Miniature Figurines (Minifigs) ME range as that was released in 1972. I wonder if he had not heard of it at the time which baffles me. Was there a reference to any range in his Chainmail rules? Mine are in storage for the time being......







I added the front and rear pages plus the contents as a taster. A good article on the magazine is over on The Tactical Wargamer.


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Lord Dozy of the Dragon Isles......I've painted myself.....

August 15, 2015, 3:30 am
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As a follow up to the earlier post, I've now painted the TAG Tudor mini...great fun and I have a few more of the associated range to finish....previous post about them here.

  


The actual sculpts below and more details about the adventure from Pete Brown himself here.



All now available as part of Tudor Pack III....get a piece of me folks whilst they're still hot!


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Minifigs Sword & Sorcery - 1970s revisited.....just the cavalry for now....

August 21, 2015, 3:31 pm
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The old designer, Richard 'Dick' Higgs apparently sculpted using solder and a 25 watt soldering iron....the Sword & Sorcery range was one of the earliest fantasy ranges (their ME range in 1972 was, I believe, the earliest) based on the works of Robert E Howard...they even changed the names at some point after legal wrangles...I'd love to know more.......anyway, I'll start with the cavalry....pics of what I have and blanks of what I'm missing...as time goes on I'll hopefully fill the blanks in. The Lost Minis WIKI has some more pictured here but still not all....help! If you can correct anything misidentified let me know please! There was an early catalogue with a page of pics however my copy has disappeared and Richard (Stuff of Legends) Hale can't remember giving me a xerox of the relevant page ....aaaggghhh!!!

SSC1 Cimmerian Light Horse with (missing) spear (I think)


SSC2 (Caravan City Lancer) / Cimmerian Light Horse with sword


SSC3 Zamporan Spearman



SSC4 (Eastern Empire Light Horse) / Eastern Light Horse Lancer



SSC5 (Eastern Kingdom Heavy Lancer) / Eastern Heavy Lancer


SSC6 (Eastern Empire Mounted Officer) / Eastern Officer



SSC7 (Eastern Empire Imperial Lancer)  / Eastern Standard Bearer


SSC8 (Eastern Steppe Nomad Lancer) / Hykranian Light Horse   


SSC9 (Steppes Swordsman) / Hykranian Officer



SSC10 Poitevan Knight with lance


SSC11 Aquitanean Knight with Battleaxe          


SSC12 (Western Kingdoms Mounted Knight) / Aquitanean Knight with Standard           



SSC13 Mid Western Knight with lance



SSC14 (West Midland Kingdom Knight Lancer Mounted) / Mid Western Mercenary


SSC15 (West Midland Kingdom Mounted Standard) / Mid Western Standard Bearer


SSC16 (Southern Grassland Kingdom Bowman) / Shemite Horse archer



SSC17 Shemite Officer


SSC18 Vandan Lancer



SSC19 (Kingdom of the Hind Mace) / Vandan Officer



SSC20 (Desert Brigand Tribe Mounted Horsebow) / Desert Horse Archer

   
   
SSC21 (Desert Brigand Tribe Chieftain) / Desert Officer



SSC22 Hill Tribesman



SSC23 (Eastern Free City State Knight Mounted) / Khojan Knight


SSC24 Khojan Lancer



SSC25 Khojan Officer



SSC26 (Black Kingdom Mounted Spearman) / Kushite Spearman



Not sure which these 2 are although they are (pretty certainly...) from this range.....


(possibly SSC26)


If you can help please give me a shout on deartonyblair@virginmedia.com


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Der Kriegspielers catalogue....early to mid 70s

August 23, 2015, 4:24 am
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A hobby friend sent me scans some while back and I have lost all his contact details. Very embarrassing. I have finally managed to upload the scans on the copies he sent me. Full cudos to him and apologies for me being a muppet! Not sure of the exact year or even the correct layout for this as I've never seen an original set - were they loose leaf or bound? Any help please email me!





















More on Der Kriegspielers here.

As always; deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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Grenadier Fantasy Warriors - Eastern Barbarians

September 1, 2015, 9:06 am
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Had a bit of a mystery on my hands after I picked up some pieces off an old collection. 4 Grenadier sculpts that were obviously for the Fantasy Warriors period although I had no recollection of their release and, indeed, no catalogue evidence for them. Fortunately there are those in the know and Kevin M Denning stepped up to the plate via the old Grenadier newsletter 'Warrior'. Issue 11, November/December 1994 to be precise. Gary over at Forlorn Hope Games has lots of the other Grenadier Fantasy Warriors ranges. Doug Cowie who set up and ran Grenadier UK back in the day has the rules downloadable as a PDF for free at the bottom of his Fantasy Warriors page here. These were written by Nick Lund, originally of Chronicle Miniatures fame before he moved on to Citadel Miniatures and then Grenadier. Apparently an excellent set of rules.






This 'Diety' (sic) guy is a Broo type from an earlier pack of the Fantasy Lords releases I think......nice as it is, wish Mark had sculpted something new.....




Thanks to Kevin for the id.....although I now need the other 2 sets! Give me a shout if you can help....

Kevin has started his own line of minis over at Barbaric Splendor - here. First 2 releases as below (all copy-rite on the pics below are Kevin's) - please support him!

BS001 Orsa Stormbringer, Barbarian Hero on Giant Warcat


BS002 Datragg Invictus, Barbarian Mercenary


Please leave comments below or, as always; deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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Archive Miniatures Robots

September 11, 2015, 7:10 am
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Just picked these up off a Lead Adventure Forum colleague. Lovely minis although bit of a swine to put together. Both from the Star Rovers line.

2009 Juggerbot, Killer Robot





2010 Roberker, Giant Robot



  

As Nevile recently said of the Jutterbog;

My favourite robot, of the ones I sculpted. It was - and still is - a bitch to put (and keep) together. I recommend clipping off the bumps extending from the legs and arms, and substituting wire pins to attach them to the body. This one is based on a cover illustration for one of the old sci-fi pulp rags of yesteryear.

and of the Roberker;

This one is the absolute mother of nightmares to put together. I could never do it without pinning it. This is also from an old pulp rag sci fi cover illo.


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New Bob Olley blog minis..............

September 12, 2015, 5:57 am
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I'll just leave the pics of the greens here.....best comment will get a free set once they are cast up. May take a while but my planned conquest of the miniatures industry is getting there slowly............










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Minifigs Sculptor Dick Higgs' obituary.

October 6, 2015, 6:46 am
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In my never ending quest to complete the lead gaps I came across this obituary for the late Dick Higgs, sculptor extraordinaire for Miniature Figurines. It is from Wargames Illustrated issue 107, August 1996. All cudos to the unknown author.

Richard Michael Arthur Higgs
Born 31 August 1937; dies 25 May 1996 at Southampton General Hospital.

After graduating from the Portsmouth College of Art where he specialized in fine art and sculpture, Dick Higgs joined Sanderson Wallpapers as a wallpaper designer and in his spare time made master models for Miniature Figurines of Southampton. In 1968 he became design director of the company and was responsible for all the designs issued from then until forced into early retirement in 1990.

In partnership with Neville Dickinson who produced the models, Dick Higgs originated or invented in 1974 the now much abused but still very popular 15mm  scale of figure which allowed the hobby to grow into the industry which it is today. Although interested and knowledgeable in the Napoleonic period, Dick's talent for design covered from Ancient times to the beginning of the 20th century  and whilst a brilliant model figure painter he relaxed and preferred his love for landscape and portrait painting.

Believing the wargamer wanted to game with more models and with metal prices increasing dialy, Dick designed a small range of British and French Napoleonic models which swept the hobby market and created a whole new concept - and a 'bandwagon' that many people jumped on.

Just when the fruits of his labours and abilities were proving an integral part of this hobby's history, dick was forced, because of ill health, to retire from his work, from his hobby and from his love of design and art.

Dicks Higgs died in his sleep at 3am on Saturday May 25th to gain relief from the pain he had endured for many years.

It is always interesting to find out the background of sculptors and so sad to discover, as with Dick, where one had to retire due to ill health. Very sad however may he rest in peace with his easel in the sky looking down upon us crazed hobbyists pursuing his art.


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Minifigs Sword & Sorcery - the 70s revisited

October 9, 2015, 12:33 am
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As a continuation in my search for lost lead here is the Minifigs Sword & Sorcery foot range sculpted by the late Dick Higgs. Where there is a space I need it! Further photos can be seen on the Lost Minis WIKI here. A lot of the range had earlier names however they were found to be copyrighted....as per the Conan series...... 

SS1 Vampire Girl


SS2 Reptilian

I do have this one, just hidden away somewhere......

SS3 Reptilian


SS4 Warrior Princess


SS5 Skeleton Warrior


SS6 Frost Giant's Daughter


SS7 Frost Giant


SS8 Vanaheim Spearman

SS9 Vanaheim Swordsman

SS10 Vanaheim Archer

SS11 Witch of the Mists


SS12 Faceless Man


SS13 Faceless Man


SS14 Shemite Spearman


SS15 Shemite Officer


SS16 Cimmerian Chieftain (broken axe)


SS17 Cimmerian Spearman


SS18 Cimmerian Swordsman


SS19 Black Amazon


SS20 Pirate

SS21 Great White Ape



SS22 Stygian Magician


SS23 Zamporan Archer


SS24 Zamporan Spearman

SS25 Zamporan Swordsman

SS26 Zamporan Chieftan


 SS27 Zamporan Town Guard


SS28 Kushite Spearman


SS29 Kushite Officer


SS30 Stygian Wizard


SS31 Stygian Bowman


SS32 Marching Longbowman

SS33 Marching Officer

SS34 Border Pikeman


SS35 Border Officer

SS36 Border Standard Bearer

SS37 Black Dragoon with Halberd

SS38 Ghoul


SS39 Mid-Western Crossbowman

SS40 Mid-Western Officer


SS41 Mid-Western Spearman

SS42 Mid-Western Swordsman

SS43 Native Spearman


SS44 Native Javelinman


SS45 Native Chief


SS46 Giant Serpent


SS47 Slimeman


SS48 Cyclops


SS49 Gargoyle


SS50 Pict Light Infantry


SS51 Pict Archer

SS52 Pict Wizard

SS53 Pict War Chief

SS54 Hyrkranian Bowman

SS55 Hyrkranian Spearman

SS56 Hyrkranian Chieftan

SS57 Khojan Archer

SS58 Khojan Spearman

SS59 Khojan Swordsman


SS60. Khojan Chief


SS61 Ogre


SS62 Vandan Spearman


SS63 Vandan Archer


SS64 Vandan Officer


SS65 Vandan Standard Bearer


SS66 Western Wizard


SS67 Eastern Wizard


SS68 Amazon Bow Woman

SS69 Amazon Spear Woman


SS70 Giant Crab

Wouldn't mind a decent copy of this guy.....


SS71 Wyvern

I do have this however can't find where I've hidden it!

SS72 Hippogriff


SS73 Mummy


SS74 Gorgon


SS75 Medusa


SS76 Hydra


SS77 Eastern Spearman


SS78 Eastern Swordsman


SS79 Eastern Officer


SS80 Winged Man


SS81 Zamporan Tavern Keeper


SS82 Zamporan Civilian – Seated


SS83 Zamporan Civilian


SS84 Zamporan Noble



SS85 Zamporan Slave/Civilian




SS86 Zamporan Wench – Seated


SS87 Zamporan Thief


SS88 Tavern Table


SS89 Tavern Bench & Stool


SS90 Tavern Accessories

I have some of these however would like an original set if possible!
I have loads to trade, both this range and others. Let me know!


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Archive Miniatures 70's Star Wars Parody

November 5, 2015, 12:28 pm
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Having been swiftly issued with C&D by Lucasfilm lawyers regarding their 'not' Star Wars minis back in the 70s, Nevile Stocken released a few more miniatures aimed at the same audience...the earlier posts detailing these are here and here. I have finally managed to pick up all the '2098 Star Fellowship' ..... a parody consisting of elf and hobbit versions.....

Edit......still need the R2D2 parody- see further below! The R2D2 I had was 'not the Droid I was looking for'.........


Hans Self



Leke Skyhibbot



Princess Luia



Obi Tu Canoli (Nevile's favorite Italian dessert)



RSLA Androidess (Ursula Andress.....)



RT Two Two Mouse

I have been informed by Nevile Stocken that the piece I pictured here earlier is not the droid I was looking for,,,,,,,,,,the one below is the one for this set....


'NOT R2P2, but RT 2 2 (Arty Two Two) Mouse - The miniature shown is actually one of the original Star Wars releases, so does not belong with the group. The miniature that does is the one with the upside-down head, to which were added two round Sensor appendages (to give it the appearance of a mouse head, as well as the added tail growing out of the underneath of the body with a clamping thingamajig at the end. It was all I could do to resist adding a Tutu to the little robot. I decided against it because it would have spoilt the image I wanted to convey.'

If anyone has one to trade or sell please let me know! I NEED this miniature!

Chewgumma the Fuzzy



If anyone has a sealed pack for trade / sale or just a pic please let me know.

Don't forget my dedicated Yahoo Group for Archive minis here.


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Dragontooth P35 Witch with Broomstick

November 25, 2015, 3:36 am
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Tom Loback sculpts from the Personalities range. Quite a few more to go but getting there slowly but surely. Still needs varnish and matt coat.............been down with a virus for the last 3 weeks and just getting over it so not done very much hobby wise. Actually, not done much except sleep...






Love these old school sculpts.........

As always; deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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Heritage Adventure Game Starter Sets

December 5, 2015, 8:26 am
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Back In 1981, Heritage USA released 4 sets of (almost) ready to play adventure game starter sets consisting of rules, paints, brush, miniatures and a painting guide. Oh, and of course one 6 sided dice. These were marketed in a slickly presented shrink wrapped box. Game design was by B.Dennis Sustare, figure design by Max Carr, painting guide and art direction by David Helber and cover, illustration and graphics by Cynthia Sims Millan. The last page of the the little rule set pushed their new 'Swordbearer' rules....... 'Now that you've begun your adventures in fantasy.......'








The miniatures themselves are a little crude however they were something of a 'wow' marketing method for the time.











If you're interested in Heritage miniatures, Michael over at http://classicminiatures.net/ has a large selection of their old miniatures that he purchased off later owners. Excellent moldings and crisp castings that I can vouch for as I have quite a few myself.

As always deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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Dragontooth, P22 Gladius, Roman Hero.

January 18, 2016, 10:02 am
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One more down, 47 codes to go.....hey, what else am I going to do? Another lovely sculpt by Tom Loback. Still needs varnishing of course......I seem to have a bit of a backlog in that area...... how unlike me....









My other painted examples are here and the Lost Minis listing is here. I'm still missing just 4 of this range so if you manage to find them please get in contact....

P42 Elfin Thief, or Adventurer
P43 Celtic Wizard
P48 Celtic Warrior Prince
P50 Dwarf Warrior in Chainmail


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Northumbrian Tin Soldier Nighfolk

January 31, 2016, 3:04 am
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I have completely fallen in love with these sculpts by Martin Buck. A growing range of Labyrinth and Froud inspired sculpts....all part of David Holland's planned hijacking of my wallet.....











Top 3 still need varnishing of course.......I've just started on 10 more of the armored soldier types so more pics soon.

The Nightfolk range, currently numbering 46 types are available here. Tell David I sent you.....

C&C welcome as always; deartonyblair@virginmedia.com

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