Thane Tostig, Wargames Illustrated 428 and my blog!

Well, the latest issue of WI (#428, August 2023) contains a great article on the legendary Thane Tostig by Daniel Mersey.

It's a great read and takes you back to the early years of minis and rule writing. Dan gives it a thoroughly modern update and accompanies it with some lovely pics of painted minis, old and new. 

Some of the pics are mine, used with permission, from my various articles on Thane Tostig. 

http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/search/label/Thane%20Tostig

Another article is by Rick Priestley, 'Returning to Old Favourites', a wonderful look at his history of collecting proper old school lead and some modern converting to fill out his Minifigs 'Mythical Earth' armies. A great read... I have a growing tub of old Minifigs lead for Rick that I was going to bring over to BOYL last weekend but, as the dice roles go, my ex took the munchkins away so I was left without a dogsitter. Doh! A great weekend missed but I got to spend quality time with my hound. My good friend Tony Yates was there and has posted about it;

http://shadowking-shadowkings.blogspot.com/2023/08/boyl-2023-saturday.html

There's another very interesting article with the Perry twins talking about their sculpting history.

I always think that people today have a tendency to frown on proper old school miniatures as we're now treated to a veritable avalanche of metal, plastic, 3D printed miniatures etc along with a plethora of scenery pieces that could only have been dreamed of decades ago. Someone posted on a old school (Facebook) group a rather derogatory comment about some early sculpts and I couldn't understand why they would walk the halls of such a group. For me, the lack of detail, the small ranges, the joy of waiting weeks for an unknown commodity you've only seen in listed format (possibly extending that wait time by having previously sent a postal order / stamped addressed envelope for said listing), the days of waiting for the postman to visit, the frustrations of non delivery (barring Hinchliffe / Lamming who were extremely efficient)... then the day comes and you are faced with a mixed bunch of metal that brings a smile to your face and, even now, all those years later, bring back those happy memories. In the mid 80's I received a large pile of Pendragon Miniatures sculpted by Barry Minot (of Thane Tostig fame) long after he had stopped producing them (I phoned him at Elstree Studios on the off chance he might still be at the address) and balked at the poor sculpting... today they have been re-released by Wargames Design Workshop (https://wargamesdesignworkshop.co.uk/) along with some other old historical ranges. Now, of course, I look at them and love them. As Karl Hulme, ex assistant manager at Games Workshop in Manchester said (when I worked there and was in charge of miniatures) 'they are his children and he loves them well'. I remain the same to this day.

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