Barry Minot - Necromancer Fantasy

Back in the early 80's, Barry sculpted some of the last figures he would release under his own name for the wargaming industry. He was engaged in movie work from his workshop at Elstree Studios which was taking up more and more of his time. I'm unsure if he planned expansions to the range or a ruleset however they take their rightful place in lead history.

Victorian Heroes & Horrors

NF1 Sherlock Holmes

NF2 Dr Watson (need this one)

NF3 The ultimate thief, Raffles

NF4 Super rotter, Moryarty (sic)

NF5 Jack the Ripper, with knife and doctor's bag

NF6 The Invisible Man (need this one)

No pic available (and no pun intended.....)

Monsters and Stuff

NF20 Giant horrific demon of the night (40mm)

I blogged an article on this mini a short while back here.

NF21 The Unholy Twins, pair of winged naked female angels from hell

(No pic and need these)

NF22 Dynamo Dan, the electric man

The other ranges released for a short while were 'The Perils of Flasher' and 'Highland Fantasy'. More of those on another post to come. 

Interestingly, he did sculpt the headpiece to the Staff of Ra for the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark amongst many other movie pieces.

Very interesting article on the piece's after film history through eBay here.

A previous blog post detailing the Thane Tostig range is here. Many more of Barry figures are up on the Lost Minis WIKI where both I and many others have spent a long time sourcing examples for posterity. Mark Dudley has a few posts of Barry's old historical minis on his Ilkley Old School blog. Barry also sculpted a number of the classic historical 30mm Spencer Smith Miniatures lines which are available here. Tell them I sent you!

Barry has more recently written a book; 'Hitler's UFO' - pick up a copy off his site here.

Edit 22nd January 2017 - my PayPal payment for the book was refunded without having being taken by Barry so no idea what is happening there......

If you enjoyed the read, a coffee is always appreciated... https://ko-fi.com/davidwood 

Any thoughts on anything please do leave a comment and/or email me on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk, even if it is to berate me for my penchant for coffee :)

Barry Minot - Giant Horrific Demon of the Night!

I have owned a couple of this miniature for a few years and was unable to identify it. A weird stick-like demon with the code NF20 on the base.

 It had come in a small job lot of miniatures that gave no hints as to its origin either... then I thought 'Lost Minis WIKI'!! I searched on just the NF20 and it came up with one hit in Minot's short lived Necromancer Fantasy range. Of course I then realised I had put the listing up on the WIKI myself... doh! So, another piece of lead history identified....only another gazillion or more to go...I've listed one on eBay here with a day to go in the hope of bolstering my currently fast dwindling finances... there are repercussions to divorce after all!

There was more, however, to discover... whilst trying to identify it on the wonderful Facebook Group - Old School Miniatures, I found it was based on a painting by Salvator Rosa - The Temptation of Saint Anthony...

The demon was also used by a band 'Skeletal Family' formed in 1982 and still soldiering on... reading their biography it reads like my own musical past... very chequered!

They have a very 'Siouxsie & The Banshees' feel - have a listen to their album on Last FM here. The band are playing Manchester's Ruby Lounge in a couple of weeks.

Well, that's all for now. More soon!

If you enjoyed the read, a coffee is always appreciated... https://ko-fi.com/davidwood 

Any thoughts on anything please do leave a comment and/or email me on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk, even if it is to berate me for my penchant for coffee :)

Thane Tostig Quest II - the skeletons have arrived....

Around June 1977, Barry Minot unleashed 'The Quest of Thane Tostig' onto the gaming world followed by a later second quest against the might of Merlin. I have recently picked up a set of the skeletons and they have been sitting in a dettol bath for 3 weeks.....still some paint adhering after all that time but mostly gone. The old white undercoat should be used on military vehicles in the real world. Nothing seems to shift it....

I present.....The Legion of the Dead Skeleton Warriors

TT37 Skeleton with Axe and Shield

 TT38 Skeleton with Sword and Shield

 TT39 Skeleton with Poleaxe and Shield

 TT40 Skeleton Firing Bow

 TT41 Skeleton with Spiked Mace and Shield

 TT42 Skeleton Standard Bearer

TT43 Skeleton War Trumpeter

Do not judge these sculpts by todays standards. These are old school and wonderful pieces of mini history. 

The original rules and minis are blogged here followed by most of the 2nd quest minis here.

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

The building bug.......caught again from Salute 2010.....

Back for Salute 2010 I built a few scenery pieces for the Frothers Unite game 'Frotherheim'. Kind of a 'Mordheim' (now defunct, I believe, GW game) meets the uncouth.....as Frothers is renowned for the world over. Or maybe just locally.........anyway, I just found my WIP pieces on my old photobucket account so thought I would share. Once I get some headway into the new building I will post some pics of those as well. Far too early to invite c&c....

The game in progress....a somewhat slimmer (and hairier) me on the right of the pic accompanied by the young Boki Grombal of Stunties fame.

This is the game where I had promised to paint an Otherworld Giant miniature....I had 2 weeks to do it and ended up like this on the morning before getting the train to London....the whole story here.

the buildings blocks c/o the recently tiled kitchen....great fun slicing and dicing mini mosaic tiles with a tile cutter. Messy but fun. The laser cut CD rounds were c/o Ian at Fenris Games...happy to do anything for a buck......

The Well of Doom.........

Barry Minot pieces for the Nymphorium....

This Clan War demon didn't make it past the cleaning up and basing stage....

Froth Towers takes shape...with a Foundry Viking for size....come on down Ragnar Lothbrook....

The tile placement was very laborious but gave quite a 'natural and gothic' feel to the build.

  

   

Inspired by fishing programmes seen over the years....

Plastic Skaven..a lot nicer than I thought they would be....

A watch tower sort of thingy.....

Undead skaven Rat Ogre or similar name...

A good Mordheim site here and it is soon to be PC based...even I might get involved in that.....more details  here.

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk