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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Any thoughts or critiques leave a comment below or email me over on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Beginnings of fantasy - Minifigs ME Goblins, Oldhammer and some history...

Well, back in the dawn of time... around July 1973 we think (I had thought 1972 but appear to be out by a year...), Minifigs released the start of possibly the earliest fantasy range for wargamers - Middle Earth of course. If you know of any earlier dates for them please comment below or email me. Still trying to find out how early the American Jack Scruby fantasy range was... Dick Higgs was the designer and he sculpted in solder... giving reason to the angular quality of their sculpts - see him in action here.

24th September 2020 - note the edited additional pics at the bottom

Note the COMING SOON section at the bottom (Military Modelling, July 1973)

A who's who of Minifigs from earlier in 1973...

In the September 1973 Military Modelling, there was the first hint of interest via the letters column...

It wasn't until November 1973 that Minifigs put an advertisement for the Middle Earth range, they also got the dragon on the front page... a first for fantasy!

Note they didn't give the range a title... it was eventually to become 'Mythical Earth'... possibly due to a C&D from the Tolkien estate (much like the changing on the Sword & Sorcery range later losing their Conan descriptions)...

On to the figures!

ME15 Mounted Goblin with Axe

ME16 Mounted Goblin with Sword

ME50 Goblin with Sword & Shield although missing the lovely pointed ears...

The rest of the range can be seen here.

Now, one of the fathers of fantasy wargaming and all round nice guy, Rick Priestley, pointed out that these were the influence behind the later Citadel range of lesser goblins...

The Citadel Journal sketch shows 9 variants however I seem to have 10... looks to be the one walking with his bow on the right hand side at the back below. Sculpted by Michael and Alan Perry .

This figure started this little journey... I received him as part of a small job lot however he had a broken spear. I chopped off all the original spear remnants, drilled out his hand and, after a little tidying up, armed him with a small wire spear.... please note that these things are dangerous!

Finally, a pic of them all. I think they work quite well together...

A few other Minifigs bits from 1973 which might be of interest... there are various blogs out there with more info. Get your deerstalkers on and join in the fun!

Don't forget that Dave at Caliver Books is slowly releasing most of the old Minifigs ranges... Link here - scroll all the way down the left hand side till you hit 'Classic Fantasy & Sci-Fi Ranges'

Edit; courtesy of Nick Elsden, Airfix Magazine review from August 1973...

Text cropped and enlarged for ease of reading...

As always enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Perry Twins teach Peter Jackson to sculpt.....

Just came across this when searching old files.......wonderful. It was off the Perry website a few years back but appears to have been removed.....

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

The Perry Twins Leave Games Workshop!

Via their Facebook post where there are more pics.....

We are aware that there are rumours flying around that we have left Games Workshop! Thought we should set the record straight and let you all know that…we have! After 36 years, man and boy, working on Warhammer, 40K and of course, for the last 15 years LotR and the Hobbit we are now able to focus our energy on our historical ranges.This means more time to dedicate to Perry Miniatures, and of course Mr Jackson who we continue to make 54mm WW1 figures for. We had an excellent evening on Friday at The Trip to Jerusalem with GW, and ex-GW, colleagues and friends who got us very, very drunk - cheers!

https://www.facebook.com/perryminiatures

http://www.perry-miniatures.com/

I have been fans of these guys since they started working for Bryan at Citadel in the 70s. I have said this before but apparently they used to sculpt at school in lessons and sometimes got the sculpts confiscated by the teacher. Possibly a few lost Perry figures about somewhere then! They really are most prolific and certainly helped launch Citadel and Games Workshop into their prime positions back in the day. I wish them all the best and can only hope fervently that they decide to branch out into fantasy again...more Slann would be nice......

The twins back in 1979....

Salute 2008, a chance meeting with my idols....

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk