Ral Partha Imperial Dragon - Tom Meier 1982

My only ever visit to the US of A was back in 1982. I was almost 21 at the time and the lure of the lead was already deep. I shared rooms with my mum and dad ( both long gone now, God bless them) so would often leave them to enjoy their own company. We stayed overnight on arrival in Flagstaff at the Best Western where I met a young waitress named Shirley Wangle... we wrote for a few years but then it fizzled off. Often wonder what happened to her. Anyway, I digress. I had been asked by Lyndsey Le Doux Patton (now of course married to Rick Priestley) to pick up a copy of the Ral Partha limied edition Imperial dragon. I don't think I was working for the Manchester shop at the time but I certainly spent a lot of time in there. I managed to pick up two from a hobby shop and ordered a bunch of other stuff for forwarding over that never arrived of course... grrrr etc. I half painted mine (see below) and did buy another UK one... again, see below. 

In 2015 I did a small interview with the wonderful Tony Ackland. He mentioned different versions of the Imperial Dragon being released... 

 There is however the 'how many versions of Citadel castings of Tom Meier's Imperial Dragon were there episode'.

DW     There were different versions of the Imperial Dragon?

TA       Tom invited the Perrys and myself to add items to the treasure mound on the master castings. As items were added at different times during tje making of the production moulds there were has I remember three versions. I remember one of the things I added was a MP40 machine pistol. Tom had included an umbrella and a toaster.

DW     I would guess they would only be on the English castings? I'll have a look as I have a couple of the US ones.....both were in sealed boxed from new....when I opened them a couple of years ago one was missing the tail...... I always loved the sense of humour in the early Citadel miniatures; something I believe has gone now with the 'corporate' image.

TA       Those were the English castings although the anachronisms that Tom put in are in the American castings. They do need a close look to find.

Full interview here; http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/2015/05/the-lure-of-lead-interview-with-tony.html

This is one of the UK castings... so much rot when I opened it a few years back and also missing its tail.

I picked up a cheap one off eBay about 8 years ago for a tail and the (hidden) tail end was like this.

My half painted one... held together by epoxy resin of course.

Below you can see the (cracking with lead rot) UK bowler hat and umbrella...

Comparison with the US version;

You can almost make out the Uzi although rot has taken its toll.

A second version of the leaflet with an illustration by Tony I believe... a friend sent me this pic, not sure where its from so all qdos to the owner and I'll remove if it's a problem of course.

Rick (Priestley) often says that they never used any poor quality / cheap alloys but I reckon some crept in somehow. I've so many pieces that I've now binned as they are not saveable. A great hobby friend (Mike Broadbent) collected many of the miniatures from the late Joe Dever's collection and loads were cracking. A damned shame. I did pick up a 15mm Manticore (about £35 if I remember rightly) that sits somewhere nicely.

The Little Soldier Company (that's me of course) has a wonderful tribute to the dragon by Tom Pickford. It's a resin peice with not may castings left as the mold guy did a runner wih everything (hopefully he'll get his just reward at some point). I got some moulds back but the master now has a new head sculpted by John. Don't know if it'll ever be released though as sales were poor and I've never recouped my costs. Don't go into the miniature business folks!

https://thelittlesoldiercompany.co.uk/product/the-treasure-dragon/

The second version... John removed the head andresculpted to an open mouthed one.

The only pics I have from the 1982 holiday. My mum and I sitting by the hotel pool and one with my dad from around the Grand Canyon. A lot of great memories and I do so miss them both.

Whilst uploading the dragon pics into my RP folder I saw these that I painted for Jacob at Ral Partha Legacy. He wanted to base them himself so they were left black. Wonderful old Empire of the Petal Throne miniatures by Tom Meier from the later 70's along with a couple of his much later slugs from Thunderbolt Mountain (Jacob produces them all under license).

https://ralparthalegacy.com/collections/insect-men

That's all for now folks. I'm looking out at the rain pouring down as I type this... we don't get good wether for long in the UK. More soon.

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Unknown 25mm Gauls from the late 70's and some early Ral Partha...

 

Got a small job lot of minis the other day and it included a number of old historical minis, most easily recognisable, however there are two Gauls infantry that I can't pinpoint. Pictured below with a Hinchliffe rider. Ga1 and Ga3 on the bases respectively. Any thoughts? They're seriously nice sculpts and it'd be great to find some more.

I also came across some of my old Ral Partha minis. Some were from Wargames Publications (Scotland) Ltd who imported them in the later 70's (at a hefty 50p or more!) before Citadel/Games Workshop started producing them under licence. I've used the UK prefix as they're all from the early 'Personalities and Things That Go Bump in the Night' range. Most of these are the first versions produced and all Tom Meier sculpts who is, of course, still going strong producing minis for many companies such as Darksword and Ral Partha Unleashed.

ES43 Armored Knight 

ES31 Dwarf Lord, ES24 "Foregum" Super Hero and ES22 Elf Lord

ES11 Vallor, Warrior of the Gods, ES15 Super Hero w. Axe and ES5 Winged Gremlin

ES13 Assassin, ES56 Enchanter and ES10 Hill Troll

ES28 Gremlin War Party

ES9 Barbarian Hero, 2nd version with some cotton and plastic bits added.

Most of the range can be seen on the Lost Minis WIKI;

http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Personalities_and_Things_that_go_Bump_in_the_Night

Some great links about Ral Partha history and Tom Meier here;

https://ralparthalegacy.com/pages/features

As always, please leave a comment below (seriously, it's like a desert sometimes in the comments sections!!) or email me on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

More later!

Ral Partha Chaos Wars new Kickstarter - Wave 4 - a Tom Meier cornucopia!

 

For me Tom Meier is one of the sculpting Gods of the hobby. I picked up examples of his work when Ral Partha were first imported into the UK by Wargames Publications (Scotland) Ltd in the later 70's. His work is just about second to none and I hate to think of how many unpainted sculpts of his I have sat around the house... Jacob Fathbruckner has taken on the task of Ral Partha Legacy and it is a worthy one indeed. Take a look at what the Kickstarter has to offer, link below.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ralparthalegacy/ral-parthas-chaos-wars-wave-4-thunderbolt-mountain

Beyond that you've got regiment sets, giants, dragons, siege weaponry and more... pop over and pledge as Jacob tells me all the funding is going into producing the miniatures and then into getting more produced. Greater love hath no man.

Ral Partha Legacy painted bits plus others...

 

Being the slowest painter in the multiverse does have its drawbacks but all things come to fruition... some lovely Tom Meier pieces from Ral Partha Legacy and some new Tenoch pike from me.

The Alice Kickstarter won't be too long now (finished lots more painting today) but, in the meantime, don't forget to become a Politico (top left, grow the lead revolution please) or even hit The Little Soldier Company banner at the top and pick up some pieces... 

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk