I was born in East Orange, raised in Bloomfield, and went to school somewhere around Newark until my parents launched an exodus across NJ. I have been lucky enough to travel abroad. I read, play a couple of musical instruments, like movies, and do what I can to improve a rapidly aging body and mind. I currently work in Texas and live in Florida. I have moved over two dozen times in my life. My tiny armies and navies have followed me on my march across the US. Eventually we hope to end our nomadic existence and settle in one place.
Valiant Enterprises Ltd.
Valiant specializes in ships be it spaceships, triremes, or Spanish galleys but appear also to be expanding their range of wargame figures. They put out a fine product and have been around forever. Scales vary. The ship shown above is 1/1200 scale, large enough to demand some rigging from the lazy modeler who put the ship together. The spaceships are an odd lot, cobbled together from what appear to be parts from car and train models.
Note: The website for Valiant is down as of September 16, 2015
At one time, one of the most widely advertised sets of miniatures, they still surface occasionally on E-bay. The scale is sometimes listed as 20mm, sometimes as 22mm. They matched the plastic Airfix figures well and allowed one to fill in the gaps in the rather limited Airfix sets. The figures I have are all from the American Civil War but they may have had additional ranges.
Battle Honors
Finely sculpted figures in 15mm, 25mm, and 40mm sculpted by Anthony Barton who now produces figures under the AB Miniatures banner. The figures appear to still be readily available sold through Old Glory. The Napoleonic range is one I wish I had started with. The figures are a pleasure to paint and very well detailed.
Grenadier Models For a while, this was the company that produced D&D figures. Their willingness to branch out lost them the license. But they put out a lot of figures including a wonderful range for Call of Cthulhu and a 25mm Traveller run. Like so many companies they started with several historical ranges in 25mm. These were initially not favorites of mine. The figures seemed fat and the details poorly executed. But as the years passed and RPGs took over, quality improved significantly. This seems to be the case with many manufacturers, either developing their own abilities or hiring on quality sculptors.
Grenadier shifts from Call of Cthulhu packaging to Nightmares. Note the sculpt differences between the packages.
Superior Models Superior began by producing tanks, planes, and ships eventually adding a range of space craft and some highly detailed fantasy figures in both 28mm and 54mm scales. Alnavco now owns and produces the ships (they were a major distributor of the line for many years) while the fantasy line now appears to be produced by Perth Pewter. The fantasy figures have a peculiar decorative quality which RPG fans seem to like. I suspect that the figures are displayed more than played with. The spaceships no longer appear to be produced.
Ral Partha The number of figures produced by Ral Partha is enormous. The company started in the 70s and seemed to jump from crafting one range to another but in retrospect, their most memorable ranges were fantasy and the Battletech series of anime-type robots.
The history of the company is complex though seems to have been built around the work of Tom Meier who had begun creating figures using 2-part epoxy, at that time, a unique approach. Meier continued to produce numerous figures for the company but quite quickly, the number of sculptors working for the company increased. Eventually, Ral Partha was purchased by FASA, a company produced various licensed board games and RPGs. A couple of years later, FASA was acquired by Whiz Kids.
Some of the line is still sold through Iron Wind Metals. Recently, the number of figures they offer has expanded to include many older ranges not available for mnay years. Prices are high but for those of us waiting for enough goblins for an effective army, the price might be worth it.
A line of colonial era figures produced by Ral Partha was offered by Great Endeavors though their website is currently down and it may be that they are no longer producing figures. As it was, they were gradually expanding the range of colonial figures while also offering some of the hard to find Condottieri line.
Wargames Foundry or The Foundry for short are major exporters of 28mm historical figures. They offer an extensive range of excellent figures. They are expensive but very attractive. Yes, they are my current favorite figures. The figures have character and humor and at the same time look pretty good.
Hinchliffe figures from the 70s showing left to right, a Renaissance Landsknecht pikeman, a Napoleonic Russian grenadier, an English Civil War drummer, and an English Civil War general on horseback.
A fairly elaborate impression on the base of old Hinchliffe figures showing the catalog ID, the Hinchliffe logo, and a copyright without a year.
At the time I started buying figures in earnest (1975 or thereabouts), Hinchliffe seemed to me the best, well detailed and well sculpted covering an interesting range. There was a serious quality about the figures as if meant for display in a museum set piece. I was surprised to discover they are still available in England.
Hinchliffe as a company began in 1967 producing larger scale artillery and equipment. These were often monstrous heavy cast metal kits that required a fair amount of assembly. At some point, figure sculptor Peter Gilder recently of Miniature Figurines came on board and began the range of historical figures in 25mm apparently meant to look imposing against the then current HO/OO scale figures put out by Airfix which are about 22mm.
The company expanded, became involved with Heritage Models down in Texas, and was eventually sold and sold again. They used to be the quality standard but tastes and standard scales seem to always be changing.
In its time, Hinchliffe produced some of the best historical ranges of figures available. Here are 2 rows of cavalry figures, medium cavalry in back, dragoons in the front. With cavalry, Hinchliffe offered a choice of horses, heavy or light, standing or running. Facial detail is limited but proportions are reasonable. By current standards, a bit toy like but still impressive.
These were painted around the time that acrylic paints began to replace enamels and oils. One of the most noticeable differences is the brilliance of the acrylics. The figures are now over 30 years old with decaying matt board bases and chips and bends but the brilliance of the original paint still shows through.
Dragontooth Miniatures Originally produced under the name of the figure sculptor Tom Loback, these included a large imaginative though simply detailed range of fantasy figures. Seen at wargame conventions of the time, the figures were dazzling with various creatures riding various other creatures into battle. I have a couple that look like frogs riding dinosaurs. As far as I know, the figures are no longer in production but are highly valued.
Tom Loback also produced a range of American Civil War figures. He continued to work as a sculptor and illustrator till his death in 2015. After crafting a series of driftwood sculptures along the beach, he was profiled in the NY Times.
