Category Archives: Figures

Jack Scruby British Colonial 30mm

Back in the 50s and 60s, the perfect scale 30mm which in the end never really caught on except in a back handed fashion when 25mm transformed into 28mm.

The Scruby figures are pretty simple and rather plain.  They have a toy-like appearance and the poses seem a bit stiff but overall they are respectable figures.  There is not much surface detail but enough to allow a reasonable paint job especially on figures this large.

One thing that should be apparent is that Jack Scruby offered a lot of historical ranges in a lot of different scales.

Archive Miniatures Middle Earth Army

Archive Miniatures short but productive run produced a range of interesting figures starting off with an historical range but gradually ebbing into fantasy and science fiction RPG figures.  Their Middle Earth range offered an entertaining take on the forces of evil.

The figures are immediately recognizable as Archive products through their octagonal base but also through the humor and detail in the figures.  The lower orcan army as they are listed in Archive catalogs have an undersized torso with large Mickey Mouse shoes and big dinosaur like heads.  They will likely inspire the most jaded figure painter with their combination of whimsy and menace.

This also demonstrates one of the hazards of collecting miniatures as the figures were available for a relatively short time as Archive Miniatures became only sporadically available after this offering.  Happily, I have more of these on hand not yet painted but of course it would be nice if the molds were still producing.  These offer a nice alternative to the more somber offerings of other companies.

Heroics and Ros 6mm WWII Infantry

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Heroics and Ros seems about as old and venerable as 6mm gets.  They offered reasonable and varied figures for WWII at a time when even GHQ offerings of infantry were weak.  They also provided vehicles, artillery, and aircraft in a rich variety so that one could purchase a range of reasonably interesting figures to go with whatever vehicles one had.

The metal tray used above was from an AOL and shows just how many figures can be crammed into a small space, a boon for people who do not want miniatures taking up every bit of storage available.  The figures lack detail but are nevertheless distinguishable both for nationality and weaponry.  My painting on these was crude and quick.  I wanted to get a batch on the table at the time.

These serve well with Deluxe Squad Leader boards since these are standard quarter inch counters.  The addition of actual figures does lend something to any game.  The figures on top all show a (riderless) supply wagon, one of those details that always improves a game’s appearance.

Currently, these are available through The Last Square though like everything else, they also turn up on E-bay.  Infantry often comes in multiple types including regular infantry, heavy weapons infantry, and paratroopers.  Not to be overlooked are the very useful artillery crews.

War of the Spanish Succession French army

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A small but charming group of French soldiers from the War of the Spanish Succession.  The figures are a recent acquisition and painting is progressing slowly.  The ensign in the middle as yet has no flag but the flag pole is at the ready.  The figures are mounted on small plastic bases provided in the Warlord Games ECW figures.  Each group is mounted on a stand that in 28mm would hold a single figure.

 

The figures are by Baccus, a firm specializing in 6mm.  They have more detail than other 6mm figures I own and so tend to be a bit more difficult to paint.  At this scale, any uniform detail is appreciated.  There is enough here to easily distinguish different figure types.

The War of the Spanish Succession is not as well known as later musket era conflicts.  France attempted to place a king aligned with France on the throne of Spain and England, the Holy Roman Empire, and their allies fought to stop them.  The war is best remembered for the battle of Blenheim and two allied commanders, the Duke of Marlborough and Prinz Eugene of Savoy.

A larger version including some Bavarians.

Figurehead Napoleonic Fleet

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Slightly closer view of one model showing deck detail.
Slightly closer view of one model showing deck detail.

Probably the simplest and most colorful group of vehicles available to the gamer are the warships of the 18th and early 19th century. This period has the romance of faraway places and epic battles that has inspired more than one author. There are multiple rules sets to chose from and several manufacturers of lead miniatures in a variety of scales.

These particular ships are made by Figurehead, a British company. Because of this, American distribution can be spotty but the ships can usually be found. Ships can be purchased individually or as fleet sets. The ship designs are generic though the super large ships would clearly only belong in certain fleets. The scale is 1/2400, pretty small though reasonable and providing a reasonable match for common size hex mats either bridging two hexes or resting in one.

Painting is tricky. The ships include a reasonable amount of detail on the deck including ship’s guns but like most of the Figurehead output, there is not the precision that one associates with a manufacturer like GHQ who offer a similar but more expensive range in 1/1200 scale. The most interesting ships I have seen are produced by Langton Miniatures.

Some popular rules for this period include Close Action, Heart of Oak, and Ship o’ the Line. The beauty of these miniatures is that it is not necessary to own hundreds.

Heritage and Battle Honors Russian Command Groups

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The quickest way for me to tell which figures are Battle Honors and which are Heritage is to see which ones fall off their horses. Battle Honors cast horses separately while Heritage present a single piece. One thing about miniatures rules is that as time went on, the rules provided roles for every kind of figure. Napoleon’s Battles demanded a command unit in every regiment, a command figure for every battalion, 2 command figures for each corps and 3 for an army.

Heritage Russian Cavalry

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These first were released sometime in the 70s and include hussars, dragoons, and cuirassiers. Based for Napoleon’s Battles which uses a high proportion of men per figure, the number of figures needed for a respectable army is large. The figures are well proportioned though a bit toy-like. Produced after the merger of Heritage and Custom Cast, they continued to be distributed under the Empire label for several years but are now difficult to find.

Smaller in stature than Old Glory, AB Miniatures, Battle Honors and others, the figures do best by themselves. Mores the pity that they are no longer manufactured.

Hinchliffe 25mm English Civil War Cavalry

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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.

Warhammer 40K

Here are some old figures from the Rogue Trader era. The Space Orcs had a curious Nazi biker quality to them. Citadel’s earlier use of metal figures as opposed to plastic seemed to allow a scope to added personality that seems lost now. The newer plastic figures draw variety from interchangeable heads and arms.
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Perhaps even more interesting are the Squats. There used to be a nice range of these figures, cleverly sculpted with lots of personality. However, Games Workshop decided to shelve the Squats apparently because they did not mesh with the 40K world and possibly because they gave the game the appearance of a light work-over of the original Warhammer universe now simply dressed up in spacesuits.
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