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...
