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)...
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
9 comments:
Fascinating post Dave. I love the Minifigs warg..still the best there is.
Minifigs really were on fire in the early to mid 70s and their adverts in Mil Mod were one of the highlights of the magazine. I'm painting up some of that ME range at the moment - don't think mine will stand comparison with yours though - they are lovely. Casting... not great, occasional blow-hole, some part-filled moulds, and quite a bit of 'clag' on some of the castings - bits where the mould has torn or badly worn. Finding a dragon with the tongue moulded and intact is tricky. The spider is quite rare - I think because the legs used to fall off in the days when the best we had was Bostik. Don't even mention that giant... what were they thinking! Minifigs obviously had a good relationship going with Don Featherstone, because he often reviews their stuff in Wargamers Newsletter - but the fantasy models obviously baffled him and his comments are worth reading for their 'between the lines' contempt.
Terrific post. I collect the ME range and found this very interesting.
I remember these advertisements and the start of the fantasy not being real wargaming etc.I must admit I had forgotten how lovely a range they were, they look excellent painted, well done.
Great post, thank you for sharing these - I'm getting more and more interested in these Minifigs ranges. In fact, I have the dog that the goblins are mounted on, but didn't know it had a rider. It's an amazingly naïve dog, with the legs of a horse and the snout of a crocodile or something like that (as well as a charming lolling tongue). Always had a soft spot for it but, ashamed to say, yet to paint it!
Oh my goodness - those lesser goblins are adorable!
Two of those Goblins, one with sword another with spear, are on my painting table at the moment
W.r.t. Scruby fantasy miniatures: this blogpost at Playing at The World has some useful information:http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2018/11/artistic-arcana-scruby-fantasy.html
This will probably go to moderation due to the delay, but I saw the link on the Miniatures Page...I’ve also been working intermittantly on a Mythical Earth Project. I’ve gotten enough done that we have played some Dragon Rampant with all ME forces:
http://sharpbrush.blogspot.com/2019/09/triumph-of-orcs.html
That’s where I came into the hobby, so it has been interesting painting them using good brushes and acrylics.
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