THANKS & VINTAGE20MIL

To everyone who sent messages and posted here. Your kindness is touching and much appreciated.

All the armies have now gone except for one small(ish) Macedonian force that formed part of the enormous Alexandrian army used at Granicus etc. I also have boxes of unpainted figures of every description, so if there is anything you are looking for let me know. You can get in touch directly at

harrypea@btinternet.com

I'm also pleased to say that thanks to Chuck Gibke Vintage20Mil is now back on line. You'll find it here

http://www.vintagewargamingfigures.info/rblack/index.html

MERCENARIES FOR HIRE

Well, for sale actually.

Sadly due to a whole raft of events too boring for Herodotus to have bothered chronicling, I am selling off my armies. Quite a lot of the lads have already shipped out, but several thousand still remain here at HQ - Greeks, Macedonians, Celts, Persians, Indians and Carthaginians.

I'm selling them at 75p for foot, £1.50 cavalry, £8 for chariots/elephants and will offer discounts for bulk purchases.

If you're interested get in touch with me via the blog and I'll send a list.

Thanks for your company over the years. I've enjoyed it.

I'll leave the blog up here for reference and - to end on a positive note - I'm pleased to say that very soon the original vintage wargame figure site, Vintage20Mil should be up and running again thanks to a nice chap in Texas.

Salut!

The Quivers of Anita Ekberg*

I'm not quite sure how it's happened but I seem to have ended up with dozens of Minifigs Pb range Palmyran archers. I have a feeling I may use them as late Roman auxiliaries, probably to take on a ravening horde of Picts and blue Hurons in some sort of 4th Century Northumbrian skirmish-ish scenario.

These javelin men are the PB125 Roman Light Infantry of the later 2nd, 3rd and early 4th centuries. They are Palmyran in style.

A Palmyran archer converted into a standard bearer.

I've got a few Palmyran cataphracts somewhere too, though sadly the Palmyran camelman figure has thus far eluded my clutches. I wonder if any wargamers ever actually deployed a Palmyran Army? A game against Mark Antony's forces would be colourful.

*Anita Ekberg was cast as Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in late fifties Italian epic Nel Segno Di Roma.

Navy Blue Seals

For those of you not familiar with The Eagle these are The Seal People.

Where is all you angels

 

Now the figureheads have fell?

 

 

You're probably wondering what the splendid, if semi-literate lyrics of New Romantic yacht-sailing fops Duran Duran and a load of S Range Woodland Indians have to do with Ancient Wargaming.  The rather eliptical answer is to be found in the film The Eagle (which I watched again last night - and damned wonderful it is too, from the scythed chariot of the wild-eyed druid to English actor Mark Strong's excellent decsion to affect a New York accent to play a Celtic Roman legionary).

The film's star turns are the "Warriors of  The Seal People". These blue-faced, fur clad, Mohican sporting, tooth-necklaced bedecked young chaps always put me in mind of the Wild Boys from the Duran Duran video (Though the chief looks more like a drug-addled escapee from Trainspotting)

Leaving aside the Vivienne Westwood/ Irvine Welsh touches, the other thing that is plain to see is that The Seal People owe quite a debt to the Iroquois and other North American Woodland Indians. The figures above might easily be converted into Seal People. And don't think I'm not tempted.

An Unexpected Bonus

Searching through a box of figures yesterday I came across this little chap - an S range mounted gladiator by the look of him. I've stuck him on one of the PB range late Roman horses I had lying around.

Maybe it's just me, but there's something about the gladiators helmet and mask that always puts me in mind of those novelty salt-and-pepper cruets in the shape of men in bowler hats.

Be that as it may, or may not, I've just aquired a copy of the Italian gladiator boardgame/figure game hybrid Gladiatori. When I've figured out the rules I will give it a try with the s-rangers.

Making Plans

Inevitably in January thoughts turn to wargame projects yet to come (best not to think of wargame projects that were once to come, but somehow never did, or we shall be here all week - the other day I found a list of Minifigs Carolingians I must have made 25 years ago and never got round to ordering). One of my regular opponents is leaving Northumberland in August and so I feel our long promised restaging of the Hydaspes must be done before he leaves (after all as far as my little Macedonians are concerned Stephen is Alexander). That means finally knuckling down and painting the Indians. After that I am casting around for something new. Presently I lean towards late Romans in the style of one of the fellows above, probably 5th Century. Battling them...Sassanids I think, since I already have lots of armoured Persian cavalry that can serve and a mighty herd of elephants. The Sassanids are, I suspect, more interesting than the Goths or Vandals, and require less tattooing than the Picts. Others may have better ideas and I am always willing to be swayed....

Beastly Hun

More snaps kindly supplied by Rob. These show Minifigs S range one-piece castings (or "Onesies" as we should probably call them nowadays) of a Hun archer and a Byzantine lancer. The Garrison 20mm cavalryman (still available from Garrison, hurry, hurry) is in for scale.

JonBeezantines

Big thanks to Rob for sending over these photographs of some of the JonBee Byzantine range. I gave Rob a big tin of these years ago and though my memory is nowadays as fuzzy as my eyesight my feeling is they look better in photographs than in real life. As you will see the archer is very similar to the Greek slinger, while the spear and swordsman share common (Airfix) ancestry.

JonBee 20mm Listing

I'd meant to put this up before Chistmas but the cached document (if that's a computer term - I may just have made it up) to Vintage20Mil had briefly disappeared. Anyway, it's back now so here is the JonBee listing as best we were able to assemble it.

Looking down the list I'd have to guess that the Greek-looking officer type I posted a picture of earlier is actually the Macedonian heavy swordsman.

These little chaps are from the Greek range, clearly, but whether they are Greek Officer throwing Spear or Spartan throwing spear is another matter. I'm favouring the former, if only because the Garrison 20mm Spartans had a different style of helmet.


Assyrians AA 1 Noble, full mail, firing bow
AA 2 Standard bearer
AA 3 Light infantry throwing spear
AA 4 Heavy archer firing bow
AA 5 Light archer firing bow
AA 6 Heavy slinger
AA 7 Light spearman
AA 8 Light archer
AA 9 Light swordsman
AA 10 Standard bodyguard swordsman
AA 11 Standard bodyguard clubman
AA 13 Assyrian charioteer
AAC 1 Mounted spearman, armoured
AAC 2 Mounted archer

Persians AP 1 Officer on guard with sword
AP 2 Standard bearer
AP 3 Immortal with spear
AP 4 Light infantry standing with spear
AP 5 Light infantry charging with spear
AP 6 Light archer firing bow
APC 1 Mounted spearman
APC 3 Camel archer with shield

Romans AR 1 Tribune advancing with sword
AR 2 Centurion with sword
AR 3 Eagle bearer advancing
AR 4 Legionary advancing with spear
AR 5 Legionary standing with spear
AR 6 Legionary charging with spear
AR 7 Light infantry with javelin
AR 8 Archer firing bow
AR 9 Light infantry slinger
AR 10 Praetorian guard spearman
AR 11 Praetorian guard swordsman
AR 12 Light infantry swordsman
AR 13 Roman spearman, throwing
AR 14 Roman auxiliary
ARC 1 Mounted spearman

Egyptians AE 1 Pharaoh firing bow
AE 2 Standard bearer
AE 3 Heavy infantry charging
AE 4 Light infantry charging
AE 5 Light archer firing
AE 6 Charioteer
Egyptian Chariot (For use with Airfix horses)

 
(Macedonian heavy swordsman with a PB range Persian standard bearer in for scale. As you can see the JonBee figures are pretty small. The Greek hoplites in the first photo could easily pass for modern 15mm figures)

Gauls AG 1 Chief charging
AG 2 Standard bearer
AG 3 Heavy infantry with sword advancing
AG 4 Light infantry with sword
AG 5 Light swordsman
AG 6 Archer
AG 7 Swordsman with winged helmet
AG 8 Spearman with winged helmet
AG 9 Spearman
AGC 1 Mounted spearman with shield
AGC 2 Mounted javelinman

Greeks AGr 1 Officer throwing spear
AGr 2 Hoplite advancing with spear
AGr 3 Hoplite charging with spear
AGr 4 Phalanx hoplite with long spear
AGr 5 Light archer firing bow
AGr 6 Macedonian phalangite
AGr 7 Peltast
AGr 8 Spartan hoplite throwing spear
AGr 9 Slinger with shield
AGrC 1 Mounted spearman with shield

Macedonians AM 1 Standard bearer
AM 2 Heavy spearman advancing
AM 3 Heavy swordsman
AMC 3 Cataphract

Normans N 1 Norman advancing with spear
N 2 Norman heavy archer
N 3 Norman light archer
N 4 Dismounted knight with sword
N 5 Dismounted knight with spear
NC 1 Norman Knight with spear and shield

Anglo-Saxons A 1 Anglo-Saxon axeman, fyrd
A 2 Anglo-Saxon spearman, fyrd
A 3 Anglo-Saxon swordsman, fyrd
A 1 Standard bearer

Byzantines AB 1 Officer with mace
AB 2 Standard bearer
AB 3 Heavy spearman
AB 4 Heavy swordsman
AB 5 Heavy archer firing bow
AB 6 Heavy archer, helmeted
AB 7 Javelinman
ABC 1 Heavy cavalry
ABC 2 Light mounted archer

A further 11 cavalry figures were added including Huns, Goths and Mongols unfortunately we have not yet been able to find further details.

For it's time - c.1966 - this would easily have been the most comprehensive range of ancient figures available (if you ignore the German flats used by Tony Bath and others, that is), In fact even by modern standards it is pretty comprehensive.

Robin Hood Prince of Thebes

Some more figures from the Minifigs JonBee range. Above is a Greek officer and below some rather nice one-piece cavalrymen.

I have to say that I am rather fond of the old OPC cavalry. That's probably because I've lost count the number of paint brushes I've ruined down the years by hurriedly setting about undercoating two-piece cavalrymen before the superglue has actually dried properly. "Sets in 30 seconds" my arse.

The Greeks of Sherwood?

More figures form the JonBee range. These have have oval bases and are not as obviously Airfix Robin Hoodish as the others. The helmets are very nicely done.

Some of the figures have that characteristic early Minifigs marking on the base - an attempt to engrave the serial number using little pin pricks. It's hard to read on S Rangers but on these it's impossible.

Hoist up the JonBee (Part One)

A couple of rather nice hoplites from the Minifigs JonBee 20mm range. Like the slinger this is a conversion of one of  the Airfix Robin Hood figures. Below I've placed one next to a PBs Persian to give an idea of the size, which - obviously - is kind of at the HO/OO end.

Well, I'll Bee Damned

At one of the first wargame conventions held in the mid-1960s in Southampton, a wargamer from Stockton-on-Tees in the north-east of England turned up with a box full of figures he'd made. Charles Wesencraft was amazed "We all had our armies of Airfix plastic Romans and there was this chap with these beautiful little metal Greeks and Persians". Another man who was impressed was Neville Dickinson. Dickinson had just bought a figure company, Alberken that made Hinton Hunt sized 20mm Napoleonics. He'd moved Alberken from Nottinghamshire to Hampshire and changed the company name to Miniature Figurines The wargamer from Teesside was John Braithwaite and Dickinson hired him to design Ancient figures for Minifigs. The result was the 20mm JonBee range.
The range was short lived - probably in production from c.1967 until c.1969 when Brathwaite started his own figure company, Garrison and Miniature Figurines launched S Range. They don't feature in any of the 1960s Minifigs catalogues and the listing I have for them was laboriously compiled from adverts and figure reviews in Slingshot and Scale Models.

The JonBee range is, I think, the most obscure of all the ancient ranges that features on this site, yet they were created by a famous designer and produced by a company that was soon to be the biggest manufacturer of wargames figures on the planet. Why then were they so cloaked in mystery, missing from catalogues and rarely advertised? A glance at the slinger above may offer a clue. He is plainly converted from one of the peasant figures out of the Airfix Robin Hood set. I wonder if the British toy giant noticed?

More on this in the coming weeks....

Matters of the Flesh

The above PB range Indian cavalryman mounted on the Indian horse came in the same box as the elephants. My usual policy with second hand figures is that if they are painted to a reasonable standard I leave them as they are. The vast majority are painted with Humbrol enamels in the sort of style favoured by wargamers in the 1970s and it gives them an authentic vintage look, plus they have a character all of their own and back story. I'll even copy the style to finish off units, though I use acrylics (I went over to them when my daughters was three and started to insist on "helping". Getting gloss red out of a pre-schooler's eyebrows with white spirit would tax the nerve of any man).

Since most ancient armies weren't uniform in appearance this heterogenous approach works fine. The Indians though are a bit of a problem because it seems that 40 years ago wargamers fell into two radically different camps when it came to what people from the sub-Continent looked like. The first felt that an Indian's skin is exactly the same as that of a Northern European, that is to say: Humbrol Flesh. The second was of the opinion that Indian flesh is - in the immortal words of Special Agent Dale Cooper - as black as midnight on a moonless night. The painter of the above figure was clearly of the latter school.

The Missing Piece In The PMD Jigsaw

Props (as I believe young folk say) to Paul from Oz for sending me these PMD hoplites, the only figures from the range I didn't have. As you can see they display the same slightly fey Up Pompeii* styling of the other Greek figures from PMD. I'm not quite sure why they are cocking their hips in quite such a manner though that and the position of the right arm suggests they maybe about to enter a Disco Inferno. Hmm come to think of it The Hot Gates does sound like a New York club c.1975. 

*A 1970s BBC TV comedy series starring camp comedian Frankie Howerd and based on A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum only without the songs.

A Jumbo Parcel

Well, I finally managed to get my camera back from wherever my daughter had left it (in the bottom of a bowl of avocado dip by the look of it - that's what I'm telling myself the green gunk is anyway, the alternative is too horrible to contemplate) and so we can get going again.

Here is a trumpeting herd of Minifigs PB range Indian pachyderms that arrived via the Royal Mail this morning in a rather festive looking box.

And here is one of the PB three figure Indian crews. The elephant driver seems to be clutching a small axe, possibly to dispose of the beast when it goes mental, though the erudite Mr Elsden reckons it may just be a version of the driver's riding crop that has gone a bit wrong.

I think I have at least 20 Indian elephants now, which may mean it is time to stop. Though I wouldn't bank on it.

Minifigs S Range Ancient Listing

 

 

(Two versions of AGr7s Greek Peltast (Medium Infantry) Charging. Original version on the right. Slimmer remodel on the left)

 

Ancient Period Infantry
AA 1s Assyrian Officer
AA 2s Assyrian Standard Bearer
AA 4s Assyrian Heavy Archer Firing Bow
AA 6s Assyrian Heavy Slinger
AA 7s Assyrian Light Spearman with Shield Advancing
AA 12s Assyrian Heavy Spearman Charging
AA 13s Assyrian charioteer
AA 15s Assyrian Medium Archer
AA 16s Assyrian Javelinman
AA 17s Assyrian Wicker Shield

AP 1s Persian Officer
AP 2s Persian Standard Bearer
AP 3s Persian Immortal
AP 6s Persian Light Archer
AP 7s Persian Medium Spearman
AP 10s Mede Spearman
AP 11s Mede Archer

 

(L-R Later remodel of AR4s and earlier version of AR5s. I'm not really sure why the former is characterised as "Late Roman")

AR 1s Roman Tribune
AR 2s Roman Centurian
AR 3s Roman Eaglebearer
AR 4s Late Roman Infantryman Throwing Pila
AR 5s Roman Legionary Advancing
AR 6s Late Roman Infantryman with Spear Advancing
AR 7s Roman Auxillary Javelinman
AR 8s Roman Auxillary Archer Firing
AR 9s Roman Auxillary Slinger
AR 10s Late Roman Praetorium Spearman Advancing
AR 11s Praetorium, Sword and Cloak
AR 12s Late Roman Auxillary Slinger
AR 13s Late Roman Auxillary Archer
AR 14s Palatine Auxillary Spearman
AR 15s Roman Musican (Large Horn)
AR 20s Roman Artilleryman pulling Lever
AR 21s Roman Artilleryman holding Bolt

(L-R Later version of AR7s and earlier version of AR9s)

AM 1s Macedonian Officer
AM 2s Macedonian Spearman Advancing
AM 3s Macedonian Standard Bearer
AM 4s Macedonian Archer Firing

AE 1s Egyptian Noble Firing Bow
AE 2s Egyptian Standard Bearer
AE 3s Egyptian Medium Spearman
AE 4s Egyptian Light Spearman
AE 5s Egyptian Light Archer
AE 6s Egyptian charioteer
AE 7s Egyptian Medium Archer
AE 8s Egyptian Guard Spearman
AE 9s Egyptian Light Slinger
AE 10s Sudanese Archer

(AGr4s with characteristic thick pike. Quite how he is "receiving cavalry" is hard to fathom, unless Pegasus is involved)

AG 1s Gaul Heavy Spearman Advancing
AG 2s Standard Bearer
AG 9s Celtic spearman
AG 10s Hun Archer
AG 11s Gaul heavy Spearman
AG 12s Gaul Axeman
AG 13s Gaul Spearman. (Ancient Briton)

APh 1s Philistine Spearman
APh 2s Philistine Archer
APh 3s Philistine Officer

AC 1s Carthaginian Spearman
AC 2s Carthaginian Archer
AC 3s Carthaginian Officer

APt 1s Pict Spearman Advancing
APt 2s Pict Archer Kneeling Firing

AGr 1s Greek Officer
AGr 2s Greek Standard Bearer
AGr 4s Greek Phalanx Spearman Receiving Cavalry
AGr 5s Greek Light Archer Firing Bow
AGr 6s Macedonian Phalangite
AGr 7s Greek Peltast (Medium Infantry) Charging
AGr 8s Spartan Hoplite Spearman
AGr 9s Greek Slinger with Shield

(L-R AR14s and AB1s)

AS 1s Sassanid Levy Spearman
AS 2s Sassanid Levy Archer.

AB 1s Byzantine Heavy Spearman
AB 2s Byzantine Dragoon Standard Bearer
AB 3s Byzantine Officer
AB 5s Byzantine Light Archer
AB 6s Byzantine Javelinman
AB 7s Byzantine archer

AF 1s Frank Axeman Advancing

AV 1s Viking Swordsman Advancing

(L-R Earlier and later versions of AR13s)

Ancient Period Cavalry APac 1s Parthian horse archer

APhC 1s Philistine Lancer
APhC 2s Philistine Ox Chariot

APlc 1s Palmyran light cavalry

AEC 1s Egyptian Mounted Archer
AEC 2s Egyptian Chariot

AMdC 1s Macedonian Cavalryman

ARC 1s Roman Cavalryman
ARC 2s Late Roman heavy cavalry
ARC 3s Late Roman light cavalry

ABC 1s Byzantine Heavy Cavalryman. with Kontos
ABC 2s Byzantine Light Cavalryman (Bow) or Hun

APC 1s Persian Lancer
APC 2s Persian Horse Archer
APC 3s Persian Chariot

 

(AEC1s)

AAC 1s Assyrian Lancer
AAC 2s Assyrian Horse Archer
AAC 3s Assyrian Cataphract
AAC 4s Assyrian Chariot

AGC 1s Gaul Lancer
AGC 2s Gaul Javelinman
AGC 3s Gaul or Hun Horse Archer
AGC 4s Gallic Chariot

AGrC 1s Greek Cavalryman

AMC 1s Macedonian cavalryman

SMC 1s Sassanid Cataphract with Kontos
SMC 2s Sarmatian Cataphract
SMC 3s Cataphract
SMC 4s Persian Cataphract

APtC 1s Pict Lancer

Ancient Period Horses ACH 1s HalfArmoured Cavalry Horse
ACH 2s Fully Armoured Cataphract Horse
ACH 3s Ancient Briton Chariot Horse
ACH 4s Egyptian Chariot Horse
ACH 5s Ancient Cavalry Horse Trotting
ACH 6s Ancient Cavalry Horse Cantering
ACH 7s Ancient Cavalry Horse Galloping
ACH 8s Half Armoured Cataphract Horse for Sassanid
ACH 9s Chariot horse

Camels Camel 1s Dromedary Trotting
Camel 2s Bactrian Trotting
Camel 3s Armoured Dromedary

Elephants Elephant 1s Armoured Elephant with Howdah
Elephant 2s Indian Elephant

 

(Return of the LSD Elephant or Elephant 2s as the catalogue styled it)

Philistian Dog!

 

Or so I recall Victor "Samson" Mature snarling at his captors in Cecil B De Mille's overheated epic. Anyroad, here is a Philistine officer converted from the standard Minifigs S range spearman by the judicious wielding of an X-acto knife

Over the next few days I'm going to post up Minfigs S Range and Minifigs PBs listings. Vintage20Mil has been unavailable - except via various cached sites  - for some while now and besides it seems a good idea to have all the listings of OOP vintage ancients available in one place.

With a Hint of Wild Gallic

 

Here's the Minifigs S range Gaul "lancer" mounted on what maybe one of the little Napoleonic cossack ponies. The S range series used bare-backed horses with the saddlery attached to the riders. The idea was that you could save money on horses by swapping the riders around. The number of cavalry figures I have bought over the years that had plasticene stuck between their thighs suggests that many gamers adopted this cost-cutting approach.