My Favorite Minis – Cut and Assemble

All miniatures are pretty great, but some are greater than others.

I really can’t start talking about my favorite minis without starting where it all began…

Britains

The classic toy soldiers are absolutely where my love for these little people started. A local specialty toy retailer stocked Britains and my brother and I spent lifetimes drooling over the catalogs and peering through the display cabinet glass. Debating about which figure to get. Cowboys? Soldiers? Knights? Space aliens????

Sadly, Britains have been gone for a while. But I still have most if not all of them. I’m pretty sure some mounted knights were lost to the ravages of childhood play. As much as that pains me a bit, that’s what they were designed to do. To be loved and potentially lost. These were the days that I pined for “Indian in the Cupboard” to be a true story.

Playmobil

The next logical step was Playmobil. Also European, lots of swords, knights and castles. My mom encouraged the cute little horse jumping sets. No thanks, gimme the plate armored knights!

Ral Partha

I was growing up and my tastes were becoming more refined. I was now a man of ten or eleven and valued the finer things in life. Lead figures. That’s right; I’d graduated from the toy store to the hobby store.

Some of the first minis I was drawn to were Ral Partha minis. They were affordable, imaginative, and prolific. You could find anything you wanted in a Ral Partha catalog, and odds were it was in stock too.

A set I’ve always wanted is the Bridge of Sorrows. I suppose I could just buy one now, but I don’t really do that many display pieces. I prefer the utilitarian aspect of game pieces (though most of my minis have rarely seen the table top, outside of minis included in game-boxes). Some day.

Grenadier

I’m not entirely sure I knew Grenadier was different than Ral Partha. And it looks like there was a lot of overlap and mingled history between the two companies. They definitely made some awesome stuff.

Heritage

I don’t have many of these, but these Dungeon Dwellers were formative.

The final evolution led me to what seems to be the last stop on my mini quest…

Games Workshop (aka: Citadel, Marauder, Warhammer)

I, personally, have never played a game of Warhammer proper. I’ve never 40k’d. I’ve never Fantasy Battled. Though I have played:

HeroQuest
Advanced HeroQuest
Man O’ War
Battle Masters
Epic (Space Marine)
Ultra Marines
Space Hulk
Gorechosen
Combat Arena
Warhammer Quest (1995)
Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower
Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress
Warhammer Quest: Cursed City
Warhammer Quest: Darkwater

But never the big ones.

That’s OK though. There’s more to the hobby than just two games.

But still, I loved the minis. I got into the hobby in the late ’80s, before the mass plastics came in. Everything was lead, then white metal and some plastics. I’ve mentioned it before, but I find the idea of “monopose” to be a funny thing. Outside of the old beaky marines, I don’t think I have a single “posable” GW mini. They’re all monopose unless you get a saw out.

So here’s the ones I love. Starting with Mike McVey’s incredible, beautifully iconic Space Hulk diorama.

Then, there’s pretty much every mini in the red 1980s painting guide, especially the undead diorama by John Blanche and the terminator sergeant.

It’s no secret that I’m also a big fan of Gotrek & Felix. There have been many minis produced of them, but I think this is my favorite set of the pair: