Hooptedoodle #4 - Let's Hear it for the Moonbeams

Looking over the postings to date in this blog, I keep finding traces of what have been constant themes for me in building up my armies - the frequent demise of my favourite figure manufacturers, and the frustration of dealing with firms which seemed to conduct their activities in a haphazard, apparently clueless manner which cannot be unrelated to this high rate of mortality.

I spent almost all my salaried life working as a professional in the finance industry - not a fashionable item on the CV these days - and I became very used to people doing what they said they were going to do, on the date they said they were going to do it. Further, I eventually took the planned, underwritten, regulated, audited, boring environment in which I existed as a behavioural norm. When I was not at work, my expectations of retail stores and other organisations with which I transacted was that they, also, would behave in a disciplined, predictable manner. Life is too busy to waste in chasing people who mess you around.

And then there were the wargame figure dealers. They were a world apart.

The underlying problem is the entirely predictable one that businesses run by enthusiasts often run into difficulties when the business grows beyond being just a hobby. On the other hand, if it wasn't for these enthusiasts there would be no suppliers. A true entrepreneur would not be impressed by the business case for marketing a wide range of specialised castings to a small number of guys who spend their weekends in lofts, painting - he would take one look at the hassle, the overheads, the health and safety problems and the likely return on making little soldiers for a small nerd market(!) and would do something else instead. If it wasn't for the dreamers and the freaks (which certainly includes me, after all) the hobby wouldn't exist, so bless 'em all.

Belatedly, and notwithstanding all previous grumblings, I offer a toast of gratitude to all the lovely people, moonbeams and headless chickens, living or not, who have made my hobby possible.

Falcata

If Minifigs have been the longest stayers in wargame miniatures manufacture, the Spanish firm, Falcata, must have been one of the shortest. Their white metal 1/72 figures are certainly attractive, and a bit different - they are what I would describe as diorama material - many variations in pose, some quite subtle, and many different details of dress. The French infantry set, for example, which I have found to be the most useful, has many men in marching positions, with all possible combinations of with/without shako covers and gaiters, different head and hand placements, some with bandaged heads, some waving - considerable variety, and I have put together some pleasingly scruffy units of French allies from them. The figures came in a box of 30-odd, with a plastic spacer inside, sealing them in. They were expensive (especially if you paid Guinea Hobbies' astonishing postal rates), there was no guarantee of exactly which figures you would get in a box and - like plastic figures - a proportion of the contents would not be useful for wargaming.


They produced two excellent Spanish infantry sets (one of 1808 line infantry, one of grenadiers of the same period), plus French infantry, British infantry in stovepipe hats (a set I found less useful because of the high proportion of battalion-company men in firing poses, which I don't use), a super set of of KGL heavy dragoons, and some very fine looking Spanish lancers, though I was not able to get hold of any of this last set. There were also plans to produce British Rifles, French light infantry and other sets, but they didn't appear.


The figures have chunky bases, and the sculpting ranges from some veritable works of art to a few very crude conversions, which suggests that there were several individuals producing the masters. There are also some minor mistakes in the uniforms - epaulettes and rank distinctions are often incorrect. Casting was a bit uneven, and the moulds were beginning to break up a little around the time the supply dried up. So, they were an odd mixture, but they are a very useful source of odd poses for command figures or for use in conversion jobs - my Cazadores de Castilla regiment, as per JM Bueno's book, are Falcata Frenchmen (for the double-breasted lapel jackets) with Higgins British Light Infantry heads (for the tapered LI shako).


I know very little about the Falcata firm - Mike Oliver, who was their UK importer for a while, has mentioned that their approach to business was rather on the relaxed side. Whatever, they disappeared fairly abruptly around 2008, though the occasional box of remainder stock can be found in on-line model shops. It would be unfair to try to guess what happened, but it is not unknown for these little cottage studios to be set up by enthusiasts who cannot cope with the routine demands of production and shipping when the business starts to become serious. Anybody know?



I think they differ from their Spanish compatriots, NapoleoN Miniatures (whom I shall look at next week), in the dioramic style and the fact that Falcata do not seem to have sold the figures direct. Also, I think I would regard them as a charming oddity rather than, potentially, a major wargames supplier - by contrast, as I am sure I will mention on a future occasion, I think we will come to realise how big a loss has been the demise of NapoleoN, which is a tale for another time.

Minifigs

Miniature Figurines. As long as I’ve been involved in wargaming, they’ve been around. Trying to say anything about Miniature Figurines Ltd is a bit like trying to say something significant about the Ford Motor Co – mostly, it’s been said before. They have frequently been on the receiving end of criticism, their products are not usually regarded as shining examples of anything in particular, and they are generally an easy target for abuse.

The one thing they certainly do not get is a fair show of respect. MF have, in their unspectacular way, put miniatures wargaming within the grasp of anyone who became interested during the last 40-something years. Whatever your likes and dislikes, they are a major part of the history of the hobby. If you take a look at the current movement of wargame figures on eBay, you get a feel for how they have dominated the market for years. In the periods and scales which interest me, I reckon that some 75% of current eBay listings are for Minifigs, and more than half of those are from the current ranges of figures, which have survived pretty much unchanged for 30 years.

My start in the hobby was too late for the early 20mm figures; S-Range was what they were selling at that time. They were readily available in local model shops, the range was vast, the quality of the castings, somehow, was always pretty good, and - if you liked them - they represented good value for money. Unusually, in a hobby full of suppliers who were enthusiasts and well-intentioned dreamers, they were always commercially sound - good marketing, good supply to the retailers, and constantly aware (and supportive) of trends and fashions in wargaming.


I confess that I really cannot understand the early history of the marque - which figures were Alberken, which were the figures which got them into trouble with Hinton Hunt - all that stuff - too complicated for me. You can get good background from VINTAGE20MIL, from the Old Metal Detector and related blogs, and from Lazey-Limey - there are areas of debate, but that is where to look. I prefer to group them under the general heading of “20mm”. The earliest such figures appear to have been a bit crude , but they very quickly became very similar in style and quality to Hintons. I am especially taken by their OPC 20mm generals and personalities.





By the time I started wargaming, this was all in the past, and they had moved onto the famous S-Range. These are regarded with a deal of affection by collectors. They have a style of their own, deliberately different from HH. The proportions of the figures are distinctive – slightly-built men with rather short, slim legs, and a tendency for oversized hats, plumes, swords, bayonets. The French troops in particular have coal-scuttle sized shakos. The S-Range generals are nice figures - I have a few. I also have a good number of French infantry officers, eagle bearers and drummers, with Higgins heads grafted on. I even still have in my collection a throwback to the days when no-one made French Line Horse Artillery (well, HH did, but I'd given up on them some time earlier) - I made up a crew from MF French infantry officers, gave them Higgins heads and PMD artillery implements - you may shed a gentle tear at the thought of my cutting up PMD horse artillery figures to provide parts for MF hybrids... Whatever, I still have them - I'm fond of them, and have kept them long after I cleared out some of their contemporaries.


Recently, I developed a considerable appetite for Spanish infantry, SN1s – no-one else apart from Hinton Hunt (undersize) and Warrior (oversize) makes 1812-style Spaniards in British-type uniforms. I have a number of units of S-Range Spaniards now, but am always keeping a wary eye open for more.


After the S-Range came what I call “Intermediates”. Some of these are very nice – I have a number of British infantry units, and most of my British artillery are from this range. I still had a problem with the big hats on the French troops, so always avoided them or re-headed them. I also have a unit of British dragoons with saddles attached to the riders – they are still with me after all these years, ao I guess I must like them.


And then, as lamented elsewhere, in 1978 or so the figures became bigger, fatter, and mostly I lost interest. Still nicely manufactured, and they were always friendly and helpful people to deal with – I have no personal experience of the new owners, but have heard good reports of them, too, so that tradition appears to have been maintained.


The real parting of the ways occurred for me when I was putting together a Brunswick-Oels battalion in polrock coats, suitable for 1808-9. I had seen a very nice Minifigs unit of exactly the sort I was looking for, and ordered them up from my hobby shop. When they arrived, the officer and the drummer were lovely, but the rank and file had been remastered in the then new “chunky” style, and I was really very shaken by their appearance. These guys were as wide as they were high – nicely engineered and manufactured, but grotesque. Gnomes. If I had had a firm making miniature soldiers, and my master-maker had approached me with prototype figures like these, I think I would have asked him to go back and try again – and to drink less coffee.


Whatever, I choose not to use MF’s current ranges – they do not match my armies, which is really the only thing that matters. I know for a fact that there are huge numbers of wargamers out there whose armies consist entirely of exactly this range, and I’m certain they look marvellous, but for me you can’t mix them.

Respect, though. Fair enough.

Figure Manufacturers

A mixed bag - the picture shows examples of the typical hotch-potch which makes up my armies. Here we have the Regiment de Francfort, with 2 battalions of the Hesse Darmstadt Regiment Gross und Erbprinz, plus 2 regiments of (French) Chasseurs a Cheval.

The infantry here are mostly Falcata - diorama-style figures which give usefully scruffy campaign-dress units, as you see - with Kennington command castings. The skirmishers are a mixture of Falcata and NapoleoN, and the cavalry units are NapoleoN, with a sprinkling of Kennington horses.

I thought it would be useful to set out a rough listing of the manufacturers whose products I use, and which will therefore feature in this blog. It may take a while to get through them all!

(1) Thus far I have looked at Les Higgins, Hinton Hunt, Garrison and Ros.

(2) I still intend to do (in no particular order) Minifigs, Kennington, Lamming, Falcata, NapoleoN, Art Miniaturen, Der Kriegspieler, Warrior, Hinchliffe and Scruby. In almost all cases, you will find a proper history and some catalogue listings on VINTAGE20MIL and on some of the blogs listed in my Favourites panel - my posts will simply give my view on them.

Ros

I really don't know a lot about these. I believe they are the same Ros that did the 6mm Heroics series. They were very cheap - they came in multiple packs, I think you got a dozen infantry or so in a plastic bag. There were Austrians and Prussians available in addition to Brits and French, and there was certainly a French command pack. They disappeared pretty quickly - last time I looked, there was no mention in VINTAGE20MIL.

They were a bit crude, and a bit hefty, but they did make British soldiers in stovepipe shakos, which was very unusual. The range extended to flank companies, and there were riflemen. I think the French infantry must be the ugliest wargame figures anyone ever made - I'll try to find a picture for a future posting.

Anyway - all I have left are my bold Chasseurs Britanniques, shown here. The officer on foot and the drummer are both re-headed Minifigs, the mounted colonel is a Kennington figure on a NapoleoN horse, and the standard bearers are by NapoleoN. A motley crew indeed.

It pleases me to still have these - for all their lowly provenance, they are still with me after all these years, and it is somehow appropriate that the Mongrels of the 7th Division should be Ros - probably the least prestigious figures I have.

Quick nerdy note about the Chasseurs Britanniques: you will read in various places that they were a light infantry unit. Not so. The colonel, Eustace, apparently had pretensions of turning them into glamorous light infantry, and in late 1812 he sent the colours and (some of?) the drums into storage in Portugal, and some companies received new uniforms, but the process was never completed. Since they were not allowed to perform outpost duties (because of desertion rates) for much of the war, they would have made dodgy light infantry anyway. My guys are depicted (correctly, I maintain!) as line infantry, circa 1811, the regimental colour being an exercise in creative licence based on a rough sketch someone sent me showing an early flag incorporating the arms of Conde. As ever, if you have a better flag, please get in touch!

Garrison

I have to say right at the start that I'm talking about the original 20mm Garrison figures, not the later larger ones, and not the recent re-issues, which I never really fully understood, despite patient efforts on the part of the new proprietor to explain them to me.

I liked, and still like, these little figures. My local model shop stocked them, so you could go in and pick what you wanted. The range was not extensive (the big sellers at the time were their Ancients), and the infantry had a semi-flat profile which was not to everyone's taste, but I liked them. I particularly liked the cavalry, which are simple and vigorous and really very pleasing; again, the snag was the small range - if you wanted officers or trumpeters you had to convert them yourself (which is what I did, of course). Their galloping Napoleonic cavalry horse (with the various saddlery options) is one of the classic 20mm wargames horses, and certainly makes the Higgins/PMD horses look a bit sad.

Something of a rarity is the very distinctive skirmisher pose, firing with the "wrong" foot forward. Not recommended as a stance for firing a flintlock with a kick like a mule. The rifleman in the foreground is the Garrison man, with Higgins colleagues in the background. This, by the way, shows one of my 80mm wide skirmisher bases.

The Chasseurs a Cheval unit shown here has a NapoleoN officer, in case you can't make him out - an appropriate mix - apart from the peerless Art Miniaturen, the Garrison and NapoleoN horses are probably my favourites in 20mm. The hussars were aggressive little chaps, but the mould problems with the original series meant that you are very unlikely to find one with a complete sabretache.

Hinton Hunt

Deep breath. I haven't really been looking forward to this posting - I could easily get into a lot of trouble here. There's something oddly sacred about Hinton Hunt figures - open criticism could earn me a lot of hostility, or an excommunication - I might at the very least get my windows broken.

Yet this is the right time to talk about HH. Once I started putting together armies using Higgins as the principle maker, I had to source all the things which Higgins did not make, which at that time meant drummers, staff officers, highlanders, Portuguese and - well, cavalry, since Higgins had not started their cavalry yet. Hinton Hunt were an obvious supplier. They had a vast range, they were very highly regarded, and some of the figures were very attractive indeed.

Since then I have bought and fettled and painted and fought and sold a great many Hintons over some 30-odd years. I do not regard myself as an expert, but I am certainly well acquainted with them, and the pounds and the hours I have invested over this time must surely earn me the right to express myself honestly. So I shall attempt to be fair but realistic.

My problems almost certainly stem from the fact that, though 1973 does seem like the Dark Ages now, I suppose I was actually fairly late on the scene as an HH customer. Many of the moulds - especially rank and file of popular nations - were knackered by this time. Further, since no shops (at least no shops near me) stocked the things, you couldn't sift through a tray and choose good ones. This was mail order of an extremely risky nature - orders came back incomplete, or incorrect, they might be months late, quality control was negligible, and the castings and the flash content were often really poor. Also they were expensive. If I hadn't somehow felt it was a privelege to be dealing with them at all, I would have been sufficiently impressed by all this to have given up on them.

They were ground breakers in customer service. I once phoned up to ask about an order which was a month overdue, and was given a lecture about how busy they were. While on my way to a holiday in Austria (in 1974) I took advantage of a 2-hour delay before my connecting train to Dover left London and I dashed along to Camden Passage in order to genuflect at the Shrine. I was met at the door by a man with a bunch of keys, who asked me was I thinking of coming into the shop. I admitted that he had identified my purpose with breathtaking precision.

"Nah - sorry - I have to go out for a while - can you come back later?"

This was 11am on a Thursday, and I couldn't.

I once treated myself to some factory-painted general staff figures which were even dearer, took even longer to arrive and were so badly done that I still get angry when I think about them. I repainted them.

And yet - and yet....

I have seen some of the ex-Peter Gilder cavalry OPC figures which Clive has. Beautiful. Heavily tweaked (wire harness, sheet metal bases, flat wire sword blades, etc), individually animated and superbly painted, I can easily see why such things would inspire devotion. I can even see why they might now change hands for high prices, though some of the prices have become obscene rather than high, in my very humble opinion.

So I have some HHs in my armies - I very much like the OPC French general - I have a number of these - it is a simple, elegant, useful little figure. I have a unit of highlanders (though it does have Art Miniaturen command figures) which I like - they have been with me for a long time. I have a unit of Brunswick hussars - again OPC. I have a unit of Portuguese cacadores - they are OK - if I could get something better I would replace them, but they are fine for now; since I cannot get HH command figures, these cacadores are led by Kennington Rifles figures, which appeals to the inverted snob in me. I have HH eagle bearers in my Higgins French Guard units, though I have provided them with paper flags. One or two (dismountable) generals. That may be about it now.

I had a brigade of Portuguese infantry, but I replaced them. Broadly speaking, the infantry are a little small for me, and I do not care for their weasel faces or their awkward posture. As for the dismountable cavalry, I really do not like the stumpy little legs, so have gradually sold and replaced what I had. True enthusiasts distinguish between original HH and later, David Clayton reissues - I accept that this may be significant, but I am unmoved. Clayton owned the rights and was the licensed manufacturer, so I am not sure why his figures should be regarded as in any way inferior. I am sure someone will put me straight!

Righto - the shutters are in position.

Les Higgins

When I first saw Higgins figures, I was – as you might say – smitten. They were not like other figures I had seen, they were beautifully sculpted, with correct human proportions, they had a simple elegance and they were very cleanly cast. I don’t know why they looked so crisp – did they use different alloys? I do know that the firm had a background of casting figures for sporting trophies and so on, and you can sort of see it in the soldiers, with the smooth finish and the rather stylised poses.

Now I have to make it clear that this post also includes the Napoleonic products of Phoenix Model Developments (PMD), which the firm morphed into after Higgins himself died. A proper history of the company can be gained from VINTAGE20MIL, but it is necessary to understand that Tim Richards became chief designer after Les died, and did a very good job of continuing to produce masters in a style and to a quality consistent with their traditions, albeit with a touch of upward scale creep towards the end.

As I have written elswhere, I have the overriding impression that (to put it a bit bluntly) Higgins himself was a sculptor who turned his hand to making military models, while most of his contemporary competitors seem to have been military enthusiasts who had a go at mastering figures. The difference is subtle but distinct. Les’ figures, apart from the lack of animation, are faultless as miniature representations of humans, but he made a number of howlers in the uniform department which a proper Napoleonic nerd would have avoided – the range initially included some infantry figures which would never have existed. A good example is the British light infantryman (in firing, advancing, kneeling and “at the ready” poses, no less) without shoulder wings, offered as a sort of battalion company LI figure – there was no such thing. These particular figures were suppressed fairly quickly, though – rather irritatingly – the range was also further simplified by dropping the battalion company British line infantry figures (without wings), which definitely did exist, and would have been very useful. Eventually all British line and light infantry figures available had shoulder wings – you just have to leave them unpainted if you don’t want them.

Another quibble is that the Brits wear Waterloo-style Belgic shakoes, yet all have their hair queued in a manner which is more appropriate to 1808 than 1815. And there are a few other niggles – the bayonets are much too fragile, for example – but the figures are lovely. Not quite as lovely as the Marlburian and ECW figures, mind you, but still lovely.

I do have some problems with the Napoleonic cavalry. First off, the horses are awful. Why on earth do these nice little figures have to ride horses from a carousel? Something odd happened here – presumably connected with Higgins’ demise. The cavalry were a later addition to the range and, apart from the initial KGL hussar figure (which is not great, and has a poorly-cast sabre) and maybe the Polish lancer (which is better, though you have to provide your own lance), the riders were all designed and mastered by Richards, I think. The PMD Napoleonic horse is closely related to the rather poor horses from the company’s Colonial range, and looks like it was a rush job, which is a pity, but it is all part of the legacy. I have painted hundreds of the beggars, and I guess I love them in spite of their ugliness!

Richards’ cavalrymen mostly have an odd sideways stance – presumably to simplify the mould seams – but are generally very fine. The French dragoon figures are special favourites of mine. The cuirassiers are also excellent, though there is a conspicuous lack of an officer (you can, however, use the dragoon trumpeter for cuirassiers). It is a little incongrous that the infantry are so static yet the cavalry are performing synchronised galloping reminscent of the Television Toppers (come on – you must have heard of them). No matter.

I have a great many Higgins and PMD figures – wherever they are suitable they provide the bulk of my armies, and they find themselves painted as Italians, Spaniards, and all sorts. I particularly like the gun crews (big chaps, mind you...) and the lovely British command pack. I vaguely remember seeing a photo of masters of a French infantry command set, but can’t remember where, so maybe I imagined it. Whatever, it never appeared. Perhaps they were just lost in the final sunset of the Higgins/PMD wargames ranges as their moulds began to break up and the world moved on to 28mm.

Happily, much of the Higgins/PMD catalogue is available again. Less happily (and my sadness is not helped by the fact that I had a hand in the deed), the Napoleonic range is currently not – it flashed for an instant and then fizzled again. The Spanish concern, NapoleoN Miniatures, bought the masters and moulds of the Napoleonics, with some matchmaking by me, but found that the moulds were in too poor a shape for proper modern production, so they made new moulds. The figures were announced and put on sale. I bought quite a few, but you had to be quick to catch them before NapoleoN entered the twilight period of non-delivery, false promises and general shambles which seems to be the inevitable White Dwarf stage of all failing wargame figure manufacturers.

They did invest a fair amount of time and money in the Higgins project, so I assume the moulds are still around – we can only hope that the enthusiasts who formed NapoleoN will eventually get themselves organised and either sell them or put the figures back in production. It is worth mentioning that NapoleoN were thinking of offering PMD cavalry with an option of PMD horses or their own excellent horses, which would have been a mouth watering prospect.

Like so much of the history of 20mm wargames figures, we are left with a great many what-ifs.