Help identifying figures

[General Slade]

I’ve just received some figures that I bought on eBay and very nice they are too.  However, I can’t recognise the make of most of them.  I’m pretty sure the cavalry are 2nd gen Minifigs but I don’t recognise the pikemen or the artillerymen.  Come to that I don’t actually know what the cavalry are – they just look like Minifigs. (Incidentally they were advertised as ECW and they clearly aren’t that – the pikemen and arquebusiers are all Landsknechts)

I can’t post a picture from my computer but if you don’t mind clicking on the link and taking a look I would appreciate it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lot-of-metal-15mm-English-Civil-War-70-pieces-/111425838408?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=QtuQZosMCngNxHhdFAOHepemfUk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

If you click on the picture you can get a much bigger version

Thanks

 

Stephen

[General Slade]

I’ve stumbled across the answer to my own question.  It turns out that all of the figures (including the cavalry which I was absolutely convinced were 2nd gen Minifigs) are Asgard/Tabletop, which are now produced by Viking Forge: http://www.thevikingforge.net/historical.html

I’ve never heard of this range before.  I thought Asgard just did fantasy figures.  However, these are really good sculpts, very nicely proportioned and size-wise a perfect match for old Minifigs.  Did Asgard/Tabletop just do Renaissance ranges in 15mm or did they do others as well?

 

[Adam Hayes]

I remember Asgard doing some very nice little elephants in15mm.  Cannot for the life of me remember what army for! (We are going back over thirty years mind you…)

[General Slade]

They really are very nice figures.  When I first saw them I was absolutely convinced they were 2nd gen Minifigs.  The horse poses are almost identical and even the faces of the figures are done in a Minifigs-style.   The only noticeable difference is that the riders don’t sit the horses quite as well as the 2nd gen Minifigs and the hand that should be holding the reins is rather a long way away from them.

[General Slade]

Adam,

Are these the elephants you remember?  They are produced by Viking Forge and I am not sure whether they may have started life as Asgard or Tabletop …

[peter brown]

Yup those are the Asgard Renaissance minis, i grew up with…

They were sculpted by one of the sculptors that was previously at minifigs, and there was some brew-ha-ha at the time that they had been ‘copied’, it turned out that the sculptor had used the same dolls on both ranges…

Those, i think, are the Early Reiter with boar-spear, and a 16thC General…

The Nellies look Sassanid, Macedonian and Numidian…

TAG - Quality 28mm Miniatures

[General Slade]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the information.  That explains why they are such a good fit with Minifigs.  I always thought that after the very early days all Minifigs were sculpted by Dave and Dick Higgs; did one of them leave the company and branch out alone?

Stephen

[peter brown]

I honestly don’t know,  the Renaissance minis were the last 15mm minis that were released by Asgard, and i was just a nipper at the time so full details eluded me, but maybe the sculptor only did a little work for Minifigs…

 

TAG - Quality 28mm Miniatures

[General Slade]

Thanks Peter. I’m a fairly obsessive collector of Minifigs but I don’t really know much about the history of the company (beyond the potted history on the Caliver website)

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