Nostalgia Trip

[MacBrown]

What was I thinking?
Recently I bought the Red (Vol 2) Citadel Miniatures catalogue off Ebay. It arrived yesterday, and as I flicked through it\'s pristine pages I could feel a stupid grin appearing on my face.
I used to look at this as a kid and make wish lists and I still wish I had a great many of them. The figures aren\'t of the same quality as todays, but they do have a hell of a lot of character.
Does anyone else have this affliction of buying/having old stuff and still liking it, even though it is probably actually crap compared to todays stuff?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Of course!


It\'s all part of our obsession.

 

[Highbulp Billy]

I spend a lot of time sitting alone and stroking my more classic minis and dreaming of those halcyon days... but I am a sad individual

[generalisation]I\'d say that a lot of the older minis are of a better quality than some of the more modern ones and certainly do have a lot more character[/generalisation] I cling on to them in the vain hope that certain manufacturers (no name - no blame) may yet be able to return to the days of characterful sculpts rather than just knocking out any old rubbish to make money (oops)

 

[tidoco2222]

Oh yes I am very much like that, fortunately for me I kept the majority of the flyers and catalogues as I bought them. I often look back in time to a time where GW had a sense of humour and also put thought into the sculpts to create characterful minis.
They also used to give them all names which I often used to like to look at as there was some real funny stuff, like the Undead horse that had been given the name Shergar.
It made me chuckle at the time.

 

[MacBrown]

After I finished Uni and had a job (therefore I actually had some cold hard cash), me and a few mates actually managed to make the trip to GW HQ.\'\'


They still had the catalogues, but when I tried to order some of these classic figures, I was gleefully told that they had all been skipped as recently as the last few weeks. \'\'

And why would I want to buy any of those figures, as they were rubbish anyway when I can get some of the excellent brand new figures. Dismayed was not the word.

 

[Highbulp Billy]

I got quite excited when I noticed that the GW webshop had a category for classic figures - until I saw how limited the range was. I have been lucky with ebay - finding a few of the real classics that I used to own or missed out on first time round.

 

[hubbabubba]

I\'ve still go the old white dwarves, I think they go back to isuue 94, I can still remember getting excited about the new releases, I think they change everything around so often now that it\'s lost that allure.
I\'d aggree that he new minis are better quality castings, especially the plastics, but the old ones were better in their individuality. they made individuals back then, not just members of units and the odd character.
Anybody got the original Balrog sculpted by Naismith, man that\'s a great demon...:drool:

 

[MacBrown]

\"Anybody got the original Balrog sculpted by Naismith, man that\'s a great demon...:drool:\"


I think I saw that on ebay yesterday

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by hubbabubba

I\'d agree that he new minis are better quality castings, especially the plastics, but the old ones were better in their individuality. they made individuals back then, not just members of units and the odd character.

There is a great deal of truth in that statement.
However if you look at the production intent then GW as a company are producing Armies for Wargames and not individual sculptures for we Painters. Ok some of their Character models are spot on droolingly nice (The new BoneSinger is one example), but their army Rank and File are there to be just that, Rank & File.

 

[No Such Agency]

I just picked these up from eBay:

I had (still have many of) the old Space Marines plastic set, but I always coveted the metal Marines from the catalog, which were a lot more characterful... but granted, by today\'s standards the sculpts are mediocre!

 

[hubbabubba]

@DR
That\'s what I was trying to say, the markets changed, that\'s life.
Do remember the old Adventurers blisters, they were great too.

 

[supervike]

Originally posted by MacBrown
The figures aren\'t of the same quality as todays, but they do have a hell of a lot of character.

Too true!!

I love my old lead. The old Ogres are still my all time favorites!!

 

[Torn blue sky]

yeah I wish I had some old school marines

 

[Sand Rat]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach

Originally posted by hubbabubba

I\'d agree that he new minis are better quality castings, especially the plastics, but the old ones were better in their individuality. they made individuals back then, not just members of units and the odd character.

There is a great deal of truth in that statement.
However if you look at the production intent then GW as a company are producing Armies for Wargames and not individual sculptures for we Painters. Ok some of their Character models are spot on droolingly nice (The new BoneSinger is one example), but their army Rank and File are there to be just that, Rank & File.

Have to disagree with you Mike - RaF can still have enough of a difference to have some character, even while being RaF -

Case in point - I recently started setting up the RaF Rennasance Pikemen I bought from Foundry - sorting the figures so I can get an idea of how I want to rank them up and which ones I want to put on Regimental bases and so forth. Now, admitedly there are only so many ways you can pose a figure who\'s purpose is to hold a bloody great stick - but in the packs I got, while the pose is basically the same, there is great variation in the figures themselves.

 

[hubbabubba]

It\'s true, if you really go out of your way, there\'s always variation, but you can\'t compare them to the old dogs of war series for example.
They looked really rag tag as a unit, and not all of them were good sculpts, but they were great looking mini\'s

 

[Nomis]

Originally posted by No Such Agency
I just picked these up from eBay:

I had (still have many of) the old Space Marines plastic set, but I always coveted the metal Marines from the catalog, which were a lot more characterful... but granted, by today\'s standards the sculpts are mediocre!

The one on the right was in the first pack i bought of GW figures waaaaay back in 1990. Many, many figures ago!

Painted using Humbrol enamels before I started buying the GW paints.

AH! sweet memories - terminators that didnt look like ballet dancers, blue and pink horrors that made you smile (remember the finger) paint pots that you could open and that kept the paint wet and store opening sales - any one remember those?

 

[MacBrown]

I remember sales, and you had to queue to get in and then spend ages rummaging around as it was all sort of dumped in a pile.

 

[Nomis]

Originally posted by MacBrown
I remember sales, and you had to queue to get in and then spend ages rummaging around as it was all sort of dumped in a pile.

Yes but the bargains - the bargains - and you dont get to say that about GW much nowdays!

All those Marauder figures - dwarves, minotaurs etc.

I must get round to painting some of them sometime