Sunday, 3 April 2011

300 Spartans...

...well, give or take 290 or so.  These chaps were my first ever metal wargames figures - I acquired them (I was at least their third owner) in 1978!  They are 25mm castings by Garrison - a company whose products were quite popular, not least because they were cheaper (2p per figure I think) than Hinchliffe!  Once upon a time I owned quite a large quantity of 25mm Ancients - mostly Greek/Macedonian/Successor/Persian types.  The first rules I used for this period were WRG 5th Edition, followed by 6th Edition and TTG's Shock of Impact. 7th Edition didn't do a lot for me, but my spirits were revived somewhat by the launch of DBA in 1990.  
I took the decision to move on the 25mm Ancients about 12 years ago, as they hadn't been out of their boxes for several years, but I couldn't bear to part with our Spartan chums.  Rediscovered after my most recent house move five years ago, they have been standing on a shelf gathering an impressive quantity of dust.
As they are purely a display piece these days, I recently stuck them onto a single large base.
'Telegraph pole' spears much in evidence! 
 And finally - how much did I pay for them all those years ago?  £1.00 for ten painted figures.  Those were the days!
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12 comments:

  1. The Angry Lurker3 April 2011 at 15:35

    £1.00, great days indeed.

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  2. Tim Gow3 April 2011 at 17:15

    Angry Lurker
    Indeed - back when you could buy a 100-figure (unpainted) army for less then £20. Although £20 was an almost unimaginable fortune then...

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  3. Don M3 April 2011 at 17:16

    sure beats ebay!

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  4. Tim Gow3 April 2011 at 17:18

    Don M
    See above comment. I think Garrison were £0.13 per figure when Hinchliffe were a giddy £0.15. Metal figures? They'll never catch on!

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  5. Don M3 April 2011 at 18:14

    I bought my first figures as a lowly
    strip less private in 1978...I remember well!

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  6. Paul´s Bods3 April 2011 at 19:13

    LOL...I´m working on a mini dio today..leonidas and his mates...the 300 less 294..:-D
    A nice little group...and that for a quid!!!
    Cheers
    paul

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  7. Tim Gow3 April 2011 at 19:18

    Paul's Bods
    So when do we get together and shoot the film? It can only be better than '300'.

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  8. Arquinsiel4 April 2011 at 03:05

    Thanks to the lovely people over at the Plastic Soldier Company those days may be seen again. Their 15mil Russian and German infantry boxes provide enough men in the right numbers to make a full company in Flames of War terms, and with a bit of stretching might go even further (not that anyone ever plays larger than that....).

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  9. Tim Gow4 April 2011 at 09:45

    Arquinsiel
    A company? You mean a Rifle Corps (in Megablitz terms)?

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  10. SoA Shows North4 April 2011 at 18:48

    I remember not being able to afford Hinchliffe :(

    I still have plenty of these Garrison classics (though they killed their last Persian many a moon past)

    Phil

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  11. Tim Gow4 April 2011 at 21:09

    SOA Shows North
    I had a load of Garrison Persians a while back - in fact they made up the bulk of my first ancient army.

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  12. Arquinsiel5 April 2011 at 03:38

    Well you get 130 15mil infantry in the Russian box, so it depends on how far you want to stretch it. If you're going with two men per base you'll have a few too many NCOs and junior officers to use, but you'll be easily able to get 45 bases out of the basic riflemen and SMG users, with another 10 LMG bases + command. If you want tank support it'll cost you another £18 or so for five T-34, which I'm not sure is beatable without hitting up the second hand markets.

    The quality is pretty good too: http://theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_2_19_45&products_id=130

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