Sunday, 20 November 2011

Garrison Miniatures

Following an email exchange about the splendid Rose Miniatures Roman slave market, Rob of  Garrison Miniatures who now also owns the Rose moulds very kindly sent me some samples of his ranges.  As yet I've not had time to paint any of the figures, so for the time being here are photos of some of the 'raw' castings.  My first ever metal wargames figures (Spartan Hoplites) were Garrison products, so I've always had something of a soft spot for them. 
Back in the 1970s when the other main manufacturers were Hinchliffe and Minifigs I remember that according to warped wargamer logic - because they were significantly cheaper (14p each as against 17p for the others) that Garrison were seen as slightly inferior - crazy.  Whatever your own recollections are, I can assure you that if these samples are anything to go by Garrison ought to be taken very seriously indeed.  I believe that Rob has recut the moulds and he is clearly using a high quality metal which makes these very crisp figures indeed.
Scythian bowman from the Rose Prestige range.  Spot on at 25mm tall.
Romans from the Garrison 20mm range.  At 23mm tall these are highly compatible with many of the modern plastic figures.
25mm Gladiator - again these chaps are bang on 25mm.
Another Gladiator.
Norman archer (complete with accurate haircut!) and Saxon Fyrd.  25mm again.
Prussian 25mm from the Seven Years War range.  Probably somewhat beyond my painting ability!
Rose 20mm French Napoleonic cannon.
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5 comments:

  1. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com20 November 2011 at 13:35

    I've long had a fondness for garrison. I remember my excitement and joy at opening up a large box of Saxons and Normans and finding just what i had hoped for.

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  2. Tim Gow20 November 2011 at 14:00

    Ross Mac
    Ths Saxon and Normans figures are still very much with us - I can see I'll be buying more soon!

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  3. Paul´s Bods20 November 2011 at 17:16

    Hmmmm...normans...does he do medievals as well?
    Cheers
    paul

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  4. Tim Gow20 November 2011 at 17:29

    Paul's Bods
    He certainly does. There is a full listing and quite a few photos on the Garrison website.

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  5. Anonymous29 July 2013 at 21:17

    Garrison figurines were very good, not as animated as Peter Guilders work, which tended to be for multiperiod use but were masterfully detailed historical pieces and I often used them in miniature dioramae. To me, in Garrison figures he really had a feel for the Saxon/Norman era as I do myself. He helped a rather testy 21 yr old find useful divertisement until the hormone storm passed on.
    I still hope that miracle of miracles we find Harold 1's body somewhere and restore him to grace as will be done I hope for Ricardo 111!

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