Figures of fun at Triples

Some of my more sensible purchases from Triples:

A box full of elderly 25mm Greenwood & Ball/Garrison Assyrians. 
They'll need some retouching before being based and varnished.

This purchase also included around 80 unpainted castings.

The Bring & Buy yielded still more ancient ancients! 

A combination of Bring & Buy finds and a trader's rummage box provided this gaggle of
54mm plastic guards and bandsmen.  Many will find their way into my Funny Little Wars forces.

More Immortality

 My second unit of Immortals are also old Garrison figures.  That is, they're new figures a few months old) from old moulds.  Or rather new castings from re-cut moulds.  Clear?  Excellent.
Whatever the age of the original moulds, these are nice crisp castings - probably rather better than Garrison figures were in the 1970s.
They have been subjected to a pretty basic - though quite intricate by my standards - paint job and will no doubt soon be exchanging insults and pointy stick injuries with my Greeks.

At the same time I painted this Persian General and his standard bearer.  They are also Garrison figures.

Immortality

These fine chaps are the latest addition to my 25mm forces.  They are Garrison castings of Persian 'Immortals', and certainly seem to be living up to their billing so far.  My first ever ancient period army included no fewer than forty of these chaps (the maximum under the WRG army lists for 5th Edition...).  I wonder where they are now.Given that I was at least the third owner of the fab forty, and that I acquired them in the late 1970s, it is safe to conclude that the moulds have been around for a very long time!  The figures above are new castings, having arrived fresh from the moulds earlier this year.  Their vintage is hinted at by the thick 'telegraph pole' spears but for me that just adds to their considerable charm.  The same figure is available without the cast-on spear - but that just sounds like more work.
More Persians coming soon...

'New' Late Romans

Rob at Garrison was kind enough to send me more sample figures recently.  This arose from a discussion on Ross Mac's blog where both Ross and I implored Rob not to send samples lest we were tempted to part with money...

The figures seem a bit chunkier than earlier Garrison figures but are crisply detailed.  I gave them only the briefest of cleanups before fetching the camera.  Rob tells me that the production versions of the moulds will be considerably cleaner.

I needed help to identify the figures - Rob credits me with knowledge of the period which I clearly do not possess!  Happily this ever useful volume was to hand.

No, I'm Spartacus!

Following the arrival last year of a number of sample figures from Rob at Garrison I have finally managed to paint some!  These Gladiators seemed a good starting point and for the Latin speakers among you include a pair of Retarii (the chaps with nets and toasting forks) and a Myrmillo (the geezer in the fancy helmet).  They are nice clean castings and even having suffered my limited painting skills, look pretty good.

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.