Barbarian Fighter

BA3 the last of the barbarian radiers. The base marked in the same way as the other ones with "Prince August BA3". I tried to give him the look of an ordinary rank and file spearman without any fancy shield design and colourful clothing.

More Barbarians

Next one up is the Viking Berserker BA2. I tried to do a bit of free hand work on the shield but otherwise noting special. But this miniature might be responsible for some of the confusion regarding different product codes used by PA for the figures.
In the No. 3 catalogue it was listed as Viking berserker CH9 but the miniature that bears the mark CH9 is a cleric. The cleric is listed as CH10 in the same old catalogue. The problem continued and the female adventurer CH10 was labelled CH11 and on top of that the halflings (how were later sold in a pac of two as CH12) were listed separately as CH12 and CH13. This ment that there is no CH11 miniature. My guess is that this is the reason behind the unknown CH11 miniature which some collectors are looking for.

A sense of scale

Heres a pic showing one of the many oddities of PA's fantasy miniature range. As you can see, there is three distinctly different scales of miniatures. They were all part of the friends & foes range. But the masters for the figures were made att different time and I suspect by different sculptors.

The ghoul is part of the first range of fantasy moulds released by PA back in 1983, and today called the classic fantasy armies moulds. The man-at-arms were released as part of the later series of fantasy moulds and has a different design for it's base. This particular base design was only used for the men-at-arms (mould 674) and the orc artillery crew (mould 672). They are also taller then the older figures but at the same time shorter and less detailed then the later ones. 

I don't know of any other miniature ranges by other manufacturers that have sculpts that are so different that the miniatures don't work well together. To me it looks like PA didn't have a well thought out plan when they started to release their fantasy line. And as time past they tried to alter there products to compete in different markets. First fantasy roll playing, then fantasy wargaming and then back to roll playing and finally a last attempt to break in to the wargaming market with the Fantasy Command concept.

From left to right BA2, FG8 and GH3.

Barbarian raiders

Next up is the barbarian chieftain BA1. This particular miniature is a home cast from the starter kit 12006. The casting turned out quit well and it shows how hard it can be to tell the difference between cast and home cast miniatures. The easiest way is to look at the markings on the base. The cast ones have a product code and the home cast have the abbreviation PAM and a copy right C as well as a year. On this figure the base marking is "© PAM 85" for example.

The main problem with home cast figures is mould lines. You have to spent a lot more time removing them and particular where the ingate metal pice is attached. But it's a fun and rewarding process when the miniature is finally done.

I also tried out a few new painting techniques and use of different types of paint. All the metal was done with enamels and the rest with artist oils over acrylics. The result could have been better, but the artist oils are a specially hard to master.

BA1 Barbarian Chieftan

BA1 Barbarian Chieftan
(Back)

Blacksmith

Here is the last of the villagers from the Friends & Foes miniature range. The Blacksmith like the juggler in the previous post was also a part of the celtic boxed set, and it's marked in the same way on the bottom of the base i.e. "Prince August LC9".

Blacksmith VL4

Juggler

The VL3 juggler miniature was originally released as part of a boxed set of figures for a french RPG called Légendes Celtiques and it has it's own product code, LC8 market on it's base. The figure was named L'amuseur (entertainer) in the original box.
This time I tried my hands on painting a tartan pattern on the trousers, but the result was less then great. Next time I will do the squares larger.

Phaeton Design

As mention in previews posts the sculptor Chris Tubb is re-sculpting the figures from the Fantasy Armies range. He now has a website from which you can order the figures directly using Paypal (as well as helping him save on Ebay fees). He recently released new sculpts of the Half-Orc Thief (CH29) and the Female Magician (CH37).

Half-Orc Thief PCH6 by Chris Tubb

Sage

This figure is another good example of the plethora of different markings and codes used by PA. This one is markt PAM VL2.

              

Villagers

Right now I'm working on the VL miniatures from the Friends & Foes range. The innkeeper is is the first one I've painted and it's marked Prince August VL1 on it's base. I was inspired by Bruegel's paintings of renaissance peasants when choosing the colors for this modell.

 

CH5 Silvan Elf Firing Bow

When choosing a color scheme for this miniature I was inspired by the picture of it in the PA handbook no. 4. The miniature is marked Prince August CH5 on the base.

Odros "The Bagman"

Here comes another figure given a name and a background story in the PA catalogue from 1986. The figure has the same base design as the previous figures in the Character range but with a different type of marking. Instead of  the company name being spelled out, it has the abbreviation PAM and of course the code CH4.

Hooded Thief (Assassin) CH4

Female Elf with Bow

The miniature is markt with PRINCE AUGUST CH3 on the bottom of the base. The figure was supplied with a more elaborate bow then pictured in the catalogue. 

CH3 Female Elf

From the 1990 catalogue

Enemy number one

He looks more like an old circus bear then a beast some adventures might stumble upon in the wilderness. But the miniature is interesting in that it show's the second style of base used for the figures. I personally think is the nicest version as it makes the figures look more like gaming pieces. And that’s the reason way I added a line of gloss paint around the edge.

The model is also a god exemple of the different markings used on the miniatures. In this case the base is just marked AN1 and PAM. The Friends and Foes are marked differently from the character figures in that they are divided in to many subcategories. AN is for animals and OR for orcs and so forth.

The strange codes are probably the reason way they are wrongly labelled Grenadier or Ral Partha miniatures when sold on Ebay. 

AN1 Bear

Where to find info and pictures of PA miniatures

The two best sites on the web for any old oop miniature is the Stuff of Legends site and the Lost Minis Wiki. The later now have the most complete list of the entire range.

There is also a homepage where an old school gamer discusses some of the minis from the range. She has also added some pictures of painted miniatures.

More information can be found on the Mithril Faerylands page and occasionally pictures of PA miniatures turns up on other bloggs like here and here.

So far only one model can be found on the Cool mini or not site, and it’s the dragon DR2. 

In other words this is a much over looked miniature range. 

Old PA catalogues fron the 80's and 90's.

Mailed Elf

One of my favourite figures from the character range is this elf with a sword. The figure is market PRINCE AUGUST and CH2 on the base.

Chris Tubb has re-sculpted it for his new line of fantasy miniatures and it can be found on his Ebay page. 

As pictured in PA Handbook No.3 from 1985

Number one

CH1 Femael Cleric, the first of the character figures. This character look like she was dreamt up in the 1920's and would not have looked out of place on the front cover of Weird Tales back then. In Prince August Handbook No 4 this miniature was named Arionar and given a background as an example of a RPG character. The model also feature one of three designs for bases that were used in the range.

PA split their range in to two basic categories the Character and the Friends & foes. So this figure was marked CHARACTER FIGURE on its blister pack and on the bottom of its base CH1. Also on the bottom of the base are a copyright symbol and the abbreviation PAM. 

CH1 Female Cleric

Front cover by Margret Brundage 

“The beginning is a very delicate time.” - Princess Irulan

This blogg will be about one of the most overlooked miniature ranges out there; The Prince August Fantasy Armies range. This range of ready-made miniatures was released back in the days when a pen and paper rolplaynig games was the new cool thing. They were also quit unique in the market at that time, because they were both taller and more “realistic” than most other miniature that were out there. The new line also broke with the previous figures sculpted for Prince August fantasy moulds, how looked more like the Minifigs and the early Grenadier fantasy ranges.

So, what is it about these miniatures and way still collect them more then 20 years later?

First of all they are what one could call a generic fantasy range, even if they were intended for the AD&D game. Second, they are more or less anatomically correct. Something that is quit rare among miniatures of any type whether they are historical or not. But one could argue that there is still a line of miniatures produced by PA (Prince August) to day that embodies the same characteristics: namely Mithril.

Yeas, they are also sculpted by the talented Chris Tubb but these are based on the works of J.R.R Tolkin. And even if I read the Lord of the rings many times I’m not a huge fan of Tolkins works.

But for me the biggest reason is pure and simple nostalgia. This were the first ready made fantasy miniature I owned back when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old and they were also the most common fantasy figures in Sweden back then. A round 1991 when I got in to the RPG hobby you could still buy rulebooks, adventures and figures in the average toy store. And I guess it was logical to stock miniatures by PA when most toy stores was already selling the moulds by the same company. So for many in Sweden this was the models you used for RPG:s in the 80's.

Hopefully the blogg will grow with both pictures of miniatures and useful information about how to identify them and were to buy them. My goal is to revue all the figures in the range as soon as I have bought and painted them all…

One of my first minis!

CH14 Druid