I first discovered miniatures when I was around ten years
old. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I think I remember the order of
events. I bought a copy of the Dungeons & Dragons box set from a yard sale,
but I couldn’t understand it. My father saw this and, for reasons known only to
him, went out and bought the original Middle-Earth Role-Playing box set. (I was
already a fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by this point).
Dad became my
first Games Master, and in one of those early games, he brought a couple of
painted miniatures! These were some of the old Ral Partha D&D minis. My
character was represented by a fully armoured knight (a bad representation of a
Beorning, but seriously cool to ten-year-old me). I also remember a neat troll.
Soon after that, I began buying my own figures. In the US
in those days, there weren’t many choices available. You could get Ral Partha and some imported Citadel
miniatures, but by far the best were the Mithril Miniatures from Prince August.
While, I was certainly attracted to these minis because they were Lord of the Rings, I also believe they
were the best miniatures available at the time.
As the years passed, I dabbled in all kind of different
role-playing games and wargames. I had several different miniature painting
teachers, both official and unofficial, and I worked in two different gaming
stores.
Then I moved to the United Kingdom, and a whole new world
of miniatures opened up. UK miniature companies outnumber those in the US by
about ten (or more) to one. I was like a kid in a country-sized candy store,
and I sampled a bit of everything. But, taking the metaphor one step further, I
ate too much and got a bit sick.
I still love painting and playing with miniatures and
spend a large amount of my free time engaged in the hobby, but I long for a
simpler time. I long to go back to when my hobby was focused. I long to go back
to Middle-Earth.
Mithril Miniatures still exists, albeit in a very changed
form. It is now more of an expensive collectors club. Some of their figures
are fantastic, and I would like to pick them up at some point, but in general
the style no longer suits how I find enjoyment in painting. Lucky for me, Games
Workshop picked up The Lord of the Rings
license when the movies came out and has produced some seriously good
miniatures.
So, for me, The
Lord of the Rings is a homecoming in miniatures. It is also my all-time
favourite fantasy world.
There are a few drawbacks to the miniatures as pertains
to Games Workshop. They are expensive. Some of them are now produced in ‘Finecast’
resin, of which I’m not a huge fan, and it isn’t really clear what GW is planning to do with the license for the next two movies or if the will keep it
afterwards. Still, these are all minor concerns from my hobby
perspective. I’ve already proved that I can buy more figures than I can paint.
I can deal with a finecast model or two, but there is still plenty of metal and
plastic ones out there as well, and GW has already produced enough different models
to keep me painting for the next twenty years or more
Well, that’s the current state of affairs anyway.
Be patient as well. You sure to be able to pick up metal versions second hand :D
ReplyDeleteGood point, Simon. I have a tendency, when starting out on a new project, feeling like I need to 'make up for lost time'. This is silly, and the last thing I want to do is once again burden myself without unpainted minis. There are lots of LOTR stuff going for cheap on ebay. Just need to pick my targets carefully.
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