Miniature Memory Lane

By chance tonight I stumbled across The Stuff of Legends, a site that collects info and photos for old fantasy and sci-fi miniatures. It was quite a trip down memory lane- first and foremost because I stumbled across it while looking for some info about the old Lone Wolf series, the books that first got me into gaming as a ten year-old. Stuff of Legends had photos of the old Lone Wolf miniatures created by Citadel.

That got me poking through the extensive index of old Citadel minis, reminding me of my early days playing WFRP. You can see- particularly in the Citadel C-series miniatures- how the Warhammer world started to distinguish itself from the other 'kill Orcs, collect loot' Tolkien knock-off games that D&D endlessly spawned in the early eighties.

You can spot some of that trademark GW humor in the names of some of the minis- a Rogue Trader Space Marine biker named Vincent Blackshadow, a busty wizardess named Samantha Phox (it was the 80's, after all), a thief named Rownald Biggs...

You can also see some vanished oldies from the Warhammer world. Behold, newbies, the long-vanished Fimir, the little-known Chaos Goblins, the distinctly un-PC Pygmies, the much-loved and much-hated Gnomes, and even some pre-lizardman Slann, with some suspiciously eunuch-like retainers.

Among the 'Fantasy Specials', you'll even find one range of minis that GW and Citadel would no doubt gladly forget- the (NSFW) 'Torture Chamber' series of softcore bondage porn miniatures. Nothing like tiny, painstakingly painted naked women to liven up a long evening in Mom's basement. And to think, TSR got all in a tizzy over Palace of the Silver Princess...