BPI & The Ice-Cream Tub

[BPI]

So, a couple of years ago one of the original members of the gaming group I role-play with finally landed himself a family & shortly thereafter needed to free up some space at home, a familiar tale to some I expect Meanwhile I got some gaming goodies!

This was a gang who met at secondary school & used to travel to London for supplies (Dark They Were... if I recall correctly) & before that had to buy in the USA (the joy of having a friend whose dad takes him on business trips to the States!).


(EDIT: It was mail order or trips to the Games Workshop near Ravenscourt Tube Station in London. The school Wargames society organized a couple of day trips to London a year.

The Ice Cream Man!)


So I have an ice-cream tub of aged lead, that I\'m photoing for posterity, and I thought it would be fun to share. They might kick the odd nostalgia button & if it\'s all new you can see what an Orc used to look like

To begin, some establishing shots to help give a time-frame reference...

They were playing D&D the hard way, collecting the HC books as they were released (I think it was a year or so after they had the Players Handbook & Dungeon Masters Guide that the Monster Manual appeared, though I\'m no hobby historian!) but I think you might be more interested in this...

& scale to an orange spine D&D rulebook plus some tables...

There are no photos of any minis in the book.

The Swords & Spells rulebook was another gift from the same person but wasn\'t in the ice-cream tub. So, drum roll, here it is...

Now no self-respecting ice-cream tub, that long ago lost it\'s lid, would be without loads of fluff & a long forgotten (& by its nature embarrassing) passport photo - these items will not be televised. There were other odds & ends though...

The ubiquitous button of course, a dice you have to crayon, a metal spike from something, marbles, a packet of Swann-Morton surgical blades, a lump of lead & badges. I guess the Dredd was a cover-mount (prog 178?) & I wasn\'t at Games Day \'79 which I assume was in London.

Anyhow, on to figures...

B.

 

[BPI]

So to begin, if you’ve seen my WIP thread you’ve seen these guys before…

Grenadier – Fantasy Lords – Kobolds (1985) M-70/M-71/M-72

According to an old catalogue there were originally 4 in the blister. I have yet to find the 4th. For scale, they’re mounted on 20mm bases.

Somebody gives you an ice-cream tub of figures, it’s polite to paint some isn’t it? So I show these guys to my friend with their pretty blue skin job & he doesn’t recognize them!?

A caveat. The ice-cream tub has been polluted on at least one occasion with figures from another element of the gaming group! They may become evident in time

B.

 

[BPI]

I’ll get this one out of the way early lol

In my defense he had a horribly chipped & worn enamel paintjob which I quickly painted straight over! Donated to me from the tub a few years ago because I needed a zombie giant to go with my zombie pixie for a game I was running. I remember the stump of his neck & the hole in his head being horribly mis-matched & I’m still not convinced that they belong together. Nor am I sure if he was ever holding anything.

Unknown Manufacturer – Range – Name (Year) Number

20mm base for scale, though he’s mounted on a 40mm base so that was unnecessary!

B.

 

[BPI]

I can see the bases of these ones…

Ral Partha (1979)

I’m guessing Trolls. That would be the edge of a 20mm base for scale.

B.

 

[BPI]

Unknown Manufacturer – Range – Name (Year) Number

No markings on the base. 20mm base for scale. I don’t know what he was originally holding. If the legs look rough it’s because they’re hairy & that wave is washing over his left foot so to cut his base off he’d need a foot sculpting!

B.

 

[BPI]

Hopefully I’ll find a rider at some point!

Unknown Manufacturer – Range – Name (Year) Number

No markings on the base. 20mm base for scale, then I thought to contrast him with modern GW plastic Chaos Marauder horse & a GW metal LotR Rider Of The Dead. I have a couple of old horses that are quite small but this is a heavy lump of metal & he’s not too badly dwarfed.

More to follow another day...

B.

 

[BPI]

Grenadier – Fantasy Lords - Golem (1984) M-43

The catalogue says he’s one of a pair. He has pre-cut battle damage chips! So I guess a stone golem. 20mm base for scale.



A run through some more of the singles...

Ral Partha (1979)

His base says Ral Parth 197 and then either an 8 or 9. On the top of the base, behind his left foot, it has one or maybe two characters then -70, I think S-70 but am unsure. His right hand is rested over a scabbarded sword. The patch of red below his waist is either a potion or bag. Stood on a 20mm base, this guy is really tiny, he just about has a head over any of my snotling figures. Oh, and I assume that he\'s a gnome.




I call this guy Snouty, I really like that face...

Unknown

I\'m guessing an orc banner bearer from the 1979 army that I\'m starting to get a sense of (the trolls are the others posted so far). He\'s on a 20mm base. The armour is little squares rather than chainmail. He has tusks jutting up from his mouth toward the end of the nose.

I think this might be his standard...

I reckon those would be the heads of an elf & a dwarf. I do have another banner top but the pole is thinner.

Unknown

No markings that I can make out. Stood on a 20mm base.

His face inside that helmet looks as though it was sculpted by pressing a cocktail stick in 3 times lol if I ever decide to paint him the removal of grime & enamel might reveal more! A nice adventuring figure though with the satchel & sack. I can\'t work out the device on the shield though, it looks like a pennant across the top with a cow beneath?

Aside - there are some other adventuring figures from this ice-cream tub that were dug out a few years ago that are great examples. Lots of lanterns, bags, rucksacks, extra weapons poking out plus lanterns/torches. They should show up here at some point

Unknown

No markings that I can make out. Stood on a 20mm base.

I quite like this closed pose, it\'s got a sense of movement. Striking forward or reacting back? I think the shield device is a dragon (wing above, head at the sword hilt). He might have a dragon sat on his head as well. Elf?

PAM CH8

is what it says on the bottom. Stood on a 20mm base. I\'m guessing he\'s a wizard & was holding a staff. Another nice pose as he peers under his armpit

Ral Partha (1976)

It could be 1978. 20mm base for scale. I think this chap has some comedy potential. I\'m not sure about the design on the shield, sideways on perhaps a medusa head? (scuffed paint on her nose & brow). I don\'t know what weapon he was armed with but he has a dagger in his right boot & on his right & left hip, so given the tash & helmet, perhaps an axe?

B.

 

[porkchop806]

you found all those in an ice cream tub do me a favor when and IF you get the bottom of the tub check for a warp wrift cuz them things are old ...you just may have found the other end of the bermuda triangle lol but thats a pretty cool cache of mins hope you paint them

 

[BPI]

Hi PorkChop806, thanks for posting. I do intend to paint some of them (the figure I\'m saving for the final post for definite!) but my backlog of bare metal is substantial (though nothing compared to some folks on here!) so not all. I\'ll get the shots of the units of Red Orcs & Goblins up when I work out how to get reasonable photos of multiple figures but won\'t be painting 20-40 of the same model (I\'m unsure as to the actual quantities).

I de-fluffed the Ice-Cream Tub & wasn\'t ripped into another dimension but the rift may have relocated to the
\"Coat-Hook-Of-Carrier-Bags\", a collection of 15 or so plastic bags, each containing 10-30 figures that were passed on to me by an ex-member of our gaming group who relocated (I have a kit bag full of his West End Games Star Wars & D&D stuff as well!). The oldest figures in there are roughly 1985 & are mostly Citadel so I wasn\'t sure they\'d be as unfamiliar to you all. I may post pics of them at some point, if only to show some of the ugliest elves ever sculpted! Ooh & some halflings that I do intend to paint.

If anyone can help identifying any of the sculptors/manufacturers/release years/model names it would be much appreciated. I have limited internet access for searching & so far only a couple of Ral Partha & Grenadier catalogues. Thank you.

The Ice-Cream Man has confirmed that the Orc Banner Bearer has the correct standard posted with him. The piggy look was more common for D&D Orcs back then, related to a single line of Tolkien?

Apologies if the pictures are being tardy loading, I\'m not sure why (right-click & show picture seems to work in Windows though).

B.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Your post made me all excited about the prospect of finding minis in tubs of ice cream, so I rushed out and bought some. I was disappointed to discover that it only contained ice cream tho.

Originally posted by BPI

Grenadier – Fantasy Lords - Golem (1984) M-43

The catalogue says he’s one of a pair. He has pre-cut battle damage chips! So I guess a stone golem. 20mm base for scale.

I have one of him too. Mine came in Grenadier\'s Dungeon Dwellers box set, tho. I assume he\'s a stone golem, the flyer on the inside just says \"Golem\".

Have you tried looking on Stuff of Legends or DnD Lead for reference pics? I know you said you don\'t have much opportunity to search the webz, but maybe they\'ll help?

 

[porkchop806]

well in those time capsules of mini goodness you might find 1 or more of 4 things
1.) the squats
2.)andy chambers
3.)jimmy hoffa
4.)2 or more squads of target games warzone minture line lollol

 

[Chrome]

I can\'t see any pictures in this treasure trove of miniature goodness! :/ they\'re all broken to me...

 

[BPI]

Amazon Warrior, thank you for the links. Stuff Of Legends looks to be one I\'ll have to spend time browsing around as it doesn\'t appear to be very searchable but the DnD Lead has been immediately helpful, I have more catalogues now!

Just opened the Ral Partha 1978 .pdf to make sure that it had downloaded okay & pretty much on the first page there\'s the warrior with the medusa shield! Apparently he\'s called \"ES24 Foregum Super Hero - bare-chested\", the picture is a little faded though & I can\'t tell what he has in his hand! I\'ll edit in details to my previous posts later. Ooh, searching the web for Foregum reveals that this is version 1 of 2 of this hero & he has a battle axe in his hand. It also looks as though the one I thought was a gnome might be a Dwarf Thief. I\'m looking forward to checking these catalogues out come the weekend.

Cheers, B.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Glad they were helpful! SOL is an odd site - it\'s good as far as it goes, but it really does require some rootling or foreknowledge of what you have to get anything meaningful out of it, alas.

 

[BPI]

So a weekend of browsing catalogues, taking photos of minis & trying to keep track of it all! I realise now how much time I could spend digging around for info to catalogue these figures but I think, particularly on this site, it\'s the pics that count. So here\'s some stuff...

 

[BPI]

The White Dwarf (Citadel Fantasy Specials FS17 The White Dwarf)

Base:
Bryan Ansell FA15

Catalogues:
Citadel Compendium v1 pg26 (1983) Citadel C06 Dwarf Adventurers.
Armory Buyers Guide To Fantasy Miniatures v1.1 pgE2 (1983) Citadel Fantasy Specials FS-17 The White Dwarf.
Ral Partha 1986 pg27 Ral Partha Imports - Fantasy Specials FS17 The White Dwarf.

So here we have the original White Dwarf miniature (I believe) with Mr. Bryan Ansell\'s signature on the bottom. Not quite the same as he looks now! He\'s stood on a 20mm base for scale reference. FA15 for the Fantasy Adventurers series.

B.

 

[BPI]

Goblin Archer A (Citadel Fiend Factory FF22 Goblins firing Bows v1)

Base:
Alan Perry

Catalogues:
Citadel Compendium v1 pg28 (1983) Citadel C13 Night Goblins
Armory Buyers Guide To Fantasy Miniatures v1.1 pgD2 (1983) Citadel Fiend Factory FF22 Goblins Firing Bows (3)

There are 3 of these goblins, part of the original army.

 

[BPI]

Goblin Archer B (Citadel Fiend Factory FF22 Goblins firing Bows V2)


Base:
AP

Catalogue:
Citadel Compendium v1 pg28 (1983) Citadel C13 Night Goblins

I assume that this is Alan Perry again. 20mm base for scale. There are 9 of these goblins who make up part of the army.

 

[BPI]

Red Orc (Citadel Fiend Factory FF24 Red Orcs in Chainmail with Swords)

Base:
FF2 MP

Catalogue:
Citadel Compendium v1 pg28 (1983) Citadel Red Goblins
Armory Buyers Guide To Fantasy Miniatures v1.1 pgD2 (1983) Citadel Fiend Factory FF-24 Red Orcs In Chainmail (3)

I guess Michael Perry. 20mm base for scale. This was the Red Orc unit of the original army, all 29 of them (that have survived to this point anyway!)

 

[BPI]

Citadel Giant (Repost)

Base:
unknown

Catalogue:
Citadel Compendium v1 pg33 (1983) Citadel C28 Giants

40mm base for scale. Yes it\'s my overpainted Zombie Giant again but identified this time. Somewhere under the layers of epoxy glue, enamel, acrylic & varnish there might be a reasonable figure here, or the picture in the sales catalogue is doing its job!