Post #500 - Some 80's Metal (part 1)

Not this type of 80's metal.

First things first, a milestone that snuck up on me when I wasn't looking - my 500th published post on this blog! Who'd have thought? I'll resist the nostalgic look back over the (erratic) posting over the last years and strive to look forward instead. And what better way to look forward than to showcase some metal figures from the 1980s?

A friend of mine got in touch recently. He was having a clear out and wondered if I'd be interested in a bag of figures he'd used for D&D before the bin got second option. Now I've known him since 1989 and although I knew he had gamed in his past I'd never known him to actually play, so popped round and rescued the small collection. And thank goodness I did! 80+ miniatures of mostly citadel (with some grenadier) sculpts from that halcyon period of 1985-87. Some dwarves, halflings, orcs, goblins but mostly humans (knights, retainers, mounted, wounded). The thought of these in the bin horrors me, although it is no doubt a sorry tale told over the years.

I'll be researching and trying to identify the figures over the next wee bit, and will post up my findings here. I suspect there are a couple of folk like myself out there who like a good excuse to gaze at these old sculpts.

I'll start off here with the greenskins.

First group are an Orc Command Group (Leader, Champion, Musician and Standard Bearer) sculpted by Kev Adams. These appear in the 1988 Citadel Catalogue.

The other orcs in the bag are old Grenadier models. Although nice they are definitely 25mm and stand much smaller than their Citadel colleagues.

These unpainted Goblin Spearmen hark from the pages of the 1989 Citadel Catalogue and the sculpting tools of Kev Adams again.

A Kev Adams Archer appears in the 1985 published 2nd Citadel Autumn Journal as a plain archer in the C12 Goblin range, but is named "Zit" for the Citadel 1987 Catalogue. The spearman is dated 1985 on the back of his tab, but I can't find a listing for him. The hooded warrior is also dated 1985, but doesn't seem to make an appearance until the 1989 Catalogue (Kev Adams again).

And finally (and perhaps fittingly) a couple of Goblin Fanatics who appear next to the hooded warrior above on the catalogue.

More metal soon enough. I may even try to get a few less rushed pictures!