Clearly youвЂ™re more of a railway enthusiast thenвЂ¦вЂќ

Sales Assistant вЂ“ вЂњCheck the spinning rack thing with all the figures on yourself. Remember I need 1 champion and 29 individual archers, the other figure in the pack armed with a halberd or spear will go in the Puma shoebox where all the other unneeded models IвЂ™ve bought in blister packs have gone.вЂќ Can you help me scour through all the packs? I donвЂ™t want to duplicate any archers or get more than 1 swordman with a bow that IвЂ™ll use as a champion. As you know we sell them in blister packs of 4 random figuresвЂќ Me вЂ“ вЂњGood Morning to you again Sir! IвЂ™d like to purchase a unit of 30 archers this time please.вЂќ He looks very smart but IвЂ™m puzzled as to what his Father will be wearing today. The Sales assistant is only about 19yrs old but wears aВ checked shirt, brown tie, fetching green v-neck sweater with elbow patches, Farah trousers and sensible shoes. My bmx is parked outside, sensibly padlocked up of course вЂ“ this is the 80s not the 50s after all. The 14 year old me is rocking Nike squash trainers, cheap jeans bought from the market, a Vega cagoule and the beginnings of a mullet. America has just bombed Libya, GW have just released the Skaven, George Michael is at number 1 in the UK charts with вЂA Different CornerвЂ™ and weвЂ™re in a small Stockport shop called вЂModel ManiaвЂ™ on a Saturday morning. And so we can talk about the Blister PackвЂ¦ Of course the other option was to either mix other figures into those regiments or to build regiments entirely from the C ranges ofВ Citadel Miniatures. This offered a little more individuality than the original mono posed Renown troopers but not a lot. Later boxed sets of regiments (such as HarbothвЂ™s Orc Archers or Prince UltherвЂ™s Imperial Dwarfs) comprised of rank and file troopers that came from an identical standard model with small changes modelled in the armour, equipment, etc. It was a fair few years later that some of those original packs finally included the whole range of command figures but still contained the 8 identical troopers. Most of those voices decrying the lack of individuality attributed to the modern models seem to forget that the original units sold specifically for Warhammer вЂ“ the Regiments of Renown boxed sets вЂ“ consisted of 8 identical troopers with only 1 choice of either Leader, Champion, Standard Bearer or Musician in the box. TodayвЂ™s Warhammer regiments are characterless, samey and positively vanilla in comparisonвЂ¦вЂќ The individuality of units was the essential essence of Warhammer 1st/2nd/3rd edition. вЂњback in the 1980s Warhammer Fantasy Battle units consisted of individual models without the blocks of uniform dull figures you see today. ThereвЂ™s something else I hear however that really does bother me. I can understand and empathise with all this. вЂњВЈ15 for 1 plastic Chaos hero? I can remember buying 3 metal Chaos Warriors and still getting change from ВЈ2.вЂќ I plan to paint them properly using only the first 2 Citadel paint sets IвЂ™ve bought off eBay.

вЂњI had 3 suitcases of metal in my MotherвЂ™s attic that IвЂ™m now finally stripping the Humbrol enamel off. вЂњCitadel finecast figures have more casting flaws than a snapped up Aero chocolate bar. The original mould and initial castings all disappeared soon after, and when PhilвЂ™s photos came back from Boots they were all mysteriously overexposed. вЂњIвЂ™m searching for a Tim Prow C666 Invisible Chaos Aardvark Man that Phil Lewis told me he photographed in 1985. вЂњMetal miniatures are all I want to collect because I prefer the weight and feel of them.вЂќ

Time and time again the cries go up when people of a certain age still interested in GW miniatures talk about todayвЂ™s output from GW in comparison to the past. ThereвЂ™s a few people (and not just those who consider themselves вЂOldhammerвЂ™ purists) that think Games Workshop is a mono posed plastic shadow of itвЂ™s former multitudinous metal self.

Empire regiments of renown