Let's identify the rare models from photos

[SP-Fin]

Sometimes one sees rare-looking miniatures in published print photos e.g. old fantasy game rulebooks, White Dwarf magazines etc and is left wondering who indeed made that model.

Anyone can join in and I'll start first by noting that the Grenadier Balrog seen in WFBIII shots is still manufactured in Italy by Mirliton (traded by Noble Knight Games in US).

 

[SP-Fin]

Another shot from the same rulebook seems to show from rear a Grenadier Fantasy Lords line cavalry drummer model. This model is not currently in production, despite Mirliton in Italy producing other skeletons of the same product line.

Please note how the skeleton standardier shown at right seems eerily similar to Citadel standards of the same era e.g. the ones that came with mounted orc characters.

 

[SP-Fin]

White Dwarf 142 (October 1991) had a Richard Gunson undead army in it. Among the masses of skeleton models in it, there is one armoured skeleton that I can not find from any catalogues. Looks a bit like Ral Partha Undead War Band skeleton (seen also here), but does not seem to be it. Can't find it from any Citadel catalogues, either. Looks like it has a hood or helmet, broken scale armour and some sort of weapon or drum stick.

 

[ManicMan]

hehe.. I know that table..

Mirliton only have the rights for SOME grenadier. They also have oddly 'co' rights on some which is odd.
Alot of Grenadier went to Em4 and some with Forlorn Hope. I can't figure out how two companies have the rights for the same minis but.. they do (I would have guessed they got regional rights but that doesn't appear to be the case)

 

[Fimm McCool]

Dodgy lawyers selling duplicate sets of 'exclusive' rights. In Mirliton's case it's country dependent, but the Battlezone/Forlorn Hope duplication is just odd.

 

[SP-Fin]

The Warhammer Battle Book (1996) that came with WFB5 shows in two photos a skaven model that, as far as I know, was never for sale or shown in catalogues. The Collecting Citadel guys seem to have so far missed this, as it's not shown in their Skaven Unreleased or Unsolved Mysteries pages.

I wonder if it was some limited UK release. I have personally seen back in the day the Space Crusade metal Chaos Android and Dreadnought models sold in blister form in a game shop (alongside the boxed Space Crusade sets), despite often being labeled as 'unreleased'. The 'unreleased' HeroQuest prototype elf was part of the standard 1993 US Warhammer line of releases. No catalogue shows the horse-mounted Genestealer hybrids in hard plastic blister form, yet they are very commonly seen at second hand markets - and so on.

 

[SP-Fin]

Not my original post, but want to anyway necro-resurrect this old blog post to underline how Hinchcliffe, Minifigs and Ral Partha were at one time officially Warhammer game miniatures (approved even by Citadel Miniatures). The really old pre-Warhammer Games Workshop of course sold all of those, as seen in photos in the Dice Men book (p. 93).

So when anyone asks, who made Warhammer miniatures, the answer is: Citadel, Grenadier, Ral Partha, Minifigs (above link), Hinchcliffe (above link), Heritage, Marauder, Paul Henni dwarves ; with scenery made by Grendel (multiple mid-to-late 1990s White Dwarfs), Britains (WFBIII trees), Bellona (WFBIII bridges), Exin Castillos and so on - the "Oldhammer" retro collections sometimes tend to be strikingly ahistorical and Citadel-puritanist in this sense.

 

[ManicMan]

mm.. Now.. I'll debate 'Official'.. They used them alot but then, alot of early Games Workshop related stuff (like White Dwarf) showed alot of figures from all over the place.. mostly until they produced there own. The only one I know they did 100% do a license deal with was Ral Partha so that Ral Partha even cast up their own licensed versions of Citadel Miniatures but the full details is... above my pay grade.

also, I think you can recommend figures for use without being 'officially warhammer miniatures'.. again, complex.

 

[Citizen Sade]

TBF, we used what we could get our hands on back in the earlies. My eclectic WFB 2nd edition collection included Asgard & Dixon miniatures, for example.

 

[Brother Meredith]

Same here and still like to use models from other manufacturers if they catch my attention!

I have never played games in GW / Warhammer store so the idea that the composition of my army should be scrutinised for unofficial models is an alien concept.

 

[Fighelm]

TBF, we used what we could get our hands on back in the earlies. My eclectic WFB 2nd edition collection included Asgard & Dixon miniatures, for example.

Same. I had Dixon samurai minis (quite chunky compared to Citadels Nippon Samurai & ninja figures, and a Grenadier dragon). More recently bought RPE and AA minis to suit 25/28mm scale, rather than scale creep to 32mm.