Lurking in the lead pile

This post started out as an aside in this month's painting table post, but it took on a life of it's own so I split it out  and decided to post it ahead of the next painting table update.

I previously mentioned that I would be taking a full inventory of my toys and this is now under way.  I started with the contents of the lead pile as reducing that was a target for this year, well its a target every year TBH.  Details will be in the next post but lets just say that there is a lot of lead in the pile and that some of it has been lurking there for a very long time indeed.  Oldest finds are a single Airfix US marine and a Hinchcliffe Viking berserker.  Both are at least 45 years old and the marine could be a decade older!  He is the last Airfix survivor from my first game experience using Charles Grant's World War Two set 'Battle'.  The Viking would have seen action under WRG second or third edition Ancients so both are true veterans.

Hinchciffe Medieval artillery.  Probably from the late 1970's

The inventory has been more complete this time and I included figures larger than 6mm for the first time.  I deliberately ignored them in the past as I wasn't intending doing anything with them and to be honest I probably still won't with one or two honourable exceptions.  So in the 20mm - 28mm section of the pile are some interesting finds.  A set of Gangster and G-Men style figures in 20mm (or possibly true 25mm) that I must have bought in the 1980's for some type of skirmish RPG game that never happened. A handful of Spanish Civil War figures from Empress Miniatures in 28mm, stunning sculpts but not a project I will be taking forward or at least not in that scale.  There is also a Hinchcliffe artillery set (pictured above) which is rather nice in a spindly sort of way.  Most interesting find in the pile were three 25mm Judge Dread miniatures.  There are also some 25mm Western shootout figures and a few unpainted Traveller RPG SF figures.  Both of these I will keep and may take forward as projects.  and lastly there are several bags of 25mm Dark Age figures (AKA The Bags of Shame) from a mixture of manufacturers which I haven't gotten around to counting yet, well there is only so much shame a chap can take in a single day!

Gangster types (but not a Granny to be seen) I have no idea who made these

The Judge Dread figures sadly not including the Great Man

One intriguing aspect of looking back on purchases from decades past is that the history of scale creep is laid out for all to see.  From 25mm measured to the top of the head, through measurement moving to the eye line and the upwards creep which led to 28mm figures.  It's all there to see when a collection of several decades is laid out.

The long and the short of scale creep - 5mm difference along the line

I do wonder if scale creep is just a reflection of our eyesight getting worse over the 42 year span represented in the picture above.  On the left is a 1980 Traveller figure which is true 25mm to eye line on the right is a Galloping Major figure which is 30mm to the eyeline.  To be fair to Lance at Galloping Major he doesn't claim these figures as 25mm they are advertised as 28mm and very nice they are too just a tad big for my table space.

The bags of shame (and friends)

 Maybe I should start a competition 'how many figures in the bags of shame' charge a fee to enter and the winner gets the contents of the bags plus the loose figures in the above shot!

Some of the newly catalogued unpainted stuff will need to go to new homes as it represents projects I will not return to or the loose ends of completed projects.  That will mainly be 25/28mm dark age/medieval figures.  Perhaps the Judge Dread trio to.  There are also eight Empress SCW 28mms needing a home.  There are also about the same number of Gangster and G-men 25mm figures although those may find a home with my Traveller SF RPG collection.  In some respects I'm accepting that these are things which will not be completed in my painting lifetime which is a sobering thought but I'm nearer to seventy than sixty now and need to be realistic.  So with that in mind, if any of the figures tickle your fancy feel free to make me an offer.