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Name that antique mini (AKA what is this lump-o-lead)


Fencig
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8 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

IMO, if you want to make a (post) battle scene, you ought to use a plastic chariot; the material is easier to  work with so making realistic looking battle damage will be much easier.

I've been thinking about that , the other really tough thing is removing metal bases from figures. I'll know more once the pieces get here. Plastic is easier though, no doubt.  I've done both and even as a metal worker by trade the metal is tough to move and easy to damage/dent

 

Seller just dinged me by doubling the shipping for the addition of one small figure to the chariot. fricking e-bay

 

Edited by Fencig
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18 hours ago, K2h2m3 said:

Early citadel fantasy miniatures are somewhat rare on this side of the Atlantic. Ral Partha imports had some citadel miniatures licensed under this name but not very many.

 

For some reason, the Citadel stuff sells for crazy money on E-bay when the seller knows what they have. It makes the highly priced OOP Partha stuff look cheap by comparison.

 

Not sure why, I think Citadel eventually became Warhammer.  i think maybe the die-hard Warhammer collectors want this stuff the same way RP and Gren. collectors value the early stuff on this side of the pond.

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  Re: Citadel... It's the nostalgia thing.

  The miniatures hobby grew out of the fairly large (and sometimes borderline rabid, lol) wargaming scene in the U.K./Europe, so by the 1970's there were a large number of companies over there producing various historical games and figures, but not a lot of fantasy stuff before Games Workshop's inception as a gaming company - they were the ones that originally imported D&D into the U.K. - and their foray a few years later into miniatures production. From a psychological viewpoint, the arrival of Games Workshop/Citadel on the European miniatures scene was sort of mindblowing in as much as they were basically the first "big" miniatures company with just as much focus on fantasy gaming and fantasy figures as historical ones., as well as a pretty big jump in quality over a lot of what else was out there at the time.

Although Grenadier and Ral Partha had something of a vaguely similar reception in the U.S. (and actually started producing minis before GW established Citadel), we're a much bigger country with a much smaller wargaming scene, and they were basically 'splitting" the same product space that Citadel was occupying in the U.K.... Additionally, they didn't have an established game company like GW helping to drive their miniature sales. So despite both Grenadier and Partha eventually securing the official D&D license and establishing distribution agreements in the U.K.,, those things didn't happen until the early '80's, which allowed Citadel/GW to build a huge European fan base as pretty much the only real game in town for a number of years.

Grenadier and Partha never really did get anywhere close to the popularity of Citadel on that side of the pond.

If you look at eBay sellers these days, the U.K.-and-Canada-based ones are all primarily Citadel and Warhammer stuff, while in the U.S. the folks selling Citadel and Warhammer stuff are pretty much a completely separate animal from the guys selling Grenadier, Partha and the other companies.

 

 

Edited by Mad Jack
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thanks for posting all that Jack, super interesting. Had no idea of that history or that the whole fantasy miniature genre basically came from miniature toy solders and table top war games.

 

I got my RP Chariot, it's actually a very cool model. Despite missing parts nothing is damaged. Some of the ones I've seen on the bay have broken chariots, mis-matched horses (every horse is unique). etc.

 

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thanks for the replies. I have heard of powdered mold release agent but have never seen it caked into the crevices like that.

 

On a side note, anyone here as frustrated with lazy ebay sellers asking top dollar and selling junk, lots with mismatched pieces?

 

I sent this guy/gal a message saying I'm interested in one figure and would pay half the cost of the entire lot.  Replied "sorry,  can't split up lots" , Fine,  I'll buy the whole lot ,. could you please fix the mismatched pieces, (sent a detailed photo of where things go, which would fix their other lots too), nothing. Would have to buy 5 lots to get 3 complete figures.

 

I could understand if it was a real auction with $1.00 opening bid, but these are $40. lots + $15. shipping. 

Rant over

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  That's an intentional way to get more money - the real purpose of selling big lots like that is to get rid of the junk... It won't sell on its own, so instead of just selling a good set and making, say, $40 or $50 on it and still having a bunch of junk, you break it up among your lots of junk and sell each lot for $40 or $50...

 

Most of the folks who buy those big lots have their own eBay stores and that's where they get their stock.   Buying a mini lot is an investment.

 

  Any time I buy a mini lot on EvilBuy I decide whether or not it's worth buying by considering how much I'd be willing to pay for the handful of figures in the lot that I'm actively looking to acquire, plus whatever value I assign to anything else in the lot that just happens to be cool stuff I'd like to have, and then figuring out how much of the rest of it I'll be able to resell to someplace like Noble Knight Games to get my money back. If it seems like a good deal compared to the price of the lot, I'll go for it.

Honestly, consideration of the possible resale value of crap in the lot that you don't want is just as important as whether or not it has enough stuff you're looking for to be worth it. I've ended up with full box sets of stuff solely acquired over time as random junk in big lots, so I have no problem buying those three separate lots of stuff to put together a second or third set of something I already have in order to resell it.

 

 

Edited by Mad Jack
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6 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

 

  That's an intentional way to get more money - the real purpose of selling big lots like that is to get rid of the junk... It won't sell on its own, so instead of just selling a good set and making, say, $40 or $50 on it and still having a bunch of junk, you break it up among your lots of junk and sell each lot for $40 or $50...

 

I can understand that Jack, mixing in sought after figures with broken, undesirable, missing parts , etc. No problem, that's just business and selling. To deliberately take parts you know belong with a mini and stick them in another lot, and then put "parts might not match" = rather dishonest. A shame, i know those of us who really love the hobby just  wouldn't do that.

     Also, shipping price. I just bought 3 or 4 Kilos (6 to 8 pounds) of new metal minis last night from fricking Ireland for 22 bucks shipping.  The above mentioned seller is selling 20 small pieces for $15. shipping in continental US.  This is a 7 dollar US postal parcel.

     Oh well, on a brighter note, I've never been outright ripped off on e-bay, vote with your dollar. I've realized there is so much brand new stuff i still want and companies i would like to support that make dealing with someones banged up E-bay junk not worth it. Noble Knight and a few others being the exception, some good sellers on ebay too.

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