A is for Accoutrements

This has been imported from 'Boring Blog' (which I will close down) and may have images or other text added in the future.

Accoutrements - Available through Archie McPhee, Stads Stuff and other outlets in the mid-to-late 1990's
Re-issues of the Giant piracies
Bulk Bagged sets
- Knights
Header-carded Bags
(YF) Nọ 810 - Mongolians And Castle
(YF) Nọ 811 - Romans And Castles

A is for Accoutrements

The final (to date?) installment of the 'Giant' fort story begins in the early-to-mid 1990's when Archie McPhee, a US toy and novelty retailer and early 'web' eRetailer started offering the original Giant mouldings - in new colours, under their 'Accoutrements' label. They were made more widely available by dint of Paul Stadinger who secured a goodly number and distributed them to the Toy Soldier collecting community via his Stads List.

The two sets as issued, there was a third item - a large bag of Knight figures only, appeared first in approximately 1990. The Mongol fort was then issued in around 1993 with the Knight's fort following sometime '95/96.

However they were only copies of a late 1970's to mid-80's issue originally marked MADE IN HONG KONG (rear card/R.hand card above), the Hong Kong (but not the YF branding) was then obliterated - presumably in preparation for the return to China in '97) and finally overprinted with the Accoutrements disc on the reverse and the MADE IN CHINA block on the obverse.

The Archie McPhee/Accoutrements cards were a more modern all-colour printing, the older HK issues being a three-colour process, but the original artwork was used, rather than a copy as was the case with the Giant set we looked at the other day. Figures in the HK and early figure bag had the 'Giant' scratched-out on the figure's bases, later sets had 'China' over-engraved.


The latest outing for the mould was with BuM in 1999, when they issued the Mongol fort with both the Mongol infantry, and with their own ex-Montaplex copies of the Airfix Sheriff of Nottingham figures.

The real question is - If the moulds to both forts and the Knight & Mongol figures are still usable, where are the rest of the Giant moulds, and might they also one day reappear? Also the fact that they can keep popping up and filling western companies order-books suggests that the poor quality of HK mouldings in general, is down to the poor quality of the masters, not - as some have claimed over the years (myself included) - cheap moulds, and in fact the moulds can under the right circumstances last just as long, and produce as much product as any of Airfix's moulds?

Of note - Accoutrements are currently carrying the set of 5 metal knights by Westair of the UK, sometimes credited to Kinder Germany! What goes around comes around!!

G is for Giant and Relatives

Moving not in a specific direction, neither older nor younger, first or last, but rather rambling toward a conclusion, we have arrived at the father of the forts we've looked at in two of the previous three posts on the subject, the 'Giant' of New York commissioned/marketed design.

Being a UK/European release, this does not have the Giant branding on the card, however both the fort and the figures are Giant marked examples, the fort is in quite sensible colours and the knights are those we (Arlin Tawser and myself) sort of agreed to term type 2/3 (or) 'late/last' production in the pages of 1 Inch Warrior magazine a few years ago (NINE!!! Where does it go?...have I already said that tonight?!!!), and which have been re-issued by others in recent years (better make that the last decade or so...Where does...!), but more on them in the next part of the forts.

To the right is the other facade design, for the Mongol sets, again a sensible/realistic colour.

This one looks the same doesn't it? You're thinking he's uploaded two similar images, he doesn't usually do something like that? No, this is that old HK chestnut; When kissin'cousins go bad; The family down the street doing a strait copy, fort, figures and artwork/layout; All - bar the horses - poorer quality and unmarked. It's a fact though; Mix the horses up and you can't tell them apart.

The two cards, Giant supplier on top, copyist behind, it's good, it's very good, but a rather wasted effort, parents like mine wouldn't let me have either, "Not that rubbish, look here's some Airfix RAF Personnel, I remember when I was on Blackheath in 1940..." (I Love you Mum, but I REALLY wanted that big bag of Romans, and I still haven't found it, they had a whole rack in Webb's, Einco I think, I just KEEP finding the Indian Village!!!). While the corner shops didn't care where their cheap rack-toys came from?

Speaking of cheap rack toys this is the 3rd or 4th? (I'll work it out when I pull all the posts together in a few days) generation of Giant copy, with the poorer of the gold figures we looked at the other day, these are the ones with smooth bases.

Note the Woolbro overprint on the left hand one, this would normally have been found in Woolworth's, but some did end up with independents, as we saw when I did a Woolbro overview a year or so ago.