R is for Roma in Resin

Another purchase, a while ago now, was these resin Romans also going un-bid, on a low start price which I snapped up, as I've so much resin now I've stopped resisting its inexorable advance into the tubs of polymer loveliness! I am resisting 3D prints instead; 10,000 sculpts in any scale you want? That way madness lies!

A Centurion, three Legionaries, a pair of Gladiators (two Murmillo/Thraex types I think), and three members of the Vatican Guard, who may be modern or historical, I'm not sure if they've worn the same uniform for ever or if it was re-introduced at some point for ceremonials? As a lot they reminded me of some of the stuff we saw courtesy of Brian B in this post, and clearly are of that ilk - tourist souvenirs.

The Centurion; nothing special and at around 45/50mm they won't fit that closely with many of the others in the Roman tub, although the thick bases will help lift them into the ranks. All manufactured in a rather pallid flesh-tone resin, and being not well made (like a lot of this tourist stuff), they have the look of the undead about them!

The Troops; and indeed a repaint would improve the lot of them considerably, the throwing-weapon shafts are steel wire, so the odd lengths (see first image) make no sense beyond a lack of duty of care in the manufacture, and the four ancient soldiers are marked on the front-edge of the base 'Roma', Italian for Rome, so obviously tourist keepsakes.

The Gladiators;, improved by A) apparently having a better/different sculptor who fed them properly, B) having all-over paint including the flesh and C), being irregulars! I like these two, and not having Rome on the base may have come from somewhere else, there are lots of visitable circus arenas', beyond the Coliseum? But one suspects they were all bought together!

The Vatican 'Swiss; or Papal Guard; they have a flag-stone pattern on their bases, no title (not enough room for 'Guardia Vaticana'!) and some odd-looking pole-arms which should be beefeater-type halberds, but are all three different, in two cases due to short-shotting; they are resin, not the metal of the Roman Infantry, and again, poor quality control is to blame.

Having picked them all to pieces (it's the nature of this rough resin), I still like them, the Vatican Guard are unusual, they all add to the whole, and they were cheap!

R is for Rainbow Warriors

The Quaker Oats 'Sugar Puffs' breakfast cereal premiums and Tom Smith Christmas cracker novelty Gladiators!

We've done them here before (link), there are comparisons on the Airfix Romans' page (link) and I helped Dave over at PSR with images years ago (link), but I really like them, keep collecting them and will return to them from time to time because they ARE eye-candy!

One of each; just to remind you of the set's contents. You get/got five foot figures and three mounted for an eight-count, probably in one tool with a three or six-cavity second-tool for the horses?Sorry; only realized just now it's the old image - new one next time!

Several of the foot figures make useful auxiliaries/allies (the three at the back) while the chap with a round shield looks more Persian or Asiatic. The other guy makes a half-useful slave-driver on-board ship, but is otherwise the duffer in the foot-figures!

With the mounted, only the one in the center is worth collecting for 'army-building' (and steppes/Franks/Goths rather than Rome?) the others having obvious gladiator armour (left) or a ridiculous shield for a rider - on the right, not that they can't all be thrown together with a mix of Airfix, Atalantic, Revell (Elastolin sculpts) and Giant (Marx/Britains) with newer stuff, to make Spartacus's mob!

I took this shot ages ago, and have forgotten why I numbered some of them! But I'll have a stab at most of the notes.

1 - Definitely a Tom Smith colour as that's how ours came in when we were kids, it's a sort of fawn-grey.

2 - This is a metallic green of the sort more usually associated with hard-plastic space-stuff from a decade or so earlier.

3 - Pfffh . . . I obviously had something world-changing to say about 3, once!

4 - This is the same colour as the late Airfix cream figures, and it is cream, not yellow! This is not to say Airfix was involved in their production, but that if two companies were involved, they were probably getting their granules from the same wholesaler.

5 - As per 3, can't remember what I was going to say, semi-translucent . . . which it is? The only pink one? Can't remember!

Ah yes - The Ford Mustang, available in every colour except black! Just the one sculpt for the horses! The whole point of the rainbow-shots is to allow you to consider the origins for yourself; my own feeling is that the only firm that produced the same wide range of colours was Hilco, or at a push Cherilea, both ending-up connected anyway?

But if the Quaker issue were the commoner, primary-colours, and if Tom Smith got access to the tool and farmed it out to a contract manufacture (Tatra or similar?) years later, even the colour range might not be much of a clue?

The obvious gladiator pose is the Retiarius, and the pile behind are the miss-moulded short-shots, the four in front are those with passable tridents, although - as you can see - the first on the left is not fully-formed. I don't often use the term, but finding a decent trident is 'rare' in the true use of the term!

And kids would not necessarily have known he has been posed as having just thrown his net? On a plus side, given both the size of the figures and when they were made, is that he's a very good likeness for a sub-Saharan African with cropped 'afro' hair, a heavy brow and full-lips.

The bases are very Airfix!

eM-4 is for Role Playing & War Gaming Figures

Just a quick-one, as the day's slipping away; and a bit of a departure from the current output - I picked these up at a London show, or possibly one of Andy Harfield/Gerry (SRP)'s shows down in Kent about 12 years ago, however they may still be relatively contemporary;

eM-4 Miniatures

The website seems to have disappeared.
The website is still up and running, but it's not clear when it was last updated.
The website still seems lively.

OK for what they are, 28mm figures, 'factory' painted to a reasonable standard if you don't mind the 'Sausage Finger' style of painting, you get five figures and five dice, plus when you open the pack a self-seal bag of five, square, slotta-bases falls out! Not really 'my thing' but they were cheap and the same guy was also selling . . .

. . . these! Again I'm not a fan of the painting style, and the lion has donkey-teeth, but otherwise these are a lovely quintet which ticks the main boxes; Wild Animal, Christian/criminal in sack-cloth shift with a short sword and three recognisable professional gladiators, the Thracian (I think, far left) the 'net bloke' (retarius?) and err . . . the roman soldier?

I've misplaced the book on gladiators I got since I was last put right on them, and Peter's 'Special' is in the attic - possibly the excuse I used last time I guessed gladiator types!

This one gives you a whole game, with a rule-set, several sheets of counters and a bunch more dice; along with five hex-slotta's and a hex-divided play mat/arena. A whole game in a box, bargain!

I is for I Just Couldn't Come-up With a Good Title!

Following on the heels of the Britains Trojans and Cherilea Roman 'returns' and the other day's box ticker on Toyway, comes the next obvious one in the queue, Crescent's Romans, although going with an RG prefix and some of the sculpts the accurate title is probably Romans and Gladiators!

For some reason (not thinking, that's the reason!) I didn't shoot the overview shot in numerical order, although the next six collages are in the right order which is;

RG1 - Kneeling with small round shield (Gladiator)

RG2 - Spearman (Legionary)

RG3 - Standard Bearer (Legionary)

RG4 - Wounded with Arrow (Legionary)

RG5 - Advancing with small round shield (Gladiator)

RG6 - Full-on Gladiator (Gladiator!)

Basically; a rather odd assortment, let's look at them closely . . .

People consider him a roman soldier, but the small round shield says Gladiator to me, I know they each have a name for their role/uniform & equipment, and one or two were dressed as 'regular' Romans, but the shield is designed to be a weakness, while the short stabbing dagger is a gladiatorial weapon, designed to wound and prolong the 'entertainment'.

I think the base on the left-hand figure is a re-paint and I'm not sure about the bright silver on the other (comments that apply to a lot of these), which came from a collection with a lot of re-painting, the final one is unpainted and I have no Hong Kong or other copies of this pose . . . yet!

This is a nice rendition of a Roman legionary, he is armed with a straight-shaft spear or lance rather than the more expensive (to produce) pillum, I don't think that's particularly anachronistic, but would bow to more knowledgeable members of Slingshot!

Also he carries a proper Roman gladius short-sword with broad blade, sheathed at his belt, suggesting that the 'dagger' of the above Gladiator was a deliberate act by the sculptor. Happy with the painting on these two, early on the left, later reduced-paint; centre, and a Hong Kong dwarf on the right!

Standard Bearer, I can't remember which is which or what one this is called . . . signifier? I should have waited 'till the books were out, or stuck to non-Latin 'toy soldier' stuff! Another legionary, and paint looks good on both Crescent examples, while there's a slight colour variation on the HK's wolf's head headdress.

The third legionary is not much use, being hors du combatt! Re-painting to the earlier scheme I fear, but following the original and a very nice sword stuck in the ground/base.

I'm sure this is a gladiator, he's got a Greek bell-cuirass and an attic (?) helmet with fancy plumed-crest, there was a gladiator called a 'Greek' (or Illyrian?) I think, but seem to remember he only had one greave? Again the small round shield says 'slightly hamstrung'.

I don't have one of the HK dwarves for this pose, but a much nicer full-size blue chap, who must come from a bigger pose-set? I think the paint's right on the two Crescent's but I'm not sure?

Definitely a gladiator (retarius?) and having two equally colourful paint-schemes and a heavy sword, he is handicapped by the ridiculous helmet restricting vision - as it boils his brains! The Hong Kong copies are the best of a bad-bunch and some have a red belt!

So that's that box-ticked, an odd set as you've got one obvious gladiator, two probable's, a wounded man and a standard bearer, which leaves the fate of all Rome and it's mighty Empire in the hands of a man with a sharp stick! But, if the idea was to pull on the draw of the Spartacus movies, I'd say the gladiator's have this one in the bag!

Funnily enough there was a small lot on feebleBay the other day with the missing 'aitchkay' copy of RG5, but it was more than I would pay for what was two duplicates and a piece of shite, even if it was a piece of shite I'm still looking for!!

G is for Gladiators

It's a while since I sent a couple of images of these to PSR for one of their critique type revues within the vintage section, and I always like to give things a while there for the PSR fans to find, but there is always a need for more of these on the Internet, not least because people insist on calling them Kellogg's, and when corrected can get quite nasty!

Various shots some of which have been seen before, but they give a good idea of the colour range these came in. After they had been issued by Quaker they appeared in Tom Smith's budget range Christmas-crackers for a year or two, and when you find them now, you tend to either find a large lot in primary colours or a small lot with some of the wackier colours, I suspect that the former are Quaker-sourced and the latter; Tom Smith.

The range of colours is similar to both late production Hilco and Cherilea, so I wonder if one of them was responsible for producing these, however the metallic green is pretty unique (although common elsewhere; particularly hard plastic space-stuff and Roche au Fees circus premiums) and Quaker did buy a mass of Marx moulds when Swansea went tits-up, so maybe they had their own production facility? It would give hope to the mould being around still, as a lot of that Marx stuff has turned-up elsewhere over the years?

Close-up of the three mounted poses, the first one is clearly only good for a Spartacus war-game, being very much a 'Gladiator' on a horse, while the third one is as stupid as the Marx/Giant pose with a full 'Empire' legionary shield, but the one in the middle is very useful for early Republican, late Empire/Arthurian or other Mediterranean/Balkan/Levantine armies over a wide spread of time?

But with a sharp knife and some judicious paint-work they can all prove useful, and although in the hollow Hong Kong style - the horse is well detailed and can paint-up well, he also has that busy look of a small pre-medieval war-pony!

As far as I know (from my samples - mint in bag) the Baravelli range are Giant copies on 'Mexican Small' horses, not the Quaker figures?

Similar shot of the five foot poses, four of these are very useful but the fifth (middle figure) is difficult to place outside of a gladiatorial setting, being bare-chested, with a leather strap arrangement and a trident. The trident is nearly always miss-moulded, I think I have two good ones in a dozen or so figure-sample?

I gave a set of these to Paul over at Paul's Bods and live in hope that he will 'ruin' them with a touch of his magic painting! I couldn't bring myself to do it, but I think they'll paint-up well? I did have some in my childhood painted 'ancient' army, but have long since taken paint-stripper to them and returned them to 'minty'!

The original advert as it appeared in kids comics at the time, see; no Kellogg's!, this is lifted from Cluck, but there is a cleaner version linked-to from the PSR article on someone's Flickr album.

Q is for Quaker Oats Breakfast Cereals

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

Quaker Oats
The U.K. arm of this multi-national carried two lots of 1:76 scale figures in the 1970’s, both sets were issued in 'Sugar Puffs' and possibly 'Oat Crispies' (Now called 'Oat Crisp'), and in the case of the Gladiators; have been falsely attributed to Kellogg’s and Nabisco Foods. Dates are unknown; exact contents of each promotion are also unknown - memory serves that the Gladiators were issued as two foot or one mounted, see entry below for thoughts on the Airfix combat troops.
Gladiators
Possibly made by Hilco’s plastics division (or late Cherilea who ended up with the Hilco moulds), going purely on the plastic colours used. These are uncommon and command a premium when encountered. The excess stock (or moulds) seem to have ended up with Tom Smith who carried them for several years, my own memories are of single figures coming in Christmas crackers around 1974/5
- 5 x Foot figure poses (some of which make good Roman soldiers, particularly from the end of empire era)
- 3 x Mounted figure poses (one of which is suitable for use as a republican Roman)
- 1 x Hollow horse similar in construction to Hong Kong horses but are of a unique design.
British Infantry
These are supplied by Airfix and consist of an unknown number of ‘Combat Group’ (probably a sprue, or a sprues worth?). See Airfix for further details.