Airfix Robin Hood

[Zenopus]

From page 8 of Chainmail:

The LGTSA Medieval Minatures Rules ... may be used equally well with any scale -- including the inexpensive Airfix "Robin Hood" and "Sherriff of Nottingham" 25mm plastic figures.

Anybody ever use these? I was looking for cheap plastic figures for my kids to play with, and was surprised these Airfix sets could still be purchased new on Amazon or Ebay for less than $10. It appears they were reissued a few years ago - same figures, although the color of the plastic may be different than in the 70's.

Here's a pic of the sets found via Google Images:


And this site has close-ups of the figures:

Airfix Robin Hood figures
Airfix Sheriff of Nottingham figures

From the reviews I think they are too fragile for us, so I ended up getting some larger scale (60 mm) Jecsan Crusader Knights off Ebay.

[Zenopus]

I remembered that Gygax also wrote in a 1972 article, "Fantasy Battles" about using the Airfix Robin Hood figures as Hobbits vs 40 mm Elastolin figures.

[Sean Michael Kelly]

......me wants. Thanks, so much for pointing these out! Exalt!

The LGTSA Medieval Minatures Rules.

Anybody know where these could be found? PM?

[Zenopus]

Essentially, the final form of the LGTSA rules is Chainmail.

There's an overview and an earlier version posted on Jon Peterson's blog:

playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lgtsa-medieval-miniatures-rules.html

[thorswulf]

I picked up some ooooold Stan Johansen warlord 20mm Vikings and Normans a long time ago. I use these for Dwarf figures in a pinch.

[noffham]

Yes, I used these with my brother in our early wargaming days. They looked good and held paint well as long as you washed and dried them completely before painting.

They are small 20mm figs, very thin compared to modern miniatures (which all seem to be 28-30mm nowadays).

[Vile Traveller]

Yes, I had several sets of these in the 80s. They were not too out-of-scale with my mould-them-yourself miniatures. The bendy plastic did cause paint to flake off relatively easily even with washing (mild soapy warm water, same as for plastic model kits), as I was using Humbrol enamels at the time. I imagine modern acrylics will fare better.

And, OMG, I've just found those moulds: shop.princeaugust.ie/25mm-scale-moulds/

[thorswulf]

I picked up some 1/72 plastic undead made by Caeser miniatures. They are nicely sculpted and at $10 for 35+ figurea a good deal.

[rsdean]

There is a small picture of my HotT army of Robin and Sheriff figures in this thread:

odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=chainmail&action=display&thread=6288&page=3

If I am mail ordering plastics, I usually go with Michigan Toy Soldier:

www.michtoy.com/

[rsdean]

I might also note that I've done a lot of casting with Prince August molds...

sharpbrush.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-time-to-cast.html?m=1

[Matthew]

Very cool! Has anybody got any examples of Elastolin or Starlux figures? I have never seen them before either.

[rsdean]

My friend Ross Macfarlane's blog has a fair amount showing gaming with Elastolins:

gameofmonth.blogspot.com/search/label/elastolin?m=0

[Matthew]

Excellent link; thanks!

[stormberg]

Howdy All,


I have a bunch of pictures of Elastolins in action at Gary Con:

Siege of Bodenburg

thecollectorstrove.com/gc-iv-bodenburg/

Battle of the Brown Hills

thecollectorstrove.com/gc-iv-brown-hills/

The Collector's Trove has lined up a whole new series of events for Chainmail, Tractics, Diplomacy, Little Wars, Siege of Bodenburg, Remagen Bridge, etc. lined up for this year's Gary Con under the Legends of Wargaming events. Many of the miniature events will be run on the 6' x 10' sand table sponsored by The Collector's Trove and will be played using vintage Hausser, Airfix, Roco, and Britains war machines, vehicles, and figures. Check 'em out here:

www.garycon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=990&sid=29dcede0cee82fdb49a1d0be2322641f


Futures Bright,

Paul

[jacar]

When I played solo games as a kid, I used both sets. The cavalry are a bit fiddly since you have pegged hooves that have to be inserted into a base. I eventually used balsa wood bases. Newer plastics have bases incorporated into the horse figure. Much much better!

They are small 20mm figs, very thin compared to modern miniatures (which all seem to be 28-30mm nowadays).

Comparing apples to oranges. 28mm figures are 1/56 scale or there about. 20mm figures are 1/72 scale. So of course the Airfix figures will seem smaller because they are of a different scale.

I like them quite well. For cheap figures, you can use them and a whole lot of other manufacturers to create your own fantasy armies. Caesar Miniatures has an excellent range of fantasy figures in 1/72 scale. Orion (under the name Dark Alliance) is currently developing fantasy range of their own. I am not keen on their elves but they have 3 box sets of Orcs (various types) and are coming out with Orcs on Wargs in 2 box sets. I've seen the test sprues of these. They do look good if nto a little over the top.

Caesar: miniknight.com/caesar.htm Scroll to the bottom for the fantasy series. They also have some medieval offerings as well.

A picture of the first two boxes of the dark alliance stuff. 3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jjMTlIkZh4/TBpDxOVSD2I/AAAAAAAAAuI/b37GkE0NaR8/s1600/orcs2.jpg Not the best in the world but the google machine will reveal some nicely painted figures of this type.

[Matthew]

Jan 4, 2013 2:39:21 GMT -6 stormberg said:

I have a bunch of pictures of Elastolins in action at Gary Con:

Siege of Bodenburg

thecollectorstrove.com/gc-iv-bodenburg/

Battle of the Brown Hills

thecollectorstrove.com/gc-iv-brown-hills/

The Collector's Trove has lined up a whole new series of events for Chainmail, Tractics, Diplomacy, Little Wars, Siege of Bodenburg, Remagen Bridge, etc. lined up for this year's Gary Con under the Legends of Wargaming events. Many of the miniature events will be run on the 6' x 10' sand table sponsored by The Collector's Trove and will be played using vintage Hausser, Airfix, Roco, and Britains war machines, vehicles, and figures. Check 'em out here:

www.garycon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=990&sid=29dcede0cee82fdb49a1d0be2322641f

Very cool, Paul.

Jan 4, 2013 12:10:52 GMT -6 jacar said:

I like them quite well. For cheap figures, you can use them and a whole lot of other manufacturers to create your own fantasy armies. Caesar Miniatures has an excellent range of fantasy figures in 1/72 scale. Orion (under the name Dark Alliance) is currently developing fantasy range of their own. I am not keen on their elves but they have 3 box sets of Orcs (various types) and are coming out with Orcs on Wargs in 2 box sets. I've seen the test sprues of these. They do look good if nto a little over the top.

Caesar: miniknight.com/caesar.htm Scroll to the bottom for the fantasy series. They also have some medieval offerings as well.

A picture of the first two boxes of the dark alliance stuff. 3.bp.blogspot.com/_4jjMTlIkZh4/TBpDxOVSD2I/AAAAAAAAAuI/b37GkE0NaR8/s1600/orcs2.jpg Not the best in the world but the google machine will reveal some nicely painted figures of this type.

Interesting stuff. I have a lot of 28mm figures heading my way over the next few months, so this is of limited use to me. My biggest problem at the moment is finding decent human figures for army building. Games Workshop is a bit too expensive/weird for me these days, and I am not a big fan of the Reaper Miniatures human range. I am waiting on some Red Box Games figures at the moment, but there seems to be a lot of assembly required for them. I guess we will see! Perry Miniatures do a nice range, but they are not particularly cheap. I have my eye on the War of the Roses boxed sets.

[desertscrb]

If you don't mind plastic miniatures, Wargames Factory has lines of historical, sci-fi and fantasy figures in 28mm.

You might also want to check out Warlord Games, particularly their Pike & Shotte line.

[jacar]

Interesting stuff. I have a lot of 28mm figures heading my way over the next few months, so this is of limited use to me. My biggest problem at the moment is finding decent human figures for army building. Games Workshop is a bit too expensive/weird for me these days, and I am not a big fan of the Reaper Miniatures human range. I am waiting on some Red Box Games figures at the moment, but there seems to be a lot of assembly required for them. I guess we will see! Perry Miniatures do a nice range, but they are not particularly cheap. I have my eye on the War of the Roses boxed sets.

Have you had a look at Old Glory stuff? Just off the bat, not too expensive for 28mm. If you join the Old Glory Army ($50), you get 40% off of almost everything in their shop. I think if you buy 5 bags of stuff, you break even. That's about 150 figures. So it is only worth it iff you are buying for armies of course. There is a decent selection of fantasy stuff and a lot of historical figures. Want to go High medieval? They have it. Want to go Dark Ages? They have it! Something in between? Yep! Have that too!

www.oldgloryminiatures.com/

[Matthew]

Jan 6, 2013 18:19:13 GMT -6 desertscrb said:

If you don't mind plastic miniatures, Wargames Factory has lines of historical, sci-fi and fantasy figures in 28mm.

You might also want to check out Warlord Games, particularly their Pike & Shotte line.

Yeah, those are both good possibilities.

Jan 7, 2013 8:29:40 GMT -6 jacar said:

Have you had a look at Old Glory stuff? Just off the bat, not too expensive for 28mm. If you join the Old Glory Army ($50), you get 40% off of almost everything in their shop. I think if you buy 5 bags of stuff, you break even. That's about 150 figures. So it is only worth it iff you are buying for armies of course. There is a decent selection of fantasy stuff and a lot of historical figures. Want to go High medieval? They have it. Want to go Dark Ages? They have it! Something in between? Yep! Have that too!

www.oldgloryminiatures.com/

Slightly too small at 25mm, I suspect, though I have heard good things about them before.

[jacar]

Slightly too small at 25mm, I suspect, though I have heard good things about them before.

They are essentially the "modern" 25mm aka 28mm figures. I think they would look fine with just about anything out there in the 28mm realm. most manufacturers do not do well WRT scale and uniformity anyway.

This picture has some ECW figures. OG seems to match well with Perry ECW, for instance.

wk.frothersunite.com/misc/pics/musksize.jpg

2nd from the right is OG. 3rd from the right is Perry.

[Matthew]

Interesting. I have heard Reaper Miniatures are more like 30mm than 28mm; I will have to do some comparisons.

[thorswulf]

Reaper calls their stuff "Heroic Scale 28mm" The fact is that most of the figures vary in size from 28mm to 32 mm, depending on the sculptor. Historical miniatures are usually consistent in being 28mm, but some do tend to be slighter in heft, or bulkier. The fact is that if you like a fig, then buy it. Most fantasy gamers are not scale purists in my experience. Players want cool figs that reflect their character's persona.

[Matthew]

Interesting point about the variable scales within Reaper, but for the purposes of war gaming it would be visually troubling to have a lot of figures at different scales.

[jacar]

I always look at Reaper as being characters. Yes I know they have some rank and file stuff too but the reason to pay top dollar for reaper miniatures is to get the cool character types. That said, I think it is OK if they are a little bigger. It makes it easier to pick out the hero on the table top and lets face it. Heroes are supposed to be larger than life!

[Matthew]

I went in on the Kick Starter, so I have a lot of kobolds, goblins, orcs and hobgoblins heading my way, not to forget skeletons and zombies. So, basically, I am looking for some generic human types on the same scale to oppose them. ;D

[jmccann]

Amazon has the Robin Hood figs for< $7. I just ordered a couple of sets. I am not sure about painting them - what kind of primer have people tried?

[thorswulf]

Ooooo, now there's a tricky one! Some folks seal the figure in white glue. Some have suggested using spray adhesive followed by spray primer. Another way is to use a primer made for plastics like the one Krylon makes called Fusion. I have used Fusion on 1/32nd scale figs and it adheres pretty well. The Fusion brand has a flat black and a flat white primer also.

[jmccann]

I'll give the Krylon plastic primer a try.

[coffee]

I've used the Krylon Fusion before, but it doesn't stick to all plastics. The really flexible HaT figures in particular shed the stuff almost immediately. (I have their Tarzan set, and was really looking forward to painting the animals...)

But with some of the other manufacturers, Caesar in particular, it worked great. Please check back in and let us know how it worked on your figures.

[jmccann]

I looked for it at a local art supply store but they did not have it. I'll see if I can locate some next weekend. I also got some of the Zvezda and MiniArt figs which seem to be a harder plastic.

I'll post something after giving it a try.