Tagged: vintage
Chaos Ratmen, or the Origins of Skaven
Everyone has them: miniatures that for whatever reason, you associate strongly with your hobby origin story. For me, these old-school Chaos Ratmen are some of those miniatures. Produced in 1986, these guys were a decade old when I arrived in wargaming in 1996. And although I never played Warhammer Fantasy, seeing these awesome figures in ... Read more
Chicago Painter Retrospective: John Stachura
Occasionally we cross paths with old-school painters and gamers from the early days of the hobby. Last year I bought some unpainted miniatures from John Stachura, and as part of the deal he included a small batch of painted medieval figures that I eventually put to good use in our skirmish games. You can see ... Read more
More Reinforcements: Knights and Pavises
Here’s a look at yet another batch of figures that I didn’t paint. Don’t worry, I have some of my own creations on display at the bottom of this post! A year or so ago I purchased a massive load of Essex 25mm medieval miniatures from a local gamer here in the Chicago area. My ... Read more
Figures You Forgot: Shadowrun
Here at Chicago Skirmish Wargames we’re always looking for rare and lesser-known lines of miniatures. At a Little Wars paint-and-take table a couple years ago, I painted up a couple of Shadowrun miniatures. I was just wasting a bit of time at the convention, but when I got home I found out that these figures ... Read more
New Paint for Old Friends: Necromunda Van Saar
I’ve got a blast from the past for you today in the form of my new Van Saar gang, which I just completed after collecting them off and on for many years. Further down I’ll also go over a couple of nifty wargaming products for the gamer on the budget: brush-on matt varnish from Winsor ... Read more
Painting up an old-school Chaos fantasy warband
Sometimes a batch of miniatures falls into your lap that really captures your imagination. This occurred at Little Wars, when Patrick and I bought a huge bin of assorted fantasy and historical figures from a vendor. Inside we discovered quite a lot of Grenadier Fantasy Warriors figures, including seven Chaos Knights. I was immediately taken ... Read more
Miniatures you’ve never seen: High Command sci-fi
Here at Chicago Skirmish Wargames, we’re big proponents of 28mm scale tabletop wargaming — on a budget. As well as buying from affordable outlets like Mega Minis, EM4 and Denizen, we also acquire lots of figures from companies or model lines that are now out of production. This occasional series of posts will dig deeper ... Read more
28mm on the cheap: Mega Miniatures
Though not as cheap as the dollar-per-miniature goal that we strive for, a few companies today make quality metal 28mm miniatures that range from $1.50 to $3 a piece. Building a 100-figure, Warhammer 40k-style army can be expensive even at this low price — though less so than with Games Workshop products — but warband ... Read more