Retro D&D Miniatures, Part One

I don't know about you, reader, but I got the role-playing bug from my father who started with the original Dungeons and Dragons. As I child I enjoyed pouring over the books, modules, maps and especially the miniatures! Above all, they were what I loved about gaming and to this day they are still very important in how I enjoy my gaming sessions. To me, a game isn't complete without some sort of cool model to represent one's character. I enjoy making these representations for myself and for my friends who may be hobby impaired.

My wife knows of my love for gaming loot, and snagged a cool set of retro Grenadier minis from etsy a couple of years ago for my birthday. Further inspection of the set showed that the box, insert and miniatures are from mixed sets entirely! Even so, I greatly enjoyed receiving this gift and have had a swell time working on them to curate them into my collection. Without further ado here are some images of the completed models from this "set" for your viewing pleasure!

First up is the insert for the box. The insert itself is from the Dungeon Explorers set, and the box is from a wilderness themed set. The close ups below show the listing of the figures and a corresponding image to help identify the contents, like in a box of chocolates.

I really like the swagger of this dwarf rogue. I think his hat is awesome and his beard is stylin', tucked into his belt. He sees use in my current Pathfinder campaign as one of the PC's mini. 

The elf rogue shown here suffered from some storage issues. It may not come across clearly in the image since his face is partially obscured, but the poor guy got hit with "lead rot," the oxidation of the metal from poor storage. He now could double for the Phantom of the Opera! Cleaning up the figure and including a paint and seal job can preserve them in most cases, so here's hoping.

Next up is this pretty spiffy gnome fighter. I like this guy in particular as the miniature has a greater sense of action with his sword arm pointing forward. During the '70's and '80's production techniques for dynamically posed miniatures was still being experimented with so it was unusual to see anything like him.

Here's another gnome fighter from the set I received. You can see that he's posed a bit more stiffly than his counterpart. In addition, you can see many details between the two. Even today, it's common for a sculptor use the same base for several models - especially in multi-part kits such as what Citadel produce.

This monster is my favorite from the entire set, and I think he's very unique. Some research I conducted shows that he was boxed in a Grenadier set as a "Lesser Orc." It just shows that back in the early days of the industry there wasn't always much communication between the publishers and the companies. He was really fun to paint and I think he would make a great monster PC - some sort of goblinoid such as a hobgoblin or maybe an orc or half-orc?

I just came back from seeing The Hobbit when I started this halfling, and I think it shows in his costume. I'll shamelessly admit that I was inspired by Bilbo's wardrobe and accouterments when I painted up this little guy!

Next week I'll conclude with the rest of the set. I still have a handful that need to be painted so I hope a deadline serves as the proper motivation. Thank you for reading!