"15mm ACW old Heritage line "Confederettes" ??" Topic

After following the thread on old 25mm Custom Cast/Heritage/Iron Brigade miniatures, I wondered if anyone knows anything about the 15mm ACW and Napoleonic ranges that Heritage once produced. Very well sculpted, small 15s and very extensive ranges. Or is there a good thread on this that I missed! Are they still being produced or what happened to them??

I posted a note in my blog about this line of figures a few months ago.

link

Long story short: No, they are not in production and it doesn't sound like they will be any time soon.

My Napoleonic Russians are primarily Napoleonettes and they are nice figures and were some of the best available back in the early 1980's when I was collecting them.

Yes that is also along the lines of what I heard many years ago I think by Duke himself. I remember asking him a few years back and while I do not remember who was holding the molds I recall the story along those same lines.

I have serveral pack that I have no interest in doing. Maybe when I find them it is time to put them on the market place.

I also have many of these and the 25mm Thermopylae ancients that were originally Heritage as well. They last I knew were made out of somewhere in Oklahoma.
VR
James Mattes

Sad….I always liked this line….

The napoleonettes and Confederettes became part of the Empire operation run out of Dallas. I always viewed the napoleonics as a better casting than the ACW range. To my knowledge no one has attempted the etched flags present in both of those 15mm ranges.

At one time they were in storgage at another local casting company. This I was told by the storing company back in the 1990s. Current status unknown.

Yep, last seen in Arlington, but last reported… as Rudy said.

Deep in the heart of Texas…

When I die and my collection goes for sale, Blackmon will be sorry! His hoarding will do him no good when the market value plummets!

Bill Gray and I were TDY from Fort Hood back to Fort Knox once, and happened to catch the U.S. Cavalry Store's tent sale in Radcliff where they were dumping all the Heritage ranges as 50% off. We filled our suitcases. Oh, how we laughed…

Allen

Thanks ! I figured there was some kind of back story here! Seems kind of silly not to make something from these items, but other than curiosity, I couldn't personally care less about what some guy is doing or not doing with his "precious"! Again many thanks for the link and info Plenty of stuff that IS available and just as good or better is everywhere. They were the best of their day, however, IMHO, and would still get a decent market share today I think, but it seems that they will not, and I guess "so what"?

Too bad – I have a whole bunch of ACW figs from way back when about this

Allen,

Unfortunately, I also remember that sale. I must have got there after the two of you. All the good stuff was already sold!

Milt

That must have been in '81, huh, Milt? Sorry we raided it so well!

Allen

We really need to monitor Mr. Blackmon's local newspaper. Maybe his estate will be willing to sell the line.

Don't these show up on ebay all the time, with DFW as the seller's address?

I've heard, with no names stated, that there is a real question of copyright infringement involved as the origional castings/masters were rip offs of a well known line of figures already on the market in the UK?

It might why no one wants to put these (or other such lines) into production today.

Dan

I don't know about any copyright issues.. Stan Glosser was the sculptor and he did the 15mm lines (including the ancients) for Duke under the Heretage name a long time ago (1975ish?)
I wonder if I ought to start sculpting a line to match the style of those figures. Any takers? Would you like to see that ?

that there is a real question of copyright infringement involved as the origional castings/masters were rip offs of a well known line of figures already on the market in the UK?

I strongly doubt that. I was very heavy into 15mm Napoleonics at the time and subscribing to all the UK Mags and I recall nothing remotely like the Napoleonettes or Confederettes being available. If anything close to the Heritage 15's had been available, even if mail order to Whatchamacallitstan had been required, the line wouldn't have made such a strong impression that after 20 years, people still are willing to buy.

Dan i too find that hard to believe about 1975-7 era Napoleonics and the 1978 era Confederettes were similar to any UK product. I have never seen any 15mm UK product from the 1970s which had etched flags for example.

Names, terms used may be a different issue. However copyrigth issues from the 1970s should not be an issue now since expiration of 25 years.

"I've heard, with no names stated, that there is a real question of copyright infringement involved as the origional castings/masters were rip offs of a well known line of figures already on the market in the UK?"

Nope. That goes back to the original Der Kriegspielers 20mm Napoleonics, which rumor had it were knockoffs of Staddens, but at least one TMPer has seen Uncle Duke's contract to produce them uder license.

The 15mm Napoleonettes, Confederettes, Panzertroops The infantry, not the vehicles), and at least some of the ancients were sculpted in the USa by Stan.. I thought it was Glasser, but The Outlander has the right of it.

Personally, I would love to see true 15s in that style again.

Allen

Stan's last name was Glanzer. I got him into wargaming and sculpting. We were friends from the third grade. He clearly sculpted the 15mm Napoleonettes and Confederettes. He also did the 25mm Confederals and whatever Duke caled the AWI range. I saw him a lot while he was sculpting these figures.

Before he did the 15mm, we were partners in Bugle and Guidon. He sculpted the 30mm Custer figures. We then got into 54mm nonwargame figures. He sculpted many of those, but we did use three other sculptors for 54s as well.

He started sculpting before epoxy putty came on the scene. He was a welding engineer by education. He did that several years before going into figures full time. He sculpted from metal, using a dental drill. His welding engineering helped him in adding metal to the figures, but I do not remember how it differed from normal soldering. He did eventually use epoxy putty.

The 20mm figures mentioned above were not Staddens. Staddens were 30mm. The 20s were Hinton Hunts. I personally have no idea what the arrangement for those was. Stan was not involved in those.

Tom

That was all along time ago.

I stand corrected: Hinton Hunts. I think I knew that, but didn't check.

Interesting that Tom Meier credits Stan Glanzer for intorducing him to epoxy putty!

Thanks for the great details!

Allen

Yeap I had/have heard the Hilton Hunt stories before as well. I have NEVER heard anything about the 15mm line and I never saw anything even close from across the pond. The line along with the Napoleonics were the best on the market by far at the time. I still have painted units of them.
VR
James Mattes

The Heritage/Custom Cast line is still the heart of my Napoleonics armies. Speaking of which, Allen, what about my Prussians?

They're Minifigs! I will get them out to you this weekend, Don.

Allen

I sold of my Acw Heritage a long time ago. Never had many of the Naps. I do have a load of their Ancients though. A painted Roman and Cartahginian army. I wouldn't mind some more of those.

Thanks,

John

John, I loved the Spanish etched shields in the ancients range.

I know Rudy. They were nice. The Gauls were the same way. The gent who originally owned and sculpted Rank and File had painted up parts of both of my armies. We did a trade were I acquired the figs from him. That was in the late 70's early 80's. Need some more Numidian Cav.

Thanks,

John

Here are some more answers for y'all!

Molds and rights remain with the widow of the owner of Iron Brigade Miniatures in Oklahoma. She is trying to sell off the entire operation for circa $50K. (really, quite a good deal if you have that kind of dough!) Those include the 15mm ACW and Ancients, 25mm ACW and AWI, the Bugle and Guidon range, and a few others as well. She also holds the rights to the old ACW rules "Rally 'Round the Flag", as well.

The 15mm Napoleonics are the property of of a Mr. Blackmon, IIRC, resides in Texas. Reaper is storing the molds for him. I don't recall the asking price, but it was very unrealistic, and he retained the rights and royalties as well. That was about 8 years ago.

I looked into these long ago as they were my favorites when I lived in Ohio. Visited the "Tin Soldier" (on Salem Ave) regularly and also knew Stan Glazner. He also did the 15mm WWII that 19th Century now owns, but IIRC, have replaced with new sculpts, to go with Duke's old "Comet Models" tanks.

Hope this answers some of the "Where did these go?" type of questions. Ed Pugh at Reaper is just a wealth of accurate info on old lines! Chris von Fahanenstock and I both followed these lines as we both cut our teeth on them way back in the early 70's! (Thanks, Duke and Stan!)

Best
Tom Dye
GFI

I cut my teeth in wargaming with these figures… playing Rally round the Flag.

Brings back lots of great memories…

I remember the ancients line available from Hawaii as well sometime ago. Can't recall the name of the company at that time but Antivicus or something like that. Do not know where the Hawaii connection fits into the history.

Yes on the OK connection that was the one I was refering to. I thought they had the Napoleonics as well, my bag.

Chris von Fahanenstock! There is a name from the past. Last I heard after being recalled to active duty he was going to make the Army a career after all.

VR
James Mattes

Wow half of my french army is the old Napoleonettes. The other half is 2nd gen Minifigs. If anyone is willing to sell their old pack I will take them.

Tom, I may have met you at the Tin Soldier then. I was there from the mid 70's on.

Thanks,

John

They're Minifigs!

I know, but I still miss the little guys! (sniff!)

Dan: If I remember correctly, the issue of copyright infringement was that some Der Kriegspielers 25mm were actually Hinton Hunt figures.

James: I believe the ancients you are thinking of were Battle Honours that were produced in Hawaii in the early 90s.

John, I may decide to let go of the ancients, and there are quite a few Numidians in there. But I'll list them in the TMP Marketplace, which is where such notices should go…

Allen

custosarmorum 05 Sep 2009 2:17 p.m. PST
James: I believe the ancients you are thinking of were Battle Honours that were produced in Hawaii in the early 90s.

Yes you are correct I had a brain fart until I read your posting and remembered they were Battle Honours. I do have the Custom Cast 15mm Romans too.
VR
James Mattes

Probably so, John. From about 73-77, I also moonlighted at Fairborn Hobby. Ever play at George Fremen's house? He's the guy that insisted on playing "range quesstimation". He would not allow us to come onto "his" side of the table. Later we found out why…..he had the sides of the table marked so only someone on his side could see the marks!

His ability to drop a round down a hatch of a tank was just too uncanny! />(

I also remember their move to Heritage Square, bu the Dayton Mall.

Best
Tom Dye
GFI

I used to like the 15mm Der Kriegspielers/Heritage Napoleonettes and Civil War figures myself.

McKinstry's comment about the originality and popularity of these figures after twenty years made me think. It's kind of sad that Der Kriegspielers is also remembered for pirating the 20mm/25mm Hinton Hunt Napoleonic figures. I really don't intend to go out of my way to be unkind or unforgiving, but I guess some us of will remember DK/Heritage with mixed feelings.

If I hadn't started collecting other 15mm Napoleonic figures through the years, I wouldn't mind getting some Napoleonettes myself. They seemed to mix fairly well with Minifigs' old "Super Detail" range.

Wow, this topic has been a trip down memory lane.

Fairborn Hobby is where I bought my first Napoleonic Airfix plastics along with the orange Airfix Napoleonic wargaming guide, sometime in the mid-70s.

A few years later I switched from plastics to 15mm Napoleonettes from the Tin Soldier. I soon started playing ACW as well with Confederettes and Rally 'Round the Flag; they were great old set of rules! Those Heritage figures still comprise a large part of my armies.

Since this thread seems to be a reservoir of information down this line – can anyone here identify with hard data the current status of the Frontier range, both 15 mm and 25 mm? As in, who owns the range, what is the status of molds, masters, etc? Would love to know. Always one of my personal favorite ranges and much lamented for its absence these last years.

Thanks.

The G.

The G. The frontier USA range is owned by Doug Bohannan of Tactical Edge In Winter haven Florida. He was producing in the 1990s until he had a terrible motorcycle accident.

Since that time they were briefly available as another gamer was doing the casting. That stopped a couple of years ago.

No new sculpting since the 1980s but to my knowledge their are a number of production moulds that never had the vents cut. I do not know if that is true or not but it is the rumor going around.

The last I heard Doug did have the company up for sale. I will see him at Hurricon in Cocoa Beach in a few weeeks.

I'll be watching for those Allen.

I was in love with the Tin Soldier. It had many different sites over the years. Ah, the memories of my youth!

Thanks,

John

Just realized I made a mistake. The Hinton Hunts were 25mm, not 20s. However, with the creeping scale over the decades, they are probably closer to what would today be called a 20mm. They were true 25s. They fit with the Minifigs of the day.

Tom

Allen: Another weekend, come and gone. FYI, the Post Office is closed on Sundays.

Would anyone have any Heritage french fusiliers to sell? Painted or unpainted. Send me an e-mail.

That is 15mm Heritage.

Allen: Several more weekends have passed.

I painted up a ton of 20mm-25mm ACW Confederals/Der Kriegspeilers in the 70's and early 80's. But I have since changed scales to the more available 25mm-28mm. What to do with the old figures? For some reason I didn't want to put them on eBay so instead I replaced the plastic figures that came with Eagle Games' The American Civil War with these old figures and use them when I play the game with my grandsons. Perhaps I passed up making a few bucks but the boys brag about the cool figures to their friends. I figured I made the right decision.

My e-mail address is rsampson1 at att.net

They came in something other than 15mm?