"Where's the Old School Scruby Love?" Topic

I'm wondering if anyone gives any serious consideration to using "Old School" vintage wargame figures anymore. I'm practically giving away a collection of Scruby SYW figures for about $2.00 USD per figure and am puzzled by the lack of interest. With the basic lead figure selling for about $1.00 USD per figure were you to buy the unpainted castings, this amounts to a paint price of $1.00 USD per figure for some very nicely painted (albeit not the current fad of 3-tone paint) figures. Seems like a bargain to me. Where am I wrong?

Should I conclude that Old School wargamers have no interest in actually using Old School figures in their games?

TMP link

I'm still using some of my original figures from the 1970s.

And maybe that is the problem, Old School gamers like to pay old school prices….

Well, I still have plenty of Scruby 30mm AWI in use. Not whole units, anymore, but mixed in with a lot of other lines.

And I'd buy those if I didn't already have three big units of Hessian fusiliers. (One of which is half Scruby and half Hinchliffe)

Fritz…I'm actually looking at them, and seeing if my budget will allow it….

Scruby's are ugly, that might be part of the problem. Good paint jobs only carry an ugly miniature so far….

There's a really nice display of those figures in the Bunker Hill Museum up the street from me.

Ad's been up one day and you've had no offers. Patience, Fritzchen, patience.

I see one problem. You haven't listed the figures' scale in the ad. As I recall, Scrubys were made in more than one scale, and I can't tell what these are just by looking. Since scales have crept since the 1970s, you might also want to describe which modern figures these are a good match for.

I still use old figures (mostly 70's Ral Partha, grenadier and Minifigs)which I'm repainting. Looking to get more.
The quality of new figures are remarkable, but too much of a good thing "ain't", if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong I buy new figures and like them, but the old figures still have an innocent character. Makes me feel like I'm wargaming, not buying into a marketing scheme.

DAF,

Nice figures, nice paint job and reasonable price. I just don't purchase painted figures, old or new school.

Bill

I do, in plastic, at least:

I have entire armies of WW2 plastic Airfix and Matchbox. Some of the Airfix figures and vehicles are well over 30 years old.

I think Martin Rapier has a good point. I myself have had a hard time getting out of an 80s mentality for all things. I still think my wife and I should be able to eat a simple meal out for $10 USD or less!

I still have my Scruby's and others from the 70s that still get used. It's just that it is getting harder to find tables and other figures where they don't look like hobbits.

There was a large AWI game at Pacificon last week that fielded nothing but Scruby minis.

"I myself have had a hard time getting out of an 80s mentality for all things."

Me and my wife still live like we used to when we were students, in some things anyway. At least it means we'll be able to live on nothing when we retire:)

I expect wargaming to be a cheap hobby.

If you really want old figures, a sad but increasing trend it the mass sale/disposal of old collections from gamers who have died. Two lots in the last six months…. beautiful stuff some of it, which shouldn't go to waste.

My 30mm Napoleonic Scruby's see action at times. I used
to field about 1,200 for some games.

Today, I still have those figures, and about 400 others
which mix well with 28mm Napoleonics.

If I make it to Historicon 2012, the 1,200 will again see
action.

I have some to paint up in 10mm. The definitely look Old School. The problem for me is that figure quality has advanced during the past 35 years so they'll look odd up against the modern figures I have.

Personally, I am a big fan of old school wargaming using vintage 20mm and "true 25mm" metal figs. Unfortunately, some have gone from being simply wargame figures to being collector's items. Has anyone seen what Hinton Hunt 20mm figures are fetching on ebay these days? I must say I do like the toy soldier charm of the old 25mm Scrubys.

Howard, I've got a collection of these available at deep discount. Send me an email at widowson1@att.net and I'll provide details.

Dear Alte Fritz

It will cheer the cockles of your heart to know that I am presently using over 300 SAE figures which are "ancient" school to the Scruby's "Old School" figures. I use them with my old Greenwood and Ball, my old Hinton Hunts, and my old Surens (Willies) and Staddens, which are over 30 years old. I also have some new ones I bought. I use these with figures from Dayton Painting Consortium etc. So this is one Old school gamer who continues to use them.

Alas I have no Scruby's any more. I had a collection once of over 1,000 or so (maybe 2,000) but I gave them all away in a fit of pique and the antics of the Toxic group of gamers I was gaming with and who made me so disgusted that I left the hobby. Obviously my resolve weakened. There were Napoleonic figures and the toxic gamers were all Napoleonic Gamers so it's completely understandable why they were toxic.

Anyway, How many Scruby's do you have in the 18th century? $2.00 USD is not a bad price.

I'll check out the link.

The secret I think is that all wargamers are incredibly cheap. As one hobby store owner told me (he did not know I was a miniature gamer) "Miniature gamers are the rudest, nastiest, cheapest, laziest, most ungrateful people I ever met. They won't do anything unless you gift wrap it for them and shove it into their grubby little mits, and even then they won't thank you for it!"

I don't NEED any more 18th century stuff, but… when has that ever stopped me in the past.

Dear Alte Fritz

Link doesn't work.

Sorry DaF, but I think you are asking too much – painted Minifigs normally go for less than bare metal these days.

The world has moved on, and so unless figures are "rare" or "oop" to use the eBay terms, then you will need to find a serious collector.

But kudos for trying to drum up interest here on TMP.

And old school – well, I use Airifx Naps still, so some of mine date from the early 70's. And I still have my Minifigs and Garrison. And my Imagi's are soon to have their (Minifigs 25mm Marlburian) generals painted up to join their plastic (Zvezda) armies.

Good luck with the sale – remember, what you want to get, and what someone else wants to give, may not be the same in all cases

Date guys, the date…

I just want to say that if anyone has some Scruby AWI that they want to give away or sell in lots, LMK!!

Post contact info here…

The main issue I see is that old battered paint jobs require them to be stripped and repainted. Some are willing to do this, others are not.

I'm still fond of the traditional Scruby figures. In the last year I've stripped and repainted/rebased some Mexicans (originally acquired for skirmish gaming) and added additional Historifigs figures for a start on a Mexican-American War army; completed a unit of Medieval archers that match well with modern 1/72 scale plastics; not to mention the pile of 12mm (N-gauge) figures for 1866 and 1929 imaginations that are a longstanding WIP.

Yeah, I'm trying to get some more things from Historifigs for my Christmas stocking – maybe a British regiment with green facings?

Or a Loyalist unit with red facings?

:)