"What is your favourite Minifigs 25mm Historical figure?" Topic

So, from just Miniature Figurenes (Minifigs) ranges that are historical and in 25mm (I only ever got a few of the 15mm medieval strip figures so can't really debate on those!) what is your favourite figure? And why, if you like!

Mine is probably EA 43 Hittite Guardsman, although I liked the Saxon King from the DA range a lot as well.

Not sure I ever owned any.

I never liked Minifigs all that much, even though I started in the 70s.

Most of the Napoleonic Russians. But wow are they pricey with 25% shipping markup now …. I love that entire Napoleonic line but worry about the age of the molds and masters

Any of the Napoleonic heavy cavalry figures, with horses that look like they are stepping straight out of a Currier and Ives print. Particular favorites include the Spanish cavalry in bicornes and the French guard grenadiers a chevall or gendarmes in their bearskins.

Rick

But wow are they pricey

I agree – compared to figures of a similar vintage. I can only assume they are running as a niche to sell mainly to those with lots of old figures, rather than trying to ensnare new customers. I think that's a shame, but it's not my business (in a literal sense) and I guess they've run the numbers and decided that's the way to go.

Ahh nostalgia; my favorite is the British Napoleonic Set 8 – Sappers & Miners a four piece set; one with an ax , one with a shovel, one with a board (ready to construct a redoubt perhaps), and one with a box (perhaps tools). This is a very nice vignette, which I still have …unpainted.

As I started opening some of the boxes of Mini-figs (sparked by this thread) I soon realized that I have lot these Napoleonic figures that will never see my brush. If anyone is interested buying them at a reasonable price, let me know.

I like their Marlburian mounted officers. Elegant

Too many to pick just one, but the Janissaries from the Malburian Range come to mind. Having said that, I think they are charging a premium price and there a lot more quality figures out there with sculpting that eclipses Minifigs. Probably appealing to older collectors who need to fill out there armies. I applaud them for that.

Marketing of the Minifigs 25s is what is needed. It's been 5 and a half years since I was doing that with GFI, and in that time I realized I missed some opportunities.

Minifigs 25's ( as well as their 2nd Edition-Super Detail ranges) are truly a wargamer's figure! They don'r have a lot of deep creases/cuts so they paint pretty quickly. Remember, on the game table, they can score hits just as easily as the finest painted/sculpted figs on the table! Enmasse, is where Minifigs captured our imaginations. Rows upon rows of decently painted units, all in the same pose, with the variety coming in the form of all the auxillary types awaiting your beckoning!

Without a doubt in "my" mind, the 3rd generation (Dave Higgs as sculptor) takes a different approach by an increase in realistic proportions and scale. IMHO, sturdy and packed with utility- always two poses of horses (feet together-feet apart) to show that horses never got the idea of marching in step! My units of advancing figures can knock the socks off your units of multi posed mobs as long as I can roll better dice than you! (In other words, better sculpted, painted or based figures have not squat to do with how well a unit serves it's human commander that is rolling the dice!)

I spent an entire year (in what little spare time I had to paint) to assemble a single battalion of 28mm Perry French! Man, do they look good. But all the time I spent painting, I could not stop thinking of how many Minifigs 25mm figs I could have done in the same time! Did I want to paint or game? Well, actually, I want to do both. But having a finite amount of time to paint and play, I'll take 5 units of Minifigs , painted to a wargamer's standard, over one unit of museum quality toy soldiers to command any day!

That's just me, but I sure have talked to enough customers to realize that I am not the only gamer that thinks the same way! Don't get me wrong, I still buy the best designed figures in the periods I like, but I will also have the period in Minifigs to bulk out my armies with.

My favorite 25mm Range from Minifigs is a toss-up between Naps, SYW and WSS. Best single figure would be the Mounted WSS officer (The Duke, of course!)

I do not know what metal goes for these days, but 5 years ago, our alloy was just pennies away from the $20.00 USD price tag per pound. 25mm figs and horses eats up a lot of bare metal to make. That is just the nature of the beast- like bigger figures= more metal= higher prices, as it should be. But if you can go back to the summer of 2007 (or so) you could read how China bought up the tin market. After all, they now are the world's de-facto manufacturer of everything these days because we don't seem to want to pay more for something made locally but will buy hoards of stuff made in China. So we must live in the world we have created. Shame the prices could not be lower for all our goodies, eh?

v/r
Tom

My favorite is the standing American militia man from Minifigs' 25mm AWI line.

Prussian SYW figure in the "March-Attack" pose. Loved 'em back in the day. Still have all my figs from the 80s and once in a blue moon get them out for a game. In Napoleonics I thought the sapper set for the French was great in the helmets and body armor. Never found a use for them on the table, but still loved them.

An ECW officer advancing, open handed, soft hat.

I definitely find an appeal in the 25mm Minifig figures. I have fall in love with them, fallen out of love, and then have again grasped them close to my chest in my old(er) age. Nostalgia? Could very well be. My desire for "Old School" figure lines has been there for a long time but increasing the last five years or so. My first Minifig 25mm were Prussian Napoleonic Guard infantry and I was very pleased with the paint job I did on them as a first-time figure painter back in the middle 70's. Added Prussian Landwehr before going into Minifig 25mm SYW when Minifigs USA melted their historical lines for fantasy figures, which I greatly resented at the time. Used some Minifig 25mm for my Colonial and Dark Ages periods but did not come back to them until my interest in collecting Custom Cast AWI and I added Minifig AWI. Now ECW 25mm Minifigs and I am very excited about them.

I always thought that a well marketed campaign of old school gaming would appeal to the Millenials. They seem to appreciate a lot of "retro" stuff: vinyl records, chuck taylor shoes and polaroid cameras. Minifigs would be the perfect vehicle for that. I don't know enough about the history of the line and molds to know if that is realistic or not.