"Photos of 15mm Minifigs 2nd gen Renaissance ranges?" Topic

Does anyone have any photos of 15mm Minifigs 2nd gen Renaissance figures they could post? I'm particularly interested in the English Civil War and Thirty Years War but I'd also like to see pictures of the other Renaissance ranges if you have got them.

I've got the old catalogues but the Renaissance ranges weren't covered very well and unfortunately the current range uses the same product codes, which can make things a bit confusing.

Best wishes

Stephen

Stephen when was 2nd Generation? I ask because I may have some.

What exactly are you trying to do? ID old figures?

@Oh B

I think the 2nd generation figures were produced in the late 70s/ early 80s. I'm not sure exactly when the range was introduced but it is the one that came after the figures sold in strips and before the current range. They were generally quite static poses and the infantry had shorter pikes than the current range. The horses were mainly in walking poses. If you do have any I would certainly be interested.

@ Extra Crispy
Yes, I am essentially trying to ID old figures. I collect 2nd gen Minifigs and I buy most of my figures from eBay. Unfortunately, because the sellers often don't know exactly what it is they are selling and because the product codes of the current 3rd gen range are the same as were used for the 2nd gen range you have to rely on the photographs provided by the vendors, which often aren't very clear. When it comes to Napoleonics and ACW I can spot a 2nd gen Minifig from half a mile away but with the Renaissance ranges it is much harder.

Thanks Stephen I have quite a few Tudor English and Irish if that is up your street.

Quite a lot of my Italian Wars figures are 2nd gen Minifigs. In many cases, I prefer these to the current ones. There are photos on my blog but I have only identified a few as specifically 2nd gen – the Gendarmes comparison for example.

I have also got some later 16th C and 30 years war/ECW kicking around in the lead pile. Are there specific types you are looking for?

link

The second edition 15mm Minifigs have squared off bases. Not all ranges were resculpted to 3rd generation. The renaissance ranges were not among the resulpted ones according to my master figure mold list, current as of 6 years ago. Unless Dave completed some ranges I am not aware of, the renaissance ranges are all second gen.

v/r
Tom

Hate to disagree with you Tom, but the renaissance figures I have from the early '80s are different from todays figs. For example the horses are all the 2nd gen walking ones, pikes were shorter, and as such not so bendy, arquebuses had a more squarish look, I could go on.. The new ones are great figs but I really prefer all the Minifigs 2nd gen, and not just the renaissance.

If the bases on the horses are shadow bases, then they are 3rd gen; if oval ends or squared off, 2nd. Since we did not remold the Renaissance ranges before we closed, all I can go on are the masters we had. I did not perceive those differnces from the casts the master molds produced. Maybe we did not have the earlier molds, but we did have most of the strip master molds that predate either of these. I defer to your expertise,then, as you have figures I never saw in our 14 years of existance.

Tom

Thanks for the replies everyone.

@ Oh B
It is up my street and I have sent you a PM.

@ Midlander65
I'm basically interested in anything you have got but in particular I am looking for ECW and TYW pikes and cavalry. You can contact me at stephenprentice at aol dot com

@ Tom Dye
LtJBSz is right about this. The 2nd gen Renaissance range was illustrated in the 3rd Minifigs catalogue, which looked like this:

The pikemen were all in 'at attention' type poses with the butt of the pike resting on the ground. The poses were far more static than the current range and the pikes were shorter (they were more prone to breaking but far less prone to bending like half-cooked spaghetti). The cavalry were mounted on horses in the characteristic 2nd gen walking pose and swords and muskets were either held upright or were down beside the boot (they weren't being waved in the air as is generally the case with the 3rd gen figures).

The figures for the ECW, Early 16th Century, Mid-Late 16th Century and Early-Mid 17thC Europe ranges were certainly remodeled. I am less certain about the other ranges because I don't know whether a 2nd gen range ever existed or whether they were only ever sculpted in the 3rd gen style. Just to confuse things further, in some cases, such as the East Europe & Far East range, 2nd gen cavalry are still being sold but they are now mounted on 3rd gen horses.

As is probably becoming apparent, I am somewhat obsessed about this topic . . .

Just happen to have my old catalogs here. Your cover is one I have not seen. They are 25mm figs there on the cover.

So you are focused upon figures starting at 21X thru 33x (Early 16th C Italian Wars) (Am only going to ref the infantry…)

41x thru 48x (Mid-Late 16th C Western Europe)
51x thru 57x (Early Mid 17th C Western Europe)
61x thru 76x ( East European & Far East) Probably this one too because of the Polish Winged Hussars period?

This from a very early catalog circa 1970's.? In a later catalog,(1990's-early 2000's) the "x" number now go to 171X.

What I am suggesting is that Mr dave Higgs just added to the epoc with more figures after 76x. Here is where I believe you are thinking that there was another generation when in fact, it is merely an extention of the epoc.

I do know that, due to complaints about the look of horses marching in step, they changed out the horses to the now famous "feet together" and "feet apart" on shadow bases, but using the same riders- a retrofit for the entire Renaissance epoc ranges.

Now if you have different length pikes and poses with the same code number, I will concede that I just learned something as it woulld indicate there was a new sculpt done to replace on old one! (Perhaps to maintain sculpting integrity to make all match?) By using the same code numbers, how would they know which ones were which when pulling production molds? Hummmm. Definately a mystery! Neil would know for sure!

BTW, SJDonavan…Kudos for being such a fan of Minifigs! Truly a founding pillar that helped get the hobby to where it is now…and continues to do so! It's really great to see other who appreciate that fact.

Tom

Steve and LtJBSz are both right. I clearly remember the 2nd generation figures; I even still have a few US cavalry from the Indian Wars range. They're more stiffly posed than the 3rd generation figures, slightly bulkier with marginally larger heads, and the sculpting is less finessed.

This was the first range to be promoted as 'super-detailed' (in comparison with the old strip figures I suppose they were).

Renaissance figures had short, thick, stumpy arquebuses. The Asgard figures produced around the same time were sculpted in a similar style.

I have large numbers of 3rd generation renaissance figures, and as much as they're an improvement on earlier Minifigs in terms of dynamism and detail (although mail was still poorly rendered), I do wish I'd taken the time to replace the spaghetti pikes with wire. Even then there's the thin ankles that are forever bending due to the soft metal used.

That takes me back – I have a copy of that self-same catalogue somewhere on the shelf, picked up on a high school foray to the UK in the first half of the 1970s.

@SJD – All of these ranges (certainly the ECW/TYW) were expanded when they were re-modelled into the (current) 3rd Generation, so there are fewer figure codes available as 2nd Generation figures. The expansions were touted in the catalogue for a while, but were not actually produced until after the 2nd Generation was superceded around 1985. For example, there were no Scottish pikemen in 2G.

However, the Minifigs sculptor moved on and produced a set of new figures – now sold as part of the Asgard range in the UK (Altuos) and the US (Viking Forge) – which are generally compatible. Again, all the musketeers are firing, but some of the pike are carrying the butt end of the pike in one hand and look a bit lop-sided sometimes. That said, if you normally replace the pikes, as I do, they can be made to match the standard "order pike" look of the old 2G types.

Personally, I'm looking for 2G Late Medieval/Early Renaissance figures for an Early Henry VIII army – sadly, stuff like early Yeomen of the Guard (in the white and green uniform) was never made in 2G, so you have to improvise – I'm using heavily armoured Landsknechts with red hats and leggings, and bills replacing the pikes (I play FoG:R which doesn't allow them to have the arquebus that the majority were already carrying in 1513).

I also have loads of ECW/TYW figures – let me have your email address and we can confer and arrange swaps.

@ Super Max

Thanks for the information on the 2G lines. I've got a few of the Tabletop (Altuos) range and some of them are almost indistinguishable from Minifigs. I'm not keen on the way they hold their pikes (it looks like they are about to toss the caber) but it hadn't occurred to me to convert them. I might give that a go.

You can contact me at stephenprentice at aol dot com. I actually bought some 2G Napoleonics off you a few years back so I've probably got your email address somewhere. I'll try to dig it out and drop you a line.