"Unknown 30mm ACW Figures" Topic

Back in late 80s/early 90s, Wally Simon purchased some hysterically overdone ACW figures, they're caricatures to a degree. I don't recall where he got them but had to have been at an early flea market at one of the HMGS shows.

We called them Klunkies because they're klunky. When he passed away, some of us were asked if we wanted anything from the basement, I asked for and got the Klunkies.

We never knew who made them. I've looked after the advent of Teh Internetzezs but have never found them. Hoping the accumulated knowledge here might know.

Believe me, they're not something currently made, not Dixon, not Steve Barber, not something previously made like Frontier.

Link:
roadkeel.com/~grog/acw

Help solve a 30+ year old mystery.

Might be drop cast figures. You might never find out. But there are/were some drop cast guys on here.

Good luck

Boy that is a toughie! I thought maybe old K&L miniatures, but they aren't those. Not Minifigs, Heritage, or Hinchliffe either. I'm out of ideas.

Heh heh, exactly. Back in the day we could compare them to all those lines mentioned, no luck. With the advent of the internet, I could then compare them to lines I've never seen, Dixon, Curteys, etc. Again, no dice.

It's easy to eliminate all the new stuff given they predate so many lines that reflect scale creep of the last dozen years. In that regard, these were ahead of their time.

You'd think someone would recognize those heads.

Interesting figures with a style all their own. With a few of these painted for both sides one can have a nice skirmish.

The pictures rang a distant chime in my memories of a figure review in The Courier. There are 2 contenders. I first thought they might be Stonewall Brigade Miniatures, but I have some of those and they don't fit the pictures (though some figures have poor proportions). I continued browsing through my collection and found a review of Adventure Books & Games 25mm ACW in Volume 56 on Page 33 that contained a black and white rather small picture of several figures. It's a very poor picture, but a mounted figure in it looks a lot like the one shown in the grog00 pictures. So that's my best guess.

If we're really talking old 30mm ACW, add Command Post Miniatures to the list of possibles. They're not a pose I remember, but I only worked with the Napoleonics.

Thanks everybody for chiming in.

Legionarius: the figures were well used back in Wally's day for skimish gaming. I'm cleaning up an early set of those rules, meanwhile, a guy here in Denver is going to use the figures (also getting a mild reworking) in Dec using 'A Fistful of Lead' as the game system.

gamertom: could you scan that admittedly crappy photo and link to it? Or scan the article? Wow, there's nothing online about the company. What magazine are you referring to? (Vol 56, page 33)

robert p: another 'wow' in that there's nothing online I can find about Command Post.

Sigh, you're referencing a review in The Courier:
TMP link

I would have had that issue but got rid of them when we moved. I see the back issues are scanned and available at Wargame Vault. Time to find out!

Okay, $6 USD to Don Perrin for issues #56-57. Only 56 has the poor photo as mentioned above. #57 is a description of an 1859 French Grenadier.

Not them. The bases on these are either square or rectangular, that's the 'tell'. Somebody out here proposed Frontier miniatures as another possibility, same deal, the bases are different.

The horse shown in #56 is nothing like the ones in this collection and I'm pretty sure there are only 3 horse models: one galloping, one standing and one for pulling a limber.

FYI, there are no identifying marks on the base or the underside of a base.

Could they be AW Miniatures?

I think it's from the old Custom Cast/Heritage "Confederals" range. If it is, then it was probably sculpted by the legendary Duke Seifried.

Seifried's company, Custom Cast, merged with Heritage in the 1970's, but the combined company filed for bankruptcy in the early 1980's.

The figures are by BLOODAXE Miniatures.

A buddy of mine from New York is the owner/sculptor of BLOODAXE private collection.

The best piece is the flag draped funeral cart.

link

Here are a few pics of the figures If anyone's interested in buying the whole thing, they can shoot me a note and I will link you up with the owner.

He bought these almost 50 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!

The pictures from grog00 are definitely not the Old Custom Cast figures. I own several hundred of those. They are all true scale 25mm figures, are well proportioned, and did not have any "hysterically overdone" figures. I took another look at the Stonewall Brigade Miniatures review. It's in The Courier, Volume VI, Issue 4 on Page 37. Two of the three figures shown have rectangular bases (as do 2 of the 3 shown in the other review I mentioned). While those figures have their problems, I do own a few and they are not large enough to be 30mm. They are 28mm figures and I wouldn't consider them klunky. There is a picture that shows a good view of a Confederate leader on foot waving his hat in The Courier issue 56. Look for Paul Koch's article on another of his ACW scenarios, this one called the "Battle of Zion Church. The picture is for that article.

Are you sure Wally had the entire range? I still think the klunkies resemble bulk and general appearance of the figures shown in the Issue 56 review, but you are the best judge of that.

Too bad I didn't see torokchar's post before submitting. There's no denying those pictures of his. I've never heard of BLOODAXE Miniatures, but now I have.

I have tons of Custom Cast AWI figures, not close.

I'm not convinced these are Bloodaxe either. The infantry don't match up at all. I've pulled a drummer, totally different.

If you could take photos, in profile, of the horses, that might help. I'll get more photos posted this week of other figures. Given there are photos of artillerists, I'll photograph those and upload em for comparison.

Thanks everybody for looking at these.

More photos:

roadkeel.com/~grog/acw

Given what I see of Bloodaxe, these aren't them.

I think it's from the old Custom Cast/Heritage "Confederals" range. If it is, then it was probably sculpted by the legendary Duke Seifried.

Seifried's company, Custom Cast, merged with Heritage in the 1970's, but the combined company filed for bankruptcy in the early 1980's.

Nope, the Confederals were sculpted by Stan Glanzer, not Duke. Stan was Duke's primary sculpter and went from doing 25mm to the 15mm line for Custom Cast, later Heritage when Duke went to work for them. Stan went to Heritage with Duke, but sadly died at age 33.

Kim

Command Post was van Tubrigen (SP?) Late 60's maybe, certainly early 70's, and true 30's, compatible with Scruby but often better sculpts. Square and rectangular bases.

I tracked down most of the molds and master figures some years ago, and Dana Homo bought them, but Dana's dead now. I think Paul Hicks--the American, not the Brit--has most of them now.

But looking at grog00's additional photos, I'd say not Command Post. Not van Tubrigen's style, and I should have recognized a pose by now.