Old Light Infantry

Way back when I was a teenager and had the good fortune to go to Adelaide University, there was a local model shop up on Pultney Street that had a barrel (sounds better than a bin) of random metal figures.  They were frequently missing spears and were fairly random, often just one or two of the same figure, as if they were samples.  This was in the late 1970s and proved irresistible to a wargamer used to soft plastic figures and limited funds.  See this post for an example:

 https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2022/09/ye-olde-parthians.html

In moving stuff around I unearthed my collection of mostly Minifig 25mm ancients figures. What to do with them?  Obvious answer is to make a series of blog posts, starting with this one for the Light Infantry.  The terminology comes from WRG's Ancients rules authored by Phil Barker.  My brush with the author came in 1984 and he can be seen in some of the images in this post:

 https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2014/01/wrg-ancients-6th-edition-competition-in.html   

In looking up these posts I now find I have already done a post on these figures:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2011/09/25mm-metal-ancients-javelinmen.html

Well...

Doh!

So it goes.

But I expect, like me, no one reading this post will remember the previous one from over thirteen years ago.  I hope not anyway as I would find that deeply disturbing.

On with the show!

Just to tie back to the earlier Phil Barker reference, the code numbers for these figures are all PB and no guesses are required for what the initials stand for :-)

PB16 Javelinman

PB121 Barbarian Symmachiaruis

PB163 British Infantryman Javelinman with original spear

PB177 Asiatic Mountaineer with Javelins

Hinchcliffe hairy barbarian light infantry

Apart from replacing broken spears I also cut the figures off their bases.  Madness!  But flat basing was very much a style I was into and still pursue, however thankfully I have perfected it and no longer require the drastic step of base removal.

These figures also predate flocking.  The paint was a Humbrol matt green enamel and matched the playing surfaces I used to have.  I was able to recreate it using some cardboard of a similar colour for these photos.

In a bit of luck I have also found my Miniature Figurines catalogue from this period, along with my WRG Fully Revised 3rd Edition The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome by Phil Barker. It is interesting to me how close the Minfigs castings are to the images in this book.  For example the Asiatic Mountaineer with Javelins on page 68/69.

I never progressed to a 25mm Ancients army, but interesting enough the first 15mm figures I painted and that went on to form my Later Hoplite Greek Army matched the PB16 figure.

A Tin Soldier casting painted mid 1980s.

These have been rebased a few times as WRG rules evolved and have been used in many games.

The initial basing was a copy of what I did for the Minifigs - flat green no flock. Here is an example from a November 2013 nostalgia post: