Jon Meech kindly sent me more photos of Minifigs 5mm blocks, some which are still unfinished. Here's the information that Jon knows of the line of figures. He believes that they were launched in 1972 as "MiniMinifigs" and were included in the 1972/73 catalog. They sat alongside the 25mm (S) range and equally short lived 30mm range. They were discontinued sometime before 1976. The reason given by NevilleDickinson was that he was having trouble finding a reliable sculptor in this scale.
Jon has excess of 200 blocks, of which he says all are poor casting. Could this be one reason they were discontinued? In the blocks in the raw, they can seen to be less than well cast. However, I believe a war-game battlefield filled with these figures would be an impressive sight.
Once again I want to thank Jon Meech for sharing the photographs and history of these figures. I asked Jon that in the future he could send me pictures of them in action; if he does I will share them with you.
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| Nicely painted cavalry. |
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| One unit of infantry painted as Zouaves. |
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| 2 Two rank infantry units. It can be seen that some of the heads aren't complete. |
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| The corners of the blocks aren't complete. |
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| The cavalry bases, with the same problem of not filling in completely. Jon says this is common with the blocks. Perhaps that is the reason Minifigs discontinued them. Whatever the cause, it is a loss to the wargaming community. |
John, Thank you for sharing my little passion (pun intended!). My project for this year is to refurbish these and undertake repairs as far as my skill will allow. Hopefully, I can get most of these castings up and fighting fit! I would be delighted to 'submit' updates as I do.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the information and photographs of your collection. I look forward to your project; perhaps you could do your own blog on the project?
DeleteDear John and Jon, Thank you both for sharing these tiny treasures. The painted examples look very good indeed. En masse any imperfections would not be noticed as you say. Well, not by me but perhaps I am not a proper toy soldier enthusiast !The zouvaves in particular look fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThey really are nice pieces, even with their defects. Perhaps they were ahead of their time. Irregular Miniatures sell some blocks in 6mm. I am interested in them, but I don't want to start another project!
DeleteBut you already have some irregular blocks so strictly speaking it would not be a new project, just an extension of an existing but incomplete project !
DeleteI suppose I could use the 2mm as Hobbits and 6mm as Orcs.....
ReplyDeleteThere is always a good reason to have far too much of things you might need. Irregular Miniatures blocks are quite nice, but they are only available in a few codes. I would be nice if an enterprising figure manufacturer produced a few generic blocks again. I expect there would be a small market.
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ReplyDeleteMy wife went to a friend's house tonight and I was determined to get a game in. Once again it was my 2mm blocks. I do agree you can never have to much of a good thing, at least when it comes to toy soldiers. I was checking out the 6mm, but the price, and it looks like they try to put too much detail on them. It would be nice to see some generics. It would be nice to see the Minifigs remanufactured; this time with heads!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the heads. I am going to give some thought to this. I have some Green Stuff on order, and spotted they do a liquid version. Some experimentation ahead. Will see how difficult it is to start a blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to see how it came out. When I first got started in wargames, I tried to make my own blocks using wood and pins; they didn't come out too good. I think I have one still. It might be fun to post a picture of it. I also tried "hair roller" armies; unfortunately at that point they didn't make the right kind of rollers. My mother had a few which she sacrificed to the cause. I will say I have decided to buy 2 Irregular Miniature ACW armies. I'm toying with the idea of a miniature Command & Colors style game. This blog is going into it's sixth year; if I can do it anyone can, even if not overly successful. 18 followers in 6 years? That averages to 3 a year!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see your first block. I have not used any 2mm Irregular Miniatures, but like the idea of them. I will certainly explore a blog. You may 'only' have 18 followers, but they contribute and your blog is interesting.
ReplyDeleteI will have to dig out that first block. If I could find the right pins they might have looked better. I used round headed dress pins. There are tear shaped pin heads that would have worked better. However, the 2mm blocks works find for what I use them for.
ReplyDeleteI at one time thought of stopping my blog for various reasons, but the few readers made me realize that I get so much back from the readers; you being a prime example. I got information on the Minifig blocks, which I had been looking for for so many years.
Thankyou john. Your blog is an inspiration to me and I am sure, others. I am glad that I have been able to contribute. Your posts featuring Peter Laing and first federation 15mm Minifigs are just as interesting to me. Please keep it up. I shall enjoy seeing more of your 2mm collection.
ReplyDeleteHello my friends and I at the 'MARSHALATE' wargames club in Southend were into the 5mm blocks in a big way. We had each block as a company so 6 to a French battalion, 10 to a British and even more to an Austrian. Cavalry were 4 bases to a squadron and 2 guns to a battery. We were able to field several infantry Corps for all the major protagonists. We played with a much expanded set of the WRG flinch point rules.
ReplyDeleteCurrently we still have a very large Austrian, British, French, Prussian and Russian armies each in excess of 100 battalions.
We have rebased them for Napoleons Battles a set of rules we adopted about 15 years ago.
En masse they look really good. I agree that it was ahead of its time.
They also did ancient blocks and I believe ACW.
Mike, I am sorry that I didn't respond to your comments earlier, as I'm not getting notifications of new comments. I would love to see some photographs of your club's figures and games. I do like the looks of block figures as I think they give a good indication of what battlefields looked like from a distance.
DeleteI have recently unearthed my collection of these minifigs. Around 220 pieces mixed of infantry, Calvary and artillery. Can send pics if you tell me where to. I am looking to find more if I can.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see your collection. You can reach me at: jhnptrqn@yahoo.dot.com
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