I was hunting through old boxes and found these guys. Some of these were painted when I was still at school. Humbrol enamel paints, a Size 0 brush and gloss varnish. Based for the WRG Horse and Musket rules of the time. We had some pretty good games with that rule set, even if they were a bit haphazard.
French Hussars. By some miracle these minifigs horses still have their tails. I seem to remember that tails snapped off minifigs horse as easily as Victrix plastic bayonets do nowadays.
French Light Infantry. There are chasseurs, voltigeurs and carabiniers in that lot.
My go to brigade for many a battle. Swiss infantry (various regiments). Note the eagle around the wrong way on the flag pole and the hand painted flag.
The battalion on the left shows that even 30 odd years ago I had the propensity to mix manufacturers in the same unit. It is lead by a mounted Hinchliffe colonel and a Hinchliffe Old Guard officer.
French infantry battalions.
Portuguese Legion infantry – still covered in cobwebs.
A battalion of French Old Guard.
While I was taking these pictures I had a nosy visitor. He was checking out his future home – the BBQ.
The Woolshed Wargamer 
That brings back memories. And also shows how sculpting has indeed progressed over the intervening years.
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Sure has. I often wonder what happened to all those thing minifigs armies. Everyone had one in the 80s.
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Great to see Brian! I too used to have great stacks of Napoleonic Hinchliffe and Minifigs!!
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I’m feeling quite nostalgic now. Hinchcliffe was my main go for Napoleonics, and Minifigs for Ancients.
Those figures with the bearskin on the bayonets must have attracted some attention back in the day. I suppose we simply call them “animated” now, but I can vaguely recall that anything apart from the usual march attack, high porte advancing or firing poses was quite the novelty. Great times indeed.
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My Napoleonic MiniFigs armies are still in use. In fact we are planning a big battle next month!
Jim
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That is excellent. There used to be dozens of Minifigs Napoleonic armies here in NZ but I don’t see them that often nowadays. Saying that though, at our big Leipzig game a few months back our Napeoleon, Steve Sands, brought out a lot of them from his collection.
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Great article, but the nosy visitor had me laughing!
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Well he is going to be freezerised in the next few months. He is a very inquisitive steer.
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Seems a shame, he shows so much initiative!
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I enjoy these cattle. They are a lot of fun, believe it or not. But they are not pets.
https://woolshedwargamer.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/rural-life-homekill/
Sheep on the other hand – I find it hard to like them.
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I think they look just fine. ALL of my “new” Minifigs (i.e., circa 1974 and later) remain in service and take the table proudly along with their newer fellows from Old Glory, Sash and Saber, Foundry, etc. Front Rank is pushing the envelope, but as long as they are in their own units, i still works.
Barry likes to to collect Front Rank. My Minifigs cavalry is forever trashing his Russian mounted giants! 🙂
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Great to hear so many of the old school models are seeing battle. I am planning on rebasing some of mine – will show the fruits of that labour in due course.
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Lots of memories right there mate…i remember routing many of those battalions with my airfix veteran british 😉
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Well you did that a few times. You used to call them my French Ogres if I remember correctly.
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I love seeing these older figures. I wish I hadn’t sold off all my Minifigs, etc. An as yet unrealised project I’ve harboured close to my heart ever since returning to the hobby is acquiring a 2nd-gen Minifigs army or two.
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I often wonder where all those minifigs armies went – sitting in boxes on shelves in cupboards. THere were dozens of them here in New Zealand and now I only know one person still playing with their original mininfigs.
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Here in Guayaquil, Ecuador, our wargaming club started with Minifigs and Hinchliffe in the early seventies and after a comeback to the hobby in the 90s, we stuck to the scale because of the figure aupply logistics. No 28mm figures were allowed. All our napoleonic and ancient armies are Hinchliffe and Minifigs with some Ral Partha ancient units.
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There must be so many minifigs and hinchliffe armies in boxes in attics around the world. Shame.
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