Name that Mini!
The Following is slightly more ramblely then normal but I can’t say that’s really a bother.
Okay, currently being a bit annoyed with a figure NOT having a name when it kinda should right now got me thinking.
I kinda thought it was probably a GW copywriter that would come up with miniature names back when Miniatures often had names, before they became generic descriptions, like how 1987 C45 Skaven ‘Wyrde Banebreath’ was later rename, when in the 1991 recoding as ‘Plague Monk w. Warpscroll & Dagger’. While names make you think of them as characters in there own right, which is kinda good, I can also see how basic descriptions work well in Regimental games. But I like the names.
Now, when I said Copywriter, I guess it’s just whoever is there at the time in a way. Bryan Ansell might have done some, Graeme Davis might have done some, whatever. I kinda put the mid to late 80s as the main time they did this, with it being more removed in 1991 era and for 4ed fantasy battle time. But looking into it and at old lists.. I come up with two theories:
- It was the Sculptor who named them
- It was a phase which lasted only a couple of years.
So I started to look at some… The Bob Naismith c09 Dark Elves, going up to about 1985, had no names. The 1986 Releases for the C09 all had names. However, the 1987+ ones didn’t have names. That’s interesting..
Who sculpted the named ones? It looks like it was probably Aly Morrison. Looking at a later catalogue page which included them, it credits Aly Morrison with the Citadel Design Team. So I would think Aly Morrison was the main one..
Right.. So.. 1986, Aly Morrison dark elf sculpts named, 1986-1987, Jes Goodwin Skaven sculpts named. lets pick… Zombies! going with the 1986 slotta release, the Kev Adams ones have names.
So we can look at our theories a bit more. 1986-1987 was ‘name the mini’ years. while we still don’t have any evidence for the first theory, which makes it a bit weaker.. But of course, as the Rev. William Wright wrote in 1888 ‘absence of evidence is not evidence.’.
Well, first C11 Halflings just before the switch to Slotta in 1986, sculpted by the Perry Twins, but the earlier 1984 ones don’t. Goblins by Kev going back to 1985 have names. The C17 Skeletons before September 1984 don’t have names.. but what’s odd is in 1984, the ones which, some are done by the Perrys, have names but the odd one doesn’t appear to.. but it appear the ones which do have names were the only ones featured in the 3rd Citadel Compendium.
So.. I need to try to find something… Do any figures by them named sculptors at the time period NOT have names, Well.. first, we notice figures from 1985 which are in the 3rd Compendium, DO have names, the ones which are in the Journal for Autumn of 1985, don’t have names. Well.. that kinda puts in the Naming Period from 1985 to the end of 1985 (after ‘Autumn’) till 1987. doesn’t help too much with the first theory though.
Looking through that 3rd Compendium, also brings more confusion. C01 Fighters by Bob Naismsith have names. The C02 wizard range by Aly Morrison also have names (including the famous Samantha Phox). the C03 Clerics.. kinda don’t but then kinda do.. I’m not sure.. what would you call ‘Ivory Temple’ and ‘Word Power’? names or just descriptions? most of them are like that, but some are clearly more one way or the other.
MOST of the C08 High Elves by Aly Morrison don’t have names, but some do, though kinda more nicknames (Goblincleaver, Orc Slayer, Swiftfoot). the C09 Dark Elves don’t have names still (Bob Naismith),
Now.. this is also confusing and I’m not going through each page but.. When you really look at the first Skaven shown here.. Half of them are names, but the other half are more descriptive (Plague Monk.. with the odd one which could be either.
Trying to look at the sculptor theory.. mm.. I would say MOST of Bob Naismith ones are named, Most of Aly Morrison are named (Oh.. and what names for them undead Samurai…). The Perrys are mostly named. Jes Goodwin is 50-50. Most of Trish Morrison’s minis are named, I think all Kev Adams minis are named. Chaz Elliott didn’t do much of the ones in this but they are all named. Nick Bibby is hard to really say cause alot of what he did were Animals which aren’t named, but when he does more people (or Giant Demons) they are given a name. Rick Priestly just sculpted treasure chests.. which aren’t named ^_^ The Battle cars by Tony Slocombe aren’t named
I’ll also point out as a brief aside.. Despite the Perry’s being much happier with more ‘realistic’ body types for Historical figures (as compared to over muscle Barbarians) they don’t have good good Trolls!
So.. does any of that help on the theories? not really..
And to tell the truth, Theory two doesn’t even answer the question of who named them.. But all I can say for sure is that from the end of 1985 till around 1987, Citadel liked to give their miniatures names. After that, they went back to descriptive names for the most part. Some miniatures before 1985 did have names, but it wasn’t common and some of the ones that got updated via either slotta versions or just re-coded DID get names assigned, others didn’t.
And at the end of the day, the Figure I’m trying to name, which started all this, NEVER had a name. This is annoying to me.