RIP Uncle Duke

Bruce Seifried, better known as Uncle Duke to the miniature and wargaming community, has passed away. I never met the man, nor did I have the pleasure of participating in his legendary games. I did have two small personal interactions with him, however. The first one was in 2011, when I purchased a Heritage Panzertroops Humber armoured car from him via eBay. He was kind enough to sign the blister card, and also sent a business card. The second one was in 2014, when I asked him several questions about the very rare 25mm Uncle Duke miniature. I was very appreciative of his time and answers.

The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society has posted an obituary here.

Godspeed and thank you for your massive contributions to miniatures and wargaming.

Lead Market Report - Heritage Historicals Edition

A couple of sellers on eBay recently moved quite a stash of Heritage product, enough so I decided to give it the LMR Special Edition treatment. I normally don't track historical or tabletop army stuff (except for what I am personally interested in), but given the Heritage/Duke Seifried traditional wargame connection, I thought it worthy of my time. Not as sexy as some DragonTooth goodies or Citadel rarities, but it's Heritage, so that's good enough for me. Enjoy.

Chivalry: I really thought the first two would have gone for higher considering the names, but I guess the demand just isn't there.

King Arthur, Standard, Merlin, and Sir Hector for $8.25, Mordred, Banner, Palimides, and King Claudas for $8.25, Mounted Knights with Swords for $7.10, Men & Peasants with Polearms for $6.93, Men-at-Arms with Spears for $6.26, Knights Smashing with Ugly Evil Maces (hehe) for $6.26, Knights Heaving Deadly Battle Axes for $6.26, Mounted Knights with Lances for $6.26, Men-at-Arms with Sharp-Bladed Swords for $5.50, a mis-labeled 3855 Knights with Two-Handed Swords (reads 3864 Men-at-Arms with Bills) for $4.99, and Knights Bearing Potent Two-Handed Swords (love some of those old names!) for $4.99.

Medieval: These didn't do quite as well as the Napoloeniques (nothing went for more than $7.16), so hopefully these were a bargain for the buyers.

Saracen Armoured Cavalry for $7.16, Saracen Armoured Horse Archers $7.16, Saracen Horse Archers $7.16, Peasant with Sickle $7.15, Crusader with Lance for $6.26, Armoured Horse Archer for $6.26, English Knight with Battleaxe for $6.26, French Mounted Men-at-Arms for $6.26, Mounted Men-at-Arms with Lance Charging for $6.26, French Knight with Sword & Shield for $6.01, English Knight with Lance for $6.01, Hand Gunners for $5.76, 7 at $5.50 each: Armoured Infantry Standing with Halberd, Spearmen,  Peasant with Pitchfork (can you say angry mob?), Spearman in Pothelm Advancing, Men at Arms with Pole Mace, Front Rank Pike Men Full Armor In Salades (I didn't know what a salade was, so I had to look it up. Type of helmet.) and Crossbowman in Jaunty Felt Hat Advancing (OK so I threw in the 'jaunty'), 3 at $5.24 each: Armoured Infantry Advancing with Halberd, Armoured Infantry with Spear, and French Peasant with Bow (Help! Help! I'm being repressed! - Bloody peasants!) and 8 at $4.99: Dismounted Knight with Mace and Bassinet Attacking, Dismounted English Knight with Sword and Shield, Armoured Infantry Advancing with Sword, Billman Advancing (Post no bills! Post no bills!), Scottish Pikemen Coat of Plates In Salades and Buckler (longest blister name ever?), French Crossbowmen, French Peasant with Spear, and last but not least - the few, the proud, the Peasant Levy.

Napoleoniques: I wonder how many WH40K players know that their battles in the grim future were born on the gaming tables that recreated battles of the grim past? Just sayin.

French Young Guard Tirailleur for $23.01, French Artillery Line 1809 for $21.95, French Middle Guard Fusilier Chasseurs for $17.16, Officers (nationality not noted) for $13.51, Mounted Officers (nationality not noted) for $13.01, Russian Cavalry Chevalier Guard for $11.51, GRD Lancers for $11.00, Battle of Waterloo British Cavalry for $10.51, Russian Cavalry Chasseurs for $10.51, Old Guard Grenadiers Charging for $10.51, GRD Lancers for $9.00, French Cavalry Guard Dragoons for $8.54, French Leger Lancers for $8.54, French Guards Gren A Cheval for $8.54, Line Battalion 1812 Repelling for $8.00, Satellite Cavalry Brunswick Hussars for $7.16, French Lancers Regt. 7/8 for $7.00, French Middle Guard Fusilier Grenadiers for $7.00, French Line Carbiniers for $6.50, French Line Dragoons for $6.04 and $6.00, British Infantry Fusiliers for $5.75, British Command Groups for $5.60, Battle of Waterloo French Cavalry for $5.50, Russian Infantry Pavlov Grenadiers for $5.20, and British Life Guards for $4.25.

Panzertroops: A personal favorite of mine and something that I actively pursue. Heavy metal, 15mm style!

USA - A big, bad M41 Walker Bulldog went for $12.57. These M8 Greyhounds were $7.57, some 3/4 ton trucks for $6.27, an M7 Priest for $4.99, and an M8 Scott also for $4.99.

Germany -  For tanks, the PzKpfw IVH was tops at $12.26, followed by PzKpfw IVf2 at $8.59, and a PzKpfw IIIj for $4.99 (mine!). Then there was a pair of SdKfz 231 armored cars for $9.05 and $8.48. The seller had some blisters of US and German infantry, but I forgot to track those. Shouldn't be too hard to find them in the completed listings search.

Now if someone would just unearth a large stash of Air Power minis, that would really make my day!

The Romans are coming! The Romans are coming!

There are SO many ways to describe my most recent acquisition, I don't know where to begin. "What was I thinking?" is pretty much the winner by default, but you could also go with "The old man's lost it for sure this time!" as well as "He needs that 25mm Roman army like he needs more units for his barely-started Dark Angels army that is 10 years old!"

The answer is it was too good of a bargain to pass up, or at least that is what I keep telling myself. I mean, how many times do you pick up an entire army for $1.01??? Technically it cost me $13.01 when you add in the shipping. Still, that's a total of 149 miniatures for $13.01, or just under a mere .09 cents per mini. One other bidder also plunked down a 1.01 bid, one second after mine.

Now keep in mind the small fact here that I DO NOT PLAY WAB OR HISTORICALS OF ANY SORT, and you may begin to catch a glimpse of my lead-induced madness.

I'm thinking that I might try my hand at painting up this army, and then turn around and sell it. Hmm...we shall see. First, I need to do some research and see if I can determine the various manufacturers of the various units. The only ones I can ID for sure are the Ral Partha Auxilia.

Now if I can just reassure my DM that I really will bang out a bunch of my long-awaited D&D-related projects before I launch into the Romans, all will be well in my little lead world...at least until the next bargain that I can't pass up surfaces. Somebody stop me!

(Gladiator photo: Reuters)