Minifigs Drum Carriage and other WAGS

 Edit - updated 5th June 2026

I have to thank Jake for this lovely piece. It's on my 'honestly I'll put it together' list... Minifigs did a veritabe plethora of varied wagons and such like. I've looked at this one over the years and always fancied it. Dave over at Caliver has them all re-released now (http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Home.aspx) - direct links don't work for some reason. Go down the left hand side to Minifigs 25mm then hit Napoleonics or From Pike to Shot and find wagons etc). Tell Dave I sent you of course!

I do remember Hinchliffe doing a large scale Napoleonic Larry Light Ambulance and it set a taste for wagon type models although they were always too pricey for my pocket money budget... nowadays unfortunately similar without the pocket money! There's one on eBay at the moment for $200. Maybe I should remortgage my soul although these days I think the devil would block it. Anyway, on to the pics. Drum carriage first and then various WAGs from the 1972/72 (I think, Minifigs had an annoying habit of not putting a date in many early catalogues) catalogues.

Instructions from the 1975 catalogue.

Excellent paint job here;

https://napoleonictherapy.blogspot.com/2022/04/heavy-metal-minifigs-25mm-drum-carriage.html

WAG10 Light Amulance of the Guard

Various WAGs below... 

WAG2 Baron Larrey's Flying Ambulance

https://historicalromanceuk.blogspot.com/2015/03/flying-ambulances-and-german-sausages.html

WAG10 Flying Ambulance of the Guard and WAG1 General's Field Carriage

WAG8 2 Wheeled Ox Cart and WAG7 Pontoon Wagon and Boat

WAG5 2 Wheeled Forage Wagon and WAG4 4 Wheeled Baggage Wagon

If you have any old catalogues you no longer require please think of me... the ones I have are listed here;

http://www.deartonyblair.co.uk/2025/03/minifigs-catalogues-ongoing-quest.html

That's it for now. Short and sweet, a little like me :)

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Minifigs - MiniMiniFigs - 5mm 'scale' blocks

 Updated 11t April 2026.

I picked up a miscellaneous bunch of old miniatures recently which contained two of these... I had no idea what they were exactly until I was researching further and came across the Wargaming Hermit blog;

https://wargamehermit.blogspot.com/2019/10/minifigs-5mm-miniminifigs-ancients.html

https://wargamehermit.blogspot.com/2017/02/5mm-minifigs-blocks-part-2.html

Lots of images on there of the various types (still no WW2 images found as yet) and, of course, I can only find one of my blocks - possibly 5M 2 French Line Infantry though I could be wrong... they really are very tiny. The range didn't last very long as apparently Neville Dickinson couldn't find anyone to sculpt what he wanted. 

Edit - the original sculptor was a Neil Butcher - does anyone have any other details for him?

Anyway, a few close ups of mine... There's nothing on the base... just checked as I'd forgotten to take a pic!

The listings from my 1972 catalogue...

A short article from Wargamer's Newsletter, No.122, May 1972 by Peter Gouldesbrough

Edit; a note from Wargamer's Newsletter (1974 I think, I was looking through so many yesterday) c/o Donald Featherstone;

 A few days ago I received a letter from a subscriber most interested in wargaming with the Mini-Minifig 5mm regimental blocks but felt that the range was not sufficiently complete for his purposes. I communicated this information to Neville Dickinson whose reply will no doubt be of interest to other collectors of this scale. "Fortunately Dick Higgs is built like every normal person, having only one pair of hands to design with and only 24 hours a day at his disposal. Command strips have been made and will be in production very shortly while troops for the British Household Cavalry and the French Dragoons already exist as numbers 15N55 and 15N57. British Riflemen are so similar to the British Light Infantry that it would appear pointless for us to make a specific figure but we agree that a separate command strip is necessary. As to the absence of French Light Infantry, authentic information suggests that the only difference in their uniform to that of the French Line is that Line wear white trousers. Currently in production but not yet advertised or listed are Prussian, Austrian and Russian Infantry figures together with some command strips"

As always leave a comment or if you've anything to sell or trade please email me on enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome - Minifigs early PB range

 

(updated Friday, 17th October 2025, added PB195/196)

Ok, this is a definite work in progress. Following a wonderful set of mini lots I was lucky enough to pick up I'm now on the hunt for the history and examples of the early Minifigs ancient ranges. There are various recent posts (check the labels on the right hand side) so I thought I'd start small. The Lost Minis WIKI has many pieces of all the ranges up and, of course, Dave at Caliver is bringing back the later versions for our edification! In a nutshell, Minifigs went from Alberken 20mm to Miniature Figurines (under Peter Gilder and Neville Dickinson) through to just Neville and various staff. 20mm to 30mm, 6mm then 25mm with various redesigns (and designers) along the way. And others. These are the early PB minis after the 'S' (or Special) range. I'm new at this with historicals generally so please tell me off by leaving informative comments below! I await with trepidation! I'll add more as I obtain nice copies - I  just want to provide a nice resource for posterity!

The miniature are all based on the illustrations in the WRG publication 'The Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome' by Phil Barker (hence PB). The PB code follows the artwork numbering (thanks Rick P for pointing that out, I now have my copy!). There are more notes in one of the early catalogues so I'll dig it up and amend the post later. I have used the images from the book for illustrative purposes only, without any ownership implied.

PB 101 Roman Legionarius of the Late Republic

PB 102 Legionarius of the Civil War

PB 104 Marine of Augustus

PB 105 Legionarius, early 1st Century A.D

PB 106 Cenurio of Legio XX Valeria

PB 107 Centurio of Legion XI Claudia

PB 108 Dalmatian Light Infantry, early 1st Cent. A.D.

PB 113 Legionarius, later 1st/early 2nd Cent. A.D

PB 114 Cornicer

PB 115 Senior Officer

PB 116 Standard Bearer, 1st/2nd Centuries A.D.

PB116 Standards

PB116a. Imago, one of which was carried by the First Cohors of each Legio and by each Auxiliary Cohors.

PB 118 Light Infantryman, later 1st/2nd Cent. A.D.

PB 120 Asiatic Archers

PB 123 Legionarius, later 2nd/early 3rd Cent A.D.

PB 124 Light Archer, later 2nd/early 3rd Cent A.D

PB 133 Praetorian Guard, early 4th Century A.D.

PB 135 Legio Lanciarius of the 4th and 5th Century A.D.

PB 139 Standard Bearer of the 4th and 5th Centuries A.D.

PB139 Standards

PB139a Draco or Dragon, primary standard of all units except Legiones.

PB 150 Byzantine Heavy Infantryman

PB 153 Gallic Chieftain with Standard

PB 158 British Chieftain

PB 163 British Infantryman Javelinman

PB 164 Early German Infantryman

PB 171 Dacian Infantryman with Bow

PB 176 Jewish Infantryman with Bow

PB 179 Pictish Chieftain

PB 187 Scots/Irish Chieftain

PB 188 Lower Class Scots/Irish Warrior

PB 195 Frankish Infantryman with Spear

PB 196 Frankish Infantryman with Axe

PB 197 Frankish Infantryman with Sword

PB 213 Sassanid Mercenary Slinger

PB 195 Frankish Infantryman with Spear

PB 196 Frankish Infantryman

Personalities

PBP 3 Darius

PBP10 Carraticus

PBP11 Bodecia

There are 71 infantry figures, 40 cavalry and 9 personalites in total so a lot to find (plus standards!)... I have some later versions of some however am trying to collate just the first releases here. Any help appreciated!

There are loads of great blogs out there with wargamers extolling the virtues and love of old minis. This is just my little bit.

More soon!

enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk