Return of the Mini (to my consciousness)

There are those, I’m sure, for whom it never went away; but equally there must be many like myself, who started out painting miniature gaming figures only to move on to other things. I still have boxes of the things salted away, many still unpainted, and occasionally I give them to kids who show an interest. One mother whose child I had corrupted this way told me that my name was cursed in her house.  (*Since writing this I have sold most of my gaming figures to a collector.)

The reasons I lost interest aren’t difficult to define: try as I might I was never able to become that interested in role-playing games. I did make an attempt to become involved for a while but, in retrospect, it was probably just a way of rationalising my real interest: painting the miniature figures that are a decorative but inessential part of games-play.

However the figures themselves began to pall after a while; being stubby, over-detailed and too small to display attractively. The accepted technique for painting them (then) was also in a cartoonish style; effective for small scale but ultimately limiting. Lastly I was repelled by the cult-like ambience of the world, dominated by big companies like Games Workshop.

I regarded it as a phase I’d passed through: something that was the province of the very young or very nerdish. By the end of the eighties I’d assumed the whole table-top gaming boom was on the way out, supplanted by consoles, and even the kids had lost interest. Admittedly I hadn’t really bothered to check.

So it came as something of a surprise to me when idly surfing the net to discover (a) how ‘alive’ the scene still is and (b) how much the emphasis has changed.

The painting side has developed into a culture on its own; with sites devoted to purely to that particular art form. The sculpting as well has improved beyond measure. Some of the new firms are turning out sculptures that have a real elegance and bite to them. Interestingly many of the participants are not teenagers either but people in their thirties and forties.

Of course many things are still the same: the dominance of GW and their techno genre wares, the tendency to over-detail, and the popularity of the cartoon like style. But what’s refreshing is the buzz that surrounds it; a genuine enthusiasm that’s often lacking elsewhere. By contrast the garage kit and military modeling web scene can sometimes feel pretty stale.

The truth is that small scale figures still are — and always will be — the most popular and vital branch of this hobby because they’re inexpensive and accessible to young people. Without the influx of energy that young people bring to a hobby it will inevitably and eventually stagnate.

David Clough ©2003

Minis I painted in the 1980’s