Editor Dan talks about sorting his way through boxes of fine figures and fond memories in this Editor’s Exploits. Dan: When we lost my good friend, mentor and Wargames Illustrated founder Duncan Macfarlane earlier this year, I inherited his personal collection of Wargames figures. Duncan’s miniature mountain is made up of over 5,000 figures from every conceivable historical period produced by hundreds of different manufacturers. Many of the models hadn’t seen the light of day for decades, and my first task was to dust them off before sorting them into categories; Classical, Dark Age, Medieval, English Civil War, etc. Taking the dusting brush to some of the eclectic figures in Duncan's collection. Dan: Dusting through the collection was like taking a walk back through Duncan’s wargaming ‘career’. Many of the older figures came from his era of playing WRG rules in the 1970s and 1980s, these tended to be heavily varnished Hinchliffe Models or Minifigs. Some of the figures from the WRG era armies; 'antique' Hinchcliffe Models. Dan: After dalliances with DBA, Shako, Brother Against Brother, and many other rulesets Duncan became a big fan of Warhammer Ancient Battles; his collections include several WAB armies, including Sassanids and Sumerians. These Sassanid and Sumerian figures saw regular WAB competition action in both the UK and US. Dan: Always a fan of competition gaming (including Scrabble!), in later life Duncan embraced both the SAGA and Flames of War tournament circuit. SAGA and FOW figures were also amongst Duncan's collection. Dan: Duncan always embraced Fantasy and sci-fi, and his collection includes a wide range of (particularly) fantasy figures. Amongst these figures is the piece de resistance of Duncan’s collection. In the early ‘80s, Duncan commissioned Games Workshop legend John Blanche to paint some miniatures for him. These models are a showcase of early GW/Citadel iconography, and we are looking forward to giving you a closer look at them in the October issue of Wargames Illustrated. To whet your appetite for more, here's a photo of some of the John Blanche painted figures from Duncan's collection having just been dusted off. Dan: Sorting through Duncan’s collection has been a bitter-sweet task. As you can see, it’s also taken over most of our office floorspace at times. Figure sorting - work in progress. Dan: Over the coming months and years, I will have the pleasure of bringing you photographs of loads of Duncan’s figures, taken by myself and the man himself. I hope you will continue to enjoy seeing them.
