9 May 2015

Old Gilder figures from the collection


Beautiful Sudan British Infantry from Connoisseur

 Apologies for the lack of posts in the past two months.  The focus has been on getting copies of rules out (a big thank you to all who have ordered rules so far!) as well as getting my tasks completed for our club Waterloo commemoration game.

I thought that this would be the ideal time to photograph some units that I acquired many years ago.


Close up as the Colonel leads his men by exemplary example.  Steely determination methinks.

 I had the good fortune of timing a business trip to England with a weekend in Scarborough attending the Austerlitz weekend re fight at Mike Inghams and Gerry Elliot's wonderful WArgames Holiday Centre.  Attending on the weekend was Chris Cornwall who at the time had been up only a few months before, the agent for Connoisseur in the UK.


Wonderful and practical style of painting on these figures.  They do look tremendous.

Chris very kindly offered to drive me back to London and mentioned he had some castings still in stock as well as some painted units that had been used by him for adverts in Miniature Wargames and Wargames Illustrated if I wanted them.

I leapt at the opportunity and Chris, always the gentleman, let me have them at a very, very generous price.


This firing line pose is a favourite of mine.

According to Chris they were actually painted by Peter Gilder many years ago however he also told me that many units out there were "allegedly" painted by Peter but in fact done by a veritable team of painters in order for projects to take shape rapidly and quickly.

As they appeared in the advert.  I also have the Nordenfelt and the screw gun.

These take pride of place and though only two companies strong, still get the opportunity to serve for Queen and Country on many occasions.

Till next time...and I promise it won't be so long.

14 comments:

  1. Well that answered my question. I was going to ask are these original castings, US castings or new castings. I have brought Connoisseur miniatures from J&R when they had them in the States and more recently from Bicorne in the UK. Some of the molds are a bit worn in places but I still love these old Gilder figures.

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    1. Thanks Brian - I still love these figures and think that they still absolutely stand alone in terms of character and style.

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  2. About 40 years ago I was admiring the various armies in the showcases of the Hinchliffe shop at their factory in Meltham West Yorkshire. The young girl behind the counter told me that PG recruited art students from the college in Hull (? I think) and would show them how to paint one and then they would finish the unit. That conversation related specifically to the AWI armies just released then but I suspect the principal held good for may years after that.

    John

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    1. That's fascinating John and I have heard similar stories from my travels and correspondence over the years. Almost not that dissimilar to those studios around the world these days who are very capable of "copying" master painted figures to an acceptable degree. Peter G has always been described as an innovator!

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  3. How fun! Great to see these old Veterans still serving Queen and Realm. :)

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    1. Thanks for that - they still roll reasonably well but have been waiting a hell of a long time for Companies "C" , "D" and 'E' to arrive!

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  4. Splendid, this line of battle is really impressive!

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    1. Cheers Phil and thanks for visit and comment. Greatly appreciated.

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  5. Nice to see some vintage lads

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    1. Thanks Dave. Have been very much admiring your build of your forces in the past year mate. Looking forward to seeing them all in action in October!

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  6. Lovely stuff! Nice to see the old figures again.

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    1. Thanks AJ - they do look the perfect model of a 19th century regiment in the desert don't they?

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  7. Alway good to see nicely painted figures and in mass. I the style of the older figures I belive look better this way and stand out more then the new generation. Thanks for placing them up Carlo.

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    1. They look so good en masse and as stated before, thats where the designers such as Gilder, Morbey and Pteer Fitzgerald from Calpe got (and get) it so right. The animation in the poses is the key..

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