Ever since J.R.R Tolkien took elves out of Santa's Workshop and gave them forged blades and armor with unearthly qualities, human imagination has not been the same. His elves are borrowed from the ancient myths regarding the Isle of Avalon and the inhabitants. The Elves of Tolkiens mythology were a race of tall slender people with advanced minds. They if you indulge your imagination further could be taken from the Breton Utopia of Avalon.There is evidence that a people like them may have existed. Tombs are found in far away corners of the British (and Ireland) Isles. Men whose skeletons are that of 6 foot tall men back when the average height of a man was 5 feet 6 inches or less. Regardless, Santa's Elves went through a drastic change. They were not alone in Tolkien's imagination. Tolkien had to give them an adversary worthy of the myths of the Anglo-Saxons and Celts. So was born the Orc. The Orc is the opposite of beauty, patient craft and longevity. Short lived squat humanoids the orc were the muscle of the adversaries of the "natural" inhabitants of Middle Earth. Strong and industrious when led by intimidating dark forces. The fallen Valar (akin to Christian Angels) Melkor and Sauron (renamed by the Elves Morgoth the Black Enemy of the World and his second in command, Gorthaur the Cruel). Elemental beings able to summon power from earth and fire. They were to contest the elves , men and dwarves for mastery of Middle-Earth.
There is much more to Epic fantasy than Tolkien including C.S. Lewis, LLoyd Alexander, and Robert E. Howard. Tolkien as the most famous had an endless wave of successors (many unashamed of copying his style) including Professor George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones). The genre spread like wild-fire through mediums like Dungeons and Dragons. Forget Risk (the Wargame) there was now dozens of counter games emulating the events of this literature. In this primordial imaginative soup was born the 28mm (and 25mm) fantasy wargame miniature. Dozens of companies and miniature lines have since the times of these writers reproduced an unsurpassed craft. It is an imaginative height of personal and group creativity.
Relatively late to this epoch was the terrain. Tabletop miniatures need terrain. First model train terrain was taken from its element and transported to the realms of fantasy. Soon companies were producing terrain like a mini gold rush. Creative often "awesome" buildings and supernatural flora became available to the miniatures collector. For me, the culmination of this is Hirst Arts Silicon Molds. Using Dental Plaster and Eileen's Tacky Glue you suddenly had uniform building blocks designed to fit together to make cities for your and your friends fantasy worlds.
My son and I shared the hobby of collecting and building (including painting) until his age of 14. We have assembled a vast host of Knights, Dwarvish Warriiors, Epic Elves, monsters, warriors from the Ancient Classics, and mythological monsters from both Fantasy and Historical Literature. Many here displayed in this section. Many built and painted by myself. Many bought and almost always assembled by me as well as some beautiful painted figures by people from Ebay. Enjoy our many years of collecting. You will not be disappointed.
From the age of 8 (possibly as young as 6) I was buying my first packs of miniatures based on the Lord of the Rings. These figures came in neat packs of 4-6 28mm figures (often described as 25mm or 32mm. Anything larger or smaller will not fit together looking awkward on a game board). Even the earliest figures sparked the imagination for personal adventures in the Realms of C.S. Lewis, Lloyd Alexander and Tolkien. Robert E. Howard had a human centric world. The only race of people involved in the story telling were humans. He did inhabit his world with monsters and demons and magic but did not include other humanoids like Tolkien. There is also Michael Moorcock a writer of fantastic imagination that miniatures were created for his literature but not in vast quantities. Many of the companies producing miniatures allow for the figures to fit in many stories of Epic Fantasy. They provide a generic versatility and an original lines of figures that add to the literature. The most noteworthy companies are Games Workshop, Reaper Miniatures, Ral Partha, and Wargames Foundry. Games workshop is the cutting edge of large productions of Fantasy and Sci-Fi figures. See them yourself online. Reaper's miniatures are geared more towards table top roleplaying and small scale battles. See them yourself online as they have an extensive inventory that will keep you busy for hours exploring. Ral Partha my personal favorite is no longer in business but other companies have bought their molds and reproduce their figures. To me Ral Partha brought the books to the tabletop first. Wargames Foundry produces fantastic figures of fantasy and history (Greek and Roman classical age). Also, worthy of mention is Kickstarter and 3D printers. Now with 3D printers you can create your own miniatures by designing them with art programs designed to reproduce fantasy figures and other real applications. Kickstarter also has a parade of new miniature lines that are not affiliated with any store or company. I will showcase as many of the different companies and the literature they belong to (or could belong to ) here in this section.
