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Post by bookman60 on Oct 11, 2017 12:54:42 GMT -9
I'm hoping someone here can shed light on something from my High School days waaaaaaayy..back in 1975-78..
I remember that as we began playing the new game called Dungeons & Dragons, which we discovered during a summer vacation in Geneva Wisconsin at a cool game shop called "the Dungeon"...but I digress
Anyway, I clearly remember ordering via mail (yes via actual postal delivery), a complete town and (perhaps) castle that one could cut out and assembled for RPG games.
I know it was NOT a typical paper modeling book or some such but a definite RPG resource. But I can't for the life of me locate anything on the web that can help me identify the stuff.
The facts I can recall are:
-- The entire collection came in a envelope (rather large as I recall) -- The contents were on a parchment like/colored material and were not too stiff (unfortunately) and everything had to be cut out with scissors
I 'might' have ordered this package from Judges Guild -- though I've not yet been able to find anything in any web references to JG.
Does this sound like anything anyone else remembers owning or seeing?
Thank you for any assistance.
Kevin B Amherst, Ohio USA
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Post by Vermin King on Oct 11, 2017 12:58:23 GMT -9
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Post by bookman60 on Oct 19, 2017 13:27:38 GMT -9
Most definitely not. I'm talking yeeeeeaaars before WotC even was an idea in anyone's mind -- c.1976-79. Thanks though. Anyone else have any clues? Kevin B
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Post by squirmydad on Oct 19, 2017 13:42:25 GMT -9
Perhaps this one from Usborne books?
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Post by wyvern on Oct 20, 2017 14:08:18 GMT -9
The obvious items from the period would be models such as those Usborne ones squirmydad mentioned, or the similar Cut & Assemble models from Dover Books (link is to a convenient blog with some sample front cover images). There were a great many full colour books of various types like these that I recall from the late 1960s onwards (often with press-out and make up models and minis - and how I sometimes wish even a few of them had survived with me at times ever since!). But these clearly don't fit your recollection of the basic print on parchment-like thin card bookman60 . I've no recollection of Judges Guild ever doing anything like this, though the creamy parchment, often with brown-sepia printing, was a popular option away from standard black-and-white in this period, for fantasy games especially. Nearest I can think of - which was merely basic floorplans and simple square cut-up counters, however - would be Fantasy Games Unlimited's Citadel board game from 1976 (Board Game Geek page link). My best suggestion beyond this would be to hunt through back issues of Strategic Review (1975-76) and Dragon (1976 onwards), or any other gaming/wargaming magazines you might have responded to an ad in to see if you can find the advert that triggered you to send for these models in the first place. For the period and your then-location, I'd guess these two magazines would be the most likely places to start. You can find PDFs of these on various websites, such as Annarchive (link goes to the Dragon/Strat Rev index page).
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Post by bookman60 on Oct 22, 2017 3:46:06 GMT -9
Wyvern, thanks for the idea about SR (I have those around here still but pdf's are quicker..hh).
But you got my old head thinking about the possibility of the buildings being from "Fantasy Games".... so search continues.
As always, anyone with new ideas or insights, you help would be great,. I'm trying to prove to my brother that I'm not crazy...
Kevin B
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Post by bookman60 on Oct 22, 2017 4:15:28 GMT -9
OK, thanks to Wyvern's tip I was able to move closer to my goal! The paper stuff I'm trying to identify was DEFINITELY an FGU (Fantasy Games Unlimited) product, as I was able to locate the other related item today: "Miniature Wargames Fortifications Plans 25mm FGU 1979. This set of scale plans is perfect for use with any 25-28mm miniatures wargame and many role-playing games. The set contains 4 large heavy paper sheets, each measures approximately 23" x 35". Four different fortifications are represented:
Fortified Town Viking/Saxon/Barbarian Camp Roman/Byzantine/Archaeron Empire Frontier Fortifications Roman/Byzantine/Archaeron Empire Legionary Camp"
So now I just need to find the information on those paper models/buildings.. The quest continues. Kevin B
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Post by bookman60 on Oct 22, 2017 4:24:53 GMT -9
Eureka! The fates have been kind this day... I can now confirm (and prove to my senior skeptical brother..) that I was right! I DID have these models by FGU: "Homes & Hovels - Real Estate for Oppressed & Oppressors in 25mm Scale Colored card sheets that can be cut up and assembled to form buildings for 25mm scale miniatures. Includes an inn/manor house, meeting hall, headman's house, a house and five hovels."So, now what? hhh.. do I buy ? KB
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Post by bookman60 on Oct 22, 2017 4:30:07 GMT -9
And these are this is the castle ... "Towers for Tyrants - Castle Components in 25mm Scale
Colored card sheets that can be cut up and assembled to form castle components for 25mm scale miniatures."
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Post by squirmydad on Oct 22, 2017 9:58:14 GMT -9
Cool old find! I had no idea that FGU made scenics. Are they for sale somewhere on the net?
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Post by okumarts on Oct 22, 2017 19:43:51 GMT -9
I VAGUELY recall this being advertised somewhere. I think it was a magazine (Space Gamer maybe?) ... Great find!
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Post by berneart76 on Oct 23, 2017 5:36:13 GMT -9
I saw them in White Dwarf? There was a third one as well I think, "Ancient Abodes"
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Post by squirmydad on Oct 23, 2017 6:15:49 GMT -9
Cool old find! I had no idea that FGU made scenics. Are they for sale somewhere on the net? Found them on Amazon, eBay, and some others; $40 for the tower set new, $20 used.
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Post by wyvern on Oct 23, 2017 10:21:02 GMT -9
Glad I could help a little! I don't remember ever seeing these models, however, and it's maybe a little surprising now they haven't made it to PDF download, given FGU is - slightly amazingly, if delightfully - still a going concern. However, their back-catalogue releases on OBS have been a little eclectic so far, which may suggest they don't have good enough surviving copies to scan. Or maybe don't think they'll sell. berneart76: I can't seem to trace any FGU product called just "Ancient Abodes" - this seems to be the most comprehensive FGU back-catalogue listing online, for instance. Was it perhaps by a different company? Do you have any other information on it (say, which issue of White Dwarf it was advertised in)?
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Post by berneart76 on Oct 23, 2017 11:15:29 GMT -9
wyvern,My Mitake, I think the Archaic Abodes (not Ancient) were a magazine article or add on, I can't remember if they were an early White Dwarf or Dragon, or some other magazine, but did find an ebay listing that has a mimeograph (stencil) copy of the pages.. I'll keep looking for them... possibly reactivate my Scribd account to look through back issues of White Dwarf, www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182815529554?clk_rvr_id=1343901665397&rmvSB=true
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Post by wyvern on Oct 23, 2017 15:09:16 GMT -9
Archaic Abodes: OK, a quick search came up with one period-relevant hit, for Citadel Miniatures, via the somewhat appropriately-named The Stuff of Legends website. This has a host of old catalogues, price lists, etc., etc., for an equally vast array of cast mini manufacturers past and present, all (as far as I could tell) in the somewhat clunky format of individually-scanned, single-page JPGs. The pages are linked on the site though, so you get an index page for multi-page texts, from where you can click to any other page, and you can click between pages once you're in your chosen volume. The three key places to check are: * Citadel Journal Spring 1985 ("Archaic Abodes" - there are four pages to find, one near the catalogue's start - the inside front card cover originally - and three towards the end, one a printed B&W paper page of instructions, the others two more card printed pages of building model pieces; total five building exterior shells, two houses, one stone tower and two small wooden lean-to sheds, only one of which latter has a door. Buildings are all full colour.) * Citadel Journal Autumn 1985 (Not buildings, but wagon models and cardboard Dolgan Raider counters, some colour some B&W for the counters only, with half a page of instructions - listed under the "Psychostyrene Dwarfs Ad" page - and no wagon axles - use cut-down cocktail sticks.) * Citadel Journal Spring 1986 ("Cardboard Buildings" - two colour pages of model building parts, one each on what were the card inside front and back covers, plus a page of instructions buried away as the opening page for "The Monastery of La Maisontaal" scenario section, as the Buildings are a partly ruined small monastery compound; if you hunt around, you'll also find a page of B&W counters for the "Vengeance of the Lichmaster" Warhammer scenario in the depths of the catalogue.) I'd recommend a trawl through the pages more generally, as a great way to fill in hours without realising they've gone, wallowing in nostalgia, finding occasional further cardboard minis and models - and I'm sure I'll have missed some! I can recall seeing and building the first of these Archaic Abode buildings at least, but I know I never bought any Citadel Journals/Catalogues as late as the mid-1980s. So I suspect this must have been reproduced elsewhere as well, possibly in one of the UK wargaming journals around that time ( Miniature Wargames, and from 1987 onwards, Wargames Illustrated and Practical Wargamer) as a freebie/Citadel advert, or perhaps elsewhere. That does make me wonder if maybe Citadel produced these separately from their shortlived original-run of the Journal. They were the forerunners of the numerous Warhammer double-sided and die-cut building model sets of later years, of course.
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