I received this extract from the 1975 Minifig Catalogue recently from Paul. It shows the price of a single foot figure as 8p! For context this arose from a discussion Paul and I were having last month about the cost of wargames figures and the increasing spread of the Blister pack at the point of sale.
Consider the rather basic style of said 1975 Minifigs figure. Certainly lacking in fine details compared to today's offerings? No doubt though easier to paint, an important consideration when dedicated hobby time is limited by real life demands! Equally the Minifigs example comes from what I would call the Lost Golden Age when most wargamers aspired to build an army rather than merely a small group of figures.
Modern figure offerings can be ridiculously over detailed for a wargames figure, perhaps reflecting the rise of the game in a box {see my point above}where a single figure is not ranked with 20 or 30 similar comrades. So its probably fair to say that sculpting costs will certainly have risen disproportionately to inflation, time is money after all and the labourer is worthy of his/her hire certainly. The truth about pricing and value for money probably lies somewhere between barely covering costs and being ripped off, with each of us choosing our opinion based on personal circumstances and experiences.
Rather than focus on an issue we can't determine without full access to the facts, I'd rather turn to look at why wargames figures may have got ever more finely detailed to the point where some fine bits can barely be seen, let alone painted with a size 0 brush! As an almost 76 year old who confesses to being merely an average painter, though with 50 plus years experience, I struggle with the detail on some figures but not on others. Thinking about that oddity it seems the bolder and clearer detail of a Dixon Miniatures figure for example is easier to process than a Perry Miniatures figure. In both cases the detail is there, but the clarity and style of sculpting differs. Of course many will say that one figure is blessed by in-scale detail while another will happily accept bolder detail on another. Figures seen in close up, firstly in magazines and then in the ever present Web pages, have played a part in driving forward ever more detailed figures and ever more complex and layered painting styles. But in real life figures are seen from gaming distance, some 3-5 feet I'd guess for most. At those levels more detail and layered painting are lost I'd contend. Painting to collector's standard or to the pro painted label have a part to play in this ever more detailed drive, but do they do more harm than good to the aspirations of we average hobbyists?
Coming to my final point, the rise of 50 figure 'armies', with attendant rules such as Sharp Practice or Bolt Action, has certainly contributed to the ever more detailed figure sculpt. If figures do not need to sit in seried ranks with identical comrades then sculptors can make free with action designs and myriad extra details. After all, only 49 more to finish my army...
As we all know we are far from an homogeneous group in our wonderful hobby!
Different views are probably inevitable, after all we don't all share the same hobby starting point, history or club/group set up. Perhaps as a geriatric-in-waiting wargamer trends in the hobby have left me a straggler? And we all know what sorry fate often awaited those folk... Anyway, sorry for rambling on, well done if you got this far without dropping off to sleep.
A most interesting read there Mr. B. It would also be interesting to see how much the price of metal has increased too.
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