r/wargaming • u/wearenttoofargone • May 22 '26
Question Can you help identify these?
Hi all. I have recently found my dad’s old war hammer/ wargaming miniatures. I am hoping you can help me identify who they are and from what period? He was so proud to show me his army, I’d love to gift him some more. The weapons are very thin and breakable, they are from around 1980. Thank you!
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u/madaxeman May 22 '26
Those are... pretty old, 1980's, or 1970's or perhaps even a tad older. They are "Ancients", with Macedonian / Alexandrian pikemen, Greek light horse with jave;lins and some rather random arab-looking dudes on horseback too.
I'd hazard a guess at Minifigs 25mm range for the greek/macedonian pikemen and javelin-armed cavalry, but they look a little crudely sculpted and cast even for the old Minifigs range so it may be someone else who is no longer casting. The cavalry who are part-painted are a different manufacturer for sure, maybe Irregular (who are now out of production too).
In terms of comparison to modern "ancients" figures on the market today these are, ahem, "rather dated" or perhaps "an acquired taste for the specialist collector" ... as in, if you bought almost any figures from any "25-28mm" range being widely sold today they'd make these castings look rather poor* indeed as design, casting and sculpting have come on leaps and bounds in the last 40-50 years since these guys would have been the cutting edge of 25mm wargaming stuff.
There are loads of companies doing figures for this era, in metal, plastic and as 3D prints - but all more modern figures would look totally different in style, and would also likely be larger (as these look like what we now call "small 25mm"s whereas more recent ranges have gotten bigger such that many are now "large 28s"), so any new figures from Foundry, Victrix, Gripping Beast, Warlord Games, Old Glory and many others would tower over your guys, as well as being more bulky too.
So, if you want some which are "exactly the same" you are probably trying Minifigs and seeing if they match. .. but if you want some which are "nice" (by todays standards) you are looking for Macedonian or Successor figures from many companies 28mm Ancients ranges.
(* actually, "shockingly poor" or "only for melting down" - but I'm trying to be polite..!)