Saturday, July 25, 2009

Vintage Conan D&D Miniatures!

For a hot minute back in the 80's, TSR, the makers of the legendary Dungeons & Dragons game, released a small but impressive series of game modules based on the son of Cimmeria, probably hoping to cash in on the popularity of the movies. Each module had a picture of Arnold in all is oiled glory. A friend of mine, during a sleep over the Summer after 8th grade, had one of these modules and we were going to play it one night, but when I learned that I couldn't be Conan (this other kid had called dibs), we ended up playing the Barbarian video game all night on his Commadore 64, and there was much rejoicing.

Then my friend was moving away and he was getting rid of a bunch of stuff and in the pile were all of his Conan modules and a bunch of small lead Conan miniatures still in their boxes! I was on them like a drunken Turanian on a dancing harlot, but all of a sudden, my friend's older brother was all like, "Hey! Those are mine!" and it turns out that my friend had "appropriated" them from his older brother without asking and out of sheer spite he wanted them back. Crap!

So, I was so close to owning all of the Conan D&D stuff, only to have it ripped away from me along with a tiny piece of my heart. Hmmm, maybe I'm being a little overdramatic.

Anyway, trolling around eBay one day, I stumbled onto these classic Conan D&D miniatures from TSR and it took me back to those days. I had posted a few pics of this set a long time ago, but these are larger and you can see the minis a bit better. Hell, they're even partially painted, which implies that the person who owned these actually played a game with them! What adventures have these little lead warriors seen?

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6 comments:

Christopher B said...

The one on the upper right bears a striking resemblance to one of the minis in Grenadier's earlier "Dungeon Explorers" set. (See upper leftmost mini here.)

Chad Thorson said...

I'd give my eye-teeth for these! The barbarian fighting the serpent monster is a Thunderbolt Mountain miniature. It's way out of print!

Anonymous said...

I have these lead figures but the content are different - I would say better. If anyone is interested, it is up for bid/sale at ebay. Here is the link - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=270433899165

yoyorobbo said...

Coolness.

Although, that black-painted knight there looks like the fallen version of the "Paladin" (bottom right on the back box cover) in the 1983 TSR AD&D Fighters, Rangers & Paladins set:

front cover

back cover

I'd guess that this particular set in the pics just has some of the figs mixed in from other sets, as also noted by Christopher B in regards to a Grenadier fig thrown in there.

Still, coolness.

yoyorobbo said...

Oh, and I am blessed by Crom to have the two TSR AD&D Conan modules (CB1 - "Unchained!" and CB2 - "Against Darkness"), along with a couple others (Conan RPG module CN2 - "Conan the Mercenary" and a GURPS "solo" Conan module "Conan and the Queen of the Black Coast"). Those last two I snagged at a local gaming con that I must admit made me think of you, bud...ha!

BUT....I never even knew these Conan minis existed....for shame!

Unknown said...

Only the figures in the bottom left (Conan) and the one above him (some villian from Savage Sword of Conan whose name escapes me at the moment)are from this set. Also, I painted several of the miniatures you have posted - I am flattered you appreciate my work (primeval and barbaric splendor are screen names I use on miniature sites)!