Ancients

Any English schoolboy will tell you that the Middle Ages or Medieval period begins in 1066 when William the Conqueror sailed over from Normandy and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, having grown up with that concept I'm not about to change now, so this page is for anything before then!

Queen Cleopatra lounging on a dais beside a Sphinx while being fanned by a Nubian slave, all made by CHERILEA. There were two seperate sets, Egyptians and Nubians, each of six figures which clearly interlinked. The Sphinx was an accessory which came with the Egyptians

More of the CHERILEA Nubians, a slave in chains, an overseer with a whip and a guard with a sword.

More of the CHERILEA Egyptians, a warrior with two priests? the latter two have been repainted

The remaining pair of CHERILEA Egyptians, a soldier and archer, the latter being repainted.

The remaining CHERILEA Numibians, two spearmen,

The following four images are the Ancient Chinese Warriors By MARX, these figures were manufactured in Hong Kong and were obtained from the close-out sale of the MARX factory in Swansea, Wales. To my knowledge they were never sold in the UK so must have been sent to Swansea as samples for evaluation.

This is the Roman chariot by CHERILEA, they also produced it being driven by a very Wagnerian Boadacia, Queen of the Iceni tribe.

A Roman standard bearer and legionary by XILOPLASTO of Italy, these figures are about 10cm high and made of rubber.

A Greek hoplite and a Roman legionary, both with totally inapropriate shields, made by TIBIDABO of Italy. This company's products are quite distinctive because they are made in hard plastic and the arms are often cast seperately, then glued on.

Some opposition for the Romans! A pair of Gauls, the standard bearer is by STARLUX of France while the trumpeter is by CAFE STORME and was given away free as a premium with packets of coffee.

Greek hoplites by ATHENA of greece (wherelse?). Athena are still in production, mostly making hoplites and Evzones for the tourist market, these are early production as evidenced by the square bases, they are also much larger (about 65mm) than the current production.

Remarkably this is a one piece casting, the archer is a 54mm scale figure and came in a board game by ELASTOLIN called the Battle of Metauro. The rest of the pieces in the game were 40mm Romans by ELASTOLIN painted in two different colours to represent the Romans and Carthaginians. I think the elephant went with the Carthaginians and must have looked quite out of place on the board surrounded by smaller scale figures.

Return to Home page