Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits

Putting together a proud little band of Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits, and so duly I introduce... The Hobbits of the Fourth Farthing Irregulars.

10 Archers, 10 Spearman, 1 Captain

Prompted by Whisky Priest's "How to Oldhammer"  to put together a small warband of cheap and easily available miniatures, just to prove to naysayers that Oldhammer isn't some kind of weird exclusive collectors club... I thought what a great opportunity to not only do that but explore some fantasy wargaming history, kind of celebrate 40 Years of D&D and pay hommage to one of gamings greats, and prove that Oldhammer is actually some kind of weird, tweedy, pipe-smoking, beard stroking rambling cult who sit around whittering on about fairytales and the history of wargaming...

But wait, what is he on about? "Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits" what's them when they're at home? To answer that, dear reader, let us roll back the Fomorian mists of time... back... back...

Back to 1970 where the fantasy gaming industry didn't exist. Just imagine. There were no fantasy miniatures being produced, no rules-sets, no role-playing games, no Warhammer, no D&D, only earth beneath us, and above us only sky. There were, however, small groups of gentlemen gamers and vagabond street urchins pushing little models around, inspired by the Fantasy authors of the day, the likes of Vance, Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard. Into this heady, smoke filled arena, enter Gary Gygax, wargamer and soon to be inventor of Dungeons & Dragons publisher and co-author of Chainmail - rules for medieval miniatures including the "Fantasy Supplement" - wherein all manner of Nazgul, Ents, Balrogs, Orcs and Hobbits were detailed for your wargaming pleasure.

Chainmail represents the very first commercially available fantasy wargames rules - WRGs "Suggested Adaptions of Swords and Sorcery Fantatics" wouldn't appear until 1973, and sadly (or perhaps wisely) avoided the wrath of Tolkien Enterprises Legal Dept. and  neglected the Tolkienesque in favour of some kind of weird Crusader mythos with religious overtones. Chainmail might not quite represent year zero for Fantasy Wargaming, as luminaries such as Tony Bath demonstrate using ancients rules in their own fantasy setting, but returning to the matter in hand...

It all started here. Or hereabouts.

In the Chainmail "Fantasy Supplement" Gary describes Hobbits thusly:

"These little chaps have small place in the wargame, but you may want them for recreation of certain battles. Remember that they are able to blend into the background so make exellent scouts. They can fire a stone as far as an archer shoots, and because of their well known accuracy, for every two Halflings firing count as three on the Missile Fire table."

Nice enough - but no accompanying illustration tells us what this Hobbity "little chap" might look like, or how we might represent such a thing on our tabletops, which is a shame, but very much par for the course on early games - the gamer was supposed to work out for themselves and choose whatever they liked. The idea that there was a peculiar relationship between a specific ruleset and a specific miniatures range had yet to enslave the minds of gamers. Setting the chronometer forward a little to 1971,  in an article in Wargamers Newsletter, Gary states...
 

"...converted Airfix 'Robin Hood' men serve as Hobbits..."

And there we have it, Gary was using Airfix Robin Hood figures as Hobbits, and thus the Gygaxian Airfix Hobbit was born. You can read the full text of Garys article in Wargamer's Newsletter #127 via James Maliszewski's post on Grognardia here where none other than Jervis Johnson issued forth a copy of an extract of a 1972 Wargames Newsletter (edited by Donald Featherstone), and there's a picture below, which you can click, make big, print out on actual paper and pretend like it's the 1970s, maaaan.

Wargamer's Newsletter #127, from October 1972.
via Vintage Wargaming

Wargamer's Newsletter #127, from October 1972.
via Vintage Wargaming

But what are the aforementioned Robin Hood Airfix figures like? Well here's a shot of the original packaging, of the type Gary might very well have purchased back in the day...

Box without hinges, key or lid, yet little green Hobbitses inside are hid

Airfix don't currently list the Robin Hood set on their website any more - but they seem to be listed in various online retailers, and were widely available in HobbyCraft until a short while ago, with a big red £2.99 sticker on them - passed up by me because I'm somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to shopping.  Having "Airfix Robin Hood" on my watchlist on eBay for over a year - determined to pick up a set for under £5 but alas kept missing out, and the ever increasing postage making the likelihood of a total bargain. Found a seller on Play.com selling a box for £4.60 - including postage, for 40 figures. Perfect, I thought, and bought them. Returning to the store they now cost around £7 - still inexpensive in comparison to 40 28mm figures, but the price does seem to fluctuate.

Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits on Amazon
Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits on play.com

And it must be said that Squarehex (purvayors of fine gaming stationary) also have a limited number in stock at a very reasonable price. Squarehex

Airfix -  a British company making model kits and toy soldiers - and probably familiar to most readers of this blog from their airplane, dinosaur and military kits, has a venerable place in our Wargaming history. The name continually crops up in the reminisces of the early fantasy wargames scene, be it Joe Dever, Bryan Ansell, Andy Chambers, everyone around that era talks of playing with Airfix models, whether it's giving Romans ray-guns to recreate the comic-book world of the Trigan Empire or just battling out WWII on the linoleum of youth, Airfix provided the entry-drug into  miniatures skirmish gaming, perhaps much like how Fighting Fantasy would feed the UK RPG scene a decade later.

But what of the figures themselves?

Here's some superbly based and painted up versions by Paul of Paul Bods.

via 1:72 depot.com

  
The set contains

• 17 archers (inc. "Robin")
• 10 Spearmen
• 10 Hand weapons (inc. 1 Little John "Axeman")
• 1 Maid Marion (mounted)
• 1 Cleric / Wizard / Friar Tuck

They are really small and quite delicately detailed, they are they aren't heroically proportioned.

My original plan was to use these as Anglo Saxons for the Wildwood  Campaign, along with the Sherrif of Nottingham set for the Normans, based loosely on British Neopaganism and the 1980's TV series Robin of Sherwood. I still might do that, between the conkers and rose-thorns, the earth is good. Anyway, this set is earmarked to be converted into Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits, but how?

From Robin Hood to Old Took

Unfortunately Gary doesn't go into much detail as to how he converted his Airfix Robin Hood figures into Hobbits, nor what his Hobbits looked like. So far my  research has not turned up any pictorial documentation of these figures or Garys early Chainmail fantasy games in action - any help would be most welcome on that front.

We do know that Gary was eclectic in his use of cheap plastic toys - remember that there were no fantasy miniatures to buy at this time, and improvisation, creativity and affordability were the order of the day. And we know that many of the AD&D Monster Manual illustrations and creatures  were based directly on the models being used in Gygax's games (an excellent post by fantasy artist Tony Di'Terlizzi here illustrates quite well). While correlation does not prove causation,  it is entirely possible the drawings for the Halfling by Dave Sutherland from the 1977 Monster Manual are based on Gary's personal figures from the Airfix Robin Hood set.

1977 Monster Manual Halflings

And the weapon-types covered in the Monster Manual under the Halfling entry run like so:

• small sword and short bow 
• small sword and spear 
• short bow 
• sling 
• small sword 
• spear 
• hand axe

Interestingly enough, if we accept that the quarterstaffs are spears, these are exactly as the Airfix Robin Hood figures are armed. Except the addition of slings, which possibly could be converted from the archers.

For now I will let Dave Sutherlands piece dicate the formation of the Fourth Farthing Irregulars warband, 10 bowmen and 10 spearmen, no armour. I'll definitely convert some of the models in the set with cloaks, backpacks and pole-arms and might add some shields to the hand weapons...

Basing 

I have to admit that my reconstruction of the Gygaxian Airfix Hobbit is not going to be 100% authentic. My first intentional deviation - the issue of basing.

Gary may well have based his Hobbits on bits of cardboard, or washers, or nothing at all. However, he definitely didn't use the common slotta-bases that appeared in the mid-80s and I'm not either, and it's highly unlikely Gary used British currency, but that is exactly what I'm going to do.

1971 New Penny

Old bronze coins are still in circulation, and I've been collecting them for a while (and swapping new coins for old  with friends and colleagues, much to their amusement) for intended use aforementioned Wildwood Campaign project, so that's why I have an abundance of them. I'd decided to go with pennies for infantry, UK 1p coins, specifically UK 1p coins minted before 1992, not only does this just fall over the threshold of the end of Oldhammer (1991 being the year Bryan Ansell sold the business to it's current management team, and so marks the end of the "Oldhammer period") but also marks the change from a solid bronze coin to a copper-plated steel (and if one were allowed to melt them down, the solid bronze ones would be more valuable). Add to that, I based my first ever Citadel Miniatures on pennies, so there's personal nostalgia there too.

I'm going to be a hard-core numismatist nerd and only used coins dated 1971 - 1972, to fit the creation window before the article was published - I wouldn't have bothered, but going through the penny-jar discovered I have enough, so job done.

These are quick and easy to identify as they are non-magnetic and the pre 1981 coins have NEW PENNY on them and the date on the Queens side, for final verification. The more practically minded of you might see a magentisable base of modern coins as an advantage in storage and transport, but hey I'm going for historical reconstructionist modelling here, not common sense!

However all of this means the basing for this project is going to cost me a grand total of 21 pence. An inordinate sum of money, I think you'll agree. Their low profile and naturally patined brown edge, and slight weight will make them look and feel really nice.

Currently 20 x 20mm bases would cost £6 from GW, so that's a 'saving' of £5.79 over modern Warhammer.

Conversion Materials

OK. So I need to convert some of the quarterstaff's into more obvious spears, should be simple enough to add a spearhead on the end, or perhaps replace the fragile plastic with a sturdier metal rod / pin. None of the Airfix models have quivers, which strikes me as odd, and Dave Sutherlands Hobbit archer in the Monster Manual is carrying one, so I'll definitely need to add those. Also I'll want to add cloaks and shields to my dual-classed fighter-thief types, and yes, I'm gonna try giving them slightly bigger furry feet. So some modelling material is called for...

Keeping things authentic, Garys Wargaming Newsletter article was published 1972 - two years before Tom Meier accidentally discovered Green Stuff, so GS is out.  Gary mentions "auto body putty" in his  article, but I have no idea that that may be. Miliput has been around since 1968, so is in-period for this project, and according to the manufacturer, got into widespread use in the modelling field in 1970 so seems totally appropriate. Over to Amazon to pick up some Milliput Standard Yellow-Grey for £2.80

 

20g of Green Stuff from GW = £6.20 (31p per gram)
113g of Miliput from amazon = £2.80 (2p per gram)

So that's 15 times cheaper per gram!

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Oldhammer on a Budget?

So as part of the aim is to demonstrate how accessible Oldhammer can be, a breakdown of costs for The Hobbits of the Fourth Farthing Irregulars.

Models

40 Airfix "Robin Hood" / Gygaxian Airfix Halfling figures:  £4.60
21 pre New Pence 1p coins: £0.21

Modelling supplies

1 Swann Morton scalpel #3 Handle : £2.60
Loctite Super Glue : £1.95
1 pack Milliput : £2.80

That's £12.60 so far, with some things left over to go into the general supplies tin. Note that all of these items are commonly available, without trawling through eBay, entering a Games Workshop, or getting out of ones bed.

I might be using 1:72 models for Hobbits (scale shots will come) but there's no reason not to just play the entire game in 1:72 either by converting random historical armies - following in the footsteps of Gary and Joe Dever, or just buying some of the newer Fantasy ranges that have come on the market in recent years (Dark Alliance come in at around 14p each), but much coverage is out of scope of this post, and I've rambled on enough.

They're behind you!

What Next?

I'm really pleased so far, Gygaxian Airfix Hobbits, an experiment in period modelling, budget gaming, OSR, Oldhammer and hobbitry, highlights  Gygax's ingenuity and creativity back in the 70's and provides us with an alternative route into gaming that avoids both the corporate and collectors markets, "The future", as they say "is History!". Of course the project is not quite finished yet, although we could start playing with our little Hobbits right away, they should really be painted and decorated, and then of course, there's thorny issue of the rules. But first I have 42 little Hobbit feet to sculpt on, with nothing but Milliput a scalpel and some Zeppelin and some Hawkwind...

Halfling Character Reference

It's unofficially, officially the month of the OSR halfling. Chris over at Halfling House has published his Top 10 Halfling miniatures of all time focusing on the chubby Citadel C11 range, and Migelleto over at Grumpy Old Troll is de-Tolkienising his D&D little folk.  So I'm here to chime in with a selection of the finest Hobbitty faces:

Sid James - Bingo Buggins

Terry Scott - Tobomory "Toby" Cuttingshedge

Richard Briars and Penelope Keith
Lord and Lady Cranknortle

Tove Jannson - Daphne 'Fee' Glossop-Dorkins

Bernard Cribbens - Wickham 'Wicky' Bluffing-Mews

Billie Piper - Lady Myrtle Chuffnell

Jenny Agutter with a shotgun.  Harriet Worplesden

in the 21st Age of Middle Earth...

...in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

images from both the jean moulin high school project (2009) and logements anglet (2011)

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There are exists here to: OFF ARCHITECTS. Thorin sits down and sings of gold.

Cwichelmslaewe Barrow

Silent and lonely, the ancient road pursues its course over height and into hollow :  now stretching away in a generous curve sharply defined by a bank on either side, now scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding turf. At intervals are earthworks that guard it and barrows that keep watch.   

Illustration L Leslie Brookes

Round one of the latter, familiarly called the "Knob," not a few curious legends have gathered.  Some distance below the old road there runs, also from east to west, a military ditch and vellum, and the story goes that the devil, having a fancy to turn ploughman, cleft this mighty furrow along the hillside. When he arrived opposite the spot where the barrow now stands, his ploughshare became clogged; he halted to clean it, and the soil which he scraped off he tossed over the Ridgeway in a heap to be known henceforth as the Knob. There is a lavishness about this proceeding which can only be properly appreciated by those who have seen the mound and the Devil's Dyke.

The tale was told to me by a native of the district who had heard it when a boy, from the older labourers working on his father's farm. Local opinion however, differed on the subject. While some people believed the Knob was due to His Satanic Majesty's industry, others possessing more education, maintained it was a genuine tumulus raised above the body of Cwichelm, king of the West Saxons; and yet a third party claimed that it was composed of the bodies of this king's soldiers, slain hereabouts in some great battle. So prevalent was this last belief that the owner of the land, who was a thrifty soul, cut into the mound and drew off several hundred loads of soil under the impression that it contained valuable fertilising qualities. The informant to whom I am indebted for the above traditions, well remembers seeing the farm carts coming and going on their foolish errand, and the sensation created in the neighbourhood by this wanton destruction of the barrow. Its poor remains can still be viewed a monument no longer of a dead chieftain or his forgotten host, but of man's credulity and ignorance."

~ Eleanor G. Hayden - Travels Round Our Village (1905)

5 adventure ideas around the Wych-helm* Barrow:

1. A giant (or perhaps demon) has been spotted ploughing up the highlands (perhaps armed with item 3 below). Afeared of an invasion by giant-kind, the adventurers are hired by the local villagers to get rid the land of him.
   
   
   
2. Haunted by spectral visitations of long-dead kings, the greedy Landowner hires the adventurers to protect him and release him from his curse.
   
   
   
3. The Landowner hires the adventurers to protect his wagons carrying the magically fertile soil cut from the Barrrow after some 'unfortunate accidents' and 'mysterious disappearances'. Undead soldiers begin to arrise from the accursed soil and wreak vengeance upon the living for the desecration of their grave.
   
   
   
4. Guarding a merchant caravan down an ancient road, the adventurers have an unnerving feeling of being watched, passing by "The Knob" they are approached by a soldier in ancient uniform and told they cannot pass.
   
   
   
5. Rumours of ancient kings and devils-work surround the Barrow, is this just the idle talk of half-drunk yokel halflings? may there be a Kings ancient treasure hoard beneath the mound or is it truly just the lair of a Giant Mole^TM?

3 items:

1. Soil of the Ancestors - this is a wax-sealed jar containing cursed soil from the Wycheshelm Barrow, placing the soil on the ground will summon 2D6 -4 (there is a chance of failure) skeletons, who will proceed to attack the nearest living creature.
   
   
2. Blood of the Land - this is a wax-sealed jar containing blessed soil from the Wycheshelm Barrow, placing the soil on the ground will cause any living plants to grow to twice its natural size in 1D6 days.
   
   
3. The Ploughshare of His Satanic Majesty - this is an immense, rusted iron blade as tall as a man and as wide as a dwarf.  Encrusted with peculiar signs and symbols wield-able only by those of Ogre size or greater strength. Upon the weapon lays a curse, anyone attempting to wield it will be forced to walk 100 miles and plough an acre of land. Once the land is tilled, and grain sown upon it, next growing season a crop of gold will arise (1 acre = 2000gp). The gold will bring ill fortune to any that keep it.  If molten down, up to 23 swords may be forged from the original ploughshare, each will be +1 cursed, berserk inducing, intelligent blade until the first 100 souls are claimed whereafter the swords will revert to a normal one of its type.

* always nice to change the name of an Anglo-saxon king into something more like a Swords and Sorcery villian

Lord of the Rings minis from White Dwarf 68 (August 1985)

ME 13: Frodo the Hobbit

Just one photo from the Lord of the Rings minatures range this time. What's this then? Frodo on a pony. Never happened. Nice pony tho', obviously a Shire horse. Have we mentioned the 80's Citadel designers love of puns before? I think we have. Shire horse for a hobbit, get it? Oh how they must have gaffawed over their green stuff

But yeah, Frodo not once rode a pony. I suppose that's a problem with creating a formula, 3 figs 1 mounted, 1 standing, 1 mount, and then sticking to it, is that there are certain incongruities in the range. Damned useful for gaming tho' - especially as you can have a mounted and dismounted version of your general, commander, unit leader. or character. Unless you're playing a LoTR game of course, when you'll never ever need a Frodo on a pony.

The really nice brushwork (what is that - high wargaming standard? pro?) is by Lindsey le Doux Paton. The earthy tones of the halfling against the dark horse make a nice dramatic contrast. I'd be tempted to have done that horse "bay", and kept the colour scheme all neutrals. As black Shires are more expensive than bay ones, perhaps this signifies something about Frodos accumulated inheritance from Bilbo.

The King of Birds: A Halfling Tale

While researching the background for Halflings in The Realm of Zhu   - designed to be somewhat akin to Tolkiens Hobbits (which I term Edwardian Pastoral) with a dash of Richard Adams. I came across this story retelling the King of Birds:

The Eagle summoned all kinds of birds together, to choose their king ; it was agreed that the one which could fly highest should be elected.

The Rook flew so high that he called out,

Caw, caw, caw,
I can zee it all.

The Lark flew quite up to heaven's gate, and there sung a sweet song of triumph.

But whilst these trials were going on the little blue Tit-mouse crept under the feathers of the Eagle and hid itself there. When the Eagle's turn came he soared far higher than any of the others and remained stationary at that point, looking proudly downwards.

At length when quite exhausted with the prolonged effort, he was obliged to commence to descend at that moment the little blue Tit-mouse flew out and mounted still higher than the eagle had done, with its pert note of  

Tit, tit, Higher it, 
Tit, tit, Higher it.

All the birds were therefore obliged to acknowledge that the little blue Tit-mouse must be their King.

A couple of inspiring points regards this tale:

• It tells of the small overcoming the great though cunning- surely a central theme of all Halfling stories!
• The twisted mnemonic logic of a birds social standing (i.e. kingship) being based on it's ability to fly high, which in turn is based on, or somehow related to their song - the influence of a Halfling Bardic tradition perhaps!
• The appearance of Eagles (a Tolkenian theme, so therefore already "Hobbity")
• The generally rural and 'woodsy' feel of the whole thing.

As a Halfling folk-tale, this could be lifted straight into the background, but with a little work, it could become more mythic in proportion.