Wednesday 13 May 2020

Prussian Discussion

I have hinted now and then that I'm a bit of a fan of Lamming 20mm Napoleonics. I've tried to hide this, of course, but that regiment of Lamming British Line infantry, and my tentative experiments with some of the French part of the range, I fear, may have let the cat out of the bag.

What I've really been yearning for all along is a battalion of Lamming 20mm Prussians. I knew these existed because I already had one - a charming little drummer who I conscripted into the Prussian 10th Infantry Regiment. Here's a reminder of what he looks like:

Lamming PI/6: Prussian Line Infantry Drummer
I identified him from his looks and from the fact that he has 'PI/6' inscribed underneath his base, which is listed as a Prussian Line Infantry drummer in the Lamming 20mm range. The only other things I had to go on were a few glimpses in the wargaming literature of what I believe were Lamming Prussians in the Peter Gilder collection, and an intriguing post about the same collection by Clive over on his Hinton Hunter site.

Imagine my delight, therefore, when a number of Lamming Prussians, or what looked like them, popped up in three different lots, from three different vendors, on ebay. Pictured below is the haul. Lot 1 included the figure stripped to the metal in the second row; Lot 2 are all those painted light blue; and Lot 3 are the chaps in dark blue in the front row.

Lamming 20mm Prussians....for the most part
Once I'd got them altogether, however, it became clear that there were several weird things about them. The first question was: why is the officer so much larger than the rest of them? Did Bill intend him to be like this (Bill's officers do seem to be a bit bigger, on the whole), or was he part of a later, remodelled set of Lamming Prussians?

Lamming 20mm PI/6 Prussian Line infantry drummer, PI/1 Prussian line infantry advancing,
and a somewhat oversized PI/3 Line infantry officer
This is where Lot 4 comes into the picture, which I bought from a fellow living here in New Zealand. Lot 4 consists of an identical officer and half a dozen advancing infantryman who are really very different and altogether taller than the other lots. They are not, however, examples of the final range Bill Lamming produced in 1974/5. These, as shown in an earlier post, were a great deal beefier. Pictured below are two of the Lot 4s added to the line up.

An intriguing Lamming line up: a PI/6, two  PI/1s (first variant), a PI/1 (second variant) and two PI/3s (second variant?)
The next shot shows what's underneath the bases. As you can see, the two advancing infantry variants have PI/1 inscribed on them, while the officer sports a PI/3.

The secret codes....
As if this wasn't confusing enough, two of the Lot 3 men were also noticeably different to the men in Lots 1 and 2. The next two pictures should show what I mean.

Lot 2 and Lot 3
The Lot 3s are slightly taller than the Lot 2s, and have slightly thicker and taller hats, different arms and legs, and larger, slightly misshapen bases. The torsos and blanket rolls are very similar, however.

Lot 2 and Lot 3 seen from the rear
Also different are the swords and muskets. The Lot 2s have a very simple sword moulded to the side of their left legs, while the Lot 3s have hanging swords. The packs are very similar though.

What to make of it? When I first saw them I thought the Lot 3s looked remarkably as if someone had grafted a Lamming head onto the body of a Hinton Hunt Prussian infantryman. The following, I hope, will illustrate what I mean.

Lamming PI/1, Unknown and Hinton Hunt PN 3: Prussian Infantry of the Line, charging
This initially made me think the Lot 3 chaps must be Alberkens. Peter Gilder, the Alberken designer, often appears to have used Hinton Hunts as the basis for the figures in the Alberken range. I'm not completely convinced about this, however.

The question I'm asking myself is: which came first? My feeling at the moment is that the date order is probably right to left: Hinton Hunt, Lot 3 and then Lamming.

The Descent of Man? Right to Left: Hinton Hunt,  Lot 3, Lamming

The Lot 3 looks like a Hinton Hunt, but with a new head and a lightly modified pack, blanket roll and sword. The Lamming looks like a further modification of the Lot 3, if anything, with new arms, legs, sword and musket, but retaining the torso. This may also account for the slight shrinkage in the hat and other details, which is not an unusual result of the recasting process.

My conclusion is that the Lot 3s, which I initially thought were Alberkens, may actually be a very early iteration of the Lamming Prussian range. It looks to me that Bill may have started out by modifying a Hinton Hunt or two.

Clive and I have already had a lively email debate about all this. As can be seen on the wonderful Old Metal Detector Blog here, Clive is far from convinced, but for what it's worth, my theory about Lammings is that there were more than just two versions of the range, which is to say a 20mm range and a more or less completely resculpted 25mm range. If the evidence presented above is anything to go by, Bill seems to have tinkered quite a lot with the 20mm figures, including completely remodelling some of them, before tossing the lot in favour of 25mm figures. More than a few vintage Prussians, however, will be needed to prove this, so if anyone else has examples of these figures or any tales to tell about them, please get in touch!

Yours, as ever
WM

P.S. Evidence of 'tinkering', although of a very modest variety, can also be found in the French part of the Lamming 20mm range, which I will illustrate in a later post.

Edit:
Some really splendid early Lamming British Royal Horse Artillery can be seen on Rob Y's site here.

18 comments :

  1. Firstly, apart from a couple of artillery crews I acquired as a birthday present around 72-73, all my Lamming figures are Ancients so feel free to ignore everything I say here...

    I had the privilege of meeting Bill and Renee quite a lot in the 70s (almost a standing joke - I'd walk into a Northern convention/meet and a club official would come up and say 'hey Rob, could you help judge the painting competition, Bill Lamming and () have already agreed)

    Firstly, Bill was a rather large and jovial ex-policeman, always smiling and one of the nicest people I've ever known. He would try and do anything he was asked for. This was especially noticeable after the introduction of multipart figures.

    So... I can imagine someone saying to Bill 'like this figure but not that one because' and Bill going ahead and redesigning the figure. It would be just like him. Next, don't know about his very early figures, but certainly when I knew him from 1974 onwards he told me he carved his masters out of brass. Obviously, I'm guessing he would have attached pre-made rifles, etc, but he was quite proud of that carving fact.

    He also went in for scale creep in a big way - so, again, can imagine him every now and then redoing a range a bit bigger. Earlier figures tending to be a bit 'stiff' - again, talking Ancients - and slimline. Later ones much bulkier. So rough rule of thumb - the bigger and less stiff a figure is, the later it's likely to be. Also earlier figures had rubbery looking arms with no real elbows - my Napoleonic horse artillery crew is the best example I know of that, by the time he was producing Ancients I think elbows were better defined.

    Incidentally, Bill also introduced some fun into his models. He is, for example, the first manufacturer I know of to introduce novelties such as a Nun carrying a crossbow!

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  2. That is just brilliant, Rob! I'm not sure if it advances my hypothesis (for that is all it is, based on very little at all), but the suggestion that Bill may have been doing the odd 'special' is full of possibilities.

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  3. Very interesting post WM, as you know I have tunnel vision when it comes to 20mm vintage (I can only see HH) so it is fascinating to learn about the other ranges!

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    1. I used to think Hinton Hunts were the ultimate in obscure cultural artefacts until I discovered Lammings, Ian. What I really need now is access to a decent copywrite library where I could do a deep dive into in early copies of Miniature Warfare, etc., to see if I could find any further depictions or writes ups about them!

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    2. Matthew i do have such a library - Wargamer's Newsletter, Miniature Warfare, Battle magazine, Almark Modelworld, early Military Modelling, and earlier Meccano Magazine, and others. I've been through all of them many times over ten to fifteen years looking at every mention of lamming, mainly in the eventually successful quest for the 1973-4 SYW Range, and there is no mention anywhere of an earlier Lamming Napoleonic range. In Don Featherstone's interview with him in Battle from 1977 Bill said his first wargames figure was, as far as he remembered, an Austrian infantryman, as no-one else did one. Now wouldn't be interesting if one of those turned up somewhere.

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    3. Thank you VW! I found a few references to Lamming Napoleonics in a couple of issues of the 1970 volume of the Wargamer's Newsletter, but Don seems to have been exclusively interested in Bill's artillery, about which he waxed lyrical. I think I'm with you in suspecting that the Lot 2s may be a sort of early protoLamming, as indeed may be the Lot 3s. Do you think the Lot 4s would be part of the 'official' 20mm range?

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    4. WM the third fusilier along from the left in lot 4 is the closest to a classic Lamming Napoleonic figure, I would think the others are earlier versions which were updated n style when the range expanded. Interestingly BL specifically mentions good sales of his Napoleonics in h Australia and New Zealand in his 1977 Battle Magazine interview with DF.

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  4. I ran across a new DK pose the other day (well, new to me) and still haven't been able to figure out if it is an unlisted variant or just one from another nationality that I somehow missed. In any event the reason I say this is I never know whether to be excited about finding something new, or fall into consternation because the figure was not as expected. Do you have enough that work together for a battalion or are you still on the hunt?

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    1. By combining the two smaller variants and a Hinton Hunt officer I can just scrape together enough to make a battalion David, which will do for me. The air of mystery, intrigue and dastardly copywrite infringement surrounding them makes them all the more attractive!

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  5. All this deep magic with vintage 20mil is way beyond my ken, but how are the cuirassiers? Long time no hear - are they fighting back, is the outcome in doubt?

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    1. You have correctly diagnosed that all of the above is merely an elaborate form of cuirassier avoidance, Rob!

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  6. This is an interesting piece of wargaming history. It's like an Agatha Christie who dunnit with the plot slowly unfolding.

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    1. I'm tending towards Bill Lamming in the drawing room with the lead piping, Mark, but I need a few more clue cards!

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  7. No need for the Archduke to opine. Rob has said it for me. I'm with Stryker on the vintage 20mm front and just proud to have had a personal chat with Mr Hunt when he proudly showed me his new elite Polish lancer. If only I could have told him then how much 13 of them without horses would fetch one day.

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    1. *Sigh* I always suspected that Lamming fancying would be a fairly lonely occupation. Nonetheless, I'm Out and Proud now. I'm not sure when I'm actually going to get round to painting these, however, as my next Prussian infantry battalion is definitely going to be Hinton Hunt. Rest assured, moreover, that Marcus's cuirassiers now have my full attention.

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    2. Bill had/has a lot friends in the North East and North West of England, so not that lonely. Look at the picture at the top of my blog - most of the figures are Lamming!

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    3. You are not alone - I could be partial to the odd Lamming if I could get one, although I do have some Lamming RHA in the lead pile. Currently being out bid on some HH Marines...

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  8. Thank you, Rob and Rob. I was worried I'd have to climb back into the closet for a moment there.

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