Scaly - Regular, Super-size, and Flaming Hot

Here's a really great Naga from Broadsword miniatures.



I thought all the Broadsword figures were sculpted by Jay Adams, but there was a review of this piece in Dragon magazine 84 that credited Bob Maurus as the scultor, so I don't know.

This nasty looking brute is the Madcoil from Ral Partha's Elfquest Personalities boxed set. Sculpted by Julie Guthrie.




And this fantastic Salamander is also from Broadsword. I'm pretty sure this one is a Jay Adams piece.

High Weirdness (or low?)

Here are some interesting pieces from Minifigs "Valley of the Four Winds" series. I remember picking them out of a discount bin just because they were so strange.


(L to R - Shouting Head on Arms, Old Woman Changing into Fire, and Walking Mouth)


(L to R - Spiked Two-legged Cat, Large Head on Legs, and Giant Hand)

I always thought that these bizarre figures would have equally bizarre names; like "Hairbaalis - Cat from Hell". After hunting around for quite a long time, finding the actual names was something of a let-down.

**Update: More Valley of the Four Winds info
Wow. Thanks to datawrangler for opening this can of worms that I can't hope to sort out. :-) It seems that the "Valley of the Four Winds" story (serialized in White Dwarf magazine) was written by Steve Jackson* and Ian Livingstone of Games Workshop (under a collaborative pseudonymn) in conjunction with the release of the VFW miniatures from Minifigs. Sometime later, Games Workshop also released a VFW board game.

You can read more about it in this excellent review at >boardgamegeek<.
(Which also gives a detailed summary of the backstory.)

* That's the British Steve Jackson, not the American Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games)

You can see several group pictures of more VFW minis at >stuffoflegends<.

**Update #2: The Great Bell and Tower
The Great Bell and Tower, one of the major story elements and a large multi-piece figure set is being re-released by >Game Figures Inc / Minifigs America<.

And Speaking of Wizards with (ahem!) "Magic Wands"...

Here is Boredflak from the Finieous Phigures set. I love that he isn't just carrying a machine gun, but a bazooka as well!



(Finieous Fingers was a terrific comic that ran in the early issues of Dragon magazine. In 1982 Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures produced a set of 8 figures based on the comic.)


And here's a mystery wizard toting what looks like a Schmeisser.



**Update: Mystery wizard identified. This is actually a Citadel limited edition piece "LE7 - Wizard with a Sub-Machine Gun". Thanks to datawrangler for pointing me in the right direction.

You can see a painted figure >here< and a list of Citadel limited editions >here<.


The Finieous Phigures set would get its own post, but someone's already done that. You can check out all the figures >here<.