At the Origins 1980 Convention, held in Chester PA, I had a very unpleasant experience. It was at the Awards Ceremonies and the judges had just announced the winner of the Best Historical Line of Miniature Figures for 1979. To my utter amazement GDW was awarded the prize for best miniature figures, when in fact these "figures" were exceptionally well-produced cardboard counters which were designed to simulate a miniature wargame figure! Now according to Funk & Wagnall's Standard College Dictionary, the definition of a miniature is as follows: "A portrayal of anything on a small scale. 2. Reduced dimensions, form or extent". I just sat there, not believing what I had just heard. Was it possible that the conceptof what a miniature figure was, was not fully understood by, of all things, wargamers? I am very well aware that GDW has done a very nice job in producing a product that would improve board gaming, and that the company was well deserving of an award. However, the award should have been for "Best New Concept in a Board Game", and not for Best Historical Miniature Line I feel that it's a damn shame when manufacturers are thinning out their historical miniatures lines, left and right, because of inflation, that an insult should be added to this initial injury by awarding a prize for a product that isn't even in the same medium. It is a disgrace that companies like Ral Partha, MiniFigs, Hinchliffe and Jack Scruby Miniatures, just to name a few, who have consistently provided the hobby with historically accurate, artistically detailed figures of a high quality are not recognized publicly for their contributions to the hobby! Have the people in the hobby become so insensitive to the fact that a well painted miniature figure is an art form in itself? Again, I am not trying to diminish the efforts of GDW, and I hope no one will get that impression since their product is a fine one. What irritates me most of all is that the category of GDW's product is not the same as historical miniatures figures put out by the various companies. Yet they were placed in the same category on the voting ballot! THE COURIER staff, would like to try and put things in their proper perspective and have our own contest to determine the Best Historical Miniatures Figure Line for 1979. Cast you vote according to the feed-back card system and the results will be printed in the Volley-Fire Column of the next issue. The choices for THE COURIER's First Annual Award for Best Historical Miniature Line are; The Condottieri Line by Ral Partha The Assyrian - Egyptian Line by MiniFigs The Seven Years War Line by Hinchliffe The 15mm Napoleonette Line by Heritage Jack Scruby Miniatures So please vote, and let's prove once and for all to the manufacturers and ourselves that we appreciate their efforts and their high standards are still ours! Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 2 #3 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1980 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com