Mark Blackmon is the President of Empire Miniatures which currently is producing 15mm ancients, Napoleonics, and American Civil War miniatures formerly produced by Heritage, Inc. In business since June of 1983 Empire Miniatures promises to offer the wargamer a good product at a reasonable price. They also are intent upon using a number of sophisticated marketing techniques that should improve their service to the gamer and offer a better product.
HADLEY: Mark, with the constantly increasing number of companies producing wargaming figures why did you decided to get into the miniatures business?
BLACKMON: We got into the miniature business partly through luck and partly through need. I was surprised when I was able to buy the Heritage Models figures. Fortunately, before I placed a bid for them I had already done the market research and knew how well the product had done in the past. I had identified the things that had gone wrong with the original products . . . poor quality control both in the packaging and the manufacturing of the miniatures. I also wanted to use a better quality alloy, recut the molds, and hire people who understood the product they were producing.
HADLEY: That sounds like a good first step. Tell me Mark, when you first started producing you offered a co-op plan to the gamer. How is that project going?
BLACKMON: Pretty well, we have shut it off and have about 80 wargamers participating in the program.
HADLEY: Will it be offered again?
BLACKMON: No, it will not. When we started the co-op we had something very special in mind. We wanted to develop a test market of hard core gamers and because they joined the co-op and pay the fee of $35 we knew they were serious.
HADLEY: Interesting concept. Obviously, the gamer can now buy the figures outside the co-op.
BLACKMON: Oh, absolutely. When we first started the co-op our sales were 90% mail order. Within three weeks of the start of our advertising campaign we became 90% wholesale-retail. It became obvious that it would not be fair to a majority of the wargamers to sell only through the co-op.
HADLEY: How easy is it to find Empire Miniatures in my local hobbyshop?
BLACKMON: It's becoming easier all the time. The number of wholesalers carrying the line is expanding all the time. Our earlier problems from not enough wholesalers picking up the product and our inability to keep up with the volume of orders.
HADLEY: How large is your operation?
BLACKMON: Right now about 48 hours. We have recently hired do my job right that number should not get much larger and we should still be able to produce as much as Heritage did during their peak period.
HADLEY: What's your current turn around time?
BLACKMON: Right now about six weeks. We have recently hired a production manager which should improve that dramatically. Also certain lines such as the Confederates can be turned around in a few days because we have the inventory.
HADLEY: Mark, right now you have three lines of figures . . . namely ancients, Napoleonics and American Civil War do you intend to expand any of these?
BLACKMON: We have already produced some new Napoleonics including a French Curassier in greatcoat with braided horsehair crest and oil skin covered plume, plus a French, Austrian and Prussian line fusilier in overcoat and oilskin covered shako. Most recently we have added Napoleon and his staff on foot. This group was designed to recreate the poses found in a picture in the Empire Games Waterloo Book.
HADLEY: Anything else?
BLACKMON: Yes, we plan to build our lines to compliment the Empire Games books. Right now we have a number of figures in the works that will represent Hanovarians, Dutch and the other small nations at Waterloo. We will also be producing figures to be used in the 1809 campaign in Austria. And of course, over a period of time we will be upgrading our ancients and ACW lines.
HADLEY: Any closing comments?
BLACKMON: Our goal at Empire Miniatures is to provide the best product we can for the wargamer. That means not only a well cast figure but a historically accurate figure as well. Also look for Empire to be the most service conscious company in the business. We found that few companies really have the interest of the gamer at heart. I can promise you that we will at all times.
Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. V #4
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1984 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