Readers of the North American edition of Lone Warrior will quickly discern that this piece is not of our usual genre. I don’t often publish figure reviews but I have made an exception this time for nostalgic reasons. Back in the 60’s when I was just getting started in wargaming, there were few figures an American teen could get his hands on, particularly if he wasn’t well connected with the hobby and there were no local stores or clubs. Like many my age, I transitioned from Marx 54mm sets to Airfix HO scale figures. My friends and I played World War II and the American Civil War using the most basic of rules. Then an older fellow who attended the same school as I found out I wargamed and he showed me some figures by Jack Scruby. Wow! Metal figures in periods that weren’t available from Airfix! Then I got my hands on a Don Featherstone book with wonderful black and white photographs of wargames in progress and I was absolutely hooked! Well, in those days my budget was limited in the extreme. But I had a fascination with the Franco-Prussian War and Scruby had the figures. Slowly I built up a small army, enjoyed painting them despite my impatience for wanting everything painted immediately, and struggled with various ways of mounting them. Then it was off to West Point. The Military Academy sucks up 100% of a cadet’s time and there was no wargaming for two years. Then, when I could squeeze a few hours of free time each week, my buddies and I continued building our wargaming armies - ACW and Napoleonics now. We needed some Napoleonic troop types Airfix didn’t provide (I still curse Airfix for waiting so long to develop French infantry). Scruby to the rescue. Jack had plenty of variety of troop types and his 25mm were close enough to Airfix’s scale that we could ignore the difference. Well, my Napoleonic armies were roughly 50% Scruby figures. I had large battalions made up of thirty to fifty figures. Like many gamers, I explored other figures and periods and the result was that I never got around to completing my brigades and divisions. I tried to get all the figures in a brigade from the same manufacturer whether Scruby, Airfix, Kriegspieler, Minifig, or Phoenix. Well, now, decades later, with two sons who enjoy gaming with me, I have the resources and inclination to round out my units. One of my sons, Alex, was particularly interested in Prussians so that was an area I focused on first. I came upon an ad for Ultimate Miniatures in MWAN and sent away for the catalog and ordered some Prussian infantry and dragoons to round out both an infantry regiment and a cavalry brigade. I was very pleased with what I received in just a few days after ordering. The figures were Scruby figures to be sure but with improvements on what Jack produced. And the price was right! I sent the Grants an email telling them that I wanted to do a review of the figures they sent me. I gave them a list of questions as well so they could fill me in on the details. Well, they sent back the following gracious and informative reply that I publish in its entirety below. Ultimate Miniatures produce nearly the full range of Scruby figures. These are traditional miniatures and lack the fine detailing that is common today. Remember, Jack cast by hand and thus his molds were limited in what body positions could be produced. However, an attentive paint job can readily add detail. What I like is the ease of painting when I don’t feel obligated to bring every last detail of the casting to life. It’s nice to have ‘stripped down’ versions of soldiers some times. Today’s figures are made of tough pewter (they almost ring when dropped). Scruby made his figures to bend and at first I was afraid of breaking the pewter arms off but with careful use of the needle-nosed pliers, I got the dragoons’ sword arms where I wanted them. No breakage! These were wonderful. The castings are cleaner than Jack could get them and the bases are thinner and cleaner as well. The price is certainly right. If I have a problem with Jack’s lines of figures it is that they are limited by today’s standards. Jack had many troop types but within a type, he limited himself to just a few poses. For example, there are three poses of 25 mm Prussian line infantry but only one pose of landwehr and grenadier. And while you can assemble a command stand for the line battalions, there are no grenadier or landwehr officers, standard bearers, or drummers. To be fair, the French line is much more extensive than other nationalities and you can assemble a division of French infantry with nearly every battalion in a different pose. In any event, I plan on ordering more figures soon. They paint up quickly and look very good indeed massed on my wargaming table. I have not told you about the many other lines of Ultimate Miniatures. Let me invite you to send $6 for a catalog to: Ultimate Miniatures P.O. Box 3959 Visalia, CA 93278-3959 Now, from the Grants: We thank you for asking about us. When Jack Scruby passed away in the late 1980's, his 54mm line was continued by his daughter. The 30mm and smaller lines were placed in storage for several years until Rod Strong purchased them from Jack's wife Wanda and then founded Ultimate Miniatures in 1994. Rod Strong was the one who introduced me to miniatures (he had been a loyal customer of Jack's for 20 years). I liked the way the "Scruby" figures were proportioned and the next thing I knew, had shelves full of Napoleonics. My wife Christy and I became partners in the business with Rod and started introducing the figures that were part of the old line but had not been in production for many years. We have about 2000 figures in production now, with masters for about 800 more. We introduce figures based on customer interest. Yesterday I made molds for more 30mm Medievals that some friends needed so they could have humans for a fantasy set up (our figures are easy on the pocketbook). We are also working on a couple of Hardee Hat figures for a school in Wisconsin and some African Colonial mounted figures for a customer in Washington looking to add to his army from when Jack poured them by hand. I can never guess what will come up next. We do give the service that we all expected as customers and remember that special requests are what keeps things interesting. Our most popular lines month after month are the Napoleonics in 25mm and 30mm. The next most popular are the Ancients. Since we have so many time periods, including the Mexican-American, Crimean and Franco-Prussian Wars, we never can guess what we will be making the following week. Two weeks ago I was making N-gauge WWII tanks for two days, and then moved on to Macedonian Pikemen for somebody’s history project. It always changes and it still is fun. You had noted a few changes to the figures from when Jack produced them. Jack and his crew originally hand poured each figure in gravity molds and gradually moved to centrifugal molds. All of ours are centrifically poured so that the amount of flashing is less than in years past. Also, we grind the bottoms of all the figures flat as was not always done in the past. (N-gauge are left on the sprue bar at shipping for easy in painting by the customer). We have poured some gravity molds of figures not in production for those customers needing a certain figure that is not officially in production (the last one was a 30mm Swedish Dragoon in tricorn). I stress that we do try to accommodate customers as much as we can and that we are representatives of the hobby, not just retailers. A good friend of ours is also on call, Mike Frank. Mike used to work for Jack Scruby and Ambrite and has over 40 years of experience and wargaming in his brain housing group. Mike lives just down the street from me and is a walking reference work. We are located in Visalia, California (where Jack originally started). The figures are made of fine English pewter and are sturdy yet pliable for changing poses. ( I'll send you a couple for the specific purpose of bending them about so you'll know how much they can take before they break. ) We have a 40 page catalog as you have seen and are looking to continue to introduce the "lost Scruby's". Eventually we will have more figures carved but not until we have caught up on all the figures not in production. We accept payment by checks, postal money order and VISA and Mastercard. Once a credit card number is on file, orders may be made by simple e-mail (no attachments). For the past 18 months we have filled all orders within one week of receipt of the order, usually less than 5 days. We welcome questions and have helped a lot of beginners. Sizing: N-gauge roughly 1/2 inch tall. 20mm 3/4 inch tall. 25mm 7/8 inch tall. 30mm approximately 1 5/16 inches tall. (These do not include the stand or the headgear). The 30mm with an X designation in the Colonial line are actually 28mm. We kept all of the sizing designations that Jack made so as not to confuse anybody with changes. I hope I have answered your questions without droning on. I'll send some samples for review next week and of course some soldiers to play "gumby" with. Take care. Bill and Christina Grant ultimateminiatures@earthlink.net Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #138 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Solo Wargamers Association. 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