Name: Jack Hesselbrock

Genius: Ral Partha

Bio: Additional designs, awards, past credits, recognitions or other accomplishments? with dates if possible...

Ral Partha manufactures sculptings and paints. We have designed many thousands of Fantasy, Space and Historical figures. Our licenses include or have included: TSR lines, FASA lines, Avalon Hill lines, White Wolf lines and Steve Jacson lines of miniatures.

Ral Partha has been given many awards over the past 20 years. These include H.G. Wells awards and Origins awards.

Current job (and title)?

I am President of Ral Partha. Because Partha is a small company, the President has many day to day responsibilities. I conduct all sales as I am also the sales manager traveling to many distributors monthly. I am the chief financial officer. I approve all purchases. Am a Trustee of our 401K plan. I make sure everything runs right as I have full responsibility and blame for any and all actions by Ral Partha, its employees and owners.

Our web page and all consumer e-mail is tended and answered by self (I'd do this even if with a huge company as it allows me to hear all consumer complaints, suggestions and observations from our customers).

Where did you get the inspiration for starting Ral Partha? Tell us about the early days...

Ral Partha is an adult this year plus one. We are 22 years old. Many people have inquired about how we got started and how we arrived at the name Ral Partha.

In 1975, a group of gamers including myself were approached by a young man of 15. This young man is named Tom Meier. Tom sculpted figures for a company in Dayton, Ohio. You might remember the company names - Kriegspielers and Custom Cast. Tom's figures were far superior to any others being sculpted worldwide. Yet, Tom was being paid about half of what older sculptors were earning. This inequity was solved by the forming of a new miniatures' company.

None of the partners in what has since become known as Ral Partha had any experience in molding, casting or packaging miniature figurines. We pulled our money and bought a casting machine, pot, vulcanizer, ladle, mold rings and locater studs. Now, we had to learn how to use them. It was strictly trial and error. We made many mistakes while learning our business.

I was our only employee. Our business was located in a basement at a partner's house. We had to find sources for metal and our resources for purchasing anything after our investment in machinery were very meager. The metal was transported in my car. Over the next few years, tens of thousands of pounds of metal arrived at our factory by Volkswagon Beetle.

I mixed our alloy out of 100 pound bar of lead, 20 to 26 pounds of tin, and four or five handfuls of linotype. This mixture was stirred and stirred using our one ladle. When a mold was made right, it was an accident. When a mold was made wrong, it was the norm. Initially, our metal when mixed had this awful odor. Who knew the source of this foul smell ? It was discovered the cat was using the linotype box as it's kitty litter box. A screen was placed over the tub preventing reoccurrences of the stench from hell.

One time, I cast dungeon accessories for a day filling many boxes. The stuff being cast didn't look like any figures I was aware so I melted it all down. To my dismay, that was how it was supposed to look. Another time, I made a mold leaving the plastic still on the interior of the top half. After vulcanizing, the melted plastic made the mold and the masters unusable. When Tom Meier got his drivers license, he backed out and hit the side of the house.

With our twenty products all packaged in plain brown boxes, we went to our first gaming convention as Ral Partha. Gencon 1975 was an interesting experience. Miniaturists from around the country got to see our new miniatures company. We sold out of everything we brought with us. In spite of ourselves, we built our company on quality and you our customers rewarded our efforts.

Ral Partha was a name made up by John Winkler. John was a friend of Tom Meier. John was playing the original D & D in high school. He named his wizard character Ral-Partha. He made up the name because he wanted a Middle-Eastern sounding name for his wizard. John's wizard - Ral-Partha - was wildly successful and it was hoped that some of this success would spill over into our fledgling miniatures company.

The hyphen from Ral-Partha was somehow dropped. John Winkler was not. John graduated high school and college with a teaching certificate. Instead of teaching, John has been employed by Ral Partha since May of 1980. By the way, if you are a gaming club member, his image is found on the Partha Bonus Money. He has been affectionately known as "Ral" these past 22 years.

What made your miniatures such a cutting edge product at the time? And what do you do to keep that edge?

My experience with miniatures over two decades has witnessed many changes made within the miniatures industry. Our company was successful because of Tom Meier. As previously stated, Tom was so far ahead of all our competition in quality, we had a great lead in excellence. In 1975, there were only a few miniatures companies. Stick men or very crude castings were all a miniaturist could buy.

The introduction of Tom's figures made everybody get better if only to compete more fairly in the market place. The problem for our competition was that Tom was one of a kind and was only now starting to get better. Each year, you could see his skills improve. Not only did our competition have to strive to get to Tom's level of competence, he was improving at a great rate and they were always a step behind.

Ral Partha decided from the beginning that we were going to be the benchmark from which all miniatures would be compared. When new sculptors were added with Tom's work, Tom would instruct them in how to become better. Tom used epozy ribbon and made this medium the sculpting choice of most of the industry. When Tom started, figures were sculpted in wax. Wax does not hold up well in vulcanization nor can the great detail of a Tom Meier be put in wax.

As the years progressed, we trained many sculptors now with other companies. Other companies now have our skill of sculptors but not our resolve to keep the poorly sculpted miniatures off the market.

Let me explain: We have some sculptors who are on our payroll. These sculptors will remake or redo areas of a figure we think don't measure up to our standard. We also have outside freelance sculptors. Again, we will return their creations for fix ups so these sculptings conform to our standards. We will allow releases to be late rather than put out a product that is substandard to our expectations. From the looks of our competition, this isn't always done. We will maintain our edge in this way alone.

There are more factors that give Ral Partha an advantage. Ral Partha has taken mold making to the highest standards. Remember when I stated I made the molds ? My molds were so poor in comparison to the molds we made in 1978 when Gary Wilkerson was hired it was unbelievable. Gary was the best mold maker of the time. He brought to our mold room what Tom Meier brought to the figure business. Gary eventually trained several more mold makers.

Brian Hitsman learned everything Gary could teach him and added many new techniques of his own. Then, Brian trained Doug Mize (Dennis Mize's - one of our sculptors - brother). Doug learned all of Brian's skills and also added many new techniques. This history shows why we don't mess up in mold making and distort the figures. Molds burn out. We make around 30 to 40 new molds daily. Nobody within our industry can keep pace with this productivity.

Ral Partha witnessed the best marketing man within our industry. That man was Duke Siegfried. Duke was Tom's former boss at Custom Cast who merged with Heritage Models and moved his operation to Dallas. Duke tried everything first. He was the first to blister pack, the first to put out box sets with decent art work, the first to have a paint line and the first to mix figures with paints in box sets. These were all very successful for Heritage.

We sat back and copied what went right. Duke was the pioneer in getting retail stores and distributors in America to try miniatures in their stores and warehouses. There are many stories I could tell about this man. On the other hand, Duke tried many things that were not successful and eventually went out of business. We didn't copy his flubs. Right now, many things that Duke tried that were failures are again being tried by those with less time in our field.

Lastly, Ral Partha has employees who have worked at Ral Partha longer than some of our competition's employees are aged. This gives us a large experience gap over all our competition. It helps maintain a quality that we painstakingly put on public view for over 22 years.

I've been to a commercial casting operation, but for those that haven't, please outline the steps needed to produce a miniature.

Ral Partha figures are sculpted in epoxy ribbon. The sculptors sculpt those figures to scale allowing for the shrinkage that occurs at the parting line with each mold made. These originals are then molded in what we call a master mold. The molds are cut and vents are included to allow the gases to escape and metal to get into every nook and cranny of the detail.

Then, this master mold is cast enough times to get figures in metal for production molds. Production molds are made from these masters and the masters are saved for re-use when a mold burns out. The production molds are spin cast. The figures not totally formed are melted in our casting pot.

After a box of figures is cast, it goes to packaging. We use both box sets and blister packaging. If the figure is for a box set, it is taken to our shrink wrap room. There, boxed sets are packaged. The figures are put in the box sets and shrinkwrapped and boxed in sixes. If the figure is to be blister packed, it goes to our blsiter pack stations. We use an addressograph machine to put the stock number and description on our products' cards.

A blister is packed in reverse order from how you see it hung on the wall. Blister goes in first. Then figures are inspected a second time and put in the blister. Then foam is added. Then card face down is placed. The packer pushes in the hole tray and under pressure and heat the card is sealed to the blister. Then, a six packer is filled with these figures and it is stamped with the stock number.

What might be the most amazing thing now happens. I have one shipper who ships to all dustributors, stores and consumers. She puts these packed figures in the correct box and checks off that number on a picking slip. My shipper basically lifts every pound of metal and all packaging we buy and ships that product to you. One lady does this all by herself. Best worker I have ever seen.

What do you believe is the greatest aspect that leads to success of a design? The most noticeable flaw?

The greatest aspect that leads to the success of a miniature and the success of a miniatures company is its need within a popular game. By this I am saying, if the miniature does not fit into a specific system or game, it won't sell. I don't care how good that figure might be. If it isn't necessary, it just won't sell and success is based on sales. That is the only measuring tool out there as any other is mearly opinion.

Let's take our licensed lines for example. Runequest isn't a very popular game and our figure sales are very slow. White Wolf miniatures are with a very popular game but miniature sales are still slow. The reason is that with the White Wolf systems, the player is the miniature as it is live action role playing not a miniatures oriented game. TSR miniatures sell very well. The reason for their strong sales is the great number of players of these systems. The Gamemaster will buy large amounts of miniatures for visual aid and the players will buy characters to represent themselves.

Battletech is very popular with miniaturists because our figures play right on the game board. Even though only one game maybe sold, a player might buy hundreds of dollars of miniatures to have available for his enjoyment. And, Battletech players are fiercely loyal customers.

Another aspect that is very important is the animation of the figure and how well it does within the game for which it was designed. I call this the KING TIGER appeal. In 1970, I went to a convention in St. Louis. When I arrived, they had a game using GHQ tanks spread out over the floor of a gym. There were more King Tigers on that floor than were made by Germany in WW II. Those King Tigers did the best within the rules system being played.

Citadel really uses this to their advantage. For a few months in advance of its release, a figure or two is given great rules for Warhammer. You simply have to have this figure to be able to gain an upper hand on your opponent. Citadel will price these figures out of sight and still sell more than any other figure because of their need and what they can do within their game system.

The greatest flaw for miniature sales is to not pay attention to what I have related.

How long does it take, from initial concept to shrinkwrapped product?

If push came to shove, we could design a figure today and have it in production by next weeks end. This would be for a man-sized 25MM figure. Usually, our blister packed items are scheduled over three months ahead. Larger figures take more sculpting time. For example, a Battletech mech can take 6 weeks to sculpt. Then, a master mold needs to be made, cast and a production mold needs to be made and cast. Distributors would like release info about three months in advance of shipment to pre-sell products.

With box sets, the problem is the box and box art. You would need an artist to paint your box art. This takes time. Then, you can start on the box production. You need pictures of the painted contents of the box before you can send the box to the printer. Boxes take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks after everything is completed to get back from the printer. I'd say a good 3 months up to 6 months is necessary for box sets of miniatures.

How important is licensing? Like from TSR and FASA?

I guess I answered this question under what aspects are necessary to have a successful miniature. In other words, they are very important.

I noticed that Ral Patha played a large role in supporting the Day of Battle medieval rules set. Will we see more of this marketing support?

Ral Partha will reasonably support any good set of rules within our markets. Minifigs will do the same. By this I mean, if a person who I know will put out a set of rules that will be well presented, we will take out advertisements and other things necessary to have a presence within that game. It is a very good marketing tool.

Sometimes, a rules designer will think their set of rules will sell many thousands and will offer us the opportunity to get involved for a stiff price. In this case we will pass as we couldn't ever recover our expenses. We sort of know how many of a topic will eventually sell. We limit our exposure to whether we can break even on the deal. We want to help out our sales but are also trying to help out with getting new rules on the market. Rule systems sell miniatures. I really think we should be a part of the process.

Looked at your web site--very straightforward. How important is it to your marketing? Sales?

Our web site is designed to show our entire product line worldwide. My opinion is that game players are more apt to be online than other markets. Our customers are smarter and probably come from families with the income or they themselves make the income to allow being online.

Our customers will have an edge in technology over other markets. I believe over 60% of those involved in gaming are online. With this large a potential customer base and the need to see a figure before buying it, out web page and photographed catalog are two excellent tools that will increase our sales. We are trying to make our web page more user friendly and are adding new things to entice our customers to visit our page often.

In my December 31, 1996 Gaming Club Newsletter, under "ASK RAL", two club members asked, "Why hasn't your web page been updated for such a long time?" The Great Ral living on that high peak sort of turned very red when asked this question.

The Great Ral stated that his knowledge of these new fangled computers and the information super highway left something to be desired. Anyway, here is the story as it was related: Ral had heard of this thing called the Internet and of the glorious wonders of a web page. Ral wanted his products to be better available to customers worldwide. Ral reasoned that the Ral Partha customers were very computer literate and that many owned computers and were online. Ral already had photos of his array of miniatures digitalized on compact disc.

On or about this time, a group of Internet people (salesmen it now seems) called Ral Partha and arranged an appointment to pitch their services in getting Ral Partha a web page. Ral had read a bit about these salesmen and their high cost for a pretty simple process. Ral negotiated with these gentlemen who agreed to get us up and running and to maintain our site with our new releases and other things. We paid half the agreed to amount down and the other half when the job was complete.

Everything was fine until our releases didn't get added to our page. We wondered what was going on. Finally, our February and March releases were added without pictures. Much communication continued between Ral and this group with whom we had an agreement. Months passed without any updates and Ral was not liking this at all. All of a sudden, another group came to Ral Partha on a sales call and informed us that the former group went out of business and that they could handle our account. This time Ral called the company to see what it would actually accomplish.

The vice-president spoken with stated his company was working on the start up of its own web page and that all its resources were being directed to that goal. We decided to update our web page internally.

Earlier in this interview, I told of our start up in the miniatures business and about the trial and error we incurred. Our web page looks as though it has proceeded the same way. Hopefully, we can accomplish with our page the same sort of positive reactions as we have accomplished with Ral Partha. Our Art Director (Joe DeCambra) is going to update our site. Joe knows about web pages and he has access to all the photos. He will be able to download our new releases to our web page. Right now, Joe is putting together the 1997 Ral Partha catalog and has not had the time to update our site.

Here are some of the improvements we see coming in 1997: All releases from and including February, 1996 forward will be added with pictures; a shopping cart order entry system that allows you to order more than one of a particular stock number added; our 10-660 series which is only listed on a paper update page and is available for mail order only will be added; Partha Club Information and a way to order a club membership online will be added, Club Newsletters will be added; On the Order Form - are you a club member ?

A place to put your club number and a way to keep credit card numbers on file will be added; Putting the actual paint colors online viewable will be added; Visible hit counter will be added; Broadcast subscription form to have our new releases with pictures e-mail directly to your mail box will be added; An embedded web address in our e-mail broadcast will be added; Mech Stats (with Fasa approval) for each of our Battletech figures will be added;

A search engine for finding a particular figure or figure type will be added; A color section whereby we will have painted figures online with the colors needed and how to paint the figure will be added; Minifigs entire line of figures added without pictures; Front art changed repeatedly with a painted figure will be added; Starter Sets with figures, rules, text, painting instructions and much more will be added.

Since I wrote this piece, Joe has left Ral Partha to join an advertising agency that currently employs our last three art directors. I have taken it upon myself to learn how to get the stuff promised up on our web page. Severtal hundred new pictures are viewable, the 10-660 series is up and viewable, Partha Club Information has been added, You can order a club membership online, The first three newsletters are now viewable, You can download The RULES ACCORDING TO RAL, and other things. It was suggested to have backround colors.

I don't know how to HTML. I do know how to copy the programming of what I want to use and put in the text or pictures that make the web page better. I think it is extremely important to Ral Partha and its sales that I am going to do it myself.

The most important aspect of being online is the ability to hear from our customers. If we mispack something, they can e-mail and have it sent right out. I can learn what people want to buy and make sure we put it out. I can read their comments and observations and suggestions. It's great for customer service and for interaction. I have made many friends over the e-mail and web page.

I noticed that you have an unsecure payment server for credit cards. When will we see a secure server?

Our order entry system for the web page is pretty bad. We wouldn't have to change servers to make the credit cards secure. We are in the process of learning HTML. We are looking for a shopping cart order entry system and on making our system secure. This will happen before year's end.

When in paperwork mode, what's your favorite snack food?

Coffee. Perhaps not a snack food but a necessity nonetheless.

Do you play computer games?

My favorite computer game is not one that would be popular with most gamers - Minesweeper included with Windows. When Donkey Kong puts out another title for Super Nintendo, I play the game until I have found all the hidden items and can beat them all.

Minesweeper is a fast play logic game. I only play the expert level and can generally score 150 with my personal best at 113. It keeps my two or three active brain cells working.

What type of system do you have?

At Ral Partha, we have a Xenix/Unix system that runs our business. The e-mail, Credit Cards, 941 payments and mailing list are on DOS systems. Upstairs, our art department uses a MAC and we also use the MAC for programming our web page.

What piece of hardware--real or imaginary--would you add to it?

I don't have a scanner and would put on a good one. This is not a real imaginary wish list is it?

In general, do you think miniatures games can make the leap to computer screens effectively? Why or why not?

Miniature games can make the leap to computer screens because all the most tedious items of games has its paperwork done by the computer. Miniature gaming already has made that leap. The thing that keeps computer gaming of miniatures down is the lack of playing another person. Computer games have better terrain and have limitless potential.

However, if you take away the interaction between players, the games won't last long. Eventually, you will always beat the computer which always has a glitch or two in it which once figured out makes playing the game moot. It's the same in miniatures gaming without the computer. It's far better to have friends with whom to play than a computer.

But then you say, "The Internet will be used so players can play other players." If you can't communicate with or see the players with whom you are playing, you are basically playing another computer not a person. Again, the fad will live quite loudly and then fade away. People make gaming great. The lack thereof ruins the game no matter how spiffy it is presented.

If you were going to be represented on a computer screen by an icon, what would it be?

Gee, I don't know. I use Managing Your Money for my personal finances which I take great pride in. I would use their icon: $ .

Computer games are becoming an extension of Hollywood--games based on movies or movie characters. Do you believe the Hollywoodized games to be better, worse, or about equal to ones created from original material? Why?

I really don't play nor have I seen these Hollywoodized games so I can't comment.

What was the last movie (theater) you watched? Last videotape rental?

The last Movie seen was INDEPENDENCE DAY. The last video rental was Australian: THE LIGHT HORSEMAN.

Is there a movie you'd like to do a line of miniatures for?

Star Trek. It would sell very well.

Given unlimited resources but present day technology, what would you design and why would it be cool?

I would design a computer system that a dummy like myself could use and understand without all the nonsense needed that I can't understand because I don't have the time to learn to make it run right. This would be cool because I really like the commercial from a provider of the Internet that depicts the computer geeks as 30 to 50 year olds who live in their parents' basements don't bathe and have pocket protectors. "You mean my mother can get on the Internet now?" If it was easier, more of our customers wouldn't hesitate to come aboard.

They say everyone needs a hobby. How do you decompress outside of miniatures?

I played a lot of sports on teams and have coached many teams. I used to bowl averaging 213 to 232 in many leagues. I play pool, ping pong and have boxed (and those same soccer-moms would be suing the school systems). Unfortunately, I don't have time to engage in those sports now. So, I am limited to cutting the grass and keep the landscaping pretty.

Where was the last place you visited on vacation? What's your next vacation spot?

The last vacation was a Caribbean Cruise that stopped at Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. Because it is the best service I have ever witnessed (I travel a lot), the Eastern Caribbean Cruise will likely be the next vacation.

If not bound by time or space, where would you go...and why?

I would travel to an island that was warm, and where waiters would keep cocktails with the umbrellas coming at seaside. It would be nice.

Excluding your own creations, what three games (of any type) would you take with you to the proverbial desert island? What three books?

I started in gaming with Avalon Hill. My three favorite games are Africa Korps, Stalingrad and D-Day. The Encyclopedia Of Britannica, The Last Lion and Wealth Without Risk.

Miniatures gaming is quite a social activity. Now we see the emergence of online gaming as putting the social aspect (and the smarts of a real-live opponent) into gaming on a world-wide scale. Good or bad? Why?

I think I answered this one earlier.

Do you have a favorite poster or cartoon hanging by your desk? What is it and what makes it your favorite?

Don't have a poster or cartoon; just a calendar so I know the date.

What epitath would you want encoded on your (hopefully very much in the future) digital tombstone?

I told you I didn't feel well.

Short Bio (optional) of accomplishments outside gaming:

While coaching Women's Major Open Softball (The highest level a women can play) won four consectutive national championships - 1992 through 1995 - with UPI out of Cookville, Tennessee. We would recruit and fly the players in to tournaments from all over the country. Didn't participate last year but have just been called up to again give it a go.

Bowled a few 300 games and several 800 series.

Have my mother-in-law staying with me now - I haven't committed suicide so that's my best accomplishment.