1980's Citadel Lord of the Rings miniatures

Here's a complete set of the Fellowship of the Ring, the Nine Walkers -- miniatures from Citadel's 1980's range of the Lord of the Rings. I painted them up a few weeks ago, for use in Ares Games' War of the Ring, which is one of the best board games I've ever played.

Citadel only had the license for The Lord of the Rings for a short time in the mid-1980's, before the torch passed on to Mithril Miniatures. The brevity of Citadel's stewardship gave rise to a patchy range of miniatures. By my count, there are 4 different figures of Gimli, 5 of Aragorn and 6 of Gandalf. Yet many major characters are absent: there's no Faramir, no Eowyn, no Eomer, no Galadriel and no Glorfindel. 

And there are other problems with these miniatures. First, a wide diversity of sculpting styles from the various Citadel sculptors deprived this small range of coherency (unlike, for example, the Talisman range, where Aly Morrison's re-interpretation of Gary Chalk's illustrations created a highly recognizable family of miniatures). Second, the Lord of the Rings range bled at the edges into Citadel's larger Warhammer Fantasy Battle range: Noldor elves became WFB High Elves, and the Orcs of Middle Earth were virtually indistinguishable from the Orcs of the Old World. As a result, some of the miniatures don't stand out as uniquely Tolkien-esque.

And yet I still love these models, especially the Nine Walkers. They boast the best of Citadel's golden age: character-driven miniatures full of gesture, personality and mischief. They are sculptures that artistically jettison photo-realism so that they rather appear to step out of illustrations by John Blanche, Tony Ackland or the Brothers Hildebrandt. Indeed, this freedom from realism is what separates Citadel's 1980's LOTR miniatures from the later miniatures sculpted by the Perry Twins from 2001 onward. The later miniatures are modeled after characters captured in film, whereas the 1980's range arise directly from a world of books.

Here are my versions of the Fellowship, with a description of each character from the Lord of the Rings:


Frodo Baggins

"A stout little fellow with red cheeks... But this one is taller than some [hobbits] and fairer than most, and he has a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye." (FotR, Book I, Chapter 10). I've tried to show Frodo midway through his quest. Although his eyes are still bright, the Ring is beginning to take its toll.

Samwise Gamgee

"Presently Sam appeared, trotting quickly and breathing hard; his heavy pack was hoisted high on his shoulders, and he had put on his head a tall shapeless felt bag, which he called a hat. In the gloom he looked very much like a dwarf." (FotR, Book I, Chapter 3),

Merry Brandybuck

"Then Eowyn rose up. ‘Come now, Meriadoc!’ she said. ‘I will show you the gear that I have prepared fur you.’ Now she led Merry to a booth among the lodges of the king’s guard and there an armourer brought out to her a small helm, and a round shield, and other gear... ‘Here is also a stout jerkin of leather, a belt, and a knife. A sword you have.’ Merry bowed, and the lady showed him the shield... and it bore on it the device of the white horse." (RotK, Book V, Chapter 3)

Pippin Took

"Pippin soon found himself arrayed in strange garments, all of black and silver. He had a small hauberk, its rings forged of steel, maybe, yet black as jet; and a high-crowned helm with small raven-wings on either side, set with a silver star in the centre of the circlet." (RotK, Book V, Chapter 4)

Strider

"Suddenly Forodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man sitting in the shadows near the wall... His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he waore a hood that overshadowed his face, but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits." (FotR, Book I, Chapter 9)

Gandalf the Grey

"At the end of the second week in September a cart came in through Bywater from the direction of the Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight. An old man was driving it all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat." (FotR, Book I, Chapter 1)




Legolas Greenleaf

"There was also a strange Elf clad in green and brown, Legolas, a messenger from his father, Thranduil, the King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood." (FotR, Book II, Chapter 2)




Boromir

"And seated a little apart was a tall man with a fair and noble face, dark-haired and grey-eyed, proud and stern of glance. He was cloaked and booted as if for a journey on horseback; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel. He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders." (FotR, Book II, Chapter 2)




Gimli Gloin's Son

"Gimli the dwarf alone wore openly a short shirt of steel-rings, for dwarves make light of burdens; and in his belt was a broad-bladed axe." (FotR, Book II, Chapter 3)

Thanks for looking!