Citadel Miniatures Limited is a company which produces metal, resin and plastic miniature figures for

tabletop wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

s such as ''

Warhammer Fantasy Battle ''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...

'' and ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

''. In the past Citadel Miniatures was a separate company but it has become a brand for

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and '' Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake, ...

miniatures. Although its models are used for the wargaming hobby, the

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

of its miniatures (and miniatures in general) is a hobby in itself.

Early history

In 1976,

Bryan Ansell Bryan Ansell is a British role-playing and war game designer. In 1985, he became managing director of Games Workshop, and bought Games Workshop from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.

co-founded

Asgard Miniatures Asgard Miniatures was a company that produced metal miniature figures beginning in the 1970s. History Asgard Miniatures was founded by Bryan Ansell, Steven Fitzwater and Paul Sulley in 1976 in Nottingham. Ansell was an experienced sculptor, havi ...

with Steven Fitzwater and Paul Sulley in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and became its lead sculptor. Ansell was an experienced sculptor, having previously worked at Conquest Miniatures. Ansell left Asgard in 1978 to form successful rival Citadel Miniatures with funding from

. Less than a year later, in early 1979, Citadel Miniatures became part of Games Workshop as announced in

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

issue #11:

"Games Workshop and Bryan Ansell have got together to keep-alive Citadel Miniatures, a new miniatures company that will be manufacturing several ranges of figures. Ral Partha are already in production, but Citadel will also be producing own ranges, including the Fiend Factory figures, Fantasy Adventurers and Fantasy Specials. Citadel will not be limiting production to SF/F figures, but also new ranges of historical wargaming figures".

The following issue of White Dwarf contained the first advertisement for Citadel's forthcoming figures.

Materials and Construction

Originally miniatures were produced using a

white metal The white metals are a series of often decorative bright metal alloys used as a base for plated silverware, ornaments or novelties, as well as any of several lead-based or tin-based alloys used for things like bearings, jewellery, miniature f ...

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductili ...

including

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

, although in 1987 Citadel began to produce

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...

miniatures as well under the name "Psychostyrene" and "Drastik Plastik". Citadel has continued to produce white metal miniatures as the economics of plastic make it only suitable for large runs. Some models are a combination of both materials, with the arm-less bodies and heads metal and the arms, weapons and other accessories plastic. In 1997 Citadel switched to a lead-free white metal because of concerns about

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. The brain is the most sensitive. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertil ...

, particularly in children. Most of the models created by Citadel require some form of construction after purchase. With smaller models this usually involves attaching arms, weapons and the base. Larger models come in many pieces and require more construction. On 16 May 2011, Games Workshop announced a new range of Citadel models known as Citadel Finecast. Finecast has had mixed reviews by modellers. For example, Wayland Games, a retailer in UK, includes the following note on Finecast on their website: "Note: If you wish to purchase any Finecast products please accept that this is a product for experienced modellers only and that some remedial effort is required due to the nature of the material and manufacturing techniques. If in doubt please do not purchase."

Model ranges

From 1979 to 1984 Citadel had a reciprocal distribution and manufacturing deal with

Ral Partha Formed in 1975, Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, is now known as ''Ral Partha Legacy Ltd.'' and produces miniature figures in 25 mm, 30 mm, 15 mm, and 54 mm scale. The company's products are m ...

to bring each other's products to Britain and North America respectively. Citadel has also produced and distributed miniatures under other names: *Chronicle Miniatures was a competitor run by Nick Lund and bought out by Citadel and they continued to operate under that name for a time. *Iron Claw Miniatures were a range of miniatures designed, manufactured and distributed by Citadel in 1987 and 1988 and sculpted by Bob Olley. Many of the designs were later incorporated into the main Citadel range. *Marauder Miniatures was a separate company set up by two former Games Workshop/Citadel sculptors (Aly and Trish Morrison) in 1988 and promoted alongside Citadel Miniatures in White Dwarf. The miniatures were cast and distributed by Citadel, and the company was absorbed into Citadel in 1993. Over the years, as well as producing their own original miniatures, they have produced licensed ranges based on characters from games, movies, TV and books. These included figures based on

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first publi ...

Fighting Fantasy ''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982. The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of '' 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology comic. He is the magazine's longest-running ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

Eternal Champion The Eternal Champion is a fictional character created by British author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his speculative fiction works. General overview Many of Moorcock's novels and short stories take place in a shared M ...

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons,

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel * Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources * Nomad, a member of a community wit ...

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

, Lone Wolf and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'' and ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

''. Games Workshop re-won the Lord of the Rings licence, allowing them to make

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game ''Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game'', previously marketed as ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game'', ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game'', ''The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Strategy Battle Game ...

miniatures to tie-in with the trilogy of films released by

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

, and have extended the range to include characters based on the actual writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. Citadel Miniatures sometimes release limited edition models of specific or unusual characters, such as

Thrud the Barbarian Thrud the Barbarian is a comics character created by British artist Carl Critchlow in 1981. Although Thrud himself is a parody of Conan the Barbarian, particularly as depicted in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan the Barbarian (1982 film), films, ...

Ian Livingstone Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, ''Fighting Fantasy'', and the author of many books within that s ...

, drunken Space Marines dressed in Christmas outfits and several representing Grombrindal, the white-bearded logo of ''

'' magazine. Along with the standard range of miniature soldiers, Citadel's lines include fantasy based war-machines, like

catapults A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...

and

chariots A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...

, and when

came out, Citadel Miniatures also branched out into vehicles, such as the Land Raider and Rhino transports for Space Marines.

Reception

Edwin J. Rotondaro reviewed Citadel Miniatures 25mm miniature figures released in 1984 and 1985 in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the ...

'' No. 76. Rotondaro commented that "Overall, I highly recommend Citadel miniatures to gamers who use any FRPG system, and especially if they use the ''Warhammer'' rules."

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Citadel Miniatures Hall
- A Museum of Citadel Miniatures.

PR on use of Delcam 3D modelling and machining tools for creation of Citadel Miniatures {{coord missing, Nottinghamshire Games Workshop Gaming miniatures companies Manufacturing companies based in Nottingham