1st Corps is owned by Brothers Simon and Michael Curtis. We have been wargaming and collecting for over 20 years and are fascinated by all periods.

Our aim is to offer products of the highest quality, detail and authenticity that are also great value and backed up by fast and friendly customer service.

Every figure comes complete with all the weapons, shields etc it needs.

Variation We try to put as much of it in our packs as possible our figure packs contain upto 8 different figures.

Command packs and standard packs all contain an even number of figures, no more annoying missing or left over figures.

We cast all our products here in Yorkshire in lead free pewter.

We live in Snaith, a small rural market town located 20 miles south of York in the north of England.

Simon- is the full time member of the team. He does the mold making, casting, dispatch and is responsible for some of the figures you can see on this site. . When not busy with that lot he likes going to the cinema, having a pint and game of darts down at the local hostelry. He also enjoys being taken for a walk by his golden retrievers, Rebel and Cadet

Michael- is also responsible for many of the painted figures on the site as well as product planning and dispatching orders. Mick swears he has no time for anything else! But we know he likes to travel and have a beer down the local hostelry playing darts, and has even been seen down the local gym the next day trying to make amends!

Aventine Miniatures produce 28mm white metal miniatures for the Struggle for Italy. All the figures have been sculpted by Adam Smith formerly of A&A.

We have been asked several times now Aventine got started.

Keith and Adam have known each other for around 35 years through the local war-gaming and modelling club in Belfast. When Keith was offered an early retirement he decided that he would like to make his hobby into a part-time occupation and contacted Adam to see if he could be tempted. The discussion was very brief and it was agreed, Aventine would be born on the 1st April 2009.

Since then it has turned from part-time into something a lot more and as we continue to add to the ranges it may well see an expansion with more bodies spinning lead.

Aventine Miniatures, where did that name come from…

It’s one of the seven hills of Rome. As both Adam and Keith are Roman fans it seemed appropriate and sounded good. We will be building our ranges to the theme “The struggle for Italy.”

Our first range was the LATE ETRUSCAN range which is available to buy in our shop along with our full range.

We will keep you informed of any new ranges we plan to release which will be listed in our shop once complete.

We have added a number of other ranges now, just hover over the Ranges button to see the full list.

All our figures have been sculpted by Adam who designed A&A’s 3rd Century Romans and Palmyrans. He has created a large number of differing figures to allow the gamer to produce distinctive individual units.

All our figures are made from Lead alloy and contain small parts, they are therefore unsuitable for children under 14.

Essex Miniatures Australia is distributor for the following companies which are listed alphabetically.

Britannia

C in C Miniatures

Dixon Miniatures

Essex Miniatures

Front Rank Figurines

Hovels

Redoubt Enterprises

Tin Soldier Figurines

Veni Vidi Vici

Foundry Miniatures Ltd manufacture the world's largest range of 28mm metal miniatures for gamers, collectors, modellers and painters.

Clifford Ansell was looking for an interesting retirement job that would keep him busy. Cliff had spent much of his life working in the mining industry (apart from a few years away with the Royal Navy in the 1940s) he ended up a mining engineer and an expert on mine safety, ventilation and dust suppression. In the 60s Cliff moved on to a second career as a maths teacher: he taught maths at Bishop Dunn Comprehensive in Nottingham.

Cliff's son was, and is, my father: Bryan Ansell who had made toy soldiers with Skytrex, Tabletop, Asgard and Citadel/Games Workshop. He ended up owning GW and was responsible for games like Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 40K, Space Hulk etc.

When Cliff announced that he was going to take early retirement, Bryan suggested that Cliff might like to have a go at manufacturing toy soldiers himself.

Cliff was already experienced in dealing with both stubborn Lancashire miners and wilful, disorganised children: so it was clear that the strange mindset of the confused denizens of the toy soldier industry would be absolutely no problem for Cliff to handle.

As it happened: this was the time when Citadel was starting to change from metal based models to their new "slotta bases", and also ceasing to make historical models. Bryan was able to set Foundry up with a number of discontinued ranges - Barons Wars and Wars of the Roses Medievals, Samurai and the Vikings, Normans and Saxons, Woodland Indians, Huns and Elizabethans initially (these had all previously served as Human forces in Warhammer Fantasy Battle for some years). Further hundreds of other Citadel models followed. We still make those models at Foundry today, though we cannot manage to have them all in stock at the same time.

Michael and Alan Perry sculpted almost all these models and were keen to continue sculpting historical models for their own painting and wargaming purposes, so they continued to sculpt new Foundry ranges for Cliff for quite some years. Alistair Morrison and Dave Andrews both contributed ranges too.

So, Foundry was up and running very quickly indeed. Cliff first had premises in Sherwood, then moved to a larger unit in New Basford. The upstairs in New Basford was taken by Alistair and Trish Morrison: who sculpted the Marauder range for Games Workshop up there.

For a long period, Foundry was making many master moulds and production moulds for Games Workshop whenever they found themselves with more moulds than they could handle. Over the years many ex Games Workshop staff worked for Foundry; most notably John "Bones" Ellard, "Ep" Epworth, Andy Pattinson, Kevin Adams, Colin Dixon and Shane Hoyle.

In 1991 my father left Games Workshop and went off to Guernsey for a decade or so. In Guernsey he had three children, restored four old houses (he does that wherever he goes: not the children, just the houses) started Guernsey Foundry and made Seven Years War, Old West, Pirates and Darkest Africa models these were mostly sculpted by Mark Copplestone. When he came back to England in 2000 he brought his ranges and a couple of the Guernsey staff with him, started restoring a house near Newark and took over running Foundry from Cliff. He produced more Seven Years War, Darkest Africa and loads more Old West, then Street Violence, Vikings, Gladiators, various Romans, 16th century Swashbucklers, huge ranges of Greeks and Macedonians, Fantasy and various odds and ends.

In 2005 my father left Foundry and went back to gardening and restoring houses.

We only re-entered the world of toy soldiers because my cousin Neil Littlewood went to work at Foundry for a while, and it became apparent that there were serious problems that needed sorting out. In the end we stepped in, and the Ansell family are running the factory again.

We have moved Foundry into the huge old Carriage Court alongside our house in East Stoke.

Cheers

Marcus

Newline Designs manufacture finely detailed white metal historical figures for wargamers and collectors in 10mm and 28mm scales. All the figures are sculpted by Sean Pereira ensuring consistency, accuracy and anatomical correctness throughout the range.

The 28mm scale has long been popular amongst collectors as the sculptor is able to show high levels of details in each individual miniature. Figures in this scale can be purchased singularly as well as in discounted army or unit packs. The army packs provide excellent value and give a well balanced force an ideal starter set for a new army or period. Use the unit packs to expand your army easily & economically.The figures are compatible with the majority of other manufacturers in this scale.

In 20mm Newline Designs provide one of the most extensive and detailed ranges available, ideal for FoG, WAB, DBA or DBM. This scale provides a low cost alternative to 28mm, without compromising the detail, enabling the painter to produce stunning results. Try a new period or army utilising the army details & you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the value this scale offers.

Based in the U.K, Newline Designs offer a reliable world-wide mail order service. In addition, the figures can be purchased at various wargames shows throughout the U.K. Pre-ordering is recommended due to the large number of figures & ranges available. Please see our events section for details

Suggestions for future ranges are always welcome.