Eureka Miniatures USA is the distributor for Eureka Miniatures and AB Figures in the United States.

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

Hornets Nest Miniatures first endeavor is a rather extensive line of 10mm resin cabins - one story, two story brick and clapboard houses, a church, mill and schoolhouse. Many of our castings are based on period artwork or actual structures existing on battlefields. They are be perfect for games set in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the Civil War.

I have been involved with wargaming in one form or another for the better part of my 42 years on this planet. My father is a retired Army Officer, and from the time I was old enough to walk we have been traipsing around battlefields, or visiting some out of the way hobby shop in search of tiny lead soldiers.

My style or technique is a blend of the old and new. I use a three up shading system made popular by painters such as Steve Dean, or Kevin Dallimore, but I use washes and inks as well. I feel like this softens the shading a bit and gives the miniatures a tone that is less bright than if I just slapped on the paint strait from the pot.

I'm lucky enough to make my living as a creative director for a design firm, but it's my love of miniature world building that keeps me painting and collecting. I have two amazing son's, one of which seems to have been bitten by the wargaming bug.

Old Glory 25s, Miniatures are pleased to bring you the entire line of Old Glory Products for Historical Miniature wargaming, including our fine line of resin cast Ships and Buildings from The Old Glory Shipyard (formerly Merrimack). Our products are created and produced by Old Glory Corp in the USA. We have all of the Old Glory 25s, plus all the lines carried by Old Glory including; Command Decision, Magnificent Little Soldier Company "Grand Scale 10", Sash and Saber, and related products. We have added the Blue Moon Manufacturing products for your shopping convenience.