Do you remember....

[martin goddard]

Peter Laing 15mm figures.  I used hundreds of them , including the WW2 range to play-test the first version of PBI.  I believe Peter Laing is still alive?  the figures were packed in litle sealed paper packets the size of tea cards. Spears were long pins. Of course they were a bit rough (smooth actually) but this man pioneered 15mm.

My Peter Laing armies were

1. Dervish
2. Colonial British
3.  WW2 British and Germans
4. Ancient mongols
5 WW1odds and ends.  RCW
6. Very large (500+)  ACW armies.

Those were great days. i was younger too!


martin

[Leman (Andy)]

Indeed I do remember them. My first Franco-Prussian armies were Peter Laing. He also did some very good Spartans in pilot helmet and a rather magnificent cloak. He was the only maker of very early landsknechts, in slashed sleeves but tight hose, for years. I regret that I never bought any of his Marlburians, knowing what I know now about the WSS.

[Sean Clark]

Although I never owned any my friend did.....loads of ACW.

I remember reading the adverts and being in awe of how many ranges there were.

My first proper wargames figures were 15mm Essex ACW followed by early Peter Pig. The first rules I used were Circa 1863. I played many games with them.

[Leman (Andy)]

I remember Circa 1863 as being quite a complex set.

[Sean Clark]

Yes by today's standards too complex.  Typical Tabletop Games fair, similar to To the Sound of the Guns. Very much of their time.

[Blockhead123]

Martin, on the off-chance, do you still have any of those old Peter Laing figures?

[Leslie BT]

Martin has two problems,
One remembering what figures he has stashed, and then the next difficulty is where he last put them. Too many sheds to store them in!!
I never had any PL figures, when they were popular I was using Airfix plastics and then moved onto Hinchcliffe and Minifigs depending on whether you want hoards of best foot forward figures from Dick Higgs or more artistic sculpts from Peter Guilder.

[martin goddard]

As Les says, there are probably a few P Laing about but lord knows where?
I sold my colonels somewhere on a bring and buy. My ACW went to Tunbridge wells.
WW1 don't know. WW2 probably in the loft someplace.

I know this is not much help but is there a particular range you were seeking.

The Laing range was offered to me many years ago for £400 but i thought it a bad idea to fill the workshop with a hundred or so moulds that folk might occasionally want and then fuss over price and quantity.  I think i did the right thing not to burden myself with such a problem. P Laing were great, but so outdated now that they really are a part of history.    When Peter Liang started his range he was a pioneer.   He preceded all the other 15mm makers. I think the few of us that remember P laing will continue the memory.  But that soon, others will claim they started 15mm and that 18-20mm is what 15mm really is.
Not sure how Peter Laing is these days. I hope he is still alive and OK? I have a lot of respect for what he started,  i remember his advert in the Military Modelling annual all those years ago.