If you have seen any of the Greywater Chronicles, or my posts on fighting Lead Rot, you know I am a fan of the older figures. Sure, some of that fondness is nostalgia-driven. It’s tough to see a preference for some of the Heritage and Custom Cast figures as anything other than that, though I love them dearly. But the Tom Meier Ral Partha figures I’d stack up against anything produced today, despite the reflexive accusations of Nostalgia! that I occasionally encounter online.
But perhaps the line that is the most magical to me is the Valley of the Four Winds by Minifigs, produced in 1978. That was before D&D and other gaming became codified (I generally consider AD&D as this line of demarcation, which was completed with the DMG in 1979), so there was still a range of interpretation on races like elves and dwarves. The VFW line drew on inspirations beyond Tolkien, going deeper into European folklore, and artists like Hieronymus Bosch.
The dwarves did not all have beards, and the elves did not meet the standards of beauty they are known for – particularly the Tunnel Elves, which looked like goblins. The dwarf kings had a snout! Orcs were upright and man-like, some had beards. This was definite change from the pig-orcs that Minifigs also produced. The humans were all dressed in Renaissance-style clothes, giving a cohesive look.
The skeletons had a more mystic look about them, with their bulbous skulls and weird implements like lanterns and sacks of skulls. They have a lot of similarities to Breughel’s Triumph of Death. The coolest war machine ever was the skeleton bell tower:
(That picture is from the Lost Minis Wiki!)
But there was a more fantastical strangeness. Robed women turning into fire, giant hands creeping along, huge heads on feet, and walking mouths. The swamp lords were a kind of frog hybrid. There lots of strange demons and even a Satan mini. Wheels on fire and torture devices like a man trapped in a coffin with rats.
You can see a lot here:
Minifiigs’ Valley of the Four Winds on Lost Minis Wiki
Minifigs is till in business, though I am uncertain if it is run by the same people. They still sell much of the VFW line.
After the line was introduced, there was a serial story about it that ran in White Dwarf Magazine from issues #8 to #12 (though a few sources claim it ran until #13). I do not have these issues, but I’d love to read that story sometime, to see if it catches the horrific strangeness of the line.
A couple of years later in 1980 there was boardgame released by Games Workshop called Valley of the Four Winds, based on the story from White Dwarf. I do not know how much these publications tie into the line of minis. The game was written by Lewis Pulsipher, so I am sure it is good. It comes up on eBay every now and then, usually for $70 or more. Someday I might snag it.
But first I want to get that skeleton bell tower! I remember seeing it advertised in Dragon magazine way back then, but never saw it for sale anywhere around here. It is still being made, so hopefully one day I’ll spring for it.
There have been a lot of lines of figures produced in the last 50 years, most of outstanding quality. But I haven’t seen any that has the strange charm and fantastical imagination of the Valley of the Four Winds line. A few of them have made appearances in Greywater (mostly among the skeletons, though Sapphire daughter of Walden is VFW, and Sorcerer Xo may be), and hopefully many more will.
On another front, I have figured out how to enlarge the pictures when you click on them, so I will be going back and doing that to the issues of GC. Already have done it with #16 and #26. Things are a lot less cluttered when they are blown up!
Hope you are all well!