When my friends and I first changed from D&D to AD&D I jumped at the chance to play a paladin. This new character class was very much in keeping with my mindset of heroes and villains at the time and for me they stood head and shoulders above regular fighters. At that time, we had this habit of making a trip to the stores every time we had a new character, finding just the right figure. for that character. The miniature illustrated above was the one I slected for my paladin, named Facio.
The picture was found on the Collecting Citadel Miniatures wiki. The figure was sold as "Mounted Paladin With Sowrd" and it indeed looks the part. I am sure any other armored fighter would have done at the time, but I'm sure the fact that paladins were new to me and this one said "paladin" specifically on the label were more than enough for it to make the cut. I should also note that the character's name came from misreading the labeling on the package. The figure is coded as "FAC10" which I misread as "Facio". Thus a hero was born.
Facio had a long career but I must say that most of his exploits have faded into obscurity. Unlike a lot of gamers, I have nothing left from my childhood gaming. Most of the people I gamed with in those days are long gone but recent reconnections on Facebook have brought back some old memories. I do recall that in those days we painted out miniatures with horrible glossy Testor's enamle paints and Facio wore a crimson cape that looked like it had been laquered with red nail polish.
Ah, memories...
-Eli
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Very cool! I used to do the same thing, I'd look for hours at my local game store. Gotta find the perfect mini. Actually I still do that :)
ReplyDeleteI've got that figure, painted by my brother Andy - I'll see if I can dig it out and post a picture on the blog this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the CCM wiki. Hours of fun for us old-time figure afficionados.
stumbled on it totally on accident. It was the first result in a Google search for "FAC10 + Paladin".
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see your painted fig.
I remember at one time entertaining recreating Facio using bits and pieces from some of the Warhammer Fantasy figs.
Nice memory! I remember using those Testors on some of my Ral Partha's back in the day. *shudder* : )
ReplyDeleteExcellent story... I assume your original model went to the great lead collection in the sky years ago? I love the story of how he got his name.
ReplyDeleteI found a few old models recently but unfortunately my first D&D character model has long since gone. I too painted him using wholly inappropriate enable paints. He wore black armour edged with gold. God it was an awful paint job!
Memories ; - )
ReplyDeleteA recurrent trend in old and new school miniature sculptures is incorrect scale for mounts
Looks like FAC10 is riding a large mastiff
A warhorse should be 6 to 8 times the size of a character
My quarter horse Augustus is 16 hands , 1200 lbs - - - >