Godina izdanja: Ostalo
ISBN: Ostalo
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

odlično

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Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, produces miniature figures in 25 mm, 30 mm, 15 mm, and 54 mm scale. The company was founded in 1975 and is now a division of Iron Wind Metals, LLC, a company created in 2001 around Ral Partha`s manufacturing capacities. The company`s products are made by spin-casting metal alloys which depict soldiers, adventurers and creatures that have been inspired by history and fiction. Their miniatures are sold at gaming conventions, in hobby shops, and by internet and mail order for use in role playing games, wargaming, dioramas, competitive painting, and collecting.

Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc.,
A Division of Iron Wind Metals
Industry
Wargaming
Role-playing games
Founded
1975; 45 years ago
Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Key people
Sculptors:
Tom Meier
Dennis Mize
Julie Guthrie
Robert N. Charrette
Sandra Garrity
Richard Kerr
Dave Summers
Presidents:
Glenn E. Kidd
Chuck Crain
Jack Hesselbrock
Michael Noe
Products
miniature figures
The company began as a basement enterprise undertaken by a group of wargamers around the talents of Tom Meier, a 16-year-old sculptor. The company grew with the increasing popularity of board and role-playing games. By 1982 Ral Partha products were sold worldwide.[1] Ral Partha is best known for its historical figures, Fantasy Collector`s series, and miniatures produced for TSR, Inc.`s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and FASA`s BattleTech games. Tom Meier became a freelance sculptor in 1988, and retains copyrights to much of his work for Ral Partha. He works on commission and operates Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures, a boutique company for pet projects involving dioramas, 54 mm figurines, and a new series of elves and goblins. During its 40-year history Ral Partha has employed more than two dozen sculptors, of whom the most prolific were Dennis Mize, Julie Guthrie, Sandra Garrity, Robert N. Charrette, and Dave Summers.

The owners of the original Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc. sold the company to FASA in 1998, and was one of the assets acquired by WizKids in 2000. The following year Ral Partha`s production assets were recast as Iron Wind Metals, LLC of Cincinnati, a company which continues to produce many of the Ral Partha lines of miniatures. In 2015 and the 40th anniversary of the founding of Ral Partha, Iron Wind Metals reacquired the long unused trademarks and relaunched Ral Partha as a division of the company focused on producing archived miniature lines under the banner of the Chaos Wars gaming world.

Licensees and distributors Edit

United States Edit
In 1980 Ral Partha licensed select designs to Rawcliffe Pewter a long-time producer of cast metal art.[2] The pewter versions of Ral Partha sculpts were typically bare-metal with a satin finish and decorated with glass jewels. In time, a division of the company called Partha Pewter was established to produce directly for the giftware market.

Canada Edit
Ral Partha established a licensing agreement with RAFM, a miniatures manufacturer in Paris, Ontario, Canada in 1980.[3] The two companies have had a long-term working relationship which lasted well into the 1990s.

Great Britain Edit
In 1979 Citadel Miniatures was formed by Games Workshop as a miniatures production shop to produce their own figures and to distribute Ral Partha figures in Britain.[4][5] Citadel Miniatures attempted to establish a U.S. division in 1982 with Ral Partha as the local manufacturer.[6][7] The partnership was short lived and in 1984 Games Workshop established their own U.S. subsidiary and became a direct competitor. The Citadel Miniatures U.S. products were brought under the Ral Partha logo and marketed as Ral Partha Imports.[8] In 1985 the import lines included the FTx-xx Fantasy Tribes, FAx-xx Fantasy Adventurer, FF/31-xxx Fiend Factory, FS/32-xx Fantasy Special, the popular WF-xx Weird Fantasy series with whimsical themes, FMM-xx Fantasy Mysterious Miniatures, and LB-xx Tabletop`s Laser Burn line of space marines. Historical lines included Romans AR-xx, Dark Ages DA-xx, Medievals M-xxx and Samurai SAM-xx.[9][note 1] At least two figures (FTT 3 Troll hurling rock and FTT 4 Troll in chainmail with scimitar) were sculpted by Tom Meier while visiting England in 1981.[10]

In 1986 Minifigs gained the rights to manufacture and distribute Ral Partha`s fantasy range in Britain.[11] The following year Ral Partha dropped Citadel Miniatures` historical lines and began to distribute Denizen Miniatures` dwarves (33-xxx), orcs (34-xxx), 36-xxx Legion of the Damned skeletons, and 39-xxx Fantastic Adventurers.[12]

Continental Europe Edit
By 1989, Jeux Descartes of Paris gained the rights to distribute Ral Partha figures in continental Europe.[13][14] Some early Ral Partha advertisements erroneously give the name as `Jeaux Descartes.` The relationship was on-going in 1997,[15] but was probably severed when FASA purchased Ral Partha the following year.

Australia Edit
In the 1980s and 1990s, Ral Partha products were distributed in Australia by Military Simulations of Moorabbin, Victoria and then Bentleigh, Victoria.