SFG SOLDIERS MARCO LUCETTI COMPANY

[Arminous]

Hello!

I wish everyone is healthy!

Anybody knows what happened to Marco Lucetti's SFG Soldiers Company?

Some amazing figures used to be produced by this company and I don't find them now!

Any new manufacturer? Should we hope that someone will cast those again?

Thanks a lot for the help!

-Kostas.

 

[Oda]

Marco was the founder and owner of "Soldiers".That company after long years of success was amalgmated with two other companies named "Feudo" and "Gemina" to form SGF miniatures,a last ditch effort to stop a downward spiral followed by many Western European brands.When that failed too,almost the entire original line of "Soldiers" was inherited by "Masterclass" miniatures.A couple of years ago "Masterclass" too went out of business but their site was active and you could contact them through email and ask about the availability of their pieces.Nowadays "Masterclass" have reactivated their web site and have started a programm of recasting,reboxing and reissuing.You will find most of "Soldiers" figures there.

Oda.

 

[Arminous]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

I'm so glad those figures are not lost! In my opinion, Laruccia is an incredible artist, in terms of anatomy, details and historical research! All of his figures have artifacts (helmets, swords, clothes) that come from museum objects with superb accuracy! Please give it a try! You'll see they are all real archaeological finds that one can see in museums!I believe that losing those figures is like losing the chance of being able to see a Picasso painting or an old superb movie that is no more shown! A new age of resin cheap miniatures is coming where all figures are printed and not cast! We all know what this means! Support is the only chance we have that the world of metal historical figures still exists in the future and important masterpieces like those of Laruccia are not replaced by another plastic printed Orc with an angry face and a sword thick like a table!

Laruccia is not the only valuable artist in the hobby, but it's one of the TOP in my opinion. However, saving figures from such companies is in our hands, since we are the customers !

Thanks a lot!
-Kostas.

 

[Babelfish]

Hi Kostas, you make some valid points, but most resin figures are definitely not cheap!! Don't knock the orcs either, these days it's stuff like that which gets youngsters interested in figure painting in the first place, and they'll be the future of the hobby once we're all dust. Figure painting is a broad church!

Also lot of guys (myself included) prefer resin these days, finding it much easier to work with and (generally speaking) it has sharper detail. But that said, I definitely think there's room for both materials in the hobby, I have plenty of metal figures in my cabinet & stash (I even still buy one occasionally), and I certainly agree with you that Laruccia is one of the truly great figure sculptors so it's great that his older Soldiers/SGF work is still available.

- Steve

 

[Arminous]

Hi Steve!

I was referring mostly to the printed material. It's cheaper than metal in many ways, or at least it can be. Shipping it is also cheaper. Yes, detail is sharper in some cases, or just look sharper. It is more difficult to get damages, however, I know people who claim that OLDER resin cast suffered decomposition and deformation after years. Not sure this is the case with new synthetic material. However, it's more difficult to remove paint from resin, if needed, you cannot sculpt off details to convert figures as easily, you cannot polish armors and weapons to give a natural metallic look. I agree both material has advantages and disadvantages and I certainly want them both in the hobby. But the endangered one is the most expensive one- the metal (heavy, expensive itself and requires new casts more often ).

On Orcs, I am one of the grown youngsters you are talking about, with more fantasy than historical figures in my collection. I still like them and I still buy them. But let's admit it, they are easier to make than Historical miniatures, they require less research, the anatomy is more free and they are a mass production, preventing the focus on older miniatures that get out of interest and thus get out of production!

I know this provides the hobby with more people and so we see new painting and sculpting techniques, but if this is leads to the extinction of high art objects like those made by Adriano Laruccia, Raul Garcia LaTorre, Julian Hullis and other impressive people, then, I will prefer to save the latter.

Companies like Elite Miniaturas and Aitna are almost impossible to find. If you want a Fantasy company, then Ral Partha is the best example I cant hink of! I bought many I could find and now they are impossible to find! The quality was superb and I'm not judging by subject or personal taste, but cast quality, details in 25 mm, anatomy, and even subjects that you don't find anymore, like an accurate pegasus without a fancy saddle, a shiny plate armor and an elf rider.. Just a common pegaus as an ancient Greek imagined it!

I know you get my point. There are important figures that get endangered, so please consider you support those artists, or the next generation will only have pictures of those superb pieces (in the best case).

Thanks again!
-Kostas.