Midlam Miniatures and a Blast from the Past

I've been following a fun blog for some time now - The Blog With No Name is updated weekly, and has been a fun read. Apparently he does a Secret Santa exchange every year, and so I got in on this past event.

It was run very smoothly, and while I kind of broke the rule that you were supposed to write what you'd like on your blog, I didnt...

However, soon after the event began, I got a neat little package from http://www.midlamminiatures.co.uk/ who did a great job in disguising their origin (their shipping label even says, "A mysterious package arrived from the Stone Hills..."). Inside were 8 very cool minis, fantasy themed. 2 even had "winter clothing" on - someone picked up on my like of Frostgrave, for sure!

As I marveled at them, I noticed two things.
1) they were small. You know, not tiny, but these were definitely 25mm, not 28mm or larger as most modern minis are wont to be
2) they really reminded me of some old school goodness.

I do like knowing what I've got when it comes to miniatures. A lot of these I got decades ago as a youth being introduced to D&D. http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Main_Page has been a trip down nostalgia lane for me as I identified many of my old fantasy collection. I mean, come on, how fun is it to see things like this:

Yes, I have those two minis :)  They are Ral Partha "01-136
Chaotic Knights of Doom Legion" according to the site.

Anyway, what struck me was the archer. I thought, "Man, I've seen him before!"...as in, like, recently! I pulled my own box of minis out, and sure enough, I had him already! The painted version is mine (and by "painted" I mean it has some primer and a dab of color...) and the lead version is what arrived:

They even have the same stamp on the bottom: "HP89 with "JO" below that. Mine is at LEAST 20 years old...which makes me really, REALLY curious - I have not yet identified him as per the Los Minis Wiki, but his entry at Midlam is http://www.midlamminiatures.co.uk/rangers/C1022F.html (I also have, but didnt receive a duplicate of, his "twin", http://www.midlamminiatures.co.uk/rangers/C1022E.html). [EDIT - I lied. http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=C1022_Druids_and_Rangers_%28Metal_Magic%29 has them listed as originally belonging to Hobby Products, with the sculptor being Josef Ochmann, circa 1989. Such fun to be a detective!

Anyway, I want to spread the word. If you like old school minis, the kind we used to buy as a kid, well, Midlam Miniatures seems to have some oldies but goodies.

Thank you, Secret Santa!