Miniatures that were never meant to disappear
Some
miniatures never make it into a catalogue.
They
survive as prototypes, production stand-ins, abandoned designs, limited
releases or, sometimes, as only a handful of castings scattered among
collectors.
I have been
fascinated by these pieces almost from the beginning of my hobby. What started
with trying to complete my 4th Edition Dark Elf collection gradually became
something else: tracking down miniatures that I knew existed, but that had
never officially been available.
Today, the
rarity itself is only part of what interests me.
These
miniatures are fragments of the history of miniature making.
They can
show how a sculpt evolved before production, how an existing green was modified
into another model, how metal miniatures stood in for plastics that were not
yet ready, how designs were adapted to the limitations of moulds and packaging
— and how apparently finished miniatures sometimes disappeared before ever
reaching the shops.
This page
brings together some of my favourite examples.
THE LOST
DARK ELVES
 |
Three
unreleased Dark Elf Sorcerers — three very different paths towards, or away
from, production. |
Dark Elves were my first army, and they were also what turned me into a collector of unreleased miniatures.
The Dark
Elf range of the 1990s is particularly fascinating because a surprising number
of models survive that appear to document different stages of its development.
These three Sorcerers are a good example.
An early prototype
The first Sorceress dates from 1993 — around two years before the main 4th Edition Dark Elf range appeared.
At this
time Marauder Miniatures was still going through the process of being
reintegrated into Games Workshop, and its designers had previously worked with
a degree of independence. The model therefore comes from a particularly
interesting transitional period.
Miniatures
like this could also serve another purpose. Plastic miniatures required
considerably more preparation time than their metal counterparts. Early metal
versions or stand-ins could therefore be produced while the final plastic
miniature was still unavailable for photography, artwork or other studio
material.
This
Sorceress appears to belong to that world of early development.
The second Sorceress is even more revealing.
Rather than being sculpted completely from scratch, her green was created by extensively modifying the first Sorceress. The resulting miniature bears a striking resemblance to the plastic Dark Elf Sorceress later released with Talisman: Dragons Tower.
For a long time I therefore wondered whether these models might have been connected directly with the development of the Talisman plastics.
Alan Merrett, however, offered a more cautious interpretation. He remembers the first Sorceress not as a specific Talisman prototype, but more likely as one of the many models sculpted during a remarkably fluid period of miniature development — a design created, but ultimately put aside when no suitable release opportunity arose.
At the same time, he confirmed that the broader production process behind my original theory did exist.
 |
| The plastic Dark Elf Sorceress from Talisman |
Yet the studio often needed actual-sized miniatures much earlier — for photography, artwork and other development work.
According to Alan, designers would therefore sculpt traditional metal versions based on the enlarged patterns or rough resin impressions known as “squeezes”. These metal miniatures could closely resemble the eventual plastic figures without being exact copies.
Intriguingly, he also remembers that in some cases the process may have worked in the opposite direction: an existing metal design could provide the basis for the enlarged master used to create a plastic miniature.
This makes the relationship between these early Dark Elves and the later Talisman figures particularly interesting.
The visual similarities, the dates and the surviving models fit remarkably well with a production process we now know was actually used. But whether these two Sorceresses were specifically created for Talisman, or whether an existing Dark Elf design was subsequently adapted for it, remains unresolved.
What survives is not a simple prototype-to-production sequence, but evidence of a much more fluid exchange between metal sculpting, plastic production and miniature design.
The third model followed a very different path.
He was
designed by Aly Morrison as the rider for a War Hydra sculpted by Trish Carden,
together with an elaborate howdah. The project appears to date from around
1994.
Unlike many
obscure prototypes, the Sorcerer was not completely hidden from the public. The
foot version was pictured in the 4th Edition Dark Elf Army Book.
And yet he
was never normally released.
Why the
complete Hydra set disappeared remains uncertain. Stories range from production
problems to a missed release window, but I have never found enough evidence to
establish a definitive explanation.
What
survives provides some clues. The original green of the Sorcerer itself no
longer exists in its original form: parts of it were subsequently reused in the
construction of the later released Dark Elf Sorcerer.
The Hydra
had a different fate. It eventually appeared as a limited release at the 1999
US Games Day, together with the unreleased Dark Elf Executioners.
The
Sorcerer, however, remained elusive.
My first example came from US collector and dealer James Humphries of the Virtual Alchemist around 2000. James was one of my earliest contacts in the international collecting community and was responsible for several of the first real rarities to enter my collection.
More than
twenty years later, this remains one of the models that best represents what
originally drew me into collecting unreleased Dark Elves.
[to be continued READ
MORE → The unreleased Dark Elf Sorcerer and War Hydra]
FROM PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION
An
unreleased prototype Keeper of Secrets sculpted by Michael Perry.
Not every
unreleased miniature represents an abandoned idea. Sometimes it preserves an
earlier stage of a model that eventually did reach production.
This early
Keeper of Secrets by Michael Perry is one of my favourite examples.
The
miniature can be seen on the colour pages of Realm of Chaos: Slaves to
Darkness, providing contemporary evidence that the sculpt existed at the
time.
At first
glance it already looks remarkably similar to the Keeper of Secrets that
collectors know today. Looking more closely, however, reveals how much changed
between prototype and production.
The
prototype consists of two major unreleased components. The legs and body form
one piece, while the upper arms form another single component.
For the
production version, this construction was fundamentally revised.
The body
and legs were separated. The original arm assembly was divided, and four
alternative arms were created. The result was a more modular miniature that
could be assembled in different configurations — and was presumably easier to
cast and manufacture.
The
original components were never commercially released.
What
survives is therefore more than simply a rare alternative Keeper of Secrets.
It is a
physical record of a miniature being redesigned for production.
[to be continued READ MORE → Prototype Keeper of Secrets]
THE RIDERS THAT DISAPPEARED
Unreleased Mounted Daemonettes
 |
| Three unreleased Daemonette riders by Michael Perry. |
The Mounted Daemonettes from the Realm of Chaos period present a different mystery.
Michael Perry sculpted both the riders and their bizarre Mounts of Slaanesh. Several variants of the mounts were released.
The riders were not.
Instead, the commercially available mounts appear with the same rider, while evidence for several alternative Daemonettes survives.
One of these unreleased riders — the bald Daemonette armed with two claws — appears in Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness. Her existence is therefore firmly documented.
A second variant, equipped with a tentacle and claw, is known from more than one surviving casting.
The third is considerably more mysterious.
There is, however, intriguing supporting evidence.
An old illustration depicts an almost identical Daemonette, albeit carrying a standard. More recently, Michael and Alan Perry have also published surviving concept drawings for the Mounts of Slaanesh and their riders.
And there may have been still another rider.
One of the contemporary photographs in Slaves to Darkness appears to show a mounted figure with a different silhouette and pose. Among the surviving Perry sketches is a design that could potentially correspond to it.
Unfortunately, even the sculptors themselves can no longer confidently connect every drawing with every miniature produced more than three decades ago.
And that is part of the fascination.
Sometimes an unreleased miniature answers a question. Sometimes it creates three more.
[to be continued: READ MORE → The unreleased Mounted Daemonettes]
DESIGNS THAT NEVER REACHED THE RANGE
The
unreleased Chimeras
 |
Two
unreleased 4th Edition Chimeras sculpted by Trish Carden. |
Some concepts survive several attempts at becoming a production miniature.
Trish
Carden sculpted an earlier, smaller Chimera around 1992–93. Although apparently
never commercially released, examples of the miniature appeared in the personal
armies of studio members.
The model already used the now-familiar combination of lion, goat and dragon heads.
As Games
Workshop moved into 4th Edition, the concept was revisited on a considerably
larger scale.
At least
two distinct larger unreleased Chimeras designs are known to survive.
One retains
the more traditional arrangement of heads. A second version alters the design
significantly, replacing the goat with an eagle and modifying the lion head
into a larger, open-mouthed component.
Neither
entered the regular range.
Exactly why
remains unclear.
Perhaps the
models simply missed their intended release window. Their unusual size may have
presented packaging or marketing problems: unlike many large monsters of the
period, the Chimeras did not naturally accommodate a rider. Production
difficulties are another possibility.
Without
surviving production records or testimony from those directly responsible for
mould making and release planning, these explanations remain hypotheses.
But the
three sculpts together tell an important story even without a definitive
answer.
The first
miniature disappeared.
The idea
did not.
It was
revisited, enlarged and redesigned — and then, for reasons we may never
completely reconstruct, disappeared again.
[to be continued READ
MORE → The unreleased Citadel Chimeras Part I and Part II]
MORE
FROM THE COLLECTION
The models above are only part of the archive I have assembled over more than two decades of collecting.
Among the
other pieces currently in my collection are:
Dark
Elves — 3rd Edition / Marauder
An
unreleased Aly Morrison Dark Elf horse, surviving as a master casting; an
unreleased variant of a Dark Elf Champion with crossbow, currently the only
example known to me; and a limited-release Cold One Chariot.
Dark
Elves — 4th Edition
Both
unreleased Dark Rider sculpts, which I used as the basis for a complete painted
unit; all eight variants of the Dark Elf Executioners later sold at the US
Games Day; two examples of the unreleased Sorcerer, War Hydra, howdah and
banner assembly, including a master casting; and several metal components
produced as stand-ins for the plastic dragon from Talisman: Dragons Tower.
Dark
Elves — 5th Edition
An
unreleased mounted Sorceress sculpted by Gary Morley — the only example
currently known to me, obtained directly from Gary — together with two examples
of his prototype Dark Rider standard bearer.
Dark
Elves — 6th Edition
Three
unreleased topless Witch Elves sculpted by Chris Fitzpatrick around 2000 and an
unreleased prototype Assassin, also by Chris.
COLLECTING
THE STORIES
Finding
these miniatures has never simply been about filling spaces in a collection.
When I
began looking for unreleased Dark Elves around 2000, the collecting world was
very different. There were no Facebook collector groups and many transactions
took place through forums, mailing lists and trading sites.
One of my
first major discoveries came through the US trading platform Bartertown.
A seller
had forty of the unreleased Dark Elf Executioners together with a War Hydra. I
got the deal because I agreed to buy the entire collection.
By today's
standards the price would look remarkably cheap.
For me at
the time, it represented an enormous amount of money earned through holiday
jobs — and I remember being rather concerned about what my girlfriend would say
when she found out.
I bought
them anyway.
Around the
same period I met collectors such as James Humphries in the United States,
owner of the Virtual Alchemist and one of the leading figures of the old Yahoo
collecting community.
Those
contacts gave me access to miniatures I had previously only seen in books and
magazines.
But
something else happened as well.
Painting
the models became part of collecting them.
Many rare
miniatures spend their lives unpainted in drawers. I wanted to see these forgotten sculpts as miniatures again — painted, displayed and treated as the models they had originally been intended to be.
Over time,
showing collectors their rare pieces fully painted helped to establish new
contacts — and sometimes opened the door to the next miniature.
That
relationship between collecting, researching and painting remains at the
centre of this archive today.
AN
ONGOING ARCHIVE
There are
still unanswered questions.
There are
models I know exist but have never found. There are others whose histories can
only partly be reconstructed. Occasionally a new casting, old photograph,
concept drawing or recollection from somebody who worked in the studio changes
what we thought we knew.
That is why
I do not see this as a catalogue of definitive answers.
It is an
ongoing attempt to document the miniatures, preserve their stories and, where
possible, understand how they came into existence.
Because the
most interesting question about an unreleased miniature is often not:
“How
rare is it?”
but rather:
“Why does it exist?”
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