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Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Magister Militum

When I decided to take up wargaming seriously as a hobby I started by buying two 15mm army packs, Romans and Carthaginians, from Richard at Magister Militum in the UK. Naturally, those two army packs were soon supplemented by additional figures, and the collection expanded by other armies. It quickly became necessary to purchase from other ranges and manufacturers too, but the figures that began it all for me were those Chariot Miniatures from Magister Militum.

I don't imagine I am the only person in the world who got their introduction to the delights of miniature wargaming in this way.

At that time of course you didn't order by filling an online shopping cart: you looked at the catalogue, emailed the company with the packs you wanted, waited for them to confirm with a price and shipping estimate and a means of payment. If I remember rightly, I might even have had to call Richard up from Japan to give him my credit card details over the phone.

At any rate, there was contact with a human, there were pleases and thank yous, and all those other little interactions that you almost forget were commonplace before shopping carts and secure online payment systems.  

It is therefore with some sadness that I see Magister Militum is closing up shop and putting their ranges on the market. 

I'd like to quickly take the opportunity to thank Richard and all the other folk who may have worked at MM, and hope that life after MM treats them well.

For those to whom MM closing up is new news, I think you still have a couple of days to get a last order in.

I guess the most appropriate thing to do at my end is get those Romans and Carthaginians out on the table for another game....

7 comments:

  1. "E-mailed the company"?? When I started, you sent a letter. With a stamp on it. If you were placing an order you had to get a cheque off one of your parents. Or buy postal orders to the value. If you wanted a catalogue, you sent a SSAE. Then sat around and waited for your order to arrive, crossing your fingers that nothing had got lost in the post either way.

    But I agree. It is sad to see MM shutting up shop. Many of the people who have sold me figures over my life must be getting close to just wanting to put their feet up for a bit.

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    1. Yes, I still use Navwar occasionally too! Seem to have been a few putting their feet up of late, sadly. Certainly understandable. I guess we can't all go on forever.

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  2. Agreed - another one of the stalwarts of the hobby closing down. Hopefully the lines are picked up and soon.

    (I also remember the pre-email days...)

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    1. Yes, I hope so, but it does feel like the 15mm hobby is shrinking a bit, with smaller operations fading out and things going the dedicated rules, dedicated figures (increasingly in plastics) route.

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    2. This follows Xyston being picked up by Plastic Soldier, and starting to switch to thermoplastic. Also, I believe Outpost Wargame Services had some medieval 15mm figures, not sure about their fate yet.

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  3. And another friendly and familiar face that will be missed from the UK show scene.

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    1. I'm sure. I hope though that they now get to enjoy a bit of gaming :)

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