Wednesday, 19 August 2026

An attack of nostalgia, how we used to order figures - posted by Vince Cholewa, 12 August 2026

A post on the bring and buy bunker Facebook looking for a copy of “Wargaming a New Zealand handbook“ had me reaching for my copy. And in it is this wee gem, a guide for writing a letter to a mail order company. While the example is Napoleonic, it could just as easily have been ancient. The Hinchliffe Hun horse archers and the hairy little steppe pony recommended for them, are still among some of my all-time favourite figures. Yes, I have some of those in my collection and also some of Palmyran cataphracts. 😊
https://www.facebook.com/groups/824840264342234/posts/3393019240857644

 





Brian Smaller
 
And paid for with £2 postal orders from the Post Office.
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    • Vincent Cholewa
     
    Brian Smaller and broke the law by collecting lots from different post offices to send all in one day. There was some crazy daily limit on how much we could spend in foreign currency.
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    • Brian Smaller
     
    Vincent Cholewa I lived at Mt Maunganui in the 70s. We had one post office. It was £2 a day for me.
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    • Vincent Cholewa
     
    Brian Smaller I lived in Brooklyn, Wellington and had a route I’d walk past several post offices, eventually ending at the central post office in the city
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    • Mark Vee
     
    Vincent Cholewa Yep, the ladies at the Post office knew me by name 😆
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    • Mark Vee
     
    Brian Smaller Having flashbacks...
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    • Dirk Heinsius
     
    Don't forget the despair 3 months later, when instead of figures arriving, you'd get a letter from Customs, and have to pay duty before getting the figures.
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    • Mark Vee
     
    Dirk Heinsius 😆 🤣 yerp..


    Dirk Heinsius
     
    I still have a complete 25mm Hinchcliffe Byzantine army, painted with Humbrol between 1975 and 1978 🙂
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    • Phil Malthus
     
    Dirk Heinsius Personally, I'm delighted by the idea that none of my shit paintjobs from the 70s is still around, but you were always a better painter than me
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    • Cicerius Panderius
     
    Dirk Heinsius Such a classic army in every sense of the word.
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    • Alastair Duncan
     
    17p a figure. Outrageous!!!!!!
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    • Vincent Cholewa
     
    Alastair Duncan cheap at twice the price!
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    • Cicerius Panderius
     
    Those were the days. Saving up to buy postal notes to actually send in the mail to a company in England to get figures in return. Shipped by sea Remember them well. Adverts for figure manufacturers in magazines. They were shown round to people at conventions. The funny thing is the system worked.


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