So a month or so ago, I gushed about Grenadier miniatures. But years before I learned to love those delightfully ugly metal men (and monsters), my heart belonged to the old Heritage Dungeon Dwellers (R.I.P.) stuff I adored in my gaming adolescence. And that love's easy enough to understand. These things had real style, and their evocative roughness emulated the grainy look and feel of the early artwork that informed my gameplay.
And one set that really stands out, and stands for everything I love about gaming, is the so-called HAFKUNG ADVENTURERS package. That's a bastardized halfling, and it's my favorite typo ever. Check your keyboards and you'll see how it all went down. Anyway, the typewriter font is an enduring love, and $3.49 for four miniatures was something my 80s allowance could handle. I had this set. I remember everything like yesterday...
Now look at this guy. He's fat with big hairy toes that channel Rankin/Bass a little. The roughness is there, don't get me wrong. They were courser than Grenadier. I can't explain it, but all that metaphorical empty space spoke volumes. And check out the cool page-boy hairstyle. Today's muscular and sexy halflings; you know, the ones who look suspiciously like contemporary people? Nope. Oh, and there's a little weapon for little folk.
And that's it. These Hafkungs speak volumes about how I take my fantasy. Supposedly medieval characters who look like 21st-century cosplay fall flat. That's just me and not any kind of objective standard. Do your thing, I'll do mine. But the best games always leave something to the imagination; and that miniatures could capture this too is nothing short of amazing, really. It's how bugs become features and a hobby charmed the world...