ABOUT NORTHWING MINIATURES
Like most wargames manufacturers Northwing Miniatures is a one-person business run by me, David. Our first range of figures has been sculpted by the very talented Alan Marsh, who has been instrumental in bringing my vision to life, and cast by Griffin Moulds. I am grateful to them and to everyone else who has helped me on this journey thus far.
My objective in setting up Northwing Miniatures is to provide period accurate wargames figures for some of the most historically important conflicts in the Ancient World that have gone unsupported by larger miniature manufacturers. In doing so I hope to encourage people from across the gaming community to explore and learn about these dramatic yet oft-overlooked historical events and the ordinary people whose lives were forever changed by their involvement. Also, I think these toy soldiers look awesome on the tabletop!
So, who am I? My name is David, I enjoy wargaming conflicts real or imaginary from ancient times to the 20th century and beyond, all while drinking copious quantities of coffee. My cats, Wren & Avery, often feature in games that I play at home and they both enjoy rolling around on my board and chewing the scenery. Avery has achieved near-legendary status in my local gaming group for using one of my friend’s (thankfully nearly empty!) miniature travel box as a litter tray during one of our games…
It was my father who first got me interested in military history with his collection of The World at War magazine. However, my first introduction to wargaming was at the age of 12 when a school mate (James Priestley – no relation to Rick Priestley as far as I'm aware) showed me his Necron army for 3rd edition Warhammer 40,000. Later that week my parents took me to Spirit Games in Burton on Trent and bought me the 3rd edition rulebook, a box of 5 space marines (the classic “Combat Squad”) and a Rhino APC. Soon after I played my first wargame on a snooker table without terrain with my miniatures painted using Airfix paints in some sort of gloopy green camouflage scheme. 20+ years on I still have the rule book that started me off, but I have branched off into a variety of other wargames (mostly historical).
So, why my interest in the Jewish Revolts?
As a first-year student studying history at Newcastle University I stumbled across Josephus’ seven volume “History of the Jewish War” in the university library. I was hooked by the story he told of the First Jewish War, a brave rebellion against the might of Imperial Rome, that ended so tragically and brutally at the siege of Jerusalem. His history set me on a path of reading and research as I sought to find out more about who these rebels (or revolutionaries depending on your perspective) were and why they decided to fight a superpower. In the process I found myself learning about the numerous other revolts that took place against Rome in Judaea from the time of the late Republic to the 2nd Century, and how they fundamentally changed the course of history.
Yet when I came to try and recreate these conflicts on the tabletop I found myself at a loss, being unable to find manufacturers who produced historically plausible miniatures for these events. After years of deliberation I finally decided to do something about this, and Northwing Miniatures was born.
