Doing some miscellaneous stuff this week, starting with this little oddity from Grenadier Models.

Grenadier was one of the first producers of miniatures in the RPG scene. In 1980, they secured the license to create official minis for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. They held the license until 1983, when TSR revoked it to start producing their own miniatures (a scheme that never quite took off with any consistency).

What follows is a bit of speculation on my part, as I’ve not been able to find out any firm facts. As always, feel free to clue me in if you know more.

The Grenadier AD&D line transformed into Dragon Lords after the license was lost, but not all the designs could be used, as TSR (fairly) considered certain monsters to be their in-house creations. In order to offer a complete line of minis for use with AD&D, Grenadier had to essentially create knock-offs, which they justified in this book for the launch of their 1986 Monster Manuscript line. It probably isn’t a mistake that the name sounds similar to “Monster Manual,” as the creatures are detailed in a similar fashion, complete with AD&D compatible stat blocks.

There are plenty of standard fantasy monsters and original creations, but it’s the knock-offs that I love. Seeing the not quite right names gives me a special joy. Pictured in the second image, left to right, top to bottom, are: owlbeast, quarrl, brain eater, ruster beast, spidron, floating eye, stone tangler, juggernaut and iron bull. Gold star for the first person to name all the original D&D monsters in the comments.