ADD18 - Bard Adventure Pack
Sculptor : Aly Morrison
This is another of the 'adventure packs', a set of figures designed to represent a human male Bard player character mounted on horseback and on foot. In 1st Edition AD&D, a bard was a powerful character who had to attain at least 5 levels as both a fighter and a thief before starting as a 1st level bard.
ADD18 - Bard Adventure Pack
Singing Bard on foot. The foot version of this figure wears a chainmail vest over his fancy puff-sleeved shirt. He sports an extravagant feathered hat, and wears a slim-bladed sword at his belt. He is depicted strumming on his lute and singing.
Bard on foot. Notice there is no fringe and how much of his brow the hat covers.
Mounted Singing Bard. The mounted bard is identically armed and dressed. He carries his lute slung at his back, and has his sword drawn and raised above his head. The horse is a fine beast, wearing an ornate caparison and harness.
Mounted Bards face. Notice there is no fringe and how much of his brow the hat covers.
The Citadel "C13 Bard"
This is a re-sculpt and re-release of the ADD18 Bard under the Citadel name.
The C13 Bard was advertised in the May 1986 Flyer [Stuff of Legends] and initially used the same picture as the ADD18 Bard. [Stuff of Legends]
The re-sculpted versions with closed mouths are depicted in the Easter 1989 Sale Flyer [Stuff of Legends] under the name C13 Heroic Adventurers.
C13 Bard on foot. This is the closed mouth version.
C13 Bard on foot close.
C13 Mounted Bard. This is the closed mouth version of the mounted figure.
C13 Mounted Bard close. Notice the fringe, closed mouth and hat sitting high above his brow which is covered by his fringe.
C13 Bard Blister Pack.
C13 Bard Tabs.
Differences.
The closed mouth variant can be seen in blister pack format and has "Bard" stamped on the front of each tab. The reverse of the tabs have no markings and look to have been removed prior to production. As you can see there is no copyright.
Notice the fringe. The hat sits high above his brow and his brow is covered by the fringe. Richard Scott commented in an email: "My open mouth version doesn't have any of his fringe showing at the front".
Information.
1. There's no Copyright marks on any of the closed mouth bards I've found - they are fairly common minis. Mounted, on foot or on either half of the mount. The mount gives little away. No tab markings on either side however the inside of both sides have blade marks which look like something has later been removed. This is the same as other closed mouth / steed examples I've seen.
2. There's no notification on advertising that the code was supplied with a random head (singing or closed mouth). The only known advert [Stuff of Legends] DOES NOT use the * notification as indication. Other catalogue pages [Stuff of Legends] show the * notification being used on the appropriate variant packs. The true is the same for the corresponding price list.
3. Richard Scott was not aware of the C13 Bard release and assumed it was part of the range. When asked in a recent email the reply was : "I didn't even know the bard joined the c-series after the AD&D range finished"
At the moment i can only think of one reason to include the closed mouth bard with the AD&D range and that's because it's a variation of the singing ADD18 Bard. Reasons not to include it are :
No copyright stamps. No notification in advertising of multiple variants supplied. No advertising displaying the closed mouth bard as being an ADD18 mini. Citadel "C13 Bard" Blister pack was advertised and sold using the closed mouth bard.
C13 Bard Mount
Bard mount left side.
Bard mount right side.
Authors Note :
The mount shown has no identification markings on either the tabs or inside of either side of the mini.
Other mounts from the AD&D range included a "©TSR 1985" stamp on at least one of the parts or tab. Examples of this are:
ADD10 - Fighter in Platemail. The mount has the "©TSR 1985" stamp on the inside of both parts.
ADD21 - Mounted Barbarian. The mount has the "©TSR 1985" stamp on the inside of both parts.
ADD48 - Cavalier. The mount has the "©TSR 1985" stamp on the tab of the right side of the miniatures tab.
ADD83 - Centaur. Each lower section has the "©TSR 1985" stamp on the inside.
