FanPro

From Lost Minis Wiki

Status	Out of Business
Active	1983 - 2012
Website	fanpro.com (archived)
Address	Erkrath, Germany

Fantasy Productions was a German company founded in 1983 by Ulrich Kiesow, Werner Fuchs and Hans Joachim Alpers. It initially produced metal miniatures. In 1984 Ulrich Kiesow wrote the RPG Das Schwarze Auge which was published by Schmidt Spiel in partnership with Droemer Knaur. In 2001 FanPro licensed FASA's Shadowrun and Battletech properties and set up a USA subsidiary: FanPro LLC. In 2007 they started selling their gaming assets and focused on publishing novels. In 2012 FanPro folded and were replaced by FanPro Fuchs & Fuchs GbR.

FanPro

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Company History

1983: Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (aka FanPro) is founded in 1983 by Ulrich Kiesow, Werner Fuchs and Hans Joachim Alpers. It initially produces metal miniatures.
1984: Ulrich Kiesow creates the RPG Das Schwarze Auge: a FanPro asset it was published by Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH in partnership with Droemer Knaur Verlag.
1989: Droemer Knaur leaves the partnership.
1997: Schmidt Spiel goes bankrupt leaving FanPro alone to continue on with The Dark Eye and their other properties.
1999: Target Games merges with FanPro
2001: FanPro licenses FASA's Shadowrun and Battletech properties and sets up a USA subsidiary: FanPro LLC.
2007: Das Schwarze Auge is sold to Ulisses Spiele and FanPro gradually sells the rest of their gaming lines in order to focus on publishing novels.
2012: Fantasy Productions folds and is replaced by FanPro Fuchs & Fuchs GbR - publishers.

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Hobby Products

Hobby Products were involved heavily with FanPro and produced the early series of Das Schwarze Auge figures for them. They may have shared production facilities and the sculptor Werner Klocke did work for both companies. Their miniatures all used exactly the same style of base and base markings, with 'FP' instead of 'HP' being the main difference. Later on, figures in The Dark Eye (FanPro) series reverted to 'HP' on the base despite being FanPro miniatures.

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