Ral Partha

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Ral Partha

Partha.jpg
StatusOut of Business
Active1975 - 2001
Website
AddressCincinnati, Ohio, USA

Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc was one of the largest producers of fantasy figures in the world. Their figure lines are still in production through various companies RPE, etc) but the direct successor company is Iron Wind Metals which is still based in Ohio, USA and now uses Ral Partha as a brand label.

Product Code Lists: By Range, or Boxed Sets

Ral Partha


Company History

Ral Partha Enterprises, Inc was founded in 1975 by (among others) Glen Kidd (the company president) and Tom Meier (the principal sculptor). At one stage, Ral Partha had a reciprocal agreement to distribute Citadel Miniatures figures in the USA. This arrangement stopped in the mid-1980s. The company closed in 2001. Their figure lines are still in production through various companies (RPE, etc). The direct successor company is Iron Wind Metals which is still based in Ohio, USA. Refer to the Ral Partha Enterprises wikipedia entry for more information.

Company Timeline


Origin of the Name

"When the game Dungeons & Dragons first came out, there was [in our gaming group] an old wizard in it who emerged with a lot of interesting characteristics and quite human: not all good, not all bad, but very human. The real name of the player, of this wizard, was John Winkler, and he involved himself in all sorts of businesses and enterprises while playing. Tom and I decided that with his gracious permission we would name the company Ral Partha Enterprises which would give it a humorous connotation and one very difficult to forget once people had mastered its pronunciation."

Glenn Kidd, quoted in "Behind the Scenes with Ral Partha" [4]


Chaos Wars Kickstarter

In 2015, Iron Wind Metals ran a Kickstarter [5] to remaster and reissue many of Ral Partha's Chaos Wars era figures - this includes many of the early Tom Meier sculpts and, notably, some like the Troglodytes and the Dwarf Steam Cannon that were Citadel box sets in the UK. The Kickstarter ran Apr 27 2015 - May 19 2015. Tom Meier has re-sculpted 3 of the old figures:

  • 02-006, Sea Elf w. upright Pike
  • 02-009 High Elf Striking w. Axe
  • 02-072 Giant Goblin w. Sword.


Addresses

  • Ral Partha, 5938 Carthage Court, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45212, USA


Branding

  • Logo


Personnel


Web Presence

As a 1970s company, much of Ral Partha's history was pre-internet. According to the Wayback Machine, a website existed from at least Dec 28th 1996. At one point after the demise of the company the website was parked and redirected to www.topps.com.


Distribution

Widely distributed around the world. The following companies packaged and distributed Ral Partha miniatures:

  • Citadel Miniatures, UK
  • Minifigs, 1/5 Graham Road, Southampton, England, S02 OAX, UK
  • RAFM, 20 Park Hill Road East, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, N1R1P2
  • Jeux Descartes, 5 Rue de la Baume, 75008, Paris, France


Disposal of Assets

Most inherited by Iron Wind Metals and Ral Partha Europe.

References

  • [1], Wikipedia, "Ral Partha Enterprises"
  • [2], Yahoo Groups, "Collecting Ral Partha Miniatures"
  • [3], ralpartha.com (archived)
  • [4], Fantasy Modelling, No.4, 1981, Philip O'Stearns, "Behind the Scenes with Ral Partha"
  • [5], Kickstarter, Ral Partha's Chaos Wars, (Apr 27 2015 - May 19 2015)
  • [6], The Space Gamer 59, January 1983, page 16, "Metal: Year In Review"


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