Welcome prospective customer.

We are a couple of what is probably best described as, long term wargaming widows. Both our husbands seem to have had their lives largely dominated by a fascination for little toy soldiers for more years than we care to remember. After years of moaning about such things as metal filings on the floor, paint marks on the dining room table, and asking what we now know to be the stupid questions

"What do you mean you just had to have the book / figures / vehicle/ scenery /other" (please insert as appropriate) we realised that enough was enough.

With the old saying "If you can't beat them, join them" ringing in our ears we found ourselves also indulging in this exciting pastime by collecting and painting figures such as Samurai. Of course bringing up children, running a household, as well as holding down jobs does tend to fill one's day. However like all women we are born with the ability to multi task and so as one thing led to another, and spurred on by our husbands, we decided to put something back into the hobby by producing our own ranges of figures.

The result is Empress Miniatures. Our first range is the 1879 Zulu Wars and our aim is to cover the war in immense detail. The range will start with British redcoats, quickly followed by Zulus, then back to more redcoats so on and so forth. Ultimately the range will include both regular and irregular infantry and cavalry, as well as artillery, wagons, personality figures, etc, and we are even looking at possibly producing a range of terrain pieces. Of course with what is becoming a crowded market we see quality as the most important pre-requisite of our range. It was with this very much in mind that we approached Paul Hicks to sculpt the figures for us. Paul has very quickly become one of the industry's most celebrated sculptors and we are thrilled for the opportunity to work with him. Hopefully you, the customer, will appreciate the results. This is the very beginning of what we hope will be a very successful company and one that goes on to produce a number of ranges that you enjoy. In the meantime we welcome you to Empress Miniatures and hope that you find any retail therapy that you may indulge in whilst visiting to be both a satisfying and pleasurable experience.

Yours Faithfully,

The Empresses

Update 14/1/2011:

Well, how quickly two and a half years can go by!

Looking back at our first 'mission statement' it is quite amazing to see where Empress Miniatures has gone since we started out. We have made serious headway into our Zulu War range, and continue to add packs to this regularly. We now have artillery and cavalry and well as a selection of personalities and scenic items. Still lots to come of course.

Next, we integrated the Anglian miniatures Spanish Civil War and Abyssinian ranges as a logical fit and extension to what we were already doing. Having admired the range since it began it has been a pleasure to continue to add to this and develop it further.

Next came a bit of a suprise to some - our very popular 'Modern Combat' range. This started out tentatively with a few packs of modern SAS and some OPFOR. Very soon the popularity of these figures (and our continuing games of Ambush Alley) led to the development of Modern American forces. We have further plans for this range in 2011 that include a new army to add to your collections.

We have had great fun attending various shows in the UK, with Salute always being memorable and particularly busy. It has been a pleasure meeting many of you and talking about our ranges and future releases directly.

There have been one or two awards for our ranges, with the Osprey Publishing 'Best Historical Miniature' award being a standout. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time and thought our ranges worthy of your votes in the numerous international forum polls etc.

So, what next? Well, we head into 2011 with some big plans firmly in place. New additions to all of our ranges as well as entirley new ranges to come. Some things that you would all expect (and tell us regularly) and some very big suprises!

Again, thankyou for all of your support so far.

Yours Faithfully,

The Empresses