By mid-2002, PHD had stopped production, despite a few protestations to the contrary, and the Tékumel miniatures world entered another “Time of Darkness.”  Luckily, Howard Fielding, a true “Hero of the Age” emerged to save the day. Fielding had long participated in Tékumel discussion fora and in early 2005 he posted a low-key message polling fans on what miniatures they would like to see.  Then, on November 5, 2005 he dropped the bombshell that he planned personally to commission an extensive line of 28mm figures with Eureka Miniatures in Melbourne, Australia.

Fielding negotiated Barker’s blessing and worked out the logistics and in January 2007, Eureka issued the first of four waves of figures under the title “Armies and Enemies of the Petal Throne.”  All four releases were sculpted by Alan Marsh.

Fielding was (and is) very clever in using variant poses, as well as different weapons and shields so as to model several legions with the same basic sculpts, which reduces the cost.   This will be discussed in more detail in a future post.

In the lists below, the number in parentheses indicates the number of basic variant poses, which can be further varied by different headdresses, weapons, and shields. More extensive photos of the figures are available at: http://thetekumelproject.blogspot.com

First Release (January 2007)
100TSO01 General Kéttukal (1)
100TSO02 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory officer (2)
100TSO03 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory standard bearer (1)
100TSO04 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory musician (1)
100TSO05 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory trooper (2)
100TSO06 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory female trooper (1)
100TSO07 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory archer (2)
100TSO08 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory spearman unit (Pack of 24 figures: 2 x 100TSO02, 1 x 100TSO03 & 04, 15 x 100TSO05, 5 x 100TSO06).
100TSO09 First Legion of Ever-Present Glory archer unit (Pack of  24 figures: 2 x 100TSO02, 1 x 100TSO03 & 04, 20 x 100TSO07).

Second Release (April 2007)
100TSO10 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire officer (2)
100TSO11 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire female officer (1)
100TSO12 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire standard bearer (1)
100TSO13 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire musician (1)
100TSO14 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire trooper (2)
100TSO15 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire female trooper (1)
100TSO16 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire archer (2)
100TSO17 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire female archer (1)
100TSO18 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire spearman unit (Pack of 24 figures: 2 x 100TSO10-11 (random mix), 1 x 100TSO12 & 13, 15 x 100TSO14, 5 x 100TSO15)
100TSO19 Legion of Sérqu, Sword of the Empire archer unit (Pack of 24 figures: 2 x 100TSO10-11 (random mix), 1 x 100TSO12 & 13, 15 x 100TSO16, 5 x 100TSO17)

Third Release (Sep 2007)
100YAN01 Baron Áld (1)
100YAN02 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá officer (2)
100YAN03 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá female officer (1)
100YAN04 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá standard bearer (1)
100YAN05 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá musician (1)
100YAN06 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá heavy trooper – male (2)
100YAN07 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá heavy trooper – female (1)
100YAN08 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (male) spear over-arm (2)
100YAN09 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (male) spear under-arm (2)
100YAN10 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (female) spear over-arm (1)
100YAN11 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (female) spear under-arm (1)
100YAN12 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá crossbow (male) (2)
100YAN13 Gurék of Tléku Miriyá crossbow (female) (1)
100YAN14 Pavise shields x 2 – for crossbow troops
100YAN15 Second Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (male) pike under-arm (2)
100YAN16 Second Gurék of Tléku Miriyá medium infantry (female) pike under-arm (1)
100YAN17 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá, Heavy Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures: 1 x 100YAN02, 03, 04 & 05; 14 x 100YAN06; 7 x 100YAN07)
100YAN18 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá, Medium Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures: 1 x 100YAN02, 03, 04 & 05; 14 x 100YAN08 & 09 (random mix); 7 x 100YAN10 & 11 (random mix))
100YAN19 First Gurék of Tléku Miriyá, Crossbow Unit (Pack of 24 figures (with pavises): 1 x 100YAN02, 03, 04 & 05; 12 x 100YAN12; 8 x 100YAN13; 10 x 100YAN14)
100YAN20 Second Gurék of Tléku Miriyá, Medium Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures: 1 x 100YAN02, 03, 04 & 05; 14 x 100YAN15; 7 x 100YAN16)
100YAN21 Second Gurék of Tléku Miriyá, Crossbow Unit (Pack of 24 figures (with pavises): 1 x 100YAN02, 03, 04 & 05; 12 x 100YAN12; 8 x 100YAN13; 10 x 100YAN14)

Fourth release (April 2008) sculpted by Alan Marsh
(Note: fourth release figures 100YAN22 through 100YAN27 used the same sculpts as third release figures 100YAN06 through 100YAN11 with different weapons and shields)
100YAN22 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér heavy trooper, spear – male (2)
100YAN23 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér heavy trooper, spear – female (1)
100YAN24 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér medium trooper, morning star (mace) – male (2)
100YAN25 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér medium trooper, morning star (mace) – male (2)
100YAN26 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér medium trooper, morning star (mace) – female (1)
100YAN27 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér medium trooper, morning star (mace) – female (1)
100YAN28 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér archer, firing – male (1)
100YAN29 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér archer, loading – male (1)
100YAN30 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér archer, firing – female (1)
100YAN31 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér standard bearer (1)
100YAN32 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér Heavy Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 31; 14 x 100YAN22; 7 x 100YAN23)
100YAN33 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér Medium Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 31; 7 x 100YAN24; 7 x 100YAN25; 4 x 100YAN26;
3 x 100YAN27)
100YAN34 Gurék of the Valiant of Ke’ér Archer Unit (Pack of 24 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 31; 7 x 100YAN28; 10 x 100YAN29; 3 x 100YAN30)
100YAN35 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye heavy trooper – male (2)
100YAN36 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye heavy trooper – female (1)
100YAN37 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye medium trooper, spear over-arm – male (2)
100YAN38 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye medium trooper, spear under-arm – male (2)
100YAN39 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye medium trooper, spear over-arm – female (1)
100YAN40 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye medium trooper, spear under-arm – female (1)
100YAN41 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye standard bearer (1)
100YAN42 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye Heavy Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 41; 14 x 100YAN35; 7 x 100YAN36
100YAN43 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye Medium Infantry Unit (Pack of 25 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 41; 7 x 100YAN37; 7 x 100YAN38; 4 x 100YAN39;
3 x 100YAN40)
100YAN44 Gurék of the Turquoise Eye Archer Unit (Pack of 24 figures:
1 x 100YAN02, 03, 05 & 41; 7 x 100YAN28; 10 x 100YAN29; 3 x 100YAN30)
100YAN45 Lord Fu Shi’i (1)
100YAN46 Mihálli (1)

The Eureka figures are simply beautiful.  They are well sculpted and detailed and nicely cast without the shiny and “runny” look of some of the PHD figures.  The 28mm size also is more attractive — at least to this aging gamer.  I had the opportunity to visit Eureka in the suburbs of Melbourne shortly after the release of the first wave.  Very nice bunch of guys who gave me a grand tour of their shop and production area.

Apparently, however, the shipping cost and other inconvenience of basing production in distant Australia eventually took its toll.  On December 9, 2010 Fielding and Eureka simultaneously announced that after “amicable soul searching” Eureka would “surrender production of the figures back to [Fielding]” and production would “re-locate to Canada, which will ensure that fans of the genre (who are mostly North America based) will be given the fullest attention in the future.”  We will continue this story in a future post.