This article has been a long time coming, its been in the works since the first Retroplastics! article, so what's been the hold up...?
The original plan for this article was to include painting guides for each of the Miniatures included in the set however, I hit a bit of a road block after picking up 10 of the Dwarves in good condition the other miniatures in the set proved harder to find in a good condition and an affordable price, I decided to sit the article on the metaphorical shelf and wait till I picked up the remaining miniatures to finish the article...
...this proved harder than I thought, and wanting to move on in the Retroplastics! timeline I've decided to split the planned article up and instead will be posting a quick recap on the history of the set here and eventually releasing painting guides as and when I manage to pick up more miniatures from the set.
A 'Eavy metal Dwarves guide is in the works and will be finished and released at some point... I Hope!
So without further a-do...
Citadels Fantasy Regiments (PBS3) was the Citadels 3rd official Plastic Boxset release, PBS3 standing for - Plastic Box set 3 who would have thought? the fantasy regiments box was the biggest plastic release yet when it arrived on shelves around late 1987 / early 88. The set represented a major step in Citadel's transition from metal only miniatures to plastic production.
The box itself contained a staggering 60 'multipart' plastic miniatures, we'll get back to the 'multipart' section later, 10 sprues of 6 warriors, and 10 sprues of 5 regimental shields (The Wood elves didn't get a shield in this set).
Each of the warrior sprues contained 1 of each of the following - Dwarf warrior, Wood Elf Archer, Dark Elf Crossbowmen, Skaven, Orc, and finally a goblin, also included on the sprue were head options for each character and additional weapon options for the Dwarf, Skaven and Orc miniatures, although simpler than later plastic kits this marks the first foray into Multipart options in a kit.
‘Going back to the generics, each sprue holds enough parts for six figures, with separate heads and weapons, but if you look at it, you can see that instead of six figures, we could have put twelve complete models there. So you could have a hundred and twenty models for the same price as sixty, but with less variety. So would you prefer the kind of conventional models you're used to - solid and unchangeable - or the ultimate variety in poses, as in the marines - or would you simply like something in between?’ - White Dwarf 97 - 'Sprue to You'
Making the Kit.
Designed as generic troops to fill out the ranks alongside your metal miniatures proved a challenge for the designers:
"...we're trying to get generic forms - your classic Dwarf, your classic Orc - things like that. But although everbody thinks they know what these things look like, when you're trying to find something typical, it's never quite that simple." - White Dwarf 97 - 'Sprue to You'
To aid in this design process, the same sculptors of the metal ranges at the time were also put to work on the plastic masters, including sculptors Jes Goodwin and Kev Adams credited with the Elf and Orc respectively.
This was still very much uncharted territory for the Sculptors, Citadel were still learning how polystyrene behaved under injection moulding, and that had a direct influence on the way the miniatures were designed.
Sculpting miniatures in a 3 up scale, thin details, deep undercuts and extreme poses were largely off the table. Instead the Sculptors worked hard to create readable silhouettes, working in the 3 up scale proved challenging for some of the Sculptors as proportion could very easily feel off when scaled down to 28mm.
These constraints feed directly into the look of the models. 
The Sculpts.
Viewed today, the Fantasy Regiments figures are unmistakably of their time. They're squat, stiffly posed, softer detailed and with more pronounced mould lines however they have a undeniable charm about them, they were designed first and foremost to fill out regiments not be a display piece, these are your rank and flank troops all reduced down to their most recognisable elements.
As discussed in White Dwarf 97’s Sprue to You, the goal wasn’t to create highly detailed characters, but flexible building blocks. By using separate heads and weapons, the Sculptors traded raw model count for variety, allowing players to assemble units that felt less uniform without pushing costs through the roof.
Blinded by Nostalgia?
Of course, looking back at it now, while the box promised “multipart” miniatures, assembly could be… optimistic. Fit was inconsistent, poses were limited by the body sculpts, and some head or weapon combinations worked better than others. For many hobbyists at the time, this was their first exposure to multipart plastics, and the experience could be equal parts exciting and frustrating.
PBS3 laid important groundwork, Fantasy Regiments is Citadel taking their first steps into what would later be refined in kits like the RTB ranges and, eventually, the multi-part plastics GW would become famous for in the 1990s and beyond.
PBS3 sits at a fascinating crossroads in Games Workshop’s history. These models aren’t flawless, far from it, but they represent a genuine attempt to rethink how armies were built, bought, and painted.
For me that’s exactly what makes them interesting. They’re not just miniatures they are a snapshot of the citadel studio learning in public, one sprue at a time...
This isn't the last you'll hear about Fantasy Regiments, as stated above, I've got a 'eavy Metal style Painting Guide for the Dwarf's from this set, and am hunting down the remaining miniatures for a similar set of paint guides.
I hope you've been enjoying the Retroplastics! articles, if you've got a set you are particularly interested in find out more about let me know! - each of these articles require a lot of research, I want to thank all the creators and archivists that have written about these kits, shared articles and archived white dwarfs and hobby magazines of old, with each old kit I find in the wild and each article I write I hope I can add something valuable to the archival of these old miniatures
Over and Out,
Will