About Tom Meier

You will see Tom's name a lot on this website.  There is good reason for that.

Tom started sculpting at only 14 years old, doing some work for Custom Cast (Der Kriegspielers) years before it merged with Heritage.

In 1975, Tom and five gaming friends from the Cincinnati area founded Ral Partha Enterprises Inc. to produce his sculpting.  From 1975 to 1980, the bulk of Ral Partha's product line was sculpted by Tom. 

The "Fantasy Line" eventually split into two ranges.  The "Wizards Warriors and Warlocks"  range was home to many of the Elf, Dwarf, and Goblin miniatures that made up most of the very first RP releases... along with a Halfling Adventurer and his Wizard friend.  The "Personalities and Things That Go 'Bump' in the Night" range was home to most of his character and monster sculpts.

Ral Partha's product line would grow in whatever direction Tom's sculpting whims took him.  A handful of Greeks became The Hoplites range.  A handful of English and French and Danes became the 1200 A.D. range.  Mongols and Chinese soon followed.  An interest in 15mm Napoleonics sparked the "Days of the Empire" range.  A small range of 25mm science fiction sculpts became "Galactic Grenadiers".  When RP acquired the license to Legions of the Petal Throne, Tom sculpted a couple of figures for the existing factions, then sculpted all of the miniatures for the Mu’ugalavyáni faction.

In 1977, An interest in Landsknechts inspired 5 sculpts that would became the start of the "Condottieri" range in 1979.  Around the same time, Tom chose to sculpt new miniatures for the Elves which would became the "Fantasy Collector Series".  In 1978, Tom began refining his sculpting style, and adjusted his proportions on the Elves and Landsknechts.  Dwarves, more Landsknechts soon followed in their respective ranges. Then came Goblins, Giant Goblins (Orcs), more Elves, Swiss Mercenaries, Turks, and Halflings.  And every year, more and more sculpts were added to the "Personalities" range.  A number of figures similar to these were sold in boxed sets as "The Adventurers". 

In 1980, an assortment of 15mm Science Fiction miniatures found use in the boxed games "Galactic Grenadiers" and "Final Frontier".  By 1982, these are repurposed as "Star Warriors".  That year Tom beings sculpting British Colonials and Zulu Warriors.  In the following years he adds Boers, Egyptians, Indians, Pathans, and Ansars.  In the mid 1980s, Tom accepts a challenge from Chuck Crain to sculpt a dozen miniatures in a week.  Tom succeeds, but is not personally very satisfied with the results.  At his request, these are released through the Ral Partha Imports ranges, as opposed to his signature range "Personalities and Things that go 'Bump' in the Night".

While staying with Citadel's Bryan Ansell in England, Tom sculpts a number of Elven Personalities both mounted and on foot; and more than a dozen Troglodytes.  Tom allows these to be produced by both Ral Partha and Citadel.  In 1985, Tom begins sculpting the "3 Stage Characters" which depict a character along their evolution from novice to veteran.

In the late 1980s, Tom sculpts new Elves, Orcs, Undead, and Human Fighters for the "All-American Miniatures" range.

In 1988, Tom forms his own company, "Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures" to produce his own sculpts independently.  Tom continues to sculpt for Ral Partha as work for hire, but not nearly as much as in earlier years.  Tom contributes to the BattleTech, Dungeons & Dragons, and Shadowrun ranges through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Thunderbolt Mountain releases a number of Tom's Dioramas in both 25mm and 54mm, a large range of Arthurians, and a variety of miscellaneous projects.  In the early 2000s, Tom releases a 30mm Fantasy range of Elves and Goblins, and "Savage and Sparkle" which are miniatures based on concepts imagined by his young son and daughter.   Tom also sculpts a small range of French and Indian War figures in 1/48 scale, and a line of 54mm Napoleonic caricatures that were produced in resin. 

During the 2000s, Tom does sculpting work for Khurasan Miniatures, Dark Sword Miniatures, and several other companies.

In 2015, Marc Rubin informs Tom of Iron Wind Metal's intentions to rerelease his earlier work, and asks for his permission to do so.  Tom agrees, and graciously offers to sculpt 3 figures for the range.  We at Iron Wind happily accept.

At the end of 2017, the person who did the majority of the casting and packing at Thunderbolt Mountain decided to retire.  As a result, Tom chose to close down Thunderbolt Mountain in late December of 2017.

Through a series of unplanned, yet very fortunate events, in mid/late 2019, as the entity that will become RPL is starting to take form, Tom offers to license the Thunderbolt Mountain product to the company.  Jacob accepts immediately without hesitation.  This sets into motion a series of events that provokes an immediate need for production space, which ends up in the selling of a house, and building of the RPL workshop.  (More on all that can be seen here:  Who We Are – Ral Partha Legacy).

At Jacob's persistent requests, Tom sculpts several new fantasy pieces for RPL, and finished several old unfinished sculpts that had been abandoned in the 1970s and 1980s.

Then in 2020, in a move reminiscent of his actions in the late 1970s, Tom surprises Jacob with a handful of 30mm Dwarves to accompany the 30mm Elves, Goblins, and Humans.  This becomes the fourth Chaos Wars Kickstarter (Chaos Wars: Thunderbolt Mountain), the first one that RPL has ran on its own.  That proved to be a great success, and brought a total of 17 new Dwarf sculpts, 10 new Elves, 12 new Goblins, and 8 new Human miniatures into production.

To this day, Jacob still (politely) pesters Tom for more sculpts, and Tom still surprises him occasionally with unexpected somewhat-random new sculpts to be put into production.

We are very happy and appreciative to be producing the Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures under license.