City Watch 2

Captain Samuel Vimes DW54

This piece was the first to feature Vimes and depicts him holding the gonne from Men at Arms.  The quote is from Men at arms. “He brought the gonne around, not aware of thinking, and let the trigger pull his finger again.  A large area of the door frame became a splinter bordered hole.  Vimes kicked the rest of it away and followed the gonne.”.

This was another piece sculpted by Leigh.  It was introduced in Autumn 1995 and retired in August 2000.  The RRP remained at £29.95.  It has sold for in excess of £85 very recently.  1453 of these were sold.  

Corporal Nobbs DW60

Corporal Cecil Wormsborough St John Nobbs!  Excluded from the human race for shoving and forced to carry a piece of paper confirming his species Nobby is Colons partner in crime.  Much is made of Nobbys odd looks and peculiar personal habits.  One of my favourite Watch books is Night Watch where Nobby makes an appearance as an urchin.  Frankly, given his upbringing its amazing he didn’t turn out worse!!  He has a streak of low level criminality which is generally kept under control and a burning interest in weapons, which isn’t.  In Hogfather he receives a Burleigh and Stronginthearm Crossbow which renders him unable to say anything other than ‘Nk you’.  This only makes him more appealing.  The quote is from Men at Arms (where Nobby gets to raid the armoury and comes out bristling with weaponry!).  “I’ve got an iron ball with spikes on Nobby volunteered.”.

This piece was sculpted by Leigh and shows Nobby clutching his ‘iron ball with spikes on’.  It was introduced in 1996 and retired on closure.  I have no numbers sold.

Angua DW66

I do not have this piece as it has never appealed to me.  It just doesn’t get near my version of Angua in my head!  The quote is from Men at Arms.  “Angua turned and ran.  The moon’s halo was already visible over the rooftops of Unseen University.”.This was sculpted by Leigh and was introduced in May 1996.  It was retired in August 2000.  There were 1059 sold overall.  The RRP was £29.99 and it has made up to £111 although she more usually makes about £60-£80.  As ever though, sometimes any piece can go for a lot less than expected!

Captain Carrot DW100 

Captain Carrot was introduced in February 1999 along with Angua as a Wolf DW102.  Angua was the collectors Edition for that year but Carrot was a normal piece.  For 5 months all was well until someone realised that the badge number shown on both Carrots and Anguas badges was in fact Vimes number.  Mistakenly thinking it was a precinct number Clarecraft had used 177 on both pieces.  This was swiftly changed, Carrot to 191 and Angua to 247 and the pieces with the wrong badge numbers were offered to members of the Collectors Guild.  The original RRP was £29.99.  Sculpted by Joe. With the wrong badge number he has made about £60.

The quote is from Men at Arms.  “Carrot marched in and stood to attention.  As usual, the room subtly became a mere background to him.”.  I do prefer this depiction of him to the original one for some reason, although my original one is intact while my DW100 is in 2 pieces!!

Angua as a Wolf DW102 - covered in Collectors Editions

Detritus in Armour DW105

This is another lovely big chunky piece and shows Detritus in his guise as a Watchman complete in adapted elephant armour.  He can be seen wearing his cooling helmet that was made for him by Cuddy involving a clockwork mechanism and a small cooling fan.  Troll brains work better at lower temperatures so it stands to reason that keeping his brain cool makes Detritus a bit brighter.  This revelation comes about after Detritus and Cuddy get locked in a freezing cold pork futures warehouse.  Detritus (who generally has trouble mastering how to salute without knocking himself out) becomes a mathematical genius but sadly this only lasts until he is rescued.  The optimal temperature for a troll brain is also, unfortunately, extremely close to the temperature at which a troll freezes to death!  The quote is from Men at Arms.  “‘Acting Constable Detritus?’, ‘Sir?’, ‘What’s that you’ve got on your head?’Dink.  ‘Acting Constable Cuddy made it for me, sir.  Special clockwork thinking helmet’”.  There was a typo on this card too, meaning Dink was written as Drink!

I love the way these two end up respecting each other, even though they are traditionally meant to despise each other simply because of their different species.  Terry often has a lot to say about our world mirrored through the Disc and this is one of those times.  They each save the others life and by the end species doesn’t matter, they defend each other against all comers.  Detritus in Armour was sculpted by Joe, he was introduced in 1999 and retired on closure.  I don’t know numbers sold.  His RRP of £33.95 made him an absolute bargain given the size of the piece (another lovely big tactile troll piece!!).

Cuddy DW106 

Cuddy is introduced in Men at Arms (and unfortunately makes it no further).  Terry recently said that he is often asked is it not about time that he kill off a major character but he says that he is put off doing so by the reaction he got when he killed Cuddy off.  

The quote is from Men at Arms (and it's a lovely one!).  “If there’s a heaven for Watchmen and gods I hope there is, then Acting Constable Cuddy is there right now, drunk as a bloody monkey, with a rat in one hand and a pint of Bearhugger’s in the other” said Carrot.”.  The piece matches the quote with Cuddy shown happily clutching his tankard and his rat!!

I love Cuddy and Detritus interaction in this book, this is one of the original books that got me hooked on Discworld and can still make me snort with laughter now!  According the book he has an intelligent expression and one glass eye, which makes for a lovely image!  I can’t recall too many of the dwarf characters who have been made into pieces.  Cuddy, Glod Glodsson and the infamous Cheery Littlebottom are all that spring to mind at the moment (and of these only 2 of them are generally available).  Cuddy is a really lovely piece and is designed to be in scale with DW105 Detritus.  

Cuddy meets a sad end when he is pushed off the stairs at the top of the Tower of Art by Edward D’eath.  Detritus brings him into the Great Hall and lays him carefully down.  He goes and sits in a corner and takes his cooling helmet off and sits and stares at it.  Although the Discworld books are humorous they are so much more.  In my minds eye I can see Detritus sat there, thoughtfully staring at his cooling helmet, thinking about the friend who made it for him.  It’s a truly poignant image (although I am a big softy!).  Cuddy was sculpted by Joe and introduced in 1999.  He was retired at closure, I have no numbers sold.  He had an RRP of £22.50. He has sold recently for £56.