An idle musing for you all. I am not keen on Coffee or Tea and one of my few vices is a daily can of soft drink (or soda if you prefer). I try all kinds and all brands, typically by special offers, but I stick to the low sugar versions when possible. I tried a new lemonade made here in Scotland and its totally brilliant; the best ever!
Since its a ‘luxury’ brand its not in all the shops and it is rather pricey but its well worth seeking out and trying.
GBS
UM007 PDF page one
15mm.co.uk will soon be adding further USE ME titles to its page of purchase downloads. These downloads are purpose designed files containing seperate colour covers, a full indexed PDF of the rules plus an ‘Ease Print’ version of the same which is optimised for print and does not contain backgrounds, images or dense colours to save on ink. All wrapped in a zip folder for the great price of only 5.00USD through download partner Oronjo.
I have already created downloads of UM001 to UM006 and also MOTH 28mm science fiction rules too so through feedback I am pretty sure of what gamers want from their downloads and these three new ones deliver on all counts.
The print versions of UM007, UM008,UM009 are on the market and selling well and as promised in February 15mm.co.uk will release the purpose made download versions.
More on this at the right time.
GBS
Back across the month of December 2011 an early January 2012 Alternative Armies ran its annual festive season offer of goodies when you place an order for products. This time it was an offer of a strickly limited run MUG or a MOUSEMAT or a 2012 CALENDAR all themed to the artwork of resident talent Mr Edward Jackson.
Above you can see pictures of these items. All of which are now totally defunct of stock. I have my own set, the calendar is on the wall, the mug is well used and the mousemat is deeply grooved already!
Alternative Armies sent out more than a hundred of each item and as is the norm with all goodies like this the company has had multiple emails asking if any of the items could be ordered or purchased or exchanged for other codes such as miniatures. I am afraid to have to say the answer is no for we have had NO items traded back in from that lot of goodies!
All I can suggest is that if some surface on trading websites you have a go to try and get them…good luck.
Now to go and make a brew in me mug!
GBS
Release has been confirmed on Friday 10th February of the latest HOF 15mm Science Fiction miniatures code. This code is HOF75 Wasteland Uber Goons.
The pack will contain ten miniatures in three poses and as with all the new codes the miniatures will be available as single figures too. These singles will be A,B,C from the left in the image.
These miniatures are about 18mm tall (about 6.6″ in real terms) as they represent a sought after facet of the Post Apocalypse gaming setting; that of the radioactive enhanced mutant. These fellows all wear trench coats, rubber boots, steel helmets and gas masks and are armed with slug throwers or SMG’s if you prefer. Fielded as either scavengers, gang members, enforcers or the bully boys of a wasteland baron they are useful miniatures. They are featured in the special types of characters in UM007 USE ME 15mm Post Apocalypse rule book.
If you are reading this after the release date then go along to 15mm.co.uk and type ‘HOF75’ into the search box to find this code.
GBS
Today I was passed a link to an excellent blog run by a French wargamer and customer of 15mm.co.uk. I was told he had placed a small order back before Christmas 2011 and that he would send images of his finished work once it was ready. This he has done!
As part of his ‘Gangs of New Hope City’ this faction sees two Laserburn miniatures 110A and 114 along with HOF57c (far left) in front of a ‘Hotwheels Hummer’. Go across to the blog for more on this and more images.
He has a lovely hand for painting and for scenics too. Great setting.
Thanks David!
GBS
Today I spend a few hours planning out two more HOTT 2nd Edition 24AP Armies for 15mm.co.uk. A follow up to the HOTT1018 Empyre Army that came out last week.
15mm.co.uk has many different HOTT armies and they have proved really popular over the past five years, indeed they were one of the first sections on the fledgling website way back when. In fact almost all the miniatures in the HOT 15mm Fantasy range appear in these armies and with these new codes so will the majority of the classic TTF 15mm Fantasy range. Anyhoo…
Here are the listings I have worked out using my old copy of the vintage A5 book…now rather rare as even 15mm.co.uk cannot get stock of it to sell!
I think these will appear in a few weeks time; more on it nearer the time.
—
God @ 4AP 1 (One Arch Demon) (C1)
Behemoth @4AP 1 (A Balrog) (B1)
Sneaker @ 3AP 1 (Three Gargoyles) (D1)
Lurkers @ 1AP 1 (Three Liches and Ghouls) (C1)
Knights @ 2AP 2 (Three Chaos Knights on Horse) (C2)
Blades (General) 2@ AP 1 (Three Chaos Lords) (E1)
Blades @ 2AP 2 (Four Chaos Knight on Foot) (E2)
Spears @ 2AP 1 (Four Human Spearmasters) (E1)
This Army Pack contains the following miniatures from the TTF range.
535 Arch Demon (1)
526 Balrog (1)
548 Gargoyle (3)
542 Liche and Ghoul (3)
537 Chaos Knight (6)
538 Chaos Lords (3)
539 Chaos Knight (8)
MDA22B Human Spearmaster (4)
Artillery @ 3AP 1 (Catapult with two Orc Crew) (B1)
Magician @ 4AP 1 (Orc Shaman with two Guards) (B1)
Warband (General) @ 2AP 1 (Orc Hero with two Followers) (C1)
Beasts @ 1AP 1 (Four Manticore Young) (B1)
Riders @ 2AP 2 (Three Orc Boar Riders with Sword) (C2)
Riders @ 2AP 2 (Three Orc Boar Riders with Spear) (C2)
Spears @ 2AP 2 (Four Mountain Orcs with Pike) (E2)
This Army Pack contains the following miniatures from the HOT and TTF range.
HOT90 Orc Catapult with crew (2)
HOT91 Orc Magician with two HOT91 Guards (3)
HOT91 Orc Hero along with Standard, Drummer (3)
550 Manticore Young (4)
HOT89 Orc Boar Riders with Sword (6)
HOT89 Orc Boar Riders with Spear (6)
MDA20C Mountain Orc with Spear (8)
GBS
January 2012 was Troll Month over on Alternative Armies. Its intent was to introduce the brand new race of Trolkin to the World of Valon, setting of Flintloque. It went rather swimmingly truth be told.
The release of Trolkin Line (Lergo Line) in six poses along with a great limited edition pack LE045 Bange & Oafson set the ‘little trolls’ off to a flying start. A Trolkin is the little cousin of the massive Trolka, biggest soldier in the Mordredian Wars, but each miniature still stands 30mm tall making them bigger then High Elves. Above you can see the Trolkin, they are all on their own page at Trolkin.
A big part of Troll Month was the release of the free PDF download booklet that provides a whole background, formations, characters, profiles, scenario for the Trolls. This free booklet was downloaded over four hundred times in two weeks and by the feedback I have read made a lot of players rather happy. You can get your hands on the booklet by clicking on the image above or going to this page on the Alternative Armies website.
Lastly the sculptor who took the Trolkin into white metal life, Rob Alderman, has posted a couple of videos in which he explains his own way of painting up Trolkin. This is a really nice video and well worth a watch.
Enjoy!
GBS
I personally own more than one hundred text books and over ninety military books and several period original books on the Napoleonic Wars. This has taken me many years to assemble and in the case of some titles a lot of begging and bartering to acquire. Those I have told of this collection have said to me ‘its impossible for me to get this amount of material, its beyond my scope, my budget, my sanity to collect it and anyway I need it right ruddy now!’. So with that in mind I am recommending one title for the Napoleonic Wars, one book, that if you need it now and cannot get many others then it is the only one you really need.
The Napoleonic Source Book by Philip J.Haythornwaite
This is a book that I picked up in a second hand shop for less than a pound in Paisley a few years ago,while on the scrounge with my best buddy Jim Brittain, and while it is out of print there are many copies around that you should be able to find using the normal means for less than ten pounds. It is a superb big paperback with about four hundred pages divided into several big sections. While I will not list contents at length, here they are by section and intent:
The Campaigns – A history of the period from the French Revolution to the Hundred Days including Battle List and the War at Sea.
Weapons and Practise of War – All the weapons of the period, diagrams, usage, formations, medical, at sea, artillery.
The Nations of the Wars – By alphabetical listing from Anhalt to Wurzburg all nations with history, regiments, service arms, uniforms.
Biographies – All the famous and less so commanders of the Napoleonic Wars.
Sources – The titles the author used in his research.
Miscellanea – Calendars, Equipment, Expenses lists, Measurements, Artillery Tables, etc.
My own copy has about five hundred hand written notes on it linking it to other titles I own. I used my copy as my primary tool in the writing of the background of the fantasy black powder World of Valon for Flintloque 3rd edition’s new titles. I recommend this book most whole heartedly…get it!
GBS
This week I made the first addition to my personal wargame collection for quite a while. I had been really busy with getting the latest three USE ME titles out and onto the market and as a result my own hobbying had taken not only the back seat but really the boot (or trunk if you prefer).
So with this in mind and with me own paint brushes gathering dust from inactive use I went along to Painted-Miniature.com and got my hands on a 50mm scale Typhon Greek Hoplite, code TY03 (only 9.00GBP). You can see the fellow above in this post and lovely he is too. Stood on a 40mm wide round plastic base he was delivered to me totally finished so I am able to get him right into play against my Hydra, Shades and other mythological goodness. Painted with acrylics and with a matt varnish (I do not like silk finish if I am honest, makes photos a bugger to get right) he is armed with a Spear and a Shield (Hoplon).
I think I might be getting more pro-painted as requests for my time in writing have meant less and less gaming. In fact if you take out playtesting it comes down to almost nil since last summer.
GBS
Way back in the way back when…well 2009..a new pack of miniatures was added to the HOF 15mm Science Fiction range over on 15mm.co.uk. This pack was HOF54 Rim Mercenaries and though fairly plain it has many uses and has been a good seller for the company. You can see a picture of this pack below (the pack contains ten pieces mixed from three poses).
15mm.co.uk and I choose which new miniatures to make based on the main upon customer requests. I get many messages saying ‘can we have variants of this’ or ‘some new that’ or ‘this would be cool’. So I tote them up and the top two or three get commissioned and become white metal reality!
This time has come again in time for April 2012 releases and this time it is the Rim Mercenaries who are up for expansion with a possible eight new poses being considered. Here an an extract from a conversation between myself and O.G.Joel (author of UM003, UM004, UM007 all in USE ME ).
One thing I’d love to see in 15mm.co.uk’s miniature range is some expansion for the Rim Mercenaries and Post-Apocalyptic Survivors (my second and third favorite ranges, respectively, after the Greys of course). They’re excellent figures, and I could very easily fit them together with my QRF BTR-70’s (the Mercs look Russian, after all), but what they’re missing are good command and heavy weapon packs to spice them up. I think that their expansions should be relatively conservatively armed with low-tech weapons – RPG-type rockets and heavy machineguns for the Heavy Weapons pack; a Merc Commander, Comms Officer and maybe a few Squad Leaders for the command pack.
By the end of this chat we had all decided upon a Command and Support Pack to be designed the sculptor who created the original three, Elton Waters.
I will keep you all informed of progress.
GBS