Tag Archives: miniatures

Support Cyberpunk Horror

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What’s this?  An appeal to donate money to a new charity for man machines that do grotesque things?  No, its just a catchy title for this posting which concerns what I have been up to over the stretch of yet another Bank Holiday in the UK.  Aside from talking Flintloque with Eve Hallow and a few other things I have been putting to bed three new paid for PDF downloads to be added to the growing list of such that 15mm.co.uk sells.

Released back in time for Salute 2012 this year there have been a number of wargamers eagerly awaiting the time when UM010 Support Pack, UM011 Cyberpunk and UM013 Eldritch Horror would be put out for use on computer screens, portable devices and the infamous ‘ease print’ for a cheap hard copy too; all for the princely sum of just five dollars.  Each of them involves little in the way of real work (well as I would count it) but it needs a dozen or more hours of digital layouts for the purpose designed files for screen viewing and searching.  I have had close to a hundred emails saying how much this is appreciated as few company’s seem to take this time and simply issue a PDF of the print file which often does not display properly and is not tagged for searching.

Each time a new release is made for USE ME I sit back and think of how great it is to see the series grow.  I have said before that I did not expect thousands of copies sold, magazine and blog coverage, a frankly awesome day of sales at Salute 2012 or the constant ping of download versions flying off to far off lands.  All from my own home brewed rules set.  It will soon be time to set up an account and then make these and the rest of the digital titles available through specialised online sellers of such versions.  Not to mention the next new print titles too.

Release is going to be end of this week with an email campaign too courtesy of Mail Chimp.   If you are reading this later than that then refer to the below.

If you want to learn about USE ME then go along to 15mm.co.uk to see the series.

GBS

Noble Knight Games now carrying 15mm.co.uk ranges

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Something I had been working on for several weeks a wee while ago has now become public knowledge so I can mention it on the blog!  Below I have lifted the text from 15mm.co.uk as it saves me a bit of typing:

We are proud and pleased to announce that Noble Knight Games, one of America’s foremost suppliers of wargame miniatures, roleplay games, out of print titles and much more, is now stocking 15mm.co.uk and Alternative Armies products. NKG aim to provide a top notch service and with that in mind if you are in North America please go along to their website on the links below and have a look. You can order HOF,HOT, Laserburn, HOTT Armies, Altuos and all Alternative Armies starter sets and rulebooks like HOF Fire-Team and the USE ME Series. All prices in USD and provided locally to American gamers. If you are a fan of Noble Knight Games and of us as too you can now combine both interests in one order!

Additionally if you can’t see one of our products on the NKG website that you would like to order please email them and let them know!

I am very pleased with this new arrangement with Aaron Leeder over at NKG’s as I have watched his work with admiration from afar for years.  Noble Knight often causes referrals to Alternative Armies. When they, NKG, pick up small amounts of stock (Firefight 1.0, Flintloque 1.0, 2.0, Erin and other miniatures) from their sources and sell it on using their webstore.  Their customers then coming to us directly for more.  Back in the 1990’s Alternative Armies product was in most of the thousands of gaming stores in the USA before the big distributors went belly up.  This results in little amounts of treasure popping up all the time.

Once more the peoples of the USA can access the goodness of the Alternative!

You can read more and follow the links by going to 15mm.co.uk now.

GBS

Can you ‘Kickstart’ miniature designs by appealing direct to Wargamers?

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I saw an interesting posting on the Dropship Horizon Blog a few days ago.  At the time I was too busy with other things to do anything on it so I just bookmarked the page and moved on.  But now, here I am back again.  What is it about you ask?  Well it is about a theory.  Can you get the wargaming public to finance your new miniature designs and through that your new company without those wargamers seeing miniatures upfront or the promise of any end result?

There are a huge number of miniature wargame companies across the world and this is a great thing as it brings diversity and great choice to thousands of customers each day.  Many of these companies I do not know the names of and a large number exist only for a few months or a year and then fold for one reason or another.  But in the last couple of years the way of beginning a company has changed.  While I will not go into the other ways of making the process easier with free e-commerce software, low cost hosting, print on demand books, electronic publishing and so on I do want to look at Indeigogo and Kickstarter for funding miniature design work by using this as an example.

You can see the posting here and read about it but the gist is as follows. A brand new (so new they do not have a website or any presence I would find beyond this and a few other blog postings) and shiny new company called ‘Grinning Skull Miniatures’ wish to release a range called the ‘Oggum’, 15mm scale white metal miniatures of science fiction war pigs.  You can see a screen grab below.

Taken on 5th August 2012

The aim of the Grinning Skull is to raise 2000USD for their range of 15mm miniatures.  They have given themselves until 4th September 2012 to raise the funds.

Will they do it?  I shall check back near the end of the time allotted to find out and will post a second time on this topic then.  But my gut feeling is no, they will not.  Will I be incorrect?

GBS

A Pin for a Real Flintloque Fan

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My CCI Demo Team pin badge from the 1990’s!

Funny what a rummage turns up.  I thought I had lost my unique hand painted pin badge back from 1997 when the CCI Demo Team ruled the land and I was the cheery chap touring the globe playing Flintloque.  The pin above went with me to Salute, to Gencon UK, Gencon USA, to Poland and Italy, to many other places too and more stores than I can remember.  That pin depicting the ‘Grand Duck’ or the Colonel of the 105th Rifles Oswold Pebblekettle along with a gun metal grey shirt and the CCI demo set of miniatures graced hundreds of tables.  It was one of the first made, if not the first.  Possibly painted by Pete Knifton who did all of the early artwork for Flintloque in the 1990’s; it was a long time ago.

I am feeling generous though and perhaps might give this away to one REALLY lucky fan of the World of Valon.  I will go over to the Notables Yahoo Group and ask for suggestions on how to do it.

GBS

 

An Advert for Miniature Wargames Issue 353

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The Ion Age gets an Advert!

Busy, busy this week and despite a full ‘to do list’ written on my traditional blank A4 piece of paper (which looks like a bomb site by Monday afternoon!) I have fallen behind somewhat.  But I am busy rectifying that and here is the latest bit of work now complete and sent off to John at MediaShed.  Our half page advert for the issue after next of Miniature Wargames magazine.

After adverts for USE ME and for Altuos it is the turn of the Ion Age to get the full colour treatment in print.  The 28mm science fiction range is way too big to be listed so I opted for a general information and introduction advert which told a bit of a story and gave basic information.  Along with this some eye candy of the latest pack release and the cover of MOTH.  I had some space left so a sub-advert for Asgard 25mm Space Marines went in featuring the superb paintwork of Sam Croes.

Click on the image above to see the advert in full.

GBS

New Blister Backer

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A ‘rough’ of the new Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk blister backer card

Some of you might have noticed I have been in a ‘hobbit hole’ for the last two days and have not answered my usual three dozen or more personal mails a day. Well I had been handed a new and urgent task; to replace the current now almost extinct blister backer used by Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk.  I had expected to be doing this but due to the placing of a large trade order into the USA last week it was moved up the job list to ‘do it right now!’ status.

Those who purchase their miniatures from stores or at conventions will know what a blister backer is.  A piece of card with all the needed information about the company and about the product which goes inside a blister of miniatures allowing the customer to know what he is looking it along with how much it costs.  These used to form the back of a blister but those were ‘heat sealed’ use once blisters which we have not used for a decade or more.  We use a ‘clam shell’ plastic blister which is more secure but also is reusable and many wargamers use them to transport finished figures too!  So they full fill the same purpose but are no longer the ‘back’ but the name remains much like ‘watching a video’ does despite it being a DVD!

If you click on the image above you can see a low rez rough of the new design. Size wise it is 105mm by 75mm in dimension. It is simple and effective and tells you all you need to know over an attractive mottled blue with the famous Alternative Armies ‘arrowhead’ embedded in it.  The blue is used as it is the best colour behind white metal miniatures to be able to see them properly and the blank white area on the front is for the placement of the ‘product label’ which tells the customer what code he is holding.  This is different for each pack of course.

I will be catching up with the backlog of email soon as I can but this is turning into one hectic week!

GBS

Hussite War Wagons by Mr Roy

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A good number of months ago a customer of 15mm.co.uk purchased quite a large number of the medieval Hussite War Wagon sold by 15mm.co.uk. His name is Emmanuel Roy and he has very kindly sent us and allowed me to make use of some great images of his wagons in action.  Today I replaced the image on the 15mm.co.uk website with photos taken by Mr Roy as they are way nicer than what we had.  HUC10 is a white metal kit that can be made up in a variety of ways.  It comes with all the parts needed including horses so you can have this ‘mobile fort’ in motion or static as per your needs.  So with that I chose to put these images on the blog today.

Please note that though 15mm.co.uk sells the Wagon and some of the pictured miniature many are by others makers so keep that in mind if you are searching the Medus Range.

Thanks Mr Roy.  Great pictures and a joy to look at.  You make me rather jealous!

GBS

Flintloque Character Calculator v2 by Craig Andrews

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I like to fill out my Section Rosters for Flintloque by hand but then I did in large part create the 3rd edition of the game and have been playing since the early days of the mid nineteen nineties when pencil and paper were all that was to be had.  However these days many players of the game want to fill rosters digitally or virtually on the screen before printing them out or using them as PDF on a mobile device.  So how do you do that then….

Well wonder no more since web guru and general boss level handy man Craig Andrews (he of Orcs in the Webbe and Barking Irons Online fame) has created something awesome with that very purpose in mind.  A spreadsheet programme that allows rosters to be filled on the screen and then used in play.

The virtual roster covers all you will need in a game of Flintloque that must be filled out and shown from experience levels, weapons, modifiers, names down to notes and player name too.

Go along to the article on Barking Irons Online and download it.  I have given it a go and its spot on!

GBS

p.s. Yes, I know this happen a while back but I just got around to it!

Cultists, Ashigaru and Arid World Warriors – Concept to Completion

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A while ago I discussed with Elton Waters some idea for expanding the HOF 15mm Science Fiction range at 15mm.co.uk.  We went over many ideas, keeping some, discarding others and also paying a lot of heed to the hundreds of requests that customers had made in responce to being asked ‘what next?’ in miniature designs and releases.  While I cannot discuss everything we worked out (that would spoil the surprises to come this year!) the time has come for the first three of the agreed sculpting sets to be set loose on the world!

Starting last week and over the next few weeks three new packs will be added to the 15mm.co.uk website.  I have included some of my thoughts on each of them under the pictures. They are:

HOF76 Corporate Ashigaru

This pack is one of my personal favourites of the year so far.  The Corporate Ashigaru went up on the 15mm.co.uk website Friday last.  Full of character these three came about from an ideas session about who would be perfect for troops in a ‘Cyberpunk’ setting.  While the HOF range already had cyborgs and so on one area not covered was Japan.  The Japanese feature heavily in vintage Cyberpunk writings and wargames so what better than some near future hired guns in armour that mimics that of the Tokagawa period of Japan’s history.  Great for skirmish gaming and as bodyguards to your leaders. So look out for HOF76!

HOF77 Cultist Command

It would be no mistake to tell you just how popular the current HOF Cultists are.  Infantry and Heavy Weapons packs go out all over the world to wargamers and many of those happy customers come back and ask for expansions to that part of the range.  Highest ranking among the requests were ones for a Command set featuring characters who would be fit to lead their fanatics on their missions.  So Elton and I agreed on a theme, that of robes and bare feet, then we thought about poses.  I knew we needed a ‘grand pooba’ a head honcho (far left) and a second in command (one in on left) to get the Cultists properly instructed.  But on top of that Elton came up with the idea of the ‘propagandatron’ (middle) upon which the cult can broadcast its views to the world while in battle.  Added to this someone to wave the flag and a general runner rounded out the concept and then the sculpts.  HOF77 is bound to please many.

HOF78 Arid World Warriors

I like to introduce new ideas and new sections into the ever growing HOF range and on that note we either pick an idea from the ‘suggestions’ pile (like we did with the HOF Rim Mercenaries) or I let the designer make a suggestion.  In the case of the Arid World Warriors it was the latter and Elton suggested some Human warriors from a very dry environment.  Lots of science fiction settings take place in deserts and other dry places so when you need an enigmatic tribe or some plain old raiders to take on your regular forces these are your fellows for the job.  HOF78 is a first in the range.

So get along to 15mm.co.uk and check them all out.

GBS