Incoming Transmission.....Rebel Minis New Greens

Mike at Rebel Minis has sent over some photos of his new 15mm Sahadden Support greens to share with you:

Rebel Minis 15mm Sahadden Support

Rebel Minis 15mm Earth Force Marine

These greens are currently at the casters and due imminently. I should have some photos of the painted miniatures plus the Sahadden and Earth Force Gun Teams ( Tri-pod pulse cannons, gunners and spotters) later in the week. Keep an eye on WWW.REBELMINIS.COM for all these new releases.

Cheers
Mark

New GZG 15mm Tracked MBT - ADAA

More on the new MBT in yesterday's blog update...

From Jon at GZG:

It's intended to be an AA vehicle variant for the Cougar family, with twin hypervelocity cannons - hence the ZSU-57 influence as you spotted! ;-)

So, I played with the guns and took the following photo....

V15-05C Skysweeper" Area-Defence Anti-Aircraft £7.50

Cheers
Mark

GZG June Teasers - New 15mm Tracked Main Battle Tank

A new 15mm MBT will emerge from the
GROUND ZERO GAMES
tankwerks this summer!

No further intel at the moment,
other than it's based upon the V15-01A Cougar MBT Chassis.

A very tasty bit of kit to add to anyone's 15mm Sci Fi tank park.

Keep an eye on the Ground Zero Games website

for further product and release details.

Click on the picture for an insanely larger version

I'm not normally a fan of tracked Sci Fi MBTs. I'm a GRAV man. But this new tracked MBT from GZG....when you have it sitting in front of you, even just straight from the packet and unpainted, is nothing less than the 'dogs bollocks'.

Cheers
Mark

Cardboard City

If you haven't seen this story in the tech news, it's worth following up as it may provide some inspiration for creating your own Modern, Near Future or Sci Fi urban tabletop terrain.

Florian Jentsch and his research team at the University of Central Florida, were provided with an $87,000 grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, to create a 1/35th-scale Iraqi city for testing unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).

The MOUT 'facility' measures 26 feet by 30 feet, with most buildings about a foot high. It represents a 14-acre section of city divided into four areas: one with high-rise buildings, another with a market, a third representing a residential area, and a city perimeter with palm groves and open desert.

Jentsch reported that " The initial setup took about six months and cost about $5,000 for cameras, transmitters, toy soldiers, miniature ferns and pipe cleaners to be transformed into palm trees. Buildings were made from cat food boxes".

Yes, cat food boxes!.........

Hang on a minute, our kittens get through a box and a half of food pouches every week. These cat-food boxes would make pretty reasonable apartment buildings/shops etc and are already constructed, sturdy, etc. So, they just need a little detailing and spray painting to become an 'instant' modern/near future 3rd World or Sci Fi colonial city..........

Find out more by following these links:

TSJONLINE.COM

UCF Newsroom

DEFENSETECH.ORG

Cheers
Mark

GZG June Teasers - New 15mm Building Fittings

You will remember, back in March, GZG released their V15-BLD RANGE of Sci Fi Building Fittings at SALUTE. Jon will shortly be expanding the range with packs that include a mesh hatch (ventilation shaft etc), mesh grill panel (not illustrated), and assorted wall fittings (hydraulic or electrical locks/junction boxes).

"Fight for Ventilation Shaft 47"
New GZG 15mm Sci Fi Building Fittings

I chose to illustrate the new Sci Fi fittings as space corridor furniture, simply because they are great for making 'instant', cost effective corridors.

The mesh hatch and mesh grill panels would also look good decorating space corridor floor sections, whilst the hydraulic or electrical locks/junction boxes could be used on industrial buildings, tanks and silos.

More details from WWW.GZG.COM soon.

Cheers
Mark

Life Work The Universe......The Generals Tent

Given the mixed weather this week it comes as little surprise that it's Wimbledon and lawn tennis season already.

June in Kinkydeenshire

Not really my game, but no warm blooded man should ever pass up the opportunity........and far prettier to watch than rugby. Whilst my mind lingers on beautiful Russian figures.....at the end of last month I ordered both the Flames of War WW2 Engineer-Sappers and Engineer-Sapper Flamethrower sets from Maelstrom Games. Ostensibly for and Berlin '45 Gotterdammerung and Weird World War Two games. You may remember that I discussed the potential for using them as Sci Fi Retro-Neo Soviet troops in a previous post.

Flames of War SU803
Soviet Engineer-Sapper Platoon

Well, the miniatures arrived and are bloody brilliant! They are so stonkingly good, I'm going to make them into one of my core Sci Fi armies.

I want to especially highlight FOW's Sapper Engineer Flamethrower Platoon (SU804).

Flames of War SU804
Soviet Engineer-Sapper Flamethrowers

I was instantly smitten by the figures as they spilled out of the pack! Give these guys visors, a comms link on the side of the helmet and they will make perfect classic Traveller/Mercenary mid-tech Infantry with laser carbines, straight out of the original Traveller Book 4: Mercenary book.

The downside is that there are only 16 figures in a pack, with no officer/NCO miniatures, or heavier squad support weapons - so you'd need to purchase the standard Engineer-Sapper platoon pack for these and convert as necessary if you wanted to represent a full leg infantry platoon - However command and support elements can always be provided by APCs, drones and UAVs, especially with Future War Commander, where I will use them as the dismounts for my Hykranian mech infantry forces.

But this project is more than just putting minis on the table. I don't mind admitting that these Engineer-Sappers have given me a huge element of gaming nostalgia for the Traveller Book 4: Mercenary games of yesteryear that I want to capture again.

Cheers
Mark

PREVIEW: GZG 15mm RAVAGERS!

Thanks to Jon at GZG I'm now the proud owner of his new 15mm 'Ravager' miniatures.

The 'Ravagers' come in two different sets, each pack containing 2 each of 4 different sculpts. The miniatures are lovely sculpts in the flesh (believe me, better than they appear in the photos), approximately 16mm to 16.5mm from sole to eye level. To my mind certainly some of the best 'civilian' figures from GZG to date.

As you can see from the photos below, they can be used as the denizens of a thousand starports; criminal elements, gangers, tramp starship crew, space pirates, heroes, sidekicks and villains. They are really versatile miniatures and can even be utilised as modern day survivalists or Zombie Hunters.

Detail? Well, look for yourself. I think it's comparable with any 28mm from Hasslefree or Heresy Miniatures! Click on the photos for a larger image...

GZG 15mm Ravagers

Figure A: Bald head (or headscarf/skullcap) with a scar or bionic implant on the right side of his forehead. The detail of the folds in the back of his coat is well done. He will make a perfect space pirate captain or petty crime lord.

Figure B: Bald head again, but this time with a small tuft of hair on his forehead in ska-punk fashion. There's a handle of a knife or cosh tucked into his right boot.

Figure C: A very curvy female character dressed in a cropped top. There's even goggles on her forehead. She would make a welcome addition to any ship's crew, or become a great survivalist, adventurer or Zombie hunter figure in the mould of the Resident Evil babes. A quick conversion giving her a chainsaw would turn the miniature into a fair representation of Hasslefree's Ashlee.

Figure D: Better in 3D than the photo may suggest, this guy has dreadlocks and a goatee and is oozing character! He actually makes a good Samuel L Jackson lookalike "When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherf**ker on the starship!"

More GZG 15mm Ravagers

Figure A: Very feminine figure with attitude and a shotgun!

Figure B: Shoulder length hair wearing a long coat which again has excellent folds that will lift the miniature out of the ordinary once painted and will repay careful wash/shading. Makes a good character figure.

Figure C: Wearing a skull cap with a more asian, african or face. Armed with an assault rifle.

Figure D: Once again a great character figure for RPG's and individual skirmish gaming.


How do the Ravagers stack up against other miniatures? Fine, and they compliment each other well too. Here you see them next to a Rebel Mini's Earth Force Marine and a GZG UNSC Hard Suit Marine.

GZG 15mm Ravager vs Khurasan Miniatures Garn Warrior

Can't wait to paint the Ravagers and get them on the table, but even with just an ink wash they look incredible and detailed enough to game with! At long last I feel that there are figures which surpass Citadel Miniatures classic Traveller Set1: Adventurers and Set 4: Citizens. These GZG minis have lifted me from the doldrums and make me want to play Traveller again. If only they had been available 25 years ago!

UPDATED....30th June........actual pack contents:

GZG SG15-X06: £2.50

SG15-X07: £2.50

Cheers
Mark

15mm GARN: Close Up and Personal

One of the most anticipated releases of the year, Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi Garn Warriors will not fail to disappoint. I suspect these new miniatures will become THE alien scumbags of choice amongst the 15mm Sci Fi gaming community.

15mm Khurasan Miniatures
Garn Warriors

Front and rear views of the Garn. Note that these miniatures do not have their weapons attached yet. All figures are sculpted as firing from the hip. The weapons come on a separate sprue and have a small spigot which fits into the hole you can see on the central figure. Take notice that the magazine is already moulded grasped in the right claw.

15mm Garn: L-R: Heavy Weapons trooper and 2 Warriors

The Heavy Weapons trooper comes with a sprue of different weapon 'inserts' which fit beneath the bar you see on the left-hand Garn in the photo above. You can cut off this spigot and paint it as a sword or similar close combat weapon.

15mm Khurasan Miniatures Garn Warriors
Comparisons with other manufacturer's human miniatures

This photo illustrates how solid and powerfully built Garn warriors are compared to humans, yet they do not look 'oversized' , or out of scale in any way. Playing around with the unpainted miniatures, I placed two on a base with the Rebel Earth Force Marine and they looked like a cool mixed species 'mercenary' unit.

The detail on the figures speaks for itself. I particularly like the prominent 'brow' feature above the eyes as it adds both 'menace' and character to the individual Garn models. These are minis you can easily develop empathy for and will want to command on the tabletop as your primary 15mm Sci Fi force - perfect for the upcoming AMBUSH ALLEY Sci Fi variant.

Remember to click on the photos for larger images!

Cheers
Mark

Khurasan Miniatures: 15mm GARN

First pic of Khurasan Miniatures new 15mm Garn courtesy of Jon:

15mm Garn (L-R: Warrior, Hvy Wpns, Commander, Warrior, Warrior)

Warrior pack contains three warriors, three assault cannon inserts, one plasma gun insert, and one flamethrower insert.

Command/HvyWpn pack contains a commander and a heavy weapon warrior, with a sprue of three inserts for the heavy weapon: laser cannon, missile launcher, plasma cannon.

I'll add my own close-up detailed pics of the castings and some comparison pics against other Sci Fi miniatures later this evening.

Cheers
Mark

GZG: 15mm Gun Mules and Ravagers!

Jon has kindly sent me some teaser pics of his new 15mm minis, a Gun Mule with NAC crew plus 'Ravagers' - who look like they will make great gangers, survivalists, mercs, crew or bad poke in general.

GZG 15mm Gun Mule with NAC Crew

GZG 15mm Gun Mule with NAC Crew: Rear

Great looking model. It would be nice to have a 'Serenity' version with Zoe driving, Mal on the gun and Jayne on the running board - one hand holding on, the other firing his assault rifle. River could be crouching on the other running board - just looking impishly enigmatic.

GZG 15mm 'Ravagers'

More GZG 15mm 'Ravagers'

Some nice looking minis here! Got to get me a pack or two of these.

No further details are currently available. Check WWW.GZG.COM for more information.

Cheers
Mark

GZG: New Stuff, Birthdays and Special Deals!

Received from Jon at GZG......

First a quick heads-up to let you all know that there is more NEW STUFF coming very shortly (some of it in the next couple of days) - this will be our first group of new releases for a couple of months, since the huge new batch we did immediately before Salute and Triples - over that time we've been catching up with some other stuff that needed dealing with, and now we're getting back on track with plenty of new releases to come. Watch my news posts on the website at <www.gzg.com> to see them as soon as they are ready.....

The other thing is that it is SUMMER DEAL TIME again! Now, in a couple of weeks (10th July, to be exact) it is my Birthday.... normally I wouldn't mention this, but this year is my 50th (it's also almost 25 years since I first started GZG - so I've now been doing this for pretty much half my life!), so I felt it needed something special to celebrate the milestone!

So, from Wednesday 24th June until my Birthday on 10th July, ALL orders placed with us will get FREE EXTRA MINIS added to the order - even small orders will get a little extra something thrown in, and orders over £50.00 will get a whole goodie bag of free stuff - the more you order, the more freebies you'll get. The free stuff will be to OUR choice, but we'll make sure it is relevant to whatever you have ordered - and you might even get some limited-production bits and as-yet-unreleased items in there!

In addition to the freebie stuff offer, we're doing one more thing - ALL orders placed during the offer period (24th June - 10th July) will get the chance to WIN a special gift - the winner's choice of either a Full Thrust Megafleet box (worth £50) or a 15mm Battle Force deal (worth £60)! The winner will be drawn at random on July 11th, and notified by email so they can choose their prize (yes, you can choose the nation/force that you want as well as choosing between FT ships and 15mm forces!). The prize will of course include FREE shipping to anywhere in the world.

One final note, both myself and Paul, my staff member, are taking just a week of holiday in July - so GZG will be CLOSED for one week from the 11th to the 19th July - we will still be accepting orders online, but nothing will be processed and shipped in that week. As soon as we re-open on the 20th we will get any backlog cleared as fast as possible. Please note that this means that any orders placed right at the close of the Summer Deal offer above will NOT go out until we're back, so please get your orders to us before that if you can!

Thanks for reading, and for all your support - if you keep buying the stuff, we'll keep bringing it out!

Thanks for the announcement Jon!

Cheers
Mark

Film Review - INTIMATE ENEMIES (France 2007)

David, mon beau-père, popped round earlier in the week and dropped off a couple of DVD's for me to watch whilst I'm off work:

IN BRUGES; starring Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, sort of Cohen Brothers meets Guy Ritchie gangster themed black comedy.

Kokoda-39TH BATTALION; starring Jack Finsterer, tells the tale of Australian troops fighting the Japanese in terrible conditions on the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, 1942. It's essentially a lost patrol movie focussing on 'mateship'. Worth watching in tandem with THE THIN RED LINE (1998).

INTIMATE ENEMIES; Benoit Magimel and Albert Dupontel lead in this gritty French language war movie set in French-occupied Algeria in 1959 at the height of the insurgency.

One of my favourite popcorn war movies of all time is LOST COMMAND (1966), starring Anthony Quinn as a tough French Paratroop C.O.. The action takes place mostly during the Algerian War of Independence (Guerre d'Algérie), 1954-1962. As a result I've always had a fondness for things French Military, particularly set in that post-war period of 'gallouise' French colonial history.


No surprises then that I was keen to watch INTIMATE ENEMIES, and I have to say the film didn't fail to deliver. It's brilliant. Gritty and often harrowing to watch, this is France's very own 9TH COMPANY. The film doesn't pull any punches about insurgency warfare and obviously one can draw comparisons with modern operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, (if you really feel you have to).



But the film also has a timeless quality that could see the action being played out within a TRAVELLER or similar Sci Fi setting. I think the French language, uniforms and equipment plus most of all, the alien nature of the Algerian mountains helps dislocate the viewer enough to be able to picture this as another godforsaken police action, on a godforsaken ball of mud at the arse end of the galaxy.

Eureka Miniatures 15mm French Foreign Legion
See more details here: Eurekla Miniatures

At the very least, INTIMATE ENEMIES will give you more fodder for AMBUSH ALLEY and AMBUSH ALLEY: Force on Force plus an excellent excuse to buy Eureka Miniatures 15mm Legionnaires. The figures in 'cowboy' hats just call out to be used as 'Mercs' regardless of whether it's 1960's Congo or 2160's Epsilon Indi.

Cheers
Mark

PREVIEW: Khurasan Miniatures 15mm GARN

I'm sure you are itching to know about Khurasan Miniatures upcoming Sci Fi release - 15mm GARN.

The Garn are a race of bipedal reptilian warriors. To quote the background on the Khurasan website "Hulking aliens, evolved from a species similar to the great predatory dinosaurs of Earth's distant past, Garn Warriors are a dour and aggressive race.....The Garn are a salute to the ferocious reptilian alien warriors of many Sci-Fi stories, and are suitable for any sci-fi or pulp setting".

Jon has sent me 3 different warrior castings, a Heavy Weapons trooper and a Garn Commander.

The Garn are approximately 18mm tall and almost perfect replicas of their 28mm brethen which can be seen here (28mm Garn). The detail on the miniatures, especially of the scaling is, believe me, little short of amazing. All are in advancing poses, one of the troopers with his jaw wide open is simply terrific!

The warriors and heavy weapons Garn come with separate weapons provided on a sprue. The warriors have short stubby weapons, which fit easily into the spaces provided on the figures, allowing them to be depicted 'firing from the hip'. Whilst the heavy weapons trooper has a sprue with seemingly three different weapon 'insert' choices (assault cannon, plasmathrower, flamethrower).

You can read about the Garn, their weapons and combat gear in detail on the Khurasan Miniatures website (Click here).

These aren't just Sci Fi lizards with guns. The Garn wear belts with utility pouches and carry Force Field Projector/Artificial Environment Generator packs on their backs. They are every bit a fully militarised, sentient alien species who can stand toe to toe against mankind.

If you are already wondering what armour to use with the Garn, take a look at GZG's range of Kra'Vak AFV's; SG15-31A/SG15-32A/SG15-33A and possibly SG15-34A also.

No details of pack composition or prices yet. Comparison photos of Garn with popular figs from other manufacturers will be posted in due course.

Cheers
Mark

Khurasan Miniatures: 15mm Zombies

Another great release from Khurasan Miniatures. This time from the Mystri Island range.....

ZOMBIES!!!

MYST-201 Set of 7 Zombies for $4.99

When I first saw this picture, I thought they were 28mm! You have to agree that both the sculpting and animation is amazing! What I really think is clever though, is depicting the clothing as having rotted away to rags. Being so non-descript, the Zombies will fit any time-period or genre, inclusing Modern and Sci Fi.

You can find them here: Khurasan Miniatures

Cheers
Mark