Sunday, 29 August 2010

In the Pipe..... Khurasan 15mm Sci Fi Ursids

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Fearless and powerful warriors from the rugged timber studded terrain of Ursus, the Ursids are mercenaries with a bad habit! Cigars!








The Ursids stand 18mm to the eye. For more background on these 15mm Sci Fi critters, read Jon's entry on TMP:


Fun looking miniatures, the Ursids will also be useful in post apocalypse, mutant and modern pulp beer & pretzel 'Bears Strike Back' style games. Available from Khurasan Miniatures soon!


Cheers
Mark
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In the Pipe..... Khurasan supports The Right to Arm Bears

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"AK-47 Fusion Blaster. The very best there is. 
When you absolutely, positively got to eat ALL

 
15mm Sci Fi Ursids 
Coming Soon from  
Khurasan Miniatures


Cheers
Mark
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INCOMING....... Got Ourselves a Convoy! 15mm Cardstock Trucks from Mel Ebbles

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Master cardstock craftsman Mel Ebbles has released a multi-scale cardstock download and print futuristic CONVOY set that allows you to create 4 different truck bodies (canvassed and open flat beds and water and fuel tankers; available grey, helo drab, white and tan) based on a single design.

 Ebbles Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi
Cardstock Convoy Set: $6.00

The following photo is from the Ebble Miniatures forum showing 15mm Rebel Minis Earth Marines with a beta version of the truck......

Comparison 28mm & 15mm versions of the Convoy set
(from Ebbles Mniatures forum)

Check out the CONVOY page on the webstore for more details including further photos:


Follow the development of the Convoy set at the Ebbles Miniatures forum here:


 Mel's been well and truly bitten by the 15mm bug and is designing a series of armoured vehicles to compliment the CONVOY set.






This range of AFVs is currently known as PATROL. Catch up on the development of the range at the Ebbles Miniatures Workbench here:

 
I think Mel's dome a great job here in creating a range of affordable futuristic and Sci Fi vehicles for the 15mm gamer.

Cheers
Mark
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Saturday, 28 August 2010

INCOMING...... New Jellina and Lily 6 15mm characters from Khurasan

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A year ago I said to Jon, "Look mate, I would like to see your 28mm Angelina Jolie'esque Genocidal Overlord figure in 15mm as you simply can't have enough leather clad heroines".

Back in March of this year, whilst snow and floods lay siege at our door and my lungs looked like they were going to give their last puff, Jon the Punxsutawney Phil of 15mm Sci Fi, brought an early end to this "winter"" when he emailed me with the greens of this superb new 15mm Jellina Jo-eli I character figure.

The sculpting is simply breathtaking in it's understated simplicity and more in keeping with a 75mm miniature than one in 15mm. I think Jellina will make a great starship commander in the mould of Helena Cain, rogue Peacekeeper a la Aeryn Sun or Soviet WWW2 heroine.

Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi: Jellina Jo-eli I
TTC-1901: Villains of the Sepulvedan Control Forces
(Jellina and Lily6) Jellina pictured above.

Accompanying Angelina, sorry, Jellina, is female super assassin for hire Lily6, a dynamic and energetic miniature that easily equals similar Sci Fi martial arts figures in the outstanding 28mm Infinity range.

Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi: Lily6
TTC-1901: Villains of the Sepulvedan Control Forces
(Jellina and Lily6) $3.99 the pair.
painted by Jen Haley

What I like about Lily6, is that she also carries small arms which makes her a very versatile gaming miniature, especially for old goats like me who prefer figures of the wysiwyg school.

A real treat coming home to find these miniatures available from Khurasan. Look out for further characters in the pipeline.

TTC-1901 Villains of the Sepulvedan Control Forces
(Jellina and Lily6) 
just $3.99 from:

Cheers
Mark
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Sci Fi Reading: The Cole Protocol

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If you want a cracking old school Sci Fi read with lots of wargames potential, pick up a copy of Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Bucknell.

The sixth novel set in the Halo universe,  I couldn't put this book down once I began reading and finished the 358 pages in a single day. Don't worry if you are not a fan of Halo, or have not read any other books in the series, it stands alone in it's own right as a worthy piece of Science Fiction writing.

There are asteroid colonies, space battles, stealth ships, insurrectionsists, independants, smugglers, special forces, orbital drop troopers, aliens by the bucket load and of course the ubiquitous Halo Spartans. Kimball Kinneson and the Galactic Patrol would have been right at home among these pages and could have been transplanted into the story without missing a beat.

 Without giving too much away, the Cole Protocol is a UNSC directive to ensure that navigation data leading to Earth and the Inner Colonies does not fall into the hands of the alien Covenant forces.

On the rim of the Outer Colonies, in an independant colony hiding in the trail of a gas giant, one man has a nav. chip that contains data that could lead the aliens to earth. The smugglers want it, the Independants want it, the aliens want it. Lieutenat Jacob Keyes, a platoon of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) and the stealth frigate, UNSC Midsummer Night find themselves in an unequal battle to recover the data and forestall an alien invasion.

For an in depth summary of the novel including plot spoilers visit Halopedia (click here). If you are a Halo fan, note that some Halo diehards see The Cole Protocol as playing a bit loose with the canon, but as Bungie have been doing that for years anyway.......

Sad I know, but rather than stuff the suitcase with novels I also took the latest beta version of Ambush Alley Games' upcoming Tomorrow's War rules with me on hols. I wanted to thoroughly familiarise myself with the systems whilst I was relaxed, with no other pressures or distractions and with plenty of time to spare.

As a consequence, as I read The Cole Protocol I easily found myself visualising it more as part of the Tom.War 'verse. Not only that, but I visualised the action in the book, and there's plenty of it, as Tom.War tabletop games with 15mm figures. This was helped along not a little by the not quite Spartan figure on the book cover reminding me of some new Federal Army figures heading our way in September from Khurasan Miniatures.

So, I drafted up several scenarios based on episodes from the book, mostly written for Tom.War with the new Federal Army minis in mind (as ODST'ish proxies) and will share these with you over the coming week.

Cheers
Mark

Friday, 27 August 2010

Life, Work, The Universe...... East of Belgrade

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Merhaba!

We've just returned from two weeks on vacation in southern Turkey. Flew into Glasgow at 1.45am on Friday morning and made it onto the drive outside our house at 4.30am, exactly 13 hours after we left the hotel.

There had been no plans for a holiday this year. My failing health coupled with not knowing from week to week whether I was going to have a job by the autumn had put a kybosh on any thoughts of getting away.

However, 4 weeks ago, I had great news from the Consultant at ARI Chest Clinic. He put me on a new medication regime - three new drugs which I have to take every day, promising that I would regain 30% of my lung capacity within 3 months and 80% within a year. He also recommended spending time in a hot, dry climate to excellerate the process.

So, we thought sod work!  What price health!

Turkey was wonderful and my life has subsequently turned around in a matter of weeks. The dry heat, reaching temperatures of 52 degrees, plus the medication, left me able to breathe, exercise and begin to enjoy life again, rather than every day and night being a struggle. My Peak Flow Rate increased 300 points by the end of the first week and I swam every day just because I could. It gave me a great opportunity to relax in an unpressured environment, centre myself and begin looking ahead again.

Whilst relaxing at the poolside I managed to read Halo: The Cole Protocol  and Stephen King's The Shining. Both recommended. I also took along Ambush Alley's beta Tomorrow's War rules, plus the latest edition of Barking Irons and a new Sci Fi skirmish game system called USEME from 15mm.co.uk.

Our new Turkish correspondent, Dropship stowaway Mustapha Cuppa says "Damn the Dardenelles! This is a good read" as he enjoys Barking Irons No.2 somewhere east of Belgrade and south of Ankara - right.

What made Turkey for me, was the number of really genuine and friendly Turkish people we met. And it was these people - Iahim at the Hamman, Murat the barber, Lizzie, Ossie, Mossie and Mumie at the poolside bar who made the holiday, rather than the countryside, food, hotel or resort facilities.

The one sour note, I laugh at now, was the over officious cloakroom attendant at Dalaman airport who told me off for using too much soap and then again for using too much hot air when drying my hands.

Well, he had me on that one! As you know, I do have a propensity for hot air! LOL!

Şerefe
Mark
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Sunday, 15 August 2010

Reservoir Draccs

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The first up close and personal photos of 15mm.co.uk's new HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons pack:

 New 15mm Sci Fi from 15mm.co.uk
HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons

When not stompin' Humans...
Great as Mercs

Draccian Comparison

The HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons pack contains ten miniatures in a mix of three poses armed with support weapons. You can also buy the figures individually for 40p each (click here). See my previous post on Dropship Horizon for more detail (click here).




Cheers
Mark
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Saturday, 14 August 2010

INCOMING...... New 15mm Draccians from 15mm.co.uk

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Perfect as HALO Covenant proxies HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons are the latest release from Alex and Gavin at 15mm.co.uk. The Draccians are heavily armed feral looking bipedal reptilians. Whilst not strictly canon, the Draccian miniatures exude the power and menace of the Master Chief's adversaries in HALO.


15mm.co.uk 15mm Sci Fi
HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons; 10 for £3.50
plastic bases pictured are code LBA5


Larger and more powerful in stature than Khurasan's Garn, comparisons can only be drawn on a superficial level. The Draccians will compliment the Garn as allies or a subject race, but are clearly different and very much their own beasts.

The models are 19-20mm tall, whilst not as finely sculpted as Jon's Garn, they nevertheless have plenty of detail, especially that thick scaly Crocodilian hide. Dragonesque in appearance, the Draccs have short stubby tails and heads with small flat triangular ears. Massive claws on their feet and bristling with teeth makes them formidable in appearance. And oh yes, there's plenty of attitude!


The HOF62 Draccian Heavy Weapons pack contains ten miniatures in a mix of three poses armed with support weapons. You can also buy the figures individually for 40p each (click here). Nice to see Alex and Gavin are providing this option for more and more of their miniatures.


Overall, the Draccians are really nice and useful figures with some neat touches of detail. I'll certainly be buying more of these as HALO proxies, especially the Dracc with the armoured forehead and leg armour (centre fig. in pic above).

I'd like to see more Draccs coming from 15mm.co.uk and have suggested a HALO'esque  'assault team' with HALO style twin bladed sword, spikey club grenades and blaster pistols.


Find a close up photo review of the miniatures in my next post.


Cheers
Mark
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Thursday, 12 August 2010

In the Pipe..... Micropanzer.com 28mm Light Assault Warbot (15mm Proxy)

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Prepare to be blown away!

Project Slipstream 28mm Sci Fi
Light Assault Walker


Micropanzer.com are offering this 28mm walker that makes a beast of a 15mm walker for just $20. Normal RRP $30. Offer ends 20th August 2010.

Cheers
Mark
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Monday, 9 August 2010

Octopod Diaries

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Played a quick game with my recent Octopod purchases last night. Stuck them onto FOW bases with Blu-tack and had them rampaging, well shambling, Zombie style through my GZG shanty town. Used Oober Gooba's Undead States of America which, worked!


Oooooooctopoddddd! from 15mm.co.uk
catalogue photo

Thanks to Master Chef for that tip! Got me thinking about further games in the same genre - a salvage team boarding a seemingly derelict alien colony ship.......something moves in the darkness, slowly moving shadows...they shine the light....wall to wall shambling Oood-like Octopods...... Heathers' out of town on business for a couple of nights, so that's tomorrow's game.

Cheers
Mark
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15mm Dracci Warriors

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Browsing the 15mm.co.uk website I came across this pack of mixed Dracci warrior castings:-


6 Warriors and an impressive Dracci Lord for £3.50. I've added them to my wishlist as alien tribal warriors from the wastes of Mud Eisley or red canyons of Mars.

Cheers
Mark
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A Barkingly Good Read..... Barking Irons No.2

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In need of a good wargaming read whilst on holiday, or even just to while away the daily commute to work? Then Barking Irons No.2 should be right up your street. Got to say that I am really enjoying this mag despite the fact that I'm not actually interested in any way in the likes of Flintloque, yet it still gets read cover to cover. 

I think this is because the writing and editorial style doesn't set out to be anything other than an informative and good read. And, besides as a 15mm Sci Fi gamer into ASQL2.0 you have to get it just for the Hollywood Marines Army Template!

At 32 pages Barking Irons costs £3.00 (plus £1 P&P UK, £2.50 rest of world) and is produced on comic weight paper in American quarto format.

Issue No.2 will be available for general release on 16th August. Inside you will find:
 
A DarkeStorme Rises!
An in depth look at the two scale high fantasy game system DarkeStorme.
This article includes information on the game and its background as well as the theory behind the game.
By G. Syme

Is that you Mr Obidiah?
Modelling Master Class - Personalities of Valon. An article about the many uses of the rogue Obidiah Hogswill. Miniature conversions for use with Flintloque.
By T. Harwood

War in an Age of Might and Steel
Massed Battle in 15mm scale fantasy has never been so fast and so much fun! We look at the Age of Might and Steel rules system by the talented Mr Hazuka.
By A.Scott with T.Thurlow

The Shattered Prydian Precinct
Once an entity unifying the free worlds of mankind the Prydian Precinct has been rent asunder by a civil war that sees the marcher barons fighting over an empty throne.
Our first setting article for the science fiction Ion Age of Firefight 2.0. By B.Dyer

Dirty Arf Undred
Flintloque scenario for two players (or solo play) along with regimental information for the infamous 50th Foote of Albion.
Will Colonel Sterf Yong and his lads hold out in this ‘king of the hill’ adventure?  By B.Dyer.

Tray Served Snack
Part two of the Happy Burger arc for Firefight 2.0 the 28mm science fiction system set in the Ion Age.
Emeritas Hughes gets more than he bargained for in this exciting mission. By G. Syme.

The Green Knight
A DarkeStorme scenario for two players.
Deep in the darkling forest the Dwarves of Karl Ultranain encounter a mysterious knight who cannot be killed but is intent on slaughter.
By G.Syme.

The Smell of Napalm in the Morning
The new Hollywood Marines fun army template for the Alien Squad Leader (ASQL) 15mm science fiction system.
By A. Self.

Heroic Bands
The theory and tactics for the effective use of Heroic Bands in the Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) 15mm Fantasy system.
By S. Hazuka.

Seven Principles of Flintloque
Part two of the seven principles is concerned with ‘reading the book’ and tells you how to get the most out of your Flintloque game books.
By M. White with G.Syme.

Tactics for the Undead
Shuffle and Moan! Get to the ‘meat’ for using the Undead in the Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) 15mm Fantasy system.
By S. Hazuka.
Plus the Lead Shotte Columns.
Order direct from Alternative Armies or 15mm.co.uk.
Cheers
Mark
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Thursday, 5 August 2010

No Plan Survives First Contact.... Happy Birthday Critical Mass Games

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Ha Ha! So much for a plan! Jon at Khurasan has let me know that his new infantry will be delayed due to a casting delay outwith his control.....  so we "improvise,  adapt..." you get the picture. And what better way to 'overcome' than celebrate Critical Mass Games 1st Brithday, where all buildings, vehicles and accessories are 15% OFF RRP between 6th August and 31st August 2010!


And the best thing? All the discounts are up on the store right now and will remain there till the end of August!

Congratulations Craig and Dale! A great first year! Looking forward to the second, third, fourth!

Cheers
Mark
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Life, Work, The Universe...... Up The Workers!

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Things at work have just been a bit........



As William ICE CUBE Wallace might say

Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.
I got to say it was a good day 

LOL!
Mark
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Wednesday, 4 August 2010

Blue Moon Rising

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Are they, aren't they, are they.......Yes, finally, Blue Moon Manufacturing have bombarded the 15mm Sci Fi market with a ToT release of  more than a dozen human, alien and mech 'squad' packs, together with no less than 24 vehicles and walkers.

I have to say first off there's some really nice looking alien bad asses that will find their way onto my tabletop such as the 15ALN-113 Zennox.


The majority of the figure packs have a very 'retro' or 'pulp' Sci Fi feel to them. If you are a fan of AE Van Vogt, EE Doc Smith's Galactic Patrol, or any humanoid aliens on Star Trek with weird greeblies sticking out their heads - you are in for a treat! Some will even double as W40K proxies, such as Orions, who could make decent alternative 15mm Space Marine chapters and the Terran Federation as retro Space Elves.

I do welcome the new alien races, giving gamers plenty of choice, especially  those which aren't greeblied up humanoids. Overall there's little that personally speaking makes me go 'wow' about the range. This Sci Fi grognard see's just one more collection of 'squad' packs with guys waving weapons in the air. I'm sure sales, bouyed up by a renewed interest in 15mm Sci Fi from newbies to the genre attracted by the ranges that have come online in the past year will say otherwise.


Cheers
Mark
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INCOMING...... New 15mm Turrets from Old Crow

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Not heard a lot from Old Crow so far this year, so I'm delighted to find new 15mm Sci Fi releases.

First up, two new turrets. Both turrets will fit the Gladius, Slingshot, Claymore, Lancer, Turret Base, and Field Mount. The Multi-Missile Turret is £2.00 and the Support (Gatling) Turret is £1.50.


Next, 15mm Sci Fi cargo. You can't get enough cargo to pretty up a game table and use for cover. In this instance you get a pack of 4 stacks of Canisters for £2.00 and 2 stacks of Crates also for £2.00.


Finally, new post and packaging rates are in effect. So make sure you read the How to Order page!

Cheers
Mark
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Tuesday, 3 August 2010

15mm Autumn Offensive

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I'm massing my strength for a major 15mm Sci Fi offensive this autumn. With the price of tin climbing and about to go through the roof, VAT rises in the New Year, I think it's wise now to adopt a spend to save approach.

August will see some new figures from Khurasan (still secret squirrel), just in time for Tomorrows War from Ambush Alley Games. I have credit card poised and ready for the word from Jon. No messing around, 60+ figs to start, with augments (remotes and drones) plus Battlesuits from my collection, that's a Tom.War company on the table.

15mm.co.uk have new aliens on the block and a landing troop of these will be creating havoc amongst human settlements everywhere along the Outer Rim.

September, I'm picking up where I left off with GZG - four 'Fan Vans' and a force of Mr T's recently released hover armour. I'm also keeping a watching brief for the promised 'all new' UNSC.

October, aah October! Critical Mass Games' heavily armed Light Recon, plus Agaamid tanks - all previewed on Dropship Horizon back in the Spring. I'm going to go a bit mad with these and use them as ODST proxies, with big guns for squashing alien filth!

Cheers
Mark