Rebel Minis Spring Sale - Final 24 Hours

by Chris

Just a quick reminder that Rebel Minis' annual Spring Sale will conclude tomorrow.

Mad Mecha Guy's Single-Storey Shop (with Green Roof)

By Chris

The Future Urban Development Projct is well underway. Here is the first of my Mad Mecha Guy Shops with Green Roofs:

I didn't use too many fancy tricks or techniques on this. The shop and roof were both sprayed with white primer and painted with Model Master Camouflage Gray. Then I picked out the door and window frames with P3 Meridus Blue, painted the interior floor with Vallejo Heavy Bluegray, and the roof with Vallejo Heavy Brown. Then I flocked the roof with Woodland Scenics turf and sealed it with white glue.

My First Order from Mad Mecha Guy

By Chris

I would like to share the best-kept secret in 15mm terrain - Mad Mecha Guy. Here is what $55 worth of terrain looks like on a 2' x 2' table:

Not a bad way to fill a table! Everything is thoughtfully designed (he simply refuses to waste material when cutting his sheets!) and features nice detailing. The cuts are nice and clean - most pieces just needed a few seconds with a sanding sponge before they were ready to glue. My initial order from him was for these five packs:

• Hardened Mini Mecha Shelters
• Containers (Mixed Pack)
• 1-storey Shops with Green Roofs
• 2-Storey Shops
• Garages with Flat Roofs

Here's a quick look at each pack...

Ghost of Hefei Kickstarter Moving into the Home Stretch.

Hey all,

Eli here, your friendly neighborhood Dropship co-pilot here.

Just a quick shout out to the 15mm miniatures community that The Department: Ghosts of Hefei is rounding the bend to it's final days. The project is going strong but is not quite there. I invite anyone who is a fan of 15mm miniatures (and I know you are) and/or innovative and fun game systems to join me in backing Joe's vision.

The Department was a great game and Ghosts of Hefei will expand on that fun by adding a new element to his universe and new ways to play street-level miniatures games. Hacking, robots, future gangs! What's not to like?

Spring Sale from Rebel Minis

Rebel Minis has announced their annual Spring Sale. From the wonderfully-titled newsletter: 

Interview with Keith Armstrong of Armies Army - The Cost of a Successful Kickstater

By Harold

Today we have an interview with Keith Armstrong of Armies Army about his recent successful kickstater (Armies Army Kickstater) which had 75 backers and £3,250 pledged of £1,750 goal, hitting all of it's stretch goals.

To see more of Armies Army please visit his blog at:

http://armiesarmy.blogspot.co.uk/

Note: This interview was conducted over Gmail chat, so please forgive any typos!

Harold

Was the Kickstarter successful for you?

Keith Armstrong

Erm.....not financially
As a product yes
And for lessons learnt ....yes

Harold

Would you do it again then?

Keith Armstrong

Hmmmmm
If I have no option financially
Yes – with additional planning
If I had finance then no
However kickstarter did provide a big market. I had a surprising amount of direct traffic

New USE ME Box Set, Brog, Cossacks, and more Tomorrow Black

by Chris

15mm.Co.Uk has released The Ziggurat of Clem IV - the second boxed starter set in the USE ME series.

Just like the first boxed starter (Danger on Outpost 32), this set provides a complete 15mm science fiction game experience in a single package. It includes the USE ME UM001 rulebook, a printed scenario/force roster pack (also available as a PDF download), 2 dice, 27 plastic bases, and 27 Zidhe and Octopod figures from the HOF range.

These starter boxes are perfect ways to introduce more gamers to the 15mm SF fold. Something tells me they will be huge sellers at Salute next weekend.

And speaking of Salute, don't forget that 15mm.Co.Uk is still running their 15% off sale! 

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Rebel Minis continues to expand their PF-sculpted alien forces. The Brog Empire receive two packs - a Command and Heavy Weapon set, and a Mortar Teams pack. 

I'm impressed by how quickly this line has grown. In less than a year, Rebel Minis has released the Manth, Brog, Vott, Shalur, and Pangalactic Legion - five complete ranges of highly-detailed space opera forces. And they're a good balance to me - more than rubber-suit humans or anthropomorphic animals, but still humanoid enough to work with any 15mm rules.

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Khurasan Miniatures has added the Cossack Light APC to the Nova Respublik faction.

Designed to be a modernized Soviet BTR-40, it offers the Nova Respublik a low-tech vehicle for command, scout, recon, and transport roles. To support this release, Khurasan adds two more figure packs. One is a nice little recon/observer pack:

And the other is a group of seated riders:

I've been hoping for something like this rider pack for awhile now. Even though the Cossack isn't really my thing, this pack would let me use another open-top transport vehicle (like a Hammer's Slammers Cargo Car) with the Respublik figures. Very useful stuff there!

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Highlander Studios has added the Murg Imps to the Tomorrow Black range

These disgusting little gems are great for post-apocalyptic and sci-horror settings. I can imagine a few bases of these popping up in shanty towns and dark alleys on urban tables... some kind of nasty pest stowing aboard transport ships, or an unfortunate byproduct of terraforming. Lots of potential in this little range - it's well worth a look.

A closer look at Security Forces Alpha

by Chris

The response to 15mm.Co.Uk's new Security Forces Alpha range has exceeded many expectations. To learn more about what it took to bring these figures from concept to production, here's an interview with lead designer Gavin Syme.

Aliens, Armed Explorers, Xenobiologists, and Hammer's Slammers

by Chris

Rebel Minis has expanded both the Manth and Pangalactic Legion ranges. The Manth are joined by the Command and Heavy Weapons Pack. It includes a Commander, a Communications Specialist, two Automatic Pulse Cannon soldier, a Missile Launcher soldier, and a Galactic Peacekeeper (which is one of new favorite 15mm figures).  

Even if you aren't a Manth player, this pack would make a wonderful narrative-skirmish force. Maybe it's just the excellent paint scheme that Jason Moore gave the Peacekeeper... I see this pack as a senior diplomat/religious leader/chief-of-state with his/her/its personal bodyguard. Grab a handful of other figures from your current collection, some MDF or electrical-box buildings, and you have everything you need to play out a spaceport ambush, an embassy attack, or a mercenary or special forces hit on a high-value alien terrorist leader.

Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter: 15mm Yakuza Fabricant Previewed

By Harold

Hi Everyone,  over at the Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter they previewed the newest miniature, the Yakuza Fabricant:

(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1931671462/ghosts-of-hefei-tabletop-near-future-gang-warfare/posts)

Great looking miniature and I think this will find use in all types of armies and has a lot of potential.  What do you guys think?

The Kickstarter still has 21 days to go and is already at $4,408 out of a $10k goal.  They've added some cool reward levels that include 15mm miniatures and rulebooks at pretty reasonable pledge levels.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1931671462/ghosts-of-hefei-tabletop-near-future-gang-warfare

Anyone else as excited about this game as I am?  I really enjoyed playing The Department and I'm always for gang skirmish games!

Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter Updated - New Greens and already over 1/3rd the way there!

By Harold

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to give a quick update for the Ghosts of Hefei kickstarter (I did an interview with one of the designers here).  They have already passed the 1/3rd mark and have posted up some new 15mm and 28mm greens:

They've also added a "modified" $100 15mm pledge:

From our comment section:

If you just want the 15mm figures, you can swap out the 28mm figures for four additional 15mm sets and two more copies of the book. So for your $100 pledge, you can get six 15mm sets, three copies of the book,a t-shirt, the pdfs and one of every stretch goal. Its enough for your whole gaming group to get into it, if you're a 15mm fan.

You can indicate your figure preferences in the backer survey at the end of the drive.

That's quite a good deal, and one that i'm going for myself.  It's a great way to get a group involved and, if everyone chips in, it's minimal cost for a bunch of stuff!

They've also added a bunch of pledge levels that get you copies of their last game, The Department, as well.

Head over to their kickstater page today and check it out:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1931671462/ghosts-of-hefei-tabletop-near-future-gang-warfare

New HOF-FT Bundle and SFA Single Castings from 15mm.Co.Uk

by Chris

15mm.Co.Uk has released an updated Dropship Horizon Bundle Offer for the HOF Fire Team game system.

Just like the previous offer, this one includes the rulebook and all three of the beautiful HOF-FT tile sets. But where the previous bundle included two free packs from a single faction, the new deal includes opposed forces for your first games - the popular Cultists (pack HOF56) and the freshly-released Security Forces Alpha (pack HOF96). I think Gavin picked some real winners with these packs... the new bundle is a great way to introduce someone not only to HOF-FT, but to the world of 15mm Science Fiction in general. Even someone who is firmly rooted in a different scale (or time period) can be tempted to pick this up as a standalone game.

And speaking Security Forces Alpha... due to popular demand, they are now available as single castings. This will allow you to pick and choose your own fire-teams and squads (perhaps to round out the free infantry pack with your HOF-FT Bundle?), or grab a handful of the casualty figures to use with your Medical Teams, as rescue objectives, or any other scenario goal.  

The single castings are a great service, something that I really appreciate from 15mm.Co.Uk. At least three times now, I've picked up single castings just to get a taste for a faction or try out a paint scheme... only to go back later and grab several full blister packs. It's also a great way to add character figures to other infantry ranges that might be in your collection - in 15mm, a matched uniform is usually just a paint-job away. 

Check back next week for more about Security Forces Alpha, including a variety of sample paint schemes, and an interview with designer Gavin Syme.

GZG Salute Preview - Power Quad Variants

Here is the The POWERQUAD walker/tracked Civilian Mecha - TRANSPORT VERSIONS!

When we previewed the Construction and Engineering versions of the new Mecha just a few days ago, several folks suggested transport versions of the Quad units without the construction equipment - well, I'd like to pretend that these are in direct response to that, but in fact these were already planned as part of the range, I just hadn't got them moulded till now!

So, this phase of our  SALUTE 2013 release previews includes the Cargo Box and Open Loadbed versions of both the "walker" and the "tracked" PowerQuad mecha chassis! Both body types will be available with both mobility systems, though for display purposes I've only  built up one example of each so far.

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Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter: Interview with Joe Dragovich

By Harold

Hi everyone, today we have an interview with Joe Dragovich regarding the "Ghosts of Hefei" kickstarter that went live today (Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1931671462/ghosts-of-hefei-tabletop-near-future-gang-warfare).  I'm a big fan of "The Department" and "Blasters and Bulkheads" so i've been looking forward to seeing their take on futuristic skirmish gang warfare!

Without further stalling on my part, on to the interview!

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Who is the Ghosts of Hefei team?

We’re a small team. I’m leading the project and so wear a few hats in the process. Scott Pyle, father of Goalsystem, is joining us to help hone the rules. Kieran Mathers is returning to provide some awesome fiction for the book. And Dave Powell is going to be our primary illustrator.

Where are you guys located?

We’re a very international bunch. Dave and I live in South Wales, Scott is in Pittsburgh, PA and Kierann is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Review - Darkest Star Minis Spec-Sec Drive Armors

By Eli

Darby over at Darkest Star Games sent over some samples of his new Spec-Sec line of minis. Many of you may already be familiar with the Colony 15 stuff that has been shown here but the Spec-Sec is a range of minis along an entirely different path.

Darkest Star's Spec-Sec range is modeled after the cyberpunk style Japanese animation and comics style that you find in titles such as Ghost in The Shell, Appleseed, Bubblegum Crisis, and many others where smaller robots and mecha vehicles work along with police against hi-tech criminals, terrorists, and other hostiles.

While Darby sent over everything that's been released for Spec-Sec, I thought I'd start by reviewing the Drive Armors which are my favorite parts of the range. The Drive Armors are based after the multi-legged, "spider walkers" from Ghost in the Shell but while they are inspired by those machines, they are not copies and present new designs that evoke those classic machines. The Drive Armors come in three variations and sizes (from smallest to biggest) - Vantage, Mastiff, and Scorpios.

VANTAGE

The Vantage is a small, police/security unit and it looks perfect for its role. From the narrow body (good for alleys and urban sprawl) to the light bar on top of the body it looks every bit the law enforcement rig. Weapons on the model are rather subtle and include a pair of light MGs in the arms inside the claws and a pair of riot grenade launchers.

MASTIFF

This is the main Drive Armor of the Spec-Sec and used for their paramilitary operations against terrorists and military threats. Optimized for all-terrain it uses a variety of modular weapon pods, a chin-mounted gun, and claw-mounted guns.

SCORPIOS

In Darby's universe the Scorpios is a walking tank. Armed with anti-personnel, and anti-armor weapons it's high mobility legs allow it to traverse a wide variety of terrain. It comes with missiles, a cannon, arm guns and  a few features that could be interpreted as grenade launchers.

PARTS AND ASSEMBLY

These models were incredibly clean and the parts had minimal if any flash on them. All the legs and weapons are on sprues and clip cleanly from them with no difficulty. Each part is set up with a socket and and either a ball or peg so that you can anchor them nicely. The legs are one piece but their ball joint attachment allows you to position them low or high (my Scoprios is mounted high). Both the Scorpios and the Mastiff come with weapon options which are also interchangeable between them.

The only sticky part of the designs is their legs. While they are wonderful in their flexibility, it did take some fiddling before i mastered the curve on how to get them to stay. Again, this is a very minor issue and once i got the hang of it it went smoothly. My second Mastiff went together in a third the time of my first.

Not only are these models clean and neat and well-designed, but I also found myself conjuring up conversion ideas for them quite easily enough, making them even more versatile beyond their original forms. They stack up nicely against other forms of armor and walkers out there.

Scorpios with two Dream Pod 9 Walkers.

Some great painted Drive Armors can be found in the Darkest Star gallery (bottom of the page). These were painted by fellow blogger Mark Kinsey from Daddy's Little Men.

Thanks for reading,

-Eli