Minis News 6 Jan 06

OK. Sorry about the long layoff. First a catch up on the news (and suddenly there seems to be a lot of it):

New Freebooter Model Available

We saw the green just before Xmas, now the actual model is available from the Freebooter store. DUN 006 Ath´Celah, Darkelf Priestess - 6 parts, total height 49mm. Price from Freebooter is E11.50.



Games Workshop News

New sneak peeks at the GW UK site:

- Glorfindel, Lord of the West (LotR)
- Tau Ethereals

New advance orders:

- Empire Greatswords - I assume this is a repackaging (of 10 for £20) rather than a new set of models. These are great models but I'm guessing you can do better on eBay.
- LotR A Shadow in the East
- LotR Easterlings - 20, presumably plastic
- LotR Easterling Kataphrakts (pictured) - 5, presumably metal
- LotR Kamul, the Easterling, a Ringwraith.



Reaper 1000th Mini

Congratulations to Reaper on reaching their 1000th miniature release, #03000, Kyra and Lavarath. Kyra, the rider is sculpted by the always reliable Werner Klocke, of Freebooter fame, and the dragon is by the equally reliable Sandra Garrity. You can substitute the wings from Ebonwrath (note the wings are also separately orderable) if you want them fully extended.



Copplestone January Offer

... is the rather attractive Gobi Expedition for £38 - some gun-toting archeologists and their Chinese escorts, a great pulp starter army. Recommended.

Starship Troopers Light Infantry and Bugs, other Mongoose stuff

At last some nice (very nice) miniatures in this line, and nicely priced too. The metal light infantry promised by Mongoose when the plastics failed to meet expectation. Out in January.

Also (and I like none of these, but bear in mind I don't like the concept)

- control bugs, due in February
- spider bugs, due March
- cliff mites, due April

And, on a thread at the Frothers Fora, Mongoose confirmed they have a license for the great classic RPG, Runequest, complete with minis:

"And yes, we have the RuneQuest licence, coming out this Summer. It is mainly the RPG, but we have a line of miniatures following it. We already have masters of Broo, Ducks and Trolls/Trollkin. . ."

Also, Conan stuff will likely happen in conjunction with the next film.



Ilyad Work in Progress

A "sylvan enchantress" and a slightly off the wall "berserker grey orc".

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Heresy Greens

Several works in progress from Heresy, over the Xmas break. Firstly a couple of halflings, Norko the Magnificent and, umm, Ghonad the Barbarian.

 

Also, a new sci-fi captain (this is kind of like starship troopers - I absolutely loved Serenity and Firefly but I'm not that interested in exploring the backstory in miniatures) and, while we're pushing back the envelope on intellectual property rights, a "dwarf dark lord" called Va'Durr. Both pictured below. And in addition, an armoured blood(like) bowl player and a dungeon bug-thing he calls a waspquito.




Darksword Update

More top of the price range releases from Darksword, both dragons - the first one (pictured) is based on art by Jeff Easley, sculpt by Dave Summers (who seems to have gone some way to sorting out the dragon's dodgy arms). The second is based on Keith Parkinson's classic Northwatch Dragon painting, sculpt again by Dave Summers. I don't think the sculpt quite catches the original, but I'm not sure why.



Deep in Madness Zombies

French mini manufacturer Deep in Madness have released new zombie minis to complement their, erm, afro funk gangstas. General slightly cartoony feel to all their miniatures makes them somewhat sui generis. Warning ... background music (da fonk, presumably) on website, don't open it in the office.



Infinity Releases

For January, from the (godawful) Corvus Belli site. Most of them have been previewed already at the (overdesigned) Infinity game site (not sure how this relationship is meant to work either). Lovely minis though.

PanOceania:

Akali Sikh Commandos (2 miniatures in blister) - pictured
Dronbots (2 miniatures in box)
Orc Troop with Multi Rifle (1 miniature in blister, same as the Starter Pack)

Yu Ying:

Tiger Soldiers (2 miniatures in blister)
Guijia (TAG in box)

Ariadna:

Line Kazak with Missile Launcher (1 miniature in blister)
45th Highlander Rifles (2 miniatures in blister) - pictured

 

Conquest Greens

More accomplished models of American Indians - Tecumseh, the Prophet and Simon Kenton (the first and last are pictured below):

 

New Gamezone Releases

More spectacular models from the Spanish "GW alternative" manufacturer. In this case for the pictures and given the generally rubbish images on the gamezone (and affiliate) sites I've done something slightly different to my normal practice, which is to link directly to the original manufacturer photos. A (link to a) zip file of some Spanish forum images was posted to the frothers forum, and I've uploaded that in turn to a Flickr account. The links below are the ones at the retailer Battlefield Berlin (as posted on the frothers thread):

- Chaos Chariot (pictured)
- High Elf Chariot
- Dark Elf Chariot (also pictured)
- Important Harpie
- Harpies 1
- Harpies 2




Perry Miniatures Previews

Most of the stuff here seems to be fantasy, so a sideline to mention some of the forthcoming Perry stuff, more detail posted at the Miniatures Page.

New highlanders, Black Watch and hussars for Sudan; new Agincourt to Orleans models (pictured) and new Napoleonic Nassau troops. As usual an excellent standard.



Rackham release schedule for first half 2006

As posted to the Rackham forums - the following's a straight cut and paste.

JANUARY 2006

BLISTERS :
Jadharis clones. Blister of 3 miniatures
Air Elemental. Blister of 1 miniature
Warriors of the Wind. Blister of 2 miniatures
Tumahk, The Voice of the wind. Blister of 1 miniature

BOXES:
Templar war-staff. Box of 5 Miniatures
Cynwall war-staff. Box of 6 Miniatures

FEBRUARY 2006

BLISTERS :
Valkyries of Alahan 2. Blister of 3 miniatures
Valkyries of Alahan 3. Blister of 3 miniatures
Sons of Ogmios 1. Blister of 1 miniature
Sons of Ogmios 2. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACK:
The revelations of the Beast. 16 cards.
The Goblin Clans. 16 cards.

BOXES:
The Horned Raiders. Box of 3 Miniatures
The Warriors of Stone. Box of 3 Miniatures

MARCH 2006
Cry Havoc, issue # 7, new format, new price
Catalog supplement 2006. 80-page book

BLISTERS:
Selsÿm kestrels. Blister of 3 miniatures
Ninja goblins 1. Blister of 2 miniatures
Ninja goblins 2. Blister of 2 miniatures
Ophidian archer. Blister of 1 miniature

BOXES:
Grakkha, Kamahru's Champion Box of 2 miniatures
Nefarius clone 1000th Rackham miniature! Box of 1 miniature

APRIL 2006

Dog's of War rulebook.
Serum. (the novel, including Limited Miniature of Serum)

BLISTERS:
Mercenary Ogre (Cadwallon Limited Edition). Blister of 1 miniature
Warriors of the wind. Blister of 2 miniatures
Mountaineer of the Behemoth. Blister of 1 miniature
Mountaineer of the Behemoth. Blister of 1 miniature
Ophidian warrior. Blister of 1 miniature
Soïm. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACKS: Dogs of War pack. 16 cards

BOXES:
Sessairs centaurs. Box of 3 miniatures
Master Sulfur and Red Troll. Box of 2 miniatures

MAY 2006

CRY HAVOC 08. New format (80 pages)

BLISTERS:
Paladin of Alahan 2 . Blister of 3 miniatures
Paladin of Alahan 3 . Blister of 3 miniatures
Chthonian of the Abyss 1. Blister of 1 miniature
Chthonian of the Abyss 2. Blister of 1 miniature
Chthonian of the Abyss 3. Blister of 1 miniature
Mercenary officer. Blister of 1 miniature

CARDS PACK:
Army pack: The Orcish Tribes. 16 cards

BOXES:
Dragon of Lanever. Box of 1 miniature (a special Titan version will come in August )

GEN CON 2006. Kelt mercenary Shaman. Blister of 1 miniature.

Bolt Action Miniatures Italian Paras

Bolt Action is a World War II miniature specialist, producing 28mm figures. Newly announced - a range of Italian paratroopers (that's what I call a specialist). Pictured - the command group: