Web Store Category Buttons

We have been really busy working on the Website. These are navigation button pictures for the "Browse by Category" page. If you click on these pictures, you will be taken to the store with everything we carry appropriate to the period. All these listngs will of course have pictures of the products. Some periods are slightly redundant such as ACW, Napoleonic, and Black Powder. This is only one of several ways to shop for terrain, miniatures and hobby supplies.

What do you guys think? Don't worry about being gentle, we want to get this right!

We are only a few weeks away from going live.

Putting it all away...

Hey...just a few pictures and some commentary on storage. We are not all fortunate enough to have tons of room, but never the less, I do feel storage is an important aspect of wargaming, even if it's not very glamorous. We have one of the few "builder" hobbies where our toys have to be portable. After spending a ton of money and/or painting time on our collections, it seems a shame to just pile them in a box. Some of my solutions are shown above.

My gaming table accepts 2 x 5 foot panels that I store in cabinet "racks" under the gaming table. This works great to keep them dust and damage free.

The other pictures are of one of my two main storage closets (yes, I know I am fortunate to have the space and an understanding wife!). The racks hold various terrain pieces (like forests) but I thought some of you might be interested in the little roll around cabinets shown. Barb, my wife, got these for me at Target. I use them to hold the figures I don't have on display in cabinets. I can roll the cabinet up to the table to load/unload and the hinged lid keeps the lads all dust free. I really like them. Each "roll around" was less than $30 and well worth the money to keep thousands of dollars of painted figures protected!!!

What do you do for storage? Maybe someone out there has some great ideas to keep our painted stuff safe.

Ernie

Another World Wars Item

Here is the World Wars Range small observation post test paint. The binoculars and grenade are molded on. This also comes with a metal field phone (not shown). The figure is, once again, a Foundry German sculpted by one of the Perry brothers and is shown for size comparison only. No figures are included. This piece should hold two figures and is a clean cast unpainted urethane kit.

More World Wars Product

Here is a sneak peek at some more product from our World Wars Range. It is a set to do a mine field and is a complete mini kit. The intent is to leave the little craters off table until the area is entered and then use the markers to illustrate the "size" of the minefield. Boot, helmet, and sign are just some of the included detail . Foundry figure not included.

These small craters would be useful as figure bases and mortar strike markers as well. Works for nearly any 20th Century conflict really. Resin craters and metal sign.

Price is $12 and it will be available for order in June. Perfect in combination with the Machine Gun Nest.

We Have a Winner

HUZZAH!

Our first contest for our Followers has ended and we have sent the notification off. If we don't hear back in 7 days, we will pick another. The winner will remain anonymous until we receive his or her approval to announce them here. The prize was our Siege Fortification Set #1, absolutely free and shipped anywhere in the world.

Thanks to all of you for participating and we will be running another contest in June, so stay tuned!

More product pictures will be going up on Monday, by the way.

The World Wars Range

Here is a sneak peek at an item from our up and coming World Wars Range. It's the Machine Gun Nest. Not as sexy as a King Tiger , but far more common and deadly. This is what we call a "test paint" - it's one of the first castings off the original sculpt. We do this to check the detail, see if the piece "feels" right and note if its missing anything important.

This Machine Gun Nest is one of our Mini Kits and is meant to be a Nest completely dug in with overhead log cover. There is no room inside for figures as it is meant to be "dug in to" the table top. The machine gun swivels. It is well camouflaged with a shelter half (weighted down by rocks) covering the rear entrance. The top is removable to show it has been "taken out". You can see one of the gunners crushed by the collapsed roof inside (Note the helmet, boot and hand/arm).

I apologize for the brass gun barrels, but they are the masters and as of yet have not been sent off to the caster. The real model will come with a white metal MG34 and a water jacketed Maxim. It could be used for WW I or WW II.

This, plus a few other items previewing soon, would make for a great little squad level skirmish game all on their own. The Machine Gun Nest kit will be available in June with a price of $12.00. The figure is not included and is a Foundry German - a Perry Brothers sculpt.

By the way I am listening. Colonial stuff is on the horizon!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Miniature Figure Collectors of America Show

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of going to the Valley Forge Convention Center to see the Miniature Figure Collectors of America show. This was a first for me, as I had not been to a show specialising in larger scale (54mm and up) before. I must say I really enjoyed the "show" itself. The quality of model making and painting was extraordinary. I have seen many GW Golden Demon winners, countless beautifully painted 28mm models and so on but, some of the figures in this show simply took my breath away. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a decent camera and had to use my phone. The pictures attached to this posting are the best I could do and really don't do any kind of justice to the work on display. There were hundreds of models in the show. My favorites included a magically done 54mm child dressed in a pirate costume, looking in a mirror ( I really wish I had a better picture of this one- it was stunning) where a "real" pirate was looking back at him. All in the child's "mind's eye" . I still see myself sitting in the saddle when I take my British Napoleonics to battle in the Peninsula! Great stuff.

Others included a box diorama of German soldiers standing around a camp fire with a "ghost" image (figures painted in shades of gray) in the background reflecting the same scene a hundred years or so earlier, a boarding action set in Napoleonic times, hundreds of beautifully painted knights, and a giant battle scene where some Celts had made it to their Roman enemies' baggage train.

I enjoyed the show and walked away with lots of inspiration. I believe miniature gaming can get to a higher plane. Some of the scenes I saw lead the way. More animation amongst our multi figure stands and more little vignettes. I am definitely going to do some 54mm gaming and make some terrain for it. I am really excited by it all.

There seems to be far more toy soldier shows than Historical "gaming" conventions, albeit they are smaller, I suppose. If one is near you, I really urge you to go. Google "Toy Soldier Shows" to find one near you. The link to the organisation that put on the show I attended was http://www.mfcashow.com/ The vendors there were typical of the ones you find at gaming conventions and many had lots of useful military modeling and history books for sale.

Yours,

Ernie

It's Poll Time!

Here is your chance to influence the kind of terrain and scenery items we will be making. Cast your vote for your favorite category in the poll in the side bar to the right.

We are off to the big Toy Soldier Show in Valley Forge today. You guys have a great weekend and get something painted!

Today In Book World...

Well ok, not Book World, but I thought this might be of some interest.

If you don't have one, any department type store or cooking store sells book holders like the one you see in the pictures. It's absolutely great for holding up reference material while you are painting or modeling and most are designed to shield the book from cooking spatters- perfect for us messy modelers. The one in the picture is just a simple acrylic one I paid a few dollars for years ago. I love it.

The second quick comment of the day is to sing the praises of an old but very useful book. If you are interested in WW2 and can get your hands on one (they are reprinted frequently), the U.S. War Department Handbook on German Military Forces is a real treat. It covers stuff from tanks and planes to small radio equipment. Recommended. There is also one on the Japanese Army.

The thing you see being worked on in the pictures is not a log cabin but a German log lined emplacement. Not as grand as the concrete ones or as exciting as a King Tiger, but they were built in the thousands and were very typical of the kinds of fortifications Allied infantry platoons or companies would have to deal with. More on this item, scenarios, etc, later.

More Gaming Pictures

Since I got such a nice response to the last pictures I posted, here are some more. While this is not the actual game we will be putting on at Historicon, the figures and much of the terrain will be the same. The game was played at my home in my gaming room. Another shot of my gaming room can be found in the Black Powder rule book. I will be putting up a "video" tour of the game room within the next 30 days. It has theatrical lighting, a sound system etc. Some of you may be interested.

The Historicon game will feature much of our new terrain.

In the meantime, at request, here are some more pics of past Napoleonic games.

(More NEW product pictures are coming soon- we are working hard!)

Thanks to all of you for your encouragment. There will be lots of stuff to buy soon, we promise.

Historicon 2010 Game

For those of you going to Historicon at Valley Forge this July, we will be co hosting a Black Powder Napoleonic Penninsular game the Saturday of the convention with Warlord Games and we are going to have some special guests. Three of the four contributing authors and one of the original playtesters (that'd be me ) will be participating. I'm not sure when sign up starts but please do stop by on Saturday and check it out. It will be worth seeing, I assure you!