Defiance Games USMC marines!

Hi, here's some exciting wargame news I've received recently from Defiance Games founded by Tony Reidy! This relativly new company is specialised in 28mm hard plastic science fiction miniatures which will be released under their range called "Alien War". Their first release are the feared USMC marines! Probably one of the toughest factions of the universe. These marines will receive support from hardsuits, female elite soldiers and heavy weaponry in the near future! So don't hesitate to order some of these magnificent warriors as these can be used in several future settings such as Battlestar Galactica and even Starship Troopers! More factions will follow soon including panzergrenadiers and bugs! Lots of those buggers!

The boxed kit contains twelve sprues each packed with sufficient bits to make two marines. You will have probably figured it out all ready, the boxed kit contains 24 marines! Ready to establish beachheads on foreign planets! Preorder yours now!

Happy to share you this news!

Greets,

Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar assembled

Hi, following the review I've written about the Perry Miniatures Ansar boxed kit, I will now show some of the assembled miniatures and share my personal opinion about the assembling progress. The assembly of the miniatures is easy as pie as the miniatures are well placed on the sprue and they are made of good quality hard plastic. The minor disadvantages of this boxed kit are if you are a bit too eager to get the swords loose you can easily snap one in half as these are really thin. The other disadvantage is the weak link between the feet of some of the models and their integral bases. But as said these disadvantages are very minor!

I will now show some miniatures I've assembled using about 2/3 of the boxed kit, the miniatures may not look as Beja or other Sudanese tribes as I tried to make them look like some sort of Arab slaver caravan or Arab pirates. The first miniatures I've assembled were the command miniatures including a drummer, flagbearer and commander. All of these miniatures are very well detailled and especially the commander has turned out well!

The rest of the miniatures I've divided in three groups of eight of which two have handweapons such as swords and spears while the other group has been equiped with captured Remington rifles. The first picture represent one of the handweapon groups which will see extensive action against the British crown colonies of Mbuij Mayi!

The second group of Arab slavers with handweapons, you may notice that some of the miniatures have been assembled with Beja heads. These miniatures are intended to be mercenaries drawn from the fierce Beja tribes of the Sudan. These mercenaries however few in number have been in Arab service for several years as they hate the British colonists the most!

The last group gives the Arab contigent enough firing power to deal with native warriors or the British army. Equipped with the Remington rifles they captured in the Sudan and by boarding British supply vessels, they are among the best riflemen in Arab service. I had the intention to have at least two groups armed with rifles but the box only contained eight of them.

As last a picture of the entire Arab slave/ pirate contigent which will be used in several games as opponents or allies for my British colonial force. Remember this is only 2/3 of the boxed kit, the other miniatures will be saved for conversions or new projects!

I hope you enjoyed this small update,

Greets,

Wargame news from Empress Miniatures, Foundry, ...

Hi, it's time for some more wargame goodness today! Lets go! First of all we have a new Ramshackle Games modular vehicle kit, the GNU military Transport. As all of the vehicles made by Ramshackle the entire kit is modular and made out of an extreme durable resin! Make sure you check out their shop as it's stuffed with useful sci-fi bits and some rather nice fantasy trolls!

The second new release is a Scrap Tank of MaxMini! This manufacturer is known for his good quality as their kits are probably one of the most detailled ones in the industry. Just look at the tracks and gun on that tank! Their online shop also contains lot of conversion bits ranging from heroic orc bodies to a whole arsenal of weaponry!

Wargames Factory has also shown some pictures of their asssembled Samurai kit. The set will represent 16th century Samurai's and will contain 25 miniatures and bases with an assortment of different weapons . If you follow the link shown here (click under the large picture on their site) you can also see some of their samurai painted and they look stunning!

More exciting news is that Wargames Foundry has released a whole new range of miniatures called "Tribes of Legends"! All I can say about the range that includes all sorts of mythological creatures such as Centaurs, Satyrs and even an Bronze Bull, that it is really stunning! The miniatures look better than before and the examples shown on their website are painted to the best standards ever seen!

Finally Warlord Games and Empress Miniatures have shown some painted examples of the unmarried Zulu's! I really love the dynamic poses of these warriors as they are also a multi-pose kit! And above that the kit include no less than 32 warriors and one metal Induna! And if that isn't enough they also released some stunning colonial terrain such as mealie bag barricades!

Of all the new terrain pieces this one is my favorite! What a formidable barricade! Let them Zulu's come!

I hope you enjoyed this small update!

Greets,

Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar (1881-1885)

Today, I'm presenting you a review of Perry Miniatures: Mahdist Ansar. This boxed kit has been on my list as soon I've heard the news, The Perry brothers were going to make it. I've been patiently waiting for the release and the next discount moment of Maelstrom online shop and then decided to buy them! The miniatures can be used for their intended role as the different tribes of the Sudan or they can also serve as proxy Arab slavers or traders with some minor conversion work or none at all!

General information

Just like most of the wargame industry, the Perry twins also invested in a plastic range of miniatures. However their plastic range is made to bulk out armies and their metal range fills the ranks with artillery, command and other specialised units! This is a good balance between quantity and the pricetags. As the Mahist forces mostly consisted out of foot soldiers supported by some irregular cavalry units, the creation of a cheap multi-part Mahdist Ansar kit isn't such a surprise. The boxed kit is intended to contain the follow tribes in several time periods during the Anglo-Sudanese wars, the Ansar, Beja, Northern Nile Arabs and the Kordofani.

The box

Just like their other plastic boxes, the artwork is done by Peter Dennis and is breath taking! But the most important is the content. The

box contains 40 foot soldiers which can be assembled in all sorts of ways such as charging, advancing, firing, ... The combiniations are endless as the kit is packed with tons of parts such as different heads, arms and other equipment suchs as drums, pipes and flagpoles! The box also includes a short but useful guide of the different tribes of the Sudan together with details of their weapons and clothing. As you can see on the following detailled photograph of the main sprue.

The boxed kits contains two of the following command sprue which enable you to make a two man command. The sprue contains enough material for the creation of a captain and a drummer or flagbearer. However I'm not sure if all the Sudanese tribes had a flagbearer.

The most interesting sprues of the boxed kits are the main sprues packed with fierce warriors and all sorts of different weaponry and equipment! As previously seen the kit contains enough miniatures to make 40 warriors which all can be constructed as Beja or other tribes! The bodies of the warriors come in three sorts, bare chest, partially covered chest and clothed. The bodies which are partially naked are probably most suited to represent the early Beja but there were exceptions in which some Beja were totally clothed. The sprues are also packed with different heads ranging from the Fuzzy Wuzzy hairstyle of the Beja to the heads with the more civilised skull-caps.

Each main sprue contains the following number of heads

• 12 Fuzzy Wuzzy heads
• 5 Heads with skull caps
• 6 Heads without headwear
• 1 Head with a turban

The main sprue also contains the following interesting bits (not all parts are mentionned)

• Several arms grasping a sword
• Several arms holding a spear
• Two arms holding or firing a Remington rifle
• Twelve rhinoceros-skin shields

I've also managed to assemble some of the miniatures but forgot to take pictures! But all I can tell you the parts fit ideal and you don't need tons of greenstuff to fill gaps. The poses you can form are also very realistic, they really look as they are ready to storm a British square! The boxed sets also includes some useful plastic bases which enable you to base your miniatures in an instant!

Opinion

In my humble opinion the Perry brothers succeeded in releasing yet another stunning boxed kit of which the alternative in lead is too expensive. The miniatures really look stunning and are dirt cheap! The miniatures can be bought at Wayland Games by following one of the ads on this very blog at a measly 19,60€! for 40 soldiers, simply amazing the cheapness of plastics!

For the assembled miniatures go to

http://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/2011/11/perry-miniatures-mahdist-ansar.html

I hope you enjoyed this small review!

Greets,

Zulu impi assembled!

Hi, here's some more progress on my Wargames Factory Zulu's. Not as much as I wanted but all the Zulu's are finally assembled and based on five eurocent pieces. With all these steps done I can now give them a black basecoat all by hand! I hope to finish them this long weekend as I have ordered a box of Perry Miniatures Ansar which will probably arrive monday or tuesday. As soon as they arrive expect a full review of these beautiful miniatures!

The loot of this years crisis will also appear as soon as I finished this bunch of Zulu's. But here's a small list of things you can expect to see within several days. First of all two boxes of Airfix Bofor guns and their tow trucks, two Airfix Scorpion kits, two Hät guns, some small Black Cat Bases items, Foundry Victorian police, European and African civilians and some other bits!

So stay tuned for more miniature madness!

Greets,

Even more natives!

Hi, Finally there will be a new and steady flow of new blog posts! As I'm trying to finish my unassembled and unpainted Zulu warriors. As I've heard the news that Warlord Games will release their new plastic Zulu's within two weeks! Motivated to finish my Zulu's before I buy some new ones! I've managed to base eight warriors and I have assembled another eight! I hope to finish them before Crisis, fingers crossed. When I finish of these last warriors my Zulu or native army will count 50 warriors! I'm aiming to build my Mbuij Mayian army with some more additionnal Warlord Games Zulu's and some Perry Miniatures Ansars which could also be used as generic Muslim warriors or Barbary pirates!

In the meanwhile I even managed to assemble 16 Victrix Imperial Guard units, well they were just grenadiers from the flank companies but I will use them as a small elite unit! Assembling this unit made me almost mad as the plastic bits are way to fragile for my hands. in progress of assembling a 12-men unit I've managed to break two rifles and one banner pole! Therefor I've decided to make my own banner pole made out of rather strong plastic!

I hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for a bunch of purchases within several days!

Greets,