Matakishi's Tea House: Review of the Defiance Games Marines!

Hi, I've just found a neat and detailled review of the Defiance Games Marines made by Matakishi from the excellent Matakishi's Tea House wargame website! Make sure you also visit all his projects logs as they are filled with great terrain pieces and nicely painted miniatures. Matakishi also provides detailled painting and terrain building guides for all sorts of settings! You could easily spend two hours on his marvellous website.

Crusader Miniatures: Woodland Indians

Hi, here are the pictures of the new Crusader Miniatures range of Woodland Indians which were specially made for the release of the "Muskets and Tomahawks" ruleset made by Studio Tomahawk. These are the same people who created the most popular Dark Age skirmish game "Saga". These indians represent the various Indian tribes which fought against and with the white men during the 18th Century in North America. There are three different packs which retail at £5.40 for four figures. I hope you enjoy these excellent pictures of a great new range sculpted by Mark Sims.

Fireforge Games: Release date of the plastic infantry!

Hi, I've just received an email from Fireforge Games with some additionnal information about their plastic infantry! Three different infantry boxes are estimated to be released around Christmas 2012. There willl be a plastic box of infantry for every released cavalry box so there will be a Teutonic Knight, Templar Knight and Sergeants set of infantry! Each of these boxes will allow you to build up to twelve crossbowmen, knights and up to 24 foot sergeants.

The release date of the "Deus Vult" ruleset is estimated around November. The rulebook will have the same format as the Hail Caesar rulebook and will be similar in lay out to the beta version which is/ will be shown on "Beasts of War".

Fireforge Games: preview of their plastic infantry!

Hi, here are the pictures of the upcoming Fireforge Games plastic infantry which were shown last weekend at Salute.! The greens show a spearman advancing, a swordsmen motivating his warriors to charge and a firing crossbowman. I really hope that these miniatures will be released soon as they look really stunning. I'm also wondering about the other miniatures that will be available in the multipart plastic kit. This picture was found on the excellent Bruckenkopf hobby portal website and is used with the permission of Fireforge Games.

Wayland Games: Fireforge Games Cavalry at only £16!

Hi, Wayland Games is currently offering the amazing Fireforge Games Cavalry sets at only £16! The normal retail price is £20! The miniatures from Fireforge Games are excellent and a good value for your money as you receive tons of spare heads, weapons and shields. I have had the privilige to review these miniatures and well they are just so good and especially dynamic!

If you haven't heard of Fireforge Games before please check out my reviews! If you aren't convinced after the reviews? Well, that's not possible! I have made reviews of the three boxed kits starting with the Teutonic Knights set.

Review of the Mounted Sergeants

Review of the Templar Cavalry

Review of the Teutonic Knight Cavalry

Perry Miniatures: Close ups of the plastic Afrika Korps greens

Hi, Here are some close ups of the Perry Miniatures plastic Afrika Korps greens! The boxed set will include enough miniatures to create a zug or platoon. The greens shows only represent six of the 14 different torsos the box will contain. All miniatures will have seperate arms and headwear. The boxed set will include enough steel helmets for the entire platoon and enough tropical helmets and fieldcaps for half of the zug. These miniatures can be used for the Africa, Italy and Mediterranean campaign. These miniatures are just so versatile you could also used them to fight against Indiana Jones! Please note that the sculpts aren't finished yet so some details will still improve. The release date of these miniatures is still unknown.

Warlord Games: Plastic Invasion!

Hi, here are some pictures of the upcoming Warlord Games releases in plastic! All these greens were shown at Salute (why don't I live in the UK?). Warlord Games seems to release an entire range of new plastic boxed kits ranging from World War Two Russians to Ancient Persians! The release date of these boxed kits is unknown to me as I haven't managed to find them online. But enough talking here are some pictures.

In the first picture you can see the greens of the plastic French Peninsular Infantry. I only hope that there will be more variants as there are only four poses in the cabinet? In the second picture you can see the plastic Early Ceasarean Romans which can be used to fight Gauls, Germans and the tribes of Minor Asia! The following pictures show the excellent Persians and a Roman travelling cart sculpted by the talented Polish sculptor Wojeck. The fourth and fifth picture shows the excellent Russian soldiers greens which seems to be usable for both early and late war skirmishes. I hope you enjoyed this small update!

Claymore Castings: Stunning Scottish Medieval Range

Hi, Today I've stumbled upon a new wargame company called Claymore Castings! Their existing Scottish Medieval range is really stunning as it entirely sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks. The company was founded in 2012 by David Imrie and Andrew Taylor who are both enthousiastic wargamers with a passion for both wargaming and painting. The current Scottish Medieval range includes a wide variaty of bowmen, dismounted knights pike and pole men! The miniatures look really stunning as you can see from the pictures. The miniatures are sold in packs of 4 which retail for a measly £6. Top quality at good prices! I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Fireforge Games: Plastic Mounted Sergeants Cavalry Reviewed!

Hi, Here's the promised review of the Fireforge Games Mounted Sergeants! First of all I must admit that I'm very happy that Fireforge Games, a relativly new company has decided to released these unusual miniatures to be produced in plastic. Instead of the usal fully clad knighst that have opted for the mounted sergeants which were lesser armed cavalry that rode in support of more wealthy knights. They often comprised out of squires, rich commoners and lesser nobility who cannot afford the expensive heavy armour of a real knight. These soldiers are no match for fully armoured knights but will perform good when supporting smaller units of knights or attacking less armoured units such as militia and bowmen.

Artwork 

Such as all the artwork for Fireforge Games, this box cover is drawn by Mariusz Kozik. Kozik is a great concept artist and has already worked for some great names in the wargame industry such as Wargames Factory and Osprey Publishing. 

The box content

This Mounted Sergeants plastic boxed set contains enough modular parts to build twelve mounted sergeants. Each of these mounted miniatures exist out of four parts which are the head, body, arms and horse. These parts can be further enchanced with additionnal splendid bits such as separate cloaks which are also suited for conversion work. 

The actual box includes three sprues of which two are called the soldier sprues and the third being a command sprues from which you can build a commander, standard bearer and musician. The Command sprues of the boxed set is similar to the command sprue of the Templars except that the sprue contains some extra kite shields typical for this kind of mounted troops. The soldier sprue contains sufficient bits to assemble your sergeants with all sorts of cool weapons such as flails, swords, axes and lances. Please note the seperate cloaks which are just begging to be used in all sorts of great conversions.

The shields of the soldier sprue are a bit different than the shields from both the Teutonic Knight and Templar sprues as they have seperate arms and shields which fit perfectly. The sprues from the other sets had also seperate arms and shields but did not have attachment holes in which you could fit the shields.

One of the greatest parts of these sprues are the ten head variants of which every one has his own character. This wide variety allows you to build a whole bunch of mounted sergeants without them looking all the same. The heads come in a variety of helmets or chainmail caps. When assembling the box you have enough spare heads to fill up your bits box which is always useful for further conversions.

The horses included in the boxed set are all unbarded and come in the following sprue of which four are supplied within the box. All of these horses are multipart as the body halves, heads and tails come individually a bit in the same style as the Games Workshop horses. The horses are of the same excellent quality as the Perry Miniatures horses but the heads look a bit skinnier.

Scale comparison

To give an idea of the size of the horses I have included a picture of the the Fireforge Games plastic horses along with some horses of other manaufacturers that produce plastic horses. From left to right you can see: heroic Games Workshop Warhammer horse, Games Workshop Lord of the Rings horse, Fireforge Games horse and to finish a Perry Miniatures horse.

The conclusion

In my opinion this boxed set gives you top-notch value for your money as you receive twelve mounted sergeants for only £17.00. For the sole reason of comparison, Perry Miniatures sells theirs metal mounted sergeants for £8 in packs of three miniatures which would be £32 when buying 12 of them. In addition you also miss all the spare bits and weapons for further conversions. I've managed to assemble one of the mounted sergeants and the build was quite straight forwards. You can buy these miniatures direct from Fireforge Games but  have just noticed they now retail for only £17.00 from Wayland Games in the UK.

Dozens of other reviews can easily be found here and make sure to follow this blog as more reviews, tutorials and wargame news appears every day!

Perry Miniatures: Preview of the plastic Afrika Korps and the British 8th Army!

Hi, I've just seen the news that Perry Miniatures has shown some greens of their new 28mm plastic kits at Salute which is still going on! The new releases are nothing less than the famous Afrika Korps and the British 8th Army! Each of the plastic boxed kits will include a platoon and a command group armed with a variaty of weapons of which some will be attached while other will be loose. The sculpts of both boxes look great as we expect from the Perry brothers! Especially the German Afrika Korps looks great as they seem to have included some miniatures equipped with the rather unusual sun helmets. I will probaly end up with a box of two of each when I manage to finish some ungoing projects. Luckily there is still no release date as the guys at Renedra are quite busy with other plastic kits!

The famous and glorious Afrika Corps

The stout 8th Army!

Gothic Line releases 28mm American G.I.'s

Hi, I've just received the news that Gothic Line Miniatures has released their new 28mm metal American soldiers. For some Gothic Line Miniatures may seem a relativly unknown company but I have been following this company for a while now. Gothic Line is a small Portugese company which is specialized in all sorts of wargame related products ranging from miniatures to resin scenery pieces.

The current range contains some German generals, Japanese soldiers, British 8th Army, Allied generals and DAK soldiers. The new miniatures include all sorts of weapon variants ranging from rifles, S.M.G.'s, B.A.R.'s and Bazooka's.

Fireforge Games: Plastic Templar Knight Cavalry Reviewed!

Hi, It's time for another review as the kind lads at Fireforge Games have delivered some nice plastic Templar Knight Cavalry sprues at my doorstep! I was rather surprised to find a new package from Italy just as I left for college. I opened the package and found several sprues of both the new plastic Templar Knight Cavalry and Mounted Sergeants which will be officially released at Salute. A detailled review of the magnificent Mounted Sergeants will follow later.

General information

Fireforge Games is a relativly new wargame company based in Italy. The entreprise is founded by a core of Italian wargamers with a combination of both economical and artistic skilled people. The company has only released three plastic kits and all these kits are based around the knight orders which bravely fought during the Crusades both the Middle East Crusades as the Baltic Crusades. Their first kit was the Teutonic Knight Cavalry boxed kit which included twelve beautiful Teutonic knight on barded horses. Their second and third kit are of the same amazing quality as you will notice in the reviews I will post. I hope the company will release more of these marvellous kits as they are both cheap and unique.

The box

The Templar Knight box contains enough components to build twelve multipart mounted Templars. The set also includes six barded and unbarded horse sprues of which more information will follow later in this review. The boxed set includes two identical sprues and one command sprues ( I haven't received the command sprues but it is likely it will be same as the Teutonic Knight Cavalry command sprues with other heads, heather and kite shields). This number of sprues allows you to build twelve Templars with a variety of hand weapons such as maces, flails, swords, axes and lances. All of these weapons are identical to the Templar Knight Sprue but that's not a huge problem as the weapons are of supreme quality and were the most commonly used weapons in the medieval times. The shields however are new and look splendid. Some of the shields come with attached arms while other come with seperate arms allowing maximal conversion possibilities.

Here's a close up of the large shields with attached arms which is really easy as you don't need to fiddle with the loose arms and shields. There are also three shields variants which allow you to build characterful knights instead of clones. It's also more historical as most knights supplied their own armour and weapons when they entered the Templar order in the name of God. These knights weren't only protected by an armor of steel but they also relied on there armor of faith when fighting the infidels in the so called Promised Land.

The set also includes ten unique heads! Some of the heads are wearing closed helmets as other are wearing open helmets and chainmail protections. I think we are really spoiled with the choice of heads what's an absolute bonus. I think many of the spare heads will be used with the Perry Miniatures War of The Roses plastic infantry as I guess they are of the same size. All of these spare heads, cloaks, weapons and shields will be a great source for every historical, fantasy and RPG players as they allow you to customize your soldiers, characters and generals.

The boxed set also includes twelve trusty mounts which are a 50/50 mix of barded and unbarded horses. The barded horses are the same of the Teutonic Knight Cavalry horse sprue and contain two horses. I really like the way you can choose to outfit half of your Templars with barded horses as they look really dynamic.

The other half of the mounts are the new unbarded horses. These sprues come with three horses which you can assemble in nine unique poses as the horses are exist out of two seperate halfs. The sprue also includes three tails and three unique heads (which seems to be slightly smaller than the Teutonic Knight Horse heads). As the previous shown sprue, these horses are also really dynamic and are of the same excellent quality as the Perry Miniature plastic horses.

Opinion

This boxed set one of the greatest plastic sets I have ever seen in person! The amount of different bits and horses allows you to build unique Templars as they would have been seen in the Middle East in search of God and Glory.

The best part is the price as these miniatures retail from Fireforge Games at the amazing price of €25 and if you buy more than €60 in miniatures you receive free shipping worldwide! These miniatures are also available at Wayland Games for only £17.00. As I only received these miniatures this morning I only finished Templar which will join my Mounted Sergeants and Teutonic Knights. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me! Edit: You can found a scale comparison in the Mounted Sergeants review here.

Dozens of other reviews can easily be found here and make sure to follow this blog as more reviews, tutorials and wargame news appears every day!

Perry Miniatures: painted mounted men at arms!

I've just found some pictures of nicely painted mounted men at arms produced by Perry Miniatures. These fine miniatures will be available at the Perry Miniatures boot at Salute! I really love the mix of armours making them very versatile so you could use them in almost every period army. More information can be found in this previous post.

CP Models: Barbarian Mayhem!

Hi, I've just noticed that CP Models has released some new miniatures. This time they released some generic barbarians who can easily fit in all sorts of fantasy wargames such a Conan game. These nice miniatures are sculpted by Andrew May and can be bought individually at £1.50 or as a group at a discount price of £4.00.

I guess these miniatures will roam the fanatasy lands soon in search of war or glory!

Free shipping deal at Wayland Games! Extended!

Hi, I've just noticed that the free shipping deal at Wayland Games is extended untill 23.59 GMT on Friday 27th April. You only need to spend more than £20 on their massive online store filled with the latest wargame products available on the market! When ordering more than £20 the shipping will be deducted from your order. But there is more Wayland Games has announced that it will be present at Salute 2012 with an awesome custom made Japanese style terrain board by Oshiro for a Bushido Demo. I've seen some pictures of the board and it looks stunning!

The voucher code is

FREESHIPAPR

Osprey Publishing: Steampunk Skirmish Rules

Osprey Publishing, the well-known source of military and wargame books has finally announced the release date of their Steampunk Skirmish Rule Set in March 2013! It's still a while when you will be able to play great wargames between all sorts of mad inventors and gentlemen in a Victorian Steampunk setting. The actual game takes place in 1895 when the famous inventor Charles Babbage invents all sorts of new and powerful contraptions and energy sources. These new inventions will soon appear on the battlefields of Europe as secret organisations conduct raids on factories and research labs. The greatest weapon in these times is knowledge and nothing will stop enemy factions of kidnapping inventors or steal train loads of secret parts. Or maybe you will be able to stop these factions and bring peace or war upon them!

Warlord Games: Plastic Americans!

Hi, I've just seen the news that Warlord Games has finally released their plastic World War Two Americans! The boxed set contains enought parts to make 25 soldiers equiped with a whole arsenal of different weapons such as rifles, assault rifles and bazooka's. As their website says these miniatures can be used in World War Two as both Americans or Free French which were equiped in American uniforms. You can even use them for the American forces during the Korean War! Such versatile miniatures are a blessing and a must in every wargamers collection. The sprues contain tons of spare weaponry and heads so enough possibilities to kitbash or make nice addition to your existing collection.

The war game miniatures look really good and dynamic which some other miniatures lack. I especially love the pose of the soldier armed with a mighty bazooka. The kneeling commander is also a nice touch certainly when he's pointing at an enemy MG nest on Omaha Beach!

Tsuba Miniatures: Russian mean greens!

Hi, I've just seen of Paul Hicks amazing sculpts for Tsuba Miniatures. Tsuba Miniatures is a small wargame company specialized in 28mm miniatures for the infamous Russian-Japanese War and has recently released a whole array of Japanese soldiers including an awesome command set. This time Tsuba Miniatures showed us some previews of the well-equiped Russian soldiers ready to charge Japanese HMG nest as they already fixed their bayonets to their rifles! Will you lead these soldiers to war and when you're lucky to glory?

The first set includes four advancing Russian soldiers and will retail for €7,50.

The second set includes four Russian soldiers in firing pose, this set also retails for €7,50.

West Wind Nemonians?

Hi, I've just seen this marvellous diving suit miniature armed with a gatling-like-harpoon gun on the Facebook page of West Wind Productions! It seems to be a review of a new miniature or even an entire new faction if we are lucky. The suit will probably be used in their new war game ruleset called "Empire of the Dead" which is set in victorian London and features all sorts of great factions ranging from a gentlemen's league and zombies to vampires! Most of the miniatures used in this new ruleset are old West Wind miniatures but some new miniatures have been added recently. I see a lot of cool war game options with this guy he even looks like Big Daddy from the Bioshock games!

Stay tuned as more information will follow in the future and also a warm welcome to the new followers!

Free shipping deal at Wayland Games!

Hi, I've just seen the amazing news that the online war game shop Wayland Games is offering free shipping on all of their products when you buy for at least £20! That amount is easily spend on some amazing miniatures which can be found in the dozens of different manufacturers that are available. Not mentioning the tons of other war game related products that can be found including terrain, paints and all sorts of useful hobby materials.

The only thing you have to do is order more than £20 on war game miniatures and enter the voucher code:

FREESHIPAPR

Don't hesitate as this code only works for one week so you can order untill 23.59 GMT on Friday 20th April 2012. Let go frenzy and above all cheap! Be fast by clicking the direct link on your right as it only counts for in stock items!

Khurasan 15mm madness!

Hi, The kind people at Khurasan miniatures has just shared some previews of their new 15mm miniatures! The first miniatures are called armed men in parkas and consist out of two different packs. The first pack contains three beautiful sculpted commanders and the second pack contains 6 regular soldiers. I especially love the commander armed with the flamethrower.

Here you can see a picture of the regular soldiers, I can hardly believe they are 15mm as they are exceptionallly well-painted! These miniatures could be easily used in every modern war game setting which involves cold weather. This can range from a zombie outbreak in Alaska to some post- apocalyptic action in Norway!

Another great preview are the Redneck also known as some hillbillies. These miniatures could also be used in a war game set in a post-apocalyptic setting or an alien invasion setting!

The release date of these miniatures is unknown but they will probably be released in the near future.