New Living Quarters

Hi guys/gals,

Sorry for the lack of posts of late.  I am in the process of finding a new place to live and it is pretty much eating into my blog time at the moment. 

I hope to find something within the next 2 weeks.

Cheers

Dream Pod 9, Heavy Gear Arena Released

What is Arena? It's in your face! It's multi-ton robots trashing each other! It's all about drama on the field and off the field! This isn't your slow paced hack fest! This is Gears kicking tail and taking names!

Hire the best. Kit your Gears. Slug it out with the best. Only one team can rise to the top, but do you have what it takes to win?

Heavy Gear Arena is a fast paced, highly customizable tactical battle game set in the award winning Heavy Gear setting. For centuries, Terra Nova's best pilots have taken their Gears, advanced robotic fighting machines, and pitted them against each other in the world of sports dueling. Only the best stay in the games and earn their legendary reputations. Of course, reputations only get you so far. Winning equals money for upgrading your team and its equipment, the support of your adoring fans brings fame and more importantly the corporate sponsors, or just the thrills, pilots come from all over to find the thing they're desperate for in Khayr ad-Din.

Take on the role of team manager and build up your team to pit against the competition.

What you'll find in the Heavy Gear Arena Core Rules:

• Robust tournament campaign rules
• Duelists capable of growing in experience and talent
• In depth Gear Customization
• Support Personnel to aid your team's growth
• Fast paced combat with combo chains and Duelist Talents
• Background information on badlands city of Khayr ad-Din- Lots of new artwork
• and Bowser!

DP9-9187c
Heavy Gear Arena Core Rules 112 Full Color pages $45.00

Dream Pod 9 will also be selling the Heavy Gear Arena two player starter kit.  The starter kit includes the following:

• A small-format 5.5" x 8.5" B&W version of the Heavy Gear Arena Core Rules book 112 pages.
• 4 Hired Guns Minis (Grizzly, Hunter XMG, Black Mamba, DartJager) plus extra weapons.
• 4 six sided dice.
• 1 measuring tape.

DP9-9210 Heavy Gear Arena - Two Player Starter Kit $65.00

#21 Post Turkey Day Blues

I ate so much this past weekend, I almost forgot to post another comic. Yes, your team lost. Yes, it's THAT bad.

Spintered Light Miniatures, Halfling Militia

Here are some new upcoming Splintered Light Miniatures halflings militia types.  There were sculpted by Rod Campbell.  The militia infantry pack will have 9 unique sculpts, including slingers, farm weapons, and a leader.  The cavalry will have three poses and choice of pig or pony mounts.

s6 Engineering, Canals

S6 Engineering has come out with some really nice canals for 6mm/15mm gaming.  The set contains 11x canal straights and 4x canal corners and retails for £12.  You can purchase it in either smoke or green.

Antenocitis Workshop, New Website

If you looking for awesome Sci-Fi terrain and figures, you need to check out Antenocitis Workshop brand new store.  It looks awesome.

Splinered Light Miniatures, 2010 Sale

As we approach the end of 2010 and the end of 5 years as a business, I wanted to offer our loyal customers (and hopefully some new ones) a thank you sale.  From November 26, 2010 through December 31, 2010 (at midnight), most every Splintered Light Miniatures product will be 20% off.  The only exception to this are the buildings and the SPACE01 and SPACE02 packs.

I am looking into how I can mark everything 20% off when it goes into the shopping cart but for now you can order one of three ways.  First, just send me an email with the list of what you want and I will send you a paypal invoice with the 20% discount.  Second, you can go ahead and order via the webstore and I will send you a refund via paypal for the 20% savings.  Finally, you can send a check with the list of what you want and I will send it out.  

As a special thank you, I am also offering a free treeman figure to the first 17 people who purchase $50 or more (after the discount).  You can see a picture of him at the SLM blog www.splinteredlightminis.blogspot.com , along with some other new products coming out soon (hopefully in mid December).  He is a fantastic piece sculpted by Faron Betchley.  

Spartan Games, Dystopian Wars, Britania Land Ships

Here are some Spartan Games upcoming Dystopian Wars, Britania Land Ships. The dome on the capitol ship would make a nice target for enemy fire.

The Scene UK, Special Forces are available

The Scene UK 15mm special forces figures are now available. 

Hasslefree Miniatures, Kindred

You say "Kindred", I say hobbit, you say short person, I say halfling.  Here are some shots of upcoming Hasslefree Miniatures 28m Kindred.  Actually these will be quite a bit smaller than 28mm, but you get the point.  I really like the look of these though.  Much better than the their 40K counterparts.

The War Store, Black Friday

The WarStore is having a Black Friday sale, so be sure to check them out.

I am sure there will be others who are doing the same thing, but The WarStore offers a lot of different products.

The Black Friday sale starts 9PM Eastern Time on Thursday, November 25th and will run until midnight on “Cyber Monday” November 29th.  Be there Thursday night at 9PM for first crack at the closeout items!  And bring your Christmas Shopping list – you didn’t want to go to the mall anyway!

Khurasan Miniatures, Nova Respublik

Here are some previews of upcoming Nova Respublik (Union of Planetary Socialist Republics, or UPSR) tanks from Khurasan Miniatures.  These were designed by John Bear Ross.  To get more detailed intel on these bad boys, check out TMP

Red Banner Upgrade

Red Banner

Red Eagle

Red Lightning

Cowboys & Aliens

There is a movie slated for release summer of 2011.  It is called Cowboys & Aliens and stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde.  This has a lot of pulp sci-fi potential.

The Plastic Soldier Company, Russians

The Plastic Soldier Company has released a set of 15mm plastic Russians.  I haven't seen these in person to compare them against FOW, but they look pretty good.


The 15mm WW2 Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform retails for £18.50

130 hard plastic 15mm miniatures depicting WW2 Russian infantry in summer uniform as follows:
15 junior officers/NCOs
95 riflemen/SMGs
10 light machine guns with loaders

Art of Tactic

There is a new board game called Art of Tactic.

The game appears to have a mix of scales (Infantry, Tanks and Planes), but the tanks are said to be 1/100 scale, so would be perfect for Flames of War.

The Art of Tactic also has some rules listed, so you can check them out to see if the game is something you might be interested in.  You can buy the tanks separately for EUR 2.95, but currently there are only two tanks available.  They do show a T-43 on the home page, so I assume there will be others released.

World War II. Barbarossa 1941.Starter kit (6134)

Highly-detailed vehicles and figures.
Unique terrains.
Historical states of units.

Retails for EUR 49.95

Box contents:
- 15 german and Soviets squads
- 1 set of engeneering fortifications
- 6 double-sided Terrain hesex
- 6 heights hexes
- 15 unit cards
- 4 group cards
- 4 mine cards
- Rules
- Scenatio booklet
- reminder sheets
- 10 dices
- 2 water-based markers
- 1 set of decals

15mm.co.uk, Free Starfighter Crew

15mm.co.uk is giving away a free set of Starfighter Crew (HOF57) worth £3.50 with ANY order containing a science fiction miniature or game book.  Go to http://www.15mm.co.uk for more details on the Home Page  Offer open until 6th December....the Festive Season starts here

Rebel Minis, Greens

Rebel Minis is working on all sorts of releases.  Here are some upcoming 15mm greens.  Be sure to check out Rebel Minis blog for all the latest releases.  I really like the look of the urban scout and gun clerics.  The Armored trooper also looks nice.

Armored Trooper

 Urban Scout

Gun Clerics

Flames of War, Wirbelwind (GE165)

Battle Front is coming out with the Flames of War Wirbelwind (GE165).  The Wirbelwind (Whirlwind) was the second German production vehicle to mount an anti-aircraft gun on the chassis of the Panzer IV tank also known as the Flakpanzer.   The first production Flackpanzer was known as the Möbelwagen and lacked both a turret and the twin guns.  These were used against troops, light vehicles and airplanes.   With their high rate of fire, it was known that when these were in the fields, fighters and fighter bombers tended to look for easier targets.

Olleys Armies, Bio Chambers

Here are some really cool 28mm Bio Chambers from Olleys Armies.  These have all sorts of pulp/sci-fi scenario possibilities.  These are simply awesome.

The Bio Chamber comes with a choice of 3 variations of mutant clones.  The Bio Chamber kit is made up of 7 pieces.  Order Code:BIO-001 Price each £12.00

Dystopian Wars, Covenant of Antarctica

Here is some info on the 5th army of Dystopian Wars.  They haven't released images of the army yet.

The Covenant of Antarctica is a young and vast technological nation, sprawled over the southern ice cap of the Earth. It was publicly founded in 1850 by Lord Barnabas Draynes Sturgeon, when he managed to lead an expedition to the legendary Vault and chose to settle there with his scientific colleagues, mining and exploring the area to uncover its secrets. Eventually the Vault was renamed Wells Chasm by Sturgeon and his people.

The Covenant of Antarctica, officially formed in 1857, covers most of the Antarctic, consisting of laboratories, warehouses and dormitories. Some of the sections of the land hover in the sky, held in the air with the miracle of science, whilst other buildings are housed deep beneath the ice in the frozen ground of the continent. Sturgeon’s nation does not own any lands beyond Antarctica, content to continue research in isolation.

Grunts, 15mm Rules

There is a new set of 15mm rules being worked on called Grunts.  Grunts is a dedicated 15mm fast play wargame designed for skirmish level play with between 10 to 40 figures per side using combined arms. You can use miniatures from any 15mm SCI-FI manufacturer. It is based around a generic platoon level battle, not restricted to a set genre or background setting. Vehicle and artillery rules are included for a combined arms gaming experience with statistics provided for all manufacturers of 15mm sci-fi and modern figures.

Steel Crown Productions, Exodus Wars

Steel Crown Productions have a bunch of new releases for their 6mm Exodus Wars range.  I should be getting a few samples to do some comparison reviews in a few weeks.

 Guild Elektra Heavy Tank Squadron

Edenite Reaver Tank Troop

Heer46, Bergetiger, Ladungsträger, Tiger Cargo Carrier

Heer46 has created another great turret conversion for Flames Of War.  This time it is a conversion for  Tiger tanks.  The Bergetiger, Ladungsträger Tiger Cargo Carrier.  The turret retails for 5,90€+ Post.

In 1944, three Tiger I tanks were field converted by the sPzAbt 509 to recovery vehicles and redesignated Bergepanzer Tiger. In November of 1944, all three were transferred to the sPzAbt 501. Meanwhile, a lone mid production Tiger I that had been damaged near Anzio in Italy was rebuilt and converted by the workshop of sPzAbt 508 into a special purpose vehicle. Its gun was removed and the turret traversed to face the rear then locked in a fixed position. A winch was mounted atop the turret along with a tubular 10-ton lifting crane, which enabled it to recover and tow damaged/ mired vehicles. It was also equipped with other auxiliary equipment so that it could lay and clear demolition charges. 

Wargames illustrated, Issue 277

A new issue of Wargames illustrated comes out this month.  I have been really impressed with this magazine.  The quality is much better than many other gaming magazines out there.  I highly recommend checking this magazine out.

Kick Starter, The VOR 2.0 project

Here is something interesting on Kick Starter.  It seems Mike "Skuzzy" is using Kick Starter to help raise funds to try and publish VOR 2.0.  That would be great if he raises the money.  I have my Growlers waiting.

"Hey folks,
It is with great excitment that I share with you the news that a VOR 2.0 kickstarter project has just begun, and it will run for 60 days. If the project amount is reached (or exceeded) by that time then we will have all the necesary funds needed to finally publish the main rulebook for VOR 2.0! Which would be AWESOME!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bioplazm/the-vor-20-project

Please share the link to the VOR 2.0 KICKSTARTER page wherever you can; facebook, twitter, forums, etc. The more the link is spread out there the greater the chance we will have to get the funding we need to make this happen. When posting the link in gaming forums please be careful to use appropriate locations that might actually be interested.

- Mike "Skuzzy" Nielsen
Bioplazm Games"

Hotz ArtWorks, Moonscape Mat

Hotz Artworks just released a really cool moonscape gaming mat.  I haven't seen these in person, but I think they would be really fun to game on.

The Moonscape Felt Game Mat is designed especially for lunar sci-fi games, either 15mm/28mm skirmish games, 1/300th scale games, fighter craft games in Zero-G, or anything else you may want to play. The felt color was specifically chosen because it matches our vision of the lunar surface. These game mats are available with or without airbrushed crater artwork. If crater artwork is desired, the crater sizes can be modified to match the scale of your game -- you can have larger or smaller size craters airbrushed onto your game mat. Just ask. You may want to have a hex or square grid printed onto the game mat surface. The hexes, for example can be added so the crater artwork fits inside the hexes (available with 3 inch or larger hexes). This way the hex/square grid, if desired, is not merely printed onto the game mat, but is instead added intelligently to the game mat to enhance game play. The uses you will have for these mats is limited only by your imagination.

NOTE: The position and number of craters airbrushed onto game mat varies from game mat to game mat. Usually, on a Moonscape game mat with craters, there are between 18 and 24 craters per game mat. If you want large craters, there will be fewer craters on the game mat, while smaller craters will mean there will be more.