15mm Model of the Stalingrad Fountain

This has already gotten some coverage on The Miniatures Page (TMP), but I think this is so interesting that I just had to post it. There is a company, I believe they are in Spain, that is going to market a 15mm scale model of the famous fountain in the center of Stalingrad that we are all used to seeing in the history documentaries and even in movies. For those of you have never seen this fountain before, let me just tell you that the photo of the real one (2nd photo) became one of those poignant icons of the contrast between peace and war. The release date of the model is reported to be January 9th. It looks like it will be a great way to add interest to any Eastern Front urban combat scenario design.

If you compare the model to the photo of the real one (2nd photo) you will see some differences. The real fountain only had six statues whereas the model has seven and about three more that have apparently been knocked down. Then if you look the the photo of the fountain as it was depicted in the "Enemy at the Gates" movie (3rd photo) you will see that apparently the 15mm model is patterned after the movie's fountain, not the real one.

In any case, it appears to be a nice model and a great idea.

28mm WWII German Troops in Hard Plastic

More interesting news concerning the ever expanding range of 28mm hard plastic wargaming miniatures. We just learned that the Wargames Factory is developing a hard plastic sprue of late war WWII German troops. There will be five figures per sprue. This photo is a nice preview for you.

Zulu War 28mm hard plastics

Here is another development in the expanding availability of 28mm wargaming figures in hard plastic. The Wargames Factory is now planning to come out with hard plastics for the Zulu War of 1879. This a photo of what the British figures will look like painted.

Correction on Army Painter spray cans

Thanks to Brett, who left us a comment on the Army Painter spray cans, we now know that what the Warlord Games web site says is wrong. These products will soon be available in North America, as a matter of fact you can pre-order them right here from the War Store.

And here is something else that is very interesting. This page from the Warlord Games site shows how to use the cans along with their Quick Shade. It sure does look like a quick and easy way to paint a large number of figures!

Army Painter spray cans

Here is another interesting thing that I just learned about; this is also from Warlord Games in the UK. They are marketing, only in the UK and Europe unfortunately, colored spray cans for quickly applying base colors to large numbers of figures. What is different about these spray cans is that they are also designed to take the place of the usual white or black primers that we use. In other words you can prime and start the process of painting colors at the same time. The can in this picture is "Plate Mail," imagine what you could do with that if you had just started painting a large army that is wearing a lot of armor! The other colors are Desert Yellow, Human Skin, Navy Blue, Red, Grey, Skeleton Bone, and Army Green. I hope we see this come to North America some time soon!

The new Testudo model.

Here is a better view of that wonderful testudo model from Warlord Games. From what I understand the entire thing is only six resin interlocking parts. I would really love to have one of these but unfortunately the Roman army I am building in this scale is for an earlier time period. Oh well, tough luck, right?

Ancient Wargaming "Eye Candy" from A & A Miniatures

If you want to see some really beautiful stuff in 28mm scale check this out. I came across this A & A Miniatures company in the UK while looking for examples on how to paint imperial roman figures. I had never seen these figures before and they look really nice. I especially like the cataphracts. I might have to acquire a few of these some day.

More New 28mm Romans in Hard Plastic

Well there really does seem to be a trend developing in the miniature gaming world now. Yet another company has announced the release of 28mm miniatures in hard plastic. This time it is a UK company called Warlord Games. Their hard plastic Romans come from the early imperial period, so now you have a choice between the Caesarian era (from the Wargames Factory) and imperial era. It looks to me that if you want to acquire these you will have to order them directly from the UK. One nice touch with this new set is that it comes with shield transfers.

Perry Brothers ACW artillery

Check out this photo that I found. It is the new ACW artillery set that the Perry Brothers will be releasing. This set is not hard plastic, it is traditional metal. I like how they added the muzzle blast special effect. Almost looks real, doesn't it?

Perry Brothers hard plastic ACW Cavalry

We just learned that you can now pre-order the next installment in the hard plastic 28mm figures from the Perry Brothers. This time it is cavalry and it will ship in May 2008. From what I understand each box will contain 12 mounted cavalrymen, 12 separate forage caps, 12 separate slouch hats, 12 separate carbines, 12 sword arms, 6 pistol arms, and enough parts to create 3 commands. Boxes also contains 2 Union guidons, 2 Confederate guidons, and a set of simple rules. Now that's what I call a flexible boxed set. And all for only an MSRP of only $28.32! If you are looking for a U.S. distributor, the War Store is the only one that I know of at this time.

New 28mm Italian Bersaglieri

Get a load of this! Here's something I never thought I would see! Askari Miniatures has just announced a line of Italian Bersaglieri figures suitable for colonial or WWII Western Desert games. They look really nice in the pictures. I have some of Askari's French Foreign Legion figures and I can tell you that they are nothing short of really beautiful! These look like they are just as nice, if not better. I would not be surprised if some of these "paisanos" make it into my collection.

More on Little Big Men shield decals

Back on October 9, 2007 I posted an article about Little Big Men decals for shields and flags. These are what my Caesarian Romans look like after appying them. I think it is a very nice result.

Perry Brothers planning hard plastic ACW figures

Good news for all you American Civil War (ACW) gamers out there! The Perry twins are planning to market 28mm ACW figures in hard plastic. They look real nice too! From what I have heard they plan to sell them for 12 GBP for a box of 36. I believe that means about $24 a box, or about 67 cents per figure. Seems like a pretty good deal considering that they are obviously going to be extremely nice figures.

Celts from Sri Lanka

I have to share these pictures with you. A couple months ago I shipped some unpainted Celtic 28mm figures that I had on-hand for a long time to "PhilGreg Painters" in Sri Lanka. Two months later they came back looking supremely gorgeous. Look at the details and designs! 73 of them and no two were alike, every figure and every shield were completely unique in some way. And believe me, the pictures do not do them justice. There is just no way that I could have made them look anything like this on my own. This gets me very much farther down the road in my effort to collect enough Celts to field either a Gaulic or Britannic ancient army. Now I need to work on cavalry and chariots. What the heck, maybe I will just send those to Philip too!

Shield and Flag Decals from "Little Big Men Studios"

Here is another thing that I have been working on recently. I have a collection of 28mm Romans from the Marian/Caesarian era that I have been trying to finish for several years now. I recently ordered all of them to "fall in for muster" so I could start working on them again. I went looking to see if there are any new decals available for decorating their shields and I came across a place called "Little Big Men Studios" in the UK. They are incredibly detailed and colorful and I just had to try some. The picture on the left shows the decal set I ordered for my "Marius' Mules." The picture on the right shows what a typical decal looks like on a figure. (It's not one of my figures.) There were several other styles to choose from for that time period. There are also many other shield and flag designs from a large range of armies and eras.

These decals are different from anything I have ever used before. They are not the type that slide off the sheet and on to the model. First you have to peel a thin layer of plastic off the top of the decal sheet. Once you do this you will find that the decal is very "sticky." You then stick the decal on the surface to be decorated with the decal making contact and the paper backing now on top. You then moisten the paper and after about 30 seconds the paper slides off the decal and it is done. So far I have applied them to 18 shields. It went pretty well and it got quicker and easier as I went along. I had trouble with one of them but I'm pretty sure that it was because my fingers were not totally dry when I started to handle it. When I was done a couple of them where peeling on the edges but I think that was because I used to much water on them. When I was finished I gloss-coated them to protect them (this also solved the peeling problem because the gloss coat flattened them out again) and then I dull coated them to remove the shine.

They really look very nice when finished. I'll post some pictures of my completed shields eventually.

Little Big Men Studios

Yet More of The "Power Sword"

Pretty nice results!

More of The "Power Sword"

See how it easily cuts through the thick blues stuff? I had it cranked up to full power here it took about 15 seconds to cut all the way down.

The "Power Sword"

Check this baby out! Got it from the War Store on-line. You can do some serious styrofoam cutting with this thing, even the dense 2 inch insulation board stuff.

The Highlanders in Africa - group photos

The eight-man unit of Highlanders.



And one more unit shot, for the regimental historian. 

The Highlanders in Africa

On the march and fixing bayonet!



The Color Sergeant



Kneeling reload.



Firing on a knee and reloading on the move.