Pirates again, Old Glory OGP-20 Island Governors With Assistants

Thought I'd post another of these packs as I think they are great and deserve some publicity with the amount of pirate related hobby stuff that is going on at the moment......previous OG Pirate codes here. It will really make a nice little vignette....if I ever get around to it.....

Very nicely sculpted, only the lady leaving a little to be desired in the facial details. Available from Old Glory US here or Old Glory UK here.

Nick over at Northstar Miniatures is releasing a set of pirates sculpted by Steve Saleh for use with the Osprey Publishing 'On The Seven Seas' Wargames Rules for the Age of Piracy and Adventure c. 1500-1730. He is adding a number of freebie minis to entice unsuspecting punters to fall for this devilishly nicely put together set up...............this includes................

The 'I Want It All' deal for On The Seven Seas contains: 

The rulebook, On The Seven Seas. 

Captain Hood's Crew, 

Blackbeard's Crew. 

Captain Calico Jack's Crew. 

Royal Navy Crew. 

Lichfield Tony. 

All five free miniatures designed for the Nickstarter pre-order program; Marcel the Monkey, Harry Bennett's hoard, Captain Kidd, Jack Cubbin The Cabin boy & the High Seas Drifter.

More info and pics on the Northstar site here.

Of course there are other companies producing pirates.....................

Wargames Foundry Some of my favorite sculpts in this line. Will Hannah along with a few old Perry sculpts that were done for Citadel back in the day. 

Black Scorpion Beautiful pieces, unfortunately (IMHO) they have moved to the dark side and now cast only in resin but if that's not a problem then well worth perusing.

Dixon Miniatures Trevor Dixon has been sculpting since I can remember. Some very nice resin ships here as well.

Freebooter Miniatures Rather pricey as sculpted for individual use within their house game 'Freebooter's Fate' but superb sculpts by that German talent Werner Klocke.

Reaper Miniatures Now, you could easily get lost with the vast range Reaper produce but if you se the search function it pars it down eg http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/pirate. They have a lot of Werner Klocke sculpts at a more affordable level as well. And Matthew Bickley...and...etc etc

Hasslefree Miniatures They have a number of suitable sculpts including an incredible Tom Meier Pirate Captain.

Crusader Miniatures Have a few nice sculpts c/o the very talent Mark Simms.

Warrior Miniatures Very old school sculpts but worth a look in.

Brigade Games Have a few packs and rules.

Artizan Designs Produce 3 useful blisters sculpted by Mike Owen..

Bronze Age Miniatures Female pirates. David Sonderquist's company. Great sculptor and nice bloke.... Ian over at Fenris Games is starting to import his ranges over here so you could ask him to add some in.

Black Tree Design Don't currently have a range however they did buy Pirate greens of that Warlord Games Wotjek. All here in a previous post. Shout at them to get them released please....BTD haven't released anything new for years. Grrrrrr.....

Eureka Miniatures Some lovely pieces in here including an excellent Ship's Wheel. Some of them are available via Irregular Miniatures in the UK. You need to search the 28mm section...takes a little getting used to. Irregular are a old school sculpting at a very good price. Well worth looking around their site.

Redoubt Miniatures Some interesting sculpts in here...one of their older ranges that does need updating...

Games of War Produce resins buildings and metal accessories. Very droolworthy if there is such a word. And if not there should be. 

4Ground Have some nice pre painted MDF buildings. They are releasing some long awaited fantasy houses soon which will be a must...possibly July I think.

I am sure there will be many more but there is a very in depth Pirates showcase over on Frothers Forum here. A little out of date now but includes both historical and fantasy.

If you do pick merchandise up from any of the above please tell them where you got the link. It's nice to feel appreciated.........

As always; enquiries@deartonyblair.co.uk

Dreamforge Games Eisenkern Stormtroopers

Well....after watching Iron Sky the thought of Space Nazis has not left my thoughts......in a good way of course. Dreamforge Games has arisen from the 'ashes' of Wargames Factory.....a long sordid tale of mis-management and inscrutable Chinese operations. Almost worthy of a post in itself but the truth lies out there....not here. The box contains the parts for 20 Eisenkern Stormtroopers and they are very sculpted - I am becoming more of a fan of the computer generated sculpting than I thought I would be. The figures take some putting together which is a pain - I had forgotten about the youthful frustrations of Airfix kits. I picked my pack up on a pre-order from those nice guys at Northstar Military Figures. Tell Nick I sent you.......

The other sets available.....

The instructions are well laid out and the colour keys make it even easier....

The bases are a tad annoying as you have to clean the tabs up underneath the base.....not sure on the reasons for casting them like this.....although I'm sure there must be one.

Head shot......not an expression I use lightly....

The component parts for one figure.

Head, 2 piece torso and legs went together without too many swear words.....

The arms, rifle and ammunition magazine involved a few expletives...very fiddly and frustrating. There will be a good degree of flexibility in poses though which is a good thing......

I prefer them without the backpack myself......

A comparison shot with 2 Artizan Designs Panzer Bots also picked up from North Star at the same time. 

Overall I am very impressed with these figures and will certainly look at picking more of their releases up. There are mold lines which are annoying but something I think you have to live with in plastic releases.

A quick pic for a friend next to an attractive female resistance trooper courtesy of Statuesque Miniatures.....

Update - April 9th 2013 - more pics of forthcoming releases here.

Moving on to a few painted minis. This guy is from the old 80s Heroes Miniatures GH4 Professor- one of my favourite of the old school small companies. The sculptor, Tony Yates, still sculpts and has his own blog - link here.

A female pirate from Bronze Age Miniatures - David Sonderquist's own company that has been going for some years and continues to produce excellent minis. He also does a number of figs suitable for John Carter style gaming in his Sci Fi section. 

A fisherman from Black Cat Bases, a company with a most varied range including many suitable for Gothic Horror / Cthulhu type games.

Gorgon Studios has 2 packs for Gangster games in their 'Bootleggers' section. Steve Saleh sculpts, wonderful minis, a shame the postage was so high from the States. I think postage is trying its best to kill the small business. Link here to Steve's 'never updated' blog.

5 more gladiators nearing completion. 1 from Wargames Foundry and 4 from Crusader.....the latter picked up from North Star games in one of their 'Lucky Bags' that they release occasionally. Check out his 'Bargains' section when you pick other stuff up....well worth it! Nick at North Star distributes Crusader amongst many other companies. He is slowly taking over the world..........Just the bases and a few highlights to do before they join their colleagues.

Going to finish on an old mystery figure. that has me stumped....... more of a pewter type metal and very reminiscent of the very old TSR logo.....please let me know if you recognise it!