Previously unreleased "Empirical Squads" now available from Wargames Foundry

The good folk at Wargames Foundry are now selling some of Bryan Ansell's science fiction miniatures that have been unreleased since 1987. Here's an image from their website:

If you want to order a squad of these you can give them a call or purchase them directly from the website. Details here.

If these figures are a complete mystery to you then you might want to look here, here, here and here.

They come with integral solid bases similar to the ones on all their other models.

Here's what the Foundry website has to say about these figures:

We believe that these newly discovered items are the almost mystically rare deathcasts of the elite

EMPIRICAL ABSOLUTION and LIQUIDATION SQUAD. We estimate their value as somewhere in the region of an ENTIRE GALACTIC EMPIRE, probably with a couple of lost mythical lands thrown in.

The Empirical Abs etc. demanded absolute and immediate unthinking obedience to the Empiricator [BLESS HIS NAME!] and not only from the inhabitants of Known Space, but also from the entire population of the Multiverse.

Indeed: after a boozy afternoon of high stake rune casting and seven episodes of the most sacred tapes of STARTREK, the EALS (as they liked to be known) took to speculating as to what their ultimate rewards would be for their lifetimes of ceaseless holy work:

At this point the Empiricator [BLESS HIS NAME!] got a whiff of what was going on. He sighed heavily, made a few passes in the air, clicked his heels together twice, shouted SHAZAM! And he had obliterated the foolish boozy EALS. All that was found was a neat pile of bleached skulls. Each bore the word HUBRIS and each had a tiny lead ceremonial Manikin perched there on its dome.

The Kev Adams collection part 1

As many of you will be aware, Kev "Goblin master" Adams is currently working for Bryan Ansell, producing loads of various greenskins for Warmonger Miniatures, and is also working on a range of chaos beastmen types (not yet released). I was fortunate to share the Warmonger stand with Kev at the last Salute, and after having a good old chat we decided that Kev's collection of vintage painted figures needed to be photographed for posterity. The majority of his collection is at his parent's house, who were wonderful and generous hosts for the day. So I set off with Kev and a camera in early July to take some pictures.

What I saw blew me away! This is the site that greeted me when we arrived at Kev's parents' house:

Iron Wind Metals interview with Tom Meier

David Wood of the Dear Tony Blair blog just shared a link on Facebook to an Iron Wind Metals interview with Tom Meier. Tom discusses how he got started sculpting, and his opinions on working with various mediums. It makes for fascinating viewing!

The video is part of a series that focuses on Iron Wind Metal's recent successfully funded Ral Partha Chaos Wars kickstarter that I blogged about last month.

Let's hope that Iron Wind Metals release more videos featuring Tom!

Warmonger's forthcoming Kev Adams beastmen...and a bit of Blanche

First off, please note these haven't been released yet, so don't go calling Foundry/Warmonger asking if you can get some because they aren't at the production stage. But I couldn't resist sharing them with you.

While I was helping the Warmonger Miniatures crew pack for Salute just gone, I had the pleasure of seeing some of greens of the beastmen heads that Kev Adams is sculpting. There's some proper old skool chaos-y stuff going on here:

It's difficult to pick out a favourite but for sheer bonkers check out the two on the left of the middle row.

Another one I'd like to single out is the one on the top left, which you can see here in side profile:

Unfortunately I didn't quite manage to get it in focus, but there's something about the eye that gives a real look of melancholia, of a beast doomed to follow the path of chaos.

While I was wandering around Stoke Hall packing up various bits and pieces I happened to notice part of a painting sticking out from behind one of Bryan's sofas. Hang on I thought, I recognise that...

It's only the original cover art of the first Citadel Compendium, painted by John Blanche and one of my favourite pieces of art EVAAAAHH! Drool over it ye mortals and despair. If you're thinking that part of the painting in the centre has been erased (that white patch) then don't worry, it's just the light hitting the glass.

Bryan also produced a card that had been sent to him many years ago, that had another piece of original John Blanche art attached to the front!

Beautiful.

Ral Partha Chaos Wars kickstarter: unreleased figures

There's a good chance you'll already be aware of this kickstarter, which only has a couple of days left to run. What you may not know though is that the stretch goals unlock some previously unreleased figures. You will need to scroll down to close to the end of the kickstarter page to see these figures. One of my personal favourites is the unreleased Troll Hag and Children:

You can see pictures of a painted Troll Hag at the Stuff of Legends. It's a great looking figure, as you would expect from Tom Meier, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what her children look like!

So do yourself a favour and head over to the kickstarter page to make a pledge - who knows what hidden gems will be forthcoming!

I'm going to Salute! With Warmonger Miniatures!

I've never been to Salute, and sometimes it feels like I'm the only person in this game who hasn't! Well I'm going this year, and I'll be manning the Warmonger Miniatures stand, together with Kev Adams and Marcus Ansell.

For the past few months, Kevin Adams and Bryan Ansell have been working on their range of new and remarkably strange fantasy miniatures…orcs, trolls, goblins, beastmen…all manner of weird and wonderful creations are starting to see the light of day.

I’ve blogged about some of the incredible works-in-progress previously, and it’s just been announced that some of these figures may be available for sale at Salute; here’s what Warmonger had to say earlier today:

Warmonger will have a stand at Salute, Excel on 25th April. Our stand number is TB13. Look out for our banner.

Kevin Adams will be with us and happy to talk about what he’s working on at the moment. Steve Casey, of The Citadel Collector, will also be helping out on our stand.

We will have loads of Kev’s old Orcs with us and we are working very hard to try to have a selection of his new stuff on display, and perhaps even available for sale! As I type, Bryan and Steve Turton are cleaning up the master castings and attempting to organise pressing a couple of moulds of the new Greenskins. It will be touch and go to see if we can actually get them cast up.

So please some along to say hi. I’ll be the one with receding hairline, a slight paunch, and a dodgy Welsh accent. Well, at least one of those three characteristics should mark me out…

Colony 87 - 28mm Sci-Fi Civilians by Michael Anderson

I just had to share this one. Jon Boyce, my buddy and stalwart of the Oldhammer Community, has teamed up with the uber-talented sculptor Michael Anderson on a Kickstarter to produce a range of 28mm Sci-Fi Civilians. They are fantastic! Perfect for Rogue Trader, or gaming Dune or Judge Dredd!

Check out the character on these sculpts:

You can sign up to the Kickstarter here. Go on, you know you need to!