Category: news

Flames of War back at Maelstrom Games

Many will remember earlier this year when there was a little strop between Battlefront and Maelstrom Games which resulted in Battlefront refusing to supply Malestrom with Flames of War products.

From Tabletop Gaming News, February 23rd 2011

Battlefront Miniatures Ltd of Auckland, New Zealand announces that Maelstrom Games of Mansfield, United Kingdom is no longer a retailer of its products. This applies to all brands and ranges sold by Battlefront Miniatures Ltd. With immediate effect Maelstrom Games will no longer be one of our retailers.

Well according to the latest news from Maelstrom, they have reconciled their differences and Maelstrom will now be stocking the full range of Flames of War.

We are proud to announce that, in 2012, Maelstrom Games will be renewing our partnership with Battlefront Miniatures to bring you the finest World War II wargame and miniatures out there – Flames of War!

We’ve missed it, we know you lot have missed it, so we approached, apologised and reconciled our differences with Battlefront so we could work together again to ensure 2012 will be a great year for wargaming!

Flames of War, of course, has expanded greatly in 2011 and we will be bringing you all of the superb new releases from this year as well as everything else in Battlefront’s rather enormous range of miniatures. Whilst it will take time to build up stock, Battlefront’s speedy order turnaround times will ensure that even if the items you want aren’t in our warehouse or you can get them very quickly. We will, however, be stocking our store almost immediately, thus ensuring that if you visit the Eye of the Storm you should be able to grab what you need on the day.

Wargames Illustrated magazine and Gale Force Nine hobby products will also return, needless to say (for which we all rejoice), although it may take a day or so to get Gale Force Nine and Wargames Illustrated on the webstore, so please be patient! We will also ensure our venue holds as many Flames of War events as we can possibly fit into the schedule, so watch out for those announcements.

All of the Flames of War items (barring the Vietnam War stuff, which again will appear at some point over the next couple of days) are now on the webstore, so feel free to order them from this point – as well as the superb new late war compilations, Grey Wolf and Red Bear, and all of those lovely new releases coming in January 2012!

What’s interesting is that Maelstom will be offering their usual 10% discount.

I do wonder who made the first move, were Battlefront suffering or was it Maelstrom, I guess we will never know even if the tone of the news from Maelstrom indicates it was them.

Cut and Thrust Wargaming

Found out today there is a wargaming store in Bristol on Old Market called Cut and Thrust Wargaming. No idea what it’s like as I’ve not had a chance to get in, but the description sounds interesting.

3 floors of gaming tables with terrain, paint stations, cafe and bathroom facilities. This place is massive, a gaming Mecca in the heart of Bristol, easy to get to from either the Cabot Circus parking, Bristol Temple Meads railway station or A4032 into the city. Home of the Bristol Vanguard, Cut and Thrust also hosts evening sessions on Tues and Thurs nights. Tournaments, leagues, campaigns and participation games are in the pipeline for this recently opened store. This place has to be visited to be appreciated!

Might be worth a visit.

Flames of War German Armoured Train

Battlefront have released details about their plans for 2012 and one of the releases will be a German Armoured Train.

As you can see from the picture it is a “captured” Polish Armoured Train with extra German bits. Looks good, but I I don’t know about you, but I think I would prefer a “proper” German armoured train rather than the captured version.

Of course the other reason for not getting one, is that I don’t have forces from the Eastern Front and most of my collection is for D-Day and onwards.

Blast from the past…

First is was the Land Raider…

Now it’s the turn of the Rhino.

Forge World have made a new version of the Rhino which echoes back the first plastic Rhino kit that Games Workshop made.

The ubiquitous Rhino Armoured Personnel Carrier is a mainstay of the Space Marine Chapters, and has been in continuous use for ten thousand years. Its true origins are more distant still, and ancient records mention the RH1-N-0 Tracked Exploration and Multi-Purpose Defence Vehicle STC accompanying explorator missions during Mankind’s Golden Age. Re-armed and re-purposed for military use, the Rhino has remained a mainstay of the Imperium’s might over the millennia since.

There are many known patterns and designs of this robust vehicle, and the MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino is among the oldest variants, first issued en-masse to the Astartes Legions of the Great Crusade. This pattern is armed with two turret-mounted bolters, slaved to the target-logis systems of the Rhino’s machine spirit rather than the more common pintle-mounted storm bolter seen on both the earlier MkIb Mars Pattern vehicle and the later MkIIc design that became more common after the Horus Heresy.

The MkIc Deimos Pattern Rhino, designed by Daren Parrwood, is a complete resin and plastic kit, containing a standard Games Workshop Rhino kit as well as sufficient resin conversion components to construct the MkIc Deimos Pattern variant. Priced at £33.

I do quite like the kit and find it amusing that they have based it on the newer plastic kit. It certainly captures the character of the original plastic model but with a lot more detail than we had back then. Obviously a lot more expensive too, the original price of the plastic Rhino was three for £10, so now priced at £33 for one nearly ten times the cost.

It’s come back….

Those of us who have been playing Warhammer 40K since it was first released will recognise this new model from Forge World.

It is of course a resin version of the original original Land Raider that was released back in 1987 following the release of the 1st edition of Warhammer 40,000, Rogue Trader.

The Land Raider is perhaps the most iconic of all Imperial armoured vehicles. Its distinctive silhouette is recognisable to foe and ally alike, announcing the indomitable presence of the Adeptus Astartes, the heroic and super-human Space Marines. Many patterns and designs of this honoured and ancient war machine exist across the myriad worlds of the Imperium, and among the oldest of such designs is the Land Raider Proteus.

Mechanicus tech-savants believe that the Land Raider Proteus is a precursor to the Phobos pattern vehicle now found amongst the armouriums of the Adeptus Astartes. Bulkier and faster than the Phobos, ancient and forgotten data-looms describe the Proteus as a forward assault vehicle, commonly fielded in Explorator missions during the dawning days of Mankind’s fledgling galactic empire.

This full resin kit, designed by Phil Stutcinskas, is packed with some amazing details and two different hull-mounted weapon options to supplement its twin-linked sponson-mounted lascannons. Available for the first time in limited numbers at Games Day UK, the Land Raider Proteus is priced at £80.

Obviously as a complete resin Forge World model it is much more expensive than the current plastic kit and way more than the plastic model did when it came out in 1987!

I never actually ever bought that first Land Raider back then, well I was playing Orks, why would I buy a model for the “beakies”. I’ve always had a nostalgic fondness for the older models, well I did buy the Mark IIb as it reminded me of playing Epic. I have a fair few Epic versions of the original Land Raider as you can see from this picture.

So what about the new Proteus? Well I am quite tempted by the model and if I ever get the Mark IIB finished I might buy one.

Red Tails

This film from Lucasfilms is looking excellent. Some great special effects as well as authentic looking planes and tanks (we can thank CGI for that).

1944. As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options — including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country — and the fate of the free world.

Want to go and see this.

World War Z

They are currently filming World War Z up in Glasgow. They are using Glasgow to stand in for Philadelphia and as a result they have dressed the place up with props to make it look the part. Very strange to see Glasgow with American police cars, fire engines, taxis, cars and trucks.

The signage looks very effective as do the extras dressed in SWAT gear or army camouflage.

There are some more great photographs of the filming in this Flickr group.
With this story in the news it did make me think about checking out the book on which the film is based.

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, “World War Z” brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation.

I have to admit I am not a great fan of horror movies, but will occasionally watch the odd zombie film and quite enjoyed The Walking Dead.

Zombies have, as I am sure you know, great potential for gaming. Hordes of the undead swarming across the battlefield, whilst a small group of humans try and survive. At quite a few shows I have been to, there have been zombie participation games which I think demonstrate the interest in the genre.

So while I wait for the movie to be finished and released I am probably going to get a copy of World War Z and have a read.

The Making of Harry Potter

I am quite tempted to go and visit this when it opens next year.

Set to open in Spring 2012, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London is a behind-the-scenes walking tour which immerses guests into the world of film-making. The tour features authentic sets, costumes and props that showcase the British artistry, technology and talent that goes into producing world famous and successful movies, created at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. The Studio Tour will initially focus on the Harry Potter film series which has made the Studios its home for over 10 years.