Hobbycraft stop the Flames of War

Okay this is based on what I saw, but it would appear that Hobbycraft (in Bristol anyhow) have decided to stop selling Flames of War in their store.

They have moved it all downstairs and are selling it off with most boxed sets and books at 20% off, the blisters appear to be between 10-20% off. There is a little sign that says “last chance to buy” too.
In case you are wondering, it is in the main Late War American, Russian and some German and British. They also have the main rulebook, North Africa and Blitzkrieg. Though I think these may be cheaper on Amazon.
No idea if this applies to other Hobbycraft stores that sell Flames of War, if it does, please leave a comment to that effect.

I am disappointed to see that Hobbycraft are stopping selling Flames of War, it was my only local supplier and it was better than nothing. The problem I found though was that the range was seriously limited, rarely updated and replaced and it never sold any of the new stuff, especially the Blitzkreig range. I did buy my first Flames of War models from the store and I doubt I would have bought them if I couldn’t actually see them and just take them to the till. Of course once the new Early War stuff was announced I was very disappointed to see that they didn’t stock any of the new stuff except the book!

Hobbycraft never seemed to take it seriously and I suspect that is what stopped it selling more than anything else. Any retailer can not rely on casual purchases and by getting the regular customers in on a regular basis they can then push more stock and make more sales. However to Hobbycraft it just seemed like another range of stuff that they sold, no one cared about it, so no one thought to promote it, check that it was what people wanted and in the end they pulled the entire range, which is a pity.
Of course from my perspective I can order from Wayland Games or similar, get a 10% discount and free shipping, but I do like the fact with a local retailer that I can see things I maybe wouldn’t have bought online or via mail-order. Let’s buy a single blister or boxed set and see where that takes us…

So for now I am reliant on online stores for my Flames of War purchases…

Did I buy anything I hear you ask?

Well I did get a Jagdpanther, the one in the boxed set with the building.

Only bought the one though…. Nice model.

Undercoating the Grot Tanks

The lunatic product of the deranged imaginations of grot riggers and scavs that have spent far too long basking in the insane genius of the Big Meks, Grots Tanks are diminutive armoured vehicles made to imitate the far larger Ork Wagons and Tanks.

The set contains four different variant chassis, tracks, exhausts and turrets as well as four fantastic Grot Tank Kommandaz and 5 different, incredibly shooty, weapon options.

I picked up a set of Grot Tanks on a recent visit to Warhammer World. After washing the resin, I then looked at the four main bodies and tracks deciding which was going to go with which. I then constructed and stuck the tanks together.

Continue reading “Undercoating the Grot Tanks”

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Car

So there I was flicking through the most recent copy of Wargames Illustrated when I noticed in the Hellfire and Back battle report a wonderful looking Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

I believe that this is a new model for Flames of War and hasn’t been released before by Battlefront.

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

I’ve always liked the Rolls Royce Armoured Car and though this is a desert version, wondering if it wouldn’t take much to convert it for Home Guard use. I would need to convert the turrets back from the open ones used in the desert to the older closed ones. Of course it would be nice if a non-desert version of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car was sold as part of Blitzkreig, but I am guessing it won’t be.

I like the Morris CS9 model too.

Constructing the Grot Tanks

The lunatic product of the deranged imaginations of grot riggers and scavs that have spent far too long basking in the insane genius of the Big Meks, Grots Tanks are diminutive armoured vehicles made to imitate the far larger Ork Wagons and Tanks.

The set contains four different variant chassis, tracks, exhausts and turrets as well as four fantastic Grot Tank Kommandaz and 5 different, incredibly shooty, weapon options.

I picked up a set of Grot Tanks on a recent visit to Warhammer World. After washing the resin, I then looked at the four main bodies and tracks deciding which was going to go with which. I then constructed and stuck the tanks together.

You have lots of options, including adding exhausts and weapons in a variety of ways.

The workbench feature on the Grot Tanks is broken down into four separate features, one for each of the Grot Tanks.

Grot Tank I
Grot Tank II
Grot Tank III
Grot Tank IV

Constructing the Flames of War French Char B1 bis

The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War. It was a specialised heavy break-through vehicle, originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull; later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de Bataille, a “battle tank” fighting enemy armour, equipping the armoured divisions of the Infantry Arm.

Within the blister you get the resin hull and turret whilst the rest of the model is whitemetal.

Flames of War French Char B1 bis

Here are the three resin hulls lined up.

Flames of War French Char B1 bis

They are smaller than I expected.

Flames of War French Char B1 bis

For some reason I had this impression that the Char B1 was a really large tank. Well compared to other Early War tanks it is, however compared to Late War tanks it’s quite small. Continue reading “Constructing the Flames of War French Char B1 bis”