Friday 26 February 2016

Free Worldwide Postage until 1st March 2016 at 15mm.co.uk

Leap into the Fray with our Leap Year Offer!


From now until early morning 1st March 2016 we are having a free worldwide postage on all orders over 10.00GBP in product value!  This applies to Alternative Armies, 15mm.co.uk and The Ion Age on all our 6mm, 15mm and 28mm miniatures and game systems in fact everything on our websites you can put in your cart (not downloads).  All you need to do is add to the cart and the website will do the rest.  Go HERE.

If you like 15mm scale including HOT Fantasy, TTF Fantasy, HOF Science Fiction, Laserburn, Altuos Renaissance, Pony Wars and ACW, Isarus Dark Age, Medus Medieval along with 6mm sci-fi and a lot more go to 15mm.co.uk.  

All the offers on our websites made during this month are still valid until the end of this event so in some cases you can get a double advantage.  Here are a list of the blog articles from this month applicable to offers:





Combing Orders Text

So if you like Flintloque, High Fantasy, Ganesha Games and other 28mm scale ranges check out Alternative Armies.  Space Opera science fiction wargamers should look to the unique range and setting of The Ion Age for excellent 15mm and 28mm miniatures, vehicles and rule systems.

Our three websites are having a free postage event.  If you place an order for more then ten pounds (10.00GBP) the shopping cart will automatically give you free shipping worldwide.  As many orders as you like across one, two or all three of our websites at www.alternative-armies.com, www.15mm.co.uk and www.theionage.com.  While the vast majority of customers are happy to place orders in this way we know that some of you would like to place a combined order by email and receive a paypal invoice to pay.  This is totally fine with us and here is what to do for a combined order by email.  Firstly choose your point of contact.  Is it Alternative Armies, 15mm.co.uk or The Ion Age?  Choose one and email us on sales@alternative-armies.com, sales@15mm.co.uk or info@theionage.com.  

Make your email title 'combined order' and give us your name, your shipping address, your paypal email address and a list of codes and quantities that you want to order from across our ranges.  We will then reply with a total and a paypal invoice.  You will get a free monthly miniature if you have Ion Age codes and you will get any other items offered free if applicable from the other websites if you have codes from its ranges in your order.  We typically reply quickly but be assured you WILL NOT miss the free postage on your combined order as we will honour it as long as your email comes in before the offer ends.  Speak to you soon.  Thanks.  

Gavin Syme (GBS).

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Batch Painting 15mm Figures for AoMaS by Andy Jefcoate

Welcome to the second article for Age of Might and Steel by Andy Jefcoate a great fan of 15mm fantasy wargaming.  Andy has more articles to come which will feature on our blog and in this article he talks and shows how to get your figures painted and on the table using the very popular HOT21 Zombie Horde pack. If you missed the first article on building a Goblin Army then you can read that HERE on our blog.  We hope you enjoy and all comments or emails are most welcome. Follow the links in the text to visit our website for the rules and miniatures mentioned.  GBS


Batch Painting 15mm Figures for AoMaS

Everyone has their own individual style and method for painting figures and this often differs according to the scale and genre of figures you are working on. Recently I've been painting large numbers of 15mm fantasy figures and without a system this can take a long time. I thought I'd talk you through the system I use which as I have limited time I've found effective. The figures I'll use as my example are zombies from the 15mm.co.uk pack HOT21 Zombie Horde.  This pack has sixteen mixed unarmed Zombies in it and is excellent value and varied use too.


For Age of Might and Steel (AoMaS) you really need zombie units of 10 or 12 stands and each unit has to have a magic user attached. I personally don't like to paint a unit all in one go so I do it in 2 batches of 5 or 6 stands but this is just personal preference.

1. I start by gluing the figures 3 to a 40mm x 20mm stand. There are 4 different poses in this pack and I insure that there are 3 different poses on each stand but in a random order. Once the glue's dry I undercoate the figures in a matt black paint. I like to use acrylic paints as they dry quickly. 


2. I then add my basing material by adding fine sand to paint of the colour I want the bases to be and put it on. For my current 15mm fantasy armies I'm using a sandy brown as the base colour. Doing the basing material at this stage is a bit unconventional but I don't like it when I accidently get basing material on a nicely painted figure! I find it easier to just touch up the base itself later on if any paint from the figure gets on it. 

This can all easily be done in an evening leaving a couple of hours between each stage.The basing paint can then be left overnight to dry hard.


3. The first paint I usually start with is any metallic areas but as the zombies don't have armour or carry weapons I can skip this stage. 

4. Next I paint any flesh colour which for zombies in 15mm I like to use a sickly pale green. You could also use a light grey or add grey to a flesh tone if you want the zombies to look a bit more fresh!


5.  Then it's time for the clothing and hair. I use 3 drab colours such as a light brown, a dark brown and a grey, randomly across all the figures for the majority of their clothing and their hair as this makes the stands look part of the same unit even though they don't wear a uniform. I then like to pick out the odd clothing item in a brighter colour such as red, blue or green to give a bit of variety but only a maximum of 1 or 2 items per stand so as to not lose the uniformity.

6. By this stage the majority of the figure's surface area is painted and it's time to pick out any details that are unique to a particular casting. With the zombies one of the figures looks like it has half it's intestines hanging out so a nice dark purple for these catches the eye. I also add blood around any areas that look like they could have been wounds and on a few figures put blood on hands and around their mouths to hint at previous dark deeds! This adds a further bit of variety between figures.


7. To bring all this together I then cover the whole of each figure in a black ink wash. As it dries it highlights the detail on the castings, it dulls down the colour of the individual paints and also brings colours together by creating areas of shade. If you're painting figures with nice uniforms you have to be careful not to overdo it so as not to obscure brighter colours but this won't matter with zombies it just makes them look more grubby.


8. The zombies themselves are complete so its time to touch up the main base colour if required. The fine sand gives a nice texture which can then be highlighted with a lighter colour. I find that a bone colour works well over the sandy brown. I've done the bases in the same style for all of my 15mm fantasy armies as I can then use units as mercenaries or swap monsters to different armies and they immediately fit in visually.


9. For durability I then give all the stands a coat of varnish to protect them for transport and from damage in the heat of battle such as being battered by dice or being accidently knocked from the table. I use a spray matt varnish so that the figures aren't too shiny but again this is just personal taste.
10. Finally once the varnish has dried I add static grass to the  bases using PVA glue as it ties the units in with the green of my terrain tiles, but again this is purely personal taste. The use of different flocks can change the look of any army and can be used to fit them with whatever terrain you require. 


Including leaving the base paint overnight these 10 steps can be completed within 24 hours and I've done it in the past to have that final unit finished for a particular battle.


If you want extra variety you can convert some of the figures quite easily. With zombies you can simply clip bits off or bend them out of shape to show earlier damage. I always fancied doing a unit that's coming up out of the ground which wouldn't be to hard to do. Something for a future article perhaps........

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Thursday 11 February 2016

Altuos 15mm Renaissance Range 25% off 25 Codes


15mm.co.uk has a large selection of classic 15mm historical ranges for wargamers to choose from. These include the Isarus range of Dark Age and Ancients, the Medus range of Medieval and Hussites, the Altuos range of Renaissance and Turkish as well as Potomac ACW and Brickdust Napoleonics too. We don't often mention them much across the web and social media so we decided its time to share the love (appropriate time of the year too) with 25% yes twenty five percent off twenty five codes in the Altuos range. Go HERE


There are about one hundred and forty different miniatures in the Altuos range from the 15th to the 17th century covering the nations of Europe plus Ottoman Turkish too. Infantry, Cavalry, Command, Artillery Crews, Artillery pieces too. To be fair to wargamers who play Renaissance era rule systems and have diverse ideas of which armies to field the twenty five codes reduced are randomly spaced across the range. Discount is on the screen you just add to your cart. Go HERE.  Enjoy the range looking for the discounted codes.

The discounts last until the end of the month of February. 

Thanks for Reading, 

GBS

Monday 8 February 2016

Say Goodbye to the 15mm Charger APC and Maginot Defence Tower


Yes say goodbye to the popular HOF27 Maginot Defence Tower and the HOF28 Charger APC models in our HOF 15mm Science Fiction range.  They will be withdrawn from sale at the end of February 2016.  But wait you say!  Why withdraw them when everyone loves them?  Well we have decided to re-master both of these models and then release them once more into the HOF Range in the late spring.  Its a great time to do this as we plan to expand the propulsion options on the Charger and weapon mount on the Maginot too.  Don't fret though since these new versions will be 100% compatible with the original models.  The new versions are also designed by Sam Croes who came up with the originals.



If you want to get your hands on the current Charger and Maginot before they become extinct and sought after you can go HERE.

Both of these models feature large in the Human Colonial Armies of the Alien Squad Leader rules system and are part of the sub-set of the HOF Range that is Security Force Alpha.  Click HERE to see all the SFA codes. The SFA range contains more than fifty different poses of 15mm white metal miniatures and vehicles allowing a wargamer to assemble a cohesive force for their campaigns. A whole integrated range within HOF which will be expanded even more.

All across the Human Colonies and on Terra itself there is a need for security after, during and even before the high rollers and expensive kit arrives in the battle zone. Security Force Alpha is just that force filling in as police, paramilitaries, mercenaries and planetary militias too. They are the faceless grunts that do the thankless jobs needed by all those who govern, control or enforce. Use them as you will from the near to the far future! 

Thanks for Reading,

GBS