Teasers For Things To Come In 2013

It's been a while since any real update on what's in the pipeline and I'm not going to give you one now. Instead, I'll just show you a couple teasers and be done with it. Oh, and there is now a new facebook page where you can also follow updates.

Can you guess what these are?

And this?

This should be fairly obvious (painted figure for scale)...

I've also been playing around a bit more myself and completed the second member of the stretcherbearer team and added some bits that offer the option to use them as an ammo/petard team instead. We'll see if it looks halfway decent when it's moulded (if it doesn't, they'll stay in my personal collection).

Some heads to go with them. Only the best will go on to be turned into metal.

And I've finished mister twohands here (after tearing off parts of it more times than I can remember in order to start over) or at least got him close enough to stop fiddling with him. He'll get two optional weapon tops that will be spear and halberd, though he should look good with one of the dwarf standards as well.

Painted Dwarfs From All Over the Web...

No new miniatures update in while, but don't be worried, there's a lot of stuff in the pipeline, even though it is unlikely any of it will be released before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, take a look at some other people's brushwork on the dwarfs. The occasional Marauder dwarf snuck into the pictures as well. If you can spot them all you get a cookie (from the tin in the cupboard in your home).

First off, here are Darkblade's fantastic dwarf pikes. He's made excellent use of the sallet helmet variants for a striking unit of hard steel.

Then there's Blue's fantastic Zweihänder unit (spot the intruder), later joined by the new Zweihänder sergeant:

More Zweihänders, very well, how about this unit of 25 from the hand of Fanai Glimmerclaw:

And last but not least, certainly not LEAST, this massive horde painted by Alain Pigeaux. I could only show a small selection here, but he has lots more pictures of the whole force for you to check out!

Manufacturer Showcase - Part 10 - Renaissance Halflings

A new addition to the manufacterer showcase (right hand menu, towards the bottom), long overdue. There has also been an update to the Ogre showcase.

1. Games Workshop 

GW's Empire halflings need no introduction obviously. The range used to include halfling bowmen, spearmen and swordsmen as well as a hot pot catapult.

http://www.games-workshop.com/

2. WK Halflings

Not a commercial range, but my personal privately commissioned (and growing) landsknecht dwarf, goblin and now also halfling range that you can find to the left of this post. :) These are slightly taller and thinner than your regular potbellied halfling. There are halflings with spears, halberds, swords, crossbows, handguns, command and some wizards.

3. The Battleforge

Uk-based manufacturer of characterful fantasy figures, including some halflings with renaissance influences. 

Website: http://www.thebattleforge.co.uk/

4. Black Hat Miniatures

Black Hat took over the small fantasy range from Crusader Miniatures. They are not full-on landsknecht halflings, but have a similar vibe to the old GW ones. The range includes command, spears, archers, slingers, and swords.

Website: http://www.blackhat.co.uk/

New Releases

The following are now available from the Getting Some section

* Dwarf Range:
WKD-13: Dwarf Zweihänder Sergeant (1)
WKD-23: Ponyrider Command Set (2 1/4)

* Halfling Range
WKH-01A: Halfling Core Infantry with Spears and Shields 1 (6)
WKH-01B: Halfling Core Infantry with Halberds and Shields 1 (6)
WKH-01C: Halfling Core Infantry with Swords and Shields 1 (6)
WKH-02A: Halfling Core Infantry with Spears and Shields 2 (6)
WKH-02B: Halfling Core Infantry with Halberds and Shields 2 (6)
WKH-02C: Halfling Core Infantry with Swords and Shields 2 (6)
WKH-02D: Halfling Core Infantry with Handguns (6)
WKH-02E: Halfling Core Infantry with Crossbows (6) 
WKH-03: Halfling Core Infantry Command (3)
WKH-14: Halfling Wizards Conversion Set
WKHH-01: Halfling Heads (12)

* Goblin Range:
WKG-11: Gobboprince de Lu (1)
WKG-12: Gobbo Cortez (1)
WKG-13: Clerics of Gob (2)
WKG-14: Goblin Wizards (3)
WKG-15: Goblin Floozie (1)
WKGH-03: Morion Helmet Goblin Heads (6)
(note: you can ask to replace the heads from any of the goblin core infantry sets with the Morion helmet heads)

* Hors Série Range
WKHS-05: Rubber Ducks
WKHS-06: Dwarf Spearmaiden

Goblin Clerics and Goblin/Halfling Wizards

Last group of new sculpts that will be included in the upcoming late August/early September release are the goblin clerics and wizards, by Kev Adams. 

I'll start with the Clerics of Gob (aka "Gob the Almighty" or "The Great Gobbo In The Sky"). Clerics of Gob go into battle wearing light armour and wielding enchanted battlehammers or flaming swords. You could of course use these as armoured wizards and substitute the weapons for those from the wizard sprues.

Then there are the wizards themselves. These come with three body variants, 4 goblin wizard heads and a load of left and right hand options. 

The heads are: "pointy wizard hat"-head, "pointy hat and fake beard"-head, "My head is on fire and I'm totally cool with it"-head and "I'm wearing this skullcap and spectacles to look smarter-head.

Right hand weapon options include: "gnarly wood"-staff, curved sword, comical wand and flaming sword.

Left hand options include: "moon emblem"-staff, flaming sword and mystical hammer.

And for those who don't like the idea of goblin wizards, there's a set of alternate heads to turn these into halflings:

Some random assembled examples:

Halfling Upgrade Greens

Right, time for some more new stuff. I've received a lot of demand for halfling heads for the goblin bodies, so I caved in and decided to have Kev convert a set of 12 heads to fit on the existing bodies.

Then they needed an upgrade set for the command of course, so enter two more heads for the champion and drummer, a rooster standard and an alternate body for the hornblower arms. Um... yeah, you read that last part right.

Since I haven't had a chance to play around with them yet, Timbor offered to paint up a couple assembled ones to give an idea of what to expect. So here they are:

Goblin Character Greens

Some more upcoming figures, goblin characters now.

The first one is named Gobboprince de Lu, based on his passing resemblance to the 80's version of a famous cooky mascotte. He comes with an elegant sword with decorated hilt and a double barreled pistol option.

Since it takes all sorts, the troops are comforted by this lovely goblin floozy. Or is it just a goblin in drag? Either way, you should be in for a quite a unique/horrifying experience.

Gobbo Cortez is widely known for his stylish facial hair, a rare thing among goblinoids, raising suspicions as to whether it might in fact be a fake. Either way, his two pistols tend to be quite convincing in dealing with tose non-believers.

Finally, 6 new goblin infantry heads with various types of morion-style helmets for those who want some troops to match the Gob de Leon and Gobbo Cortez figures.

More Dwarf and Hors Série Greens

Some of you may have heard me hint at a Zweihänder sergeant figure that might swell the ranks and allow you more easily to build even numbered units from the existing packs. Well, here is Serge, displaying the particular talent that allowed him to step from the rank and file and take a more prominent role in the regiment. I'm particularly fond of the look of utter happiness that John managed to put on his face (despite the beard). Sculpted by John Pickford as usual.

And finally, one more dwarf that will be included in the next release, though it will be added to the Hors Série range as it was not made as part of the actual dwarf range (though it scales perfectly with them). This one was sculpted by LordWriggly over on Bugman's Brewery and will delight those who have been yearning to add a female touch to their unit of pikewarfs. This spearmaiden is just the ticket.

To conclude this update, the next release will also include the long awaited duck... with friends (Evil Duck, Sallet Duck, Bishop Duck, Wizard Duck and Landsknecht Duck).

And a small reminder of the scale of the duck(s):