Halfway through the month, and it’s felt like a warzone already! Or maybe it’s just because today is my first day back at the day job. This week kicks off strong with a brand new game on pre-order, details of what’s coming up from Echelon AND the ever-continuing stream of Patreon updates. Oh yeah, and also a Gunslinger release, the first of Version 2!
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Gunslinger V2 releases its first set today! The Raptor Diagnostics Field Operations team is the first release from our new faction and we went with a slightly more Urban covert look to them, rolling around in jeans and softshell while carrying a variety of MCX rifles (including a marksman setup and an automatic rifle with the D.60 drum mag). If things get too hairy, several of them also carry the launch tubes for loitering munitions, ideal for both recon and dropping explosives on targets that the long arms can’t quite deal with. The set includes 6 different bodies (with an additional 3 variants to add some kneepads) and 7 heads (the six shown and an additional one with a covering over the face if you decide to run a much larger force).
If you want a set of them yourself, you can sign up to the Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/flytrapfactory for $9.50 a month, with future releases already in the works.
Black Site Studios Launches Breacher Pre-Order
Black Site Studios has launched the backroom campaign for their next game Breacher. From Matt Burns, the writer of Don’t Look Back, Breacher pits a small number of customisable highly trained and highly skilled Breachers against a much more numerous force of OPFOR goons in order to fulfil their mission before time runs out. The set also includes a campaign system, rewarding your Breachers for both directly taking part in the operation or acting as a consultant, directing the OPFOR from behind the scenes.
It’s an interesting-looking ruleset and the pre-order program is already doing rather well, storming through the initial goals and close to unlocking the solo rules. As well as just the rules, there are also two different tiers, adding tokens and cards in the first tier before expanding with a full set of figures (sculpted by Stephen May of Spectre) to give you a game ready-to-play in Tier 2. Finally, for those outside of the US or just preferring to 3D print their collection, there is a digital version of the Tier 2 package. All bundles also include stretch goals – we’ve only seen the first few, but we’ll need to stand by to see how they develop.
BobMack3d Announces A Delay on Schwerpunkt
Things are getting very exciting with the next Kickstarter from Bobmack3d covering West German forces in the 1980s coming soon. Unfortunately, not as soon as previously reported – rather than the original plan to release on the 19th, the sheer level of work on this set means they have had to push it back a week to the 26th instead. However, they have shown off some more photos of the Leopard 2A4, including various stowed versions and the various commanders we’ll be getting. It’s definitely going to be a great set and we haven’t even seen the stretch goals!
Black Powder Red Earth Previews Spearhead Book
After having previewed the book in sections over the past few months, Black Powder Red Earth has released the almost final version of the next BPRE 28mm book Spearhead. In addition to the Conflict Bible and Warfighters released previously (including the two additional factions that are being released), the big addition in this release is the Spearhead Campaign system – a way to tie together your games of Phase Line and Spearhead taskings (a battle size in between the Night Raid and the Phaseline engagements) into an ongoing system, where the battle back and forth slowly degrades the battlefield as the two sides escalate. It matches up to the lore that the Conflict Bible details about The Battle of the Jadid Salient, including the details of what exactly is shredding the engagement zone (all the way up to a nasty little surprise in the deck that can be catastrophic).
Spearhead is aiming to launch in March in a brand new box, stand by for further details. In the meantime, there will be a little update to the BPRE series soon covering these new additions.
Combat Octopus Continues Work on Russians in Chechnya
Combat Octopus has continued with his second pack of Russians in Chechnya, this time focusing on troops in contact. Although still working on the posing for the rest, the first figure has been completed and is ready for battle (complete with the rather awesome AKSU with jungle mags). It’s unclear exactly the other weapons that will be available for this guy, but I can already see the Combat Octopus old hands already working through the list of previous releases and working out what roughly fits.
Modern Miniatures Announces Stryker For February
Modern Miniatures has announced next month’s release is going to be arriving on eight wheels. The Stryker is the US Army’s eight-wheeled APC/IFV, providing the mobility element of the Medium Weight Brigade Combat Teams. Modern Miniatures has done several APCs over time, such as the BMP2 and BTR-82a, all designed to get on the tabletop as fast as possible.
Turnbase Miniatures Prepares A Russian Invasion
Delayed from last month but Turnbase Miniatures is hard at work on an updated set of Russian Modern Infantry. The figures shown are armed with a good mix of gear that you may see coming out of footage from Ukraine so it could be a quite handy release once ready.
Urban Scatter Gaming Shows Off Substation and Garage
Finally, Urban Scatter Gaming brings both bad news and good news. The bad news is that he’s currently away with work, meaning we won’t be seeing the final models for a little while.
However, the good news is that January’s releases are going to be very useful for pretty much any urban setting. Containing both an electrical substation and an urban garage, these sets will fit pretty much any way, fitting in among the more traditional buildings and filling the streets. I think the study walls with integrated fences will be especially useful for just setting out the street layout for somewhere more urbanised.
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