As much as I wanted to start this week’s News Stand with an April Fools, Warlord Games frankly went over the top with the sheer number of them. Instead, I can promise you a post without a single fake entry, instead bringing you a pile of new releases, previews and more!
As always, thanks to the News Fans and other patrons over on the ChargeBlog patreon for buying my time to make this wrap-up each week. If you like these roundups and find them useful, why not chip in on the Patreon?
Spectre Miniatures Deploys Starter Set and Reinforcements for TFO and Insurgents
Big week for Spectre Miniatures with the release of a brand new starter set and and expansion of both the Task Force Operators and Insurgents.
The brand-new starter set gives you all you need to start playing Spectre Operations V3 (minus a tape measure). Containing an element of Task Force CQB operators and an element of Insurgents Fighters, these two sides will clash over the included set of walls, sandbags and obstacles, ideal for a small close-quarters engagement. Former Spectre Patrons may recognise the style of the sandbag wall pieces from the tease we got a while back, but it’s cool to see it iterated on. The set is also a built to order arrangement, so hopefully should be in stock pretty much constantly to serve as an easy entry point to the latest game.
Speaking of Insurgent Elements, the brand new Insurgent Fighters are also available separately as both STLs and Cast Resin. This is an 8-man set, giving you an LMG gunner, an RPG-7 and 6 assault rifels, giving you a mix of tactical AKs and the Crotation VH2. This is definitely a well equipped insurgent force (something becoming increasingly common thanks to the proliferation of items such as body armour and optics worldwide). All the figures are wearing load-bearing gear and plate carriers, with a nice variety in terms of clothing, headwear and posing. It’s great to see the improvement between them and the first set of digitally sculpted insurgents, and I’ve heard several people who were less than happy with the first set being very excited about getting their hands on the latest releases.
To accompany your fighters, we also have two specialist sets. The Insurgent Commander (available as both STL and 8K 3D Printed) is a charismatic fellow, wearing his tanker helmet and carrying an MP40. He also has two radios on his gear, ideal for coordinating between different nets and representing something such as cross-force communications.
For a bit more armour-killing punch, the Insurgent RPG29 team (available as both STL and 8K 3D Printed) provides an unguided tandem heat warhead to destroy even modern MBTs. The gunner (complete with goggles to protect his eyes from dust pulled up from the backblast) is looking for new targets while the loader, with a round ready, is on the phone listening for orders or requests. Both fighters are also armed with AK-74s with rail systems and optics, able to add to your force’s firepower when tank killing isn’t required or defend themselves when attacked.
Insurgents don’t get all the fun. As detailed last week, the Task Force Operators are also getting some cutting-edge firepower. The trio of release give you the Spike ATGM (in STL and 3D Printed), magazine-fed grenade launcher (in STL and 3D Printed) and the Enforcer precison guided munition (in STL and 3D Printed). These figures all look awesome and tie into the “5 minutes into the future” feel of the advanced Task Force Operators.
Black Powder Red Earth Releases OST for your Operations in Awbari
Black Powder Red Earth has released the perfect soundtrack to your games of BPRE 28mm Spearhead (or in my case getting the figures assembled) with the new BPRE OST. I believe there will be some more tracks coming as well, but some good ambient music is always a neat addition to getting figures on the table.
Not specifically BPRE 28mm related but the team at Echelon are also involved in the Battle of Najaf 20th Anniversary event at Haley Strategic Partners taking place on the 4th of April. WIth this being a major anniversary, there are a lot of things planned, such as an open house meet and greet at the HSP Headquarters in Arizona which BPRE is attending with games and books in hand. There is also going to be a limited edition print from the BPRE artist available, something I’ll definitely be looking at getting if there are any left to be sold online!
Miska Miniatures Continues Previews for Zanganie Part 2
Miska Miniatures has continued the slow roll out of previews for the upcoming Zanganie Kickstarter, with more African civilians. There are a good mix of poses and clothing options already, as well as a few centre pieces (such as the cart below) that will definitely help to make your tabletop feel lived in. It’s worth joining the Miska Miniatures group for more updates if you want to see what’s coming.
The big news is that the Kickstarter’s preview page is already up, ready for you to pre-sign up and get reminded when it launches. Miska has included early bird pledges in the past so I’d heartily recommend hitting the save button and getting ready for its full release!
FIRE! Modern Combat Shows Off Gameplay in English
FIRE! Modern Combat is an upcoming set of Ultramodern rules coming from a design team out of Spain. I’ve seen them on Instagram a few times but I haven’t yet seen the game being played. This changed last week when they released a How To Play and it came across my dashboard. The YouTube channel also incluides some additional example videos in English, ideal to take a quick look at the ruleset and see if you like it.
If it sounds exciting, the ruleset is going to be going to Kickstarter soon, with the preview page already avaliable.
Black Hills Games Provides Update and Previews
Black Hills Games has been quiet this month due to illness. However, we have now received an update. The Patreon is being paused in April, with any new patrons receiving the March set as well as the starter set. That set will be released in a few days, so stand by.
Speaking of the March set, we have two more previews of what’s inside it. With the US Airborne having already received a regular squad, this set adds command figures and support. The preview above shows the two snipers armed with the MK22 PSR rifle (the Barrett MRAD). These will be joined by a Javelin and M240BL team, ideal for getting that extra punch.
Combat Octopus Shows Off More Criminals
Combat Octopus has continued work on the action-packed set of criminals for this month’s release, finally reaching the slightly more trained part of the spectrum. The figure previewed above is running a UMP and in a strong “firing and advancing” pose. This figure also comes with a selection of weapons to choose from, with the AKS-74U, AK-105 and even the 3d-printed FGC9 as options.
The second well-trained figure is shown at the low ready with a pistol, in this case a heavily modified Roland Special-esque glock with compensator and optic. There will be a few other pistols as an option and potentially a torso with the pistol hed out and firing (although not confirmed for this release yet. The update also mentions a few other parts in the release (including a TMP and Molotov) so stand by for what should be another excellent CO release.
Flytrap Digital Previews April Release
Flytrap Digital has been busy, adding more figures to the April Release of Afghan Insurgents. These figures are designed to support The Solo Wargamer’s Haywire ruleset, matching up to the archetypes included in the list of OPFOR. This first set includes four figures armed with AKs, support from a PKM machine gunner and an RPG gunner, and will be released on the 15th of April.
Along with the planned release, Gunslinger patrons will also be receiving this pair of VBSS marksmen thanks to friend-of-the-blog Paul Deehan. These two SEALs are armed with scoped M16A1s, ideal for providing covering fire for your operators clearing the decks.
Modern Miniatures Releases His First Figures
First announced last week LITERALLY just after going to press, Modern Miniatures is introducing a major change to his patreon – he is now including figures! The first two sets are a pair of releases for bank robbers, giving you a new set of heisters for your tabletop. You can see some painted shots in the view below, but you’re getting a mixture of carbine-armed fighters, a pistol-packing criminal with loot in hand as well as a breacher with all his tools. The set also includes two different heads and all the bodies support swappable heads. If you want to get your hands on them, these figures are actually out right now and ready for you to pick up.
The addition of figures to the Patreon is shifting the tiers available to Patrons. A brand new tier called “Miniature Release” will provide access to the figures, while the existing all-in tier has been renamed to Scatter, Vehicles and Buildings” tier – both of these cost $11.50 a month separately. If you want literally everything, it’s going to be $23.50 in full.
Turnbase Miniatures Releases SCP MTF For February
Turnbase Miniatures has returned after a chunk of time away and is trying to get back on track. Just released is the set of figures that was originally designed to come out in February, a set of SCP MTF figures, designed to go hunting down the things that go bump in the night. With a stack of new weapons and a pile of cool details, these figures would be great for a few hero characters. It also comes with a set of heads using the Chimera NVGs which are pretty cool.
At Tier 3, you get this pair of SUVs, one for civilian purposes and another with an open top and minigun turret.
The March release, covering the Iraq SWAT team from the film Mosul, will be aiming to be released by the 15th of April, with an update on the progress coming next week.
Urban Scatter Gaming Releases Playground Assets
Finally, we have an update from Urban Scatter Gaming. March has unfortunately not been the best month for him with plenty of ups and downs – because of this, he’s decided to lay out the details on the table to keep up the all importantly communications with his patrons (something that is always important to keeping patrons.) The original plan of a multi-part leisure kit didn’t work out due to a lack of testing time and some troublesome parts (such as chain fencing) meaning patrons only reccived the playground pieces you can see above.
THe good news is that we’ll be getting the other half next month, meaning the time for basketball courts on your wargames table is fast approaching!
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