Last week was spooky season, so we had quite a few ghosts and ghouls sneaking into this week’s edition of The News Stand. Read on for the latest updates from Spectre, Combat Octopus, Urban Scatter Gaming and more!
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Spectre Miniatures Releases Spooky Insurgents and Previews Something Spookier Still
It was Halloween last week and Spectre Miniatures were definitely in the mood for it with a pair of items. First up, we have the release of the Spooky Militia, the latest in the range of Spectre.. spectres. As opposed to last year Operator, this guy is a little less well-equipped, with only his trusty AK and balaclava joining him in the afterlife. I’m not 100% when it’s coming to no longer be for sale so it might have gone before I even post this live in a ghostly kind of way.
The other announcement is a brand new range for Spectre. There has always been a chunk of the Spectre fanbase looking to crossover Lovecraftian entities with the usual tabletop shenanigans and now it seems Spectre is about to join them. However, rather than merely bolting them onto the core system and calling it day, it seems that Spectre is taking us to 1930s America, a land of Thompsons, fedoras and horrible fish people coming out of the sea. The preview images show a mixture of models that could be coming while the description mentions Federal Agents, Townsfolk, Investigators, vehicles and lots of things to shoot at. I’ll be interested to see further details of this as they come out – although this is not an area of gaming that excites me, I can think of plenty of people who are happy about this news.
Urban Scatter Gaming Expands His Property Portfolio
Urban Scatter Gaming is continuing on his role with another MENA release. And this time, he’s going BIG. The MENA Apartment set contains 4 ground floor sections, 4 upper levels and 4 roof pieces which means you have 80+ combinations of pieces to put together. The modularity on these looks pretty awesome, with everything from small single-storey structures all the way up to multiple segment blocks that provide far too many windows to deal with. As with last week’s House release, all the pieces come in two variations – one with doors and windows built in, another all ready for you to customise with your own pieces.
As you can see here, you can make some cool-looking street setups with them, allowing for the creation of apartment blocks to fill out your boards and give plenty of locations for the bad guys to appear from. There are little touches like the roller shutter and the balconies that help to add some character to them. Additionally, they would do perfectly when combined with the other USG sets, such as the MENA walls and scatter sets.
This set is out right now over on the Urban Scatter Gaming Gumroad with additional pieces on the way, such as corner pieces to let you build up entire blocks.
BelloLudi Releases Kalashnikov
As previously mentioned, BelloLudi has been hard at work on a brand new ruleset based on their core system. This game, Kalashnikov is now out and available online at the BelloLudi store. The ruleset is definitely pitching itself as a toolbox set, with a vast selection of special rules to cover everything from small scale infantry fighting all the wayup to involving Aircraft and UGVs. The rules are available as either a PDF, the basic rulebook or bundled with the skirmish cards. I haven’t yet had a chance to look at them, but with the BelloLudi system being used for a whole selection of games, I get the impression it’s working from a pretty good starting point.
Black Hills Games Releases The German Airborne Specialists and A Roadmap
As is tradition for Black Hills Games, October’s releases landed just in time for the end of the month. These seven figures are the perfect expansion to the original Bundeswehr, giving you an NCO, two Grenadiers, two marksmen and two figures with the Panzerfaust 3 in order to bring the extra firepower. As with all BHG releases, this set also includes separate heads, allowing for plenty of customisation. This set is also out on the BHG Gumroad, along with the previous set.
We’ve also had a little preview of what’s coming up for the next seven months, based on the poll that BHG released a while back. This looks to be a pretty complete selection, so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on for the next few months:
- 2024 November – Regular Army Drone Specialists (US, Britain, German, France)
- 2024 December – U.S. Navy SEALs – Tears Of The Sun (Movie)
- 2025 January – UN Peacekeeping
- 2025 February – USSFG Delta 90’s
- 2025 March – Eastern Criminal Elements
- 2025 April – Private Military Contractors (Classic Style 2004-2010 Iraq/Afghanistan) Remaster
- 2025 May – U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Specialist
Combat Octopus Drops Previews and THE TRUTH
Combat Octopus is always a keen fan of Halloween releases and this year was no exception. To help you deal with the spooky occurrences, this pair of FBI Special Agents is ideal to solve your problems (or at least mess around for 45 minutes worth of drama). These two are both modular, with separate heads and hands to let you tweak them to your heart’s content (especially if you have the VIP sets). I can see plenty of use for them on the tabletop, either as player characters for a low-level game or as VIP assets to be rescued/taken out. All of the Patrons in October have already received them as a little treat.
Back in the main release schedule, CO has been busy with the upcoming Somalia releases (more on that below) but has released a few previews of the upcoming armed prisoners. The kneeling handcuffed pose is actually modular, letting you assemble a prisoner both kneeling or walking along. The other figure, in the classic stand-and-point pose, is going to receive some variations, with both body armour and additional weapon systems.
I must admit I was 50/50 on the armed prisoner idea (most of my games don’t feature law enforcement missions) but from these initial previews, I can already see some possibilities for militia types, especially with some other leg pieces.
Finally, the Operation Gothic Serpent MMF Project. It will be kicking off on the 7th of November, with 16 models (as shown above) all ready to raid your inbox. The initial release will be joined by multiple milestones depending on the success of the project, and CO has already mentioned it should cover almost everything needed for Gothic Serpent gaming. If you’re wanting to know as soon as it’s launched, you can find it on MMF and sign up for a notification.
Modern Miniatures Releases Cartel Gunmen and LandRovers Galore
As expected, Modern Miniatures started off the month with brand-new figures for all his patrons. And this month, we got a pretty good double bill. For the miniatures tier, we got the second set of Cartel Gunmen in Ponchos. While the first set were using basic Russian rifles, these guys got their arms from a slightly higher tier cache, with both AR15 pattern rifles and AKs with a few little mods. Combined with the set from last month and you have plenty of figures ready for standing sentry in the pouring rain.
The other half of this month’s release is the Landrover pack. This is something that Modern Miniatures has mentioned for a while and as a British gamer, I’ve been eagerly awaiting it. Especially as one of the variants included was the WMIK, a vehicle that previously at 28mm was only available via the Airfix release. The WMIK is an entirely modular kit, letting you assemble it with the more tactical elements removed if you want to make a cut-down Landrover for non-government entities. The basic five-door Landrover is also included, excellent if you want your operators to drive around in something different from the G-Wagon and SUVs previously released.
There is actually a third vehicle for this month but it’s over on MMF rather than included as part of the Patreon. The Landrover Pickup replaces the hard cover rear with an open truck bed, as well as a frame and fabric cover for additional variations. This vehicle is on the MMF store for full price, but patrons from this month can get 50% via a code in this month’s release post.
Turnbase Miniatures Releases Philippine Special Forces
Finally, Turnbase Miniatures released a set from their home country of the Philippines. For Tier 2, you have the SF figures, mixing FAST helmets with older Western gear. The set includes a good mix of weapon systems, with a marksman, machine gunner and grenadier as well as two riflemen. I quite like the overall style of them, and they should be a fun set to mix with other forces (or receive a second pack to bring them up to a full squad size).
To go with your foot soldiers, there is also the GKN Simba available for those Tier 3 backers. The Simba is a British-designed vehicle (originally intended to escort the GKN Saxon around) that only found a buyer in the Philippines. Although long out of production, and with only 152 built, the Simba has been heavily used by the Army in the counter-insurgency role, including plenty of combat during the battles in Marawi city (where it ended up being covered in wooden boards for counter-RPG protection). I think this is a great vehicle for 28mm, a light vehicle that isn’t going to overpower a 28mm size game and is likely to be there thanks to its APC role.
Both sets have been sent out to October patrons, with a release on MMF coming at some point.
Seeing as it’s spooky season, friend of the blog Desk-Ops has joined in the fun with a Halloween Sale. With 15% off everything on the site, now is a good time to jump over and browse the selection of Print on Demand options. There is a wide variety there, from the latest Combat Octopus, Bobmack3d, Black Hills Games and Miska figures and vehicles, to a whole host of releases from various 3D printing campaigns, including a very good set of figures perfect for STALKER adventures. This is great if you’re someone interested in the 3D printed figures but wanting to avoid running a printer yourself. Grab them quick though – the 15% offer only lasts until the 10th of November so get your orders in quick.
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