This week on The News Stand, we have a pretty good selection for landing in the middle of the month. Combat Octopus has released the Deniable Assaulters, Anvil returns with some Operator Heavies, Urban Scatter Gaming wants you to invest in a new tabletop centrepiece for your MENA table and much much more!
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Black Powder Red Earth Highlights Conversion Possibilities
The team behind Black Powder Red Earth are keen to show off what their models can do, and this week we got to feast our eyes on this lovely set. Made by Victor.tcvr, the kit-based Nitto figures have had their heads swapped out for those from the SPEAR Brigade, giving a unique high-end-looking team ready for anything CBRN (and more importantly the table top). It’s cool to see this alternative take on them
BobMack3d Previews The Stretch Goals
We’ve still got another week before Kickstarter passes over the cash to BobMack3d (and hopefully not long after before we get our models) but that hasn’t stopped the team being hard at work getting the last few Stretch Goals finished off. From left to right, we have the Millan mount for the Warrior turret, a pintel mounted M2 Browning for the updated FV432 and a few versions of the Spartan/Striker vehicle. These pieces are just a taste of what’s coming soon, so now we just need to watch for when Kickstarter gets the ball rolling.
Fire! Modern Combat Prepares To Launch
After a long, long, long, LONG time coming, it’s almost here. Fire! Modern Combat will be launching its Kickstarter on February 19th, aiming to bring its rule system, figures and accessories to gamers interested in a new squad-level system. As you’ve seen from the new parade, these guys have got everything ready for it, with well-painted figures, tons of play testing and more. If you want to know the moment the Kickstarter kicks off, you can sign up on their pre-marketing page and be ready for launch!
Urban Scatter Gaming Shows Off More Of Your Table’s Next Centre
Urban Scatter Gaming has continued its work, showing off a little more of the massive hotel piece I previewed last week. Hotel Al-Manara is covered in neat details, with plenty of pieces to fight over, scaled to be the centre-piece for your next table. The latest preview image also shows it off in amongst the other MENA buildings currently for sale over on the USG Gumroad. I’ve been lucky enough to see some more details on this kit and I think it’s going to be very popular once it releases.
Anvil Digital Forge Previews The Heavy Special Forces
Anvil Digital Forge returns to The News Stand with a brand new Special Forces set, and as a man who likes heavily armoured soldiers, the upcoming Special Forces Heavies definitely grabbed my interest when it appeared in my inbox. Armed with a newly modelled M249, these guys are much more heavily armoured compared to the first Special Forces, ideal for CQB brawling. We’ll get more details soon (including how much you can break the grenade launcher specialist down using multishells) but this is definitely a set to keep an eye on.
Combat Octopus Releases Eastern European Deniable Assaulters
Literally just before I posted last week’s edition of The News Stand, Combat Octopus released the latest set, the Eastern European Deniable Assaulters. Designed to bring the fight in close quarters, this set of four figures comes with a selection of Eastern weapons designed for fighting at close quarters. The SR-3M is the big addition for the Sergeant level, but a cheeky fellow in outdoor gear and PKP will be a nasty surprise to come up against.
Looking at the breakdown of all four figures, you can see the overt and covert body options, as well as the wide variety of weapons available for each pose. There is a good mix of highly customised and very simple guns for each pose, letting them be used for a selection of roles from highly trained covert operators to the local goon squads. The heads help with this as well, with gas masks for the Corporal level and both Quad and Mono NVGs for the Sergeant level. We also have a new set of pouches for kitbashing with, ideal for mixing with previous releases, especially with the pair of single bungee’d AK mags in both ammo types.
If you’re wanting to get your hands on these guys, you can sign up for the Combat Octopus Patreon. The next two months are going to be Russian SSO in Syria, and we should be getting some public previews soon.
Modern Miniatures Previews SWCC Crewmen and Prepares For Trench Warfare
Modern Miniatures has been powering through his daily hobby streak and that includes getting some sculpting done for the upcoming release. Specifically, we’ll soon be seeing figures representing SOCOM’s SWCC (Special Warfare Combat Crewmen) the guys you might recognise from THAT scene in Act of Valor. Along with a suitable Riverine assault boat, the release will also include the crewmen seen above. In addition to the miniguns (resculpted for this latest release), there will also be M2 and M240 gunners, giving you options for how you want to bring the pain.
As mentioned last week, Modern Miniatures is launching their Trench Gaming Board project over on MyMiniFactory on the 20th of Feburary. If you’re interested in getting this for your board, you can sign up for the premarketing and get notified when it launches.
Turnbase Miniatures Previews February’s Release
Finally, Turnbase Miniatures has shown off the first preview of what’s being released this month. This TV cameraman should be ideal for adding some character to the board (or acting as an objective). However, seeing as the first comments when this guy appeared were talking about my personal old enemy of audience feedback (matched sets of covert/overt figures) I’ll be interested to see what else will be coming with them.
Austin Miniatures Previews Plastic SOG Figures
Austin Minitures has shown off some mroe details of what they have been looking at over the last few months. Red Jungle, a supernatural take on the Vietnam War that Battle Tribe’s Matt Rendar has been working on, is the latest project theyt are involved and over on Instagram we’ve seen a few previews of some modular MACV SOG fighters. Well good news, we’ve now got those guys painted up, showing off what is going to be a hard plastic kit. With multiple variants for each pose, as well as a set of cahracterful pieces suitable for a skirmish game, these sets should be very exciting for anyone wanting a step in the light green, no matter if it’s the Spooky kind or not. This set, and the game itself, will be coming to Kickstarter in Q2 2025, and I’ll be sharing more details once they go live.
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