White Dragon Miniatures Closing Down

We start off this week with some sad news. After 16 years of running a company, and almost 9 years of that working in the Ultramodern space, White Dragon Miniatures has decided to close up shop. Courage in Contact covered five different nations, providing platoon-sized forces for each, with unique poses and multiple head options for each (as well as a few extra support options for the Brits and the Taliban). It’s a shame to see them go – Alan has always been someone I’ve enjoyed catching up with at wargames shows, with a range design ethos I agree with and the technical knowledge on how to produce wargaming figures well – I don’t think I have ever seen resin figures as well made as his, while the vehicles were incredible designs that were far nicer to assemble than many of the solid blocks of resin that other companies were releasing in the days before 3D printing became mainsteam.

The closure is not immediate (there are lots of machines and other assets to be sold off), and the web store is still running. If you want the Marine STLs or physical figures from the older ranges, there is still some time to buy from the remaining stock and get these figures into your hands.

One important piece of news in the announcement comments is that the company will be selling up the assets, which means we may see the range live on under new ownership. This also includes some unreleased figures for the existing ranges, including some variants. Fingers crossed, we’ll see someone else pick up the incredible sculpts – I know many 3D printers would love to have them in our collections.

Spectre Miniatures Releases CIA Enablers To Patrons

Aside from further updates on Spectre Cosmic Horror, the main update from Spectre Miniatures is the release of the promised CIA Special Activities enablers over on the Patreon. This set of four figures are armed up with some of the latest and greatest firearms (MCX Rattlers and Geissele MRGG-S) covered in the latest optics and other attachments. The operators also carry loitering munitions, which are handily combined with the CLAW system and RIVET glasses to form a fully connected system for controlling the battlefield. These guys perfectly match the bleeding-edge vibe that Spectre mentioned during their announcement, but there is something else that really pushes them forward.

The other part of the release is a set of four items to use the mounts on all of the various helmets that Spectre releases have included. As well as an updated set of binocular NVGs based on the PVS-31s (including some deployed and others flipped out of the way), there are some weirder and wonderful ones. The Chimera Mount gives an alternative setup for panoramic night vision goggles, letting them be stowed out of the way without the downsides of more traditional setups. Above and beyond mere night vision, FPV Goggles and AR Goggles let your operators control drones and visualise the battle space. All of these sets are great for the large number of supported figures in the Spectre range (as you might expect from a company focusing on Special Forces), and having them as STLs means you can easily print off as many as you need.

Both sets are currently available over on Patreon, and should soon be joined by a Ranger squad, according to previous announcement posts.

Flank March Miniatures Bringing the Drama To Salute 53

Flank March Miniatures has some good news for those going to Salute in April – attendees to the show will be getting this dramatic pair of US tank crew as part of their show guide (delivered via STL). The figure, showing a pair of tank crew escaping their armoured vehicle, the injured man firing off bursts from his M3 grease gun while being dragged away. This is inspired by the game Flank March will be running at the show, as the US Tankers deployed to Tempelhof Airport will defend against the East German Fallschirmjäger (brand new sculpts coming to Kickstarter later this year). Sadly, I won’t be available to go down this year, but this figure will be a great release for anyone wanting some cool markers for their knocked-out US tanks.

Combat Octopus Preparing Western Deniables Pt2 For Release

Working to get himself back to his usual schedule, Combat Octopus has been hammering through the preparation for part 2 of the Western Deniables release. As you can see above, we have the final pose for the release, with this operator checking his chest-mounted smart device for a tactical advantage (or catching up on the ChargeBlog Patreon). As with all Combat Octopus poses, the weapon is going to come with plenty of options and a separate head should let you decide what level of beard your operator is going to be.

And speaking of beard, this month’s set of heads comes with the same combination of non-tactical and tactical heads. This month’s tacticals come with the latest in Ops Core ballistic protection (complete with AMP headset and PVS-31 NVGs), while the non-tactical heads include some options for law enforcement or low-profile shennighans.

Combat Octopus is aiming to have these figures out on Saturday (aka the day after this post goes live) before he turns his attention to the final set of Western Deniables (having taken their jackets off in favour of shirts and t-shirts.

Modern Miniatures Previews March’s Release – More Of Suburia

Modern Miniatures, taking advantage of his Patrons agreeing to allow themes over multiple months, has returned to Suburbia with a brand new set of structures to fill in your tabletop. March will see the release of three new structures (two houses and an external garage), as well as an additional set of items perfect for filling the interiors.

The two houses are smaller than this month’s release, but are ideal to fill out the neighbourhood. Both have interior layouts (perfect to fight through), while also having some unique features. House one can be mounted on a foundation (so you can include the front and back porches), while an optional second floor will let you expand both up and down, while House 2 has a mixture of internal textures for some cool variation that would be familiar to anyone seeing this style of house in the US. The separate garage is a neat addition (and perfect to spawn a whole bunch of bad guys out of), but I really like the Covered Furniture set – it’s a perfect set for quickly filling out buildings that aren’t being lived in, without requiring all the dry brushing of stitching or having to work out different patterns for the same set of furniture.

Overall, this is a great expansion to last month’s buildings and would be ideal to build a Ready or Not style board with. These sets will be out in March, and we’ll see a few more previews before the month is over.

Turnbase Miniatures Previews MARSOC Marksman

Finally, for Ultramoderns, Turnbase Miniatures has announced an unfortunate delay for the January release of the updated MARSOC figures. However, they have shown off the first of the Specialists that will be released to the Tier 3 patrons – this Marksman is armed with M110K1, complete with a magnified optic and piggybacked red-dot. Expect to see the full release when it comes out soon.

BobMack3d Shows Off The Bren Carrier… The Original One

BobMack3d (in the midst of preparing for the Arras 1940 Kickstarter launch in three weeks’ time) has shown off the Bren Carrier, which will be one of the vehicles included. And yes, that’s the original Bren Carrier, before the introduction of the far more popular Universal Carrier in 1940 (presumably after many of the original ones found themselves left behind after Dunkirk). This earlier vehicle is far less armoured but unique for the time period, perfect for selling the look of a 1940s battlefield.

Even better, the Kickstarter will be coming with an add-on for vehicle crew. Sculpted by W3 Gaming, you can see some of these figures above in the vehicles already shown off, with British infantry mounted in the carrier while Royal Armoured Corps tankers are pictured in the turrets for the two Matildas. This set will be an option when the Kickstarter launches, making it easier for BobMack3d to ensure the sculptor gets his cut of the funding. You can find the project page to sign up on Kickstarter right now, so you know when the project goes live.