Spectre Miniatures Releases Rangers And Drones To Patrons

This week from Spectre Miniatures, we have a new release over on Patreon for those at the Direct Action tier. Both sets are looking to the near future, with Next Generation Weapons and Drones

The bulk of the release is the new US Army Ranger squad. Spectre released a version of these guys back in the metal days of 2016 with BLOCK 2 carbines, SCAR-Hs and the MK 46 machine gun. This new squad brings us kicking and screaming into the near future, with the Rangers equipped with the M7 NGSW rifle, alongside the KAC LAMG and M320 grenade launcher holstered. It’s neat to see the details on this set, with a mixture of attachments on the M7s and different backpanel setups depending on role. I already have a set of these enroute to the printer.

The other side is a pair of drones. The big one, carrying a 7.62mm machine gun under four rotors, is inspired by an Israeli design shown off at AUSA last year (and then disappeared from their website) and is designed to provide overwatch. The smaller one is a Drone Evolution FPV design for ISTAR, built in the UK with a significant number of UK-origin parts and has been tested in Ukraine. Both drones provide unique capabilities and could help to show off the force multipliers your side has.

Both sets are out on Patreon now, with physical releases for them (and the CIA operators shown previously) coming before the end of the month.

Black Site Studios Brings Back Northwood Mall

In a surprise turn of events, Black Site Studios has brought back one of the largest MDF sets I’ve seen. Northwood Mall spans a 34″ x 25.5″ area, giving you an entire mall, complete with interior and exterior details to fight over. There are some fantastic touches, such as the glass hemispherical entrance area, elevators to move between levels and even the mythical “back” of each shop to hide additional items. All this detail comes at a price, in this case being £305 before postage. However, this is genuinely an entire playable area and can even be rearranged and reused if you’d prefer to fight outside the glass.

The kit is a made-to-order item and will only be available between the 20th of February and the 27th. Orders won’t ship until April, but if you want a mall for your counter-terrorism/post-apocalyptic/zombie games, there is nothing else like this on the market.

Urban Scatter Gaming Lays Out Patreon Details

More good news from Urban Scatter Gaming – we have some plans for the upcoming Urban Scatter Gaming relaunch on his Patreon. You can find the details over on the Urban Scatter Gaming Patreon but roughly from the 1st of March, USG will be doing monthly releases to Patrons. Items will actually be released at the end of each month (on the last weekend), and will be available in three tiers – basic supporters, Builder (£10 for the full main building) and Designer (£15 for the building, matching details, scatter and even additional variants). Releases will also be themed, with the first six sets looking at the modern City feel. All of this sounds great, so stand by for more updates on what USG is up to.

Combat Octopus Releases Western Deniables Part 2 and Plans For The Future.

It’s a big week for Combat Octopus as he’s managed to get this month’s set out before the middle of the month (slowly pulling back into his original timetable). Western Deniables is the matching set to last month’s release, bringing more operators in civilian clothing, fancy jackets and with low-profile chest rigs

We’ve got a good mix of poses this time around, with three of them in combat (covering an elevated position, shooting off shoulder and shooting from a crouched position) and the last checking his tactical device on his chest. All poses come with a stacked number of weapons, with even the smallest having a total of four weapons to choose from, all covered in the finest of modern attachments. There isn’t the same amount of molle as we usually have (although pose 6 has two chest variants for modding), so they should be pretty quick to get onto the table.

In terms of extras, we have a whole other torso variant – Deniable 5 has a torso version that is perfect for if you want your operators to stack up, letting him stretch out his hand to stack on the person in front of him (roughly designed for Deniable 1 from last month). We also got a brand-new stack of heads, with the helmeted ones coming with PVS-31 and Ops-Core AMP, as well as a plentiful selection of BEARDS. Finally, the new pouch additions include two dangler pouches, a slick mag holder, and even a tactical phone holder (ideal for upgrading your operators to modern tech).

This release is currently out on the Combat Octopus Patreon and will be available until the end of the month. If you want the first set of Deniables, they are now out over on MyMiniFactory.

Looking ahead, we’ve got the first rough poses for Western Deniables pt3, giving us a set wearing t-shirts and short sleeves. The poses are a good mix of generic but always useful (high and low ready), super tactical (engaging at an angle) and out of combat ready (the drone deployer). We’ll see more details on the specific weapons soon, but these first three sets would be perfect for getting your cover forces on the table.

We also got a look at the roadmap for the rest of the year (a feature I am always glad to see creators use). The roadmap is a great mix of stuff – US Delta in Somalia 1993, Gorka-suited Spetsnaz from the 2000s, British Army in Afghanistan from the 2000s (which I’ll have plenty of details for), and then Combat Octopods Jagdgruppe “Verlorene” to finish off the year. This is an ahistorical unit set, part of Combat Octopus’s military-horror world, but it will mix together aspects from German Gebirgsjäger and Fallschirmjäger. They sound like some ideal light infantry units with German equipment, and will even get some snipers by the end of the year. Seeing Combat Octopus branching out from purely historical sets should be very interesting, as well as helping to expand the kitbashing opportunities.

Modern Miniatures Announces Modern Stowage Mega Set

No updates on the Patreon from Modern Miniatures this week, but instead, we have a brand new project coming soon. “Modern Stowage Mega Set” will do what it says on the tin – bring over 150 STL files designed to load up your modern vehicles. The example image shows off a heavily laden Humvee, complete with rucksacks, sleep mats and equipment bundles. People are always asking for releases like this, so it could potentially be a fantastic one-stop shop for vehicle printers and modellers.

If you want to sign up for details, you can find the pre-marketing link over on MyMiniFactory and get ready for launch on March 6th. I’m looking forward to seeing the pile of stuff it will include, and I have already signed up myself.

Turnbase Miniatures Releaes January Files

Finally, for Ultramoderns, Turnbase Miniatures has released January’s files to Patreon backers. The theme was a revamped set of figures for MARSOC (one of Turnbase’s original releases). Tier 2 backers received the core set, bringing five operators with MK18s, Mk46 and one figure with M45 drawn. For Tier 3 backers, the Specialist set was added, including two figures with M203s fitted, an SR25 EM Carbine and a figure firing an NLAW. There are also two sets of separate heads to use on the figures, including two styles of more characterful heads with the specialists. These sets should be out to Patrons now, with an MMF release coming soon.

BobMack3d Prepares The 25mm Hotchkiss For Deployment

New update from BobMack3d about the fourth item in the next Kickstarter from them, “Arras 1940 BEF“, and we have an anti-tank gun. The 25mm Hotchkiss (or the SA34) was an AT gun used by the BEF during their time in France. Also referred to as the 1pdr, the 25mm was used to fill in for the lack of 2pdr 50mm guns, although they were found to be less robust than most of the guns designed to be towed by mechanised vehicles. This is a new one for a BobMack3d release, and shows off another type of vehicle that these projects may come with in the future.

Arras 1940 BEF will be released at the start of March, bringing a pile of early-war British military hardware to the table. You can sign up for the reminders over on Kickstarter right now.

BattleGround HD and W3 Wargaming Launch Everything You Need for Kasserine

We have a double launch of complimentary Kickstarters that launched yesterday. All ready for your adventures in North Africa, the pair should get you everything you need to get playing battles around the Kasserine Pass.

Starting with the rules, BattleGroundHD has launched Chaos at Kasserine, a project to bring scenarios and a campaign all around the clash of reconnaissance units in the North African desert. With a linked campaign (including both historical locations and themed scenarios), force lists covering the US and DAK recce screens and even six historical personalities (sculpted by W3 Gaming) to play their role. Designed for BattleGroundHD (folks I met at Salute last year), I can see this project being handy in other games such as Chain of Command, as the team writing it will have gone deep in researching the period. The project includes pledges for both the new campaign (and STLs) and a larger one to add the core ruleset – you can even add a pledge for the previous campaign in case you want to hit the beach with the Rangers in Sicily, another campaign where you can use the same troops. The new campaign will run until March 21st, giving plenty of time to jump in.

And speaking of troops, W3 Gaming also launched their Over There Part 2 Kickstarter, which I previously previewed a few weeks ago. This project is the follow-up to the US-focused project from last year. With this release focusing on the Afrika Korps Light Infantry and Kradschűtzen (or motorcycle recce) Zug, there is a lot of Germans in short sleeves, with the core pledge being roughly a platoon with mortar, anti-tank rifle and motorcycle supports. There is even a 2 Player pledge available, letting you pick up both the new DAK and the previous Americans in one simple pledge. There will also be some Add-Ons unlocked during the campaign, with some savings on buying all of them. The project will be running until March 21st, giving plenty of time to… wait a minute…