For sale

I've had a lot of nice PM's regarding figures for sale or painting services. If you are interested in buying anything you see on this blog or have some figures you need painting then please drop me a line. I'm sure we can work something out.

Imperial Guard

I ordered a set of Victrix Guard Grenadiers as a bit of a change from yet another regiment of ECW foot (or 'foote' if you are looking for that faux-historic style that modellers seem to enjoy. I always used to laugh at articles in WI (normally ACW) that used to have the word 'damn' represented as 'd***' as if it gave the reader some sense of authenticity. Anyway, I digress). The figures are pretty good but it is a slightly different painting experience. The much thinner muskets for example are a bit of a challenge. Anyway here's my first attempt so its a bit of a work in progress. See what you think.

ECW Cuirassiers

I'm not sure how viable a full Regiment of Cuirassiers would be in terms of historical accuracy but here they are anyway. The Bicorne/Renegade mix in this case was not as seamless as for some of their other figures but it just about works. The guidon is by GMB (who else?) and is that of Sir Arthur Haselrigge's regiment.

Home again

Things have been a bit quiet as I've been making my way home to UK. Evetually made it last Friday so it seems appropriate to catch up a bit. My painting shrine was just as I had left it.

Its been a bit quiet

I haven't written for a week or so as I've been rather tied up with other stuff. However I haven't been totally idle and managed to get an order away for a box of the Victrix Imperial Guard. I still have yet to fully come to terms with the fact that I am sitting in a metal box in a FOB in Helmand and can order model figures from an address in Bracknell. I also ordered a pot of the new Vallejo basing mix. It says that you can apply it with a paint brush and voila, instant terrain. I hope so. If I can find a shortcut that means I don't have to go through the palaver of sticking the figures on a base, putting polyfilla on, adding sand and grit and then painting it then I shall be very happy. There's always a stray lump of glue that finds it way halfway up the backlegs of some figures you have spent ages painting and you never notice it until it's too late.

I've also been watching the regular 'attack the editor' skirmish that has been taking place on TMP. I'm reminded of the quote - forget who - that said about hostile media 'they can say what they like about me as long as they spell my name right'. Anyway I've commented before at my bemusement on sci fi figures and the like so I scratched my head vigourously  at a contributor to the website who said 'When are the Space Demons with bioweapons coming out? I really need those as well. Any plans to make even larger bioweapon creatures?' It's the 'really need' bit that I cannot fathom.


I also see that Colours took place on the weekend just gone. I'm an irregular attender at shows. I find that its a bit like Christmas. The build up is the best bit and then once it's gone you end up wondering what the fuss was all about. And hey, guess what, I take a rucsack which probably renders me beyond the pale.

Business plans.

My post about market research drew no response! But I'm not going to let that stop me. I am genuinely interested in the business planning side of running a miniatures company. I recall a few years back when at the height of their fame, Foundry sent out quite a long piece of text on the model they were following. There were no stunning surprises in it but it did provide some of the numbers. If anybody has a copy or a link to it then it would be interesting to read it again particularly in the light of the subsequent history of the Company.

I guess that it all comes down to knowing your market and then developing a quality product to fill it. In many respects the recent rush to plastic was a very obvious step given the success GW had had with a similar approach. The Perry sites talks about their trepidation about taking this route and reflects the concerns of every first mover in any market but presumably they had done their research in this respect. ACW as a theme is not exactly a high risk strategy but how much does it cost to design and bring to market a range of figures and where is the break even point?

If anyone has any thoughts or links on any of this I would be very interested to hear them. Presumably the first phone call every company makes these days is to Paul Hicks.....