Monday 7 April 2014

Hasslefree Miniatures Newsletter

Some Salute info, news of a merger and how to get yourself some freebies.

Hopefully as I'm at Salute myself this year I'll finally get time to meet the people who have been sending me sweets with my miniatures for years, lol.

Salute 2014, Bring it On!
Yeah that title is 'way' more upbeat than we are right now, the last minute run-up to Salute is akin to someone just beating you with a bat for a week :)
However, it has to be done and done it shall be! This week we have all the info you'll need to find us at Salute 2014, a reminder of the codes we have active for the Salute period and, not only our proper new releases, but the huge pile of pre-releases that will be available at the show.
On with the info and pretty pictures...
Turn Left!
That's pretty much your entire directions :) When you enter the main doors, turn left. Right in front of you in the usual place taking up the bottom left corner of the map is the Hasslefree Stand :)
Yes, I know there are loads of cool things to go off and see, that's what the 'rest' of the day is for. There's nothing worse than 3 o'clock rolling around and you realising you turned right and that the super awesome Hasslefree mini you wanted is now in the bags of the 30 people who turned left. At that point you might as well just give up the hobby entirely and take up crochet, it's over.
(Disclaimer: This is probably not true)
For the eagle-eyed amongst you (or basically anyone with working eyeballs) the red line leads you to HF and the red circle is the HF stand at TA03.
So what's that Purple bit all about? Well..
Artemis Black's is Dead...
... Long Live Artemis Black's!
(Yeah, that was a stretch, I really needed to make a business name with King in the title just so 11 years later I could make a better pun)
The purple bit is me! That's the Artemis Black's stand at TA07. This year is the last year that we'll be running as an independent company. HF and I have been talking about it for a year and in the coming months HF and AB will finally merge into one giant amorphous blob of a company.
What does this mean for you guys? Well, not much really, it's pretty much all behind the scenes paperwork. In fact, everything should be even smoother than it already is as we plan on moving to a larger space so I don't have to balance things on my head while writing newsletters or run an assault course of boxes to reach the stapler.
Website changes and the like will be rolled out through coming months and we'll keep you informed via our FB page, newsletters and other sources.
For this Salute though it means we're unloading as much as we can on the day from the AB stock. A lot of it is outdated now as companies have changed packaging or card inserts etc. while I've been busy with Hasslefree, so off it goes nice and cheap to make space for the upcoming merge/expansion and to make sure I have less work changing blisters or getting new cards from companies and so on.
We'll have with us... Zombicide, Gamezone, Malifaux/Wyrd, Red Box Games, Warmachine/Hordes/Iron Kingdoms, Dark Age, Mad Puppet, Degra, Enigma, Avatars of War, Dragonblood, Dragonrune, Magnificent Egos, Warcrow, Ebob, MERCS, Maidenhead, Shadowforge Amera Scenery and probably a bunch more I've forgotten, all at a 'Please take this away' sale price :)
There's even a bunch of new stock we got in for the merger but Salute rolled around too quickly so that'll be there too, just to be nice to you guys ;)
Oh and cakes, there are 'always' cakes.
Ok some of you are reading this at this point and have just been repeating in your head 'You totally mentioned codes up there, where the hell are the codes?'. Alright, alright!...
Salute Codes
There are two active codes running for Salute week.
SALUTE2014 - This is the code to make a 'Collection at Salute' order only. When you enter it it will remove your postal address and change your order to collection. You will also get to pick a free gift.
(Please note, you do 'not' need to select the 'Freeship' option as your gift, your shipping is already free. That option is just there for people who simply don't want any of the free gifts on offer i.e. crazy people)
GIMMESTUFF - This is the code for those of you who are ordering while we're preparing for or away at the show. Which is basically now until Tuesday the 15th. There 'will' be mail sent out Monday and Tuesday but nothing is guaranteed from this newsletter until the 15th. Again, this is a free gift code that you can pick from on the final page of your order.
For both of these codes you enter them on the 'review and confirm' page of the order process, i.e. the last page before payment. The box is at the top of the page.
(For those of you who have made a pre-order and get a 'despatched' notification, it does not mean we've accidentally posted your order :) We don't even have your address, it means it's been pre-packed with your free gift and some sweets and is in the pre-orders box ready to go)
The Return of the Sal
After the Whites missed last year's Salute, due to it falling on the same weekend as Reapercon for which they had a pre-engagement, this year they are back. Well most of them.
Sal will be back behind the HF stand and the HF family will be in tow helping out. How can you possibly not give money to that cute bunch?!
(Kev is currently on his lonesome in the US, having attended Adepticon, details on that at the end of the newsletter, so I'm afraid he won't be in attendance at Salute)
And no, for those of you who always ask, that is 'not' Kev at the front. That's Luke, he looks exactly like Kev except he's a bit taller and has more hair (What, he's like 4000 miles away :D ).
Okay, what have we got for you lucky people to actually buy?
Lord Ulthrak, Chaotic Lord
Lord Ulthrak, worshipper of the Dark Gods, leader of the Kran'duin Horde. Armed with a mightly battleaxe, bedecked in rune-engraved Darksteel armour and wearing an embossed leather greatcloak.
Ulthrak is our heaviest standard mini yet, even heavier than Volk due to his scenic base. He's also one of our largest, only fitting 5 to a mould.
He stands over 36mm tall and comes in 5 parts, main body, left leg, head, axe hand and scenic base. He is supplied with a standard 25mm slotted base but if you'd like a 30mm lipped base just mention it in the comments and we'll pop one in free of charge :)
This is probably my favourite mini of the last year. It stayed half done for so long that I'm amazed the end result is as awesome as it is. Is there some kind of Miniature Oscars I can enter him in?
Painted version by Andy 'Belly' Wedmore
Yevrah Natow, Ogresbane
Yevrah Natow, Ogresbane, Clan Leader of the Darksteel Forge. This fearsome, Dark Dwarf is fully armed in Darksteel plate and chain complete with a striking, rune-encrusted, belly plate. Armed with a runic broadsword and wearing a wolfskin cloak he's stands ready for his next challenge.
Kev had an evil dwarf itch to scratch, if this guy sells well we may see some companions :)
Major Stephanie, Retro Adventurer
Major Stephanie..., that's it. Nobody knows her last name, or if they do they aren't telling. Dressed in retro-styled leather armour and wielding a modified tommy gun Major Stephanie looks straight out of a 1940's adventure novel which would be fine if she wasn't a contemporary of Ekaterina in the modern world.
Painted version by Andy 'Belly' Wedmore
Capt. Isseki, Tough Detective
A variant of our, old-school looking but new tech using, detective figureCaptain Isseki. Armed with a pistol and in a more neutral pose than his previous full-on sprint.
Salute Pre-Releases
While the four normal releases above are available both at the show and online right now, the minis in the image above are pre-releases which we will have some stock of with us at Salute.
The proper release for these figures will be spread over the month or more after Salute (The sci-fi figures won't be until late May easy as they won't be released in metal until Kev has finished #4 and #5) so this is a chance to grab them early.
We will only have limited stocks with us though and there's no real way to pre-order them so get to the stand early! :)
(Turn Left!)
Resin Masters
As our Resin Masters are made in small batches and we never have more than a couple in stock at any one time we will have 'incredibly' limited stocks with us at Salute and we will not have all of them.
Any pre-orders that includes these 'need' to be in within the next 24 hours. The masters have to be thoroughly checked and we'll have no opportunity to get a replacement cast after Tuesday.
The master pictured above is Alien, our newest Resin Master availableHERE. He is the 7th Modern Trooper and won't be available in metal until sometime in late May at least as he's also waiting for Kev to get back from the States to finish his body 4 partner, Joker.
It also happens to be my current favourite of the Modern Troopers :) Kev is on a roll!
Accessories at Salute
We always try to bring as much of our accessories range to Salute as possible. It is a little difficult though as a lot of it doesn't fit well with blistering etc.
If, at the show, you are after etched brass or tiny screws, or steampunk cogs etc. and can't find them on the hookstands then please just ask someone at the desk, we will have stock with us it just may be behind the counter.
Multi-Packs at Salute
Almost everything we sell at Salute will fit in a blister. But every year we try out varying multi-packs at the show.
Basically a multi-pack is a boxed set of our minis which we think go together and includes a significant discount. We use the sales at the show to see which Multi-Packs to add to the website in the future.
So basically if you see a white box in a tray or hanging on a hook then (Unless it's a Grymn Walker) it's almost certainly a discount multi-pack. I'd list them but they are one of the last jobs on the list so we aren't sure what will get packed yet. Current examples are the 'Knife Ridge Orc Pack', The 'White Ops Battalion Pack' and the 'Grymn Platoon Packs'.
New possibilities include 'Fantasy Harem', 'Football Team', 'The Big Gang', 'Dark Dwarves', 'Village Scene', 'Northern Dwarves' and so on. Keep your eye out for the white boxes! :)
And FInally
As I write this Kev is currently biting his nails somewhere near Chicago at Adepticon. He flew over to the US early to enter the sculpting category of the Crystal Brush competition. he's facing some stiff competition, so we're all crossing our fingers for him :)
(Hopefully most of you reading this got our flash announcement yesterday on this and voted, if not Kev has a particular set of skills that he has acquired over a long career, and he will find you)
For the week after Salute all we will be doing is sorting out the week's orders we missed, putting everything back where it's supposed to be, and sleeping, lots and lots of sleeping. We'll do our best to answer emails, update the FB page and such to make sure you don't forget us but it'll be a bit slower than usual. Hopefully you'll understand, and if not then I'll be asleep anyway ;)
Ok, that's it for a couple weeks. For those of you attending Salute we'll see you there, for the rest of you well... I'm very sorry you just had a huge newsletter about a show you can't attend :) Use GIMMESTUFF and grab a freebie to make ya feel better?
'til next time,
Arty,

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