Wednesday 15 July 2015

Hasslefree Miniatures Newsletter

Some new models and a poll to decide on a future one...

Summer has Arrived!
With the heat and the kids home from school I thought 'What is the worst possible time to challenge Kev to a contest?' :)
(Technically it'd probably be Christmas but I didn't wanna do any work then either and this was primarily about torturing Kev not myself)

Ok, this week we kicked off one of our intermittent Kev Challenges, inventively called the 'Super Summer Challenge'. You can find all the details of that below, however for those of you who would rather just buy something Kev's already made and have it shipped to your sweaty little paws then we'll do the new minis first! ;)
Resin Master - Foxtrot
'Foxtrot' is a post-apocalyptic wanderer of the badlands.  She comes complete with choice of weapons (an automatic or a rifle), choice of heads (buzzcut or gasmask and crazy hair/wig) and choice of left arm (regular or mechanised).
Also available as a Multipack of 2 bodies and 1 sprue, allowing you to make 2 complete miniatures.
Resin Master - Oscar
'Oscar' is another wanderer of the Badlands.  Regularly seen with 'Foxtrot', their real names are unknown and their nicknames hearken back to a pre-apocalypse dialect.
He comes complete with a choice of right (M4 or monkey wrench) and left (satchel or empty fist) hands.

Also available as a Multipack of 2 bodies and 1 sprue allowing you to make 2 complete miniatures.
Resin Master - Lewis
Lewis  is another of our Badlands wanderers. Armed with a ridiculous axe, he is know for telling (possibly tall) tales of slaying great mutated beasts.
(Kev would like you to know that I've 'tacced his axe hand on incorrectly in the photo, it's supposed to be swiveled the other way so the front of the hand faces forward. It's very important to him, he's like an anatomy nazi :D When we get a chance we will surreptitiously change out the photo on the website for a more corerect one and then I will pretend none of this ever happened, so keep it to yourselves!)
Resin Master - Dakota
Dakota is the haunted, but resilient, lone survivor of a number of a number of groups of Badlands survivors. Recently crossing paths with a small group containing Foxtrot, Oscar & Lewis she has made the tough decision to travel with them a little way despite prior happenings. Armed with a shotgun, twin holstered pistols and various other weaponry hidden around her body and overcoat.

(Yes, we know she isn't new, but she missed her slot in the mould queue so she will now be joining the new post-apoc guys and coming to metal when they do, so we thought we'd remind you she exists ;) )
Resin Master - Dynamic Jynx
Not that the original isn't dynamic in this case but just to stay with naming conventions, this variant has her summoning a ball of energy ready to throw out at some unfortunate bad guys.

We aren't entirely certain if this will make it to metal, we will give it a go but it's a little iffy. You'll find out in a few months I guess :)
The Forsaken (5)
Another of our 5-mini sets (we're cheating a little as you get 2 variants of Karl Drax in this, so only 4 characters, unless you have twins or clones in your scenarios :D )
Called after the ship they were given and allowed to name, 'The Forsaken' were a short-lived group of criminals, caught by the Galactic Navy and forced to go to war against a particular pirate syndicate to avoid punishment. Consisting of...
Andreah, real name unknown, background unknown. The Captain.
Karl Drax (& Rogue Drax), The Muscle.

Hayden, a tough-as-nails Grymn flier. The Pilot.

Brooke, perpetually adolescent-looking specialist. The Wild Card.
Karl Drax, Galactic Mercenary
Karl Drax is the go-to mercenary if you'd like to protect your shipment from Space Pirates. Next to nothing is known of Karl's history other than he's not human, despite his looks, and that if you ask him what race he actually is you'd better hope he's too drunk to care.
Has a love-hate relationship with the Pirate Queen Andreah, who may or may not be the same race. Armed simply here with just his trusty blaster and dressed lightly.
Rogue Drax, Galactic Privateer
Rogue Drax is a variant figure of Karl from his Privateer days. Armed with a modified PDW version of the 'Shard', the gun carried by the DSE arm of the Galactic Navy (Don't ask where he got it), a vibra-blade and wearing an impressive overcoat.
Magnetic Restocks
Finaaaalyy the magnetic basing has come BACK to Hasslefree!

(Yeah I like The Rock, deal with it :) )

After a while, and some confusion with the manufacturer we have finally got our diecuts rolling again and have restocked the magnetic basing category.

Not only that, but we have had them cut us two new sizes of magnetic tape, 25mm and 50mm. A few of you were wondering why we didn't do those, so now we do :D
Etched Brass Restocks
Big etched brass restock also, figured you basing guys can now go nuts! :)
(Technically some of the restock is a slight back order as it's on it's way still but it will be here shortly so we're putting it up for you guys tonight, the foliage brass is in, just waiting on some of thearchitectural)
The Super Summer Challenge!
Well this is further down than I thought when I wrote the intro :) Hopefully you all made it here, if not then I'm currently talking to myself, which is fine, I do it all the time and it keeps Jenn amused.

Right, for those of you who don't know, Kev graciously allows me to mess with his schedule every now and again and challenge him to make a small selection of miniatures that weren't already on his to do list. As an incentive for this there are usually linked rewards :D
This time around there are 6 miniatures and 1 from a public poll. There's also a bonus round set that I'll explain below. The most important part for you guys though is....
The Public Poll!
Ok guys and Gals, here it is, the big 'Kev's Super Summer Challenge' Poll.
Just go to our Facebook Page and reply to the image with the letter of your vote. If you want to vote for more than one then put them in order but there will only be one official winner (if there's a tie we may check for secondary votes or just pick ourselves, or even make both!)
You can, if you wish, follow your vote with any notes for what you'd like to see if that wins.
Oh, and if anything below the image reminds you of something you shouldn't say and you say it anyway, I 'will' be removing your comment and therefore your vote won't count. You have been warned! ;)
So, without further ado, your choices are....
A. 'Female Warrior Monk' makes a return after narrowly losing the last poll. Cropped hair with long side/back braids, possibly twin hammers and in full religious armour.
B. Moder/Post Apoc trucker type, jeans, tshirt/vest, trucker boots and a Tec-9. Possibly screaming at you.
C. Sci-Fi female assassin. Stealth skintight suit and fully enclosed facemask. Giant sniper rifle and some sci-fi doodads like an eyepiece and space pistol.
D. Sci-Fi Archer. Male or female. lightly armoured, and again with sci-fi doodads. Fully sci-fi bow with widdly beeps and the like.
(It occurs to me that if C wins and D is popular this could be a spinoff variant?)
E. Modern/Post Apoc male 'bard' type. Long hair, guitar case, sawn off shotgun.
F. A Modern/Post Apoc male 'Big Game Hunter', possibly Australian themed. Big hat, big ass rifle, really big knife.
Now..... go vote! Poll will close on Friday.
Challenge Minis 1& 2
Just so you guys who don't do Facebook are aware, here are the other minis from the challenge that have already been chosen...

The first two figures in Kev's 'Super Summer Challenge' are....
1. A female Sleiti psyker, possibly with staff weapon. Maybe the start of having a redo at our space elf range!
2. A special or heavy weapon for the Five Eight. Suggestions below for what type of weapon please
smile emoticon
The reward for meeting this challenge is the ingredients to make a classic 'Old Fashioned'.
(Although as Kev also regularly drinks alcohol straight we have upgraded the usual Rye to a nice Single Malt).
So, whadya think? Any suggestions for weaponry for the two minis go on our FB page. Now is the time to be heard, once they're done and on Kev's page it's usually too late
Challenge MInis 3, 4 & 5
The next three figures in Kev's 'Super Summer Challenge' are...
3/4. A Viking couple (which is a little bit of cheating, and why there's two question marks on one of the corks). A ferocious warrior and his beloved shieldmaiden. Any opinions on their weapons?
5. A dynamic variant of Maika von Ostwald our recent greatsword-wielding champion. She has proven quite popular but we have heard those of you who bemoan the lack of dynamicism so this one will be charging and everyone wins! :)
The reward for this part of the challenges is the ingredients to make the fabulous 'Kamikaze'!
(Particularly alcoholic hence getting away with the 3 minis ;))
Challenge Mini 6 & 7
The final two proper* figures in Kev's 'Super Summer Challenge' are...
6. A Modern Minigunner, street clothes and an M134 variant.
7. The winner of the public poll above.
The reward for this particular part of the challenge is a simple but strong lil mix called a 'Dark & Stormy' (Officially you're supposed to use Goslings rum and Ginger Beer but in reality any dark rum will do, and I like Woods overproof. Having an overproof rum on the shelf is also handy to have in the house to make a really good Zombie).

Any opinions on the minigunner?
*I said 'proper' because ...
Add a title
Challenge Minis - Bonus Round
Kev's 'Super Summer Challenge' Bonus Round!
Now, as you may have read on his page or ours (or anywhere, ever), Kev can sometimes be a little grumpy. We can't imagine that will be helped by a challenge full of minis, during a hot summer, none of which seem to involve much in the way of naked chicks.
So... the palette cleansing bonus round :D
Should Kev require a break from painstakingly putting an ammo belt on a minigun or the 8th bit of chainmail on a viking then this bonus round means he can slope off and sculpt some curves....
Dynamic Lenore!
Yes, our incredibly popular sexy sorceress will be getting a more dynamic variant. We haven't decided exactly what yet, we did a little poll before and got a number of good responses but if you want to make further suggestions below we will not have a problem with that
smile emoticon
The original idea is arms out for casting/summoning and holding something. We are yet to decide just wha that something is 'or' whether or not her hood will still be up. Weve done a fair few minis with staffs lately so probably something different, skull, crystal ball, something you suggest below that we haven't thought of yet etc. However all this may change if Kev gets a waft of inspiration through the tiny crack in the basement window we allow him.
"Uhm, you know there are 2 corks right?" Why yes, imaginary voice in my head, I do indeed. The second cork is because Kev will almost certainly make a naked dolly for her first, as he did for the original, and I will almost certainly steal it away to get resin cast because I am quite the little mercenary so and so!
The reward for the Bonus Round is the 'Fire-Cide', a quite potent mix of cinnamon whisky and good apple cider.
And Finally...
Kev will almost certainly be showing WIPs of his challenge minis on his Artists' FB Page, so make sure you have liked and followed that to get your opinions in bwhile the putty is still wet :)
We're hoping to squeeze in more metal releases before the end of the month, just awaiting castings. Some of our out of stock minis will come in with those castings. We're also working now on getting some of our long OOS minis, like Dominatrix Libby, Sarah, Dain etc. back into production.  At the same time we'll be looking to bring to you the production versions of the Sculpting Contest minis from last year and a new Sci-Fi line we acquired. Lots of moulding ahead!

We're a bit more settled in at the unit finally, the first few months of B&W Games have gone well and so it's time to take it to the next level. Coming next week will be the start of Red Box Games being part of our little family. For those of you who haven't hard of them, keep an eye on our FB page for details (It's a fantastic fantasy line by the ridiculously talented Tre Manor).

That's going to keep us 'very' busy so that's it for now :)
'til next time,
Arty.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails