Author: Jimmi

Hi Gents ! , .. what’s new at Flashpoint-Miniatures. ? …Well… lots !

I’ve just had a pile of long-awaited spincasting moulds with new figures and pieces arrive. I’ve had a test spinout of the moulds and they (and the figures) are great.

I’ve been formulating a bunch of new packs with the pieces added from these moulds to deploy some new interesting tabletop forces ; Mike Force Strike Teams, VietCong ‘Infrastucure’/HQ cells, NVA Sappers and two new Boat models ..a PBR and LSSC are here !

I’ve just got to make up a few, check weights and sizes (for postage) and put ’em in the shop. …aand I’m painting a few examples up so I can show you some pictures of what’s on offer .

I am super-busy at the moment, with a few other things on the boil too, so I’ll get these done just as soon as I can. I’m also looking to overhaul the website a little , and start a Facebook page.  (..instead of the ‘forums’ on the website which is a crawlspace for hackers, and I haven’t had them working for a while.)

the “Leading Elements” Rules project is awesome … we are playing a “1964; Special Forces Camps” campaign game at the moment to test them out. Thankyou to everyone involved with this. ,.. the year has flown !.. and we are looking to another gathering in November. …

again … I’m sorry for not writing more here, more often . But you can be fairly assured that if I’ve gone “quiet” , I’m up to something …. keep a lookout !

All the best

Jimmi

 

Hi Gents , Great days !

Yes, have been usually busy with many new things. Thankyou to our newest happy customers who have kept me well busy.

? new stuff ;

–  the SEALs pack will now get a few new members and be a full SEAL ‘Platoon’ of 18 men.

– a new 40piece Local-force VC Headquarters ‘Platoon’ ;  a collection of Command, Sappers, Porters, Trailwatchers, medics, markers, and extra machineguns for the well organised Localforce VC Company HQ .

-The ARVN have a HQ Pl coming, and a MIKE force PL ,  and new MACV/SOG figures.
-The USA Infantry have been rebased and remastered a little. …eg machine guns + ammo belts better casted .
-A handful of NVA figures have had the same overhaul.

At the moment these have all been master casted and are awaiting production casting.

I’ve got new Khmer rouge master figures x8 half-done,  a metal tuk tuk for production casting , a urethane Renault ‘Saigon taxi’ , a V100 Commando Armoured car nearly finished.

I’m collaborating with Tim at Gomi Designs to do more crew and weapon pieces for his upcoming boats as he overhauls some of his work and adds the PCF boat he’s doing right now . I’ve just done a great twin .50 gunner for his PACV  model; for example. The PBR and LSSC metal pieces are next in line to be production-casted so I can
manufacture these also.

No new terrain. I have a bunch of ‘hard-building’ masters to be production casted. I’m looking to expand what I do with  the ‘hooches’ pack to make a good looking 20+ piece ‘Asian rural village’ as a bundled item.
The Rules project is looking really good. The main working party (here in Australia) had a big meet and game
in November last year and again just before Christmas, and again just a fortnight ago.
The Tactical tabletop rules working well and written clearer, and are getting good results in the scenarios we’ve been using / testing . (in the dark, in the wet, lots of irregulars, special forces  etc. etc. ) The Force TOE’s are being added to , and Scenario/theatre/specialist rules being done now as ‘extras’ (eg field engineering, boats/BWN .. lotsa ‘extras’) instead of  bulking out the core rules . November -December was a short test of  our adaptation of Martin Porters’ “Guerilla Warfare” campaign rules with a simplest of settings .. want to repeat for a BWN setting to see if they can  handle it at BTN level with lots of moving pieces, moving tides , and sneaky Sappers and SEALs in the dark.

Not rushing things, and want to make sure all the bits work together . Having fun.

Flashpoint figures calling the shots !
However most of the Working Party has got ADD with OCD for PGM’s  , and have got distracted by the potential Cold War gaming awesomeness hysteria sweeping the known world. They’re in Africa with Saggers and T-28 Air-Forces. …Like herding cats right now .

I wish I was painting a lot more than I’m getting done right now … how about you ?

Hi Gents ,

Just a quick hello and “best wishes” for the season. Another whirlwind year is in its final hours… what happened to 2015 ?

My ‘best laid plans’ for this year had me getting the ARVN Rangers out for sale (after near a year on the sculptor’s desk), releasing a whole bunch of terrain items (mostly fortifications.. for both sides), re-organising and re-moulding the ageing production moulds for a lot of the most popular figures, pushing our rule-writing project forward, attending a few conventions, and a planned ‘field trip’ to Vietnam with my wife.

Well …plans ‘never survive first contact’, …the ARVN and Terrain pieces got over the line without too much trouble (thankyou Matt at Reaper miniatures) , the production moulds re-do is on track (..although is a bigger task than I gave it credit for), the rule writing has gone really well, maybe a bit too well**….and I think we have something good to share more widely here real soon. …I never got to attend the two conventions I’d planned for ..one was out of my hands , the other was a “strategic call” not to attend (…was harvest time on the farm). Visiting Vietnam itself was a definite high point … my wife finally ‘gets it’ why I have a love for this country and its’ history.

However this year also came with the opportunity to collaborate with Tim at Gomi Designs on making “crew” figures for his PBRs and a Light Seal Support Craft (LSSC) , which put me to work on top of other things ..but with good effect. The end result of which is now available through Gomi Designs (link below) ..but will also culminate with Flashpoint Miniatures also producing Gomi Designs’ boats in the near future (ie; Monitors, ATC, PBR, LSSC, APSB, PCF, ACV, with a MSSC and a LCM-8 coming soon) … a project / direction I hadn’t seen coming at the beginning of the year..but am very enthusiastic about . Wow !

The “Leading Elements” rules have progressed well, the Combat rules themselves have had a thrashing, the Army Lists sections have ‘arrived’ (and I’ve learned how much I didn’t know) the Campaign rules have matured to allow the player to play out a frighteningly realistic campaign (or mini campaign) in the boots (or sandals) of a Company Commander or Battalion Commander.  (…** Umm… problem is that the Communist Commanders’ Campaign Brief also reads like a ‘how-to’ organise and effect an insurgency / terrorism campaign ..a bit too realistic perhaps …so we got a bit of re-writing to do before this circulates further … or we might be facing jail time methinks). Thankyou to the “dirty dozen” of playtesters we have on board with this , and more most sincere thanks to many others who have offered advice, material, feedback and best wishes as we have moved / meandered forward. Yeah .. we aren’t rushing this .. but I think interested parties will be happy with the results.

For me personally, 2015 has been a fantastic year.. mostly because of the legion of most excellent wargaming gentlemen I have had the privilege to meet and correspond with; a quick count in my ‘wargaming emails’ folder says I have exchanged just over 850 emails with this year !  double Wow !

But most completely the “best bit” has been actually getting figures on the table and playing a few interesting Vietnam games with people I’ve newly met. This has reminded me what this is all really about … good times with good people having good fun.

! Thankyou Gents … More to follow .  See you next year !

( a Company of Marines arrives upriver by Amtrack, while another Company enters a village expecting trouble )

Hi guys ! , I’m sorry I’ve been slack here,… but I’ve been awesome everywhere else !

I’ve just got back from northern safari and a few days of most supremely excellent playtesting goodness. …..with a few days before that of organising and finishing off plenty of nice looking terrain pieces. ….with a few days before that of getting some nice looking minis all ready for tabletop combat.

Now I have some really pretty eye candy to share . Will post some AAR’s as soon as.  The rules project is advancing steadily … I haven’t posted anything here because it seemed to be evolving so quickly leading up to ‘safari’. The campaign rules have been popular with those that have seen them so we are considering keeping more to the original presentation of tactical and campaign rules …just now with greatly increasing ‘Army Lists’ and background ‘scenario’ information ! Hahaha! I feel like we’ve come a full circle ! (…or we are going around in circles ! …Hahahaha!)

I shoulda put a ‘note on the door, saying I’ll be away …have come back to lots waiting to do ..thankyou for shopping at Flashpoint Miniatures ! …Glad you like !

I need to do a little restocking !

Great days !

 

Hi Gents,

Another few weeks and months have flown past, and a lot has been happening since I posted in June. Firstly we’ve been pretty busy with some pretty cool looking ARVN and USMC armies and ‘Village terrain’ going out the door.  The ‘Checkpoint kit’ (TER-11) has been the runaway favourite terrain item, along with the ‘VC Bunkers’. …. Thankyou much for your business, kind feedback, and cool pics !

Our own figure remastering and re- production-moulding schedule is moving ahead really well.       I am now producing more and better cast figures than ever before. We have invested in quite a few new production moulds for our biggest turnover ranges, some of which were ‘remastered’ a little (to improve bases mostly, or rectify persisting casting difficulties)… so now I can offer a better looking range of fantastic figures, some of which have been out of circulation for a while it seems. Some items I used to have trouble producing , now produce very well. I have also filled a lot of gaps in little details such as heavy weapon accessories and civilian ‘clutter’ , and produce more items I wanted such as more casualty tokens (now for  M14 USMC and ANZAC ) …I am already passing this on in more interesting and useful combinations in the composition of various packs. Funnily enough, this also means I’m looking to reduce prices of some things (or pack more and better) because I am now producing much more efficiently. Watch this space !

We’ve recently been collaborating with Gomi Designs in England to make a series of  “crew and weapons” figures for their expanding range of Vietnam Riverine boats. Tim at Gomi Designs has a PBR , a Light SEAL Support Craft (LSSC) , and a much, much awaited ‘Swift Boat’ (PCF) also very near production. Tim is planning a Medium SEAL Support Craft (MSSC) next with a LCM-8 planned thereafter. Watch this space. I’m looking to provide gunner options for the PACV from Gomi designs very soonly too

The ‘Leading Elements’ Tactical Rules project is very advanced and I should be posting a lot of it on the forums here in the next month.  …Thankyou for your feedback and “Comradely good fellowship” in scrutinizing and shaping these.  A lot of good observations, information and advice have been offered here. Thankyou ! The Army List sections have come together well, and a miniCampaign test run has been scheduled for a loong weekend in November. Stay tuned, will share pics !

Thanks again to all for keeping the Flashpoint Miniatures shop-floor pretty busy recently, and an enjoyable place to work ! ……..Yes ! ..still have lots of new things coming …. more SEALs and ARVN , Riverine/boat crews, civilian ‘tuk-tuk’, Saigon taxi, modular ‘hard’ buildings, terrain remasters, LVTP5 remaster, M113 remasters, a CH34 Choctaw, ‘technicals’ for the Ultramodern troops … most of which exist already and are just waiting for a chance to be prepared for production. …The concurrent ‘Rules project has slowed me down a bit here.

I have been busy making piles of gaming-ready terrain for this coming November. Found some cool things,… will share !

Great days ! Good things closer ! … Woohoo !  November coming !

Jimmi

Hi Gents ! …I’ve recently had a few requests for postal/shipping rates clarification, so I went and had a look at the Australia Post plug-in that calculates shipping and options, to my surprise I found that the cheaper shipping rates options had been switched off …so  I’ve switched them back on !  Hereby, cheaper postal rates than “Express hand delivered by  three wise Magi” is now available.

Also ..if you aren’t following the financial news from Australia ( I don’t think anybody does) , the Australian economy under our current fearless leadership is spiralling into the toilet , and nearly all the robber barons in the mining sector have sold out and left ! … But that’s great news ! (only if you are self employed , grow/kill your own food and make your own electricity..)

(At the time of writing)… The Aussie dollar (AUD) is down about 22% against the USD (…than what it was about this time last year) (AUD= .76 USD), and down about 10% against the GBP   (AUD= .52 GBP), ….great news ! … if you don’t live in Australia !

So exploit the opportunities ‘Down Under ! … Buy Australian!

… before we officially convert our currency to Renminbi (RMB) ! …

All the best  😉

Jimmi

16 march 2015.

 

 

Howdy all ! …I’ve just had a busy month in the casting and packing shed !

Thankyou for your continued support, kind words and excellent conversation !

I’m just about to go away for a well-earned break for a week-plus of walking and fishing up in Far North Queensland, so I’ll be unable to process orders in the next week.

I’ll be back (if I haven’t been eaten by a crocodile) on the 2nd of September and will be able to get to anything waiting then.

Apart from casting and packing, …it has been a busy month of bringing our home grown rules a bit further forward… I may have mentioned they are taking on a life of their own …and current developments have them extending from the ‘American War’ Vietnam period (the original ‘scope) to a retro-modern “Cold War gone hot” setting (circa 1984) ..but with a South-East Asian flavour … think of the Post-Vietnam war Communist “dominoes” falling through Indonesia and the pacific, and onto Australia’s Northern coast … we are having a lot of fun with this concept ! …and it’s turning out sorta like somewhere between the traditional ‘Soviet/Chi-Com Hordes are coming’ scenario…. and a ‘Pulp’ wargame version of   ‘Aussie Outback “ferals” (hillbillies) fight the ‘Indonesian Commie Apocalypse’ …

..I’m not sure exactly how it will end up looking like, …..maybe ‘Outback Kangaroo and Pig-hunters in “Holden ‘utes” (ie: Chrysler utility trucks) and sturdy rubber ‘thongs (ie: flip-flops…casual footwear) will be the saviours of Australia ?  Or will it be long-range SAS patrols with ATGW , laser designators and backed by F111 fighter bombers …. that will turn back the Commie Hordes ???  ..I’m still finding out myself ….. I have laughed so, so much recently,  I am looking forward to see what might happen next …  Thanks guys !

But first …I’m going fishing !

Hi gents ! …. hopefully you have got some of the lead mountain painted and you are looking to protect your troops ! … we have lots of new Terrain pieces ready for your table ! ….This culminates the terrain-building project piloted early last year (when I was flooded in and had lots of time to master these) . Some of you buying from the website will have received samples of what I’ve been up to as I’m doing them …fencelines,  CGI shelters , mortar pits, roadside shrines etc . ..and I’m grateful for the feedback I’ve had over the last months.

The intention has been to ‘add-to’ the really useful ‘Sandbag Walls’ item from the terrain accessories …. first  sandbagged walls with OHP for the ‘Observation Towers’ terrain accessory item (see; ‘Sandbagged Checkpoint item)… then a small generic bunker …then on and upwards to the fourteen new items I’ve just added. I’ve aimed to make the terrain pieces as multi-functional as possible, so accordingly…. fairly generic. These might also do fine for your WW2 table AND would ‘work’ OK for your 20mm troops. I’ve also kept in mind that the Sandbagged ‘Firebase’ terrain pieces (in particular) could be further modified/detailed fortified using our ‘Sandbag Walls’ and ‘Fuel Drums’ accessory items.   This allows you to easily customise your own ‘Firebase’ pieces using compatible accessories we already produce.

It also means that if you have had the idea of building your own Firebase from Accessories yourself (like some admirably crazy German players)…I’ve done a lot of the foundation work for you already , this will be a much, much cheaper (and faster) option.

At this point … we still have a few minor Terrain accessory items to add to this round of releases (tents, VC hides, civilian village items etc), then I’m looking to complete some ‘hard’ civilian buildings (and ruins)… for your continuing wargaming happiness.

Plenty more goodness coming from this direction …stay tuned…. keep painting !

G’day gents , just arrived home from Canberra and the yearly ‘CanCon’ event which was a lotta fun.

I took a small store down armed with the usual Flashpoint goodies, but was most interested to see how our new (in the last year) offerings would be received, and was looking for comments on the up-and-coming items we have planned and prototyped. Again, it was good to see a few old friends and meet some new ones … so lots of good discussion was had, many world problems were solved, … even had a few laughs.

The biggest runaway success was the ‘Amtracks’, these were very well received, which I’m personally the most chuffed about. Both the APC and Howitzer versions were well liked by people seeing them ‘for real’ (not just on an internet pikkie), and I sold all but one Amtrack APC. I was surprised that the recently added ‘USMC with M14’s’ packs were admired, but almost ignored at the checkout as most buyers were stocking up on our ANZACs and VC/NVA. …well, that makes sense in an Aussie marketplace. Our new M113 with T50 turret, and ‘VC Porters’ pack was well received also. We also trialled a new ‘Assorted Trees’ pack and a few new additions to accessory/terrain items (sandbags walls/sampans/observation towers) at the show, which were well received, … I haven’t posted these on the website yet .. so these are coming real soon, now I know I’m on the right track with these.

So a bit of work now to do to unpack and answer a bunch of emails that have come in since the show (while I’ve been driving home), and a small shop order to assemble off to Germany….

Thanks to everyone who came and said hello at CanCon, big thanks to Tim Sleigh and his team at Canberra Games Society (CGS) for another well-run big show, and Nic (and team) of Eureka Miniatures, and Mick of ‘Micks Metal Models’ (the Aussie home of Peter Pig miniatures) for being most excellent neighbours … and mentors. I learned a lot from these gentlemen.

I had my young family with me for the ‘road trip’ and we had a great time and met many good people, so will likely make a regular family trip for the event, as I train the next (tall blonde female) generation of the ‘Flashpoint Miniatures’ team , …mwohahahaha !…

Howdy Gents ,

It’s been a rocket-ride first year for my tenure as Owner/manager of Flashpoint Miniatures ! …What an education !        I’ve been a long-time (30+years) casual but dedicated wargamer across a number of genres, but I really had no idea what goes on behind the scenes.  At this moment in time, when tabletop wargaming seems to be gaining in popularity, abundance and sophistication …I feel it is completely my privilege to be doing this.

I first ‘discovered’ Flashpoint Miniatures only about three years ago, and although I liked the figures, I felt that the composition of the packs left a lot to be desired. When I heard that the Business was offered for sale, and learned the previous owner had more-or-less ‘lost interest’, … I felt that this was a beaut little range of figures that was worth saving, and more-than-worth taking further. I was already a 15mm Vietnam tragic (yes, I also own a fair amount of Peter Pig, QRF and Battlefront figures/models, … and a shedload of aircraft) .. and as I discovered some of the more unique and quality offerings from the Flashpoint range (eg; Montagnards, Sappers, and the largest, coolest selection of ‘Vietnam Special Forces’ figures there is ) , my enthusiasm for the potential of Flashpoint Miniatures grew and grew.  …It’s still growing.  ….  Again … I feel it is completely my privilege to be doing this !

In this first year (not knowing any better) we have added twenty-eight ‘new’ figures, remastered another twelve figures  I felt could-be-better (or had production issues), rediscovered another fifteen figures that had fallen from production and will be re-released soon (or are already turning up in packs). We have also added three new vehicles (and a T50 turret for our M113 model) and nine new ‘terrain’ items/accessories. …..I say “not knowing any better” because I suggest this represents a fairly ambitious schedule for a miniatures production company twice our size, and it has been a near vertical learning curve for me on how to ‘make this happen’, let alone the time and personal $$$ invested to see it through. I’m pretty chuffed with what we have managed to achieve so far , and have a bunch more new items (ARVN figures, vehicles, boats, terrain pieces) already on the way.

We have also made a point of improving the ‘production quality’ of what we are doing, (from what/how was done before) … we have improved the quality of the lead-free pewter we use (actually good enough to eat off ), found better (tougher) polyurethane ‘resins’ to use, and very recently changed the spincasting team we use … I’m now seeing the best castings of our figures I’ve seen so far, and believe we have ‘lifted the bar’ on what is possible to offer.

Along the way I’ve been lucky to meet and collaborate with a new circle of talented friends, artisans, suppliers, buyers, wargamers and production gurus. I cannot emphasise enough, what good work, advice, ideas, encouragement, feedback and friendship I have received over the last year , or how valuable this is . Big Thanks ! Keep it coming ! IOU!

So a big Thankyou to everyone (especially customers) who have made it possible this year to get this far at all. I believe by this time next year we will be another quantum-leap forward in 15mm wargaming awesomeness, and will have our own “big-battle” wargaming rules well on-the-table. ….so if you are not already … get painting ! , start hoarding vehicles and aircraft ! , make shedloads of cool terrain ! negotiate with work, family and loved ones to be absent next year ! get some exercise !  do whatever chores need doing ! …don’t say you weren’t warned !  Your time starts now !

All the best for Christmas and the holiday season, I hope/trust you emerge unscathed, maybe even richer and wiser.