Category: News / Events

Well we didn’t burn down , thanks to the herculean efforts of our local Rural Fire Brigades. Our local area has had two waves of decent rain about a week apart and as of a few days ago,  we have no fires in our local area for the first time since August last year. The vegetation around where I live out in the mountain forests on the East coast of Australia has greened up from a tinder dry yellow, and local waterways are running again. Looks like we will survive the Armageddon season for this year. … I hope I’m not calling it too early.

I’ve had the chance to do some serious cleaning and re-organisation of the Flashpoint production shed (including taking out the firefighting gear and storing it away) and have already been shipping a few orders that came in over the last weeks. I’ve had a chance to replace some worn-out molds and try a few new things inspired by last year’s experiments with 3D printing. I’ve still got a little bit of restocking to do, but it will happen quickly from now.

Thankyou for all the best wishes and patience during this time. I’ve used the “time off”(hahaha!) to get some important and vital behind-the-scenes jobs done that have been languishing over the last year while we’ve been pretty busy here. …Looking forward to the rest of 2020 , should be easier from here .

Just an update to say to Merry Christmas and happy holidays for 2019 .

Thankyou for your best wishes and thoughts at this time .

…As you might know we live in the countryside of eastern Australia ,.. which is mostly on fire nearly everywhere at the moment.   We are doing well and remaining safe where we are , we still have active fires in all directions around us and have more extreme weather days ahead before the Australian “fire season” is over.

We are maybe about to receive a few days of rain that should make a difference to the fires near us and cheer up the vegetation around us which has been tinder-dry in drought conditions.  Many of our immediate neighbors don’t have water (and have to buy it by the truckload) so we are doing ok that we do have access to water, . but a few days of rain will help us too .

So I’ve not unpacked the Flashpoint miniatures production area just yet because it is now packed with firefighting gear laid out if we might still need on nearly no notice at all.

I am however using the enforced downtime to complete jobs like the website shop upgrade and lots of shed-cleaning and stocktaking , and am hoping to even get a good dose of figure painting (and photos) in myself. ..and have already planned the first wargaming (and beer drinking) meetings with local and distant friends for the holiday period. 

I have had a few contacts who have contacted me to ask if I was ready to be trading again.  

I do need to restock (ie ; manufacture) a few key figures / items.

I’ll want to do some manufacturing over the holidays ( I enjoy it and looking forward to it ) so if you’re after something I need to make I can get it done / completed while I am ‘hands on’ . 

So email me and say G’day ! ,.. Let me know what you are after and been up to !

Thankyou all , …It’s been a busy year ! , and we have kicked a few goals in a few new places and look to get back to some interesting things again next year !

All the best ,

great gaming !

and Happy New Year 2020 !

Jimmi

Hi all

Just an update to say G’day.

I’m not sure if you are aware of the fires happening in Australia, but I’m in the thick of it right now. We had a “Catastrophic” fire danger event at very short notice on Tuesday 12^th November (this week). The scary surprise we had was a very high-wind day and fires very close in multiple directions.  I’m writing this as of Friday Morning 15^th November (Australian time)  , so we made it through . …

We have more extreme fire danger weather predicted over the coming days, and fires still burning all around (ie; in every direction) from where we are located, that might still be burning for weeks. You may not be aware (if you don’t follow New South Wales Rural fire service like we do) but this has been ongoing now (in our area) for at least seven weeks already.

Flashpoint miniatures production area has been packed up temporarily to protect against risk of fire.  

I’ve got two of my ‘old faithful’ collectors waiting for orders at the moment, but otherwise everything else is away. I’ll happily accept orders through the website, but I won’t be producing again until conditions ease and I am happy to unpack things like gas bottles and highly flammable chemicals to get started again.  I look forward to this tho’ .. because I’ve just been doing some great fun new things. As you might notice the website has had an upgrade , and I am keen to add a collection of photos of Flashpoint miniatures on the gaming tables and collections of the world .

So just to let you know, we are Ok (so far) and believe the worst of the immediate conditions are behind us right now. The ‘factory’ shed is shut up and fireproofed right now, but we will get back to work just as soon as conditions ease here. So orders in the interim will have a slight delay.

All the best for now. I’ll get back to you here when we are back in action .

Stay happy and safe.

Jimmi Flashpoint Miniatures

Hi all , after a very short few weeks off , your very own Captain of Industry is once again filling orders and making new stuff . In fact, I even managed to complete a few stalled projects, got some new ones happening, have done some restocking, and have jumped into the 3D printing universe where my head still gapes with wonder .

The recently added ARVN HQ , and MIKE Force HQ Units have been very popular and are now back in stock. Likewise the NVA Sappers and LVC HQ Cadre have been recently very popular .

The ‘Palm Forest’, ‘Jungle Forest’and ‘Wet jungle’ Packs have been expanded (in size and variety) by about half , for only a few dollars more , and I claim to be the best-priced batches of diverse plastic-scenery trees and shrubbery for 15mm Vietnam gaming you can find.

I’ve also recast some of the items in the urethane scenery range , and expanded favourite molds to produce better. I am particularly happy with the new ‘Civilian Village fence sections’ repack of the “fences and animal pens”. I now produce this as six 10 cm. fence sections. ( to use two of these to make an animal pen on a 5x6cm base is a ten minute task with shears and superglue, and paints easily ) .. And the on-table utility of the 10cm fence sections for scenery development has been a tabletop experience. I’ve also seen these used to mark camo hides and speedtrails for LVC , I have used them for stilts to lift hooches and platforms off the ground , and have been collecting a pile to make a pallisade fence set of defences for a MIKE Force project .

The rules writing project is happily evolving . I know I keep saying this , but they will be in a fit state to share very soon. We have had a recent re-restructure of the presentation of the rules and edited / moved a fair bit of ‘scenario development’ rules from the front sections into an appendix of it’s own. I think this is a big improvement and reads easier and quicker towards the game itself. We have been experimenting with ‘irregular’ scenarios (think Green Berets training CIDGs and Striker Units, or MVC Cadre developing LVC fighters and VC infrastucture units ) and how to develop them with ‘tactical campaign’ rules. The purpose to be a ‘development vs combat’ -balanced campaign model that ‘works’ from either perspective . The aim of the game leaning towards development in size and skill of your regional forces as a Commander. (or as an Advisor if you crave frustration . .) I hope the time and care we are taking to put this together will reflect in a great set of simple-to-use rules, to tackle some complicated-as-hell situations (we will provide some too ) ; and bring some big interesting games and weekends to come. I’ll keep you posted here.

If you haven’t already please come and find the new front bar of the old ‘Fields of Fire’ Forum , where all things Vietnam Wargaming are discussed and shared . There are plenty of good resources and great people to find here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/FieldsofFireRedux/

all the best ,

Jimmi

Hi all ,

I’ve just had a minor impact accident, and have hurt my shoulder enough that I’m taking two weeks off to recover .

Hahaha!

I’m Ok , but I need to give my shoulder a break , and get it happy again.

I’ll get done the few orders I have already here before me now , and take it easy for a short bit .

All the best

Jimmi

Hi all , I hope this finds you well and productive .

We’ve just got one of our most popular sets of items back in the shop , the forest packs ; ‘Palm forest’ ; ‘Jungle forest’ and ‘Wet forest’ packs are back in stock and enlarged by half , to make the best value tree assortments possible.

also, .. the ‘Village bundle’ and ‘Village fences’ terrain items are back in stock. Now with more and versatile pieces than before. The village fences is now available in packs of six which in intended to be used for village fencing and animal pen construction , but also for camouflage hides or pallisades for your CIDG/RF/PF  fortifications.

also…

the ‘ Hatchett force’/MIKE force /Stryker Platoon pack , and the MACV/SOG RT  pack have been increased to 24 figures and many other packs including the recently added ‘Firebase Defenders’ pack have increased or adjusted accordingly. This has been an exciting time as many packs have had improvements planned for some time and useful feedback has been returned on recently-added packs . This is the largest overhaul of Flashpoint Miniatures’ contents since 2017.   We have a few new things ready to present ; an ‘ARVN HQ’  pack that has been ready for a while , ‘NVA Counter Recon’ troops, and maybe even some Khmer Rouge are near .

 

stay in the current !

more to follow soon .

out for now

 

Jimmi

 

Hi all,

Well , my planned “quiet period” over January didn’t happen , hahaha !

I am taking a break until the end of April to do some ‘behind the scenes’ upgrades (and restocking) , get some commissioned jobs finished , and get some of my own personal wargaming tasks done in time for my next big meeting coming soon.  Might even get outside. ..Woohoo !

Thankyou for the last three months of some great projects out there and a busy few months at Flashpoint Miniatures. Thankyou for the feedback on some of the new packs ; particularly the MIKE/Hatchett force and MACV /SOG Operators. I’ll be “expanding” these two packs as suggested , and also adding some ‘linking’ HQ Packs to enable you to deploy expanding formations for bigger “Raid” (or “Rescue”) scenarios. Likewise the NVA are about to receive a “Counter Recon Team” with tracker dogs and more. (based on the histories of John Plaster) . I am also looking to offer ‘squad’ -sized packs of figures to help to bulk out your formations

I also have a few new (and old) projects that are about to see the light !

… Plus I’ve been able to restock items I’ve been ‘out of stock’ for a little bit . Like our super popular trees packs , of which actually have been wholesale ‘bought-out’ even before making it to the shopfront here. We are adding a few new ‘trees packs’ and terrain items. I’ve been shopping around to find some of the best products and bargains on the internet.  I think you’ll like.

But first , a short break.

The website will continue to happily accept your orders, but I will be unlikely to be shipping any new orders out until after April . I’ll still be around (mostly) so am happy to chat .

 

Jimmi

Hi all , I hope you have had a great holiday period wherever you are .

I’ve had a really busy period up to now , and am still getting things out the door from (immediately) before Christmas ,… admittedly they are some pretty big orders, that have lots of special bits ; but I’m still going, and about to get these away.
I’m planning on taking it pretty easy over the next few weeks up to the end of January. I have a few wargaming commitments I want to put my attention to , so I’ll still be taking orders , but I’ll likely be a bit slower to get them out in the next few weeks .
Plenty of good stuff coming , thankyou for your support and custom over the last year. Despite me having a few weeks away for family reasons , last year was the most busy and innovative so far , AND  we are making some more fundamental changes to how we do things behind the ‘scenes so things should be getting better.

I just had the challenge of assembling a large bunch of scenery and figures for a special ‘movie-prop’ project , and pulling in a large number of disparate products (not just the popular ones) ; at short notice , just after the end of an already busy period , and I was remarking at how much our production (in quality and numbers) has improved from our first years . So am feeling good for what’s ahead , now looking to get some time in throwing dice on a table or few .

All the best for now !  Happy Gaming in 2019.

Jimmi

Hi Gents ,

I’ve just had a six week period whereby I’ve been a bit quiet on the Flashpoint front as I attend to extended family duties. All good .

I have used the brief downtime to perform all the ‘behind the scenes’ admin like stocktaking, filing and cleaning (there was a lot to do here) ,.. but most importantly ,.. getting a few new projects ready and completed. My new Sampans and cemetery pieces are ready (mastered by ‘Sunihanble’ ; a genius wargame terrain builder ), and a few other ageing favorite molds have been improved and replaced.

I have been a little busy here over the table nonetheless, as a few gamers have been amassing some interesting NVA Sapper Companies that we put together earlier in the year. There has also been a lot of interest in larger VC units and I have really enjoyed a run of packing up larger NVA and VC units in some big orders.

Sappers on the wire ! … courtesy of the desk of Josep Ribera.

I’ve also added a few figures to my ‘pet’ project of MIKE force/ Hatchett force and MACV-SOG pack rethinks , after reading John Plasters’ book ‘SOG’ again earlier in the year. I have a few painting/modelling priorities rightaway ; but I am so looking forward to getting a formation of these bad boys together and painted. I am looking to add some sort of ‘irregular’ HQ units with a few heavy weapons and medics / signallers / interrogators etc to ’round these units out on the wargames table for bigger ‘jobs. I have a few friends who are fully exploring the ‘special-operations’ genre , and I have had some excellent feedback on “wants and needs” .

“Clear ! ” ; from the wargames table of ‘Just Jack’ . 

So thankyou very much gents , thankyou for giving me a little time that I needed , and thanks for keeping me busy nonetheless. Huge thankyous for your kind comments on other forums about my “outstanding” service (very appreciated to hear) . Plenty of most excellent new and old 15mm Vietnam wargaming goodness is here.

more to follow , out for now .

Jimmi

 

Greetings Flashpoint friends ,

I have just had a death in the family, and plan to be supporting my immediate family as a priority over the next few weeks.

I will process current orders and happily receive new orders throughout this time , but I’ll take it pretty easy at least until the end of June , … so immediate orders might take a bit longer to put together.

I thank my Flashpoint customers and friends very much for a great year so far , and hope this won’t interfere with any plans for world domination at this time.

All the best

Jimmi