Merry Christmas!

'Red' Sailors greens

These are basically done, I've just asked Paul to add the rhomboid looking collar insignias and the ends of the cap bands for the 'sailor-look' like this man serving with the Torpedodivision L5 (photo found on the internet):

For now there will be five sets:
- Command set
- Sailors with rifles advancing
- Sailors with rifles firing/loading
- HMG (this set will, of course, also include a MG08 HMG although it's not show on the photo)
- Sailors with assault weapons

Hopefully, we'll have the castings available in February 2014!

More greens for the Russo-Japanese War

Japanese ammo bearers:

Japanese ammo bearers

This set will contain an ammo bearer handing ammunition to a trooper, a mule handler and a mule packed with ammo crates:

 

The second set will be called 'Humanity triumphant' after an old illustration:

Containing a double-figure of a Russian soldier carrying a wounded Japanese officer to safety and a Japanese soldier caring for a wounded Russian by giving him a sip of water from his canteen.

Here's the illustration that served as the role-model for the miniatures (I think it is from one of the Cassel volumes on the Russo-Japanese War, but I'm not sure):
 

 

Dollies for the Japanese cavalrymen

We've already seen their mounts and here they are:

Not much to say about them, just that they look to be a great starting point for some very nice miniatures next year. ;-)

Japanese horses & mule painted

Here they are, all eight different horses for the Japanese cavalry painted by Simon of Stone Cold Lead.

There are two sets with four horses each, one with standing/trotting horses and the other one with running/galloping:

Standing/trotting Japanese horses

Running/galloping Japanese horses

Simon also painted the pack mule, that will be part of the upcoming Japanese ammo bearer set:

The mule and all eight horses, incl. all the sadles, harnesses, equipment and baggage, were sculpted by eBob.


PS: The dollies for the cavalry soldiers and the ammo bearers should be in the work right now! ;-)

Stay tuned - small teaser

Still not much to show but we hope to have pictures of the next set of dollies and greens in about a month's time.

Here's a small teaser, though. A green of a wounded Russian soldier, that will be part of a joined Japanese-Russian set:

(As always, sculpted by Paul Hicks.)

Another Charity

After the very successful Judge Minty Charity the Frothers Unite! UK Forum is running the next one, this time with added tanks. ;-)

We thought long and hard about the subject for this years’ Charity Thingy (no we didn’t) – trying to find a character that accurately sums up what Frothers is all about; loud, anarchic, foul-mouthed, probably a bit smelly and having an unhealthy interest in animals, guns and armoured vehicles. It could only be the one, and only…

TANK GIRL

 Last time we raised £9,000 for the 2 charities – this time we want to raise a lot more.

To aid this…

Kev will be sculpting Tankie
Steve will be sculpting Booga
Jo will be sculpting Camp Koala
Ian (assisted by Nige & the other Ian) will be sculpting the Tank. Yes, you heard that right, the Tank!

Tank Girl, Booga & Camp Koala will be cast in white metal and limited to 200 casting initially and each Tank Girl miniature will be accompanied by an exclusive Rufus Dayglo postcard.

The Tank will be cast in resin and will be available in much more limited numbers.

Again, the donation will be aiding the MS Society and Cancer Research. For more information and how to get on board, please visit one of the these links:
http://frothersunite.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45070
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Next-Frothers-Charity-Thingy/1411829555704072


I'm sorry for lack of posts recently, 'real' life has taken is toll (especially that dastardly university). There has been some progress made, though: all eight variants of the Japanese cavalry horse have been sculpted and cast and Simon has received a set of master castings for painting, once he finds the time.
Paul Hicks also had some 'real life interferings' as his wife gave birth to their first child some weeks ago. So besides sculpting, I guess he's currently also on baby duty. I hope to get the next batch of dollies and sculpts next month (mounted and dismounted dollies for the Japanese cavalry, two sets for the RJW and also something for the Freikorps era).

Last but not least, we have been working together with Stephen May on one or two projects and, if everything goes to plan, we'll be able to show some sneak peaks soon. (Please note, these projects are not related to the RJW or the Freikorps range.)

More Japanese horses

Only a quick note, eBob just finished four more horses for the Japanese cavalry:

So five down and three more to go.

Time for a roasted Spanferkel

Andrew Taylor's painting again:

 FW-06 Assault team

Russo-Japanese War game using 'Through Mud & Blood'-rules

And another great looking Russo-Japanese War game!

This time using the 'Through Mud & Blood'-rules from Two Fat Lardies.
The game was organized and run by the nice chaps of the Wyvern Wargames Club (formerly the Evesham Wargames Club) at Bishampton, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom with members from Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster, Cheltenham and Stratford.
If you are interested in wargames (no matter if you are a seasoned gamer or completely new to this hobby) and are living in this area just get in touch with them!
(It's always great to meet some like-minded fellows.)

Please have a look at the complete battle report and more photos here: http://dusttears.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/operation-market-larden-day-of-lard-at.html

New Dollies (Russians & Interwar Germans)

None for the Japanese cavalry, I'm afraid, as the horses have been delayed. I guess it is only the U.S. cavalry that always arrives in the nick of time.

So, other dollies and bits have been sculpted instead. Firstly two modified dollies for one of the next Russian sets:

The plan is to use the instruments not only for a Russian band but also for others in the (even further) future.

And there have also quite some dollies for opponents and possible allies of the Freikorps Werdenfels been sculpted:

 

 

 

 

And something to protect the heads of some of them: 

 All the sculpting work done by Paul Hicks.

Another RJW battle/photo report

This time from the fellows of the Grimsby Wargames Society:

The guys got three whole galleries of Russo-Japanese War eye candy on their homepage for our viewing pleasure:
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3

RJW battle report

Not by me admittedly (maybe that's why it is so great looking... ;-) ).

Mark Strachan has posted the battle report on his '1866 and all that'-blog. If you are interested in gaming the Russo-Japanese War or just like some eye-candy, please have a look at: http://stracmark.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/russo-japanese-war-scenario.html

Here's a teaser photo from Mark's blog:

PS: Today also marks the 108th anniversary of the Battle of Tsushima, which sealed the fate of the Russian Baltic Fleet (renamed the Second Pacific Squadron) after traveling over 18.000 nautical miles (approx. 33.000 km). Sometimes refered to as the beginning of electronic warfare due to the use of wireless technology on both sides (the Russians faced a lot problems with their German built equipment, though) and also as the greates naval battle since Trafalgar.

More painted Russians

Simon has worked his magic again. ;-) Here are the painted versions of latest three Russian sets:

RJ-R05 Russian Standard-bearers, Bugler and Drummer (4)

(incl. two standard tops with poles)

Painted as members of the 34th Infantry Regiment "Sevskiy" (the advancing miniatures) and and the  36th Infantery Regiment "Orlovskiy" (the standing ones), to fit in with the officers and NCOs and the respective troopers. (The ensigns are obviously missing their standards, these will be added later.)

 

 RJ-R06 Russian Troopers firing II (4)

Painted as members of the 33^rd Regiment "Eletskiy", which means that now every regiment of the 9th infantry division is depicted in form of one of the painted trooper sets.  

 RJ-R07 Russian Casualties and Mecidal Orderly (4)

Painted in the vary same way as the ensigns and musicians.

First Japanese cavalry horse

Back from the holidays and the first (small) sign of the Japanese cavalry to show. The first horse (incl. saddle, harness, etc.) sculpted by eBob based on one of his medium horses.

There will be a total of eight different horses: four in walking and four in standing poses. Once they are all finished, they will be send to Paul Hicks so he can sculpt the dollies for the cavalry miniatures (mounted and dismounted) in the next free spot in his (very) busy schedule. These dollies will then be cast up by Griffin Moulds and returned to Paul to wait for their turn to to be made into complete miniatures.
So, still some way to go... ;-)

Holiday notification

Yes, it's time again for a holiday! :-)

We'll be away until April 6th, all messages received during this time will be answered asap after our return.

A Happy Easter to all of you and your families!

New castings, two dogs and one stockist

The castings of the latest three sets arrived some time ago, but I haven't found the time to put up a post due to other commitments. :-( Also, the bad weather prohibited better photos.

But anyway, here they are:

RJ-R06 Russian Troopers firing II (4)

 

 RJ-R07 Russian Casualties and Mecidal Orderly (4)

FW-06 Assault team (4)

Since the release of the Freikorps Werdenfels command set some people have enquired about the possibility of getting the Dachshund on its own. So far this hasn't been possible because of the make-up of the mould. But with the moulds of the new sets, we used the opportunity to get some extra castings of the little one and he even brought a friend! (The second one, the one sitting and begging, is intended to be part of a future civilian set.)

MISC-02 Dachshunds (2) - € 1,50

Both dogs sculpted by eBob and the set of two is available for € 1,50/set. Since they don't have a mould of their own, I can't guarantee to have them in stock all time. ;-)

Here's another photo of them alongside a 'regular' 28mm toy man to show how tiny they are:

Another news, especially for those in the UK, is that Empress Miniatures is stocking our miniatures and also carrying them at all the shows the good folks at Empress attend:

Link:  http://www.empressminiatures.com/index.htm

Tsuba Miniatures available at Tactica 2013!

We are happy to inform you, that Tsuba Miniatures will be available at the Tactica 2013 in Hamburg!

The Tactica is one of (possibly THE) biggest wargaming shows in Germany. It takes place in the Bürgerhaus Wilhelmsburg in Hamburg on February 23rd and 24th. For further details, please have a look at the official homepage (you can switch to the English language version by clicking on the union jack in the lower left corner):

http://www.hamburger-tactica.de/
or the Tactica newsblog:
http://www.hamburger-tactica.de/newsblog/

There's also a thread on the Lead Adventure Forum showing a lot of photos and WIPs of the great tables on presentation and available for participation:

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=48378.0

One of the highlights this year is surely the visit by the Perry twins.

We won't be able to make it in person due to university and other commitments, but the Tactica organizers are running a joint trade booth for several smaller companies and you can get all the available Tsuba sets there (not the latest greens shown, though). There will also be a couple of pre-packed sets available corresponding to the usual 5-set-deals available from us:

Freikorps Werdenfels: one each of the available five sets + one paper flag (it will be indicated on the package, which one it containes)
Japanese infantry charging: 2x RJ-J02, 2x RJ-J03, one officer and NCO from RJ-J01 and one bugler and flag bearer from RJ-J08 (it will be indicated on the package, which miniatures it containes) + one paper flag
Japanese infantry firing/loading: 2x RJ-J05, 2x RJ-J06, one officer and NCO from RJ-J01 and one bugler and flag bearer from RJ-J08 (it will be indicated on the package, which miniatures it containes) + one paper flag
Russian infantry advancing charging:  2x RJ-R02, 2x RJ-R04, one officer and NCO from RJ-R01 and one bugler and flag bearer from RJ-J05 (it will be indicated on the package, which miniatures it containes; no flag for the Russian, I'm sorry!)

Painted Japanese Flag Bearers and Buglers

Simon has just finished painting the flag bearers and buglers from set RJ-J08:

 

New Russian and Werdenfelser greens

I'm sorry for the lack of posts and answers here lately! I was a little bit stressed out with exams at uni and job interviews for a new sideline to keep the new miniatures coming. ;-)

Paul has also been busy and here are the greens for the next two Russian sets and also another one for the Werdenfelser. There's one Japanese set in the works but no photo of that one, yet.

The Russians get an additional set of Riflemen in firing/loading pose as a lot of people asked for more variants. (Please note, that there are no plans for additional sets in advancing and charging pose in this uniform.)

The already previewed casualties get some company in form of a medic and a wounded comrad lying on the ground waving the medic to came to aid.

 

The Werdenfelser also get some reinforcements in form of an assault set containing two guys armed with Bergmann MP18 submachineguns and a two man flamethrower team handling a Wex 17. 

PLEASE NOTE: This set is NOT historical correct! The Freikorps Werdenfels was never equipped with these weapons. So, this set is purely for those, who use the miniatures in a non-historical setting (for example in  Pulp games, VBCW and others). 

They are, however, the correct weapons for this time and other Freikorps/'White' units used them in the fightings of 1918/1919 in Germany.

 

 

Here are two photos showing the WEX 17 in use in Berlin 1919:

 

I will post photos of the Japanese set as soon as I get them.