Microworld Games

Well, another year has come and gone and things are shaping up nicely for 6mm Fantasy.  This was a strong year with the release of the Lizardmen, Firmament, and Dark Alliance armies.  I am up to 10 armies now of what I consider a pretty eclectic variety.  I have to say that my mission of building up 6mm fantasy is further along than I ever thought it would be. 

Besides the Kreen mechs I have pretty much neglected 6mm scifi, and I have had a few people send me emails and ask why.  There are a couple of reasons for this, but primarily I have to say it is competition.  There is just too much cool stuff out there!  Dark Realm, Onslaught Miniatures, Steel Crown, C-in-C, Troublemaker, and now Khurusan…the 6mm scifi scene is spoilt for choice!  Besides 6mm, we also now have 10mm competition  In 10mm you have Dropzone Commander with some pretty awesome models, and come April 2014 Spartan is dipping their toe in with Firestorm Invasion with I think something like 6(!) full armies on release.

That is not to say I am forsaking 6mm scifi.  I have some scifi beastmen nd minotaurs with guns that were commissioned as test pieces with a new sculptor which should be released around February.  Sometime around March I will be releasing a new Kreen heavy support quad mech and a gunship, along with some new infantry later.  The Foundationists are going to get a couple new infantry packs, and I have been toying with commissioning some light vehicles for them as well.  Also, the remaining TEF vehicles will come back into production by next month I believe.  Besides all of this, one of my concept artists mentioned that he had some scifi concepts in mind, so more on that as it develops.

Switching gears back to 6mm Fantasy, I have a lot of great stuff planned for 2014.  The Beastkin range will be finished off with a March/April release featuring faun foot troops, Dire Boars, and a giant Mammothtaur.  Following that, a full goblin army is being worked on, the release of which will also include an Orc lord on a Wyvern and an Orc Boar chariot.

After that, I am committed to rounding out the Wood Elf, Undead, and Dwarf ranges.  I can’t really specify exactly when all of them should be released, but I imagine it will be by the end of the year.  I can also say that the year will close with a full Demon army as well.

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have updated this blog!  In the future I will try to give more frequent updates.  For anyone interested, I usually post up all kinds of information and previews and such over at the tactical command forums.  I have my own sub-forum there now, so definitely check it out:

Now, onto some housekeeping issues.  I will be traveling from April 19th - April 28th, so any orders placed between those dates will be shipped out on the 29th.  You will notice that I am low on a great many Dark Realm items, I am currently waiting on a big restock, so stock levels will be updated upon its arrival.  One more thing of note, the Komodo and Infernus tanks from the TEF line are currently out of production.  They have suffered some mold failure and I am not comfortable selling them at their current quality.  I am going to be working with the sculptor to try to redesign them in a way more conducive to spin-casting, but I don't really know how long they are going to be gone for.

Some unhappy news, several weeks ago, the USPS increased their shipping rates for international orders, and my shipping costs have increased by about 40%.  Now, I have tried to keep my shipping very low, probably the lowest you will find specifically because I have a great deal of international customers, and I know many of them get hit with punitive taxes and customs fees when they order.  I'm afraid I am going to have to increase my International shipping charges to an $8 flat rate (up from $5).  I tried to put it off, but the charges are just killing me.  Domestic shipping will remain at the $5 flat rate.

Now, onto more pleasant topics, new and upcoming releases!  The next army due for release sometime in July is called The Firmament.  Basically, it is an army of molemen warriors and geomancers who command stone constructs and earth elementals.  Units include molemen with pick axes, claw weapons, drill-spears, and magic crystal tipped pikes.  They are supported by Stonemen warriors and spearmen, large earth elemental warriors and a 28mm tall Earth Titan, among other special units. 

What will the rest of the year look like? For late Fall/Early Winter I plan on releasing some long-awaited special and heavy weapon packs for the Foundationist infantry, just to finish off the range.  I also have a huge "evil human" type army coming out around then, with something like 13 different codes to purchase.  I have some concept art for them up on the forum I discussed above, the army name will be "The Dark Alliance", mostly because it contains a mix of knights, barbarians and monsters.

Been super busy at the day job lately so I haven't had much time for anything.  Dwarf production molds are complete and my initial casting order is underway.  I expect to get them in possibly by the end of the week.  Kreen production molds are done, I get test casts some time this week for approval.  Afte rthat they are good to go.  I will also be putting the TEF Superheavy and support vehicles up on the site 1st March.  I am not going to really announce the release though, as I want to wait till they are painted, but I figured I'd make them available for people that don't want to wait.

 As for future releases, I'm getting some test prototypes of the Kreen mechs now.  The Dread Elves are finished sculpting also.  2nd wave of Lizard Riders will be heading to the moldmakers in early April.  This leaves me thinking about where to go next.  On the 6mm scifi front, I'm really not sure.  Part of me wants to just concentrate on the 6mm fantasy, release a slew of new armies, maybe even some terrain.

 I have also been kicking around the idea of making a couple of starter armies for 3mm scifi, been kicking around in my head for a couple years now.  Why?  Games like Strike Legion: Planetary Ops and Future War Commander make more sense to me if they have element basing for the vehicles. Plus I like the idea of a really epic battle, with hundreds of vehicles and such involved.  CAD sculpted or not?  That is the question.  The former is much more expensive, and 3mm may not be a big seller.  Who knows, I should probably just stick to 6mm fantasy!

 Well, it has taken a couple of months, but I’m pretty sure just about everything is now on the site.  There have been some changes in the release schedule.  First, there were some mold failures for the TEF Superheavy and support vehicle.  Whether or not they will need retooling is still unknown, but we are definitely looking at a delay on those.  

 The next release was supposed to be some anthropomorphic elephants, gorillas and rhinos and such.  These have had some prototyping problems, I haven’t really decided on the future of these yet.   But, we must forge ahead and so I have moved the release schedule about. 

 The dwarves are finally in moldmaking, and should hopefully be released some time in February.  After that, most likely in March, will be 3 packs of 6mm insectoid scifi infantry which will make up the first part of our 4^th 6mm scifi army, the Kreen.  

 June will see the release of the 2^nd wave of Lizardriders.  These are a long time coming so I am pretty excited about it.  The release will feature a rather large Brachiosaur, a couple of variants of Anklyosaurus (light assault and support), an Allosaurus assault unit, and a triceratops IFV and assault variant.  

 The timing of everything after that kind of depends on how sales turn out.    Definitely in the schedule are a 6mm fantasy “Evil” Elf army (Dread Elves), as well as a bunch of walkers/mechs for the Kreen.  Whether or not I fit a fifth big release also depends on sales, but it would likely be either additional Foundationist infantry and battlesuit packs, or an Elven Kingdom army (good elves).

After a bit of a delay, the new store is finally up and running.  Obviously not all the products have been added yet, but I am getting there.  I thought for the first post I would talk about my release plans for 2011 and early 2012.  Keep in mind, all dates are subject to change based on how bad (or good) things go with the various stages of production and sales in general.

In about a month I should have the 2nd wave of Terran Expeditionary Forces up for sale, including an awesome superheavy tank, a gunship, a support vehicle in three flavors (SAM, AA, MLRS), as well as 2 packs of infantry (standard troopers and special and heavy weapons).  This will likely be my final release for 2011.

Now onto 2012!  Around February I am looking to release a full 6mm fantasy Dwarven army.  The packs include standard dwarf warriors, dwarf musketeers, heavy armored dwarves, dwarf berserkers, an artillery piece, a command pack, ram dragoons, and bear heavy cavalry.  March will see the release of a new 6mm scifi race, the Kreen.  They are an insectoid army, but not the usual insect alien fare, more technological and what not.  The initial release will be solely infantry, with drone, assault, and larger soldier packs available.  Their vehicles will all be mech/walker types and have already been sculpted.

Other releases in the pipe for 2012 include a second wave of lizard riders and an African were-animal 6mm fantasy army.  Anyway, that is all for now, let me know of any problems with the store or questions about current/future products.