Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Doc Twilight on March 12, 2009, 07:40:06 PM
-
Hello, everyone.
I'm very pleased to announce that the first steps have been accomplished in the creation of my small miniatures/rules company, Black Army Productions. I want to particularly thank Malamute for his advice and keen insight, as it was really critical in helping answer some questions that remained unanswered and gave me the kick in the pants I needed to start making this long planned thing a reality.
We will be releasing some very interesting miniatures. There will basically be two complementary lines as things begin. The
"Chinatown, my Chinatown" range will focus upon Shanghai in the early 1930s. It will include the Shanghai Municipal Police, their allies, and the threats that they face of both a mundane and not so earthly sort! These will be sculpted by Mr. Curtis Fell, of Ramshackle Games. I have already seen some of the designs based upon my concepts, and some great ideas Curtis himself has had, and I am very excited to see them in the "metal flesh", as it were. I think you'll really like them.
The "Champions of History" range will focus upon various historical characters and fictional archetypes that can be used in a variety of
adventure games throughout history. You might find a Goliath of Gath next to a Giovanni Messe when all is said and done.
The first three figures in this range are already in production, and will include a couple very familiar archetypes along with a historical personality that I think some of you here at the forum will particularly appreciate.. (especially you Pulp and VSF types). I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I can tell you that our first historical personality can be used in a variety of periods... These three will be sculpted by James Van Shaik.
I hope to have more miniatures done by both of these talented gentlemen, eventually.
Scale for all of these will be roughly 28mm. They are being designed so that they will be size compatible with most of the big-name Pulp/Adventure companies (Artizan, Pulp Figures, Brigade, etc.). Obviously there will be some variation in height, and the two sculptors have their own unique styles that I think will blend very well together!
I am working diligently to get our first rules published, as well. These will sometimes intercept with the miniatures range, but most are completely independent of the miniatures, and are an independent venture under Black Army. They will include my "Brave Men, Badly Led", series, and my series of Ancient Skirmish rules, the first volume of which is entitled "Khopesh". Both BMBL and Khopesh are well along in playtesting and development, and as I've mentioned elsewhere, I suspect that the first volume of BMBL: 1846, Napoleon of the West, will be released this year.
I have no plans to write any 'Pulp' rules at the moment, but I do want to point out that there are some excellent rules out there that would work very well for Shanghai in the 1930s... including .45 Adventures and Triumph and Tragedy, among others.
Before you ask, no, I don't have firm release dates for the miniatures yet, but yes, I have seen concept sketches, and all of them are great. I will try to have some greens and other data in the next few weeks/months. I am -extremely- confident that these will be miniatures you'll like. I am flattered these guys have agreed to do some work for me!
-Doc
-
nice and congrats
-
Well done Doc, way to go!
Good Luck with your lead adventure. 8)
Helen
-
Exciting news! Both ranges interest me, but the Champions of History one sounds promising in particular.
-
Commissar Moody -
Thanks:)!
Helen -
It will be quite an adventure, and I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the kind words! This has happened a lot more quickly than I expected, but I'm not at all disappointed. Things are definitely looking up.
Rhoderic -
I'm pretty excited, too. I'm glad you like the concepts. The "Champions" range will grow more slowly, but it certainly will, over time. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to shoot them my way. I like to think of it as a range of personalities "for everything else"; so hopefully it'll cover a lot of unusual stuff, along with some personal heroes (and maybe a few villains, too) along the way.
I can't wait to show you all the first "historical personality" for the range. If anybody would appreciate this character, it'd be the group here the LAF!
-Doc
-
One thing I'm slightly curious about, is if the Champions range will "only" cover military figures, or also some non-military ones eg. Archimedes, Machiavelli or various famous rulers in "peacetime dress". It's not a big issue with me: I know that even with only military subject matter, the scope is huge and it's rather misrepresentative to use the word "only". But I'm just curious I guess.
-
One thing I'm slightly curious about, is if the Champions range will "only" cover military figures, or also some non-military ones eg. Archimedes, Machiavelli or various famous rulers in "peacetime dress". It's not a big issue with me: I know that even with only military subject matter, the scope is huge and it's rather misrepresentative to use the word "only". But I'm just curious I guess.
Fair question.
When I sort of dreamed up the concept for the line, it was to cover both ends of the spectrum. I fully expect to have both uniformed and non-uniformed, male and female types. Some of them will be archetypes from fiction that you might recognize; others will definitely be historical personalities (and with some of these, the names will probably have to be changed, but it'll be fairly obvious who they are). So, I would like to eventually do an Aurelian, but I'd also like an Isaac Newton, a Giovanni Messe and a James II, that sort of thing. I don't plan to make a huge amount of money on most of these personalities, but if even a few of them sell, I'll be satisfied that at least someone else who admires a personality or simply wants him or her for their collection could get the fig.
Actually, the first historical personality in the range, in the initial three I've commissioned from James, is in fact a civilian, albeit a rather odd duck at that. I want very much to tell you, but this person is just such a great idea on my part that I'm trying to hold it in as long as possible to see what the reaction is.
Again, I'm totally open to suggestion on this. I'm in this for love of the hobby, so if you have some sort of idea about a particular hero/heroine/villain/villainess you'd like to see in a range, then drop me a line. Can't make ay promises, but they'll definitely go on the list and perhaps make an appearance at some stage. That said, it's probably more likely that Henri de Balzac would be a later release than a Maurice de Saxe, but anything's possible!
-Doc
-
Great. Looking forward to Inspectors Stykes and Fairbain. Inventors of the Stykes-Fairbain dagger, of WWII commando fame.
-
Good thoughts, LF.
Fairbairn also developed a very interesting approach to training the SMP for work after the riots of the 1920s, including some of what is commonly called "gun fu" in Kung Fu movies. Curtis found some really fascinating stuff on this. Apparently these were very highly trained, motivated individuals (this I knew) with a lot of unusual skill (this I didn't know).
I definitely think the SMP has loads of potential for games of both the historical and not-so historical variety. I hope to have some of the SMP personalities eventually, as well as other troop types (Japanese troops in Cherry Blossom helmets come to mind, as do Chinese Nationalist troops, rioters, etc..) Endless potential for the range, which is one of the reasons I went with it.
Eventually we'll do other "Eastern" (read: Eastern European) subjects too, but the Shanghai setting was just too good to pass up, particularly as it's where my favorite Indiana Jones movie, The Temple of Doom, begins.
-Doc
-
This is all sounding very interesting - good luck with the venture, I hope it really takes off for you. :)
Just as an aside, I'm assuming you are UK based if Curtis is sculpting for you?
-
Good luck Doc, I think you have found yourself a nice untapped market here. with loads of potential :)
-
Sounds like very an interesting range.
Good luck with this venture or should that be adventure.
I hope it all goes well.
Will look forward to seeing your products.
-
The Champions of History range sounds like it could be a goldmine for Doctor Who or other time travelling games. :)
-
I hope it all goes well,
Shanghai in th e'30's sounds particularly interesting as I'm reading Generals Envoy at the mo.
dodge
-
Good luck, Doc!
It sounds like you've chosen some ranges that will be appealing to a broad range of folks, but that are under-represented elsewhere in the marketplace.
Does Black Army Productions have it's own website yet?
-
Good luck with the venture. And they do sound like figures I might like to paint...
-
I just read the introduction and I think:
It is a nice idea. Both ranges are very interesting.
Good Luck for your ventures!
and I am eagerly waiting for the release of the miniatures.
-
You said that you will be a rules company also. Working on anything?
-
"This is all sounding very interesting - good luck with the venture, I hope it really takes off for you.
Just as an aside, I'm assuming you are UK based if Curtis is sculpting for you?"
Thank ye, Bob. Actually I'm US based at the moment. But very happy to be working with Curtis. He's been very generous with his time and ideas.
"Good luck Doc, I think you have found yourself a nice untapped market here. with loads of potential."
Thanks, Mal. Actually it was due to your encouragement and advice that I decided to experiment with the Shanghai range at all. I had originally been thinking I'd restrict myself to the Champions of History thing, but you definitely forced me to think about doing something a little more expansive. So, credit where credit is due:)
Revford -
Excellent thought on the Doctor Who avenue. I had even thought of that, but it's a great idea!
Heldrak -
Working on the website at the moment. I am actually looking for a decent hosting service with options, given my lack of HTML skill. If anybody has any suggestions or warnings, I'm open to them. I've got another site with Geocities. Less than thrilled with the way that's gone over the years....
RicharDMB -
Basically, I have two sets of rules in the pipeline.
The first is called "Brave Men, Badly Led". It's an easy playing system for gaming what I like to call "the forgotten wars" of the 18th,19th,and 20th centuries up to about 1920. I'm in the stages of final playtesting for the first module, "1846: Napoleon of the West", which covers the Mexican-American War. I hope to have it released this year.
The second is a set of rules for ancient skirmishes. I designed it for 20mm and 28mm figs, but it could probably be played in any scale where the players are willing to individually base their figs. The first module is called "Khopesh", and is intended roughly for the period between Sumeria and the fall of the Assyrian Empire. This is also very advanced in terms of playtesting/development, and I'm at the stage where I'm working on army lists with a couple partners. I'm hoping to release it this year, or early next year, but there is a little more I want to iron out with it.
Everyone Else -
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, and I'm glad you're as excited as I am. More news as soon as I have it for you!
-Doc
-
Hello, everyone -
Extremely excited today that I've received photos today of our first greens. In this case, they are the greens for "Abel, Puritan Witch Hunter". The sculptor of this particular miniature, James Van Schaik, did the figure -exactly- as I wanted him. He's absolutely beautiful, if I do say so myself. Looks very much the part of the driven man...
Will be quite good, I suspect, for games of Gloire and other Swashbuckling type adventures, but would be equally at home in GW Armies as a Witch Hunter, for use in ECW games, etc. I haven't held him in the flesh, but James sent me some excellent all around views, and believe me when I tell you that this captures the spirit of the character perfectly. The figure is sculpted to 28mm scale. I asked James and Curtis to use 28mm as the average height, so I suspect there will be a bit of variation, but the line should be size compatible with several other ranges.
I will have some photos up soon, but thought I'd tease you all with that.
Also, wanted you to know that the Website has been updated somewhat. While I do admit the site is rather primitive, poking around will get you a little more information on some of the characters we'll be featuring for Shanghai, 1930 and the first three projected miniatures for the Champions of History range.
As always, glad to answer any questions. Will reveal that third mystery figure soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
www.blackarmyproductions.com
-Doc
-
I see the first public playtest will be at Kublacon. I will be at that convention. Do you know what day and time you are slotted for the game?
-
I see the first public playtest will be at Kublacon. I will be at that convention. Do you know what day and time you are slotted for the game?
LF -
We'll be doing the Battle of Molino Del Rey with my BMBL rules and a mix of various 15mms. Should be scheduled on Friday evening, and early afternoon, Sunday. The scenario is called "They Fell in Ranks and Columns", and as far as I know, is in the book at this point.
-Doc
-
Doc, Thanks, I will check it out. Mostly at the convention I will be playing in Skrapwelders campaign.