Black Army Productions - Update! (4/1/09)

[Doc Twilight]

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

[commissarmoody]

nice and congrats

[Helen]

Well done Doc, way to go!

Good Luck with your lead adventure. 

Helen

[Rhoderic]

Exciting news! Both ranges interest me, but the Champions of History one sounds promising in particular.

[Doc Twilight]

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

[Rhoderic]

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.

[Doc Twilight]

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

[leadfool]

Great.  Looking forward to Inspectors Stykes and Fairbain.  Inventors of the Stykes-Fairbain dagger, of WWII commando fame.

[Doc Twilight]

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

[JollyBob]

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?

[Malamute]

Good luck Doc, I think you have found yourself a nice untapped market here. with loads of potential

[gamer Mac]

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.

[revford]

The Champions of History range sounds like it could be a goldmine for Doctor Who or other time travelling games. 

[dodge]

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
 

[Heldrak]

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?