Empress & AB Figures WW2

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Empress Miniatures WW2 Announcement.

The guys at Empress have a long standing love affair with 20mm WW2. It was therefore inevitable that at some point we would move into that arena in a big way.

 A couple of years ago Empress began by selling some 20mm late war Germans and US troops as well as some French early war figures. This was more a case of us taking advantage of an opportunity that came our way rather than a methodical plan. For this reason we have sold the moulds to CP Miniatures who will now be the owner of this line. Mark at CP will give these lines the love that they deserve and we had failed to do.

Empress are instead returning to their original game plan and will produce a range of 20mm figures with artillery and some vehicle support.  This fresh start has begun with our purchase of all of the relevant AB Figures items. If it was in the AB range and was not a figure then it is now part of what will be a very comprehensive Empress Miniatures range.



Our initial focus will be on the European Theatre of Operations D Day to VE Day.  Empress Miniatures will aim to create a superlative range that does the period and scale justice. Lets be honest there is no point doing it unless we achieve this!



To start the project we will soon be selling the AB Figures items that we currently have on their own. Starting in April we will begin to populate the range with crews and infantry packs for British, Canadian, US and of course German figures. Excitingly there are a few items that AB never released and so these will at last be released.

Also do not forget that this range includes the most detailed and comprehensive British bridging systems ranging from enough Bailey bridge to cross the Rhine to smaller bridges and bridging equipment such as storm boats.


We will keep you posted regarding our plans.

Empress Miniatures         

[Cubs]

AB are the dog's doo-dah when it comes to 20mm scale WW2 stuff. They're included in a long list of my 'some day' projects.

[Helen]

Congrats Empress, top news for today for WW2 fans gaming in 20 mm.

Cheers,

Helen

[flags_of_war]

Great stuff and all the best with this Paul

[Verderer]

That is a bit of good news!

[Calimero]

I thought that AB’s 20mm WWII range was purchased by Eureka? 

[Keith]

I thought that AB’s 20mm WWII range was purchased by Eureka? 

" If it was in the AB range and was NOT a figure then it is now part of what will be a very comprehensive Empress Miniatures range."

I've added the capitals from the original post. Not the figures, just the 'line work'. Hope that's clearer. 

[Verderer]

What about this line:

To start the project we will soon be selling the AB Figures items that we currently have on their own. Starting in April we will begin to populate the range with crews and infantry packs for British, Canadian, US and of course German figures. Excitingly there are a few items that AB never released and so these will at last be released.

It seems to say that eventually infantry & crews will be available, along with previously unpublished AB items? Or is it that the infantry will be Empress infantry, NOT AB ones?

[carlos marighela]

They would have to be, Eureka has sole rights to the AB ranges of figures. It might have been less confusing to have said something along the lines of:

'We now have the rights to all the vehicles artillery pieces and engineering equipment formerly sold under the AB masthead by Wargames South (?). We will be producing our own ranges of crew and infantry to complement them These will not be the Tony Barton sculpts as those are licensed to someone else.'

That's about the size of it isn't it?

[Keith]

Not quite ... Wargames South has had no relation to AB over the last decade or so having been sold years back.
It also has no link to 20mm 1/76th product, so that would actually be a very weird announcement (and confuse the hell out of a certain Jeff Webb - current owner of Wargames South to boot).

But your clarification of Eureka's position is, as always, appreciated 

[carlos marighela]

Sorry Keith, I forgot who had the distribution rights to the AB range in the UK. I stand corrected. It's a fair summary that you now are the licensed manufacturer of the vehicles and paraphernalia and will be making your own figures to go with them?

[Keith]

Technically not licensed - Empress own them outright, but yes - that's a fair summary.

[Calimero]

Ok well, the bottom line is that both the figures and vehicles will be available, albeit from different companies, so that’s all good 

[carlos marighela]

I agree, it's excellent news and Empress are to be commended on the venture.

[Verderer]

I read a thread about this on another forum, and it does indeed appear that Empress will only have the vehicles, guns & bridges, and Eureka has the miniatures. However, it seems that Fighting 15s will stock the figures in Europe (UK), they got the US troops, and more are coming after the moulds have been redone (or something like that?) So you can get the AB soldiers from Eureka Australia & USA, and Fighting 15s for Europe after a bit. Feel free to correct if I am wrong?