(Commercial) 28mm 'State of Emergency' Range/Winter '79 chat

[Mike Bravo Minis]

^{"Whereas by the Emergency Powers Act 1920, it is enacted that if it appears to Us that there have occurred, or are about to occur, events of such a nature as to be calculated, by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel, or light, or with the means of locomotion, to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community, of the essentials of life, We may, by Proclamation, declare that a state of emergency exists: And whereas the present immediate threat of cessation of work in Coal Mines does, in Our opinion, constitute a state of emergency within the meaning of the said Act: Now, therefore, in pursuance of the said Act, We do, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, hereby declare that a state of emergency exists."}

28mm 'State of Emergency' Range
or Britain in the Winter of '79

STOP PRESS: I am ridiculously proud (and rather excited) to announce that Mike Bravo Miniatures is open for business.   Our first releases are in production and therefore available for pre-order.  

Webshop here: Mike Bravo Miniatures Web Store.

Available are:

• 28mm War Correspondents (4)
• 28mm British Army (NI) (5)
• 28mm Paramilitaries in Balaclavas (4)

Pre-order status whilst waiting for stock to come online, which should be within 2 weeks.  I'm busily knocked up labels and readying envelopes for the first intrepid few (very much appreciated, you know who you are!)

Right, back to the purpose of this thread.  Our first main range is the 28mm 'State of Emergency' line, initially for figures suitable for Winter of '79 type games, starting with figures inspired from events in Northern Ireland.

These will tie in nicely with some new rules that have become available, 'WINTER OF ’79 – LIVING ON THE FRONT LINE' by Mark Hannam, Matthew Sparkes & Mike Bradford and released by Caliver/Partizan Press.  See here.


So without further ado:

Following a little behind these will be:

• Army Command & Support (Officer, Radio op with Sterling/SLR, GPMG, LMG)
• Army firing poses (a further 3 poses)
• Paramilitaries with Armalites, M60 and RPG

Thereafter plans are afoot for further Army figures with Sterlings and Brownings, head variants (eg helmets, fusiliers, Scots), variants without flak vests, dog handler, medic, drivers and more.  Also RUC/mainland police, and more generic civilians and plain clothed types.

(Much depends on how well the initial releases go, what other manufacturers may decide to do, what requests and ideas come in, etc etc.)

Better photos (forgot the inkwash, couldn't find my tripod, it was 3am, yadda yadda yadda) and painted examples and comparisons vs other manufacturers will follow as soon as I can.

Cheers
Dan

[carlos marighela]

Nice. I'm up for a pack of each.

[Earther]

Luurvely! 

[Harry von Fleischmann]

Don't start me talking, I could talk all night. I was staring down my sights onto the Severn Bridge from the sangar and my mind was sleep walking. Every night Taff would blow the central span and every day we'd repair it, ready for The Big Push into Wales. Their 105s were zeroed in on the approach ramp and ours were zeroed on the bunkers where they had their Charlie Gs; they'd gone deep though, all that rugby put hairs on their chests and no one was digging Taff out once he'd dug in. Better this than the Powys front though, we'd heard stories and that was eneough.

[orm1]

Very nice are these Robi Baker sculpts? Can't wait to see the rest of the range especially police and civilians.

[orm1]

Dan I've just seen on the thread they are Robi Baker's lovely sculpts I'm a big fan of his full of character. What happened to your broken greens? Is that due to casting process I'm half way down the road to having a set of minis sculpted so interested in process any advice would be appreciated

[Mike Bravo Minis]

Orm, I'll drop you a note over the weekend when I have more time but yes, that's how they came back from the initial mould making process.  Essentially (in my non expert, non scientific way) they can break under the pressure of the moulding process - on these ones, pretty much any part that was joined to another part came away.  On the bright side, it's interesting to see how the sculptors do their thing and it makes it easier to re-purpose the green into another figure!

On topic, lots of new posts recently on the W79 blog: http://winterof79.blogspot.co.uk/ 

The latest Wargames Illustrated has a piece on W79 and a useful one on Cold War scenery: http://wargamesillustrated.co.uk/shop/wi340-february-2016/  Also some good bits and bobs for W79 on its Companion Piece pages: http://wargamesillustrated.co.uk/winter-of-79-companion-pieces-extra-ideas-on-ways-into-a-games-setting/

[monkeylite]

I ordered Living on the Front Line yesterday lunch time, and it just arrived. That's bloody quick.

[tradgardmastre]

I ordered mine yesterday too and it has arrived. What do you think of it?
I have had a quick glance- nicely produced and very interesting.

[monkeylite]

I ordered mine yesterday too and it has arrived. What do you think of it?
I have had a quick glance- nicely produced and very interesting.

Yeah, I enjoyed reading it, and am looking forward to playing it.

I especially liked the initiative system, a bit like Bolt Action, but frequency is determined by quality of troops not quantity.

The rest of the game seems sweet and to the point. They haven't wasted a lot of space on covering everything ever, but just got straight to the nitty-gritty of what happens when Steve the establishment pawn royal fusilier points his sterling at Dave the marxist-anarchist-revolutionary.

I was a bit disappointed that the setting wasn't covered much. Istm that is where the main interest in the game should lie, but they're bringing out a supplement for this, soon, according to the rules. And as a 48 yr old Brit, making my own factions should be trivial, in any case.

[Arlequín]

The rest of the game seems sweet and to the point. They haven't wasted a lot of space on covering everything ever, but just got straight to the nitty-gritty of what happens when Steve the establishment pawn royal fusilier points his sterling at Dave the marxist-anarchist-revolutionary.

I presume that he can turn and walk away or he can fire the gun, stare at the sky and stare at the sun. 

The initiative system sounds like a good call, that was something I liked about Bolt Action, but the randomness of it not so much. You couldn't move in conjunction with other units either; so your Saracen would have to go tootling down the road with the guys that were behind it stood in the road hoping for another of their dice to come out the bag next.

Regards

Ex-establishment pawn. 

[Chris Abbey]

I'm very much looking forward to playing this, VBCW-2! or should that be VBCW-5 (if you include the 3 disturbances back in the 17th Century). I've ordered some figures and am planning to use my Modern British buildings and maybe add a council flats and multi-story car park to the range.





I will need to update the cars and some of the onlookers, but apart from that pretty much good to go.

Lots more photos in my terrain gallery: http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/Photorealistic-Wargames-Terrain/Photorealistic-Wargames-Terrain-Gallery

If anyone is in North Yorkshire and fancies a game, let me know!

[orm1]

Council flats and car park sound great

[monkeylite]

We did a little run through of Living on the Frontline, to get used to the rules, with added cats:







http://tewblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/living-on-frontline.html

[carlos marighela]

I'm very much looking forward to playing this, VBCW-2! or should that be VBCW-5 (if you include the 3 disturbances back in the 17th Century). I've ordered some figures and am planning to use my Modern British buildings and maybe add a council flats and multi-story car park to the range.

Go with something like this