First Legion: Workbench Update

I don't know about you but I'm having quite a lot of trouble keeping up with the volume of new figures rolling off this maker's production line and, as if things weren't difficult enough already, if you take a look at the Workbench page on their website you will see prototypes for no less than three new ranges or sub-ranges being officially announced this month

We have long been asked when we would expand our WWII range to cover the campaign in NW Europe and we are pleased to announce that the time has finally come. And what better way to kick off the "Great Crusade" than with those who were among the first to land in France to begin the liberation of Europe, the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. So we are very pleased to present this preview of our upcoming US Paratroopers! These figures will be available for order in July 2012.  We sincerely hope you enjoy them and welcome this addition to our ever expanding World War II figure range

First Legion is very pleased to announce that our latest figure will be the Seven Years War! Fought from 1756 through 1763, the war involved most of the major world powers and was fought not only in Europe, but throughout their various colonial holdings around the world.  Though our intent with the range is to cover the European part of the conflict in detail, we have decided to start off with the Battle of Kunersdorf fought on August 12th 1759 between the Prussians and a combined Austro-Russian Army 

Kunersdorf was by far Frederick's worst defeat and in fact was the biggest fiasco of Prussian Military arms until their dismemberment at the hands of Napoleon's Grande Armee in 1806 at the twin battles of Jena-Auerstadt. It may seem strange to cover the greatest defeat of Frederick the Great, certainly the finest military mind of the age, but we feel that the battle offers a variety of interesting troops, attacks and counterattacks, and cavalry charges by both sides   

Our initial launch for the range is the 7th Prussian Line Infantry Regiment Braunschweig-Bevern presented in march attack formation. Seydlitz and the Prussian Cuirassiers will certainly make an appearance as will various Austrian and Russian infantry, cavalry, and artillery units as well. The figures previewed below will be available for pre-order in July 2012

Finally, but by no means least, a new medieval range focussing on the long enduring rivalry between England and France

First Legion is extremely pleased to officially announce our latest figure range, 60mm Medieval with an initial focus on the Battle of Agincourt! Part of the Hundred Years' War, The Battle of Agincourt took place in 1415 and saw a numerically inferior English army under King Henry V defeat the French under the command of Charles D'Albret  

The battle is best known for the role played by the English Long Bow with which the vast majority of the English were armed. As such, though we're launching the range with various personalities, knights, and men-at-arms, expect lots and lots of English archers to come 

As with all of our ranges, we will cover Agincourt in extreme depth and already have nearly 40 figures ready to be produced. With the superlative sculpting and painting that we've become renown for, this promises to be a truly spectacular figure range!

Happy hunting!!!!!

King and Country: Dispatches

I know it's relatively late in the month and this news is, I suppose, technically 'old' now but here is a selection of some of the figure sets soon to be released by K&C together with a list of all the retirements for this month. As always, further details and more images can be obtained from the company website

All of the figures previewed in last month's post are now available for purchase, or they will be by the end of the month, and in addition K&C have announced all the following, due to be released in August. First up, these chaps! My particular favourite? The chap on the horse, of course!

Fighting Greeks

The success of the "Ancient Greece" series ensures plenty of add-ons. Here are just a few of the...

• AG009 -- Alexander The Great - Probably the most famous "fighting Greek" in history... immortalized in books, films and... military miniatures.
• AG010 -- Charging Forward with Sword 
• AG011 -- Attacking Swordsman 
• AG012 -- Slashing Swordsman

More "Fighting Greeks" are in the pipeline as well as their opponents... The Persians! Watch out for them.

 

Next up, and sticking with soldiers from quite a long time ago, a few more crusading knights and their men-at-arms on the march!

Crusaders on the March

After a successful foray into a nearby Arab village these crusaders are returning to their encampment.

• MK090 -- Mounted Knight Hospitaller - This Frankish Hospitaller, banner held high, is not only a fierce warrior but also a devout one.
• MK091 -- The Treasure Seeker - A Hospitaller Man-at-Arms with a banded chest full of captured gold and silver.
• MK092 -- Boris le Batarde - Not all Hospitaller Knights were as nice or as noble as our mounted leader.
• MK093 -- The Trumpeter - This particular "Horn-Blower" signals ahead to let the guards at the Crusader encampment know the patrol is returning home.
• MK094 -- Marching Bannerman 
• MK095 -- Marching Man-at-Arms 
• MK096 -- The Happy Man-at-Arms - This smiling foot soldier is happy be returning all in one piece.

From fighting in the hot and dusty desert sand we now turn our attention to skirmishes in the skies over Western Europe with two more additions to their series of WW1 planes followed by a whole heap of releases for their popular WW2 RAF range

 

Knights of the Black Cross

Last year when we released our first three Albatros bi planes the demand far out stripped the supply and so we decided to produce two more versions of this iconic German WWI aircraft.  Unlike the first three these two new models include a seated pilot figure and are cast from a brand new mold.

• FW114 -- Albatross DV Uffz. Paul Baumer - This brightly-coloured machine is decorated with the "Edelweiss" mountain flower on both sides of the fuselage. Baumer flew this aircraft with Jagdstaffel 5, in June 1917 and by war's end in November 1918 had scored 43 victories and been awarded the coveted "Blue Max". He died in an air crash in 1927.
• FW115 -- Albatross DV Leut. Ernest Udet Jasta 37 - Ernst Udet, later to become a General in Hitler's Luftwaffe and a flying contemporary of Hermaun Goering, flew this smart silver-coloured Albatros while flying with Jasta 37 in the Autumn of 1917. By the end of hostilities his tally would be 62 "kills". Although promoted to General in World War Two his conflicts with the Nazi hierarchy drove him to commit suicide in 1941.

PER ARDUA AD ASTRA

"Through adversity to the stars" is the motto of Britain's Royal Air Force and August is a bumper month for RAF releases.

• RAF041 -- Humber Heavy Utility - The second version of this classic British WW2 transport... this time in "RAF blue" with a female driver and roundel on the bonnet. A very familiar sight on wartime airfields.
• RAF042 -- Spitfire Mk. IX
• RAF043 -- Flight Lieutenant Bill Reid V.C.
• RAF044 -- Air Vice Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris - "Bomber" Harris was the "architect" of the RAF's bombing offensive on Germany from 1942 until the end of the war in Europe. When Britain had no other way to hit back at the Germans Harris provided the leadership and the means.
• RAF045 -- RAF Airfield Tractor - These "David Brown" tractors were a fixture on most British airfields from the war years until well into the 1950's. Our distinctive version has the highly visible blue and yellow colour scheme and comes with a WRAF driver.
• RAF046 -- RAF Airfield Starter Cart
• RAF052 -- RAF Dispatch Rider - An RAF Police Dispatch Rider on a BSA Motorcycle.
• RAF053 -- Wing Commander J.E. Johnnie Johnson

RAF Airfield tractor complete with WRAF driver!

RAF Dispatch rider

That very nearly does it but before I go here is a list of all the retirements for the month of July

AK064 “Leutnant Hans-Arnold Stachlschmidt”

AK065 “Leutnant Gunter Steinhausen”

AK066 “Dispatch Rider”

AK067 “AK Rifleman in Greatcoat Marching”

AK068 “AK Rifleman in Greatcoat on Guard Duty”

AK069 “AK Rifleman in Greatcoat Marching”

AK070 “AK Feldwhel Marching”

BBA032 “Artillery Add-on Set”

BBA033 “US Artilleryman”

BBA034 “Kneeling w/Field Telephone”

EA044 “Desert Rolls-Royce”

FOB060 “Winning the Knight’s Cross”

FOB061 “For You Fritz The war is over!”

FW071 “Auf Wiedersen”

FW072 “Au Revoir”

FW073 “Goodbyeee”

MK065 “Mounted with Sword”

MK069 “Standing Man at Arms”

MK070 “Dressing For Battle”

NA014 “French Grenadier Marching with Rifle”

NA015 “French Grenadier Advancing with Rifle”

        NA034 “Grenadier at Attention”

 

 

Until next time, happy hunting!

JJD: July Releases

In my previous post I mentioned the JJD vehicle I purchased recently for my WW1 diorama. Well, here I am again, posting about JJD, this time making you aware of his new releases for July. As ever, full details are available from the manufacturer's UK representative's website at jjd.co.uk

So, here are all eight of the new releases for July in all their wonderful glory

ACE-08 S.E.5, ACE-08P Mannock, ACE-BP British Pilots, CAZ-01 Portuguese Cazadores, RR-21 Rogers Rangers Walking, LEUT-03 Prussian Grenadier Advancing #3, SUD-06 Mahdists Attacking, EEC-05 Regiment Royal Ecossois

Happy hunting!

Latest Additions

Hello again and welcome to the latest edition of my fairly regular 'Latest Additions' post, where I show off the most recently purchased figures in my collection

Just a handful of figures to show this time around, all of them part of K&C's Berlin '38 range, and a vehicle from JJD, so far the first and only item I have from this particular maker

First up, four new figures for my Liebstandarte displays in the form of two marching riflemen, a marching flag bearer and a standing flag bearer

Now for that JJD vehicle, a First World War armoured car taken from his range of ground support vehicles and crew. Primarily designed to complement John's excellent WW1 biplanes and triplanes I thought it would look very fine indeed trundling alongside the small collection of WW1 German stormtroopers I recently embarked upon. See what you think

All in all it's a well made and interesting looking vehicle, if a little 'small' for the 60mm [and counting.....] figures produced by K&C and Thomas Gunn. The TG flamethrower figure is a veritable Goliath of a man; even when standing next to the K&C figures he looks very 'big boned'. My only other complaint, and it's not really a complaint, is that the wheels don't move and none of the doors open. These trifling little things notwithstanding, it makes for a cracking addition to the diorama

That's all for now folks. Happy hunting!

First Legion Mega Newsletter

WWW.FIRSTLEGIONLTD.COM

                                

Many of you will know just how big a fan I am of the products coming out of this company. Over the past five years or so they have earned a well deserved reputation as one of the hobby's leading design and manufacturing teams and lately they have been incredibly prolific. Well, cast your eyes over this newsletter which arrived in my inbox a couple of days ago. There's something here for practically everyone and plenty of excitement to be had, so read on and prepared to be drooling at the mouth within moments! Further details and images of each of the individual ranges or figure sets referred to here are available on the company website, just click on the link at the top of the post

Normally in the subject line of our newsletter we name the specific release or two that are the focus of that particular edition. Well, in this case there are so many new releases (and ranges!) to announce, that the subject line just isn’t big enough!  So I’ve settled on the “mega” newsletter as that most appropriately describes this edition with all of the new products we’re announcing as well as a brand new figure range and a new sub range to an existing product line. In fact, in our almost five year history, this is by far our biggest newsletter and probably the most new releases we’ve had in such a short period of time. In fact, there are no less than 50 new products presented here for pre-order plus another 20 or so in the “sneak peek” section. All of the pre-orders will be shipping between the end of June and the middle of July as noted in the release specific detail below.  So, let’s dive right in and take a look at all of the new products on offer! 

First, we are extremely pleased to make the official announcement of the first of the four promised new figure ranges this year, the Seven Years War! We have had a lot of requests from our customers to cover this period, particularly the European part of the conflict, and we fully intend on delivering.   One might say that this range is right in our wheelhouse as the uniforms, styling, and nature of the conflict is extremely similar to Napoleonic figures and there’s little doubt that is something we do better than anyone else.  So expectations should deservedly run high for how we’ll approach and deliver on this new range 

 

Next, we’re also very pleased to announce the first release of a new sub range to our WWII: The Arms and Armies of the Second World War figure range, the Battle of Normandy US 101^st Airborne!!!  Our WWII range has grown in popularity tremendously over the past year as more and more collectors have seen the quality of the products and jumped on board to collect what is the finest WWII figure range in the world. Up to now, our WWII range has been focused heavily on Stalingrad and the German army of the Campaign in North Africa. Well, we are extremely pleased to embark on the “Great Crusade” and bring the Anglo-Allied armies to life in the quality and styling that we’ve become known for.  So scroll on down to take a look at our upcoming initial release for this new endeavor, one that is sure to please discerning collectors

For those dedicated to our Stalingrad and DAK figure ranges, fear not as we’ve also started the pre-order on our latest offerings for Stalingrad and will follow up with several new DAK releases in August. Stalingrad and DAK will continue to be expanded as well, so please don’t worry that we’re “selling out” and moving west. On the contrary, we’re expanding WWII on a broad front strategy that would make Monty squirm and Eisenhower proud! 

In addition to these new topics, we’ve also started the pre-order on the remainder of our coverage of the 18th French Line Infantry for our Napoleon’s Europe product range. In the first 21 figure codes, NAP0310-NAP0330, we released the center companies and command.  This second batch of 19 new figure codes adds the Grenadier and Voltigeur companies with figures NAP0331-NAP0349. This brings the total coverage of the French 18th Line Infantry to a whopping 40 figure sets!  

Next, we are very pleased to present our latest creation for our American Civil War figure range, sets ACW041-ACW062, the Confederate 13th Alabama Infantry. When we had initially launched our ACW range we said that we would make it something of a second flagship figure range. Well, it’s taken some time, but we feel as though we are finally starting to live up to that promise and there is more to come later this year

As mentioned previously, we’re also pleased to present our latest releases for our Stalingrad figure range.  Sets RUSSTAL020-RUSTAL022 bring two variants of winter T-34 STZ along with a much needed tank commander and set GERSTAL047 adds the perfect complement to General Paulus with General Walther von Seydlitz

For you Glory of Rome collectors we have started the pre-order on the final 10 figures in our coverage of the Ancient German adversaries of Imperial Rome, sets ROM031-ROM040. This should allow for much more detailed dioramas to come into play now that the Germans have been brought up to strength a bit

Last, but certainly not least, after two years we are extremely happy to release the much anticipated Mounted Takeda Samurai charging the field at Nagashino in 1575. Sets SAM021-SAM026 are simply stunning figures that a vocal minority of our customer base has been waiting for patiently for quite some time now. And we promise it won’t be another two years until the next Samurai release!   In fact, we have another release planned for later in 2012

Don't forget what I said earlier, all the specifics relating to each of the ranges referred to above are available on the company website, together with loads more eye candy! Happy hunting!

 

Yet More from TGM!

If you're new to this blog, I promise you it's never usually quite so one-dimensional but it just so happens that yesterday, yet more news from TGM landed in my inbox and I feel duty bound to pass it on, so here goes

Dear Gunn Club

 

Our 95th Rifles arrived on Wednesday and are being shipped as I type, thank you to all of you who placed an order for these 'Best of British' fighting troops! 

 

As we develop our Napoleonic ranges we would be very interested in hearing from you, with particular regard to which Regiments you would like to see manufactured. So if you are a Napoleonic collector please drop me an email with your ideas and requests, if you don't tell us we cannot make it!

 

Our Anniversary set this year has now gone to production, but has been derailed timetable wise. You can expect to see this piece early September and for the first time it will not be an MG piece! What I can tell you is that it will feature a Knights Cross winner in action and will be part of a 3 man set. It will be 70 years since this particular recipient won the Knights Cross and therefore we thought this would be a suitable tribute to his bravery. If anybody has any ideas for the 2013 anniversary piece please send them in and if we choose your idea you will win a free sample of the anniversary piece when we produce it! It can be from any particular era and any nationality but needs to tie in with 2013 somehow, for example 1943 will be the 70th anniversary for such and such an event etc. 

 

August will see us taking a break from production due to various office and home moves, the only pieces likely to be released will be 4 x WW1 German infantry pieces. These have now shipped and are on the way to the UK! [Hmmm. Very much looking forward to seeing those. ed]

 

Last but not least I have attached pictures of 2 of our 4 new US Paratroopers out next month. So far as I can see they are historically accurate for Normandy with correct colour uniform, no Stars and Stripes flag for the 101st version and raring to go into action! As much as I hate to say this please do not send in pre-orders just yet, until the official release announcement in July. It just confuses poor Helen in the back office as these figures are only part sets, best really to see if you like the whole thing first before you order! As you can see we have made another Mohican warrior to compliment ATW001, surely one of the coolest looks out there for the all American warrior?!!!

 

Kind Regards

 

Vicki Lucas

Marketing Manager TGM

 

Here are the above mentioned pictures

 

 

 

 

As always, happy hunting!

Thomas Gunn Update

It only seems like yesterday when I was penning the last of my posts bringing you all news of Thomas Gunn's latest releases. Well, I make no apologies for bringing you more now. Here is a quick summary of what landed in my inbox just the other day. As ever, more images and information is available by following the link to the company website 

 

Dear Gunn Club

 

This month sees a reduced release as the factory had a production glitch on the sculpting side, which has had a knock on effect for June's production. Not only that but the factory also seemed to have gotten carried away with Napoleonics this month and quite simply forgot to put other products into the pipeline! So for the Napoleonic fans there's a nice selection this month, everybody else will get something next month I am afraid!

It’s been an open secret we have been looking at doing the 95^th Rifles for a while and here they are; 10 figures in total with the first 7 being released this month. There are 2 versions of this famous fighting regiment as always. The 1^st Battalion in more formal green wear and hard hats and the ‘scruffy’ 3rd Battalion! Both Battalions were at Waterloo, the 3^rd had not long disembarked from Spain and had not yet been issued new uniforms. We have shown the 3rd wearing a mixture of dress including ‘Portuguese brown’ trousers and soft hats. You have the option to therefore display the 3^rd as a Waterloo or a Peninsular unit for your dioramas

There is also a single WW2 release, but he’s extremely limited and only a few dealers will receive this figure!

Each of the seven Napoleonic figures being released this month is available in both versions and will retail at £22.08. Here are a couple of picture to whet your appetite

 

 

The first seven figures representing the smartly attired 1st Battalion followed by a couple of chaps from the 'scruffier' 3rd!

 

 

WW2 fans might be feeling a little bit left out but there's really no need. The figure pictured below, complete with an accompanying explanatory caption, may be in short supply but early in July TG will be releasing a splendid looking new vehicle which is already on my own wants list! Take a look and see if you share my lustful desires!

 

 

SOV002

Winter Tank Rider. We made 50 of the tank rider from SOV001 in a winter version with white trousers and gloves. A great figure that can be used as a tank rider or in the prone ambush position. We had planned to offer these as a Gunn Club special but have now sent all of these on to our dealers, who were sent SOV001 last month with the tank rider figure missing as an apology. If you are after one of these figures I suggest that you contact your dealer and see if he has any for sale

 

 

SS039 Puma

The SdKfz 234/2 Puma was an 8 wheeled armoured car issued in 1944 to certain elite German units. Armed with a 5cm cannon and a top speed of  50 MPH this beautiful looking armoured car was capable of taking on any Allied light or medium tank if challenged. A total of 150 vehicles will be produced in the above BOB winter colour scheme together with a further 150 in the Normandy summer colour scheme shown below

The model will bear the markings of the 1st SS Panzer Division [Liebstandarte] and retail at $139

What a beauty she looks!

 

That about wraps it up for another TG update so it only remains for me to wish you all good fortune in your efforts to add some of these lovely models to your collections. Happy hunting!