Wargames Waffle May 2009 Update

Well, a year seems quite long enough between up-dates, especially as a lot has changed in that time. The big event was the end of trade supplies from Navwar/H&R; we are gradually running out of the £10,000 worth that we used to keep. While being a real pain for our colonial cousins in particular, it does have a short-term advantage for me as it releases money to be spent on bike racing. A sort of swords to ploughshares variant, main battle tanks to petrol tanks, an alchemy that turns lead into aluminium.

But fear not, we still have plenty of wargames rules, figures and scenery for you; in fact we have a greater variety of buildings, wall, flock, static grass etc. than ever before. One bi-product of the rash of 25mm plastic figures has been a revival of interest in the Essex 25mm metals, as they match the scale better than most of the other metal models. This is also the inevitable Sod's Law coming into play, as the 25mm Essex were evicted from their easy-to-get-at drawers to make way for a long overdue sorting of the H&R aircraft, just before the they started to run out per the paragraph above. Give it a few months and we'll have the 25mm Essex back in the drawers instead of the bags in trays that we currently have to rummage through, which will also result in the wargames room being significantly tidied up...I hope.

We only see Wayne and Dean (Instant Armies/Veteran Miniatures) very occasionally, so we have started to keep some of the more popular Flames of War minis here, augmented by their considerably larger stocks when there is a long gap betwen shows. Simon of Evilginger Miniature (ssgaudin@yahoo.co.uk) is now our almost-inhouse painting service, he is doing lots of Flames of War for people so we are doing frequent top-ups to keep him serviced. On the 25mm side, Essex, Dixon and Great Escape Games are our main ranges, though with a sudden revival of interest in 25mm ancients I must see what I can do to replace our depleted stock of other makes there. Essex remain our main 15mm range, plus WWI from Minifigs, and we get other Minifigs in as required. Things have almost settled down after their factory move and who knows? BT may even stop screwing up their phone line eventually, which will make topping up easier.

On the sc-fi and fantasy side, we have just about sold out of the last dregs of the Warhammer stocks, but GW players are increasingly noticing the compatability of a lot of the other stuff we do. The old Warzone metal models still go well - especially in Europe - but we are open to offers on the new Mutant Chronicles plastics. In contrast to the lack of interest there, AT-43 continues to be a success, with almost 100% availability currently despite the manufacturer's chequered history. After a glitch in the supply of Fenryll miniatures we are getting them straight from the factory in France again, and they have helped us to soften the blow of the collapse of the Pound against the Euro, so prices have only gone up slightly.

I will try not to leave it so long before the next update, the next two months are going to be amazingly busy but autumn looks promising for a spare half hour...