NEWS

( Updated Thursday, 31 July, 2008 )

PRICE CHANGES
Inevitably, the rise in market prices for metals and energy has caught up with us, so we regret that as of 1st August 2008, we have had to increase some prices on the Spencer Smith Miniatures and Holger Erikkson ranges. However, the good news is that owing to an increase in production efficiency, we have been able to reduce the prices of infantry figures in the Willie ranges! Finally, we now have to separate orders of figures sourced from Sweden, so Tradition, Willie and HE figures cannot be counted towards combined order values with our own SSM or STS ranges. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused, but this decision is beyond our control. Please refer to the Ordering page for details.

PREVIOUS UPDATES

SHINY TOY SOLDIERS GALORE
With our final update this week, we have completed the Shiny Toy Soldier listings (bar one head and one body owing to an administrative mix-up). Seeing the complete range of possibilities is a testament to Aly Morrison's sculpting skills: you really can create almost anything from the 19th century!

JACKLEX COLONIAL EQUIPMENT ONLINE
To many people, this exquisite range of 19th-century equipment will come as a revelation. It includes lovingly-sculpted Gardner guns, Gatling guns, field guns, tiny mountain guns and even a Maxim, together with limbers, wagons, mule teams and crews where appropriate. Definitely a must-see, whatever your wargaming preferences.

JACKLEX COLONIALS ONLINE
The second update of the day has breathed new lie into the Jacklex 20mm colonials page. These charming little figures are beautifully proportioned and feature a surprisingly wide range of variations. Today's photos feature North West Frontier tribesmen, the khaki-clad types of British infantry suitable for North West Frontier and later African campaigns, turban-clad Indian Army types, and red-coated British Army and their Zulu opponents for the South African theatre.

18th CENTURY EXPANSION
As well as adding a standing, firing musketeer to our standard range of figures, there are also a number of new additions to our new range for the Wars of the Austrian Succession, including a nice selection for 'kleine Krieg' on the wilder fringes of the conflict. This is the first of a number of major updates taking place over the next couple of days.

MORE SHINY TOY SOLDIERS
More bits and pieces have been added to the Shiny Toy Soldiers range, making it possible to build even more types from different conflicts of the 19th century. Photos will follow shortly: we have had to delay sending the bits to Henry because of the recent postal strikes. We have also added an article written by STS creator Aly Morrison.

ACW PHOTOS IN THE GALLERY
Customer Bob Kett has very kindly provided us with a clutch of photos of his Spencer Smith ACW collection. Thank you, Bob!

WEBSITE OVERHAUL FOR SHINY TOY SOLDIERS
Following our collaboration with highly respected figure designer Aly Morrison, we are delighted to announce that we are now able to offer his wonderful range of 42mm multi-part figures for sale here under the section headed S.T.S. Photos of all the individual parts have now been added, as well as some examples of completed figures.
    In order to accommodate this brand new range, which encompasses the European wars of the mid-19th century, we have re-constructed our website to be optimised for 1024x768 pixels, which you should find gives the site more 'elbow room'.
     We have also posted some photos of Aly's lovely miniatures in the Gallery section. Battlegames editor Henry Hyde was on the prowl at Salute in April, where he came across a lovely game staged by the Continental Wars Society, who specialise in this period.
    We are delighted to welcome Aly aboard, and we are sure that you will be as thrilled with the new range as we are.

PRICE CHANGES
We regret that, as a result of recent increases in the price of metals and postage, we have had to make modest increases to the prices of some of our ranges. However, due to decisions taken by Tradition, we have also been able to reduce the prices of certain items in their ranges. You will also find that some items of equipment in our Jacklex range have also been reduced.
    In brief, the changes are as follows:

• Spencer Smith 'Standard' and ACW ranges: all infantry now 40p, all cavalry now £1.15, all cannon now £1.75, and certain other individual changes.

• 30mm Tradition figures: £1.20 items reduced to £1.10; £1.75 items reduced to £1.60; £2.45 items reduced to £2.30; £3.25 items reduced to £2.90; and £3.95 items reduced to £3.50.

• Willie and Holger Eriksson fiugures: no change.

• Jacklex: various equipment price reductions (e.g. wagon with mule team etc).

• We have kept the postage changes to a minimum, but regret that we can no longer afford to offer free postage.

PHOTOS ADDED FOR HOLGER ERIKSSON RANGE
All the listings for Holger Eriksson 30mm figures now have a thumbnail image added, which you can click to get a closer view. This is an iconic, beautiful range of correctly-proportioned figures, much favoured by Old School wargamers, featured in the Sittangbad game staged at Partizan in May 2006 by The War Gamers (Henry Hyde, Phil Olley, Steve Gill and John Preece).

Previous stories

NEW WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION RANGE
We have just added our first new range of figures in over 30 years, thanks to the efforts of customer Rob Grace who carried out some conversions on our 'Standard' range of 18th century figures.
    Designed for the wars of the first half of the eighteenth century, and in particular for his 'Blasthof Bridge' project based on the famous game in Brigadier Peter Young and Colonel Lawford's book Charge!, Rob has sculpted a delightful range of figures that are at once familiar and yet interestingly different, with their wider cuffs, broader turnbacks and slightly larger tricornes. Rob approached us to cast figures for his private collection, but it became immediately apparent that they would have an appeal to many of our customers, and so he has kindly agreed to allow us to make the range available to you.
    We have listed the new figures on the SSM 18th century page, immediately after the 'Standard' figures. As always, click on the thumbnail photos to see a larger view. All prices are listed on the page.
    To show you how the infantry and cavalry miniatures look painted, we have added some photos of part of Rob Grace's beautiful collection to the Gallery page.
    Rob's 'Blasthof Bridge' will be appearing in a forthcoming issue of Battlegames magazine.

PHOTOS ADDED FOR JACKLEX ACW RANGE
The final batch for the moment, we have just completed the Jacklex 20mm ACW range. If you're not familiar with these, they are really worth a look. They fit in extremely well alongside many of the 20mm plastic ranges available today, and were originally designed to compement the Airfix HO/OO American Civil War and Wild West sets. They have a characteristic charm and delicacy which is so often lacking in many of today's ranges of bulky figures.

PHOTOS ADDED FOR SPENCER SMITH ACW RANGE
Just uploaded: the figures made so famous by Don Featherstone in several of his early books, including Battles with Model Soldiers, Wargame Campaigns and others. These look terrific en masse.

PHOTOS ADDED FOR SPENCER SMITH 'CONNOISSEUR' RANGE
We have just uploaded images of the 30mm Spencer Smith Connoisseur range, sculpted by Barry Minot. Keen-eyed observers will note the slightly smaller and very attractive 'AWI' range of advancing figures B17-21 that offer an interesting alternative to the better-known ranges.
    Coming next will be the 30mm American Civil War range. Following that, we shall be adding the Jacklex 20mm ACW range. We hope to have this stage completed very soon.

MORE PHOTOS ADDED TO THE GALLERY
Our thanks to collector John Rosenfeld, who has kindly sent us some photos of his collection of Spencer Smith 18th century figures, posed marching through his garden!

PHOTOS ADDED IN SPENCER SMITH 'STANDARD' RANGE SECTION
We have just added the first photos of our miniatures, beginning, naturally, with our classic 'standard' range of 18th century figures. Setting the pattern for what's to follow, each miniature is shown as a small 'thumbnail' next to its listing. By clicking on the thumbnail, you can see an enlarged version in a new window. To return to the listings page, simply close the new window.
    Coming next will be the 18th century 'Connoisseur' range, and our 30mm American Civil War range. Following that, we shall be adding the Jacklex 20mm ACW range. We hope to have this stage completed soon.

PRICE INCREASES FOR TRADITION SCANDINAVIA FIGURES HAVE COME INTO EFFECT
Please note that as of September 1st 2006, we regret that owing to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to increase the price of figures in the Tradition (25mm and 30mm), Willie and Holger Eriksson ranges. The prices on the relevant pages have been changed and the effects are as follows:

25mm Tradition figures
• Foot figure or single rider £0.70
• Horse with rider or gun £1.25
• Single horse £0.90

30mm Tradition figures
• Foot figure £1.20
• Special foot figure, or horse £1.75
• Horse with rider or limber £2.45
• Gun £3.25
• Heavy gun £3.95

Willie figures
• Foot figure or single rider £1.60
• Horse with rider or gun £3.25
• Camel with rider £4.60
• Horse £2.65
• Napoleon and his marshals £49.50
• The Hunt £36.00
• Hunting scene in India £15.20
• 60mm ladies (camp followers) £7.90

HE Holger Eriksson
• Foot figure £1.05
• Gun, limber, artillery horse £1.50
• Rider on horse £2.05

Postage and packing is now free on orders over £75 within the UK. Free p&p remains unchanged on overseas orders.

 

NEW WEBSITE
Our new-look website, built by Battlegames Editor Henry Hyde, went online on 3rd July 2006. Designed to be more user-friendly, it will be updated regularly and contain as many photos of the products as possible.
    If you would like to contribute your own photos to the Gallery section, then please contact Henry, who has the technical expertise to make it so!