The Alternative Armies Blog

Welcome to the Alternative Armies blog. This blog tells you all about what we are up to and it is where we post our latest tabletop gaming news and articles.
We cover Flintloque and Slaughterloo, High Fantasy, Other Ranges as well as our 15mm scale fantasy, science fiction and historical ranges.
Our game systems and free content such as PDF downloads and reading articles. Enjoy and do dig back in time to see what was going on before now.

Feel free to comment and ask questions. We are always happy to help gamers with their hobby.

Thursday 30 May 2024

Dungeon Adventurers 1980’s range restore begins with Dwarfs by Bibby and Goodwin

Those who have been following Alternative Armies for the last seven years or so will know that we are intent on reviving as much of the classic Asgard and Tabletop ranges that we can.  First created and sold in the early 1980’s and sculpted by legends such as Nick Bibby and Jes Goodwin the time has come for the start of the Dungeon Adventurers Range to be restored into production. The natural foes of the Fantasy Monster Range and allies or enemies of the Creatures of Chaos or the Jes Goodwin Asgard Orcs this range covers Dwarfs, Gnomes, Elves, Halflings, Humans and much more.

This very large range contains some ninety poses all in and it is our intent to bring these to you in groups across time.  We begin now.  All the miniatures were painted by the talented Studio Maxi and while shown here in a group they are all as singles on the website.  Here are the codes:

DA1 Dwarf Thief

DA1a Dwarf Fighter

DA2 Dwarf in Platemail

DA3 Dwarf Lord

DA4 Dwarf Cleric

(by Nick Bibby)


DA5 Dwarf Shieldbearer

DA6 Dwarf Crossbowman

DA7v1 Dwarf King

DA8 Dwarf Adventurer

DA9 Dwarf Adventuress

DA10 Dwarf Trader

(by Jes Goodwin)


                                                                   DA7v2 Dwarf King

                                                                   (by Steve Trickett)

Above you can see a couple of these Dungeon Adventurers range Dwarfs alongside the Jes Goodwin 1985 Dwarfs and they work well together.  Codes DA1 to DA4 are larger and DA5 to DA10 are a bit smaller.

Until 10th June 2024 the classic Asgard F6 Large Rat is free automatically in all shipped packages (see it above alongside FM77 Medium Rat which is half price in our Deals and Offers page).  Tunnel fighting beckons!

There is a direct tie in between the Dungeon Adventurers Range in 28mm scale and the Tabletop Games 15mm Fantasy Range with many of the characters mirrored in the smaller scale.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support is keeping the golden age of British Wargaming alive some forty years later.

GBS

Tuesday 28 May 2024

Manticores restored in 28mm and 15mm high fantasy monsters

“They eat their victims whole leaving nothing but a few scrapes and not even any bones. I tell you this monster a hybrid of lion, scorpion and the and appalling face of a woman must be fought wherever it is found. Few survive to tell the tale but none the less from the hot sands to the forests bands of heroes seek them to make our world a safer place.” 
 
It is our pleasure to announce that two different scales of the Manticore are now on the website. New molds for the 15mm scale monster in the HOT Range and now after an absence of two decades the 28mm Manticore returns in our Monsters and Creatures Range. The larger monster was sculpted by Steve Trickett in the early 1990’s and is also in new molds. 
 
 VNT22 Manticore (55mm tall, 55mm wide with wings)
 

 
HOT28 Manticore (40mm tall, 40mm wide with wings) 
 

 
As you can see these metal models will be fine foes for your gaming table. Shown alongside other miniatures for scale comparison. From the 15mm Tabletop Fantasy Range and the 28mm Orc which comes free with our Giant Troll.  The smaller one will work as a youngling in 28mm should you so choose.
 

Every order shipped out from Alternative Armies until 10th June 2024 automatically gets F6 Large Rat included for free. You can see it above alongside the Manticores. Our Deals and Offers has new selections including the small rat at half price. We have further 28mm Asgard fantasy releases before the end of the free Rat period and also another remastered 15mm Dragon in the Tabletop Fantasy Range too. 
 
Thank you for Reading.

Thursday 23 May 2024

Spring Bank Holiday Break 2024 a four day break

We have been rather quiet in the last two weeks and that is because the lads and lassies of Alternative Armies have been working flat out.  Fulfilling the orders of the Spring Mega Event to get miniatures and books out across the world to our valued customers. While all but a dozen of these orders have now been dispatched (if you await yours do contact us on sales@alternative-armies.com and ask for an update) it is time for a deserved wee rest.  The whole company is taking the full four days of the Spring Bank Holiday (in the UK its Friday to Monday) off.  From now until the morning of Tuesday 28th there is an automatic at checkout discount of 20% applied to all orders placed.  An offer to you from us.

The team will commence shipping once more next week with regular releases resuming end of May.  You need do nothing but order and you will get the discount.  Any codes marked ‘sale’ with a discount applied will be further discounted at checkout such as those in our Deals and Offers pages and the Digital Download Books and Slaughterloo Divisional Army Packs.  Visit the website and scan the left hand menu with its drop downs to see all we have in ranges and scales.

Every package shipped will also automatically gain a free FM6 Large Rat in it.  A classic 1980’s Asgard miniature for any scale which has been remastered.  The small rat is also half price as well.  Something for your heroes to fight.  This offer ends 10th June 2024.

Callsign Taranis the big expansion for Patrol Angis is out of print. New print run is being organised and we will announce it once it is ready and on site.  See the huge 15mm Ion Age range for the wars of the Prydian Precinct and the fight against the Khanate Empire.

By request we have new pictures of FL27 Wandering Band and now these miniatures are also five singles plus value pack with small saving.  Added in our 28mm Adventurers and Wizards range.

Lastly we have a handful of the 200 boxed run only NB2 The Dragon by Nick Bibby on our stock shelf.  These came back from a trade account and have been put in fresh boxes.  Once gone they are gone; first come first served.  The four day discount applies here too.  A good time for it.

Thank you for your support and enjoy your weekend!

Thursday 9 May 2024

Classic Asgard Large Rat free in orders until 10th June Plus month news and new deals…

“A scrabbling under the boards, a nibbling at the provisions...some poison or a trap should take care of it.  Well until you actually see the Rat whot’s doing it...it’s the size of a ruddy war dog!”

Until 10th June 2024 Alternative Armies is putting the classic 1980’s Asgard FM6 Range large rat into every order shipped out from us automatically.  The Large Rat can be used in most scales including 28mm and 15mm for your table.  On top of this FM78 Medium Rat (about half the size of FM6) is half price until 10th June as well.  Above you can see FL30 Recene the Hireling encountering the Rat at top of some dungeon stairs.  You need do nothing but order and as long as your order is shipped (no download only orders sorry) then the free miniature will be in it.  You can also order FM6 if you wish and you will still get one free!

Here is a line up of all the Rats in the restored Asgard FM Range sculpted by Nick Bibby and others.  As well as being free FM6 Large Rat is now in the Former Free Codes Collected page where every previous auto included code in orders has a home and due to big production runs a discounted price too.

On the left is MDA31 Cleric from the Tabletop Games 15mm Fantasy Range and on the right FL30 Ruben the Hireling from our 28mm Knights and Footsoldiers Range.  Both giving you the scales showing for the Large and Medium Rats.

Our Deals and Offers Page has been updated!  A new period of discounts from 5% to 50% off regular prices across all of our ranges.  As well as the value packs, army bundles, sets and others always there we have some new things among the 130 choices such as… 56532 Joccian Hussars for Flintloque and Slaughterloo with Unit, Pack and Single choices all 20% off.  By popular request 6mm fans BR012 Grenadier Attack Bikes are 20% off the pack and singles once more. Indech Half Hand Fomorian Druid for Erin Celtic Myth is discounted too.  Western Orc Discipline Master from the Fantasy Warlord range is on an offer.  Sengoku 15mm Japanese Warriors Pack was asked for and its now on a deal.  Lastly IB29 Planetary Militia (Four Pack) in the 28mm Ion Age Range has 20% off it until period end this summer. 

What can you expect in the next month alongside your free Large Rat?  We will have another 15mm Tabletop Games re-mastered and restored Dragon and we hope to have Steve Trickett’s early 1990’s 28mm scale Manticore back on the website too in new molds to join its 15mm sister in the HOT Range.  Following up on the first part of Jes Goodwin’s Orcs we are switching to the start of the long lost Dungeon Adventurers Range which has been lovingly restored.  There will be some updated pictures by our studio and by Studio Maxi and free articles for Flintloque featuring the Large Rat.  

The Ion Age will have game statistics in a full article on Patrol Angis for the Gremlin series of vehicles.  The War Bot II will have a wee related article to the 15mm Star Mercs as well. Plus the second book for Patrol Angis which introduces all manner of vehicles and more Callsign Taranis has sold out its print run...boo!  But not to worry a new run is being organised now.

Thanks for your Time!

Wednesday 1 May 2024

Gremlin vehicles three hover variants new to The Ion Age 15mm range

As the second Khanate War continued and worlds fell to the Legions as they spread ever further from the Matter Gateway in the Camarthen stellar system the threat to the entire Prydian Precinct grew dire. The Marcher Barons were in retreat and the Prydian Army in ascendency after twenty years of civil war but this did not mean that the military might of the Throne was enough.  Split between dealing with the growing alien invasion and the struggle for dominance in the core systems this resulted in neither war being tackled fully.  In 4340 IC the death of the Kingmaker Nevall in battle against Princess Cyon meant the Precinct was once more at peace with only small scale conflicts left to stamp out.  The loss of most of Knight General Obermann's fleet in 4331 IC on and around Camarthen Prime had meant near a decade of hit and run campaigns against the Dragon Ships as they sail in darkness out across the stellar cluster. While Humanity was able to deal with a single Dragon Ship entering a planetary orbit this was not the case as pairs and then trios and more of these mighty warships, each carrying an entire Legion, began to appear together.  It would take several years to gather enough might to tackle the Matter Gateway head on so for the moment single regiments were dispatched to hold and harry as best they could.

The clamour for Taranis and Magogs was constantly coming back to New Glastonbury and in such numbers that the demand could not be met.  It takes a lot of time and resources to build the mightiest war machines so a solution was looked for to supply the Camarthen Cluster with armoured vehicles for the use of Planetary Militia in huge numbers.  Part of this was the Gremlin series of medium vehicles which, across their many variants, were fabricated for city, snow, desert, low gravity and other environments.  They have been a great success being easier to produce and use less titanium than a Mullo AFV.

Academy Auto-Trainer Series 52, New Glastonbury, 4342 IC.


Above Grima Combat Robots and their controllers put an end to Shia Khan Pioneers in the frozen wastes of Hythe VIII with the aid of their Gremlin vehicles.  The Gremlin is a family of variants which give Planetary Militia and sometimes Muster added mobility and firepower that out classes the older Adder for weaponry and outpaces the much heavier Mullo classes of transport.

There will be a full free PDF of game rules for Gremlins in Patrol Angis later in May 2024 which will feature future releasing variants.  Keep an eye out for this.

The new codes are:

IAF185A Gremlin AFV Hover with Bodkin AP (and Valerin Laser) plus hull turret

IAF185B Gremlin MSV Hover with Anda Missile Pods Turret and hull turret

IAF185C Gremlin APC Hover Personnel Carrier with hull turret

Each vehicle is 80mm long, 55mm wide and 25mm to 30mm tall.  More pictures on the website.


Cold Climes Militia patrol around their Gremlin MSV Hover vehicle in the aftermath of the Murta Gap campaign on Hythe VIII.


If you are new to the 15mm Ion Age range then our suggestion is to begin with the Patrol Angis book or game pack with miniatures, battlesuits and bases with a saving.  Once you are ready to progress from infantry level skirmish and want to add vehicles then seek out Callsign Taranis for this. The greatest foe of Humanity is the alien Shia Khan Empire.  In the third book of the series The Khanate Return you can add these aliens as well as Grima and Planetary Militia forces to your play in the Camarthen Prime campaign.  Books in print and as digital download too.



Free content for The Ion Age abounds.  See it on the WEBSITE to download and enjoy.


The 15mm Ion Age Range contains hundreds of miniatures as packs (choose single poses within them) and platoon packs which come with an extra free unique miniature.  Added fun!  Get Retained Knights, Destria Knights, Muster, Planetary Militia, Grima Robots (above) as well as Malig Goblins, Legionaries, Pioneers and much more such as the Xin Precinct.

Thanks!