Archive for the ‘Fighting 15s’ Category
Fighting 15s’ forgotten projects: 28mm SF Catgirls
SFC06 Roberta
Back in about 2010, Mystic Spirals sculpted some 28mm science fiction catgirls with a space pirate theme for Fighting 15s. Unfortunately, that project was put on a shelf, even though samples had been painted and the mould made. Spring cleaning for the online shop this month led to the discovery of the pictures for the range on an old hard disc and the unearthing of the mould. Despite the age of the sculpts, the range has now been uploaded to the shop.
Mystic Spirals designed the kits as Fighting 15s requested so that they are elegant 28mm figures, not chunky, and accordingly they are fiddlier than usual to assemble and experience of putting together white metal kits is therefore an advantage. Swords have been designed to be exaggerated, but are intended to be painted as “force blades”. The figures were intended for a personal HOTT project.
The Furred Dimension range includes:
SFC01 Claudia
SFC02 Ginger
SFC03 Nadia
SFC04 Natasha
SFC05 Pushkin
SFC06 Roberta
SFC07 Sonja
Figures are priced at £3.00 each including VAT.
Link: http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/the-furred-dimension-1114-c.asp
SFC01 Claudia
Fighting 15s’ redesign goes live
As Fighting 15s’ Facebook followers will be aware, I have been playing with a redesign of the Fighting 15s website to bring it kicking and screaming out of the early 2000s and into the 20-teens. That redesign is now live.
There is no maintenance mode for the site, so this change was enacted live on Saturday afternoon. I had warned in advanced on Facebook that some odd pictures might appear, but those should now all be gone. Not that anyone would pay heed to the fact that I’d adapted a fashion website, nor that pictures of people in underwear would be unusual on some wargames websites…
I emphasise that the navigation of the website has not changed – it just looks different. It still works the same way, using a hierarchical system to categorise figures. I am still working on streamlining this, as evidenced by the new AB Figures Quick Codes section, which will eventually roll out to other product ranges. I still need to add images to most of the navigational aspects of the new site, which should help customers find their way around by providing more visual clues.
New features that I had been trying out on the old website, such as the ability to sort products by various criteria, as well as a login system to check on order progress, are obviously still available on the new site. The new site provided the motivation to add these in the first place.
Products now have even more information available about them. The short product listing now contains details of pack contents to stop customers asking what every code contains – this simply shows that customers treated the website as a code list without going that extra step to click on a product to see the full description. The new product description pages are clearer and the ability to email product details to friends or print them off is now available.
The site now has a privacy policy. The old site needed one but the limited allocation of webpages simply didn’t allow it. The Fighting 15s policy is very different from most others because I regard email marketing as the scourge of the internet. Therefore, quite simply, Fighting 15s will not use customers’ details to send out newsletters, conduct marketing, or send out information to third parties. I believe customers will simply come back to the Fighting 15s site because the products we sell are good and do not need aggressive marketing to sell them, and because Fighting 15s will not pelt customers with sales literature just because all they wanted was a few packs of unique figures.
This is, however, stage one. I am evaluating other ecommerce providers that offer better search options for a shop, with the ability to filter products. However, any change will not happen for a long time.
Ian
Fighting 15s
Fighting 15s’ thoughts on Brexit
Filed under: Fighting 15s, News | Tags: brexit, Fighting 15s, import tax, VAT
Leave a comment Anyone who cares to skip across to my personal blog (The Strange Worlds of Orun hi Kharsan) will find my personal thoughts on Brexit and its effect on small UK wargames businesses such as Fighting 15s.
In an area of debate where politicians of both sides appear to be able to get away with audacious lies about the effects of remaining in the EU or leaving, I have tried to keep simply to the economic facts regarding how VAT and tax collection works across borders where a tax frontier exists. Facts that anyone can check online using official tariff and import guides, rather than relying on a statement by a politician.
I am, of course, pro-Europe and the EU for two main reasons: first, because Fighting 15s trades extensively within the EU to the extent that 45% of Fighting 15s’ business comes from Europe (it’s about 50% from the UK and 5% from outside the EU). Second, my daughter is technically an immigrant in Sweden, and has the ability to live and work there, and pursue her sporting dreams (she ice skates at a very high level for Sweden’s Team Surprise www.teamsurprise.se) because as an EU citizen she has the right to do so.
Yet I remain proudly British, proud to be a British business actively trading with Europe and making contacts and friends across the continent, and as a result I feel that I and Fighting 15s have a strong British identity within Europe and the EU.
My own view is that Brexit would be economic suicide for the small UK wargames business that trades with Europe, based on the simple effects of VAT and import tax collection outlined at orun.wordpress.com. You may well disagree. 😀
Fighting 15s and Bartek’s playing cards at Salute 2016
Bartek’s decks of fully illustrated 17th century pin-up girl playing cards, Wild Wild Fields, will be available at Salute through Colonel Bill’s, Fighting 15s’ authorized reseller for the cards at UK wargames shows. Colonel Bill’s has been taking the decks around the UK for us since their release, and Fighting 15s is pleased that Stuart (yes, he’s called Stuart, not Bill) has decided to restock for the UK’s biggest wargames show. Colonel Bill’s is on stand TD19.
Salute is on 16 April at ExCel London in the Royal Docks.
Please note that Fighting 15s is not trading at Salute. With Eureka Miniatures bringing the ranges that Fighting 15s would ordinarily take to Salute, it is no longer commercially worth Fighting 15s trading at Salute by taking a separate stand.
Ian will be present as a paying member of the public, although he will from time to time be on the Eureka Miniatures’ stand as Nic Robson’s EU representative. Eureka Miniatures is on stand TM07.
Ian is also likely to be found near Loughton Strike Force’s game at table GL06 – LSF being one of Fighting 15s’ biggest customers. He may be holding dice and looking distant…
Because Fighting 15s is not trading at Salute, Ian cannot take orders for collection by members of the public, no matter how big or small, and no matter where the transaction takes place. Traders pay a lot for the privilege of attending Salute and it is not fair to undermine them by diverting sales to someone who is not trading. Please do not ask Ian to bring orders up for Salute – he will simply refuse.
Please note that Eureka’s deadline for advance orders for Salute for Eureka and AB Figures has passed – it was 16 March.
Salute: www.salute.co.uk
Fighting 15s re-releases 18mm Napoleon in Egypt range
Earlier this year, Fighting 15s acquired the Napoleon in Egypt range of 18mm wargames figures from Black Hat Miniatures. Reorganization and re-photographing of the range is now complete and Fighting 15s is delighted to announce that these figures are now available to buy in the online shop.
The range is as follows:
NE001 French Infantry in casquet, advancing
NE002 French Infantry in casquet, marching
NE003 French Infantry in casquet, firing and loading
NE004 French Infantry command
NE005 French Infantry elites in bicorne, advancing
NE006 French Infantry elites in bicorne, marching
NE007 French Infantry elites in bicorne, firing and loading
NE008 French Infantry elites in casquet, advancing
NE009 French Infantry elites in casquet, marching
NE010 French Infantry elites in casquet, firing and loading
NE050 French Dromedary Corps troopers (4 figures)
NE051 French Dromedary Corps command (4 figures)
NE052 French dismounted dragoons
NE053 French dismounted dragoon command
NE075 French artillery in bicorne
NE100 Egyptian Fellahin with spears
NE101 Egyptian Fellahin with swords
NE102 Egyptian Fellahin with muskets
NE103 Nizam Provincial Militia advancing
NE104 Nizam Provincial Militia firing and loading
NE105 Ottoman foot command
NE109 Cairo Janissaries
NE110 Cairo Janissaries command
NE150 Mameluks firing
NE151 Mameluks charging
NE152 Mameluk command
NE175 Ottoman heavy artillery
Packs contain eight foot, or four mounted figures, or four crew and one gun (there are options for crew only or guns only). Prices for all codes except NE050 and NE051 are £3.20 including VAT per pack: NE050 and NE051 are £6.40 including VAT. Variants are provided at random.
Fighting 15s intends to expand on the original range in future.
Link: http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/new-arrivals-808-c.asp
Fighting 15s releases 15mm Ancien Régime flags
Fighting 15s has released 30 sheets of 15mm paper flags for Ancien Régime infantry. The flags are suitable for French infantry from the Seven Years War right up to the Revolutionary Wars.
Each sheet costs £4.00 including VAT and sheets typically contain 12 flags – six white Colonel’s flags and six coloured Ordonnance flags. Flags are in Fighting 15s’ new shaded style, introduced for the Austrian Seven Years War infantry flags, and the stitching has been emphasised on the Colonels’ flags so they look more than just a white flag.
The flags have been designed in particular to suit Eureka’s Seven Years War French to give a good fit around the flag staff.
Fighting 15s is in the process of reorganising the flags section of the online shop, and this is the first range of Fighting 15s’ flags to be fully illustrated on the site.
Napoleonic painting guides from Fighting 15s
Once upon a time, Fighting 15s was just a figure painting service specialising in 15mm Napoleonics. It’s where the name comes from – an allusion to British regimental nicknames such as the “Fighting 15th”, the King’s Hussars, and to magnificent pieces of technology such as the F-15 Eagle.
Way back then, Fighting 15s had two painting articles published by the now defunct Wargames Journal in its Painter’s Shed series.
Fighting 15s has long since stopped being a painting service, and those articles have long since disappeared in a complete form from the web (they partly exist on the Wayback Machine). But now, thanks to a request for a copy of the articles, they have been republished and can be found in their new home on Fighting 15s’ Oozlum Games website.
The guides show how I paint 15mm AB French infantry and 15mm AB French chasseurs a cheval to a decent wargames standard, rather than showcase standard, using a two-tone system I adopted before I’d even heard of Kevin Dallimore and his layering technique. I suspect a number of painters at much the same time decided that painting, washing and over-painting was too much work, and the same effect could be obtained simply by layering different shades of each colour.
The articles are quite old, and the technology used to take and edit the images quite primitive, but I hope that the articles stand the test of time, given that their ilk are 10 a penny nowadays, and I trust that they still prove useful.
Grand Prince Vytautas rides out in 15mm
Filed under: 15mm, Fighting 15s, Oddzial Osmy | Tags: Battle of Tannenberg, Fighting 15s, ML02 Grand Prince Vytautas, Prince Vytautas, Teutonic Order
Leave a comment 
ML-02 Lithuanian Grand Prince Vytautas and retinue
Following on the heels of the re-released 15mm Teutonic Order and Polish figures for the Battle of Tannenberg (Grünwald) 1410 come the Lithuanians. Formerly produced by Oddział Osmy of Poland, these figures are now available through Fighting 15s.
The Lithuanians comprise three packs:
ML01 Lithuanian Boyars
ML02 Grand Prince Vytautas and retinue
ML03 Lithuanian light cavalry
Each pack comprises four mounted figures with horses and costs £3.20 including VAT. There’s an option to add three extra figures to pack ML02 to boost the number of standard bearers and retainers.
The figures have been remastered, the original two-piece horse casting changed to one-piece castings, and new production moulds made. Figures come with a selection of cast weapons, and assembly is required.
The figures are listed in the New Arrivals section of the Fighting 15s website at www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/new-arrivals-808-c.asp
The figures complete Fighting 15s’ re-release of Oddzial Osmy’s 15mm Medievals, and our attention will now focus on returning the 15mm Napoleonics to production.
Link: www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/15mm-medievals-tannenberg-1410-855-c.asp
15mm Napoleonic Saxon Chevaulegers 1809
NSC-02 Saxon Chevauleger command 1809
Fighting 15s has re-released the 15mm 1809 Saxon chevaulegers formerly made by Oddzial Osmy of Poland. The chevaulegers have been remastered, have new production moulds and now come with one-piece horses, rather than the two-part horses of the originals: riders are still separate from the horses.
Figures are priced at £3.20 for four identical troopers and £1.60 for two command figures, with a standard bearer available as an option for an extra 80p. A unit pack of 12 figures including two command is £9.60. Prices include VAT.
Fighting 15s is in the gradual process of re-releasing all of Oddzial Osmy’s 15mm Napoleonic line. The Saxon chevaulegers join the Krakusi and Russian Cossacks in the line-up of re-releases.
For convenience, the figures are listed in the New Arrivals section of the Fighting 15s website at http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/new-arrivals-808-c.asp.
Link: http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/15mm-napoleonics-saxons-861-c.asp
Figure size comparisons (left to right): AB, Fighting 15s Saxon Chevauleger, Fighting 15s Russian cossack, Old Glory 15s, a 15mm Joey
Fighting 15s announces… Fighting 15s Figures
40mm Flashing Blade figures – now called Fighting 40s
Fighting 15s’ long hot summer of reorganization and rationalization has seen a new section arrive in the online shop: Fighting 15s Figures.
Fighting 15s Figures is home to the ranges that we ourselves own and produce: Huzzah! Miniatures, Flashing Blade, and the 15mm medievals and Napoleonics formerly made by Oddzial Osmy. These have all been lurking in different sections of the website, and we have now united them all under one banner.
The change has been promoted by new mould making, primarily for the 15mm medievals and Napoleonics, but also for the 40mm Flashing Blade range. This means some of these old codes are now available from fresh new moulds. Our priority has been bringing back to life Oddzial Osmy’s 15mm Tannenberg line for 1410, and redoing the Flashing Blade hoplites where mould wear in the arm sockets has made assembly a challenge best accomplished with a drill.
We have further rebranded the figures as follows: the 15mm Oddzial Osmy medievals and Napoleonics are now Fighting 15s, the traditional 30mm SYW from Huzzah! Miniatures are now Fighting 30s, and the 40mm Flashing Blade Greek hoplites, skeletons, Dark Ages Saxons and Romano-British are now Fighting 40s.
Some codes still have to be remoulded and migrated to the new section of the website. News of relaunched figures will be posted as they become available.
oozlumgames.com 
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