|
December, 2011
Item: NOT QUITE SO BURIED ALIVE!
Okay, two more Game Card Decks have just been added, and
I can't fully count all those still in the pipe. After Padre Paul
Wrights "Funny Little Wars" Event Deck, and the first two game decks
for "The Sword In Africa," (TSIA) I've been able to add the key TSIA
Action and Event Decks. Or at least, they're on the Printer's schedule,
and the short Subscription now going on will get them out--I hope--by the end of
the year.
Still involved--for a while longer, at
least--in an amazing opportunity that I'm going to let take over much of the
rest of the year which, if it actually comes to pass, will be HUGE
for me personally, and of considerable interest to those still waiting for Gone
To See The Elephant to get off the dime (see below).
I remain in Tease Mode on this until--if and when--there's something solid I can
share, but it could be cooler than
liquid nitrogen.
Item: What's Coming Down The Pike
Pretty much everything put down in November is
still true, and I leave my earlier post standing--it's all still true, if
closer, perhaps, to fruition.
Other books on the cusp of falling on my
Editor's Desk include the long awaited master work--and that's not just
hype--by Andrew Preziosi as he moves towards completion of what is being
called the Sikh Wars Resource Book. An earlier, more modest
publication, was still the Last Word on OB's for the First Sikh War, but in
the intervening years, more data has finally be found (some really
old, rare books here), and the new edition will be just as exhaustive for
the Second Sikh War, but also for the entire history of the Khalsa from 1799
to last muster in 1849. I won't try to sell you one this here, but I PROMISE
there is no other book ever written that has this much data. It's one
for the College Libraries, and that's where some issues will definitely be
going.
Current buzz is a late winter/early spring
20l2 publication.
The other titles include a history of
every US Army Officer killed fighting Native Americans from 1865 to the last
to fall in 1898(!). This has been a 20+ years long project by a local
Gent and it's nearing readiness for printing even now. Should be out
this Winter.
Another book is really going to be
welcomes by fans of the Great Northern War and the Era of the Marlburian
Campaigns. It will be an illustrated history of the Brandenburg Navy
and Army, with details on ships and units that will go a long way to throw
some bright light on a comparatively obscure subject--even for War
Gamers! This one is the baby of one of the Curators at the US Army
Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, OK, and, Brother, does he have some neat
resources there!
For months I've been expecting to begin the
"Big Push" on the final edit of the
long overdue Gone To See The Elephant rules for the Mexican
War. But I have repeatedly had to postpone it in order to crank out
products which, frankly, sell faster and bring in income NOW, rather than
maybe six months from now. I hope to start again after the New Year as
some of the above projects should be coming to me "shovel ready"
(a wonderfully abused term of late) and which may be able to come to press
quicker than usual. Maybe.
I'll make a formal announcement when the glacier
starts sliding.
Mad Dogs With Guns (MDWG), by Howard Whitehouse and Roderick
Robertson should finally be coming off "Hold," soon as the latter
Gent has recently sent me a mountain of excellent photos of painted
miniatures, "Mean Streets," and properly scaled autos with which
to help illustrate the work. The ms was mostly ready the last time I
looked, and the plan is to see if I can get it into print ahead of most of
the other projects up there. Don't look for it for Christmas this
year, but it might be around for Groundhog Day. Maybe.
Other (working) titles in the queue still include
"Usuthu!": Battles of the Zulu War, 1879, a complete set
of rules with topographic maps and full OB's for re-fighting the historical battles in 1:10 (sic!) scale in short, sharp games with HORDES of
figures--unless you wear a Redcoat!. Originally developed years ago by
Chris Ferree using another original and unique gaming system
specifically designed to represent the peculiar circumstances of campaigning
in Zululand, the new edition will be expanded in several ways, and will make
battles like Isandlwana and Ulundi actually possible, practical, and exciting
as the original articles on the table top.
And if the above paragraph sounds
familiar, it ought to: It's the same one from March this year (and December, last
year). This is still very much a "goer," but there's just so
much out front....
I promise this will see publication--and
it will be well worth the wait!
Item: Little Warriors
STILL WAITING for a certain service provider of long
association with TVAG to get to us, but we are weekly awaiting the metal masters
and sample resin castings for the ready-to-pop "Little Warriors"
line. The Japanese Army is finished, and a major head start on Balkanoids
is already in hand.
Indeed, we ought to be able to triple, if not
quadruple, our total line of these figures almost literally overnight, or
certainly as soon as I can pay for the molds to be made for the already
completed figures to go into their molds.
This has been a project that has taken up
a great deal of my time and energy in 2011, but if it plays out as it looks now that
it will, TVAG will be a real Toy Soldier Maker/Seller.
Specifically, the 54mm original sculpts by
my old friend and colleague, Chris Ferree, have really become The Big Thing,
and we hope to have them in full production by the end of the year. I
won't make any claims I can't guarantee yet, but the plan now is to have the
rapidly increasing line of figures in support of Funny Little Wars
produced in a paintable "hard" plastic, rather than metal.
It will be possible to price these so that they can be bought in whole units
and made available through as many of the traditional Toy Soldier shops and
sellers we can get them into.
More details, again, as we have the first
production figures in hand, though the prototypes were at the casters over a
month ago. Watch for the only 54mm (1:32) Japanese Army for the period
of 1900--1914, complete with Infantry, Cavalry (mounted and dismounted),
Artillery Crews, Command Figures, on foot and horseback, Naval Landing
Troops and Officers, and an odd-or-end, too. These will also join the
first round of European Civilians, more military personality/character
figures, and so much more.
I hope to have photos of these first plastic casts going up
as soon as we get our first samples--possibly in the week of December 12.
And now, we return you to the dance portion of our broadcast....
| 
