North Head Miniatures

This new kiwi based company manufacturers naval miniatures. They are currently concentrating on modern and contemporary pieces, but have plans to do WW1 Gunboats and Pre-dreadnoughts in 1/1200 scale soon which will be great for Aquanef fleets. One to watch for sure!

http://www.nhminiatures.com/

Sandokan revealed!

You may recall the images taken by Mssr Vsanvlak of the aerial conveyance in the employ of the infamous Asian Pirate Sandokan

http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com/2006/06/asian-pirate-takes-to-air.html

Well, he has also manged to take some rare pics of the man himself, who is Wanted throughout the Empire and by many other nations too. Well done V!

Steampunk Laptop

Yep, another amazing steampunk retro!

This may look like a Victorian music box, but inside this intricately hand-crafted wooden case lives a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop that runs both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. It features an elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads, and customized wireless network card. The machine turns on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built ratcheting switch made from old clock parts.

http://computers-review.com/steampunk-laptop/

Thanks to Karsten for emailing me this link!

10,000 Hits, BC

Goodness me - 10,000 Hits in just 3 months!

I continue to be astounded and humbled by the patronage here. I think it is a testamony to the great contributions by all the team here, and certainly Mssr Vanvlak is the most prolific manufacturer of fine VSF models so far.

Many thanks indeed Ladies and Gentlesirs!

And in a complete coincidence, I found out today about the upcoming film "10,000 BC" (due for release 7 march next year), which looks totally wicked.

Have a look at the site below to see a trailer. mammoth heards, sabretooth togers, prehistoric man...all it needs is a few fine chaps and a lady or two hunting in their best safari attire!

http://www.10000bcmovie.com/

Martian Empires released

Black Hat Miniatures and Fighting 15s have teamed up to form Oozlum Games , whose first ruleset is Martian Empires, a set of fast-play big battles rules (units are 4-8 stands of 4-5 figures each) for Victorian Science Fiction games.

Excellent... According to their post at TMP:

Martian Empires is in full colour throughout, runs to 52 pages excluding covers, and includes full rules, army lists and five introductory scenarios. The rules are priced at £15.00 GBP. The ISBN for Martian Empires is 978-0-9555686-0-2. The rules have been developed over the last three years, and there is a thriving forum dedicated to Martian Empires here.

Martian Empires is the first in a series of rules that we will be publishing over the next few years based on the Huzzah! system.

Great cover; a combiantion of Redcoats, Steam tanks and lizard riding Martians. Its just missing some sort of aerial conveyance!

You can find Oozlum games here: http://oozlumgames.wordpress.com/oozlum-games/

And buy Martian Empires online here: http://www.blackhat.co.uk/

VSF Fashions and Accessories

The following outfitters have been brought to my attention.
These reputable establishments have everything for the esteemed Gentleman and discerning VSF gamer.

http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/mens_victorian_outfits.php


http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/

Victoria's Boys in Red

A new VSF Blog has popped up on the horizon - Huzzah!
James's first post introduces his journal well:

Welcome to my brand-new foray into the realm of telephonic difference engineering. Here you will find my journal of attempts to recreate Her Imperial Majesty's Invincible Armies and their triumphs (and defeats - not that there were many, mind you!).

In essence, this 'blog' (Barbaric word, that. Must be an American term. Wholly unsuited for the Queen's English, but there you have it) is a record of my forays into miniatures wargaming of the VSF variety. I have spent years talking about VSF gaming, and precious little time actually doing it... NO MORE!

I have dropped the chink on these little lead men, both in the One True Scale and their larger cousins. It's time I got some use out of them. It is hoped that by publicly posting my progress (or lack thereof) I will be forced to get some painting and modelling done and some games played or suffer eternal scorn from my fellow wargamers.

At all accounts, please enjoy my journal. I shall endeavour to keep it up to date and entertaining as well.

vbir.blogspot.com

Good stuff Sah, I look forward to dropping in for more sillyness and ramblings!

Pinging the Nautilus hunter...

Wizkids Games makes a very clever "constructible" card game under the name "Pirates." They have released ten sets but the best of them must undeniably be "Pirates of the Mysterious Islands" — as it contains the most famous Nautilus.



For those of you who may yet be unfamiliar with the game — the purchasing strategy of a box of 36 booster packs will gather most of the ships, crew, and treasure that constitute any given expansion. In a quest for the Nautilus, which is a rare card, I've bought two such boxes but was not rewarded with the sought submarine.

It becomes more cost-effective at that point to resort to eBay for filling in the holes of one's collection. I did not honestly expect to find Nemo's vessel and was pleasantly surprised to be proven incorrect.

But I'm aware that Tas is hunting the submarine as well. The seller was offering TWO! I wonder if I can rely on the post to get it to the antipodes before the close of the year.

Lest We Forget

Sir Henry Bullshott's Toys

Today I found this great site, which has some fantastic VSF conversions.





My favourites would have to be the Samurai Iron Giants and the Divine Wind Bombers (pictures in the right) in the Japanese Gallery, though all the galleries have great stuff in it.






http://www.displacedminiatures.com/Bullshott/galleries.html

More Aeronef Artwork

Follow this link takes you to a page of a guy who has been collecting steampunk style artwork. These heavily feature Aeronefs and similar craft, all by a number of authors around the web

http://thecoconutguy.deviantart.com/

I particularly like this one (despite it being a sketch only) which was inspired by the Warlord of the Air series:



Warlord of the Air by ~RonnyRonin on deviantART

More Ray-Guns and antique weapons

Up there with the Weta range of steampunk zappers are these great gadgets from Kropserkel creations

An online workshop gallery of some of the world'smost elaborate costumes and props.This site demonstrates examples of our creative efforts to enhance, distort, and conceal the human form inand for all media. Our 10 year showcase includes original Kropserkel creations and painstakingly accurate reproductions of objects and characters from popular media.

I would also have to say that the idea and concept of a Captain Nemo light sabre (shown below) was both original and awesome!

http://www.kropserkel.com/propguns.htm

And thanks to the boys at "VSF and 15mm Wargaming" for the heads up and link!

Special Moments

For once, this is not a VSF post. Instead, I would like to share a special wargaming Dad moment.

I have been trying to get hold of some if the great WW1 Wings of War minis (1/144 scale) but they are rather scarce. Then along comes a top bloke called Luis, aka Cuban Commissar, who buys some from his local shop and ships them to me (thanks again mate!). When they arrived this week my 6yr old son helped me open the box. He pulled out one and said:

"This looks just like Biggles's Sopwith Camel!"

And indeed he was holding a Sopwith Camel! What a proud moment for a wargaming Dad :-)

Steampunk X-Wing

My friend Luis found this great bit of steampunk crossover art on the net and sent me the link - I think its just stunning. Its by 'amoebabloke' at deviant art who says simply 'this took me aprox 5 hours start to finish'.

Great work amoebabloke!


steampunk x wing version 2 by ~amoebabloke on deviantART

http://amoebabloke.deviantart.com/art/steampunk-x-wing-version-2-65508931

"Cryptomundians"

Its seems I caused a minor stir by coining this phrase the other day...
In any event, fellow cryptomundians seem happy with the new label!

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/cryptomundians/


BTW this is the 3ooth WWS post!