Pirate Rich Paints 28mm Erin Celtic Myth

Sometimes we get a treat and a little journey to follow on ‘X’ by getting tagged.  This happened with Pirate Rich Paints (check him out) when he came across a 30 year old blister from our Erin Celtic Mythology Range and decided to assemble and paint it followed by a few more miniatures from the range.  Kindly he gave permission to share this..enjoy!

One of the highlights of the entire Erin range is the war chariot.  Code CM11 Milesian Chariot was remolded two years ago and comes in many pieces including a driver and warrior along with two horses.  

By request you can choose the pack or parts of it on its page.  There it is in its 1990’s packaging about to be assembled and painted.

Pirate Rich did some excellent brushwork he really did.  Super vivid in its colours and he added some scratchbuilt reins as well.  A rather different take to our own.

CM15-03 Wolfhound Walking and CM15-02 Wolfhound Sitting are the ‘pets’ of Fionn MacCumhail and Pirate Rich took his ones and gave them a super deep grey tone of fur.  We went with a reddish hue on our own ones on the website.

Thank you for your Time.

3D Roleplay Con V 2025 the After Action Report

The fifth annual 3D Roleplay Convention took place over the weekend of 4th May 2025 and was a roaring success!  Alternative Armies sponsored again this year with prizes for the winners on the day from our 28mm Monsters and Creatures range. Here is organiser Hank’s account of the event.  If you have a tournament or convention and would like to ask us about sponsoring please make contact by email on sales@alternative-armies.com and tell us about it.  We have a budget set aside for this.  Take it away Hank and count us in for next time!

Saturday morning started bright & early with several volunteers getting up & converging upon the Peninsula Odd Fellows Lodge to set up nearly 20 large gaming tables. The terrain was set, armies unpacked & dice ready to roll as convention goers poured in around 9AM. Friends old & new arrived & we kicked off the convention with two fantastic games, Kryomek & Man O' War respectively. Early in the game of Man O' War, an Imperial great ship was set ablaze from stern to mast and an epic wizard battle ensued. Powerful greatships & other nautical war machines battled over the next four hours, with many shouts & laments on how the battle proceeded. 

Kryomek saw the Nexus marines make an impressive breach into an infested colony on planet Orion III, driving back the initial alien enemies as they emerged from the colony. The marines were able to immobilize a kryomek tank positioned on the northwest ridge, though it could still fire. Things started to go wrong for the marines as their Nexus battle tank fell to an alien bio-acid weapon wielded by the warmaster. Several helions then closed on the eastern group of marines & were able to drive the human menace back. By the end of turn 6, the marines were scattered & had not destroyed any kryomek eggs or rescued any colonists. So, the game ultimately went to the alien player.

From there, a hybrid WFRP 1st edition & WFB 3rd Edition game called "Dawn of the Golden Spawn" started & several players were tasked with Slaan warbands navigating their way during the spawning rituals as they witnessed the hatching of the sacred spawning of the cycle. Concurrently, a game of 54mm Inquisitor took place & folks seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

In the afternoon, there were lots more games played: some RPG's such as Shadowrun and other wargames like Rogue Trader with the "Battle at the Farm" classic scenario. There was also some WFB 2nd edition with the classic scenario "Terror of the Lichemaster", which was really fun. There was a tunnel mining siege game called "Sapper" that used the Siege rules supplement for WFB 3rd edition. Then, we had a local game creator demo his game Rumpus which folks spoke very highly of after playing. We ended Saturday with one of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's first one-shots called "The Black Knight" from an old Dragon Magazine issue. We capped off the first day with a great session at the local watering hole. Many beers were had & new friendships made!

(Rogue Trader era Space Marines led by 28mm Ion Age metal miniature IA001 Retained Knight)

The second day of the convention was more relaxed & people played several pick-up games throughout the morning. Folks played an original scenario by one of the GM's of WFRP called "The Red Baths" which was visually and narratively stunning. Then, the massive centerpiece of WFB 1st Edition, "Ziggurat of Doom" took everyone's attention as dwarves battled goblin hordes in a last stand on an ancient ziggurat. One of the best looking tables of the convention! Finally, there was another session of "Sapper" & then a glorious session of MERP (Middle Earth Roleplay) from the 80's I.C.E. edition. High-powered minions of Mordor duked it out with a demi-god like wizard and colossal snake in the northern moores. 

All & all, 3DR Con V was a massive success. So many friends, laughs, and unforgettable gaming experiences. Everyone is talking about next year's con already!

Not Your Usual Flying Circus by Just Needs Varnish blog

It is not often that something takes us by surprise (the big Scottish spring storm of this year aside!) but when we were contacted by Just Needs Varnish Blog to show us an article he had published we were!  A flying circus indeed!  You can read the whole article on his blog where he takes a dozen Octopod Racers (HOF110) from the HOF 15mm Science Fiction Range and converts them into Steampunk or Weird War One flyers. Lovely work and a cool read too.

Sculpted in the main by Elton Waters the Octopods are an army within the HOF Range comprising infantry, casualties, jet bike and the jet flyer too.  Just as with the Rim Mercs, Cultists, Post Apoc Warriors among others the Octopods have a platoon pack ideal for skirmishing with a saving.

If you have painted, converted or diorama set any of our miniatures or written scenarios for our rule systems such as USE ME and would like to show us and perhaps be featured like this please email on sales@alternative-armies.com.  We would love to hear from you.

Thanks for your Time.

FM27v2 Half Troll Chieftain painted by The Work of Shaitan

Alternative Armies has been working steadily to restored the mighty and well remembered early 1980’s figures of the legendary British company Asgard Miniatures.  While we still have a ways to go we have returned nearly two hundred poses by Nick Bibby, Jes Goodwin, Tony Ackland, Stan Pochron as well as John Blanche and Mark Weston among others.  These are split across several ranges on the website but today we are in the Fantasy Monsters (FM) Range with a treat!

One of the most eagerly anticipated restorations (aside from the NB2 Nick Bibby Dragon) was FM27v2 Half Troll Chieftain and while Studio Maxi tackled it beautifully on our website there was another take which garnered quite a bit of attention.  We are proud to present to you the paint work of Ned Gladdis otherwise known as TheWorkOfShaitan on Instagram. Our thanks to him for this.

The brushwork on this miniature is so fine it almost looks alive with armour which would ‘ping’ if you struck it with an arrow!

Ned is in progress of completing ranks of Broo for Runequest and his FM27v2 has taken its place as its Beastlord.  Superb!

Thanks for your Time.

Ogres from the Oldhammer Collection of OliHot27

We are delighted to be able to show you some painted miniatures from the extensive ‘oldhammer’ collection of OliHot27 over on Instagram. He is a keen collector of the restored Asgard Fantasy Monsters Range but this time it is his VNT Alternative Armies and Fantasy Warlord castings of Ogres that are the subject.  

The Alternative Armies VNT (Various Nasty Things) codes are VNT18 Orrid Ogres II and VNT19 Ogre Cavalry sculpted by Phil Lewis in 1991 while the Fantasy Warlord are 16100 Ogres from 1990.  All are metal except for the riding rhino which is now presented in resin. 

The painting style of OliHot27 suits these classic miniatures really well and his Instagram is well worth a dig through for a look.  We were most happy to be given permission by him to use his pictures on our website too.

Thanks for your Time.

Dwarven Moustache Hobbying video review Flintloque Beir and Bones

We were delighted to be tagged on X (formally Twitter) by Dwarven Moustache Hobbying who has just discovered a new love for the World of Valon.  He recently picked up our 5028 Beir & Bones Shilling Starter Set which contains a Flintloque game book by that name plus miniatures, bases and dice as well as sample scenarios.  It is a twenty minute video over on Youtube.

The video review goes over the contents of the ninety six page book which covers the ‘Uropean’ theatre of the Mordredian Wars and features his own painted set of the Ogre and Dwarves which come in the shilling pack.

As always we did not sponsor this video and we pass on our thanks to Dwarven Moustache Hobbying for his take on the Flintloque game.  We hope you enjoy.

Thanks for your time.

Selene and Hypnus Portable Weapons of the Khanate

Taken from Academy Auto Trainer Series 66 produced on New Glastonbury in 4337IC in the aftermath of the Return of the Khanate.

The first encounters with infantry support grade weapon platforms came with the initial break out from the Belkus Depression by those Shia Khan forces which had followed the digging machines.  Though a watch was kept on the edges of the crater, which has once been the famed passages of the labyrinth, by planetary defence platoons they were rapidly overwhelmed by the aliens which poured out into the sunlight.  The digging machines had no more than cleared their drive sections of the soft dirt and Legionaries as well as accursed Maligs followed them.  Being some distance off due to the background radiation left over by the detonation of the fusion core the defence troopers had time to made transmissions back to Pelacan city to inform and then call for reinforcements.  What was not expected from vids and audio from the gateway chamber was the immediate reach the enemy had.  It was the first encounter with code name Selene and code name Hypnus portable weapon platforms.

Floating forwards at a steady pace with two alien operators running alongside each of them the Selene platforms opened fire first upon elements of the 3rd Pelacan Regiment at a range beyond their ability to strike back.  A barrage of 20mm cannon shells and laser beams were followed by the shrieking rage of 12.7mm rounds by the thousand and it killed many of the troopers who were unable to find thick enough cover.  It was however once the aliens drew closer and the troopers loosed off anvil rounds and bursts of grenades from their Moth type 12's that the other Khanate platforms entered the fray.  The Hypnus have a single operator who seems to be bonded to the weapon platform by a chair behind a thick gun shield.  The weapons carried by the Hypnus are dangerous in their own right giving off in many cases a degree of radiation or gene potential damage.  Atomic Destabilisers and Triple Plasma mounts tore through Aketon armour and the hulls of a half dozen Steornede Battlesuits at close range with ease.  This led to the loss of the craters edge and marked the start of the remorseless advance of the aliens.  Portable weapon platforms have proven tough to deal with without armoured support and the Khanate makes great use of them especially in urban areas to hold taken junctions and structures.  

There are six primary kinds of Portable Weapon used by the Shia Khan Empire in support of its Legions. The Selene is more plentiful and has been observed with Legionary Gunners as well as Maligs and even Betrayers.

“During the ancient Ban of Prejudice the Espaten was a powerful tool for support in the street fights which raged in underground cities across the Precinct.  In recent years the original gun has been present in all campaigns and it has been broadened as well.  To deal with Battlesuits and larger infantry formations as well as indirect fire missions there are now six variants.  These are  the same weapon systems as used by the new Havelock Type 57 being rolled out to Muster Regiments right now.”  Academy Auto-Trainer Series 07, New Glastonbury, 4325IC

The Prydian Army as well as the Marcher Barons and Condot Companies have an array of Portable Weapons to support their troops.

Combat Robots and Sentient Machines in The Ion Age read this Article on our Blog.

A special article for The Ion Age which tells the story of Combat Robots, the Grima series from concept to miniatures in two scales plus the story from the universe explaining why Artificial Intelligence (Sentient Machines) are outlawed in Prydian Space. 

HOTT at Colours 2024 the day plus results and sponsored prizes

It was our pleasure to sponsor the recent tournament with prizes and to give this account of the results of the day.  Enjoy the read and if you would like to approach us for sponsorship please send your details to sales@alternative-armies.com and we will see what can be done.  We have an array of HOTT 2nd Edition 24AP Armies which include all needed miniatures with saving and free element bases.  All miniatures taken from the HOT 15mm Fantasy Range and Tabletop Miniatures 15mm Range.

HOTT @ Colours

Fourteen players gathered (14th September) for a 15mm Hordes of the Things tournament at the annual Colours Wargames Show in the south of the UK, hosted by Newbury and Reading Wargames Society. Taking place in the Newbury Racecourse Grandstand, traders and historical demo games predominated. We were fortunate to be provided with an excellent, well lit area for our Hott competition, and the players graced this with some great looking armies and scenics.

Starting at 10 a.m., I organised a total of five rounds, and by the end of Round 4 there were four players in contention for the top spot.  After a tense Round 5 Mark Skelton emerged the winner, scoring four wins from his five games, using mean-looking Aliens of Acheron.

Alternative Armies had kindly sponsored the event, with some neat 15mm scale models, and NRWS chairman Colin assisted with the presentations. Honours went to 1st (Mark Skelton), 2nd (Martin Myers), 3rd (Pete Duckworth) and Last Place (Simon Finney, taking the much sought after ‘Thrower of Ones’ trophy). An additional prize for Best Presented Army, a tough choice with the great standard of armies brought along, went to Keith McGlynn’s colourful  ‘Dobbies Revenge’ force. Other armies spotted included everything from Don Quixote to Space Orks, Japanese Fantasy, Garden Gnomes and Riders of Rohan. In Hott, ‘anything goes’, so imagination and creativity can run riot.

Many thanks to Gavin at Alternative Armies for his kind sponsorship, which was much appreciated, to all at NRWS for the opportunity to play at such a superb venue, and to the great players for making the day a success. 

Further details can be found on this public Facebook group.

Here are the detailed results of the tournament:

The Newbury and Reading Wargames Society had provided an excellent, well lit space for the fourteen competitors to play, and the competitors graced this with some great looking armies (we used 40mm frontage / “15mm” scaled rules).

We were playing a total of five rounds, and by the end of Round 4 there were four players in contention for the top spot. A pseudo-Swiss Chess Round 5 followed, at the end of which Mark Skelton emerged the winner, acquiring 20 points for four wins out of five games.

NRWS’s family team of Colin Cockburn and granddaughter Bobbie kindly assisted with the presentations, trophies going to 1st, 2nd and Last (‘Thrower of Ones’) place. NWRS’s Robert helped out by judging the Best Presented Army, a difficult task due to the great standard of Hott armies brought along.

Prizes awarded were:

Winner : Mark Skelton, Alternative Armies 15mm Skeleton Hott Army.

2nd : Martin Myers, Alternative Armies 15mm Dwarf Command pack.

3rd : Pete Duckworth, Alternative Armies 15mm Sitting Dragon.

‘Thrower of Ones’ : Simon Finney, Alternative Armies 15mm Griffon.

Best Presented Army : Keith McGlynn, Alternative Armies 15mm Scenics.

Final points scores 

(based on 5pts win, 2pts winning draw, 1pt draw, 0 pts loss).

    Mark Skelton ……..20

    Martin Myers ……..19

    Pete Duckworth ….18

    Colin O’Shea ………15 (2 generals killed)

    Baldie (aka Lee).….15 (1 general killed)

    Neil Mason …………12

    Keith McGlynn …….11 (1 general killed)

    Connor Truby ………11 (0 generals killed)

    Mark Fry ……………..10

    Peter Card ……………9

    David Cox …………….6

    Pete James ………….5 (22 AP destroyed)

    Jane Williams ………5 (12 AP destroyed)

    Simon Finney ……….1

(Tie break = head-to-head, Strongholds, Generals, Army Points)

Armies Used :

Mark Skelton - Locals of LV-426 (‘Aliens’ of Acheron theme)

Martin Myers - Don Quixote de La Mancha

Pete Duckworth - Dorothy and Chums (Wizard of Oz)

Colin O’Shea - Early Bornu (African Sahel)

Baldie (aka Lee ) - Baldie’s Boyz, Space Orks

Neil Mason - Garden Gnomes

Keith McGlynn - Dobbie’s Revenge (Clark Ashton Smith inspired)

Connor Truby - Orcs and Dino’s

Mark Fry - Riders of Rohan

Peter Card - Ghost Dance (Native Americans)

David Cox - Barbarians (Copplestone)

Pete James - Japanese Fantasy

Jane Williams - Chess

Simon Finney - Orcs

An Alternate Seven Years War using Flintloque Dogmen

With kind permission we share a link to a fantastic ‘Imagi-nations’ blog by a veteran American wargamer of some 45 years of play.  His setting and rules are his own but the miniatures used are all from the World of Valon range.  The blog is called Dog Wars - Alternative Seven Years War and is updated regularly with super pictures and battle reports.  Enjoy

Every article has many images covering the flow of events. The miniatures you see are all from the Pudigrochumberg Dogmen Army with a great many being the favoured 56597 Pudigroan Grenadiers in tall mitres. All Flintloque miniatures come as skirmish sets or units with saving as well as choice of single poses.

The author of the blog welcomes views and input and if you would like to see how the current campaign is progressing then pop on over and say hello.  

There is his previous blog which features Flintloque miniatures as well.  

Thanks for Reading!

Evil Adventurers ten 28mm miniatures painted by Sporehammer

"Out of the light and in the darkness are the adventurers who would do ill upon the world. Some are savage and some noble with other skilled in abduction and in theft too but all are cruel. Cruel and with a streak of evil in their bones that makes them so. Often in the service of nefarious warlords or skulking dark mages these adventurers love gold above all else and will kill with ease to get it."

We are delighted to announce new molds for CA3 Evil Adventurers and CA4 Evil Adventurers II we add that they are now online as single miniatures and value packs with a saving on the five poses in each. Lastly new pictures of them all painted by the talented Sporehammer over on Instagram.

Ten different 28mm scale metal miniatures originally released in the early 1990’s by Alternative Armies and full of character. Powerful female barbarian and sorceress alongside rogue, thief and warriors all aligned to the bad side of the coin.  An example of a single code is above. See them all and more (such as Halflings and Guild Assassins) in our Adventurers and Wizards range.

The Icon is free in all orders until 3rd October 2024.  You need do nothing but place an order and as long as it ships out (no digital only orders sorry) then VNT54-01 (shown above) will be included for free automatically.  You can purchase it and the other two larger sizes of VNT54 The Icon and you will still get the free one.

By request we have added The Icon to the Erin Celtic Mythology Range alongside the latest Scatter Terrain and the Skull Pile as three single codes.  Enjoy!

We hope you enjoyed the talented brush work skills of Sporehammer!

Minisocles 15mm Scifi HOF miniatures review video

Updated article! Dimitri Dim69 “Minisocles” Peyrard has released his new 'quick tip' video in which he has painted a Hazmat Team from the 15mm HOF Range. Codes HOF123 and HOF124 for exploring rad zones, chem spills and little grey man from the sky landing areas.  Click to view the video below which is in his native French (we used translate on the app).

Delighted to present to you all a fine and in depth video on Youtube by the talented miniature enthusiast and excellent figure painter Dimitri Dim69 “Minisocles” Peyrard.  

The miniatures featured in the video are all made by Alernative Armies in 15mm scale.  The miniatures were provided to Minisocles by us and we have had no involvement in the making of or opinions in the video.  Click to view the video below which is in his native French (we used translate on the app).

You can visit Minisocles on Facebook to his page where he has many other videos and images of his work.

The miniatures featured in the video are all from the expansive HOF 15mm Science Fiction Range and are the Grey Aliens and the Hazmat Team (see above in a lovely wee vignette HOF123, HOF124) as well as the Star Mercs our latest new faction in the range.  All packs in the range can be had a single poses within the pack if you click on the code you like.

We like to give our customers a treat so there is always something free in every package shipped out by us here in Scotland.  Until August 5th it is part two of our Devilish Imps; four any scale miniatures.  Read about this in the ARTICLE.  Totally free in orders included automatically.

Thank you for Reading!

3D Roleplay Con IV 2024 sponsored by Alternative Armies

We have continued our sponsorship with prizes and an event discount code for the great ‘oldhammer’ event 3D Roleplay IV the fourth year of great times with games and miniatures. This time our sponsorship prizes are 28mm Fantasy packs as last time it was 28mm Ion Age packs.

Here are the details of the convention if you are keen on attending.  You will be most welcome.  Go HERE for the website and to get tickets and HERE for their Instagram account.

Smile Station in SE Portland

8210 SE 13th Ave

Portland, OR 97202

May 4th & 5th 2024

3D Roleplay Con is an annual Oldhammer gaming convention held in Portland, Oregon (USA).  Championing the golden-era of fantasy wargaming & roleplaying, with an emphasis on 1980’s editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 40K: Rogue Trader, Realm[s] Of Chaos, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay & the like.  Started in 2021, 3DR Con is meant for lead-miniature enthusiasts to get together, roll dice, trade miniatures & enjoy the classic games of the Oldhammer era. We play narrative, old-school miniature wargames & roleplaying games.

Event prizes include FL11 Wizards Party along with our Rock Monster and Tree Demon with a special appearance of the remastered Spendorious Djinn too.  All worth fighting hard on the table for I am sure you will agree.

If you would like Alternative Armies to consider sponsoring your event then please contact us by email on sales@alternative-armies.com and tell us who you are, when it is and what sort of prizes you would like.  Keep conventions and tabletop play alive!

Thanks for your Time.

Furioso and War Game Scenarios the Italian Wars by Rodolfo Verginella

We were delighted at Alternative Armies to be involved with supporting a new book on the Italian Wars 1494-1559 which would involve the Furioso wargame rules by Steve Danes and the 15mm scale large range of miniatures we make for the period.  The author Rodolfo Verginella gifted us a review copy of the book as printed by Amazon and this article is our look at the book and how it links into Furioso on the table.

You can find Wargame Scenarios the Italian Wars on AMAZON.

You can find Furioso and Furioso the Italian Wars in print and digital on our WEBSITE.

The book itself is a well produced ninety eight page perfect bound full colour title.  It contains an introduction, how to read game scales, orders of battle, rule sets to use, links and bibliography which are all well presented.  The meat of the book are the TWENTY full scenarios of historical battles beginning with Seminara 1495 through Ravenna 1512 up to Scannagalio in 1554.  Each scenario is either small or large based on history and features information on who and what happened and their forces as well as map and guide to armies for three different rule systems.  These are Impetus, Pike and Shotte and Furioso.  For Furioso you are told units and their sizes plus special notes.  This gets you to the table and then the game rules take over.

This title is an impressive piece of historical research by a fluent Italian speaker and is very easy to follow.  It has garnered excellent feedback from wargamers on those groups which deal with the Italian Wars.  Many of these members are customers of ours and players of Furioso.  Our own copy is now dog eared from use and will be referred to again and again.  It is well worth purchasing if you play this period as specialised resources such as this can be thin on the ground.  There are some spelling errors and a slight re-organisation of sections (attaching captain's value to scenarios) would be helpful but these are very minor detractors.

Our 16th Century Renaissance Range in 15mm scale features in Rodolpho’s book and while you can play Furioso in any scale from 28mm to 6mm it is our chosen scale to use  Over 150 poses as singles plus horses, buildings, ruins, encampments, tents, walls and historical characters such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Cesare Borgia.  We also have packs of bases for Furioso and army packs which come with free bases and all you need to field a sizable force.  One of the largest selections of 15mm Landsknechts on foot, mounted and artillery anywhere to be found.

If you have any questions we welcome them to sales@alternative-armies.com and we are happy to do our best to assist you.

Thank you for your attention.

Gavin Syme (GBS)