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New Year, new releases.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Apologies we didn't do a specific holiday email, you will see why when you work your way through this one, especially the bottom sections

Despite all the lower sections, we start 2021 in a really good place business wise, which is a pleasant surprise considering the last couple of years and still being in a pandemic etc. Our release schedule is back (okay, there's only 1 metal release but that's because of the theme, more metal next time!), stock is at good levels, we have a slew of unreleased minis all ready to go and a bunch of 2021 plans cobbled together, and hopefully improved, from the abandoned plans of last year.

So, there is a slight theme to our first release of 2021. It's subtle, so you may need to get your thinking caps on to work it out. I'm afraid we've had to use photos of greens as there was a delay in the resins arriving, but we'll get that fixed this week (see waaaay below). As it's been ages since we did this, let's just get on with it and leave everything else for the bottom half of the newsletter shall we ...

And some totally non-political non-satirical releases. Sorry I'm leaving out the fluff pieces to go with them.

I don't care who they're modelled off, I feel like my miniature collection has a powerful need for Hoody McRobeguy and Lady Lando Deering there.

Thanks to a friend, I already have Chaos Lord Midas Bombast and Black Templar O'Bama on my desk

I didn't want to paint them till I was sure the joke would be funny.

I've been waiting for a couple of these, now to see if I can find the cash

Those are slick!

I feel like there is a market for this XD

I am cracking up at how good the expression on Nonspecific Last Guy is.

Last one needs to look more confused but looks alright

I guess it’s only a matter of time before we see minis of a traitorous shaman and a good man arbiter.

Pretty nice models, let's hope they are released in metal in a timely fashion and not a few years later.

Removed - please DON'T

First release in an age and it's just a bunch of ex-president characatures. With things like Stargrave coming up and Kevin having a bunch of very nice things waiting for release (check his facebook), I'd have though a more varied release. Still, at least it stops me forking out this time round.

The last two are quite nice though...

 =Angel= wrote:
Removed - please DON'T

Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

So many reasons.

Also, I've never really understood the appeal of these; like, it would take really liking a political figure for me to want a model representing them on the table, and I'm somewhat fond of political cartoons and satire, but for instance there's a vast world of difference between liking my army of space pirates led by a fallen hero turned to evil, vs. having someone I think is--umm, many words could go here but be censored--as the bad man leading my army.

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

It's more that I want the mini than I care about It being satire too

who else does a dune related floaty fat man after all

and power armoured dude will work great as a LoC in my Nurgle force

If only the power to sculpt a recognizable likeness of a real person at 28mm scale could be used for good.

I mean there is Spectre Miniatures that does modern and is pretty neutral.

Why the need to kill the old thread that had been running since 2013!

 lord_blackfang wrote:
If only the power to sculpt a recognizable likeness of a real person at 28mm scale could be used for good.

It was an honest question, not a rhetorical criticism. I don't understand the appeal/market and I'm curious. No subtext.

Governor Drumph was already out in metal

As with all Hasslefree minis I’ve bought it was a lot of fun to paint up



I’ll use him as an objective marker or NPC in some game when games in person are a thing again.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

So many reasons.

Also, I've never really understood the appeal of these; like, it would take really liking a political figure for me to want a model representing them on the table, and I'm somewhat fond of political cartoons and satire, but for instance there's a vast world of difference between liking my army of space pirates led by a fallen hero turned to evil, vs. having someone I think is--umm, many words could go here but be censored--as the bad man leading my army.

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

I don't like all of them, but I think they are good for a chuckle at least.
Also depends if the miniature is good or not. Yeah, I want that swordmaster/Jedi Obama, Biden, the woman (Harris?) and Darth Trump because I think they are good miniatures, that can find use as NPCs.

I also have a Trump ogre for my AoS army, it's a sweet miniature.

The Harris mini could much more easily pass for a generic mini than the Trump or Obama minis, so I would be more likely to get that one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I also feel that the Trump sculpts are missing a trick by not adopting his famous postural quirk, especially the Baron sculpt. That would almost make the mini worth buying.

I wanted to get the metal Baron for an NPC but he was gone so fast, I never even saw him on the website. I wasn't even sure if he got a proper release. Don't know if I like the model enough to buy the resin master.

These are all well sculpted and I got a chuckle but they're not motivating me enough to drop cash on 'em.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
If only the power to sculpt a recognizable likeness of a real person at 28mm scale could be used for good.

It was an honest question, not a rhetorical criticism. I don't understand the appeal/market and I'm curious. No subtext.

Part of the issue is that miniatures of this nature depending on company can easily swing in favor of one way. Also some people just don't like real life stuff or figures.

Link to buy.

https://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?category=sci%252dfi-%26%0D%0Aweird-war~%2Anew-sci%252dfi%2A

An update from Hasslefree went out today, but I'll summarize the important points:

1. Summer sale: use code SUMMER2021 to get a 20% discount.

2. No shipping in June due to a house move. Shipping will recommence in July.

3. If you have an outstanding issue with a Hasslefree order, Arty says:

"If we're already conversing, then we're on it. If we're not, please use the email bwartemis[AT]gmail[DOT]com* and bug me. ALL CAPS me, re-send an email from yesterday, do whatever ya like. I don't give a crap if your issue is you had a broken weapon in 2018. Free reign for two weeks! I am here and working the entire time.

*If you have emailed by replying to the newsletter or by emailing our orders or admin at domain name emails etc, there's a fair chance we didn't reply cos it got eaten. Our domain email is spotty and the spam filter is overactive. The new website will bring a change to that too."

4. If you're wondering why Hasslefree has had issues with some of its shipments (rough estimate is about 5% of them), the explanation is here (with some amendments for spelling and grammar from me):

I've [Arty] been pretty miserable the last couple of years. It's both affected the business and vicious circle-wise the business being affected has in turn affected me. 95% of you, as usual, have no idea what I'm talking about. Your orders were fine. I'm talking to the 5% (and since we have grown the business, 5% is not a small number of people) who got screwed by my condition.

The current incarnation of the business came about because Sal has a permanent illness. What's less known is that I do too, but up until recent years it's never really affected my life as more than a minor inconvenience. I also used to be married and we both ran the business. After I got divorced, we obviously lost half the man hours and by pure ridiculous coincidence, my condition got worse - a lot worse.

I've had 15 surgeries the last couple years - nothing life threatening but they all affected my work hours. We had never found time to replace my ex-wife and temporary help cannot fix serious issue orders. So that's where that 5% got screwed. I'd come back to work, catch up, start to fix issue orders and... new surgery or new disaster.

We've had a flood; I've torn a muscle that took months to repair, we've had Sal almost break her neck falling down stairs and she's still awaiting surgeries. Hell, we've even had a global pandemic.

Now this isn't a 'feel sorry for me' kinda thing, think of it more as a 'If it makes you feel any better, I was miserable and frustrated too'. And Kev and Sal have had to bear some brunt. Bear in mind they live hundreds of miles away from the warehouse; they have virtually no ability to fix an issue, and that added to my misery because part of my job for the previous years was to make sure that didn't happen. My mental health was pretty garbage during this.

My condition isn't 'fixable'. It's permanent but post pandemic I can get help again and I can manage it like I used to. I am back to work full time and everything is starting to feel like normal again. I've just spent a couple of weeks where 99% of messages and emails were pleasant, it was bloody great

So to anyone who got screwed, even though we've talked privately, I'm very sorry. Hopefully we've made it up to you. If we haven't, keep an eye on us and see if we're as back to normal as I claim. I'm confident.

And that's the last time I'm going to mention this past couple of years. I can't say there'll be no accidents or emergencies in the future obviously, nobody can. But we'll be more prepared this time, not constantly trying to play catch up.

I thought it would be useful to post this here for future reference.

Thanks for the update - crikey it really sounds like they have been through the ringer.

It would explain why the stock levels seem to have fluctuated quite a bit and some minis I have been waiting for for ages never seem to come into stock or just disappear from the website?

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

So many reasons.

Also, I've never really understood the appeal of these; like, it would take really liking a political figure for me to want a model representing them on the table, and I'm somewhat fond of political cartoons and satire, but for instance there's a vast world of difference between liking my army of space pirates led by a fallen hero turned to evil, vs. having someone I think is--umm, many words could go here but be censored--as the bad man leading my army.

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

I agree their usage is limited certainly for GW games. I've got a pretty irreverent Raider force for Fallout and have got this guy leading the gang, nice bit of crossover to Mad Max and also everyone can see who it used to be (which is hopefully funny in game. I could imagine the Jedi-Biden might be a fun mini to sneak into SW: Legion too...

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

Perfect for solo/co-op games where you need a BBEG for you and your buddies to take down.

I have both Drumpf and Dr Evelyn to use as Bosses and/or Nemeses in Horizon Wars: Zero Dark.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

So many reasons.

Also, I've never really understood the appeal of these; like, it would take really liking a political figure for me to want a model representing them on the table, and I'm somewhat fond of political cartoons and satire, but for instance there's a vast world of difference between liking my army of space pirates led by a fallen hero turned to evil, vs. having someone I think is--umm, many words could go here but be censored--as the bad man leading my army.

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

You don't have to approve of something to want to represent it on the table (although I have my suspictions about FOW players). You can knowingly run a warband of bad people.

Is that first pic in the OP (Suit jacket, tie and holding pistol) a limited edition or something as can't see it on their site?

Love that one, has just enough caricature and has a mild early 90s arcade game boss look to it...giving me a side scrolling beat em up vibe for some reason. Like something out of Final Fight

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Coenus Scaldingus wrote:
Yeah, let's not. For so many reasons.

So many reasons.

Also, I've never really understood the appeal of these; like, it would take really liking a political figure for me to want a model representing them on the table, and I'm somewhat fond of political cartoons and satire, but for instance there's a vast world of difference between liking my army of space pirates led by a fallen hero turned to evil, vs. having someone I think is--umm, many words could go here but be censored--as the bad man leading my army.

Does anyone want to say why they like these?

You don't have to approve of something to want to represent it on the table (although I have my suspictions about FOW players). You can knowingly run a warband of bad people.

in fact do it right and the fact that you dissapprove of them could make it all the more amusing *shrugs*