Ehrhardt E-V/4 M1917

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Tony

In the early days of WW1 armoured cars were used to great effect by both the Belgian army and the Royal Navy, their hit and run tactics causing many problems for the Germans. In response to this in 1915 three German companies (Büssing, Daimler and Ehrhardt) were each contracted to produce a prototype for evaluation (we’ve previously released the A5P, Büssing’s contribution). In comparison to the Belgian and British vehicles (which were mainly based on touring cars) each of the German prototypes were much larger featuring multiple machine guns and a crew of 8 or more men.

Thirteen of the E-V/4 were made by Ehrhardt in 1915-16 and these were used extensively on the Eastern front. An additional twenty were ordered in 1917. These were modified from the earlier models with increased armour, a radio and a fully rotating turret!

In the German revolutionary battles of 1918-19 the Ehrhardts were used to good effect by both the police and Freikorps. As result a further twenty were produced. They were also used by both Poles and Germans in the Silesian Uprisings in 1921. Some were still in use by the German police as late as 1939.

GW28-303 – Ehrhardt E-V/4 Armoured Car – £15.00
GW28-303d – Destroyed Ehrhardt E-V/4 – £15.00

Posted in 3D Print, Great War, New Releases | 1 Comment

Coastal Churches

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Tony

Our 1/700th scenery range started off as just a few coastal forts to accompany naval games such as Warlords Games’ Black Seas. Last year we added a set of houses, and this year we’re increasing the non-military options with some churches to give your coastal villages a focal point.

The first set is a pair of English Churches, one smaller with a pyramid hip roof tower, the second slightly larger with a more traditional crenellated bell tower.

We also have this Menorcan chapel with an small offset bell tower for battles in the Mediterranean.

B700-007 – English Churches (x2) – £3.50
B700-020 – Menorcan Chapel – £1.50

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Armour Upgrades

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Tony

We’ve been converting a number of our 15mm vehicles from metal turrets and guns to single-piece resin castings with integral guns. The models look the same, but it makes them lighter and easier to assemble. The Curtiss, Kochte, Kraus, Vyriz and Bulava have all benefitted from this lately.

We’ve also been working on many of our German and PacFed models that previously had separate resin hulls and metal hover skirts or, in the case of the PacFed, grav skirts. These are now single piece resin hulls with integral skirts. They look much the same although we took the opportunity to put some more detail on the PacFed skirts.

We went a step further with the Neo-Soviet Bizon, one of our more venerable 15mm tanks. As well as a one-piece, uparmoured resin turret, the hull has been widened so that the turret fits on it better. The tracks and track guards have been made into composite resin pieces, one for each side, that fit more neatly into the hull. We’ve designated this upgrade the Bizon-R.

SF15-1201 – Bizon-R Medium Tank – £8.00

Posted in 15mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, New Releases | 1 Comment

Heavy Logistics

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Tony

Thanks to the flurry of activity involved in having two shows in seven days, and the need to restock in-between, last week’s new release rather fell by the wayside. We’re partially making up for it today, although not everything scheduled for this release has made it – we simply haven’t been able to get a couple of items painted and photographed. But fear not, we’ll get those out as soon as we can.

What we do have is nevertheless (we think) big and impressive enough on its own. The Han Chinese wheeled vehicles released back in August last year were from the Black Banner Regiment, a regular Han army unit with a decent level of training. The bulk of the Han forces however are made up of People’s National Army (PNA) units, mostly militia infantry in trucks with minimal heavy fire support. The MV-701 heavy truck is manufactured by the PAW (People’s Automobile Works) in both four-wheel and 8-wheel drive versions. The cab has room for the driver plus five passengers, and the large rear flat bed can accommodate 12 infantry (in Hammer’s Slammers terms that’s four TUs – one in the cab and three in the back).

The main fire support for the PNA is the truck mounted PHL-18 rocket-launcher system, with a dual-mode 18-tube launcher mounted on the flat bed of an MV-701 chassis. This can be configured as a long-range artillery system with 240mm HE or bomblet rounds for over-the-horizon missions. Alternatively, in direct fire mode, the system can be loaded with Zhēn heavy hypersonic missiles. These solid-rod penetrator rounds initially boost clear of the launcher vehicle then accelerate sharply for the rest of their flight time, thus continuing to increase their lethality until the propellant is exhausted.

HS15-504a – MV-701 8-wheel truck – £8.00
HS15-504c – PHL-18 Rocket/Missile Truck – £10.00

Posted in 15mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, New Releases | 1 Comment

Ramble On

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Tony

Firstly – we’re able to send overseas items via Royal Mail again, so we’re pretty much back to normal. The service is apparently a little slower than usual (the cyber attack has taken out some of the RM systems used to deal with customs data, so clearing customs is taking a little longer) but otherwise working OK. Huzzah !!

This week we have another 3D printed new vehicle in the 28mm Great War range. This is the US Jeffery Quad, a four-wheel drive vehicle first developed in 1913 to meet a US army requirement. It became one of the most widely used trucks in WW1; initially used by the US army and Marines, the Jeffery was also adopted by both the British and French armies.

Initially known as the Rambler Quadruple after its Rambler 4-cylinder engine, it became the Jeffrey Quad and later the Nash Quad when Nash Motors took over the Jeffrey Company in 1916.

As well as general transport it found use as an ambulance and as a portée in the French army carrying a 75mm gun. When production stopped in 1928 over 41,000 of the trucks had been made, 11,490 of these in 1918 alone.

GW28-203 – Jeffery Quad Truck – £10.00
GW28-203d – Destroyed Jeffery Quad – £10.00

See you at Cavalier on Sunday !

Posted in 3D Print, Great War, New Releases | 1 Comment

The Blue Eminence

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Tony

Our run of new releases carries on this week, with the European Federation receive substantial reinforcement in the form of the Richelieu class Superdreadnought. At 120mm long, it’s the largest spaceship we’ve made (so far), bigger even than the British QE2 class carrier. A third larger than the Milano dreadnoughts, it’s armed to the teeth with half a dozen triple gun turrets and a pair of heavy railguns between the bow mandibles.

It’s named after Cardinal Richelieu, a famed clergyman and statesman of the 17th Century. He was known as l’Éminence rouge, or “the Red Eminence” – but our ship is a bit more blue than red, hence the post’s title.

SFS-403 – Richelieu class Superdreadnought – £12.50

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Return to Show Business

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Tony

The Brigade stand will soon be open for business as we commence our show calendar for 2023. We’ll be at one of our more local shows, Cavalier in Tonbridge, on the 26th of this month. We’ll then be making our belated debut at Hammerhead in Newark the following weekend (assuming Tony doesn’t get Covid again this year…). You can click on the images below to get more info’ on each event.

Tunrbridge Wells Wargames Society

As always we welcome orders to be collected at the show, either paid in advance or on the day. We need these sooner rather than later – this is especially true for Hammerhead, since there’s only a few days between shows so any spare casting time that week will likely be taken up by restocking. You can either send us an email with your order and pay on the day, or alternatively you can place an order via the website (using the Collect in Person shipping option to avoid shipping charges) and pay in advance. We’ll be taking cash and credit cards on the day.

Posted in Shows | 1 Comment

The Fleet from Deepest, Darkest Peru

Posted on February 10, 2023 by Tony

After four weeks, it seems that there’s some progress on the Royal Mail situation. We can (in theory) send standard airmail parcels again, although the last time we tried they still wouldn’t accept them at the local Post Office. However, we’ve been in touch with the Post Office via Twitter and they’ve confirmed that they should now be accepting them, so (fingers crossed) we’ll finally be able to get everything outstanding sent on Saturday.

Anyway…

The great South American Imperial Skies adventure continues this week with the release of the eight vessels of the Cuerpo Aeronáutico del Perú. With their distinctive livery in the colours of the national flag, the CAP is one of the more capable air fleets on the continent.

The Peruvian fleet pack contains one of each capital ship, two Huáscar cruisers, two Aguirre destroyers and two Sanchez Carillon frigates. The Torpedo/Rocket Squadron has an Atahualpa class Torpedo Cruiser and four Alianzia Rocket Boats.

The fleet has a tradition of ‘toasting’ its victories with a particular citrus-based spread made from local oranges. It is kept supplied by a small armada of specialised transport vessels with giant vats of the substance. These tankers also ply the Atlantic trade routes, keeping the British Empire furnished with one of its favourite comestibles (which they strangely only eat at breakfast).

VANFP-1401 – Peruvian Fleet Pack – £23.00
VANFP-1411 – Peruvian Torpedo/Rocket Squadron – £5.50
VAN-1401 – Sanchez Carillon class Frigate – £1.25
VAN-1402 – Huáscar class Cruiser – £3.00
VAN-1403 – Almirante Grau class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-1404 – Independencia class Battlecruiser – £8.00
VAN-1405 – Atahualpa class Torpedo Cruiser – £3.00
VAN-1406 – Aguirre class Destroyer – £1.75
VAN-1407 – Manco class Capac Monitor – £1.75
VAN-1408 – Alianzia class Rocket Boat – £0.75
VAN-5020 – Pastuzo class Marmalade Sloop – £4.00

Please look after this fleet. Thank you.

Posted in Imperial Skies, New Releases | 1 Comment

Visions of China

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Tony

Following on from the release of the 15mm versions last year, today sees the release of three 6mm Han Chinese vehicles – the same trio of wheeled tank, APC and scout car. The Hammer’s Slammers story that they are taken from, The Warrior, sees them fighting in a region of paddy fields and marshland, which is why they are equipped with wide balloon tyres to better negotiate the terrain.

These vehicles are used by the Han Black Banner Brigade, an elite armoured formation. Also in the works are large 8×8 trucks used by the People’s Militia infantry units, including an 18-round rocket launcher unit. This will give two contrasting options for Han forces and tactics – the laser-armed armoured vehicles of the Guards, or human wave attacks from the truck-borne militia. We’re currently working with John Treadaway on new playsheets for the Han – in fact, play-testing is happening next week.

HS6-501 – ZTZ-81 8×8 Laser Tank – £1.00
HS6-502 – ZSL-94 8×8 APC – £1.00
HS6-503 – CSK-27 Lìliàng 4×4 Scout Car – £0.50

Posted in 6mm SF, Hammer's Slammers, New Releases | 1 Comment

Austin-Kegresse Half-track Armoured Car

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Tony

First (because we know you all look forward to it so much…) is this week’s Royal Mail SNAFU update. The news is that they’ve started to unbung the backlog of existing parcels, so anything already in the system should be starting to move. However, they’re still not accepting any new overseas items, so we can’t post the ones we have backed up. But it seems that the end is in sight – I spoke to the postmaster at our local post office and she was hopeful that services might resume in the next few days.

Now onto this week’s new release, two further additions to our range of WWI 3D-printed vehicles.

The Russian army made extensive use of armoured cars throughout WW1. Initially these were supplied by the British Austin company with approximately 170 delivered between 1914 and 1916.

In 1916 the Russians planned to manufacture their own vehicles to a similar design. However due to the Revolution the first of these was not finished until March 1918. Twelve of the hulls were mounted on a halftrack chassis using a continuous rubber track track designed by Adolph Kégresse. The resulting vehicle was therefore known as the Austin-Kégresse.

Completed too late for service in WW1, the halftracks were used in both the Russian Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War.

GW28-501 – Austin-Kegresse Armoured Car – £18.00
GW28-501d – Destroyed Austin-Kegresse Armoured Car – £18.00

Posted in 3D Print, Great War, New Releases | 1 Comment