Royal Mail's international incidents update makes grim reading today for mail to Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the USA. Exceptionally long delays appear to be the norm. If you're still waiting for a parcel from Fighting 15s, please be aware that the international mail system is in a dire state, and there are severe backlogs at some countries' international mail centres.
Fighting 15s is now closed for the whole of June.
Our remaining stocks of AB Figures and Eureka Miniatures are being disposed of. There isn't very much left after running down stock for 13 months: viable stock will be available through a secondhand agent later. Please do not contact us to ask about buying parts of what is left: it's easier for us to dispose of everything in bulk to just one buyer.
We have also removed Shadowforge Miniatures and Laughing Monk Miniatures from the site, because they were supplied by Eureka Miniatures. We no longer have a business agreement with Eureka.
Eureka Miniatures, Shadowforge Miniatures and Laughing Monk Miniatures may be obtained direct from Eureka Miniatures in Australia and AB Figures are available direct.
Thank you to all customers who have supported us throughout our 15 year agency for Eureka Miniatures. It was a tough decision to end the relationship, but it was time to hand the baton on to the next person.
We look forward to seeing you again when we reopen in July and embark on the next stage of our journey HERE
Fighting 15s is shut from 1 June for one month. We will be cleaning up the shop after the removal of AB Figures and Eureka Miniatures products, and working on much-needed new pictures, plus a redesign of the online shop.
All remaining AB and Eureka miniatures will either be reincarnated as new figures (melted down, if you want it brutally), or, if viable, disposed of through a specialist in secondhand figures.
We have new products of our own to develop and launch, and it is time to focus on what lies ahead, not on our past.
Our casting room is out of action, because Storm Ciara has taken the felt off the roof. We will be moving moulds and casting machines over the next day or so to get that side of the operation back in action.
Our packing and stock room is also out of action, because the roofing felt severed the power supply when it flew off. We are therefore unlikely to get orders out to customers in the next few days. Accordingly, the online shop is temporarily closed to new orders.
A builder will be coming on Tuesday to properly assess the damage and hopefully to waterproof the casting room roof again until a permanent replacement can be installed. There’s a limit to what can be done today because the wind has yet to die down sufficiently to allow much work to be done outside.
This is a once in a lifetime break in service caused by atrocious weather with hurricane force winds. Fighting 15s and Gladiator Miniatures aims to be up and running again as soon as possible.
Fighting 15s is taking over the 15mm and 18mm ranges from Black Hat Miniatures, and ownership officially transfers this weekend at Colours.
All the 15mm ranges will be sold as Gladiator Miniatures – as they were before Black Hat produced them. The 18mm Martian Empires range will be sold under the Martian Empires name in the Fighting 15s shop.
All the codes have been uploaded to the Fighting 15s shop and will go live within the next week. I have been working hard to make descriptions consistent, and to remove quirks of spelling. There will still be errors that I will kick myself over each time they become apparent...
Until the moulds and stock arrive, the pictures will be the same as used by Gladiator and Black Hat - some of these go back to 2002 and the era of modems and tiny image files, and they are not satisfactory for today's website. Some codes were never photographed. I will be updating and adding photos as soon as possible, but there are more than 800 codes to ink, photograph and edit, so please bear with me.
I have all the masters and production masters, and I should take delivery of the moulds within the next week.
Looking ahead, I aim to use Fighting 15s' shows rep, Stuart Armstrong at Colonel Bill's, to offer army packs of the Gladiator Miniatures ranges at UK wargames shows, but this will take some months to organise. Stuart already takes some AB, Eureka and Fighting 15s figures to shows.
Mark Severin at Scale Creep Miniatures will continue to carry the figures in the USA so there should be no disruption in service to US customers. Olympian will continue to carry them in Australia.
In future, all Gladiator Miniatures will be cast in lead-free pewter. This affects the costs of figures, originally priced for a much cheaper lead-tin mix, and because adding VAT will also affect the price to customers in the EU I have taken the opportunity to reorganise the contents of many of the packs to reduce the impact on the total price.
Standard packs of Gladiator Miniatures 15mm infantry and cavalry therefore now contain 8 infantry or 4 cavalry to fit in with the rest of Fighting 15s' ranges - and most of the rest of the wargaming hobby. A standard pack is now £3.40 inc tax. Chariot packs and elephant packs are £3.60 inc VAT. Command packs typically contain 5 foot or 3 mounted, and cost £2.55 inc VAT - the number in a command pack varies from range to range and descriptions of command as being "1 set" will be changed as soon as possible. Standard Martian Empires packs will be £3.60 inc VAT and continue to include 8 infantry or 4 cavalry.
Note that Mike at Black Hat Miniatures will continue to produce and distribute Coat d'arms paints, as well as focus on his 54mm toy soldier business, Imperial Miniatures. Fighting 15s will continue to represent AB Figures and Eureka Miniatures in the EU.
Ian
Fighting 15s and Gladiator Miniatures
Links
Fighting 15s: www.fighting15sshop.co.uk
Gladiator Minatures: www.gladiatorminiatures.co.uk
Black Hat Miniatures: www.blackhat.co.uk
One day, all the pictures will look more like this