I’ve actually been looking for the right person to join me in the shop for quite a while and was nearly ready to give up the search because I was not having any luck at all.  To borrow (and slightly mangle) the words of the great Basil Fawlty I was beginning to think “An assistant! That’s a laugh! Easier to find a packet of sliced hippopotamus in suitcase sauce than an assistant in this bloody town!”  … but at the suggestion of my spouse I posted an advert online and the rest, as they say is history.

With Steph on staff I will have more time to develop new products and concentrate on effectively growing the company and better serving you.

I have a list of new product ideas that is longer than my arm, some of them have even been started but never finished due to the fact that I was kept so busy filling orders. Having someone in the shop helping me out will allow me to get to work on that list and bring you lots of cool new stuff… many of them suggested by you.

Steph is a gamer but has very different gaming interests than I do and I’m sure she will bring some fresh ideas and visions for future products.  Steph comes from a military family and grew up reading her dad’s military technical manuals and tactical training manuals, she is one of the few females I’ve met that knows the difference between a M1A1 and an M1A2.  I guess I’m basically saying that she’s a cool chick and a good fit for a wargaming company.

As always I am available to you day or night via email to answer any of your customer service or product specific questions or suggestions.  But now you can also write to Steph at steph@gcmini.com with your customer service questions … just in case you want to talk to someone younger, friendlier and prettier than me.

This week I concentrated on structures for the Marshborn “Crusties”.  According to the Tomorrow’s War rulebook, Crusties are “very aggressive and expansionist alien race. Although roughly humanoid in form, the Crusties do not share humanity’s primate ancestry, but are more closely related to the crustacean.  Their bodies are encased in a hard shell, from which they moult several times before reaching full adult size.”   These nasty creatures live in swamps or marshlands and therefore all of their structures are built on stilts to get them off the ground.

Our new line of Crusties scenery includes residences, raised walkways and a system of docks.

Also added this week are some more pieces for the humans.  These include a rooftop landing pad that fits on all of our human residence modules, a series of elevated pedestrian walkways, spacecraft cargo modules that can also be used as temporary housing and a very nice elevated landing pad (pictured below) that stands over 6″ tall.

Ruined version

I am posting photos of this model to see if there is interest in this becoming a kit from GameCraft Miniatures (also the Ministry of Public Works which is right across the street and nearly a mirror image of this building).

Just a few days ago I released a building that is based on this building’s archetural style, but it’s a simple straight building and not nearly as big as this one.

This kit would be the largest 1/285th scale model we produce and it would be a very complex model for experienced builders, all parts would be .060″ thick clear acrylic and it would come with pecision laser cut painting masks for masking off the windows. As you might suspect, this model would not come cheap either .. I’m imagining a kit of this size and complexity might hit the $100 mark.

What do you think? Interested? Please comment.

Opinions welcome.

GameCraft has just shipped out a batch of 20mm Middle East buildings to the academy at West Point to be used as instructional tools in the 201 level class on small unit tactics and leadership.

I am very proud to provide these pieces to what many consider the world’s leading officer development institution.

Orccon 2012 – Los Angeles

In cooperation with the +10 To Awesome gaming group and Stratigicon, GameCraft supplied several 20mm Middle East buildings for Force on Force games that were played throughout the convention weekend.

Click here to see all of the Orccon 2012 images on our flickr page.

15mm and 20mm “Stackables”

Our latest release is a new line of products I’m calling Stackables. These new buildings are large buildings suitable for most areas of the world and most eras depending on how you detail them.

Now you can purchase a ground floor, a top floor and as many upper floors as you like and tailor the building to your liking. All sections lift off revealing the interior of each floor so you can place your figures inside the building instead of stacking them on top and saying “they are inside”. Now if a soldier is supposed to be inside you can place him there.

For more information on these new structures click here

Expanded Gaming Accessories Category

The “Bases and Gaming Accessories” category on the website has been expanded to include a line of Dice and some other cool new accessories including our new dice tower.

The dice tower is the perfect accessory for gamers that don’t want dice flying all over their game table (or off the table). Get a perfect roll every time with one or several dice. We’ve even made one of the dice towers look like a middle east building, but if you can get the plain version as well, the choice is yours.

For more info on the dice tower Click Here

To see all the other new stuff in the expanded gaming accessories category please Click Here

Progress on the USS Freedom LCS-1 in 285th Scale

The master for the hull of the USS Freedom is finished and ready for molding. You can see it below with the 3D CAD model of the superstructure superimposed on the image so you can get an idea what this model will look like when it’s done. The USS Freedom will be 1.6″ shorter than the LCS-2 USS Independence and of course quite a bit more narrow, 2.45″ for the Freedom versus 4.53″ for the Independence.

Click here to see an animation of the 3D model created by Allen.

The guys at Strategicon and PlusTenToAwesome.com are running a few Force on Force Middle East games this weekend at Orccon in Los Angeles. GameCraft Miniatures worked with the guys at PlusTenToAwesome.com to get them the Middle East 20mm buildings they needed for their game.

Based on the results of the first game today I think we have a success on our hands. This evening’s game was just the first of several to run this weekend there will be two games this Sunday and I will be in attendance for both of those games as well. Tonight’s game was a 10 turn game that ended with the Americans seizing their objective in the last seconds of the 10th turn. The battle was well fought and fun to watch.

The guys assembled and finished all of the buildings in just a few days prior to the convention, they have plans to fine tune the detailing of the buildings and add additional accessories such as air conditioners and satellite dishes in the future. In spite of getting the buildings finished in just a few days they managed to achieve some very nice results. I’m looking forward to the next convention when they will have more buildings and more time to put into finishing the buildings they already have.

I will continue to work with strategicon and the guys from PlusTenToAwesome.com and supply them with the buildings they need for future games and I’m sure by the next convention the gaming board be much larger and far more detailed than what you see below in the photos.

Below are just a few photos from tonight’s game. Click here to see all the photos on our Flickr page.

Tonight I’ve released some PSP panels in scales ranging from 1/144th scale through 1/35th scale. The pieces are laser engraved 1/8″ MDF with 3D details. In the larger scales the panels are available in individual pieces as well as groups of panels in one assembled piece, in the smaller scales they are available in assembled pieces.

I hope to release some PSPs in 1/285th scale as well, I just need to do some experiments with different materials to figure out which one will work best in 285th scale.

Click here for details