Well, today is 2 August 2006 and that means it is time to draw the winning name for the Sharpe’s Fury contest. So without further delay, the winner is:

Gary Zaharek of California

Congratulations Gary. Your book will go into the post on Tuesday.

I’ve just started reading my copy, so far so good…

If you like the Sharpe novels you must read this one: Sharpe’s Fury – the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811. So, why not pop on down to your favorite book store and pick up a copy? Come on, you know you want to…

I’ll have some more news and a new contest a bit later…

I’ve been meaning to post this, but somehow I just keep not getting it done…

This has shaped up to be a Sharpe summer – Richard Sharpe that is…

With a new Sharpe book, Sharpe’s Fury – the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811, due to be released on 1 September 2006 we have decided to hold a drawing for a “free” copy of the book!

How can I get my name in the hat? you might ask. Easy. Just send an email (to sales@historifigs.com or info@historifigs.com) stating that you wish to be entered in the drawing. Now, if you want to double your chances of winning, just place an order between now and 1 September, and you will “get” two entries…

But wait that is not all!
Before Richard Sharpe, there was Corporal Matthew Dodd of the 95th Rifles…

Separated from his regiment (stranded behind French lines) during the British retreat to Torres Vedras, Rifleman Matthew Dodd of Wellington’s army, organizes and leads Portuguese peasants in a savage and unrelenting guerilla campaign against a French regiment…

C.S. Forester’s book “Death to the French” was Jack Scruby’s inspiration for his line of rugged, individualistic 45mm Napoleonic miniatures. These miniatures are perfect for skirmish gaming and will provide for some sharp and exciting action between groups of elite soldiers during the Peninsular War…

So, if you would like to triple your odds of winning why not place an order for some of these fine 45mm figures? Place any order for Jack Scruby’s 45mm Napoleonic Skirmish figures and receive three entries for the drawing.

So, what are you waiting for, get your entry in today!

The book is schedule to be released on 1 September, the drawing will be held on 2 September and the book will be shipped as soon as our (pre-ordered) copy arrives. In addition to the book the winner will receive a complete set of our 45mm skirmish figures…

Well, here we are again, a new month. It has been hot here, not as hot as some other places, but still rather too hot on several occasion for working in the shop. Humidity has been high and when you add in heat generated by the melting pot, you get temperatures that feel like 115 or higher in the shop – just too hot to work safely.

Next year will be better, as construction on our new workspace has started, so by winter we will be working in our new shop (heat, so no more frozen fingers, and AC in the summer, so no more heat exhaustion). Once the new space is “done” we will have a real shipping room, and a place to organize our stock bins and boxes. We should even have a computer in the shop to help eliminate lost bits of paper…

Anyhow, that is all in the not too distant future. In the present, we still have a backlog of orders – the pile is getting smaller, so we might even get caught up some time soon.

Yesterday I finished moving the mold making equipment down to the basement – the vulcanizer and rubber mold shop will be in the basement. RTV mold making and resin casting will be in our current shop space, better ventilation – lots of natural ventilation too. Metal casting will be in the new space, just off the house… Anyhow, back to the moving of the vulcaizer, this is a heavy beast, and since I had no luck finding anyone to move to down the stairs, I decided to take it apart and move it myself – that was quite a chore, but after breaking it down into three pieces, I got it down the stairs on Sunday, and then reassembled it yesterday (Monday). It is now leveled and calibrated and it makes fine molds. I’ll move it one more time, once I move the shipping table into it’s new space, but for now we are in good shape – no more squeezing around it at the top of the stairs!

Gee, I’m just rambling on here and not saying too much 🙂 Mainly because there isn’t much to say – still behind on almost everything, but getting closer – lets see what we can finish up this month, and maybe in September we can report that we are all caught up!

The Late July News…

Well, here we are in late July, Historicon is in progress, and I’m here in Wisconsin trying to catch up on all my work…

One of my tasks is to update the news section of the website, so here goes my attempt at an update for the month of July.

While there is a lot going on around here, there is not much to report on. Production is still way behind, and every time I think we will get caught up, so other problem jumps up and dashes my hopes…

On the horizon are many new releases – I think I can safely say that we will see at least four-score new N-Gauge figures in the not too distant future. All are F&IW themed figures, but many will be usable for both the Seven Years War and the American Revolution. I have 10 or so greens in hand with another 20 or so waiting to ship out for Wisconsin.

It seems that This is the summer of Sharpe, Richard Sharpe that is…

With BBC America running a new Sharpe episode each Saturday all summer long and the September release of the next Sharpe novel: Sharpe’s Fury – the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811 is due to be released on 1 September 2006…

To celebrate this new book, we will be giving away a “free” copy of this novel to some lucky customer. To enter, send an email message to sales@historifigs.com and request your free entry. If you want to double, or triple your chances of winning, just place an order with us between now and 1 September 2006. Each order will automatically give you two entries in the drawing. If your order includes any of our 45mm Napoleonic figures, you will have three entries in the drawing – so don’t wait, get your entries in now!

What? you don’t know about our 45mm figures, well…

Before Richard Sharpe, there was Corporal Matthew Dodd of the 95th Rifles…

Separated from his regiment (stranded behind French lines) during the British retreat to Torres Vedras, Rifleman Matthew Dodd of Wellington’s army, organizes and leads Portuguese peasants in a savage and unrelenting guerilla campaign against a French regiment…

C.S. Forester’s book “Death to the French” was Jack Scruby’s inspiration for his line of rugged, individualistic 45mm Napoleonic miniatures. These miniatures are perfect for skirmish gaming and will provide for some sharp and exciting action between groups of elite soldiers during the Peninsular War. For product listings and more information, please check out 45mm Napoleonic webpage: http://www.historifigs.com/45mm_Napoleonic.htm

As an added incentive, our 45mm Napoleonic figures will remain on sale until 1 September 2006. Our sale price for these figures is $1.99 each!

I keep sitting down to write the news for July, but never get past sitting down to do it. There are just too many distractions I guess. So, while I’m still working on the July edition of the news, I thought you might like to look over the list of “possible” Scruby 40mm releases. To this end, I’ve posted a PDF file which contains the last listing for Scruby 40mm figures (as found in the last Scruby catalog and less the ACW figures – which are now 100% complete). You can find the file here: Scruby 40mm Toy Soldiers

As of yet, I’ve not located masters and or patterns for all of the figures in the listing, but I’m still looking. If you have an interest in the Scruby 40mm figures, please take a look at the list and let us know what you might be interested in (no commitments to buy, we just need your feedback) when we begin producing our new production molds for these figures.

Come fall or winter this year we will begin a similar project for the 54mm figures.

Well, that’s it for now, enjoy the 40mm listings and please send your feedback.