The Ion Age Blog

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Noble Knight Games will be in on the Duxis Battlesuit ESO!

The Ion Age has agreed with its North American Agent, Noble Knight Games (NKG), that noble knight will take part in the next early support offer that we are going to make. This will be two bundle codes for the IAF030 Duxis Battlesuit featuring a saving off list and free bonus items.

We are putting the launch of these ESO's back to allow Noble Knight time to get prepared. On launch day you will be able to get your bundles both from us and on a page of NKG website. Full details nearer the time. Noble Knight Games carried the full range of Ion Age products in its inventory and offers superb customer service to thousands all across the USA and beyond.

So don't be sad we have a big release this Thursday instead (more on this in the next posting) and to give you some eye candy here are some photos of the recently painted up IAF030A Duxis Battlesuit 'Bladesman' variant. This will feature as part of the first ESO Bundle and its multi-part white metal and stands just over 30mm tall to the head.

IAF030A Duxis 'Bladesman' front view

IAF030A Duxis 'Bladesman' rear view

IAF030A Duxis 'Bladesman' left view

IAF030A Duxis 'Bladesman' right view

Thanks for Reading!

GBS

Friday, 17 January 2014

Titanium 15mm Sci-Fi Painting Contest now on Dropship Horizon Blog

Its painting competition time over on the great Dropship Horizon blog, focal point of all 15mm science fiction wargamers. Open to all comers there is a list of suggested entries and there will be prizes too for the winners. This is an excellent idea to keep away the blues of the deep freeze period of the year.

Check it Out!

The painting competition runs from 15th January 2014 to 15th February 2014. You can enter a squad or a single vehicle or a piece of terrain or structure. Full details on the post.

Single Vehicle, Infantry or Scenic item

As an aside I would be mighty happy if a wargamer won by entering something that we make and to that end although we are offering an offical prize along with many other companies I will be happy to mail out an additional wee surprise to any winner who used our products. On top of this since I am a great guy I am happy to digitally edit any pictures you want to send to DSH blog to make them shine; just email me or comment below. If any of our codes win I will personally make sure your loyalty is rewarded!

GBS

PLEASE READ THIS
May 2019 and The Ion Age has been taken back into Alternative Armies. It continues with new releases into the future! Go to Alternative Armies for Ion Age pages of the 15mm Range the 15mm Terrain Range the 28mm Range the Publications range and the Free Downloads collection too for the latest. All links to the ion age site are now defunct sorry! If you wish to see something or ask a question email me on sales@alternative-armies.com. GBS

Thursday, 16 January 2014

15mm Ion Age Conversion Packs Released!

“Choose a Rifle off the rack son. Or a Helmet from the stand. Get a Launcher out of our well stocked armoury. Take a Pistol just in case. Heck, just take what you want. It will all do a fine job in making you a bad ass killing machine on any battlefield in known space.”

Sergeant Isaiah Clearwater, 233^rd Muster Regiment, Prydia.

The Ion Age returns to form after a break over the winter season with the first three pack releases of 2014 campaign season! After my brief look at in a previous Ion Age Blog Post we now have the following for you. Three brand new conversion sets for 15mm science fiction wargaming. Outfit your troops in style.

IAF02515mm Retained Conversion Pack

IAF02615mm Muster Conversion Pack

IAF02715mm Khanate Legion Conversion Pack

Follow the links for each pack back to our website where you can look at a large image of the set and get all the information on each of weapons, helmets and backpacks they contain. You can purchase a pack at 2.50GBP or three packs at a 10% saving or...well we know you all like customisation (we had several dozen emails asking for this) you can purchase every item in a pack as a single white metal casting at 0.25GBP or 0.50GBP for the largest items. Also every order gets the free monthly miniature so if you just fancy a single Angis 12.5mm Rifle then you will get a free miniature with it.

These are the same bits, sculpted by Sam Croes, we use for our own 15mm Ion Age miniatures for the Prydian Army and the Shia Khan Empire and if these releases prove popular we will certainly make more packs of bits for conversion work for your wargaming. If you have suggestions for items then email us or comment and let me know. More weapons, equipment and so on.

Lastly I would like to point out that in the images of these white metal 15mm pieces they are shown much larger than they are. These are very finely detailed pieces which are on the whole 4mm to 7mm in length. They will be supplied to you in well sealed zip lock baggies. Here is an example of the size (IAF25D Tumbler SMG) accompanied by IMP05 Winter Musterman in my hand by request.

Also remember if you are a fan of the 28mm Ion Age range we have the venerable Conversion Packs for Retained Knights, Muster and Shia Khan in that scale on our Wargame Accessories page.

Thanks for Reading.

Thursday, 9 January 2014

Duxis MkIII Battlesuit - White Metal Masters are in!

IAF030A Duxis 'Bladesmaster' varient

IAF030B Duxis 'Winnower' varient

IAF030C Duxis 'Brawler' varient

IAF030D-H 'Anti Vehicle, Infantry, Warlord' varients

Following on from the last concepting post about the fantastic Duxis Battlesuit in art form we now have tin masters and you can see them laid out in the images above in this post. We are working towards the release and the ESO's 'Early Support Offers' which will be a big feature of the pre-release as with the Havelock Battlesuit last year. The next post on the Duxis will outline the ESO's with the special prices and free bonus items and also have some painted images too, but for now here are the details of our most complex white metal wonder yet.

MkIII Duxis Battlesuit
The Duxis Battlesuit known to some as the 'Royal Gift'. IAF030 can be given a number of roles from a knight to melee specialist to ranged purposes in play and stands 30mm tall. Cast in white metal in 15mm scale it requires assembly and has a good degree of pose choices through its variants. Composed of an upper body, lower body, head and then a choice of weapons and arms (gauntlets) from eight variants the Duxis is a versatile machine. Chose body angle, choose head angle and direction, choose arms and weapons. It can be posed many different ways.

IAF030A Duxis MkIIIA ' Bladesman'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with Cetra Shield Hand and Octan Prime Energy Blade.

IAF030B Duxis MkIIIB 'Winnower'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with Cetra Shield Hand and Trabs Energy Spear.

IAF030C Duxis MkIIIC 'Brawler'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with Left Gauntlet, Right Gauntlet and Heraldic Shield.

IAF030D Duxis MkIIID 'Anti-Infantry'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with one Gauntlet, Moth 88 Rotary Cannon and Heraldic Shield.

IAF030E Duxis MkIIIE 'Pride Taker'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with one Gauntlet, Valerin 15Mw Laser Cannon and Heraldic Shield.

IAF030F Duxis MkIIIF 'Indirect Fire Support'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with one Gauntlet, Bodkin 55mm AP Howitzer and Heraldic Shield.

IAF030G Duxis MkIIIG 'Anti-Vehicle'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with one Gauntlet, Fretan II Rail Gun and Heraldic Shield.

IAF030H Duxis MkIIIH 'Warlord'
This code contains one white metal battlesuit kit (lower body, upper body, head) for assembly with one Gauntlet, Angis 25mm AP Cannon and Heraldic Shield.

Check it out and click on the images for more information. We are aiming for end of the month...assuming the weather holds! All comments welcome.

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

15mm Ion Age Conversion Packs Coming Soon!

This is a quick preview post about an upcoming set of three pack releases into the Ion Age 15mm range. One of the first requests we got upon starting up was 'Will you give us those wonderful 28mm conversion packs you used to sell please" so we did. It did not take long for requests to come in for "what about 15mm conversion packs for these great new 15mm Ion Age miniatures ?". I am happy to say that just like the request for female miniatures, we have done as you bid and we will soon be releasing these codes.

IAF025 15mm Retained Conversion Pack

IAF026 15mm Muster Conversion Pack

IAF027 15mm Khanate Legion Conversion Pack

You can see the contents of IAF025 above. These packs will offer excellent value at 2.50GBP for ten pieces and there will be no duplicate pieces among the three packs (though some packs will contain multiples of some of its own items). You will of course be able to get all the composing pieces as singles for custom tailoring of your forces at 0.25GBP or 0.50GBP. Yes, buy one Angis Rifle at 0.25GBP and you will get the monthly IMP free miniature in your order.

All of these pieces were sculpted by Sam Croes and are the same ones used in the making of our miniatures. They will fit into your forces just fine. Add a gun, add a helmet, convert more heavily as you please.

On a final note I give myself a pat on the back for the images for these codes. Most of these pieces are 5mm to 8mm in size with some far smaller (such as a Retained Helmet) and getting pictures of them was...challenging. If you like I will post an image of these pieces in my hand to show you what I mean.

Friday, 3 January 2014

Duxis MkIII Battlesuit - Concepting

Concept Art - IAF030 Duxis Battlesuit

Princess Cyon knows a lot of things. I mean a lot. It was lot before the Reord bonding and though it's even more now I can tell you that she came up with the Duxis MkI on her own. Technics, Fabrication and Structure too. All of it her idea. To make her point she wore the prototype upon entering the Adden chambers and it made her point just beautifully to the Council. We knew the Khanate had returned and we had the reports of the first contacts from Camarthen Prime but the Princess, she had her father's knowledge of the times of the first Khanate War. We confirmed it later but in those chambers and on that day Princess Cyon said one word as she strode towards us footfalls heavy. Encased in armour and over twelve feet tall she said 'Warlords' and then activated the holo emitters attached to the prototype's shell. I think there was not a knight or baron in the place who did not shrink a little in their seats. Out of thin air a monster appeared. Like a Man in shape but larger; far larger. She drew an energised blade longer than a Starvaulter is tall and conducted a mock melee with the projection...and she won.

Hours of discourse followed and all the while Daphne Cyon stood in her prototype Duxis Battlesuit and held sway. The Warlords were more than a Retained Knight could cope with so make a Retained Knight more than they already were. We did. Now in Camarthen space we meet those hulking monsters with metal of our own. Its a close fight but now its a fight we can and we will win!

Knight General Obermann. Fleet Command. 4331IC

Its a new year and its time for more information on the first of our upcoming 2014 Early Supporter Offers. Its a firm favourite from the latter weeks of the Patrol Angis playtesting. Click on the image above to see the 15mm strutter that is the Duxis Battlesuit for the Retained of the Prydian Army. As I have said before in the Havelock concepting post on the blog I love concept art and this latest piece is another winner from Sam Croes. Where the Havelock is the mobile gun platform for the Muster, designed to win a Civil War, the Duxis is a ballet dancer made to combat the giant infantry of the Shia Khan Empire. Made to give a knight the size and power to take on a Warlord in one to one combat.

Our Second Battlesuit in 15mm Scale!

I will give you more information on the make up of the actual Duxis model and all of its modular parts for variety in a future post but for now I can tell you that the idea of the Duxis came to us last year and the sculpts are now complete so it will not be long before we will show you actual miniatures! That and the fact that in response to feedback from the Havelock ESO we have also designed not only a Fallen Duxis (you guys really loved the flat on the back Havelock) but also a Pilot and a Droid which will feature in the releases. So for now enjoy!

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Winter Musterman - IMP05 Free Miniature for January 2014

Its a new dawn, its a new day; its a New Year! Welcome to 2014 and to January and that means our first free in all orders miniatures for the Ion Age of the year. Its deep winter now in the real world and it might as well be too on some of the worlds of the Prydian Precinct too. The Winter Musterman is the white metal 15mm miniature in the above image and until 1st February 2013 he is FREE in each and every order placed with us at the rate of one per order placed. After that date he will be retired and replaced by the next free miniature and of course you earn reward points on all orders too.

We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the current free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that.

This is a great non-personality miniature (rather different to December and Santa Desteria eh!) and I can see wargamers wanting a few of these in their Ion Age forces. IMP05 Winter Musterman is a human infantry soldier wrapped up in a heavy greatcoat and his Moth Rifle slung. Its so cold that he has need of some warmth from a bottle of 'booze' in his hand. What is this spirit? Anything from Gin to Yargoula of course.

The miniature in the images is now in our glass display case with all the others. In fact I have had an email asking if we will bring it to Salute 2014 in London this year for everyone to look at. I will think about it.

Lastly there is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before.

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