Santa Desteria - IMP04 Free Miniature for December 2013

Its Santa Desteria!

Jingle the Bells and get some Armour Piercing Shells its the month of festive fun at The Ion Age.  December sees a new FREE MINIATURE for the whole of the month.  Santa Desteria is the big guy with the sack of goodies in the image above and you get him free cast in high quality white metal in ANY order placed with us.

That's right.  Until the 1st January you will get one IMP04 miniature free in every order placed on The Ion Age website.  From one miniature to a pack of miniatures, to a Havelock or Hab Dome or a pack of SupaBases or dice and so on; one IMP04 will be placed automatically in your package. There is no limit per customer on the number of orders and every order earns you points on your account. Build up points and get discounts and other freebies!  A win for everyone.

In fact even if you are not keen on our 15mm Miniatures you could try the 28mm Ion Age or our rulebooks or just get some accessories for your collection.  Once the month is up this miniature will vanish forever!

After customer requests you can also buy this miniature like a normal product in your cart.  You can find it in the Latest Releases list on the front page of The Ion Age website.  You would also get another free with an order contining the miniature!

IMP04  A big festive fellow at 23mm tall

Following on from The Knight of the Dead this is another themed miniature from The Ion Age.  Its the largest free miniature yet at 23mm tall and wearing Noblesse powered armour.  This miniature is just pure fun in the style of long ago wargaming, we did this for giggles and not much else! Above you can see a series of images composite that I made up for this blog post on top of the official slide at the top of this post and on The Ion Age website.  I increased the light levels a bit more and took pictures from the rear and the side and a scale image with a Khanate Legionary.

Santa Desteria comes from the mind of Sam Croes and captures this Desteria Knight Commander (as he surely must be) in mid stride with a large sack of presents over his shoulder and a furred cap on his head.  Ready to spread tidings of joy with his Impact Fist.  Would you paint yours up for festive fun or in other colours for a special character?

In any event the one in the pictures is now in the glass case of destiny in our office where it joins the ever growing line of Ion Age miniatures.

Lastly there is now a page on the Ion Age Website that showcases present and former free monthly miniatures. Have a look. 

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

November 2013 for The Ion Age!

This is the image that stays with me this month!

Its time for a round up of the month on this blog.  I have done this twice before and viewers seem to like it as a bookend for a time period.  What did we do during October 2013 and how The Ion Age is continuing to grow as we approach the end of the current year.

So picking up where I left off in October 2013 we announced a new free miniature and then went on to make the following releases:

IMP03 Knight of the Dead.  The monthly free in all orders miniature. 
IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran, 8 Shia Khan Legionaries, Maia Mpi.
IAF024 Fabricator Spire, 1 Resin Structure.
IAF023 Fallen Havelock, 1 Resin Terrain Piece.
IAF020A Havelock Type57A 'Anti-Infantry'.  1 Battlesuit.
IAF020B Havelock Type57B 'Pride Taker'.  1 Battlesuit.
IAF020C Havelock Type57C 'Indirect Fire Support'.  1 Battlesuit.
IAF020D Havelock Type57D ' Anti-Vehicle'.  1 Battlesuit.
IAF020E Havelock Type57E 'Knightmare'. 1 Battlesuit.
Pebeo Artists Acrylic Paint Range.
Pebeo Artists Inks Range.
Pebeo Paint Brushes.

Releases weekly during November focused on the first small vehicle kit release for The Ion Age; the Type 57 Havelock.  This code in all its variants was supported by a prone version in resin and a small structure all part of its very successful early supporter offer during the month.  Along with this a new pack of infantry for the 15mm Shia Khan Empire (got to love those vicious looking Maia 9.6mm Mpi's!) taking the Khanate to more than thirty poses and growing.  Lastly we brought a high quality range of paints, inks and brushes to the market ideal for miniatures and indeed the ones our painters use.  Have a look to read and see a lot more on all of the above.

During the month we had other things going on alongside our weekly releases which we detailed on the blog. The most salient points in the month were as follows:

Patrol Angis Playtesting Ended.  The excellent group of playtesters who had gone through six weeks of increasingly complex games of Patrol Angis finished up in November and I would like to thank them all for their efforts.  It was a blast and the game will be out in 2014.

Havelock Battlesuit Early Supporter Offer.  We had our second early supporter offer (eso) lasting two weeks in November offering two bundles.  A 15% discount and a 25% discount on three or five battlesuits with fallen and fabricator spire thrown in.  The response to this was even bigger than the Hab Dome offer in October, thank you all, and we blogged about it as well.  We are not doing an ESO in December but it will return with a bang in the New Year...just wait and see.

Pebeo Studio Paint Range and Croes Nest.  I love this one.  We have a full range of paints, inks and brushes.  Top quality and great for miniatures and wargames terrain too.  Have a look at them.  Also Sam Croes wrote the first in a series of articles on this style of painting.  He paints ALL of the miniatures on the Ion Age website.

Noble Knight Games official North American Distributor.  I was delighted to announce that NKG was now our distributor in North America.  Great company, great service and you can get all of our products from them in the USA and Canada.

TMP, WN&T, Mentions.  We expanded our horizons in November with paid for advertising on The Miniatures Page and also on Wargame News and Terrain blog.  Plus we got pictures of our miniatures in a new book by experienced wargames author Robert Avery.

Free Miniature for Sale.  The Knight of the Dead free miniature caused a fuss and though we sent out more of them than any previous month's IMP miniature it was not enough.  Two dozen people emailed and asked to buy the free miniature.  So  I checked it out with customers on our mailing list and they said it was ok to sell it as long as it went OOP end of the month.  So as of November you can buy the free miniature and you will get it free in your package too.  It will be on the front page of the website in the Latest Ion Age Releases list for the month.

All in all a very different month to October but just as manic for Sam Croes and I.  December is going to be festive and its going to see a special event unlike Novembers and some great releases and sneak peeks too. Jingle the Bells, grab the presents and make sure your armour is properly maintained as per the Code Gallant!

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

IAF024 Fabricator Spire released!

IAF024 Fabricator Spire during Patrol Angis playtesting

“I was glad that day that the Prydian Army used the same Moth Type 12 Launcher that we did.  A civil war has a few benefits eh!  We had been getting shot up real bad by the enemy and I was down to just three amour piercing rounds when a damn miracle just dropped out of that yellow tinted sky.  I am sure they got their co-ords wrong or some such thing, it was a brutal day, but we thought that the Bantam Platforms sailing over our heads were gonna' rain fire on us but instead they hovered and then dropped three fabricators!”

“I told my lads to hold off shooting at those Bantams.  I was so surprised.  Could they not see we were blue and not white?  Apparently not.  The three spires were in our midst and too far from the Prydian Retained for them to make a take on them.  Now I used to be a 'fabman' back on Durwent II where we were raised and I know how fabricators work. These ones were all set up and loaded for ammunition.  I keyed the sequence for Moth and then for the Type 12 and after I got a stack of AP and HE dropped at my feet I set all of them on 9mm Type 6 for the rifles and let them run and run.”

“The day went well for us after that.  Turned out the 'tiny whities' were just as short as us and since we now had all the bullets we could use they just turned tail and ran.  So much for the Code Gallant the Retained are always harking on about.  They showed us their backs all right!”  

Emeritas Joe Hullet, Baron Felto Drake's Regiment, League of Canlaster.  Altogran IV.  4326IC

IA024 Front

IAF024 Rear

IAF024 Fabricator Spire

During battle or just in times of need portable Fabricator Spires are left or dropped into place by military and or civilian authorities.  Their task is simple and at the same time magical to some more primitive peoples...they make something from nothing.  Those in the know realise that is not really something for nothing, the fabricator gathers energy in its spire and uses that power to convert contained solid blocks of matter into objects.  In battle fabricators make ammunition for common weapon types upon request from alloys they hold.  The Fabricator Spire stands 42mm tall and has a request console on its front for data input.  It is a one piece high quality grey tone resin casting. As always this code can be bought as a pack or as a single or select the three packs and save 10% option on the page.  

The range of Ion Age 15mm Terrain has other pieces in it which go well with this smaller piece to populate your science fiction wargames table.  First amongst these is the IAF015 Hab Dome which has several Top Mounts for it including sentry gun and comms spire.  There is also the IAF023 Fallen Havelock Battlesuit which can be used as a casualty marker (for the IAF020 Havelock miniature) or a terrain piece in its own right.  Have a look next time you are on The Ion Age website.

Information Burst!

The bell tolls.  If you want an  IMP03 Knight of the Dead miniature, free in all orders, as well as purchasable on its own (see new releases on front page of the site) you only have a few days left. IMP03 will vanish forever as of 1st December when it will be retired and replaced.  Don't email us and complain you missed it once its gone!  We had an excellent response to our first week on The Miniatures Page as an advertiser off the back of the excellent IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran pack; thanks all of you.    We will be continuing the weekly release schedule through the winter with only a small break for Christmas. Remember when you place an order with us you will be prompted to join the loyalty scheme which will earn you Reward Points on all purchases which can, once accumulated, be redeemed for discounts and special miniatures.

Ion Access Port

Following up on Sam Croes first painting article for the Croes Nest series here on the blog I will be putting up the first article in the Ion Access Port series soon.  Ion Access Port provides game universe information and the subject on the press just now is 'Fabricators in the Ion Age'.  

Thanks for your Time.

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

Beighton's Shipyard's Havelock on show!

A Havelock Type57D from the 143rd Khartoum Muster, 
supports the Red Baron's Retained Knights. 

I spotted this over on Beighton's Shipyard at the weekend.  Mark who runs this blog is a big fan of The Ion Age and other brands that I am involved with too such as Flintloque.  He blogs quite often on The Ion Age but his is the first of the many hundreds of Havelocks that went out with the early support offers and since that I have seen online painted up.  So a little post here to celebrate.  I am all about seeing what wargamers do with our miniatures.

Shiny and maroon and with a ruddy great Fretan II rail gun this battlesuit will provide the support that the 143rd Khartoum Muster needs in its conflicts.  Love Havelocks? 

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

IAF020 Havelock features in Five Planets by Robert Avery!

Over the last few weeks I have been receiving emails to The Ion Age from wargame authors and other brands asking for permissions to feature our miniatures in their products.  I am fine with this as long as we get the credit for it and everyone else thinks this is fair too.  So with permissions given I gave it not much more thought but now the first of those persons to ask has published!  Robert Avery.

Robert Avery has been known to me for a good number of years through his fantasy system Vis Magica but now it seems he has a science fiction system, generic in nature, called Quadrant 13 which has an expansion just released called Five Planets.  It is in Five Planets that miniatures from The Ion Age features.

I have not played the Q13 system but I have heard good things from elsewhere on the net and if you are keen to check it out then begin on the Vis Lardia Online website.  Good quality rules from authors are what wargaming needs.  Keep the flavour, keep the scope of independent thought.

I will end this posting with the marketing blurb from the rear of Five Planets:

Five Planets is a campaign and scenario pack for Quadrant 13 (Q13), the company-sized, sci-fi wargame rules from the TooFatLardies.

Written by Robert Avery, Five Planets contains twelve scenarios set within the Pankova solar system, with two adversaries fighting over its priceless resources. The action begins on Peach, the outermost planet, a most desolate, moon-like place, then moves through the asteroid belt to Cheteria, the ice planet. After Cheteria comes Three, the garden world that feeds the system, followed by D’Var, the desert planet whose sands conceal vast seas of valuable oil. Finally the campaign climaxes on fiery Adeen, closest to the sun and the source of limitless power.

The campaign is designed to be played through twice: with each player first taking the part of the race invading the Pankova system, the Attackers, and then taking the part of the incumbents, the Defenders. Be warned, sometimes the Defenders are attacking, and sometimes the Attackers are defending:  as first one side then the other gains an advantage.

Although written for Q13, Five Planets can be easily adapted for any sci-fi rules system. Each scenario contains a full game briefing, a map, and then a briefing for each player, including a description of the forces available. All players need to do is print off the appropriate pages for the scenario that they want to play, set up the battlefield, break out the figures, and away they go. As the army lists given are generic, players can use them to play any sci-fi army that they choose: whether based on a particular range of figures, background from another ruleset, background from a film or book,  or even a background that they have made up themselves.

So set your weapons to exterminate and prepare to do battle: there’s glory to be won on the Five Planets!

GBS

IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran released!

It is still very unclear what the military structural systems of the Shia Khan Empire actually are.  Certainly we capture few prisoners and none of them will allow us a grasp of information that is of use.  In fact I feel that the enemy, at least at the lowest echelons which we face in the fray, has no idea what their position is in their own Legion never mind anything larger.  Our linguists have had no luck deciphering the guttural snarl of the Maligs tongue or the lilting tune of the few Legionaries we have taken alive.  What we do know is all observed from first hand combat experience and studied from helm recordings.  Not as much as we would like but unlike the Reord we do not know all.

The Khanate Empire uses the Legion as its primary formation of war.  We do not know how many troops are in a Legion and it seems to vary.  Certainly the Styx Legion in its red glimmer suits is larger than the Cyclopes legion or the vicious Viper Legion.  There are several racial types with a Legion but they seem to mix fairly freely at the platoon and lace level.  We know the Khan word for platoon.  It is 'Ordos' and an Ordos seems to have about thirty to thirty two members. Ordos are mixed Legionaries and others with support weapons, portable weapons, vehicles and warlords too.  While our Retained are a match for most Ordos we have found that the Muster can struggle without Desteria or Havelock support.

As the campaign to take back Camarthan Prime continues we shall learn more.  I am sure of this.  

Knight General Obermann.  Fleet Command.  4331IC

IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran

Come November come more Shia Khan Empire troops!  Expanding the current range further we have the brand new IAF018 Legionary 3rd Tesseran.  This pack contains eight white metal poses of Legion infantry, one Ordo officer with Cupid Pistol and seven different Discens (privates) armed with Maia 9.6mm Mpi. Legion are dressed in reactive glimmer suits and self contained breather systems with auto aid ability.   As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% option on the page.   Price 4.00GBP per pack.

Other Khanate Legion Codes which go excellent with this pack are IAF006 Legionary 1st Tesseran, IAF007 Canthus Monocycle, IAF011 Legionary 2nd Tesseran and IAF012 Legion 1st Pioneers.  Including this new pack there are now thirty five different Khanate 15mm miniatures...enough for a whole force with no duplicate poses!

Information Burst!

There is little more than a week left to get your hands on the IMP03 Knight of the Dead miniature, free in all orders, as well as purchasable on its own now due to customer request.  You can see IMP03 on the new releases panel of the front page of our website.  After a month of Prydian Army and Marcher Barons we have moved back to the Khanate Empire to show some love to those wargamers who wish to eradicate Humanity.  Outside of our little world our sister brand 15mm.co.uk has begun its own blog (jealous of ours they were!) and have kicked off with the re-mastered release of a classic Laserburn vehicle in resin. Remember when you place an order with us you will be prompted to join the loyalty scheme which will earn you Reward Points on all purchases which can, once accumulated, be redeemed for discounts and special miniatures.

Thanks for your Time.

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

The Ion Age is on The Miniatures Page (TMP)

Another step forward for The Ion Age!

We are now on official advertiser, with the above banner designed by Sam Croes, on The Miniatures Page. This is our second paid advertising slot and we will see how it goes.  I decided to sign us up for TMP officially since we were getting a large percentage of our online traffic from forums on TMP already and it seemed like we ought the do the job ourselves.

Doing the job ourselves will involve posting news to TMP and from there the forums can comment as before. I am hoping for positive feedback from readers of TMP just as we have had already here on the blog and by email and on other forums such as the Notables and Wargames News and Terrain blog and Dropship Horizon blog.  It makes me sad to see negative comments made against a company's hard work if those comments are undeserved.  Trolls should stay under bridges or be on the receiving end of my sword as it were.

I will do my best to keep track of all of the news and posts about The Ion Age on TMP and to direct new people to us here so that they can learn all about our little brand and our Space Opera fun in 15mm and 28mm scales.

GBS