Forward March Miniatures is live!!

well done Zach now you got to get some rules out for your 1:1 ranges

We might get there- that is the plan, haha.
I'll try to get the base sizes in there; it is good information to have. Most of them are odd sizes because I designed the bases for specific round-ish numbers of men; I was trying to keep everything really tight. But specific sizes are really necessary, I agree.

At some point in the next month or two I'll begin selling them on DBA sized bases as well. I have a few plans in that regard...

Hi flyxwire,
Good to see you here again, and glad to hear that you're a customer of FMM now. I do think the models will look great for C&C, and for Mark's game as well. Plus you won't have to sculpt a bunch of green stuff. Although his bases do look incredible, a very creative guy.

I'm sorry there's not that much substance at the moment about our intent with the ancients. Right now I'm sort of in a bubble trying to get back end stuff dialed in at the web store, working with my fulfillment staff, and making sure that we're keeping up with demand. Plus, all the pictures and painting on the new website is being done by myself (when I'm not at my regular job!). I normally use my blog to talk about new and upcoming models and ranges, but recently I've been stretched a bit thin, so I haven't been able to hold forth on my plans like I normally do.

Anyways, my vision for the ancients range is to make them as expansive as possible. I'll be using the same techniques as you see with the Roman's and Macedonians to recreate actual tactical combat units for other armies as well, based on research. My plan is to do a release of several new models at least once a month, until both the Napoleonics and Ancients (and the Renaissance) ranges are fleshed out. I'm going to try to front load a lot of releases, because a lot of people are of the same mind as you and don't want to commit until they see that the range will be worth committing to. I totally understand that, because if I didn't think a range was going to be self-supporting I wouldn't buy into it either.

That said, some of the models we are planning on coming out with soon are:

More Roman tactical formations
Double strength cohorts
Roman auxiliary and generic archers
Persian sparabara spear/arch formations
Cataphracts
Lancers
Irregular horse and warband infantry
Greek Hoplite
Roman war machines
Chariots/Scythed Chariots
War elephants
Generic spearmen
Command figures
Roman/Greek buildings
Some of these are in development, some are planned, some, like the archers, are already designed and ready but need to be painted up nicely, based, photographed and then posted to the website. Getting a new code onto the website even after the model is finished actually takes about half a day at least, and sometimes more. That said, we're committed to creating an ancients range that will allow a player to recreate the largest and most famous battles of the period with the greatest possible historical accuracy.

Also, as always it's nice to get community feedback on the ranges, so if you don't see something you want in the list please feel free to suggest it. The FMS Library has dozens of models I added because of customer recommendations, so those are listened to and often implemented.

I hope that shines a bit of light on the topic! And if anyone asks, feel free to let them know this information. I think I need to send an email to all the Gumroad customers soon to get the word out about what we're doing. I've been holding off on that until after the pre-sale is over, because I want to make sure we have adeqaute stock and other material in place before really announcing the new business.

So the new "heroic 2mm" ranges are not going to be added to the fms library?

perhaps another outlet would be to offer fully painted armies for the FMM

Thanks!
Glad you liked them. I used every 2mm painting trick I know and invented a few news ones.
Between all the painting, last minute gcode tweaks and the 2 x 1400 lumen bulbs I used for lighting I think I put ten years on my eyes over two weekends!

Hi John,
I am planning on getting some how-to pictures up for the pikes and Romans. I'm actually putting together a few units today of those two troop types. I'll do some instructions today and put up a page on the webstore.
Basically, the pike pieces with shields have two rows of pike on them. The pike piece without shields have one row of pike on them. The idea is, you hold the larger handle in your one hand and then cut the other side off about 1mm below the first row of shields. Then cut across the pikes about 1 or 2mm below the second row of shields. What you'll end up with is one row of pikes and shields connected together at the larger handle, and another row of pike and shields connected by the shields. One you cut those free you can cut the larger handle off, and you'll have two rows of pike held together by their shields. Then cut them to length and glue in place.

The shieldless pikes are the ones that go at angles. You want to keep those attached by the handle until they're glued into place. A trick with those is to keep that little connected at the bottom of the piece, and glue that to the figures. It will be hidden by the pikes leaning over top of it. Alternatively, you can cut that off and glue the individual pikes right onto the figures, but that will make them a bit harder to work with.

I use Tacky Glue, which is a heavy, very strong white fabric glue you can get at pretty much any craft store in the US. If you're somewhere else you can probably find an equivalent. The trick is to find something strong that dries clear.

I recommend using a lot of glue, and also gluing the pike to the back of the heads of the row in front. That supports the pikes as they dry.

I'll get some pictures this afternoon; easier to show than tell with these models...