Getting WaT 15mm tanks in Australia

 Getting WaT 15mm tanks in Australia 

https://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/what-a-tanker/

What a Tanker in my area (Canberra Australia) uses 15mm (1/100) miniatures to play this great 'beer and pretzels' level miniatures wargame.

One of my friends asked how to get miniatures, and I am the sort to head off being asked a questions a few times by making a blog post. (Hi Mr C!)

The game only needs a few tanks per side to get going, and on your first game and large team games, you may only need a single tank, easily borrowed from your teacher or game runner. After that, you will naturally want your own collection. 

STORES

http://store.aetherworks.com.au/

Super Biased first pick! Aetherworks are my friends of 20+ years and I have even done bits of work for them. I declare my bias :)   

An easy start point would be the "Fury" boxed set with three US and two germans.  

You can drill down in the store to Miniature/ Flames of War/ country and then pick the miniatures you want. This is a very easy way to get what you want miniature by miniature. They are located in Sydney, so postage is fast. For example, this link should go to the German vehicles. Vehicles this way are about $15 each. 

If you want to start a collection in one box and don't want to paint, you could get the World of Tanks Miniatures game and get four base coated tanks and a whole other rule set for $71. This is a rebrand of Gale Force 9's (GF9) old "Tanks!" game adding in the basecoat painting and bumping the price. Singles are not out yet, but look like they are $22 each. Great if you have no interest in painting, or if you only want to detail the tanks yourself.

https://www.warandpeacegames.com.au/15mm_Plastic_WWII_s/2469.htm

War and Peace stock a few different companies than Aetherworks. they link above goes to 15mm WW2. The bargain of the moment seems to be that they are clearing their GF9 TANKS games miniatures for $7.50 each. Good price! Limited Stock.

https://www.mightyape.com.au/brands/zvezda

Mighty Ape stock Zvezda models. They are inexpensive models, recently endorsed by Jygdrasil. He was very happy with them arriving in a couple of weeks at very, low prices. He put his toe in with s $20 starter order and order #2 at $40 is underway.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=15mm+tanks&_sacat=0

Everyone knows ebay. You can watch carefully for bargains @ $5 a pop, or go spend $250 on someones complete pre painted collection of everything you want. Search 15mm tanks or 1/100 tanks

http://www.thecombatcompany.com/categories/miniatures-historical/plastic-soldier-company/15mm-world-war-ii.html

The Combat Company main differentiator here is stocking Plastic Soldier Compoany brand miniatures. They came through ompeteing with Flames of War by offering inexpensive simple pose plastic miniatures. They sell cheap tanks in boxes of five to match the FoW ruleset. 

3D PRINTING

Down at the 15mm level, 3D printing is just fine. If you have a friend with skills in the area, the polite thing to do is for you to make all the tank decisions by picking what you want from https://www.thingiverse.com/ and sending them the links. Then, offer them about $5 per tank for filament and setup labour. I have 6/25 3d printed tanks, and unless you have a good eye you won't be able to spot them from my plastic and metal tanks until you pick them up.

 

Armour for sale - sorry, SOLD

Once again I am acting as an agent for a friend who is getting out of armoured combat. This set is for a smaller man or medium lady. I will do a few physical comparisons to how things fit for me. I am large at 6'2" (190cm) and 125kg, with big hands. The person this was made for is approx 5'6" (168 cm) and approx 65kg, with fine hands.

Left and Right Unstrapped Aircraft Aluminium Gauntlets

Two Identical Strapped Mild Steel Knees

One Small Hands Strapped Leather Shield glove

One Small Hands Strapped Leather Half Gauntlet

One Mild Steel Articulated and strapped shoulder.

One Back and Breast Aluminium Lamellar Plates Corded together and Leather edged.

$550 the lot.

Postage extra, pickup available Canberra or Rowany Festival.

Left and Right Bokolo Unstrapped Aircraft Aluminium Gauntlets

These gauntlets have never been used. In order to get them ready you would need to do a top joint, palm, and thumb strap. This is a simple job that requires minimal leatherwork skill, some straps, and six rivets. A glove that provides padding, or a padding rig must also be procured. Street hockey gloves are the best off the shelf option. 

Size: Smaller mans hand, medium female hand. The picture shows my large hand filling the gauntlet with no padding. 

Bart's Newcomer Gauntlet Warning: In twenty years of fighting, I have only had one minor hand injury using basket hilt and half gauntlet. I don't usually get two weeks of fighting in gauntlets without some form of injury. Gauntlet fighting carries an inherently higher injury risk due to the incredible range of movement, and fine-ness of the hands. If you work with your hands, I suggest never using gauntlets.

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Two Identical Strapped Mild Steel Knees

Pretty standard non-articulated knees. There is a superlight legs option going around where you buy leather thing boots, get Kydex thigh plates on the chausses, and these knees attached to the thigh boots. If you want that style, these are ready to go. I find they 'dig in' when you are on your knees due to the lower point. Minor quibble.

2nd hand item, has seen mild use.

One Small Hands Strapped Leather Shield glove

One Small Hands Strapped Leather Half Gauntlet

Both of these items are hand cut, sewn and strapped wax hardened leather items that will do their job well. They are lined and ready to go. They are too small for my hands, you must have a finer size hands than my meat axe paws.

2nd hand items, have seen mild use.

One Mild Steel Articulated and Strapped shoulder.

One ONLY - generally used by a sword and shield user on the sword arm, presuming the shield will protect the other shoulder. Standard 'trilobite' style with lacing points and strapping completed. This item is pretty much universal in size, as the lames can be hand bent for all but the hugest and smallest combatants. 

2nd hand item, has seen mild use.

One Back and Breast Aluminium Lamellar Plates Corded together and Leather edged.

This body armour has been assembled using the lamellar lames and paracord available from Duke Gabriel's "Armoured Badger" store. They have further been edged and strapped in suede leather, and this leather has been pop riveted onto the lames. 

This has been sized for a smaller man. For a woman, I believe this would only be supplementary breast protection - other protection would be needed.

2nd hand item, has seen mild use.

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Newcomers guide

What else would I need? This kit would get you several piece of armour. To finish this as a kit you would need: Helmet and gorget, a gambeson/ jack, elbows and forearms, chausees and thigh plates. To be fully armed and armoured, you would need weapons - so a pole arm or sword and shield.