BBI on sale now

[Rob]

I just received an email from TGF Toys. They are advertising that
they currently have BBI figures in stock and available for sale.

http://tgftoys.com/?mainURL=/store/category/gv9k/Blue_Box_Toys.html

I checked the site, and it appears to be true. Not all past BBI were
listed (specifically there were no halbardiers), but they do have the
King Arthur figures (for about 8 bucks each) as well as the Evil
Wizard and Minotaur figures. I searched and searched a few months
back and found mine in Europe, and paid about twice as much.

My hope is that BBI figs sell well, maybe sparking a fire under Blue
Box's ass to create some new poses.

On a related note, the storefront also advertises the new Schleich
line-up for 2010. No knights on any of the four pages. Perhaps Papo
can pull the slack?

-rob

[Merlin the Mad]

Cool! BBI reissued the Templar cavalry knight. I just bought one,
along with the "Zahor" mounted dude; he looks (I hope) like he could
be a semi-fantasy warlord for my Saracen "horde". It's a risk I am
willing to take at that price....

Doug

[Rob]

Doug,

Have you physically seen the Zahor yet? Its quite an imposing piece.
It actually comes attached to larger packaging. If your looking for a
'stand-out' piece, this one is it. Even the 'good guy' equivalent
figure: Xarok, is no slough. He just neds a quick repaint to the
cape.

-rob

[Greenknght4]

Thanks for the insight. I have close to 18 of the halberds right now
but you can never have to many 

I’m running 2 or 3 90mm medieval games at Cold wars.

Chris P.

[Merlin the Mad]

Rob, no I haven't seen it yet. But your description encourages me....

[Rob]

Chris,

You're so right about quantity! How quickly this halberdier shortage
has become an obsession to me! I'm sitting on 25 Schleichs, 25 BBIs,
20 Papos (the Old Guard ones), plus I modified twenty BBI crusaders
(the ones that look like Romans), and I'm currrently awaiting a
delivery of another ten BBI crusader flagmen (modified to hold
halberds instead of banners). On top of that I have 64 Schleich
pikemen. And I still don't think that its enough.

The BBI crusaders got a severe re-paint. What a terrible paint
scheme. Blue armor??? I quickly coated the breastplates with a base
of silver, then added a little bit of detail. The tunics were dark
green, but that interfered with the textured basing, so I coated them
black. I did the same to the spaulders so that all would match.
Unfortunately its now a bit drab (but still a vast improvement), so
I'm gonna try a livery scheme to the tunic. They make an excellent
company of returning crusader mercenaries.

The BBI banner-holders, on the other hand, simply need a pole weapon
to replace the flags, and they appear to be marching towards the front
line.

-rob

[Merlin the Mad]

Well, my order from TGF Toys came today! Wow! Fast! I guess the kinda
high shipping charge pays off as SPEED.

I like "Zahor". He should make a nice warlord to lead our Saracens
(some mysterious "man with no name" from the distant north Steppe, on
shaggy warhorse with weird armor and creepy red-looking eyes inside
his helmet: he comes into "town" and inspires the local Muslims with
his talk of Allah the Avenger or somesuch bellicose drivel that
inspires them to jihad, yet again). The Templar Cavalryman is quaking
in his mailed booties and just about crapping his mailed drawers, on
my table, right now....

Doug

[Rob]

Doug,

That's actually a good idea. You don't mind if I use that myself, do
you? Initially I was quite disappointed with Schleich's 'fantasy'
line, but your idea to use Zahor as a leader figure is starting the
change the way I think about it. I picked up two of each: Zahor and
Xarok, with the intent of using them as light cavalry, but obviously
the sheer mass and size of each prevents that. I tossed them into a
closet and forgot about them until now.

I quickly slapped a quick repaint on the Xaroks; most of us have one
'red' army and one 'blue' army. So I repainted the Xarok's cape....one
red and the other blue. Now I have two more mounted leader units, and
its no longer wasting away in closet oblivion.

Zahor, on the other hand, is a VERY intimidating figure. Perhaps I
should've only picked up one. I've got some things in mind for him,
but I still need to work on that for a while....

Thanks for the inspiration!

-rob

[Merlin the Mad]

Sounds like you're going to get to use your figures and not have them
go to waste. That is always a good thing. So, use one Zahor, and maybe
take the other one to work as a desk "mascot" or whathaveyou.

My son and I are going to do another 90mm bash on the diningroom table
sometime in the next couple of months. The Zahor figure will either
take on the personna of our favorite emir, al-Masaffah, or have an
entirely different character by then. I'm mulling over possible plot
lines with that figure as the central "baddie", disturbing the peace
of our tiny mountain realm....