Prev: Re: Those Spiky Things Next: UPDATE & FALLOUT

Re: GZG UPDATE & NEWSLETTER

From: jon@g... (Ground Zero Games)
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 16:28:46 -0400
Subject: Re: GZG UPDATE & NEWSLETTER

>I'd like to recieve both, (or either even!:)
>Got the notice late or I would have replied sooner.
>Randy

GROUND ZERO GAMES
SUMMER 1997 CATALOGUE - UPDATE 2 July 1997.

This is an update sheet for the 1997 (Summer edition) GZG catalogue; if
you
don't have a copy of this edition, then please send us £1.50 (inc.
postage)
for one (overseas: 5 x IRCs for catalogue). 
PLEASE NOTE this update also includes all items listed in updates 1 and
1.1
already issued.

GZG NEWS: ex-CMD FUTURE WARS 6mm:
The remoulding of the ex-CMD Future Wars 6mm range (being reissued as
"DF"
code packs) is now well under way - many of the items are now back in
production, and we expect all the packs listed in the 1997 Summer
catalogue
to be available by mid/late  July, along with a few further packs not in
the catalogue listing. Please note that there have been a few changes
made
to the composition on certain packs compared with the provisional
listing;
we will be issuing an updated full list of the DF range as soon as
possible; if you would like a copy, please send us an SSAE marked "DF
LIST"
(those customers from whom we already have SSAEs on file will get their
copies automatically).

NEW SA'VASKU BIOSHIPS!	Since the release of the first of the Sa'Vasku
range a few months ago, you have all been asking us for the "bigger
ones"
to go with them - well, here they are!
FT 710 Sa'Vasku Heavy Battleship       £4.95	OUT NOW!
FT 712 Sa'Vasku Dreadnought	       £6.95	OUT NOW!
FT 713 Sa'Vasku Drone (fighter) Carrier/Mothership   £6.95   COMING
SOON -
Due Late June

NEW KRA'VAK STARSHIPS (already listed in RED cover catalogue edition)
FT 407A Ko'Tek STRIKE CRUISER (modified 407)	       £1.95	OUT NOW!
FT 414	Do'San TACTICAL (light) CARRIER 	       £4.95	OUT NOW!

NEW DIRTSIDE MINIATURES (DSM117/118 already listed in RED cover
catalogue
edition)
DSM 117 M38D LIPPC light interface-portable wheeled APC (pack of 3)	
       
DSM 118 TACTICAL INTERFACE TRANSPORT (large dropship, 60mm long!)      
£3.95	 
DSM 119 M44 COONHOUND interface-portable fire support vehicle  (pack of
3) 
	    
DSM 120 GOLIATH medium	hovertank (turretted) - pack of 3		
  
	    
DSM 121 GLADIATOR light  hovertank (fixed-mount gun) - pack of 3     
DSM 122 RANGETRUCK light wheeled transport vehicle - pack of 4	COMING
SOON- due early July!
DSM 123 VIRNAZH medium	Grav APC/MICV - pack of 3  COMING SOON- due
early July!
DSM 124 NSL INFANTRY PLATOON - pack of 24 individual 6mm infantry in
combat
armour (inc. support weapons) plus metal cast "element bases" for
mounting
figures     COMING SOON- due early July!
DSM 125 GRAV VEHICLE STANDS (metal bases for "floating" effect) - pack
of 6
    COMING SOON- due early July!
DSM 126 INFANTRY ELEMENT STANDS (assortment of 2, 3 and 4-figure stands)

COMING SOON- due early July!
ALL DSM PACKS £1.95 UNLESS MARKED OTHERWISE. 

NEW STARGRUNT 25mm FIGURES!
The first of the OCEANIC UNION defence forces (Australia, NZ, Papua NG
etc.)
These are the first STARGRUNT miniatures to be produced by our
Australian
licensee/distributor, Eureka Miniatures; they are done with our full
approval and co-operation, are totally compatible in size and style with
all the other SG troops, and are well up to the standards set by our
in-house ranges. We at GZG are casting and distributing them for the UK
market.
All figures 75p each, and all OUT NOW with many more to follow soon!
SGO-01A OUDF trooper in body armour and helmet, with assault rifle, at
ready			 
SGO-02A OUDF trooper in body armour and helmet, with assault rifle,
advancing		    
SGO-03A OUDF trooper in body armour and helmet, with assault rifle,
kneeling firing 		    
SGO-04B OUDF Maori support machinegunner, standing, bareheaded		
       
SGO-05C OUDF Aboriginal scout, crouching, bush hat, with assault rifle	 

NEW RANGE - 25mm STARSHIP and STATION CREWS!
Again by popular request, we have the start of a range of 25mm figures
suitable for officers and crews of starships, space stations etc., or
even
as senior "staff officers" for Stargrunt units. Sculpted by Kev White,
these are well up to his usual superb standards! 75p each, all AVAILABLE
NOW.
CR-1A	Senior Command Officer (male), walking	    
CR-1B	Senior Command Officer (male), with sidearm drawn (variant of
CR-1A)		  
CR-2A	Senior Command Officer (female) standing, hands behind back	
       
CR-2B	Senior Command Officer (female) with datapad (variant of CR-2A) 
       
CR-3A	Crewman in heavy EVA Spacesuit with toolpack			
       
CR-3B	Crewman in heavy EVA Spacesuit with plasma cutter/welder	
  
	    
More figures will be added to this range soon, which we hope will be
useful
to roleplayers and miniatures gamers alike.

PANDA-MONIUM ANIME-STYLE FIGURES:
Mr. Panda has been a busy chap again, and we have LOADS of new releases
out
in the Pandamonium range - we are still in the process of moulding some
of
them, and will be doing a full list of the whole range shortly - please
send us an SSAE if you would like a copy. We have also just released the
first figures in a NEW line, PANDA'S VIDEO FIGHTERS - inspired by
characters from various Video Combat games! The first seven figures in
the
PVF range are OUT NOW, with more to come; these will all be included in
the
new PAND list when it is ready.

GENTLEMENS' COLLECTABLES:
For the discerning ADULT collector, we are happy to announce NINE more
figures in this ever-popular  range; orders for these from OVER 18s ONLY
PLEASE due to the nature of the figures...   ALL AVAILABLE NOW, with
more
to come!
GC-13	  "The French Maid" with feather duster....
GC-14	  "Silicone Valley" - buxom beach babe in bikini....
GC-15	  "Southpaw Sally" - in shorts and boxing gloves
GC-16	  "Rain Dancer" - in Sou'wester (and nothing else!)
GC-17	  "Little Angel" - a perfect counterpart for our  "Demonette"
(GC-5)!
GC-18	  Samantha, the seductive Witch (with broomstick)	NEW -
OUT NOW!
GC-19	  Roxanne the Red - Axe-wielding Barbarienne	NEW - OUT NOW!
GC-20	  Cara the Cave-girl, with spear			NEW -
OUT NOW!
GC-21	  Lisa - nude and naughty!				NEW -
OUT NOW!
All GC figs £1.95 each (or £2.95 inked & polished) including display
plinth.

Post & packing rates (metal miniatures) UK: 10% of order value, minimum
p&p
75p. For overseas rates please see full catalogue.
All payments must be in sterling, by cheque or PO; sorry, we don't
accept
credit cards (at the moment, but we're working on it).

GROUND ZERO GAMES
P.O. BOX 337, NEEDHAM MARKET, SUFFOLK IP6 8LN.
Tel: 01449 760575. Email: jon@gzero.dungeon.com

FALLOUT 97.2: SUMMER NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the second FALLOUT issue of 1997, and only a mere six months
since the last one!! We had hoped to get this out a bit more frequently,
but there is so much going on right now that there just hasn't been much
chance to do it.
So, what has changed since the New Year issue? Well, firstly the move to
the new workshop is fully completed and everything there is up and
running
as it should be.  The workshop phone number is 01449 760575, and you can
call us on this number between about 10am and 4pm most weekdays (there
is
usually one day a week we are NOT in at the workshop, normally Monday,
though this can vary - if there is no-one there you will get an
answering
machine, so please leave us a message and we'll get back to you when we
can). As you will see from the header on this issue, we are now on
email,
so feel free to contact us via this if you wish; please note that we
still
can't actually take orders over the phone or email, but this may change
soon - see below!

The show season is well under way, with Salute and Triples going
especially
well for us; coming up we have Eurogencon (Loughborough), Colours
(Reading), SELWG (London), Salvo (Colchester) and Warfare (Reading
again),
with a possibility of Recon (Leeds) as well, so there are still plenty
of
opportunities for you to come and see us and buy lots of stuff!
As usual, any advance orders for collection at shows to reach us at
least
two weeks before the relevant event please.

We are currently investigating the possibility of being able to accept
Credit and Debit card payments at long last, which should make things a
good deal easier especially for our European customers. The application
process is a long and complex one, however, so please DON'T start
ordering
by card just yet - please wait until we inform you in an update sheet or
future Fallout issue that everything is set up and running.

New products are still coming at a good rate, with all sorts of goodies
out
and due in the very near future; our regular update lists carry full
details of the latest new items, so I won't list them again here, but
the
following notes will give you an overview of the development of the
various
ranges, along with some of our plans for forthcoming releases:

DIRTSIDE 6mm: The all-new DSM range is growing very fast, and the
program
of remaking our 25mm designs in 6mm is really proving very popular if
sales
are any indication! We have four new vehicle releases for late
June/early
July (making 23 different vehicle packs out already), and are just about
to
release the very first 6mm INFANTRY pack - a full NSL armoured infantry
platoon (24 figures). These are perfect little 6mm replicas of the 25mm
Stargrunt figures, so detailed and accurate that even the weapons and
helmets are recognisable from their 25mm counterparts! Kev has really
excelled himself on these, which by the way are TRUE 6mm, rather than
the
8-9mm tall figures that some manufacturers go for; this means that ours
look RIGHT against their vehicles, rather than towering over a Battle
Tank!
The 6mm infantry are cast as separate figures, each on a tiny round
base,
and may be used individually if you wish (Stargrunt in 6mm?) or else
mounted as "elements" of 2 to 4 figures using the metal-cast group bases
that we will be supplying both in the infantry packs and as separate
items.
Each pack of troops will contain a full platoon of infantry, including
light support weapons (SAWs, Missile launchers etc.) along with
sufficient
bases to organise the unit in Dirtside II terms or to suit any other
rules
system you wish to use. We hope to follow the initial NSL release very
soon
with troops from the other nationalities already available in our
STARGRUNT
lines.

FUTURE WARS (ex-CMD) 6mm: At long last, the re-moulding and reissuing of
the old CMD FW range is finally under way! At the time of writing (late
June), we have already recast all the VTOL range, many of the Tanks and
some of the APCs and support vehicle ranges, with the intention of
having
the whole range out again by around the middle of July. As those of you
who
have seen our current catalogue will know, we are issuing the FW range
under the code "DF" now, (for "Dirtside/Future Wars"), and all items
will
be sold in £1.95 packs in the same way as our own DSM range, containing
anything from 1 to 4 models depending on size. 
As soon as the whole range is out, we will be issuing an updated list
that
supersedes the provisional one in the '97 catalogues; it will feature a
few
additional packs that were not planned when the list was first
assembled,
plus a few pack composition changes that have proved necessary as the
remoulding process progresses. Those of you from whom we already have
SSAEs
on file will get this new list automatically as soon as it is printed -
anyone else who would like a copy should send us an SSAE marked "DF
RANGE"
please.

STARGRUNT 25mm: New releases for the SG ranges have been intermittent of
late, because we've been concentrating on getting the DSM 6mm stuff up
and
running; however, we are now getting back to 25mm releases with a
vengeance. Starting off, we are pleased to announce the availability in
the
UK of the first 25mm Stargrunt figures to be designed and produced by
Eureka Miniatures, our Australian licensee and distributor. Eureka are
doing these figures with our full support and backing, we are casting
them
here for the UK market and they will form a fully integrated part of the
SG
range and the SG/DS/FT background; the size and style of the figures
matches the existing SG ranges very well, using our "standard" round
bases.

As befits their origins, the first releases from this new co-operative
venture are light troops for the OUDF - the Oceanic Union Defence
Forces,
covering Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and several small
island
states. The OUDF troops are depicted in combat fatigues with light
ballistic armour, some troops with helmets and some in bush hats (sorry,
the corks wouldn't cast in this scale, so you'll have to add your
own...);
the addition of a crouching Aboriginal scout and a very large Maori SAW
gunner give a very effective multi-ethnic feel to the forces.  So, who's
going to be the first to field a complete platoon with every member
called
Bruce...?
There are five OU figures (code SGO) listed in our latest update sheet,
with many more to come in a short while - Eureka have planned at least a
dozen more in this range for imminent release.
Also planned for the near future are more Kra'Vak figures, some
additions
to the Islamic Federation range (including some more Keffiyeh-wearing
variants) and more, including Colonial Militia troops (light
civil-defence
militia suitable for almost any nationality), 
"Internal Security" forces (armoured police troops) and some Japanese
Corporate Mercenaries. Watch this space.....

GENTLEMEN'S COLLECTABLES 25mm ADULT FIGURES: This ever-popular range of
25mm "erotic"  miniatures is also growing fast right now - only a couple
of
months ago we release five new figures (French Maid, Beach Babe, Boxer,
Rain Dancer and Angel), and now we have ANOTHER FOUR just out at the
time
of writing - a Witch (young and sexy, not old and wizened...), a
chainmail-bikini-clad Barbarienne (cliched?? Us??), a Cave-Girl with
flint
spear and another nude young lady in a particularly provocative pose....
as
usual, these are for sale to OVER 18s ONLY! Watch the updates for yet
MORE
of the GC figures soon.

NEW 25mm CREW RANGE: We have just launched a new range of CREW FIGURES
suitable for ship or space-station personnel and officers, or even as HQ
staff for Stargrunt forces. First out are male and female senior command
officers, each available in two different pose versions - any similarity
to
certain TV personalities is entirely coincidental, by the way, and of
course it is up to you how you paint their uniforms....  the next
release
may (or may not) be "security officer with receding hairline".	
Also in this new range is a couple of generic spacesuited figures,
something that (to our knowledge) no other manufacturer currently makes
in
this scale. These are crew in heavy EVA worksuits, one with a toolbox
and
the other with a plasma welder/cutter - they make ideal engineers,
repair
crew, asteroid miners etc., and we will shortly be releasing a few more
variants (including, hopefully, some without bases that can be mounted
on
flying stands in zero-g "floating' poses).

PANDAMONIUM ANIME-STYLE FIGURES: The PAND range is expanding very fast
right now, as Mr. Panda is being particularly prolific at the moment
(one
day they'll catch him and lock him up, but till then he keeps making the
things). There are umpteen new figures out in the regular PAND range,
with
even more to be cast soon, plus a completely NEW range: PANDA'S VIDEO
FIGHTERS (PVF), which depicts various characters inspired by computer
and
console games.
We hope to get a new full list of all the PANDs and PVFs done very soon,
so
please drop us an SSAE if you're interested.

CAVERNSCAPE from GEO-HEX: Geo-Hex have just released an AMAZING new
"terrain" system for making CAVERN/DUNGEON layouts in full 3D! The
CAVERNSCAPE set consists of a heavy felt mat approx. 42" x 36", printed
with a "distorted" hex-grid that looks like random stone flooring (very
clever...), and a huge selection of carved foam CAVERN WALL terrain
pieces
(some with archways/tunnels through them) in all sorts of shapes, all
approx. 2" deep and printed with the same hex-grid on their top
surfaces!
With this set you can make an endless number of different cavern
layouts,
usable for anything from the traditional "dungeon bash" to an assault on
an
asteroid mine! The mat and all the pieces are in a matching dark "rock"
grey finish, and the whole setup looks superb. Due to carriage and
import
charges the set is not cheap (£120 inc. all duties and UK p&p), but
once
seen, your gaming life cannot be complete without one!!
We have a VERY LIMITED supply of the CAVERNSCAPE sets available from
stock,
or can obtain them to order - please phone for more details, or send us
an
SSAE for a copy of the illustrated leaflet about the system.

GZG RULES: On the rulebook front, we're working steadily on several
things
right now, but don't have any details yet about what will go into print
when. Various systems and ideas are in playtest form at the moment, and
we'll make some announcements when they are a bit nearer completion.

GOMI DESIGNS: Gomi have another "Grey" alien out, this time holding an
enigmatic "black box", and will very shortly be releasing the first
"official" Mecha miniature for their very successful MECHA CARNAGE
rules;
the preproduction sample is superb - a multi-part, multi-pose kit that
actually fits together easily and works right!! More news on this soon.

FULL THRUST STARSHIPS: The new SA'VASKU BIOSHIPS are going very well
(even
if almost everyone IS painting them black and drybrushing them in
grey/purple...), with a couple of larger ships now out ("Battleship" and
"Dreadnought" size, with Carrier to follow). We hope to introduce some
more
designs in the GF range soon, including a few more assorted fighter and
small craft types, and have also been experimenting with some new
master-
and mould-making techniques that may enable us to produce many more new
starship designs much more efficiently than before - if this works out
as
hoped, watch out for a BIG expansion in the FT range before too long!

INDUSTRY AND MAGAZINE CHAT: Well , there have certainly been some
changes
in the gaming market since the start of this year. I suppose the biggest
news is Wizards of the Coast buying out TSR (it'll be interesting to see
how EuroGencon goes this year - hopefully it WON'T be just one big
card-fest - or at least, no more so than usual...). ARCANE magazine has
folded, presumably because it wasn't making enough money for Future
Publishing's accountants.... a shame really, because though Arcane has
often been accused of being a bit lightweight on content it WAS actually
staring to get a lot better - there were even murmerings in the final
couple of issues that maybe people DID still use miniatures for their
gaming after all! The good news on the magazine front is that VALKYRIE
is
getting back on its feet again after a long time of non-appearance, and
the
two Daves are trying to get it back to something near a bimonthly
schedule.
While on the subject of Caliver's magazines, there is a new F&SF FICTION
mag due from them quite soon, called ODYSSEY - it'll have some gaming
content (well, an RPG column at least), so give it a look when you see
it
in the newsagents. MINIATURE WARGAMES is making a real effort to include
some decent SF/Fantasy articles and coverage, with both Alex Stewart and
the stalwart Jim Webster having SF articles in forthcoming issues, so
watch
out for them; now if we all moan at Duncan hard enough, just MAYBE we
can
get some F&SF in Wargames Illustrated as well...!
Oh, one last thing on the subject of magazines - who else has scanned
the
newsagent's "top shelf" and noticed that this month's issue of Men Only
has
the words "FULL THRUST" in big letters on its cover?! We're not sure
whether to sue them for infringement of trademark or thank them for the
free publicity.... of course, we only bought a copy strictly for
reference
purposes.....

That's it for this issue - hope to see some of you around the shows.

All the best, Jon Tuffley and GROUND ZERO GAMES.

Prev: Re: Those Spiky Things Next: UPDATE & FALLOUT