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Ok the Prices have gone up .....But....
We did give you plenty of warning and many of you took full advantage of that and plied us with orders before the deadline. This have meant three huge shipments arriving in Thailand and enough figures to keep them busy until the end of July as well as stock units. I think it is fair to say that our turnaround times are improving. We still do hit the odd hic-up, and when we do it is frustrating all round, but on the whole our feedback shows us our service is continually improving, which is great to know.
Our next show will be Colours, but a large selection of our stock will be carried at other shows by Lancashire Games, who will soon be carrying out latest ranges including hand painted and hand finished generic flags for 28mm Napoleonic units, and our latest card mounted unbased 15mm units, painted to an exceptional standard just waiting for you to add to your forces without the problems caused by rebasing.
Salute and other news! Graham and I set off for Salute, quite honestly a little worried. All the talk in the papers about recession in the economy, people tightening their belts, and here we were in a hired van, heading for a London docklands hotel, for a show where the stands are not cheap, with boxes of stock newly arrived from Thailand, carrying the newly increased freight costs, for fuel, flying through a war zone, green taxes etc etc .... just what would the next day bring? Well we should not have worried. Not only were we able to meet uo with many existing customers at the stall, but we also met many new faces, who not only bought from stock, but also went off bought unitsand armies, and left them with us to send over to Thailand for painting. And in the weeks since the show we have received a large number of stock and painting orders. Salute then proved this year to be our most successful show ever thanks to you. And we also received many suggestions about what stock to carry, and how our service may be improved. One that we have listened to and pondered from previous years is the sale of unbased units. We have looked at the practicalities of this, and hope within a couple of months to be able to present a range of units for sale to meet this demand. You only have a few weeks to get your orders in to beat the price increase. I know this is unwelcome, but basic figure prices rose steadily over the last year, as did paints, brushes etc. Inflation in Thailand is running at about 8%, and our staff will be receiving a pay rise of course. Shipping costs have gone through the roof thanks to World fuel prices and the fact the Middle East is considered a "war zone", and finally Sterling has dropped in value against the Baht, so I am sorry but we have no choice but to put up prices. Getting Bigger, and smaller, all the time Wargamers are a funny bunch, just as we get settled into producing high quality 28mm and 15mm units, consistently to the standards that you demand, a number of you decide to drop down to 10mm scale, and drive our painters up the wall learning a new set of skills.
40mm Front Rank - £13.50 per figure Then you demand larger scales, with 40mm Greeks from Flashing Blade, and AWI troops from Front Rank, not a problem says manager Walter, our painters revel in the detail of these larger figures, and they enjoy the intricacies of the castings. So as a reward one of our regular customers decides to refight the Franco Prussian War in 6mm and orders 5000 figures to start with! Well you certainly cannot say our staff are not flexible!
Lancashire games carried our stock over to Sheffield Triples, and Graham was over there on Saturday glad to meet so many of our customers. Lancashire Games will be carrying a good selection of our stock to most UK shows, while we will have our own stand at Salute, and at Colours, where we will be happy to chat about your ideas and requirements.
Flashing Blade 40mm - £12.50 Hoplites, £10.50 Peltasts Our range of boxed 10mm Napoleonics and 40mm Greeks are available now, and the 40mm AWI will be on sale at Salute, where we also hope to have a selection of hand painted and finished flags available.
Full stock lists can be found for 15mm, 10mm, and 28mm, Napoleonics, 15mm ACW on the relevant pages.
A small range of fully rigged ships are now available from £99 each. Full painting and rigging service available
Front Rank Highlanders
Austrian Artillery
Magister Militum 10mm
AB 15mm
The Wild West painted in the East!
We also received reinforcements for our Really Big Battalion project. We are producing an early C18th British Battalion on a 1:1 scale, using the brilliant models from Lancashire Games. Please report any broken links or errors to bigbattalions@yahoo.co.uk
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Flags Now Available
We have been asked and asked by customers if we will produce flags to accompany our units, and in the past we have directed enquiries towards GMB products, who still in our opinion produce the widest range, and very high quality flags for the wargamer. Even so we have yielded to pressure and the first of our flags are now available. These are 28mm scale computer printed from our own hand painted originals, and are then finished by hand painting and shading. They are mounted on staffs, ready for you to glue into place. French flags are £3.85 each, British £4. Hand painted flags to your specifications are available from £10 each.
These initial releases cover British and French Napoleonic Infantry. These flags are generic, in that they do not have unit numbers, so you can add these yourself to suit your collection. The French have a variety of battle honours in place. Please e mail for details while I prepare a list of flags available.
Units for Sale We are updating details of in stock in the meantime e mail bigbattalions@yahoo.co.uk with your requirements.
Who are we? What do we do?
Big Battalions was conceived during a discussion between veteran wargamers Graham Campbell and John Sharples. Graham is, and has been for most of his life, a figure collector, purchasing large numbers of well painted models for his extensive collections. John is a wargamer, as happy to use his own averagely painted troops for games as he is Graham's showcase standard legions.
Both though were finding difficulties, John's sight was going blurry, and Grahams wallet was slimming down because of the cost of finding well painted models in the UK. To get the best he was paying between £5 and £10 a figure, in addition to the cost of the model and this was over 5 years ago!
The idea grew then to start a small workshop in Thailand (where Graham spends half the year, and hopes eventually to retire) to paint their own stores of castings in drawers and boxes throughout their houses. As the word spread, other gamers asked if they could take advantage of the service, so Big Battalions was born!
Initially the company produced ready to use, high quality, painted wargames units, sold to be transferred directly to the tabletop. This has proven to be highly popular, and these units are now sold in professionally produced packaging allowing the customer to examine the unit in detail prior to purchase.
Big Battalions has now grown in size and reputation to become one of Europe's foremost wargame and model soldier painting services, unrivalled in quality, and affordable in price. Now every gamer can have access to exceptionally well painted armies without breaking the bank!
Big Battalions is the trading name of Siam Painting Services (UK) Ltd, who deal with sales in Europe. Siam Painting Services is the Thai company which produces our finished figures, and also deals with direct sales to Australasia and the USA.
Big Battalions attends a number of major wargame shows in the UK and Europe throughout the year. This enables potential customers to get a hands on viewing of our units, and also for our growing number of regular customers to come and chat about their plans, and how they would like to see Big Battalions develop, and what we should stock. We don't promise to always adopt these ideas, but we do always listen A selection of our stock is also carried by our friends at Lancashire Games, who are present at the majority of large shows up and down the country. So we hope to see you soon!
Samples They have been requested for some time and are now available in limited quantities. You may obtain a 28mm sample figure for £5 (£6 Europe), and a 15mm figure for £2.50 (Europe £3) including postage and packing. This cost can be recovered on a subsequent order of £100 or more.
Who are We? Big Battalions is the trading name of Siam Painting Services (UK) Ltd, and is the sister organisation with a Thai based company. We have no connection with a wargaming Group called Big Battalions who have presented some excellent display games at shows throughout the country. However both John Sharples and Graham Campbell, the company Directors have presented large scale, award winning, wargames demonstrations up and down the country since 1970.
John with Rick Since wargaming has become a business interest for John, previous editor of Wargames Forum, he has discovered a new hobby. the homicidal game of lacrosse that he now plays, referees and coaches throughout the year in the UK and in Europe.
Third World Some of our customers have made us aware of comments made by certain people regarding our company, and accusing us of of exploiting Third World poverty. Well we are not sure if these comments are made from malice or ignorance, but either way this is simply not true. Thailand is one of the Pacific Rim "Tiger Economies" and far from the traditional view of a Third World nation.
New Year Celebration Yes our staff do not earn the same salary figures as most workers in the UK, but then again their costs of living are substantially lower, such are the aspects of a Global Economy.
To be clear, our staff are able to earn a monthly salary equivalent to that of teaching or bank staff. Their working conditions and premises are amongst the best in the city, and we are continually being approached by potential recruits. Not really a portrait of classic exploitation!!!
The partners in the company are committed to the welfare of our workers, John having been a trade union official for over 20 years insists on stringent health and safety rules and family friendly working conditions, previously unheard of in the city. While Graham has spent a lifetime working in the legal profession, and insists of the unholding of laws and regulation. So buy with a free conscience!
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