Aotrs Shipyards Release and Only-Games Update: QF-25 Pounder

[Aotrs Shipyards]

So, a slightly EARLY moderns release, for various reasons (not least being I can have a semi-holiday next week).

Before we get to the release, a general Aotrs Shipyards update. As I alluded to last time, Only-Games has basically come out of beta and that has brought with it the usual issues. (For those of you that don’t follow the Facebook page (though you should!) I basically had to re-do ALL the prices of all my models.)

But as of today, the materials select button is also back on the Only-Games webshop, and thus now my catalogue and all the models now have all the correct prices and links! (If you do find any errors or wrong links in the catalogue, please do let me know; my email is at the back!)

Also – most of the models formerly NATO have been moved to the US. As we’re starting to get national variants (see last month’s German M113s, I decided it would be better to be consistent. Putting stuff under NATO seemed like a good idea at the time ten years ago, but not now!

So, a light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, but its 2021, so it’s an oncoming train…

As I always say, I pride myself on being up-front with you guys.

The Shipyards is the only wargames collection on Only-Games right now; everyone else is RPG guys, and I’m told that not many of them have ever actually done the manufacturing side, so they have slightly different needs and expectations to the Shipyards, as after all, that’s a slightly different market. So the structure of the how the prices are set by us is more aimed towards that side. The way it works now is that Only Games take a proportion of the designated RRP (i.e. the price we as designers set), but that proportion is not accounted for in the manufacturing cost – which is, of course, what I based my mark-up on. And that I spent two days last week very carefully manually re-setting over 372 models… The net result of this is that, as they stand, the prices I have now don’t account for that proportion.

Now, Only-Games is fervently committed to doing right by everyone. One thing they are offering as an alternative is that is you have a subscription with them, they use that instead of the proportion of the price towards their own costs. Which means the sale price can thus be lower – i.e. at the current price level. Now, the thing is, while the subscription is very reasonable, it’s unfortunately still more than I can afford at the moment (i.e., it is more than the sales I make per month).

After a long conversation with the head honcho Alex (by co-incidence…), we have agreed that for the moment, the prices will stay as there are. (He was no happier at the prospect of having to put my prices up sharply than I was, bless his cotton socks.) I will be provided with some discount codes, to see if we can drum up some more sales, that I will be freely handing out at the next couple of conventions – Recon on 4th December and Hammerhead, 5th of March. After Hammerhead has had time to settle in (so end of March/April), we’ll take stock again. At that point, I’ll also hopefully finally have caught up so that Only-Games will have everything up on it as well.

If sales have improved to the point the subscription becomes a viable option, then the prices will remain where they are. Otherwise, they will have to go up, just so I’m making, well, any money on stuff I sell down the line. The raised prices would still be cheaper (and a better product) than Shapeways, so there’s that, at least. And as/when/if sales improve to the point the subscription becomes an option, I can re-evaluate again. It’s unfortunate, but, at the end of the day, it’s just a fact that stuff costs what it costs to make. But I wanted to give everyone plenty of advance notice, and explain the reasons why.

You may consider this a good excuse to splurge on the Shipyards now while it’s still cheaper – and hey, if everyone does it enough, it’ll stay cheaper!

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So, now that’s all said, let’s actually get down to the release itself, so you do have some more encouragement to part with your pennies. This month, I have for you the QF-25 Pounder (Cold War era), at 144th. In addition to the gun itself, there is a version being towed by the Bedford RL artillery truck, and the Bedford truck on its own, for when the gun is deployed.

No photos of the models, I’m afraid – like with infantry, the QF is right on the border of what the Prusa will manage (due to a combination of factors, not least in getting the supports off), and I couldn’t get a satisfactory print off. Thus these, like infantry, will be exclusive to the webshops.

QF-25 Pounder

The 25-pounder is modelled with four of the six (maximum) crew. The remaining crew would be ammunitions guys, and as such can be assumed to be with the ammunitions truck.

(I did not model that, as I figured even saddos like my partners at Manoeuvre Group would struggle to want to use ammo trucks in a wargame, but I remain open to the idea if there is interest.)

Only-Games price: £1.34 (Resin) Link Shapeways price: $5.60 (£4.04) Link

QF 25-Pounder (towed by Bedford RL)

Only-Games price: £4.10 (Resin) Link Shapeways price: $9.26 (£6.71) Link

Bedford RL Artillery Truck Only-Games price: £3.84 (Resin) Link

Shapeways price: $8.01 (£5.81) Link

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Special note, the 25-pounder is courtesy of a visit I made to Fort Nelson in summer; the pictures I took of the 25-pounders they had there are the primary sources used for the model. I still used a for other walkaround, because even as you get better, you always find there’s at least one shot you need to didn’t take, but my own photos, for the first time, did a lot of the work!)

I have queued up the releases for the next couple of months – the Ferret Mark 1 and Mark 2. I’m still working on getting the last bits of the back-catalogue revised and re-released; nominally after that I’m looking at the Challenger, but we’ll see how things pan out from here.

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