The Collectors Showcase has been producing high quality tanks as part of their collection for three years now, primarily focusing on the German side of WWII. They have now started to add focus to producing the more American tanks and soldiers. As a part of their upcoming release, Collectors Showcase is releasing two varients of a M8 Stuart Howitzer Tank. They are releasing a Winter version and a Normandy version of the M8 Stuart Howitzer. Each military miniature M8 Stuart Howitzer includes one extra thrown track, so that the M8 can be displayed as running or disabled. Also includes 3 soldiers and a full turret interior. Each piece is listed for $155.00 USD available for pre-order at www.BgsToySoldiers.com. This set is limited to a run of 300 vehicles.
Also as part of Collectors Showcase's February 2010 release, they are releasing the Mosby Cavalry pieces described in this newsletter and a Napoleonic French Artillery line with Cannons available. All available for pre-order at www.BgsToySoldiers.com.
The M8 Stuart Howitzer also known as the M8 Scott and Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 was designed on the General Stuart VI, M5 light tank. The M5 turret was replaced on the M5 on the M8 Howitzer and an open top turret was used in the design with a 75mm M2 Howitzer gun mount. The M8 Stuart Howitzer was also armed with a .50 cal machine gun, seen in the model above. The M8 Stuart was used throughout WWII by allied forces. The M8 Scott also saw action in the First Indochina War.
Reserve your Collectors Showcase M8 Stuart Howitzer today at www.BgsToySoldiers.com
Blackhawk Toy Soldiers has announced their new release for this upcoming year. As many Blackhawk Toy Soldier collectors know, last year they focused on their Roman Carthage Battle Collection and their German SS Collection. This year, Blackhawk Toy Soldiers will be adding a Templar collection. They are doing 19 pieces in their initial Templar collection. The first 9 figures are available for pre-order on our site and will be available for shipment at the end of 
February. Pictured above is BH0501 - The Battle, which is listed at $160.00 USD. Also coming to the Templar collection by Blackhawk Toy Soldiers are:
BH0501 - The Battle - $160.00
BH0502 - Hugh of Payns, 1128 - $30.00
BH0503 - Bernard of Clarivaux, 1090-1153 - $42.00
BH0504 - Templar Cloister - $55.00
BH0505 - Gerard of Ridfort, 1184-1189 - $78.00
BH0506 - Guardian - $30.00
BH0507 - The Holy Grail - $44.00
BH0508 - The Accolade - $75.00
BH0509 - After The Battle - $109.00
BH0510 - Templar Sergeant - $30.00
BH0511 - Fatimid Caliphal Guard - $30.00
BH0512 - Hand to Hand Combat - $75.00
BH0513 - Salah Al Din - $30.00
BH0514 - Jacques of Molay, Templar Grand Master - $30.00
BH0515 - Phillip IV "The Fair" - $42.00
BH0516 - Phillip IV "The Fair" Guard - $30.00
BH0517 - Death - $30.00
BH0518 - The Executioner - $30.00
BH0519 - Jacques of Molay Burned at the Stake - $30.00
The first 9 figures are available today for pre-order at www.BgsToySoldiers.com. We will list the remaining figures soon.
The Collectors Showcase is releasing 5 Cavalry figures in their upcoming release designed after John Mosby and the 43rd Battalion, 1st Virginia Cavalry. John Mosby served for the Confederate army from 1861 to 1865. John Mosby started the war assigned to the monted rifle company of Virginia volunteers. After the First Battle of Manassas, John Mosby was re-assigned to Stuart's cavalry scouts, under J.E.B. Stuart. It was not until 1963 that John Mosby was granted permission from General Lee to form the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, a regiment of rangers in Northern Virginia. Mosby and his rangers carried out a number of successful raids throughout the remainder of the war throughout 
Virginia, causing major disruptions in the Union supply chain. It was Mosby's rangers that carried the surrender documents and orders of the Confederacy at the end of the American Civil War to Appomattox Court.
Pictured here is Mosby himself - CS00384. Order all 5 today, they include:
Mosby - CS00384
Mosby Flagbearer- CS00385
Mosby Bugler - CS00386
Mosby Shooting - CS00387
Mosby Attacker - CS00388
Collectors Showcase has done 5 Cavalry figures of John Mosby and his rangers. Each figure retails for $65.90 and is available for pre-order from www.BgsToySoldiers.com.
Figarti has just released the Hermann Goring 251/17 motorized Anti-aircraft gun, which is limited to only 100 pieces and retails for $289.00. The piece is in stock, and will be available on www.BgsToySoldiers.com this weekend. If you have been waiting on this piece, please let me know via email, as I am sure once they are up on the site it will be hard to get one before they sell out. Here is a little information about the piece posted by Figarti:
"As the war progressed, the Germans found themselves getting more and more desperate for motorized anti-aircraft guns that could keep up with their fighting units. One solution was the mounting of a 2 cm FlaK 38 gun inside the modified armoured hull of a Sd. Kfz. 251 halftrack. Adding to its Ą°Road to RomeĄą line that focuses on the WWII Italian Campaign (Ą°RMAĄą for Allies and Ą°RMGĄą for Axis), Figarti Miniatures proudly introduces its Ą°Hermann Göring 251/17Ąą (Item # RMG-010) with four crew figurines manning the gun. Done with an attention to detail, the Figarti 251/17 Ausf. C has a detailed transmission, fine width indicators made from brass, and painted with the white circle with red tab used by the Hermann Göring Division to identify a flak unit. The flak crew wears various Luftwaffe tropical uniforms and camouflage smocks with the distinctive Luftwaffe eagle over the right breast. Only 100 sets of this livery will be produced."
Get your Figarti pieces from www.BgsToySoldiers.com. You can email me any pieces you are interested in prior to their release, to help ensure you get each piece you are interested in. We do not put them up for pre-order, as we are not 100% sure what quantities we will receive of each new release. We will get more then we have in the past going forward, but we are still limited to only 5 to 6 of each new release, as Figarti has now went to a very limited quantity release structure.
Figarti has just released a Desert Sherman MKII, 8TH-006. This piece is limited to 100 pieces and retails for $189.00. We will be putting the piece up on www.BgsToySoldiers.com in the next few days. Here is what Figarti has posted about this piece:
"The first Sherman tanks to see combat in WWII were the petrol engined M4A1, known to the British as the General Sherman Mk II. Responding to the wishes of collectors, Figarti Miniatures proudly adds to its North Africa line by introducing the "Desert Sherman Mk II" (Item # 8TH-006) with a single tank commander 
figurine. Painted in the markings of Squadron C, 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, 2nd Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, the Shermans of this regiment were known for their marksmanship with one gunner personally congratulated by General Montgomery for destroying nine enemy tanks on a single day. Displaying an attention to detail, the Figarti Desert Sherman Mk II has the distinctive early M3 type bogies, M34 gun mount, spoked road wheels, and bolted three piece transmission cover. In addition, Figarti has added the features unique to British Shermans serving in North Africa, including sand shield, blanket box, recognition pennants, and the brackets and rails along the hull to accommodate a sunshield. Their existence a secret at the start of the Second Battle of Alamein, the British Sherman tanks used a large tent like sunshield painted to look like a 3 ton lorry to disguise them from enemy aerial and mountaintop observation. Only 100 sets of this livery will be produced."
Thomas Gunn Miniatures has just released 3 new Fallschirmjager sets for their German WWII military miniature collection. Pictured here is the TGM-005, PAK38 with 2 Fallshirmjager Crew members. This set comes in two paint schemes, the Normandy and the Tropical versions. Also released in this latest release are - FJ Mortar set with War Correspondent TGM-004 and Add on PAK - TGM-006. All sets retail for $85.00 USD. We also have TGM-002 and TGM-003 still available. Thomas Gunn Miniatures limits all their pieces to a small quantity. in each release. For those of you that don't know, Thomas Gunn Miniatures creates 60mm 1:30 scale, hand crafted and painted military miniatures. They are a relatively new company, but their pieces are very similar in style and quality to King and Country.
The PAK38 was developed for the German military in 1938 to replace the PAK 36. The PAK 38 was a German anit-tank gun featuring a 50mm gun capable of penetrating the 45mm armor of the T-34 Soviet tank. The PAK 38 was introduced to the German military in 1940 and saw its first combat in 1941 in the Western front during Operation Barbarossa (The war effort versus the Soviets by the German army). The PAK 38 was replaced by the PAK40 which featured a 75mm gun, but the PAK 38 was used by the German military till the end of the war in 1945. The PAK 38 used an armour-piercing, composite rigid ammunition with a tungsten core, known as Panzergranate 40, in order to penetrate the armor of heavier tanks.
Order your Thomas Gunn Miniatures today at www.BgsToySoldiers.com
