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UK Games Expo

MCM Graham and I are off to the UKGE this weekend! No stand, though – we’re competing in the Bushido Grand Masters tournament along with a bunch of people from our area, many of whom have appeared on the Robot Dice Explosion podcast (now on Anchor.fm). I’ll probably be wearing either a Master Crafted Miniatures t-shirt or hoodie, or a Robot Dice Explosion t-shirt. I highly recommend a mid-tournament change of outfit! Come and say hi if you see me.

I’ll have a few soon-to-be released products with me and, if you have an order, I’ve added an event collection option to the checkout. If your order isn’t ready in time, shipping is free to UK & EU. EDIT: the workshop is closed on the 2nd, so all orders for collection at UKGE have now been packed.

Also, added some pads!

Cheers, Ben.

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Year of the Risen Sun

They’re finally here! Bushido Chits!

Many of you have been waiting a couple of months for me to finally publish these. Honestly, I was waiting until I had taken photos of each colour and material option, but have decided I’ll do that as I fulfil orders for each of those colours.

I’ve been working for a long time on a full set of Bushido chits (I refer to them collectively as chits due to counters, markers, and tokens each being distinct things in-game).

  • Markers Set: 48 double-sided Markers
  • Counters Set: 34 double-sided Counters
  • Tokens Set: 18 double-sided Tokens
  • Ki tokens Set: 35 double-sided Ki Tokens

Each is available in budget MDF, a selection of coloured acrylics and, my personal favourite, bamboo.

Each type of chit has a specific shape, to help identify them quickly in your storage container. Markers are triangular, counters are rectangular, and tokens are round. Many people, like myself, already use cheap Chinese New Year coins for Ki Tokens, so I’ve split them into their own set.
They are also all double-sided, to minimise the amount of time you spend looking for the one you need.
Translucent and fluorescent acrylic options will be available at a later date, but will have to be single-sided, for obvious reasons. You can also expect faction-specific sets to follow, though these won’t duplicate anything in this wave of sets.

I’ve bundled the sets together into the Chits Set, consisting of one of each set except the Ki Tokens, and the Megaset, which includes the Ki Tokens.

Bushido MDF Tokens Set
MDF Tokens Set

The MDF sets are line-engraved very simply, and are easy to read. They could be painted for additional clarity, of course.

The Bamboo sets are engraved with deeper and wider details and shouldn’t require any painting, thanks to the charring of the wood.


The Acrylic sets are engraved in the same way as the Bamboo sets but, without the charring, this doesn’t create the same clarity. I recommend painting these with a contrasting colour. The masking is left on to aid this. Any hobby paint will do. I experimented with spray-painting below, and that seemed to work, though you’ll want to do a couple of coats and may need to tidy a little with isopropyl alcohol or a similar solvent.

Bushido Player Aids

The much-delayed ZoC rings clip on to a miniature’s base to show a 180 arc to the front of the miniature, with a notch to show the front. These can be handy to adjust the arc during a game for those situations where a model’s weapon prevents proper alignment, or even if you just hate marking the arcs by hand.

Joining these are two card-sized plastic solutions for Kimiko Hoshi’s Ice Patch and Kaito’s Tilled Field, from the Minimoto Clan and Temple of Ro-Kan factions, respectively.

3D Alien Worlds Scenery

A few newly-added products. The rice barn is the first of the buildings . Farmhouses should follow in a month or so. Buildings like this do take a long time to print, so please bear that in mind when ordering.

I’ve also customised a host of ruined variations on the stone walls pieces. These ruined versions make the stone walls more usable for games played on smaller boards, such as Bushido.

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New Things!

First up, I’ve just completed a small restock on Maow Miniatures, and added the following new additions:

Next is something a little new for me. For the first time, I’m selling files for 3D printing. I’ve taken the Star God sculpt and made a bust version. I had to make a few small changes so that he will print without supports on an FDM printer. There are a couple of version of both his… face? and the plinth on which he sits.

I may offer this guy in resin in the future, if there is demand.

Below are some of my test prints of him, at 75% scale. Filaments used are Polyalchemy Elixir Silver, Fillamentum Vertigo Starlight, and Fillamentum Vertigo Galaxy. Printed on my Original Prusa i3 MK3 using the Pretty PLA profile (found here). 0.2mm layers, 3 perimeters, 10% gyroid infill.

Last of all, I made a remix of the 3D Alien Worlds rice bundles to make a terrain piece on a 50mm base, for use in Bushido, with the Rice Bail Barricade special card, upcoming in Risen Sun. This is 3D printed on-demand in light grey PLA.

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Accessories!

It’s been a long while since I introduced any new products and, this time, there are no new resin pads or other parts.

Instead, I’ve put a lot of time into designing these plastic movement trays for use with 25, 32, and 40mm bases. They take up minimal space on the board, becoming almost invisible compared to the ugly, chunky, laser-cut MDF trays I see at events and online. Bases are held in place internally by 3 tabs, and are able to be further secured by magnets, thanks to the ferrous rubber discs included. Resin bases can be used by clipping the tabs off and relying on a stronger magnet to hold them in place. A clear acrylic rod can be attached to make moving the trays easier.

They take paint well, but are provided in black or grey, so already blend in well for most people. I’d recommend 2mm thick magnets. 2mm diameter should be fine for most plastic miniatures, and 3mm diameter for resin bases, and heavier models. The acrylic rod can be push-fitted in a majority of cases, but I would recommend gluing it in place with super glue. Unfortunately, polystyrene cement won’t work with the trays.

The standard trays are available in 5x25mm, 5x32mm, 5x40mm sizes. For units with leaders on larger bases, there are also 4x25mm+32mm, and 4x32mm+40mm.

Additionally, I’ve released a set of two widgets designed to make the implementation of placement mechanics, such as Bushido’s Bodyguard, much easier. Each widget has cut-outs for bases sized 30mm, 40mm and 50mm. The straight edges of the widget can also be used to measure 1″ and 2″. Check out the photos on the product page to see how they are used.

Lastly, I’ve been stocking metal balls for mixing paint for a while now, but hadn’t announced them. Simply drop one into a paint pot or bottle to assist mixing.

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Scenery Drop!

Salute, over a month ago now, was a big success. Thanks to everyone who came by; it was great to meet customers old and new.

Those of you who visited the MCM stand will have seen these new releases already, and maybe even picked them up before the few I had brought were snatched up. I’ve finally managed to get them on to the store, though some are still in fairly limited quantities. I’m aiming to get some more moulds made this week, which will help me get stock levels up quicker.

The modular walls are currently available as set only. In the future, I aim to add them to the store separately, as well as introduce some new variations.