Z4Miniatures on Holiday!

It's that fun filled time of the year again, and unfortunately, Z4Miniatures is on enforced leave. I will be away from 11th December 2008 all the way to 5th January 2009. Orders received will not be shipped until after the 5th, though all e-mails and queries will still be answered as usual.

Thank you to everyone that has supported Z4Miniatures through this year, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Carriers ahoy!

The Embassy-class Assault Carriers are the workhorse carriers of the Terran Diplomatic Corps. While TDC combat doctrine typically eschews the use of fighters in favour of missiles and heavy spinal weaponry, there are times when total obliteration of the opposing force would be considered a sub-optimal outcome, this is when the Embassy carriers come in. Each carrying six wings of cyberlinked fighters/small craft, they are able to conduct operations ranging from surgical strikes on enemy warships, to providing ground forces with aerospace support.






The Terran Diaspora Authority was birthed at the same time as the Terran Diplomatic Corps, in death throes of the old Terran Colonial Authority in its war against the Nemesis engines. While the Diplomatic Corps mandate was to police the Pax Humanus, the Diaspora was formed to spread the seeds of humanity throughout the galaxy, in the hope that Humanity would never be on the brink of extinction again.


Ranging at the edges of human controlled space with their massive cityships, the Diaspora are at the forefront of opening up new worlds for colonisation and exploration. When a colony is first established it is under Diaspora administration for its first decade, before it gains independence and enters the Pax Humanus.


Relations between the Diplomatic Corps and the Diaspora are never completely cordial, as it is often in these new colonies that troublemakers, revolutionaries and recidivists collect. When the local Diaspora forces are infiltrated with these undesirable elements, it is often then when incidents occur when Diplomatic fleets arrive to apprehend/quell disturbances. However, none of these incidents has ever led to a full on confrontation between these two factions of humanity, as at the very highest levels, it is understood that such a conflict would probably spell the end of the Pax Humanus.


Unlike the TDC, the Diaspora Authority makes wide use of fighters and small craft. This is due to the generally lower tech-levels present within the Diaspora fleets, and a correspondingly higher number of crazy wannabe heroes willing to speed off in the glorified missiles the public like to refer to as fighters. Cyberlinking is uncommon, and as such, most fighters actually contain a fully human pilot.


The main delivery system for these crazy wannabe heroes is the Shoji Stealth Carrier. Ubiquitious, cheap and produced in vast numbers in the cityship forges, the Stealth Carrier is the main ship of the line for the Diaspora, alongside the Nue-class Stealth Cruisers.

Wave 3 Release Offer!

Finally, Z4Miniatures has been able to release something which satisfies all those wonderful people who keep asking us:

Where are the carriers?

and

Where is my adversary faction!?

With Wave 3, both these questions have been answered to a certain extent (we hope). Z4Miniatures is proud to present the:

Embassy-class Assault Carrier for the Terran Diplomatic Corps fleet.

Shoji-class Stealth Carrier for the Human Diaspora Authority fleet

and an additional fleet deal:

Carrier Group (Assault) - One Embassy carrier and two Assault Cruisers

As always, there will be a limited time offer to commemorate this release. This time, the offer period is between now and Tuesday 18th November. Any orders placed during this period that contain the new ships (Codes: DS00006, CS00001, DS10013) will receive free ships up to the value of shipping that was paid. I need not let everyone know that this equates to FREE SHIPPING! The ships being given away are as follows:

Order value up to GBP9.99 - 1x Missile Destroyer OR 1x Heavy Destroyer

Order value GBP10.00 to GBP19.99 - 1x Beam Cruiser OR 1x Assault Cruiser

Order value GBP20.00 to GBP39.99 - 2x Missile Destroyer OR 2x Heavy Destroyer OR 1x Heavy Cruiser

Order values above GBP40.00 - Contact me with what you are interested in, and I'll customise the freebies accordingly.

Please note that this applies to the value of your *entire* order so as long as you have at least one of the carriers in it. Please tell me what ships you want in the "Additional Notes" section of the Paypal payment page (or by e-mail, or whatever other means you have of contacting me) or I will throw in whichever ships I feel most appropriate for your order.

All ships are in stock and ready for dispatch!

And again, thank you to everyone who has supported Z4Miniatures thus far, keep those ideas and encouragement coming!

We're back!

Another quick note to let everyone know that I am back and Z4Miniatures is back to business as usual.

Stay tuned, a new ship is coming soon...!

On Holiday!

This is just a quick note that Z4Miniatures will be on holiday between 19th July 2008 to 10th August 2008. Any orders placed during this period will only be processed when we get back.

Thank you for your consideration.

Wave 2 Pre-Orders

At long last, I am pleased to announce the second wave of ships for ZandrisIV miniatures, conveniently named Wave 2. The wave comprises the following vessels:

Harmony-class Superdreadnaught (the big black one in the photo)
Emissary-class Assault Cruiser
Edict-class Beam Cruiser
Contractor-class Missile Destroyer

As with the first, release, there is a special pre-order offer available for one week before the miniatures are due to arrive from the caster. The offer this time is slightly different from last time. All orders placed between now and Wednesday June 18th will receive FREE SHIPS to the value of shipping paid for the order. This essentially means you get FREE SHIPPING on all orders! The ships being given away are as follows:

Order value up to GBP9.99 - 1x Missile Destroyer OR 1x Heavy Destroyer
Order value GBP10.00 to GBP19.99 - 1x Beam Cruiser OR 1x Assault Cruiser
Order value GBP20.00 to GBP39.99 - 2x Missile Destroyer OR 2x Heavy Destroyer OR 1x Heavy Cruiser
Order values above GBP40.00 - Contact me with what you are interested in, and I'll customise the freebies accordingly.

This offer is open on all items in the entire online store, not just the new ships. To pre-order, just add items to the shopping cart as normal, and at checkout, indicate which free ships you want in the "additional notes" box. As the miniatures *will* be dispatched by the 18th of June, all pre-orders must be paid in full at time of ordering.

Thank you to all those whose support and encouragement have helped to make Wave 2 a reality!

Fresh Prototypes! - Beam and Assault Cruisers

The first two of the next wave of ships. Click on images for larger version.

Assault Cruiser
The standard TDC ship of the line, the assault cruiser packs a lot of firepower into a conveniently sized (cheap) hull. Mounting six turrets, including a super-heavy dual beam turret, the Assault Cruiser is almost as heavily armed, and faster than its heavier cousin the Diplomat.

Beam Cruiser
The beam cruiser was designed for only one thing, and one thing alone, unloading a massive amount of focused energy into one small area. Whether said area is the hull of an alien battleship, or the crust of a rebellious planet is not something the designers of this ship bothered to specify.

Size Comparison Chart.
From top to bottom: Assault Carrier, Diplomat Heavy Cruiser, Beam Cruiser, Assault Cruiser, Negotiator Heavy Destroyer, GZG NSL Lutznow Class Destroyer.

Assault Cruiser - Preliminary structure

A little update on the concept art. I have built up the basic structure of the Assault carrier. Details will still have to be added, but this is pretty much the final shape.

First batch of ships!

Today I received the first production batch of ships from the casters. I must say that GZG-Jon has not disappointed, the casts are clean and as far as I can see, have very little in the way of imperfections (outside of the normal mold-lines).

This does mean, however, that pre-order period has now closed for the Heavy Cruiser, Heavy Destroyer, and their associated fleet packs. A very big thank you to those who have placed pre-orders, and have expressed interest and support of the line up till now.

All ships are now in stock and will be shipped out as soon as orders are received.

New concept art!

Here is some of the concept art for the upcoming ships for the Terran diplomatic corps. The ships are, across from the top left hand corner:








i. Assault Carrier ~ 8-10cm


- The hangar bay runs down the length of the vessel, with landing bays along the sides.


ii. Engineering/Arsenal ship or Light Carrier ~ 6-8cm


- Central bay area contains the payload. Have yet to decide what the final payload will be, may be possible to have swappable loads.


iii. Proposed carrier design.


- The little boxes are all supposed to house a single fighter, which would be launched off like missiles.


iv. Light/Escort cruiser ~ 5-6cm


- Originally a destroyer, but lengthened to cruiser size, might be cut down again to produce a frigate.


v. Battleship ~ 8-10cm


- Inspired by the Kushan heavy cruiser in Homeworld.


vi. Command ship ~ 2-4cm


vii Hospital ship ~6-8cm








Construction of prototypes will begin soon. Expect to see a couple of these ships "in the plastic" soon.