Terence Gunn has written a history of Grenadier Models, which includes interviews with many of the big names from the much loved company. Pre-orders available now on ebay, as he is apparently distributing it himself- we haven't seen a copy but you can email Terence with questions or a get a sample page from the book if you email the address at this link.

Another company is added to the list of those punting old Grenadier figs, and this time it looks like most of the back catlogue will be available (including some figures we hadn't even heard of). Italian vendor Miriliton will be knocking out much of the Grenadier back catalogue through its international subsidiaries (including Vexilia in the UK and MirilitonUSA in, er, the USA). Quality of casts we will update you on, as these are doubtless very old molds (they'll be the old Nemo ones), after all there is a reason Companion and em-4 are taking a while to re-release the ranges, but the price lists we have seen are definitely favourable.

FU!UK thanks area23 for pointing out our latest link, a Skav #kofkof# Ratfiend army list for FW, written by Guy Dawe for Ragnarok, the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers journal. Sadly its the only FW article currently online there.

It also seems that another company is licenced to produce old FW figs, as Companion Miniatures (no website) are punting out the old Copplestone barbarians and have the Dark Elves, Wood Elves and Half-Orcs to go (nice)... thats more action than we've seen from em-4, who seem a bit quiet on the subject...

The em-4 project to resurrect the Grenadier line of miniatures seems to have stalled somewhat, with only the old orcs and dwarves currently available (pre-painted only, despite promises to the contrary). Whats more Companion Miniatures are already producing the old Copplestone barbarians (which were supposed to be em-4's first release) and are looking to move on to the elves and half-orcs (of which the elves at least were also supposed to be high on em-4's release list).

Ace artist Holger, however, does recall painting some High Elves for em-4, but could not identify them with any of the ex-Grenadier figs. Curious!

What does this mean for the future of FW, with a 2nd edition already established (but only in Italian), the Naran version, also Italian, and your own FU!UK dudes getting close to launching their own house rules and amendments on these pages (maybe)..? Maybe an English 2nd edition, or an all new 3rd edition which takes the best of everything?

Stay tuned for more info frothfans...

We've found a crazy bunch of Italian counterparts, frothing away over Fantasy Warriors in their native tongue! "Nick Lund's Fan Team" comprises of SANDRO "the dark elf Lord Darth Sandr" and SERGIO "the Dwarf Lord of the Bears" have created their own FW compendium, PLUS another three compendia with associated rules, maps and background for their own campaign world, Naran, and all for free on their website... I think you know we're talking high octane froth potential here.

We'll be attempting to bash as much of the Naran source material into English as we can... meanwhile engage your Italian translation software and bang on over to Naran for an afternoon! See their (Italian) website here.

Nemo Miniatures, the miniatures arm of Stratelibri, has sold Grenadier's old Fantasy Warriors moulds to em-4 miniatures (who brought you Oriental Blades and Combat Zone). This is something of a return home for the FW miniatures range, as Doug Cowie (who runs the company) was part of the original team that brought us FW in the first place!

Doug had this to say to us:

You heard it here! Thanks a lot Doug, good luck with the FW range and other em-4 projects.

• There is a new Quality called Leggendaria (legendary, I would imagine) above Elite. From the looks of it you still get +2 on psychology tests etc., but you also get the combat edge when fighting Elites.
• Psychology tests are now 2D6, although the battle leader test and save throws are still 1D6 jobs.
• It looks like the Rout result now has an effect where troops do remain on the table if the unit was over 50% of its original number. The starts to flee for its own table edge, but can be Influenced out of the Rout by a Warchief or Battle Leader.
• Command tests don't look like they will apply to units/commands with no Line of Sight to the event that causes the test, or that are in combat(!). Looks like the Command Test is 2D as well, indeed might just be a normal psych test (with additional modifiers possibly).
• Looks like version 2 will introduce 'special abilities' for units. I can make out a variant on one of our house rules regarding troops having a different Quality in Hand to Hand and Missile). Also I can see Impetuous units that get a free move at the beginning of the battle (30cm/12"), 'Ferocious' units that automatically make their Hand to Hand opponents disorganised (very handy against pikemen), 'Furies' or something (probably berserkers) that get a second attack for every 'kill' they inflict (there are others too).
• Rules for sieges are included... Boiling oil and everything!
• 'Spheres' of magic are in, listed as: Fire, Water, Life, Earth, Dead women (most likely death/necromancy!) and Air. There is also a list of 'common' spells.
• There is a section devoted to a creature called (according to babelfish) "It dredges", I'm thinking 'Dragi' must actually be dragons. Appears to be lots of special rules for these big bullies.