This is a piece I've been meaning to write for some time - New Zealand has a lot going for it, but easy access to toy soldiers isn't one of those positives! I intend to update this, as and when new info comes to hand, and hopefully it will make it a bit simpler for us all to spend our hard-earned pocket money on little men!
Locally
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The Toy Box, Queen Street, Masterton: This is the only place in the Wairarapa that sells Games Workshop products. They also have a decent selection of Army Painter products, and model railway stuff (for terrain building), plus plastic models (Tamiya, Italeri etc.) and Humbrol enamel paints. They can also get all the stuff sold on
Pixel Park (a NZ board games importer), which includes all the Fantasy Flight products - that's X-Wing, a bunch of roleplaying games, strategy board games and a whole lot more!
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Jaycar Electronics, Queen Street, Masterton: Just down the road from the Toybox, Jaycar has a very good selection of plastic model kits and train stuff, in various scales.
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Cwmglyn Farm and Middleton Model Railway: This is one that you may not have come across - I only found it because of my childrens interest in model trains (this place has several very nifty installations that you can actually get hands-on with). It's north of Masterton, just after the ANZAC Bridge, and clearly sign-posted. They also have a website
here. They have a very good selection of materials that can be used for terrain, and if you're a Flames of War or other small-scale historical player then the train stuff can often be used - HO scale is approximately 1:87 (close enough to the 15mm/18mm), and O scale is equivalent to 1:45 - pretty close to the 1:56/1:48 that 28mm is generally rated as.
Online in New Zealand
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Slave to Painting: These guys here are relatively new on the scene here. They're based out of somewhere down South, and I've personally found them very good to deal with. They have a very large range of lots of products - Games Workshop, Wyrd Miniatures, Privateer Press, Army Painter and more. They have a flat rate of postage in New Zealand of $5, and sell almost everything at less than RRP, as well as having regular sales. Have a look at them
here.
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Trademe/Sella/eBay: These are all good places to buy and sell. As always, when buying or selling second-hand the most important thing to remember is caveat emptor!
Online from Overseas
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Caliver Books: This is a pretty good website (find it
here), even though it looks like the design hasn't been changed since the early '90s. They have a reasonably good selection of most of the major wargames, from Spartan (Dystopian Wars), Games Workshop, Flames of War.....pretty much, if you want it, they've got it. The main reason I like this place is that all miniatures are post-free world-wide! Also have a really wide selection of books and historical references, but they are not covered by their postage-free offers.
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Defiant Gaming: An Australian website (
Defiant Gaming) recommended by Peter for Warmachine stuff.
I hope you find this information useful. If I've left off a site that you've used, or a shop that you go to, please leave a comment or email me on masterton.marauders@gmail.com and I'll update it.
James
