From Simon Bargery of Bolt Action Miniatures:
After five years of effort, the time has finally come for Paul and I to step down from the helm of Bolt Action. Our personal situations have changed drastically this year, giving us less and less time to focus on Bolt Action. As a result we’ve made an effort to find a new owner, someone capable and enthusiastic, someone who could pick up the baton and run with it.
We’ve been in discussion with a couple of extremely enthusiastic gentlemen through most of this year and have now agreed a deal.
The most important aspect from our point of view was that the Bolt Action name continued and that the quality was maintained, in terms of design, product and service. We believe that not only will quality be maintained through the new owners, it will be improved upon.
The good news is that not only will the quality improve, but so will the quantity. The new owners are committed to using Paul Hicks to create new figure ranges and also to the current line of vehicle and gun builders.
Paul and I will still be involved in Bolt Action. Paul will be busy sculpting new ranges (and completing existing ones!) and I’ll be contributing some gaming, painting and modelling articles.
We’re really excited to announce that Paul Sawyer and John Stallard of Warlord Games will be picking up the Bolt Action kitbag and heading for the combat zone.
Expect to see just a little bit of disruption as we transfer everything from our shed in Portsmouth to the plush surroundings of Warlord Games in Nottingham!
On behalf of us both I’d like to extend sincerest thanks to everyone who’s bought, painted and played with BoltAction figures. We’ve always appreciated your business, your feedback and your enthusiasm. Please continue to support the brand – I know there are some fantastic plans in place and both guys are massive WWII fans, so you can expect a great future for Bolt Action!
On a personal note Paul and I will both be involved with small future personal wargaming projects so we’ll still be hanging around UK and European shows, in a trade and gaming perspective.
From Warlord Games:
Warlord Games are delighted to become the proud new owners of Bolt Action Miniatures Ltd.
Adding Bolt Action’s splendid line of 28mm World War II miniatures and vehicles to our existing portfolio of hard plastic and metal 28mm Imperial Roman and Celt ranges is one that has excited Warlord Owners John Stallard and Paul Sawyer for months – they’ve certainly collected plenty of them over the years!
John Stallard of Warlord Games says “It will be business as usual for a while as with such a large and interesting range we will need some time to get our heads around it all”. Warlord plan to run the existing website as it is as well as manufacturing and despatching from their Nottingham HQ. “To the large and growing fans and customers of Bolt Action there should be minimal disruption, but if there is anything that anyone wants to know, please call us on 0115 978 4202 and we will do our best to answer your query”. John goes on to say “Filling gaps in the current range will be a priority before we embark on our plans for the future”.
Bolt Action have been in business for about 6 years and have built up an unrivalled product range thank to the previous owners, Simon Bargery and Paul Hicks. Both Simon and Paul aim to remain involved with Bolt Action with Paul continuing to produce great sculpts and Simon wanting to provide painting and gaming material for us.
Warlord Games’ Paul Sawyer says “The addition of the Bolt Action line to the Warlord Games stable is one which excites both myself and John as self-confessed WW2 enthusiasts (who isn’t?). This doesn’t mean a huge shift away from our current Imperial Roman and Celtic lines – far from it! We want to reassure our brilliant fanbase that we have big plans for both of those ranges still as well as adding even more to the Bolt Action line and continuing with our forthcoming English Civil Wars and Thirty Years Wars ranges.”.
Warlord want to thank Paul and Simon at Bolt Action (and their long-suffering partners, Toni and Kerry) for all their hard work in building this great range and look forward to working with them again in the future.
All enquires should be made to: info@warlordgames.com
Dan Hewitson
Tom Mecredy
Craig Nixon