Made in Malaysia: Battlefront Factory Tour

Hi all. I'm Rob's wife, Sierra, and he asked me to do a guest spot on his blog. I've been playing Flames of War for years and always noticed that the products are made in Malaysia. So, when I planned a return to Kuala Lumpur this year, I arranged with Battlefront to tour their manufacturing facility. I was interested to know about the journey of Flames of War items from factory to game table.

I arrived at the factory in Shah Alam, just outside of Kuala Lumpur and spent about an hour with Jeff and crew as their first guest from the general public.

This plain door hides wonderful treasures within

Mat salleh is a Malay term used to describe a person of European decent.
Originally from Ohio, Jeff  has been running the facility in Malaysia for 7 years,
since it's relocation from New Zealand

General Manager Jeff Brooks and his associate Khairul gave me a very interesting tour. Jeff is a fanatical hobbyist and his enthusiasm for the industry really contributed to a great experience for me.

Some Dungeons and Dragons models 

One of the first things that I learned was that Battlefront manufactures more than the Flames of War line. Some of these I was already familiar with, some I was not:

• Flames of War miniatures, maps, terrain, tokens, display plates, and templates
• D&D miniatures (Battlefront has a Hasbro license)
• Gale Force Nine modelling and gaming accessories
• Spartacus board game
• Firefly board game
• Battlefield in a Box for both Flames of War and the Gothic line compatible with Warhammer 40k

They are also a third party distributor for Dust. They do not manufacture any of the items, but do inspect them. The rule books are printed elsewhere, as this facility is not setup for publishing.

Staff
The factory has the largest staff among the Battlefront locations, with roughly 100 staff. I was impressed to learn that the factory employs several hearing disabled women for work such as painting; approximately 20% of the staff. This makes Battlefront a popular local employer.

Metal Casting

Partial image of the vast mould library

All of battlefront's moulds and products are designed and made in-house. There is a huge mould library to house every model they have ever produced. The master moulds must be retained so that the moulds used in production are always referenced back to the originals. This ensures the models are consistently the same for each production run.

Circular one piece metal mould

Metal moulds are created as one circular piece so the end product has no seem lines and required no grinding. The metal moulds that Battlefront has designed also produce very little flash.

Spin casters use centrifugal force to create metal castings from a the mould

The mould is placed in the spin caster and then the metal casting material is poured into the mould. The centrifugal force of the spin caster forms and solidifies the item being manufactured. Air must escape during this process, and that is how flash (the extra material attached to a cast product that needs to be removed) is created. Battlefront's moulds are designed with small meandering channels throughout that let the air escape without creating a lot of flash for the end user to clean up. We really appreciate that, Battlefront!

Plastic Casting

The plastic models, introduced in July 2012 with the Panzer IV J Platoon, are cast in unbreakable silicone moulds. Silicone captures cleaner, finer details than the metal moulds and can even lift a fingerprint! The silicone moulding allows Battlefront to store their intellectual property digitally instead of relying on physical metal moulds.

The plastic resin is poured into the silicone mould so that the model is upside down. Since the silicone moulds don't break they can be used over again.

The plastic products are removed from the silicone moulds by peeling and twisting the mould itself away from the item cast within it. In this short video, I remove a German sd kfz 251/7d Pioneer from a silicone mould to illustrate how flexible and reusable this type of mould is.

The casting 'shelf' is removed before shipping

A grinding machine is used to remove the casting 'shelf'

When the model is removed, there is a bit of a 'shelf' at the bottom created from the casting process that must be removed. This is done with a grinding machine before submitting the model for final quality assurance.

The plan is to eventually move every product to plastic, however, the plastic models are not yet cost effective for mass production.  Since the silicone moulds are very expensive as opposed to the metal moulds, Battlefront must consider popular items to produce in plastic first, so they can recover the cost.

3D Printing
3d printing allows for rapid prototyping, but is not cost effective for mass production yet. Battlefront has experimented by designing a prototype type using a 3D printer, instead of sculpting it per their normal method of operation. Unfortunately, 3d printing cannot yet capture the details that a silicone mould can.

ID Boards

ID boards for some of the FoW tokens and dice sets

ID board for the BTR-50PK Vietnam era tank

 ID boards for all of the items manufactured here are located throughout the facility and are used to identify which items belong together. Staff refer to the boards to ensure that the proper items and quantities are packaged together in blisters and box sets.

Terrain

A kick ass gaming table in the main office

Hand painted vineyards

Latex paint is used for added durability and also lets the rivers retain the flex and self leveling that a polymer added to the resin allows

It was really cool to see how things were diligently hand painted. This totally changes my perspective when placing terrain on my game table, because I've seen how it's painted and appreciate the open and play aspect to the items even more now. 

Houses and natural terrain features are already painted and ready to play

There is an airbrush department as well that adds some finer details, such as current to rivers. 

Laser Department

Shiney! Customized artillery template in unique colour

The laser department produces tokens and other cool stuff, such as acrylic artillery templates, which are laser cut and etched here. You'll forgive me for forsaking the rest after Jeff and Khairul gifted Rob and me each with a personalized artillery template and a range finder!

Quality Assurance

The QA team checks over post-production items and moulds

A close up of one of the items the QA team was checking

Battlefront puts an experienced team on quality assurance to look over samples during a manufacturing run to ensure that there are no defects before the items are shipped out to customers.

Sealing and Packing

Most things have already been packed up as this is the tail end of this manufacturing cycle

Jagdpanthers nestled in their wrecked buildings, ready to be sealed and boxed

The card backs are sealed on one side with heat-activated glue

Jeff and Khairul demonstrate how the blister sealer works

Staff use ID cards to pack an Open Fire! box set and a Finnish Fokker CX

A model, already packed in a plastic blister, is cradled, open end up in the blister sealer, followed by the card back, glue side down. Once the drawer to the blister sealer is closer and the machine is activated, the card back is sealed to the plastic, creating a blister pack .

Distribution

This pallet is ready to ship to one of three distribution centres

While Battlefront is considered a relatively small operation, they nonetheless ship 50,000 to 60,000 units in a typical month, all made to order. Part of Jeff's job is order prediction; he must know what the distributors will need at the end of the 4 week manufacturing cycle. The factory deals in export only, so they do not conduct any sales. This is the only manufacturing location and is responsible for all of the painting, final assembly and shipping. The products are packed, wrapped onto pallets, and then shipped directly to their distribution hubs.

Shout out to WWPD! From left to right: Jeff, myself, and Khairul 

Thanks to Battlefront and John-Paul Brisigotti for letting me take a peek at the operations, and especially Steven MacLauchlan for arranging the tour. Much gratitude goes to Jeff and Khairul for taking time out during their work day to satisfy my curiosity. They spoiled me and even let me in on a little secret they will be doing with the box sets in the near future. It's going to be really fun!

First Desperate Measures game (FoW)

Last weekend my friend Daniel came over for an afternoon of FoW.  We played 3 games.  The first was an Eastern Front match up.  I played a PanzerKampfgroupe out of Desperate Measures and he chose a Heavy Self propelled Artillery Regiment out of Red Bear. Both clocking in at 1500 points.

 I brought a lone Tiger and managed to get 2 tiger ace skills.  Not the greatest ones but Ill take what I can get. (Clever Hans and For the Fatherland)

 I took Hans Rudel.  This guy is a blast!  If you get the chance to play him do it!  So much fun.  Hes quite a killer but is also very easily shot down by any AA.

Here is my CO who would be in Immediate ambush attached to the Hetzers in his PzIV70(A) 

 Daniels Soviets.  IS2 in the lead.  A company of ISU 152s and another of 122s supported by 4 76mm guns and an Assault Gun Recce Platoon. 

 The Mission was Hasty Attack.  I rolled to be the Defender. The 3 objectives were placed evenly across the table.  I couldnt remember the WWPD advice on objective placement and know I could have done this better.  As it was I managed to string out my Grenadier Kampgroupe to contest 2 of them.  

 Daniel then removed the one in the middle.  This would allow him to swing his focus and keep me divided if needed.

 Turn 1 my immediate ambush is placed in a reverse slope defence right behind the other objective.  Come get some!

 Rudel arrives and tries to give the Soviet CO a Rudel awakening!  He manages to only bail him though.

 Daniel, building off his Recce deployement move surges ahead with the Infantry.

 German Air Support swoops in and Rudels a ISU 122 with holes.

 Daniels artillery ranges in on my Grenadiers and manages to pin them down.

 The Hetzers play a game of shoot and scoot with the Soviet infantry.  Its crucial that I dont let his ISUs get a bead on them.  I know I shouldnt but I was relying on Stormtrooper alot here!

 The Hetzers are about to open up with some MG fire when the Soviets disengage around the hill.

 The ISU 122s take the center field.  They command most of the battlefield from here.  Only some low fences and fields to conceal their targets.

 Now these guys are scary!  Ive only got a strung out platoon of infantry protecting the other objective and 4 breakthrough guns rumbling in from reserves is bad news for them!

 Daniel has managed to get his observer into the church tower in the center of the field.  He now has a commanding view of almost the entire area.

 So far its been alot of cat and mouse or long range duels with me mostly hiding.  Turn 6 and I get my first reserve platoon of 3 PZIV 70s.  The first 6 turns flew by.  I think maybe an hour has passed.  

 And this is where is starts to get crazy.  The Germans have a good defence here.  But decide to try and pick apart the Soviet infantry and maybe even take down that IS2.

 Machine gun fire starts to take its toll.  A couple squads bite the bullet.

 Rudel decided to try and stop the 152 Advance.  But gets shot down by 50 Cal. Action.

 Daniel doubles the 152s in order to get them into Volley fire range of the dug in infantry.  He knows that he can wipe them out easily and also that he has to get closer to the germans in hopes of avoiding Rudel.

 Back on the other side the IS2 scores a hit and knocks out a IV 70.

 Return fire manages to Bail the IS2.

 The Hetzers continue to Hetz back and forth sniping the Infantry.

 An 8cm mortar decides it doesnt like Daniel have an Eye in the sky and smokes the observer in the church tower

 Having just moved at the double the 152s are just too juicy of a target for my waiting PAK40.  And I know that if I dont use it now it will be dead when the 152s fire on Daniels turn.  I roll double dice for shooting and manage to take one out!

 Back on the other objective I try to Stormtrooper back into a hull down position with my CO only to Bog on a roll of 1 as he backs up!.  Oh snap.

 The IS2 snipes another IV 70!  This leaves the platoon below half and will force a motivation test at the end of shooting step.

 As predicted the 152s mercilessly obliterate ever infantry and gun team they can see.

 Soviet Artillery scores a direct hit on a Hetzer!

 The lone Panzer IV70 decides to quit the battle, he gives the CO the middle finger before tossing a Molotov cocktail into his tank and running for it.

 Grrrrrr  Baby.  The lone Tiger ace arrives from Reserve with some nice lines on the 152s.

 In a duel of the COs the German commander scores a hit and destroys the IS2.

 The Hetzers manage to squeeze off a lucky shot and bail one of the 122s in the center field.

 Daniel knows he has to get the objective here. (The M10 wreck on the hill)  Only a pair of Grenadier stands are still left (Enjoy the war is awesome btw)  He maneuvers into firing range.

 The platoon leader of the Grens gets a lucky hit on the platoon leader of the 152s with a Panzerfoust!  This changes everything as now the Soviets cannot advance farther to take the objective.

 They blow up the remaining Grens with their volley fire.

 I move my Tiger to contest while also hiding from the charging 122s coming to take the objective.

 I know that I have to stop the 122s or they will surround and kill my Tiger.  Rudel is called in and he takes out another 122.  

 Back on the other side Daniel decides its now or never.  He charges towards the surviving tanks.

 Who manage to beat back the assault scoring the needed 5 hits to pin.  This was definitely a deciding roll for the fight over this objective.

 Rudel seals the deal and takes out the platoon leader of the last mobile tanks Daniel has capable of pressing the objective.  

Casualties were heavy on both sides and the game was very close.  4-3 minor victory for the Germans.