Studio Sparta

Spartan Games has started a new design studio within their larger organization.  This production house is called Studio Sparta.  The plan is for Studio Sparta to be the means to release some boutique lines or one off models that don't really fit the mass production model.

Commission work - Saurus

In addition to the demons I also put together a unit of sixteen Warhammer Saurus Warriors.  These are old models and they are showing their age.  They are good looking but the difference between them and the new demons is huge.

Good looking, but simple.

Battle Report - Harad vs Easterlings and Nazgul

The last club night was another three way game.  This one was between Jonathan and his brother Chris vs me.  They each came up with a 300 pt list and I fielded 600 pts.  Chris had his Easterlings, led by Amdur the  Unkilling.  (I call him that because he has yet to kill another model in a game.  Not one.  Not ever).  Jonathan had been playing around with low model count armies so he brought the Witch King on Fell Beast and a cave troll.  I was fielding my Harad with the Betrayer switched out for Bob (the budget Nazgul) and a banner.

The battle line is formed.  Lots of heroes hanging out together, heroically, in the back ranks.

Mantic Zombies

Several months back I bought twenty random Mantic sprues for 20 quid.  A couple of months later I supported the Mantic Kickstarter campaign, and walked away with an undead starter army, which arrived last week.  Four of the sprues, out of my 20, were for undead.  The first one I assembled was the six zombies, for no more reason than, hello, they're zombies!

Commission Work

My hobby output is going to be dropping off here for the next couple of weeks.  I'm assembling a Warhammer Demons army for a guy at the local shop.  He makes his living painting armies for people.  In fact, he had so much work he raised prices to lower demand, and just ended up making more money.  Assembly takes a lot of time, but not much skill, so is not a great use of his time.

I enjoy assembly and get either money or models out of it.  My Harad army was paid for by a commission to assemble a giant empire army.  What this means is that for the next couple of weeks I'll be spending my hobby time putting together other people's models instead of working on my own stuff.

I just completed 60 Pink Horrors.  In case anyone wants to know what a nightmare looks like, this is it.

60 Pink Horrors. 

This is a whole lot of waving arms.

Sci/Fi Monday - Gruntz card building

Gruntz is my current ruleset for 15mm sci/fi.  Having said that, I haven't played a real game of it yet, but that's beside the point.

Gruntz uses cards to depict the units.  The cards have all of the stats and can have a picture as well.  You can play without the cards, of course, it is a mini game not a card game, but the cards make it a lot easier.  There has not been a good way to make unit cards.  Some people create them in PhotoShop.  Some use Xcel, some use PDF forms, word templates, etc.  All fiddly and not very user friendly.

Looking sharp, but very fiddly to build.

Battle Report - Gondor vs Corsairs

Two weeks ago Tony and I played another game of LotR.  He brought his Corsair army, which includes the Shadow Lord.  His special rule is that all shooting at targets within six inches needs sixes to hit.  This pretty much makes my Harad army an overpriced light infantry force.  With that in mind I pulled out my Gondor, which I haven't played with in the new rules.  This game was a straight up brawl, first one to 25% loses.

Faramir's scouts had reported a raid, by Corsairs, moving up the Anduin.  When he finally made contact he found that they were accompanied by the Shadow Lord and his guard of Black Numenorians.  He was still sanguine about the results.  He had brought a strong force of his veterans from Osgiliath as well as a company of his rangers.

The Battlelines meet.

Fanticide by Alien Dungeon

There is yet another miniature skirmish game coming our way.  This seems to be the flavor de jeur, probably due to the recession, but who knows.  Games like Infinity and Malifaux show the popularity of skirmish games.  They don't require very many miniatures, though usually lots of terrain.  The minis are, generally, expensive but beautiful.

The cover doesn't do a lot for me, but look at those names on the front there.

Truthfully, the market is saturated.  So why am I even bothering to bring up another one?  This is why:

 The rules have been developed and written by Rick Priestly, Alessio Cavatore, Andy Chambers and Ernest Baker.

So, yeah.  Sign me up as interested.  Those are some high powered names right there.  I'll definitely be following the development of Fanticide with interest.

They also have a Facebook page and a blog.

Since I typed this up they have also added a Kickstarter campaign.  I'm not sure if I'll support this one or not.  It will be a great way to get the rules/cards for less than retail.  You can also get good deals on armies if you are interested.  If nothing else, they have most of the information on the game in one place, on this page, so it is a convenient place to find everything in one long scroll.

Terrain Manufacturer Links

This post covers Terrain manufacturers.  These are products that interest me.  Where I have used them, it will be noted.

15mm Sci/Fi Manufacturer Links

My links have gotten a little bit out of control.  In order to remedy that I'm creating link posts that will go under a page tab at the top of the blog.  Click on the page tab for links, click on the genre you are interested in and there they will be.  Boom!  Bob's your uncle.  Nice, clean and organized.

This week will be the 15mm Sci/Fi Manufacturers.  I've actually been keeping these on another page, but this will be a lot easier.

(edit)  Barks gave me a list of several others I hadn't heard of.  I was not able to find Armies Army but the rest are below.  I have Oddzial Osmy under fighting 15's.  There is also a US distributor and if I can find them again I'll add that link.  Thanks Barks.

(edit 2)  I added Black Cat Bases with their new releases (28 August 2012)

Bones Kickstarter

There is yet another Kickstarter campaign going on that I was unable to resist.  I should really block the URL so that I can't even get to it.  As the title suggests, this is the Bones Kickstarter from Reaper Miniatures.  The value of this campaign makes it, pretty much, a no brainer.

Federation Marine AIFVs

I recently placed an order with CMG for three of their mercenary Bastion AFV's.  The Traveller also ordered a platoon of Protolene scouts, his first miniatures purchase.  As soon as we can get those based we'll be in a position to throw down some Gruntz.

The three Bastions will support my Federation Marine Corps infantry, serving as one platoon of a Light Armored Recon company.  More details on that later.

Bastion Grav AIFV with canon and heavy machine gun.

Dux Brit Player's Notes

TooFatLardies have released some player's notes for Dux Brit.  They serve as a quick start explanation of the rules.  They are useful enough that I would recommend having them available as you read through the rules.  You can just glance over, "did I read that right?".  "Yup."

The cover art, because pictures make blogs better.

Hawk Wargames Newsletter

Hawk Wargames, makers of Dropzone Commander, put out a weekly (or so) newsletter.  There have been some complications with their initial production and this has caused some angst among eager customers.

This week's Newsletter lays out the reasons for the delays in product and the small number (two) of distributors.

As far as I'm concerned this is a class act.  They are upfront about the issues and what they are doing to fix them.  This company has been one man and his girlfriend.  That he has accomplished all that he has is amazing.  I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of the rule book this year, and models next year.

We wargamers tend to think of games company's as giant GW size corporations, or at least as medium sized businesses with a couple of dozen employees.  The truth is that most companies, especially in the smaller scales, are just one or two people.  Folks can rant and rave but it is what it is.  If you want a company to get bigger, push their game, buy their products and get them the money to expand.

Additionally, there is a new review of the game, in some detail, located here.  If you've been thinking about it, read the review.

Sci-Fi Monday - Caliphate drop ship

The Caliphate of Martel, much like the Federation, uses mostly imperial designs.  Their standard small drop ship, carrying a squad, is the Sabre design, called the Scimitar in Caliphate service.  The Scimitar is the most common assault dropship model for Caliphate light infantry formations.

The Scimitar.  This is about the size of a current Blackhawk.

First Mini Ever - Part 2

In this post here I narrated the story of Rhys' first mini.  He has finally finished painting it.  I dull coated it today so it is as ready as it is going to get.

"The Master" in all his glory.

Sand Vipers

I have completed the two Sand Vipers for my Caliphate Infiltration Battalion (Rebel minis Sahadeen and Vipers).  As stated before, these are great little models that go together quickly, paint easily and look great.

Sand Viper of the Caliphate of Martel

Sci/Fi Monday - Terrain

My foray into 15mm is very recent, this year in fact.  As such I had no terrain for this scale.  Everything was scaled for 28mm.  When it comes to hills and trees, this is not a huge problem.  Man made structures, on the other hand, have to be the right scale.

I have been, slowly, adding to my 15mm terrain.  On the fourth of July GameCraft Miniatures had a 20% off sale and I jumped on the chance to add some 15mm buildings to my table.

On August 1st my order arrived and the fun began.

The possibilities are endless.

Dux Brit arrives

Dux Britanniarum from TooFatLardies was released this last week.  I'm still waiting for my hard copy and cards (and free miniature) but I was able to download the PDF and have a read through.  Here's my initial thoughts.

Battle Report - Harad and Isengard vs Wood Elves

Last night was the Thursday night club night.  As so often recently, we only had three players.  Since we had two good and one evil we decided to have Tony and I split our armies in half, each fielding 300 pts vs Jake's 600.  We rolled up a meeting engagement.  This scenario is a kill 'em all battle.  It was bloody and unpredictable with some awesomely funny moments.

This is near the end of the game.  The Elves have done surprisingly little in combat up to now.