Back on Track…

After a long hiatus due to health and life issues I am finally getting back to regular painting and actually enjoying some gaming. I recently found out that one of my work colleagues was nuts about wargaming, even more than me. He has introduced me to a local club here in Salisbury and I have introduced him to “Dominion Wars”. How could he resist epic scale gaming with big Mechanica. That’s right he couldn’t, and I am glad to report there is growing interest from other club members.

I am also glad to say the development of the “Dominion Wars” rules has continued at a pace since the show at Hammerhead with new members to the Facebook page steadily increasing. If you haven’t done so already come say hello and download the current Beta edition of the rules, which now include full lists for Novan Marines, Cybershadows and Novan Regular forces.

There has also been several additions to the Vanguard Miniatures 3mm and 6mm ranges with the miniatures from the successful crowd funder campaign now available via the store. The 3mm Novan Regulars are due to released shortly, you may also want to check the new 3mm gothic buildings specifically being designed by Gregstar’s Lab.

I have decided to fully concentrate on the “Dominion Wars” game for my epic scale sci-fi gaming so will be parting with my Vanguard 6mm miniatures. Mainly because I haven’t played one game with them in 3 years and I need space and dosh for the growing Dominion armies.

15mm sci-fi still pulls very hard on me as does mass battle fantasy. There has been an explosion in the amount of 15mm miniatures released recently by new companies and old. A lot utilizing 3d computer design certainly for vehicles and to a lesser extent carbon forms.  In particular one manufacture springs to mind  and that is White Dragon Miniatures but also Clear Horizon miniatures in the US.  Khurasan Miniatures is always bringing out new miniatures, in particular I am awaiting the arrival of this “mother of all aliens”

I have been battling over which scale to collect when I eventually return to Fantasy mass battles and if I will go down the LOTR route of Warhammer fluff. If I had the money and the more importantly the space it would be 28mm LOTR as there are some beautiful not Games Workshop miniatures out there. So basically that leaves 6, 10 or 15mm, all have some great miniature ranges but unfortunately not what I can say is a complete range for either of my two projects.

For 6mm there is Microworld Miniatures in the US which has an ever expanding range with some excellent miniatures, especially their recent Goblins and Ratkins. They also have an upcoming High Elf line which looks very promising. I know Rapier Miniatures in the UK produce 6mm Fantasy but this is mainly Greek/Roman mythology, although they have a new range covering the Runequest books.

10mm is my favourite scale for Fantasy gaming with many hours of enjoyment playing Warmaster with my various Games Workshop armies. Do I want to recreate that again? – no I don’t, but what I have wanted to do for a long time is Lord of the Rings. Not only Third Age but the Epic battles of the Silmarillion.  There are plenty of miniatures around, both historical and Fantasy that can be used, but for the look and the feel for me anyway the best High Elves are the Games Workshop Warmaster range. Unfortunately I only have a few of these left and those available on ebay are either too expensive or of poor quality.

Over the years I have dabbled in 15mm Fantasy but I must admit this scale has a dearth of good quality miniatures. Yes there are a few, such as Eureka Miniatures, and Ral Partha Demonworld range.  I did stumble across a great Undead range from Magister Militum and collected a lovely army (pictured below)

Khurasan have a Beastman range in the pipeline which I am getting rather excited about. Ever since my early days collecting a Beastman Army for WH Fantasy Battles I have always wanted to collect another n the smaller scales.

 

I must mention Battle Valor games who appeared a few years ago releasing a large and expanding range of 15mm Fantasy. These are geared towards their own fluff which is fine and they have quite a few creative miniatures.  I bought a selection of Undead which are the best I have seen recently and will go extremely well with the Magister Militum miniatures. I also got a selection of their Elves as they fit my image of High Elves. I know there is a fair amount of praise for these miniatures but other than the Undead I am not convinced. The miniatures are okay “en mass” but lack detail that you would expect in this digital age. They are also cast in very soft pliable alloy, which is good in some ways, but lead to breakages and bent weapons etc. Also more could have been done with differing horse poses.

 

Hopefully, one day a range of Elves will appear that I can drool over.

I took a look at some of the new 3D designed 6mm sci fi armour from Brigade Models. These are lovely clean miniatures with high levels of detail and would be excellent for so called “Hard sci-fi”. Anyone for Dirtside?

 

 

Anyway lets get back on track. Next post will cover “Dominion Wars” and I will bring you a full battle report and review of miniatures and rules.

 

For the Gamers.

 

 

 

Hammerhead 2018

I haven’t attended a wargames show in over 8 years so to run a participation game at a popular well attended show was both exciting and daunting at the same time. The show was originally scheduled for the first week in March but due to significant snow fall it was cancelled at the last minute and rescheduled for 28th April.

I had volunteered my services to John and Vanguard Miniatures to help raise awareness of both his range of miniatures in particular to showcase his 3mm “Dominion Wars” miniatures and rules which are in development stage. Plans started taking shape just after Christmas and were just about ready by the end of February. The rescheduling did give some breathing space for some much needed play-testing of the rules.

Having travelled up from London the night before I arrived early and busied myself setting up.

Dominion Wars Setup Video

The doors opened at 10.00am with a crowd of gamers already waiting. Once everyone had done the initial tour of games and traders the table started getting interest with the first game kicking off around 10.40am. Luckily my helper for the day Richard Laking arrived in time so we could alternate between running the game and answering questions from interested on lookers. Time then just went and it was gone three o’clock before we managed to raise are heads.  Managing two full games we received positive feedback from all, enjoying the quick play mechanics together with gamer interaction. And of course much admiration for the miniatures.

We even had a visit from the Terrain Tutor you can check out his video on the side bar our table is at 37:06 minutes.

Let Battle Commence

Fight for the middle objective

As the rules are still in play-testing it will not be appropriate for me to do a detailed review of mechanics as these may well change. I will do a detailed overview at a later stage. In the meantime you can download the Quick Play rules at Vanguard Miniatures   and get involved in the open development of the Beta rules at the Dominion Wars Facebook page

Thanks goes to Mike Salwey for his support and providing opposing forces. Great painted mini’s. And also to Richard Laking for coming along and helping me run the games and talk to potentially new Dominionators.

 

For the Gamers

 

Beast from the East…..

Hammerhead 2018

The Beast has gone but unfortunately together with the traffic chaos it left us last week it also saw the re-scheduling on Hammerhead 2018. You may ask so?

I was hoping to be able to post here my ups and downs at running a participation game at this prestigious event, but amiss this will now have to wait. Luckily the show has now been re-scheduled to 28 April 2018, so if any of my readers can make it to the show come and say hello.

I have been rather busy in prepping for the game, but now with a bit more breathing space I have the luxury of deciding if I should up my game “so to speak”. Anyway I have recently uploaded a couple of video’s of the current “Dominion Wars” forces.

3mm Dominion Wars “Utharan League”

“Cybershadow Menace”

Rather than have Marine fight Marine I am looking at expanding the Cybershadow ground forces, unfortunately none of these are available and it looks like the Novan Regulars are likely to be released first. So I will have to make up some proxy units.

I may also may have time to do some terrain boards, but will make a final decision on this once I have completed the 3mm terrain I am currently working on.

 

For the Gamers

 

 

 

Preparation for the Dominion Wars

As you have seen from my previous posts I have been slowly building up my 3mm miniatures from Vanguard Miniatures for their up and coming Dominion Wars ruleset.  These are amazing miniatures and as you can see from the photo’s the level of detail is outstanding for this scale.

Having played a lot of Battletech, Epic40k and Epic: Armageddon in the past, I have always imagined a game with dozens of Titans with supporting troops battling over miniature cities in the grand scale would be truly amazing. Vanguard have recently released the first of their Cybsershadow Jackel Stalkers (Titans) to be followed by a Dreadnought and WarStalker. John sent me a pre-production Dreadnought Stalker in December and I have had fun building and painting it up.

The Stalkers come as multi=part kits with a variety of weapon options. Immediately I saw this as a great opportunity for using neo-magnets, especially as the Stalkers can be equipped with differing options in game.

I tried using magnets for the torso but they were not powerful enough to hold in place so ending up pinning the torso to the legs. However, all weapon options are fixed with magnets which gives me 4 options per arm and 3 for the dorsal mount (not all weapon options shown).

I went with a Legio Mechanicus theme managing to find some skitarii decals on ebay which I have put to good use.

The Cybershadows will be a standalone army within Dominion Wars or can be used as a mercenary force.

Dominion Wars will be a ruleset using Vanguard Miniatures so the range will expand with more of the Novan Marines and Novan Regulars. Hopefully we will then see some Skinners and Eloi forthcoming. Not sure if at this stage if miniatures from other ranges will be included in the Dominion ruleset, although I suspect these can be used as proxy miniatures. John has stated he wants the rules as an “open” set with ongoing development through feedback from gamers.

Over the next month I plan to get some play testing done of the quick play rules especially as more miniatures become available such as these jet bikers.

For the Gamers

Adrian

 

 

 

 

Seasons Greetings….Hopefully time to paint?

I hope you all enjoyed a few days off to relax and enjoy festivities with family and friends. And with any luck Santa bought you some toys to add to your collection?

With the run up to Christmas my time has been pre-occupied, although I did manage to get a bit of painting done during December which included some scenery and expanding on my 3mm Dominion Wars. I also managed to finish painting a base of 15mm Ancient Indian Elephants that I promised for my brother well over a year ago!

I finally dug out the Game Workshop Epic ruins, that I have had lying around for over ten years and with some much appreciated help from my other half got them based up on mdf and went to work. I have enough ruins for five scenery bases and wanted these to represent a long forgotten ruin of an Imperial City. I wanted each base to be a mini diorama so firstly I used a mesh template to apply the paving effect after base coating the ruins. Then using general filler and small railroad ballast I built up areas of rumble. Once dry I applied various other bits of rumble including ruined floor levels and then dry brushed. Finally, I liberally covered with ground cover and placed some tufts of grass.  The growing climber was done by soaking woodland scenic foliage in diluted pva glue and placing this on the walls.

Hopefully I will have all five scenic bases done during the holidays and will post the final result. I am in the process of sourcing suitable roads to go with my terrain pieces and have plans for a ruined Highway bridge.

 

“Lions Roar”

Excerpt from 6th Heavy Assault Centauri training log, House Uthar 3105.10.05.07.00

“Good Morning, you can all congratulate yourselves for reaching this far in your training. You have successfully passed through months of strenuous training to become the best of House Uthar. As soldiers of the Elite 6th I introduce you to “The Lions Roar”. Get to know her as she will be your protector, your home, your Life for the next 12 years of your combat tour.

The “Lions Roar” is a Novan Industries Challenger II Heavy Assault Panzer. She has been with the Elite 6th for 126 years and has battle honours from the last 3 major Shinnerz incursions including the defense of Rorke’s Deep. Here her previous crew single handily took down four of the Skinnerz mighty “Crusher” mechanoids and broke the green skins resolve. YOU have a lot to live up to as her new crew. “

Here are the 3mm and 6mm Challenger Super Heavy Tanks from the Novan Elite ranges. This image does show how little detail is lost when downsizing these 3D printed designs. The 3mm version takes me about a third of the time to paint and considerably less outlay with a gaming force achievable for around £60.

Vanguard Miniatures have just announced their first crowdfunder campaign through Indiegogo. This is to release some long delayed designs which will expand current and new races. Please support this campaign as there are some very exciting stretch goals.

I am currently working on some scenery bases for my 6mm epic games so will let you have a look at these next time. I am also in a dilemma over my desires to re-kindle fantasy gaming, but that will be for another time….

For the Gamers

Adrian

 

It’s been a long time coming…

 

My first blog and my first post. As the tile says this has been a long time coming and I should have started this many moons ago. Essentially as the name of the blog suggests I am passionate about miniatures, wargaming miniatures to be precise being a avid gamer since my late teens (thanks to my elder brothers). For me collecting and painting miniatures be they 28mm Napoleonic French Cuirassiers or 6mm Epic Space Marines, is a big draw for me. I love the research of Historicals and the creativity of Fantasy and Science Fiction, spending many hours reading books or scanning through web pages.

Actual gaming has been hit and miss over the years, mainly due to domestic reasons. However, I have enjoyed many hours gaming at clubs and with friends. Social gaming is by far the greatest attraction to the hobby. I can waste hours sat in front of a computer game (I have actually developed and sold my own), but give me a group of friends around a gaming table any day.

What has enthused me to start my own blog is a re-kindled love for playing Games Workshop Epic Armageddon. I have spent many years playing historical wargames, mostly Napoleonics and WW2 however, I have become dissatisfied with the rules available or more importantly finding a group of players who are like-minded.

Over the last couple of years I have been working away from home, with the stresses that brings I have indulged myself in my passion as much as possible. I have found myself yearning back to my thirties which was a high for gaming. Spending weekly sessions at the local GW store in Sheffield and regular trips to Warhammer World to play Epic or Warmaster. Two of the best (in my opinion) games to come out of Games Workshop. What has sparked this yearning is 3D printing and the emergence of numerous companies releasing highly detailed and affordable miniatures. Two of these are Vanguard Miniatures and Onslaught Miniatures both run by like-minded enthusiasts who have picked up where GW left us hanging.

Onslaught were first on the block and quickly achieved a reputation for quality miniatures and a fast expanding miniature line. This now covers various races and now several different scales including 10mm and 15mm. I particularly like the Sisterhood, Okami Combine and desperately waiting for the promised expansion of the ‘Nids (Oops Xenomites).

Vanguard Miniatures have been running for over two years now and have been building on the work done by Troublemaker Games. Their range of miniatures cover proxi’s for Marines and Imperial Guard, Orks and a small smattering of Eldar. These miniatures are scaled at “true” scale so they are bigger than your normal 6mm, this can be seen in their Space Marines as they now look like genetically modified giants and in the vehicle designs.

I have been slowly building up both a Marine force and Nova Grenadiers as seen in the following photo’s. (these include a couple of miniatures from DarkRealm Miniatures and HLS Models).

Game Changer

I have always liked my gaming on the grand scale having re-fought the great battles of the Napoleonic Wars and re-creating the Battle of Kursk in PC format. When John at Vanguard announced a new project in grand scale I was intrigued.

Recently I have contemplated going smaller than 6mm as several manufacturers are producing ranges covering various periods in 2/3mm scale. However, I have always thought miniatures at these small scales are “essentially 3D board counters”. How WRONG could I be. John’s recent releases covering his “Dominion Wars” shows how far 3D printing design has come. Seeing the level of detail on these 3mm miniatures is astonishing.

Currently the range covers his Elite Novan miniatures, but will expand to include Novan Regulars, Skinnerz and Cybershadow stalkers, as long as the support is there so get buying!

There is a set of Dominion rules in the works with a Quick play set already available. Please check out the miniatures here.

And to support the development of the rules go to the Dominion facebook page or the Tactical Command forum

I hope this first posting open some eyes to the recent developments in small scale sci-fi gaming. I am well aware it is very much a niche genre, but if you enjoy gaming in this grand scale the miniature manufacturers need our support so please spread the word and get gaming.

I will hopefully be posting my developments in both scales as my forces grow and hopefully get a chance to fight. in the meantime please leave your comments below.

For the Gamers

Adrian