Well after a month of silence, we've finished moving and actually have interwebs again!
We've still got tons of stuff to shift around, be it unboxing, tidying, painting and so on but we're in our new place and thats the main thing!
It's been interesting to peruse the internet again to discover that several fairly large, or at least well known miniatures companies have ceased trading. First Spartan Games (I must admit that I wasn't too surprised given their penchant for not being able to support any game they produced for more than about six months!), and then Tor Gaming, the company behind the utterly wonderful looking Relics game.
Relics was a game and range that I'd always intended to delve into and pick up some small forces for but sadly never quite got round to it, which I suppose is part of the reason that Tor has shut its doors. How many others felt the same way and indeed how many other wonderful ranges will vanish because the market is just so diverse?
For myself, I still sadly remember Vor, Warzone, Chronopia, Star Mogul and lots of others who blazed brightly before vanishing into obscurity. Even games and ranges that have never properly gone out of production such as Leviathan, Void 1.1 and Kryomek to name but a few seem to simply shuffle on, zombie like without support, interest or releases to breath life back into them.
Looking at the miniature gaming market, it's looking increasingly like there are two types of company. The big boys like GW and Privateer Press and the small, cottage industry types which seem to stand the test of time.
Is there anything we, the collectors and gamers can do? Well unless we're willing to explore new games and ranges, it's likely that more companies will rise and fall but it's always a genuine pity when good ranges and rules don't get the notice they deserve until too late.
Sadly I don't think my own buying habits are going to change too much. I don't have the spare income to really sink my teeth into a game and my gnat-like attention span will, I suspect, mean that my limited means will constantly wander into new projects that will start and stop almost constantly.
What I can do is try out some of the rules I do have and hopefully encourage a few folks to try them themselves and once I have my gaming board back together, I plan on really trying to review, game and explore some of the gems of games that have been released down the years!
In the meantime, enough of my ramblings!
All the best!