Making Sense of Projects - Farpoint

 Hi!

While work has been busy, and at times needlessly and inexplicably stressful of late, I thought I'd spend a bit of time looking at my evolving Farpoint setting and try to make some sense of where its going and what I could do with developing...

The Farpoint Sector is located at the north western rim of Imperial space in my own re-imagined Imperium. Chaos and the Warp isn't a thing and instead of being stuck in a technological dark age and beset by foes on all fronts, there is no GRIMDARK in my setting (not that I don't appreciate it but my painting style and figures just don't lend themselves to it). 

Space travel is much more secure these days with the discovery of the Tannhauser Gate, a gigantic space station that opens wormholes between far flung planets that does away with the warp and all the chaotic madness that can be found within. Ships also have FTL drives which will allow for interplanetary travel too but the Tannhauser network is at the core of the system with the core worlds having one in each system and each frontier sector having one located in the sector capitol world.

The Imperium is in a Renaissance of sorts with lost technology and ideas being rediscovered, new and long forgotten planets, clusters and secrets long lost being explored by a new wave of Imperial might. Brave expeditions are being launched out from the core systems and humanity is going back into the dark wilds beyond the frontier!

Similarly, the obsession with the Emperor isn't there, the Golden Throne doesn't have a corpse sat on it on ancient Terra. There is currently an Empress, Lionstone who is a force to be reckoned with and decidedly mercurial and Machiavellian but a generally just ruler.

Instead of the cult of the Emperor (or in this case Empress), the Greek Gods are still worshipped. These iconic manifestations of some of humanity's oldest creeds are very real and as with the gods of old, love to meddle in human affairs. They have their heroes and demi-gods, avatars of faith and all manner of other interesting manifestations can be found in the galaxy at large. It will also give me the excuse to integrate some of the mythological characters, locations and monsters into things.

Imagine Ulysses 31 meets 40k with a bit of British Empire thrown into the mix...

Farpoint itself is a frontier sector and as such, there is lawlessness and opportunity to be found in equal parts. The sectors previous Governor was Baron Alexandr Vosk, a venal and corrupt individual who made himself immensely wealthy by shamelessly taking bribes, theft and essentially running the place like a personal fiefdom. 

Unfortunately for Vosk but fortunately for the rest of the sector, the Empress has got word of his injustices, and the reduced revenues from Imperial tithes has seen her unseat Vosk and replace him with Laars von Dorn, a loyalist and rather incorruptible sort who she's tasked with bringing the sector to heel and profitability.

While Vosk has lost his position, he has enough clout and blackmail amongst the levers of power within the Imperium that by greasing quite a few palms with bribes, he's avoided official sanction and has retreated to his expansive estates to plot and intrigue to dispose of von Dorn and reclaim his lucrative position.

As such there is a secret war taking place across the sector as von Dorn and loyal Imperial units fight shadowy skirmishes with Vosk operatives, criminal organisations and various alien warlords who want to use the upheaval to settle scores or reclaim lost territories.

There's a patchwork of alliances, rivalries and vendettas forming between the assorted lesser houses of the sector with sides being chosen and old grudges being settled. Be it the Longmyres siding with von Dorn or the crimelord Lucius Goldberg supporting Vosk from the shadows.

It's proving to be an interesting mash up of a setting and slightly a somewhat bewildering prospect to try and shape and navigate!

A few years ago I put together some articles on different elements of the reimagined Imperium and I think I need to re-investigate it as well as making some dossiers on my assorted characters and their backgrounds and exploits as it gets a bit confusing (I've at various times called Laars von Dorn and van Dorn for example!).

As such, I think that I'm going to begin by trying to dig into the background and setting to give my characters and factions something to stick to and take a bit of a look at the systems within the sector and begin trying to stitch it all together into a more unified whole.

I've been influenced by all sorts over the years so do expect to see some elements pulled from all over as its my setting and I want to make it a fun experience!

Expect to see all sorts of random posts over the coming months as I try to integrate and flesh out all the elements I've got in my head ranging from the Space Marines being normal humans for the most part, not superhuman psychos, droids and AI being a thing in the Imperium, slightly civilised Orks, resurgent Eldar, sinister cults of the Titans and so much more!

Hopefully I'll have some more stuff to post over the next few days and will keep you updated but in the meantime, All the best!

Imperial Reinforcements and Orkish Scum!

 Hi!

I'd actually finished these guys before I went off on holiday a couple of weeks back but hadn't managed to get any photos of them yet so here we are!

First up, there's a squad of power armoured troopers from a currently unknown unit:

Imperial Power Armour

As per usual with my tiny troops, they're made from a mixture of wooden beads, EVA foam and some plastic rhinestones for detailing. I've also made them a bit bigger than usual with an extra layer of EVA foam to their legs as well as adding little feet to give them some real bulk and heft.

Trooper Squad

I've really enjoyed making the little guys and while they're maybe not Space Marine armour classes, they will be making an appearance in my Imperial Guard force to give me some heavy hitters for an otherwise rather light platoon.

Power Armour Detail

I'll need to add another five to give me a full squad but they'll do for the moment!

Next up, here's the first ten Badmoon Boyz for my Orky army:

Badmoon Orks

I went for very bright colours inkeeping with classic Orkish style and while they're pretty cartoony, I quite like how they turned out too. I need to make a ton more of the little fellows as they're going to be the first opponents for my Imperial forces to clash with while trying to bring some order to the wild frontier of the Farpoint sector!

Orks and Imperials Clash somewhere on the frontier

I've been having a blast with making stuff this year and while I've not had any chance to play games, I've been building towards it with my assorted shenanigans. 

The next stage will be to try and start pulling the disparate elements together into something that will allow me to play skirmish games in tiny troop SD scale and platoon to company level actions using my SD Epic scale stuff. This is going to require some work but I'm finding it a really rewarding ongoing project that seems to be taking on a bit of a life of its own...

Hopefully I'll have more stuff to showcase soon but in the meantime, All the best!

Von Dorn Rapid Reaction Force

 Hi!

It's been a while since I've posted here but I've been pretty constructive but just not getting chance to post progress here.

To remedy this, here's what I've been working on:

von Dorn Rapid Reaction Force

While Inquisitor Fisher is off in pursuit of the Armour of Hathor and Murdoch Foyle, things are hotting up on Farpoint as the new Governor General, Laars von Dorn struggles to bring law and order to the frontier sector, exacerbated by the machinations of his predecessor, Baron Alexandr Vosk.

von Dorn has responded with a show of force and has begun despatching rapid reaction forces made of house troops transported in light armoured vehicles to outlying settlements to try and crush the rapidly spiralling disorder that Vosk has been fermenting.

Stinger class Armoured Car

I've been having so much fun making stuff recently that I decided to have a bash at making some 6mm scale sci-fi and ended up with a slightly understrength Imperial Guard platoon backed up with transports and some light armour.

Bumblebee class APC

The vehicles are made from EVA foam and strips of thin cardboard while the wheels are made from beads. Turrets are made from plastic rhinestones and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out. Yes they're a bit blocky and stylised but on the table, they look absolutely ace, especially emblazoned with the bold yellow and black livery of House von Dorn!

Infantry squad

The Infantry are literally small pieces of EVA foam, glued to some small popsicle sticks with a little piece of EVA foam for guns and a backpack then painted. Again close up, they're pretty simplistic but on the tabletop, they're pretty indistinguishable from other epic scale figures and cost me nothing which is even better!

The Force thus far

I've got a command squad made and will need to add another few APC's and heavy weapons to the mix and have plans for some Sentinels and even a tank squadron to back them up and then I'll be starting on their opposition!

Hopefully I'll be able to get started on some villains for the von Dorns to mix it up with over the coming weeks and I have a similar force in 6mm for black powder nearly finished which I'll be showing soon too but until then, All the best!

The Hathor Campaign Part 3: In Pursuit of Foyle

 Hi!

As promised, here's my follow up to the events of the Pacification of Bore IV!

Following the pacification of the prison outpost of Bore IV, Inquisitor Fisher has discovered that her arch nemesis, Murdoch Foyle has used the mayhem to escape the prison and is now actively seeking the Archeotech artefact known as the Armour of Hathor.

The lowest level of Bore IV had been abandoned, the horde of demented convicts had been used and discarded mere pawns in Foyle's twisted game. Seemingly the prisons warden, John Parliament has also been a coconspirator of Foyle as how else would the have managed to not only escape custody but also ferment such rebellion that the Imperium had needed her assistance in cleaning up the mess

The renegades escape was clearly rushed but despite a thorough search, the only clue Fisher had discovered in the dark and cramped engineering level of the prison were some suspicious dark stains, hinting at unspeakable deeds or heretical rituals. Who knows what Foyle and his acolyte are up to?

Fortunately, the erstwhile governor, John Parliament has been less successful in covering their tracks as Vash performed a final sweep through the prisons frazzled and fragmentary computer banks revealed that Foyle had been researching a planet called Scarab 

Summoning the Imperial Corvette Shrike, Fisher and company have departed in pursuit.

ISS Shrike: Hunter class Corvette

The Shrike is a converted Imperial corvette measuring 1.5 Imperial Kilometres from stem to stern, upgraded Parallax engines give the ship surprising speed and agility, even for a ship of it's size.

Armaments include six broadside macro cannon arrays, a volcano class heavy laser turret and two light lances, one mounted on the prow, the second underslung on the ships sail.

For close defence, the Shrike has multiple lascannon, autocannon and heavy bolter turrets dotting the hull as well as a pair of battlecannon turrets mounted on turrets aft.

The ship is well armoured with multi-layered Ceramite and Adamantium plating giving the ship exceptional armour for such a light vessel without affecting it's speed or handling. 

The crew consists of 2000 men and women of all ranks and is commanded by Commander Arthur Longmyre, a veteran of over a dozen campaigns on the frontier. 

-From Janes Imperial Ship Registry 45M, 045C 

Planetary Report: Scarab

Scarab is a sandy and desolate world somewhat in the back of beyond located just outside Imperial Space. It is covered in shifting desert seas, shattered basalt mountains and a few scattered ruins of some long dead civilisation.

Imperial Xeno Biologists and Archaeologists have picked over the world over the course of almost a century and declared it worthless for further exploration (Inquisitor's Note: This was the report submitted by Farpoint's previous Governor, Alexandr Vosk so the above report may not be wholly truthful...) Fisher }I{

Now the planet is largely abandoned once again, nothing but Scarab beetles which gave the planet it's not so imaginative name, and the odd prospector trying to scrape a living amongst the abandoned tombs.

The only settlement of note on the planet is the partially abandoned city of Sandsea built into the black basalt of the Dadeon Mountains located in the planets northern polar regions where the worst of the great sandstorms that roil over the planets surface are lighter.

Upon arriving on Scarab, Fisher's party lands at the rather decrepit starport that lies to the east of Sandsea. Intent on tracing Foyle and his renegades, Fisher immediately departs with a small retinue towards the city.

Unfortunately the skiff they are travelling in suddenly develops a serious case of engine trouble and glides to a halt near some ancient ruins. While Vash attempts to perform repairs on the skiff, Fisher decides to explore the nearby ruin and parasol in hand with Geralt the Wolfbane and Glitterberry the Eldar trudging behind her she sets of to take a peek. Suddenly shots ring out and the party dives for cover. 

The ruins are apparently occupied and the occupants are none too friendly. Geralt, risks a glance from behind the skiff and sees ragged figures moving in the distance. 

"Urgh, smugglers. I hate those guys", and rips off a shot with his bolt pistol forcing the smugglers to hanker down.

A large calibre bullet zings past his ear and punches a neat hole in the skiff's supposedly armoured hull causing Vash to squawk with outrage. 

"Up and at it Geralt!" Fisher enthuses and draws her own pistol before vaulting over the skiff and beginning to run towards the ruins, firing as she goes.

Geralt, sighs deeply and glances at Glitterberry, "We'd best go otherwise she'll end up in more trouble".

"I suppose so" Glitterberry nods sadly and hefts his shuriken catapult before unleashing a volley of screaming shuriken in the general direction of their foe.

Unbeknownst to the Inquisitors party, the ruin is a smugglers cache site and guarded so if they want to get out of the sun and begin their investigations proper, they're going to have to clear out the gang before moving off...

So here we go! As per usual Fisher and co have found themselves in the thick of it as soon as they hit planetside. 

Once I get back, I'll assemble the warbands, show the scenario and see how the Inquisitorial agents fare against a rabble of scum and villainy...

Until then, All the best

Off on Holiday!

 Hi!

I've got a much needed holiday and we've headed down south for the week so blogging is going to be rather sparse until our return next week.

On the plus side, I've got a load of stuff to share when I get back with new Tiny Troops, Tiny Tiny Troops and some other odds and ends I've been working on.

I'm also hoping to actually get some games in upon my return with the newly restored gaming table in the spare room (if I can persuade the cat to get off it long enough!) and will be focussing on some Planet 28 skirmishes using my Inquisitor Fisher warband to pick up the quest to track down Murdoch Foyle and the Hathor campaign.

Farpoint's Tannhauser Gate

I'm also hoping to play some games using my assorted Tiny Troops which I'll be playing larger scale skirmishes than Planet 28 as well as adding to the collection of warbands and even plan on trying out a small game of 2nd edition 40k with my Imperial Guard with a small squad of Space Marine allies against a troublesome Badmoon Ork warlord who seeks to seize upon the unrest caused by the arrival of Governor General von Dorn.

 The Governor is currently trying to quell a rebellion from the traitorous and venal Baron Alexandr Vosk, the previous governor of Farpoint who has allowed such corruption and lawlessness in the sector that von Dorn is going to struggle to bring back law and order.

I'm hoping to delve into some more sculpting too for Planet 28 as I've got quite a few ideas I'd like to turn into miniature form!

It's looking like campaign season is gearing up and Farpoint is going to be an interesting place for the next few months!

Further Thoughts on a Hobby with (almost) No Budget

 Hi!

I've been giving my prospect of an almost no budget hobby some further thoughts and decided to post some additional rumination to my original post.

As a quick recap, its becoming increasingly clear that my hobby budget has been squeezed by Real Life and the general cost of living so I've been casting around for cheaper but still satisfying wargaming/sculpting projects that still give me the option to enjoy my hobby and the much needed tranquility and satisfaction it brings while not breaking the bank.

In my previous blog post, i rambled a great deal about my Tiny Troops which have breathed new life into so many stalled projects and have been giving me some real inspiration for taking it further and making stuff I'd wanted to collect and paint for decades but didn't either due to cost, availability or whatever.

 A small part of the Rule Horde

With this in mind, I thought I'd take a peek at some of the esoteric projects that never got off the ground and how they are suddenly achievable!

First up, I've been blogging for 18 years now, which is mildly terrifying and looking back, there are several projects I've wanted to do which either stalled or never got started:

Leviathan, a game I've been obsessed with for thirty plus years but never managed to get an actual warband painted, let alone fully fleshed out armies! The closest I've managed was back in 2011 when I had the bits for an Orc horde but Uni got in the way and the project died. Over the next decade or so I tried to revitalise it and get myself moving but it's never been doable. 

Saying that, with my new approach to making my own miniatures cheaply and quickly, I suspect I could make a decent stab at it if I tried. I may need to do a bit of experimentation basing wise but it may be something to put on the backburner for later in the year as the prospect of actually having enough painted miniatures to play a game of my holy grail of hobbying is awfully tempting!

40k 2nd edition is another perennial temptation for me as I have really fond memories of playing it back in the 90's and my ragtag Imperial Guard getting hammered by my friends Space Marines, Eldar or Chaos. He got pretty much every single new 40k release from GW from 91-97 while my pocket money would only stretch to whatever hodgepodge of figures I could afford but it didn't matter, the games were fun and my Guard fought bravely!

The Oldhammer movement has sadly moved collecting my dream army well beyond my meagre budget these days and my assorted attempts to paint forces have been fairly desultory to be honest.

Saying that, I've already made a start to a new Guard regiment and have a small platoon worth of them made and have been beavering away with some Orky boys to face them in classic 90's battle but without the cheese power gaming of my erstwhile opponent who I've not spoken to now for almost 30 years!

This project will keep ticking over but I'm keen to not bore myself which results in nothing at all getting done so have been swapping out what I'm working on regularly.

Rusty Robots is another small project that I've pootled about with since uni but i's never really taken off but with a simplified approach to making robots, I think I can make a fresh stab at it!

I made the little blue tribe robots using a simplified approach to making and while they're a bit smaller and simpler, they're rather fun and I want to sit and make more of them, hopefully getting the five core warbands made, painted and some games done too!

While simplified and hyper stylised figures are giving me a much better grip on my hobby, I also want to go back to my Somewhere on the Border project as I have a genuine soft spot for all the work that went into the sculpts, and want to see if I can challenge myself with some more sculpting in a similar style as it's great fun, just as long as there's not the added stress of having the intention of getting them cast and up for sale...

The exploits of the Boar Company and their dreaded rival Marik Goldhelm has made for a brilliant ongoing gaming narrative over the years and I want to delve back into it as I've so many ideas for similar quirky and fun stuff and I'm hoping that my rediscovered joy of making things will help me reengage with making more fun sculpts.

Finally I've got a few bits and bobs that I've got on the backburner in the form of my imagination games in 6mm and 2mm scale. These will be my only outgoing in hobby expense for the foreseeable future and I'm planning on using Rebels and Patriots, Lion Rampant and Land Ironclads for some mixed era shenanigans once I get round to it.

I'm finding it rather refreshing to get the hobby mojo back and with a vengeance and I'l try to keep it going throughout the year. The only side of things that needs work is the fact that I've only managed to play a single game thus far in 2026 but with the assorted little forces I've made thus far and my gaming table finally being back in use, I suspect that's going to change soon!

I suspect I'll post more on this as I go through the year and I'm sure there will be triumphs and tragedies ahead in the hobbying year but if I can keep up the level of enthusiasm that I've had in the last six months, I think I could be onto a bit of an epic year!

In the meantime, All the best and thanks for everyone who still reads my ramblings and offers support as it's most appreciated!

The Hobby With (almost) No Budget

 Hi!

We're into June already and I thought I'd spend a bit of time rambling about my hobby choices for 2026 and on.

A lone adventurer in Stump

Sadly my budget is being increasingly squeezed by the cost of living and the dreaded Real Life and one of the cuts I've had to make is my hobby budget. In years gone by, I'd have £25-£40 a month to pick up new figures and whatnot which led to an ever increasing number of projects I'd want to try out but thats now being spent on necessities and I was faced with the real prospect of having to just abandon any hobby stuff until things improved.

My hobby is really important to me though as its my way of relaxing and de-stressing from said Real Life shenanigans so I started rummaging round for ideas for wargaming on not only a micro budget but also with limited amounts of space as our spare room, my mancave is pretty packed with books (the perils of being a bibliophile and working in a bookshop for 20+ years!) so my gaming board is 3'x3' and I'm never going to be able to get anything bigger, let alone the gold standard of a 6'x4' board.

My ramblings initially brought me to the solo RPG option and I've played quite a few now and really enjoy them but its not quite wargaming so I migrated onto combining the two, as can be seen with my Inquisitor Fisher campaigns which combined small numbers of figures into a narrative driven campaign with a lot of RPG lite additions and its been great fun. 

Stump Art Scribbles

The increase of cost of living and a bad case of loss of gaming mojo last year saw even this outlet curtailed as I found myself completely de-motivated and everything I tried just seemed to go nowhere.

I'd considered moving scale for my figures but 15mm and even 6mm figures are ramping up price wise to a point I realised that I couldn't really justify.

Things were looking a bit grim until January this year when I decided to do something completely different and just make some tiny figures that would quickly tick a box for a project I'd wanted to do for years and I made my Star Mogul Farpoint Salvage crew over the course of a week between work, quickly followed by Bossman Salvage, their sworn rivals.

Farpoint Salvage

For the first time in quite a while now, I felt the return of my hobby mojo, I was enjoying making, painting and creating entire narratives about these tiny, blocky guys and I realised that I'd found the answer to the malaise that had been effectively ruining my hobby for so long and answering the question of how do I keep the hobby that I've been immersed in for the last 30+ years going.

Bossman Salvage

While the Tiny Troops aren't too detailed, they do have a certain charm to them and with miniatures being so expensive these days, they'll do the job!

Men at Arms

Now I'd love to be able to collect and paint armies of old school figures, or pick up new games and whatnot but I just cannot afford to do so and my tiny figures have enough of a feel of wargaming miniatures to do the job.

I've used about £5 worth of materials and constructed and painted 108 figures in five months which is pretty good going covering fantasy and sci-fi. I've got the beginnings of entire armies that I never thought I'd get round to done for the fraction of the cost of doing it with actual miniatures.

While they may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I seem to have found real pleasure and a sense of achievement working on them and suspect I'm going to be making a lot more of them as time goes on. Handily I've now got my gaming board back up so I expect to be able to play some actual games in the not too distant future too.

I must admit that I've been seeing quite a few folks branching out into a more crafty hobby approach either making their own or kitbashing everything from pebbles to army soldiers and its been fascinating.

Hopefully I'll get chance to post some more pics of my next batch of stuff soon but in the meantime, All the best!