Friday 21 July 2017

Sinister Science!

Hi!

We're still slowly moving all our stuff over from one flat to another but I have managed to paint up a few more Ghoulani Enslaver miniatures for my collection, this time some scientist types:

Cogitation Helmet, Beaker and Probulator 

I've converted the Cogitation helmet a bit by bulking it up to ridiculous sizes for a more bulging brained alien effect. Game wise, he's going to be a battle esper whilst the others will be added to my existing warband!


Ghoulani Troops

I've really enjoyed painting up these little guys as it's been a good way to rid myself of stress, especially with the house move shenanigans!

Ghoulani Skimmer

I'm going to need to finish the rest of the little guys but I suspect we'll be in the new place before I get chance to paint any more. I'm also looking to scratch build an assortment of skimmers, mechs and other assorted bits and bobs but almost all my stuff is packed away and I doubt I'll have much chance to do more but we shall see what I can put together background wise!

Ghoulani Commander with Scientist Minions

I'm also thinking about putting together some hicks and livestock for my Ghoulani to menace but we shall have to see what I can rummage out from my bits box!

Ghoulani Warband

Hopefully my next post will be from our new place but in the meantime, All the best!

Sunday 9 July 2017

For Move We Must!

Evening folks!

We're busily moving house so there's not going to be any updates for the next week or two!


On the plus side, I'll have access to all my rulebooks, art materials and figures and I have plans to start playing out some games too which should be fun!

Farpoint is Buzzing!

Once things are sorted, moved and unboxed, I will be giving Tales From Farpoint a bit of a shot in the arm with lots more articles about the Imperium, Farpoint and it's denizens as well as pics of stuff I've been slowly painting my way through!

In the meantime, All the best!


Tuesday 4 July 2017

Small Scale Sci-Fi Blog

Hi!

Following my previous two posts, I've decided to start a blog dedicated to all things 15mm Sci-fi.


SMALL SCALE SCI-FI GAMING is going to contain weekly updates of new 15mm sci-fi  releases as well as lots of pics showcasing all manner of 15mm goodness as well as terrain making, converting and battle reports and lots more.

To get the ball rolling, I've posted a showcase of the Ghoulani Enslavers which used to be available from 15mm.co.uk.

Ghoulani!

Back to Farpoint news, the Ghoulani are going to be some of the local troublemakers of the region. Everyone needs some dodgy aliens who have a hobby of kidnapping random hicks and probing them while mutilating their Grox herd.

Villainous Experimentation!

I've still got a fair few left to paint and will be adding some drones, ghoulish experiments and vehicles to the force to give me a decent little skirmish force to pester the inhabitants of Farpoint.

I've also got a new NPC for Farpoint:

Thorian Swordsmaster

Thorians hale from beyond the border of the Imperium and are a gregarious lot who sell their services as hired muscle. They are ferocious and skilled assault troops who glory in battle and celebrate by quaffing vast quantities of alcohol. Armed with a massive Power Sword, Ulf the Bold is currently in search of gainful employment and has already butted heads with both law enforcement and the local gangs of Freeport City.

Despite being a bit of a barbarian, he still has a firm sense of right and wrong and following an unfortunate incident when a local gang leader tried to extort Ulf's favourite tavern, resulting in the place being trashed and the gang leader and several goons finding themselves suddenly missing heads.

I'm hoping to add some more NPCs in the coming weeks, not to mention some more urban scenery to give me some dingy streets for folks to fight over!

Sunday 2 July 2017

Further 15mm Ponderings

Hi!

Well there's been some really fascinating comments posted in my previous blog entry about 15mm sci-fi and it got me wondering about a few things.


Would folks be interested in having a blog that covers all things 15mm sci-fi, be it releases, group projects, inspiring paintjobs, monthly challenges and links to blogs/companies/forums that may be of interest to gamers, painters or collectors?

For many years Dropship Horizon was the go to place for folks looking to get into 15mm scale sci-fi but it seems to have stalled somewhat in the last few years. I remember checking it daily for all sorts of handy reference but I think over the last year, I may have perused it's pages a couple of times at most.


To give it enough content, it could be expanded to 10mm and 6mm as well as fantasy as that's another of my interests and I can't help but feel that so many of the gaming news sites give tons of cover to 28mm and the smaller scales can find themselves swamped.

If you are interested in seeing a similar blog, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do!

All the best!

Saturday 1 July 2017

The State of 15mm

Hi!

I've been ruminating on 15mm sci-fi for a little while now as I get my hobby mojo back and am able to spend some time painting my way through the gubbins I collected over the years.

Back in the day (2008 to be precise) I bought my first 15mm sci-fi figure, a Laserburn classic and promptly fell in love with the scale. I was at uni at the time and didn't have the time to spend hours on painting figures or the space to game 28mm or indeed the budget.

Slippery Jim diGriz, aka The Stainless Steel Rat

Here I found myself painting through the entire pack which had 15 figures and two vehicles which I had picked up for under a tenner including postage. I played some small skirmishes and found myself enjoying my hobby as I could put together a small force and paint it in a relatively short time.

Over the following years, forces have been collected, painted, gamed and then sold off but I haven't lost my love for the little guys.


Skirmish Forces in 15mm. Average cost, £5.00

Now for the most part, I played Rogue Trader but I do have a ridiculously large collection of rulebooks for various systems and I have a hankering to try out as many as I can and am slowly painting my way through a couple of different forces that will be beating each other up while I try out the assorted gaming systems too.


Tiny adventuring parties!

This has been one of the big pluses for me as I can bodge together a fairly large force for peanuts compared to trying to do the same in 28mm scale and still have enough space on a small gaming table to actually play a game or two. Compare this to the likes of 40k where a squad will set you back a minimum of £20. There's enough stuff available in 15mm to proxy most forces and it's affordable enough to put together a ten man squad for about £3.

 Insatiable alien eating machines!

Villainous Noble and henchmen

It's not all easy sailing though as I have noticed that 15mm sci-fi seems to trend more towards what is classed as Hard Sci-Fi (think Hammers Slammers rather than Elves in space) so some of the 40k forces are a bit tricky to do (I'm looking at you Eldar!). Slowly but surely, more out there ranges are becoming available, such as the assorted Ork figures that have been released in the last couple of years and some of the Space Dwarves I've seen but the new releases seem to still be more hard sci-fi than anything else.
 Crazed Cultists!

Lucius Goldburg and Underlings

Another issue I've found is that a lot of the 15mm scifi blogs have gone quiet in the last few years. Back in 2008-11 there was an abundance of people trying out the scale, blogging about it and creating some brilliant conversions and off the back of it, lots of new companies and ranges sprang up.

Skip forward to today and while there are still new releases cropping up, the excitement of 15mm scifi seems to have almost vanished in the blogsphere. Yes, there's a thriving facebook community which has some really inspiring stuff on it but where are the blogs that follow a project (or in my case a scatter gun approach to any project!) or has someones slowly expanding painted collection on it.

Stompy Robots! 

 Savage Alien Frogs!

There's tons for 28mm but for some reason 15mm blogging doesn't seem to happen much anymore which is a real shame. I must admit that I'm as guilty as anyone with my long hiatus on 15mm and then my blog cull but I'm slowly regaining momentum and hope to get some serious blogging done over the coming summer.

 Farpoint Salvage

But what can I do to re-enthuse folks with 15mm scifi goodness? Well I think I am going to have to make a start by getting my finger out and painting, converting, scratch building and sculpting enough to give me some forces to play around with and then play lots of games and actually blog about them!

 Mollusc Freedom Alliance!

I currently have a fair number of my Governor General's force painted and a few more bits and bobs in the works as well as assorted villains and a slowly expanding Xenos herd but I hope to speed up things a bit and finish out some starting forces over the next few weeks before throwing them into battle!

 Squat Armoured Cruiser

I'm also thinking of sculpting a few bits and bobs that have been lacking in 15mm scale and running a small kickstarter to get them into production. It's early days with them at the mo but I will be sharing more in the coming weeks once we've finished moving house and settled in our new digs.

 Shadow Wars Armageddon anyone?

In the meantime, I hope my long and rambling waffling inspires at least one person to have a bash at 15mm scale sci-fi. Who knows, you may enjoy it!

The Governor General and Retinue.

I suspect that blogging time is going to be sparse as we move and until we get our new place sorted out but I will try to keep things moving along in any spare moment I have. 

In the meantime, All the best!