Saturday 23 September 2017

An Ode to 28mm

Hi!

Well I've been sorting through my miniatures post move and have come to the difficult decision that I may have to get rid of my 28mm stuff and concentrate on the smaller scale stuff as I just don't have the space for it all.

Orks from 2006 (the oldest pics I can find of my painted stuff!)

It's quite a sad day as I've been collecting miniatures in that scale for about 25 years on and off and in that time I've amassed and sold, given away or lost a fair sized chunk of stuff including a 10000 point Dwarf army and countless smaller projects that I've started and given up on.

Aged Undead (from when Reaper Miniatures were £2.25 each from Spirit Games!)

Looking through the stuff I have left, I just can't seem to summon the enthusiasm to do anything with it so it will be getting sold off over the coming months which will hopefully allow me to concentrate on the smaller scale stuff that I have found myself obsessed with over the last few years.

Skirmishing in 15mm

Whilst it's going to be the end of an era, I don't find myself too upset about the whole business as I have enjoyed 28mm scale shenanigans over the last two and a half decades but I have found my interests have changed and as my available gaming space has declined, I find myself actually playing games with these tiny figures that I never did in 28mm and painting far more that I would have otherwise.

6mm Skirmish force

What does it mean for Farpoint? I have got quite a few bits and bobs in 15mm scale that I want to paint and there are also several smaller scale projects that are slowly coming together too so I hope to be posting some more updates soon as I crack out the paints and get to work with fresh vigour!

Before I go too mental, I think I am going to rummage out a random 28mm fig and see if I can rekindle the love of the scale but the writing is on the wall...

In the meantime, All the best!

Friday 15 September 2017

Farpoint Ponderings

Hi!

Well my holidays are almost over and I've not been idle! There's currently a ton of stuff awaiting pics for my Endless: Fantasy Tactics project (handily I've lost the charger for the camera so I can't take any more pics till I find the blasted thing!)

I've also been sorting through my 15mm scale gubbins for Farpoint which is proving to be rather a lot of fun as I keep finding more stuff that I want to paint up or convert into use with my assorted warbands.

The first thing I need to do though is to finish off my Governor General's security force. Looking at what I have lying around, I have enough figures to put together a second squad of infantry and I have a second Sentinel ready for painting.

Imperial Guard on Maneuver

Once they are out the way, I will need to see about adding some vehicles and enough figures to round out the platoon but that's for another day when I have some spare hobby money. At present, I've got lots of bits and bobs in need of painting which will be taking precedence over spending more pennies and should give me lots of small units to add variety to Farpoint.

I have also looked out all my Ghoulani Enslaver miniatures and actually have enough for a decent sized skirmish force. Again they are missing vehicles to add heft to the force but once again, I'll be exploring my bits box to see what else I have that can be drafted into the ever expanding force.  

 Ghoulani Enslaver Raiding Party

In a bit of a tangent, the Ghoulani force has actually given me a bit of an idea for a bit of a scenario driven mini campaign set in the American Midwest...

Why is it that as soon as I get unpacked, I find myself inundated with ideas that may or may not actually turn out? Speaking of which, I also located my old Stainless Steel Rat project sketchbook which has literally tons of interesting stuff that may well be getting integrated into Farpoint over the coming months!

Anyhoo, enough of my ramblings and all the best!

Tuesday 5 September 2017

Aeronef Anyone?

Hi!

Well the unpacking is going well and thus far, my miniatures collection seems to have survived the move pretty much intact!

As part of my ongoing obsession with lesser used wargames, I've been perusing Aeronef. Produced by Wessex Games, Aeronef is a game of aerial combat between Victorian era flying battleships and a large selection of ships have been produced by Brigade Models.

Aeronef

Many, many moons ago, I picked up a starter pack and painted up the British fleet to a rather guff quality and then promptly threw them into a box in frustration. Skip forward several years, I stripped the paint off the figures and fully intended to paint them to a more acceptable standard but sadly never got past the one ship, a really tiny Abingdon class British gunboat:

Abingdon Gunboat on patrol

In my new urge to try out some of the many rulebooks that I have kicking around, I've been pondering trying out the game as the mechanics look pretty straightforward and could be rather fun. The only problem is that I have no budget for new figures but have been bitten by the sculpting bug (my Endless: Fantasy Tactics project has proved to be rather enjoyable thus far but more on that later!)

With that in mind, I am thinking about trying to sculpt up a couple of small flotillas to mix it up over Imperial holdings on Mars...

We shall have to see what I can put together but I've got some ideas that need to be tried out!

I'll be posting an update on my Endless: Fantasy Tactics project over on my Somewhere On The Border blog tomorrow so do check back!

All the best!

Friday 1 September 2017

Endless: Fantasy Tactics Challenge

Hi!

Well it looks like the trend of small to mid sized gaming companies closing down continues as On The Lamb Games, producers of Endless: Fantasy Tactics have announced they are going to cease trading at the end of this year too.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the game as it was the first that I backed as part of a successful Kickstarter, back before larger companies started using the platform and it's a really rather good looking game, very much inspired by the 90's isometric 3d RPG's that were so beloved of SNES gamers back in the day.

Sample Game (image taken from On The Lambs website!) 

I love the idea of it but found the miniatures not quite to my likings and other than buying the supplement, The Miasma War, haven't actually played it.

Following on from my ponderings on games that go out of production, I think I want to try and explore some of the old games in my collection (I've got over a hundred to choose from) and try to give them a bash.

Sample Game 2 (image taken from On The Lamb's Website)

I'm thinking of actually making a start with Endless as it only needs a small board which I'm sure I can bodge together and a handful of miniatures which I plan on sculpting for a bit of a self challenge!

It's the first of September and I am giving myself a month to build the board which will be about 24''x24'' and put together a couple of adventuring types as well as some gribbly villains to fight them.

Whilst not really helping On The Lamb in the sales department (apologies guys but my budget is so non existent at the moment), I do want to work my way through several different games in my collection, put together warbands and actually play games!

I plan on posting one update a week to show progress and hope to have the project ready by the 1st of October. In order to keep things in some sort of order, I'll be posting progress on SOMEWHERE ON THE BORDER, my fantasy blog.

Going forward, I hope to run my next project using 15mm sci-fi and will probably give Vor: The Maelstrom a bash as I really want to try my hand at making Growlers in 15mm but that's for another day!

All the best!