Warpath

I must admit I do have a bit of a soft spot for Mantic Games, I enjoy playing Kings of War and recently backed the DeadZone kickstarter so it followed that I was going to check out their Sci fi range Warpath.
I remember signing up to Beasts of War membership almost two years ago now to gain access to the alpha rules release and getting excited about a possible true competitor to 40k, over the years its been interesting to see the rules develop and while they've not yet reached the same level of simplicity/strategy of KOW I still keep my eyes open for any updates etc.

The bigger problem with Warpath has to do with the range of models available, the initial box sets were based on the KOW sprues and did the job (apart from that awful dwarf firing a weapon model) and over the years the ranges have been expanded but there are still large gaps in the army lists that need proxies. The DreadZone kickstarter although being based upon its own game looks like it is going to fill a few of these gaps with its own range of models, and in some places looks to hint and expand upon the army lists. Also rumored for next year is another Mantic kickstarter to fill out the Warpath range and add vehicles/finalized rulebook etc, exciting times ahead.

The Forgefathers were the first faction that drew me to Warpath, like most people it was exciting to see the return of "squats", I picked up the Fate of the Forgestar boxed set and added a few extras to build up a small force. The Huscarl in particular is a great metal miniature with nice detailing and the Iron Ancestor adds to the nice chunky feel of the army:

Moving on to the Marauders, I have a ton of plastic sprues shelved away, I think close to 60 or more models but as I already have a 40K Ork army and having learnt my lesson with trying to paint armies these have yet to be put together. The Marauder army is one that really needs to be filled out by Mantic as at the moment it just feels like a huge group of foot sloggers with the odd vehicle thrown in. Along with the boxed sets I picked up the Marauder Ripper Warlord metal model, this really is a great sculpt and was fun to paint, it really shows that when Mantic produce individual metal models they come out really well.

Lastly is this oddity from Mantic, Mortis the Zombie Apocalypse hero. This metal miniature is basically just a head swap of the Verr-myn Night Spawn and i'm not sure where is really fits in to the Warpath universe/range, there are no rules for it and Mantic have hinted that it does not fit in with the new Plague army lists, maybe its going to fit in with the Warpath kickstarter next year or maybe its just meant to be a proxy for a certain 40K Chaos Lord (it was released shortly after the Chaos codex). Either way its an okish model and came with a box of other kit from ebay so didn't really cost anything:

Mantic Kings of War armies

I've finally completed a project!!!! ish...

A couple of years ago I picked up the kings of war 2 player starter set and vowed to build and paint all the miniatures in the box in two weeks, the project was almost the end of my enjoyment of the wargaming hobby and I learnt a big lesson, never put too much pressure on yourself to complete a project.
It took a few days to put everything together and I managed to paint a group or two but I wasn't happy with the results, rushing myself to get them finished I got sloppy and ended up putting everything back in the box and shelving it for a while.

Fast forward to this year, earlier in the year I decided to stop buying any more wargaming rulebooks, the huge number on the market and my shelf felt like they were watering down my concentration and enjoyment of the hobby, but then I saw the kings of war hardback book going cheap.....and what a breath of fresh air it was!! The rules are light and easy to read yet you can see the strategy within and the full set of army lists at the back give a huge choice of forces to get gaming with, I was surprised to find within the elves list a number of units to match a wood elves army, I might finally manage to bring them to the table (picked up warhammer 8th and the wood elf army book but just got frustrated with the disparity and complexity between the books so it never made it to the table).

Not quite as big as the undead horde but with a few elven allies...

I pulled the box off the shelf and got a game in and really enjoyed it so it spurred me on to finish the miniatures, I grabbed a can of army painter bone spray, picked a four colour scheme and an army painter wash and got to work. I took it a lot easier this time and aimed for a table ready finish and just picked them up here and there, along the way I bought a Dwarf king and some more undead units and finally finished the lot. The only part missing at this point are the bases, everything is currently based on cardboard but it gets the job done. It's a good feeling, finishing these off for gaming and I like the idea of being able to casually pick up a new unit, paint it up and get it on the table, would I do it again? not sure on that one, it takes a determined mindset to get stuck into army painting and at the moment its been nice to step back and paint a few individual models.

Champions, wraiths, zombies, ghouls, skeletons...the gangs all here!

I can really recommend Kings of War and the fantasy miniatures they produce, Mantic themselves have been under fire regarding the quality of what they produce and to be honest some of the sculpts in the range are stinkers but with the internet i'm pretty sure everyone is able to find photos of the models and decide what they want regarding detail and price, all of of the models in the photos above and the hardback rulebook all together cost me less than £50 so i'm more than happy with what I got and the fun it brings to the table.

Dirty little secrets...

Well, I didn't get nearly enough hobby time over the holiday period due to not actually been sober enough to to focus on anything smaller than my hand! Hobby gifts were slim on the ground this year too (a pack of D6 and a pair of slippers to keep me warm while painting in the garage).

I did manage to get a few mini's painted and due to having a nice eclectic mix primed up ready I was able to pick and choose any and experiment with the painting, ending up with this crew. All ready for a small skirmish or a shooty game of Blasters and Bulkheads.

Just before we get to the new year I thought i'd clear up my work space in the garage, while cleaning away I kept finding more and more mini's just forgotten about or half finished in boxes. Which leads me to one of wargamings little secrets (or not so secret), pretty much no one can keep up with the demand of releases coming out, just trying to get one army painted and based can take years not allowing for all the shiny items that come out in between. I'm guilty of it as much as anyone, having multiple projects on the go and still keeping one eye on ebay/news sites for any good deals.

So, having a good tidy up allowed me to take stock of what I've got and to start planning out the projects for the year, only problem is they don't look that many, I keep convincing myself I can run more! I have included my 28mm projects here too, just to give myself a written reminder of what I proposed:

• Vostroyan Army (28mm): Almost, almost there with this, been working on it for about two years and i'm down to the last ten man squad and two vehicles to finish, then it's basing and I will have completed a 1000 point all metal vostroyan troop force. :)

• Ork Army (28mm): This one has been collecting dust for awhile, still needs a few characters and vehicles painting (the warbikes finally killed it for me in the end, I hated trying to build and paint these so they ended back in the box).

• Battlefleet Gothic/Full Thrust: Still need a couple of ships to complete my BFG chaos fleet and start getting it on the table, some of the Full thrust ships look mighty tasty too....I have also started drafting out a one page ruleset for space combat.

• Wood Elves (28mm): Another one bought on a whim for a game i'm very unlikely to play, about halfway ish through painting these but still a way to go, a nice distraction now and then.

• Mantic - Kings of war/Warpath (28mm): Big fan of Mantic and what they do, I picked up the Kings of War starter last summer and tried to do an intense 3 week speed paint of the whole box (over 100 minis!), it quite literally broke me and it has been sat back on the shelf in shame. Good learning experience though, and with the Warpath starter showing up for as little as £30 now with two full armies and rules I might be tempted again.......

• Adeptus Titanicus: I used to love this and the Titan models, unfortunately sold them all a few years ago. Now on the lookout to try and pick up some new minis and build a titan order.

• Rogue Trader: Another ruleset I really miss, would love to pick up another copy of this and a few RT era mini's for small RPG skirmishes. Along with a possible Iron Hands/Adeptus army.

anyway on to the 15mm:

• USNC army: Picked up a fair few more mini's and vehicles for the USNC, still going to paint them in a sci fi red colour scheme but I want to experiment with some more realistic looks.

• Mech Detachments: I've a few mech minis to paint up and I was inspired by the recent release of the Imperator (which looks great) and the number of complaints about it's cost to see how many different mechs suitable to 15mm I could source for £20, managed to find some interesting specimens which I hope to paint up and blog soon.

• Cultist/Mechanicus: Got a few packs of the cultist mini's from 15mm.co.uk (they look a little off scale to me? wonder if it's the large bases they are on) and they look ripe for converting into a Mechanicus cult troop with robotic arms etc. the cyborg enslavers that came free with this order should go well with these too.

• Characters: A big mass of individual character models to paint here, I loved painting what I got so far so expect these to be high up on the priority list.

• Alien troops: From Mercenaries to Crusties, lots and lots to paint up.

• Redemptionist force: Fair few of these to get stuck in to, having a few problems seeing the details on some of the models but I might just try some painting experiments and see how it goes. Also the 15mm.co.uk site has just updated with new pics for the Laserburn range, looking a lot better.

• Terrain/Terrain/Terrain: bane of my life, must admit I do not like making terrain but I still have all the scatter terrain from before and the main boards to finish. Ho hum.

Phew! that felt pretty epic working through it all, but all going well I should be able to knock each one off the list in good time......