Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

To One & All!

I hope Santa brings you all the hobby goodness you have asked for!

Thank You For All Your Support This Year.

See you in 2019!

Unboxing: The Walking Dead Here's Negan By Mantic Games

Mantic Games are back with a new game called Here's Negan.

Set in the World of The Walking Dead the game is focused around a group of Survivors that must work together to clear out and secure an abandoned factory called The Sanctuary while holding off walkers.
Players must complete their objectives before the treat level reaches its maximum or the game is over.
Over seeing this task is Negan himself checking that all things are moving forward and rewarding those who pleases him and punishing that don't.

As players progress their actions will grant them reputation points and at the end the player with the highest reputation will be Negan's Lieutenant.
So you better have eyes at the back of your head as there could be a double cross awaiting you....

The game is set for 1-5 players and has narrative scenarios you can play as a one off or as a campaign and with the more players the difficulty of the situation rises.

Lets have a look whats inside the box.

Social Gaming With Big Potato Games...

Its getting that time of year where we start to meet up with old friends and family and gather to catch up over the festive season..

 Being gamers we love to play games and know its a great way to socialise and have some fun, but if your like me I am the only person who players table top games in my family and it can be hard to convince anyone to play anything...

I am always eager to try and get my wife, family and friends to try out games that are from IPs or styles of games I think they might enjoy but most are not interested even though gaming can be a great way to socialise.

 So my questions is how do we get non gamers to play games?

I knew that I would be meeting some friends for a Christmas get together over the weekend so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try and find a game or two that we could play...

After researching I found a company called Big Potato Games and chose a festive rhyming game called Santa Banter and a drawing game called Scrawl.

I thought these would be ideal for the meet up.

D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures Vampire Review

I have been looking for a vampire miniature for a while now something that would lead my undead army in to battle.
Looking around the internet I saw some nice looking miniatures from Wizkids under the banner of D&D.

 

The pictures looked fantastic you get two in a pack with different poses plus they were at a good price I think I picked up this pack for £4.

The have a vast range of differnt miniatures and furniture that are advertised as pre primed ready to paint out of the box.

I think its time I get some paint on one of these..

Kickstarter Watch: Reich Busters by Mythic Games

It is late December 1944 and Allied forces have got the Nazis on the ropes. However the discovery of a miraculous energy source called Vril may well throw a spanner in the works.

Nazi secret experiments on the substance lead by the Vrilmeisters, are a threat not just to the outcome of the war but to the whole world!

If they learn how to harness this power who can stop them?

 Who else but the Reich Busters...

Mythic Games are back on Kickstarter with a brand new game Reich Busters lets take a look at this new campaign.

Mantic Kings Of War Vanguard: Northern Alliance Warband Booster Set Review

After you have played a few games of Vanguard with your new Northern Alliance you may want to upgrade a get a few more miniatures to add magic or add a commander to your force.

Well your in luck as the Northern Alliance booster set has all this and a huge cavalry model.

Lets take a look.

Mantic Kings Of War Vanguard: Northern Alliance Warband Review

The Northern Alliance for Kings of War Vanguard was the set I first looked at and went yep I like those they look awesome!
So lets have a little unboxing and review of what you get in this warband set.

Mantic Terrain Crate: Kings Of War Vanguard Objectives

Mantic Games have recently been updating their terrain range with Terrain Crate their new affordable plastic pre assembled terrain range.

As Vanguard launched Mantic have created through Terrain Crate 14 objectives and tokens which tie in with the scenarios in the Vanguard rule book.

As readers of this blog maybe aware I love terrain and have done a few projects with Mantic terrain in the past so I could not resist picking these objectives when I was at Mantic HQ.

So lets take look inside the box.

Mantic Vanguard Open Day The Video..

At the Vanguard launch day the other Matt as he is fondly known at Mantic was busy filming the days events.

Here you can watch the video below and the keen eyed may spot me in a few shots...

You can also visit Mantic's own blog with more regarding the day here

More Vanguard related posts will be arriving soon...

Interview with Matt Gilbert Of Mantic Games..Lets Talk Vanguard

Last weekend at the Vanguard launch day I managed to sit down with Matt Gilbert for a quick chat about all things Vanguard and what we can expect in the future.

Model Box: Horror Special Review..

When theres something strange in you letter box who you gonna call..... Model Box.....

Ok ok enough of the bad jokes to day I received something spooky in my letter box and its from the good people at Model Box with their October Subscription box themed around you guessed it Horror!!

Let take a look in this months box if you dare.......

Vanguard Launch Day At Mantic Hq Part 2

After our first game I thought I would have a look around some of the studio miniatures.

Vanguard Launch Day at Mantic HQ Part 1

Saturday saw me get up at silly o'clock to make the 2 hour and 30 min journey up to Nottingham to visit Mantic HQ for the Vanguard Launch day.

Its All About Kings Of War Vanguard...

Well over the last few months you must have heard that Kings of War Vanguard by Mantic Games is headed to retail and Kickstarter backers have become giddy as boxes arrive on their doorsteps.

Well if you are like me I did not back the Kickstarter and I am slightly regretting it but I am caught up in the buzz and making up for it...

Sons Of Mars Review

Have you ever wanted to seek glory and hear the cry's of the crowd upon the sands in Rome. Have you ever wanted to create your own ludus, pitting your band of gladiators against others to gain coin and prestige..

Well Sons Of Mars by Joe Veltre of Acceptable Casualties have you covered.

Hobby Resolutions Part 3

Ok so this has taken me a while to get back on track as part 2 was in May but lets get on and see if I hit my targets.

Warhammer Conquest Issue 4...Hang on wheres Issue 3?

So I visted my local newsagents a few weeks ago to pick up issue 3 but was told it did not turn up so I have issue number 4 for now and hope I can pick up issue 3 later.

Lets have a look inside...

A Little Trip To The Site Of The Battle of Hastings

With all the talk of Kings of War Vanguard and Monday nights chat from Andy at Black Jack Legacy's live stream, a few weeks ago I was at Battle near Hastings and visited Battle Abbey which is on the grounds of were the Battle of Hastings took place.

This was a perfect chance to get some ideas for terrain that could be used in a fantasy/ historical setting as well as soak up some history.

Tabletop Gaming Live 2018 Part 2

After the demo at the Mantic Games stand I carried on my journey around the show as it started to hit the afternoon traffic of gamers hitting the main hall at Alexandra Palace.

Tabletop Gaming Live 2018 Part 1

Today I visited Alexandra Palace for Tabletop Gaming Live 2018.

I got there just before opening time.

Tabletop Gaming Live 2018 Preview

This weekend sees gamers flock to Alexandra Place in London for Tabletop Gaming Live 2018

which is sponsored by Mantic games and Warcradle Studios.

The Wolves At The Door. Space Wolves Scouts Ready For Deploment.

Another painting session and a quick raid in my bits box and ebay (£2 for 5 Scouts!) sees a new Kill Team for Shadow War Armageddon/Kill Team ready for the tabletop.

The Sons of Russ ready and awaiting the glory of war.

Warhammer 40000 Conquest Magazine Issue 2 Review

  Issue 2 of Warhammer 40000 Conquest Magazine has just arrived in stores this week.

In this issue it introduces the Death Guard!

Terrain Build: Oil Silos

I have been sorting through some of my terrain and had the bug to make something new for my gaming table.
Looking in my terrain box I noticed I still had a few bits to make left over from the MDF terrain from ebay.

The perticulcer kits I have left call for pringles crisp tins to be used as the main structure but as I dont eat them and I'm more into coffee and have been collecting the tins for some reason I decided to use these to build the Silo Station kit.

Gamemat.EU Highlands In War Game Mat Review

Over the past few months my collection of Gaming mats has been growing. I recently got a 4x4 mat as part of my Ebay mega deal for Shadow War games  which is called TriCity and I have been using another 4x4 called Arctic Mat.

TriCity Mat

Arctic Mat

Links to the games where both mats being used are here and here.

I found out that these mats were from Gamemat.EU and being impreased with the quility I have received a new 6X4 mat called Highlands In War.

I take a look at this mat and see how it shapes up.

Warhammer 40000 Conquest Review

Over the last couple of months there has been a lot of buzz regarding a weekly released Warhammer 40,000 collection magazine called Conquest which is only available in the UK at the moment that will be hitting outlets as well as having a subscrition service. 

Pictures have been released online of the first 4 issue with number 1 released today at an amazing 

£1.99!!

So whats the hype about then well I managed to grab a copy and I am going to give you a review and my thoughts on this collection.

Shadow War Armageddon 3.0 Crystal Cobras vs The Inquisition Part 3

Game 3 The Raid

This was a scenario that Riot and I had not played before..

The table is set up and we roll off to see who will place a door which the other player has to destroy and get off the same board edge they started in...

Shadow War Armageddon 3.0 Crystal Cobras vs The Inquisition Part 2

After a quick cup of tea we rolled off to play

Game 2 Ambush. 

This time one of us where the attacker trying to ambush the other player. 

I was going to be ambushing the base of The Inquisition.

Shadow War Armageddon 3.0 The Crystal Cobras Vs The Inquisition Part 1

Its back to Armageddon today with Riot and he has brung along his band of Inquisition vs my newly painted Crystal Cobras...

The Red Book Of The Elf King by Lucid Eye Productions Review

 Today I am reviewing a new skirmish rule book sent to me by Lucid Eye Productions called The Red Book Of The Elf King and written by Rick Priestly of Games Workshop fame.

The Crystal Cobras. The Emperors Finest Ready For Duty.

The Crystal Cobras..Pre Armageddon

Introducing The Crystal Cobras ready for deployment and fight the enemies of the emperor..

My Astra Militarum is ready for there first mission on armageddon tomorrow vs Riot.

Riot and I have both decided to wait and see how Kill Team pans out over the next few weeks before we decided to dive in so its back to 

Shadow War Armageddon.

I picked these minis up at Salute this year and I  have always wanted to have a small team of Catachan Jungle Fighters.

The team my have some familiar names which have a little homage to some famous characters..

Sally 4th: Shadespire Storage Solution Review

For the past few months I have been looking for a storage salution that would allow me to have all my Shadspire minitures and accsories stored in way that they are all in one place.

On my search I found a company called Sally 4th which produces lots of differnt products using MDF but also storage salutions that fit in to 19 litre Really Useful storage boxes for board games and war games.

How do I store this lot...

I contacted Chris at Sally 4th with an idea about using the template of his storage salution design but make it so it fits all the miniatures and accessories in the Shadespire range .

 After a few months of ideas going back and fourth Chris and I came up with this storage solution.

The Drowned Earth Creator Interview With James Baldwin

"The Drowned Earth is a world where heroes and villains risk the hazards of the wild for glorious riches and ancient technologies!

For hundreds of years nature reclaimed the earth, pre-historic monsters ruled the wilds, while the survivors of the cataclysm known as "The Event" struggled to survive.

Now a New Enlightenment has dawned, and the fragile glimmer of civilisation has begun to shine. Now the fight is on for who will control this precious knowledge."

I first saw The Drowned Earth being demoed at Salute this year and I was drawn in by the jungle landscapes and the miniature range that features dinosaurs and animals holding weapons fighting along side humans out on the table top.

I had the chance to interview its creator James Baldwin of Olmec Games about the game as well as his thoughts on the gaming industry and what is in store for the future for the game.

Atlantis Miniatures Dwarf Review.....Plus A Look At Their New Kickstarter

For those who are new to Atlantis Miniatures they are a UK based company that focuses on making high quality resin fantasy miniatures.

Atlantis Miniatures range goes from Dragons, Goblins, Orcs, creatures from Mythology to trolls and yes Dwarfs...

As I seem to be getting a lot of experience with Dwarf miniatures as of late Atlantis Miniatures were kind enough to send me a mix pack of Dwarfs from their catalog to take a look at.

The best thing about Heroquest.....

Gamers of a certain age have found memoeries of starting their journeys with Heroquest who can forget this advert!

Well during the days before ebay (yes a long time ago it feels) I picked up a copy of Heroquest for I think £5 at the time I must have been 10. 

 I remember playing with the mins and board playing my own games not to the rules as alias I had no one to play the game with as no one I knew like gaming...

After a time it went in the loft and when I went to surch for it again a few years later.....It was gone thrown out after my parents decided to clear out the loft....Nooooo...

Its now 20 odd years later and I have been wanting to get a dungeon crawler for a while. As I was in the market for this type of game I thought I would have a look out for Heroquest.

The price of the game has skyrocketed so after scouted Ebay for a while for a bargain my luck came in..

I put a cheeky bid in for a copy of Heroquest the Advanced Quest edition wth extra minis and quests and I won...

Lets just say I was eager for it to arrive..

Mini Gangs By Ramshakle Games Review

There are lots of games out there with fantastic miniatures and some rule books that take a while to really get to grips with playing.

This can sometimes put off a lot of new gamers and even make it hard to introduce younger people into wargaming.

Well Ramshackle games may have the answer to help get new players into wargaming while also being able to keep the most seasoned wargaming veteran happy with their game Mini Gangs.

Dwarf Gyro Copter Number 2!

I finally got some time to paint this week and I got round to painting my second Gyro Copter...

Review: Model Box War Theme Unboxing

War what is is good for....Well if you subscribe to Model Box it will be very good for you as this months theme from this monthly subscription service is you guessed it War!

Playmats.EU River and Games Mat Review.

As you all may have seen in my review of The Resinarium Bridges terrain review I was using a new 3X3 game mat and River set (which you can buy on the Kickstarter) which was provided by Playmats.EU which I am going to review.

Kickstarter Watch: Escape The Dark Castle...The Legend Grows..

Last year a game company named Themeborne Games went to Kickstarter with their game Escape From The Dark Castle.

A cooperative card based game thats part Fighting Fantasy part D&D that you and your fellow prisoners are trying to escape the evil that lurks in the Dark Castle.
You have to use each players skills and cunning to escape the monsters and traps that await you oh and don't forget no game would be complete with out a huge boss to defeat.

With its nod to games from the past (check the trailer video here) and its beautifully hanuitng art style and the tense game play thats never the same twice Themeborne smased their funding goal. 

This even produced an addtional expanstion called Cult Of The Dark Night...

With a very successful UK Expo Show this year Themeborne are back on Kickstarter with two new expansions join me as I take a look over the details so far.

Hobby Holder Review.

So how do you paint your minis. Yes probably with a brush and paint but do you just hold the base of the mini to paint it?

 How about using something that offers more stability when painting and could help you paint better.

Well look no further then The Hobby Holder from Game Envy Creations.

A Miniature Backdrop Build...

I got a little creative the other day.
I have a light box which has been working well for pictures  but sometimes you want to set a scene so I thought with the extra foam board I have from a DIY project why don't I make a scenic backdrop for my photos.

I decided to go for a natural setting allowing the backdrop to be used for different game systems and looked at doing a side of a mountain or rock wall.

Lets start with base..

Hobby Resolution Part Two

At the start of the year I made a post about my Hobby Resolutions for the first quarter of the year.

So how did I do?

Warhammer Fantasy Vampire Counts....Army Number 2

I'm on a bit of a Warhammer Fantasy painting trip at the moment must be due to Riot Ville Live a few months back.

After painting Dwarfs I wanted a change and as I was in Fantasy mode and liking Macca's list at Riot Ville I knew I had roughly the same models as him so why not get a proper Vampire Counts force together....

Titan Wargames Grulka Blackhand Dwarfs of Vorganash Review

As many of you who have been following my blog for the past couple of months I have been painting a lot of Dwarfs I mean a lot! Just look here.
I have managed to get my paint brush on many differnt manufacturers Dwarven creations but today I am getting the opptunuity to paint a female Dwarf called Grulka Blackhand from the nice people at Titan Wargames.

A Little Road Trip to Rye..

I had a little road trip the other day to Rye near Hastings as it was the Bank holiday weekend and we had some nice weather for a change.

 Before I got to Rye I stopped off at Ashford for a quick pit stop and randomly saw this WW1 tank. I think its the same model as the one from Salute this year.