Just a little update note – the first edition of SPOTREP (my series of articles looking at the current state of the Ultramodern wargaming space) is now out. It’s taken me way too long to get my ideas together and written down (the original post was planned to be released in October) but I’ve finally managed to make a good follow up to the original post back in 2022.

Due to the amount of work needed and the time taken, SPOTREP posts (both the Quarterly Update and the Company Profiles that will be coming soon) will be available for the members of the ChargeBlog Patreon at the Special Projects and Logistics Group tier. However, as a taster, this first post is available to everyone at the News Fan tier. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, and I’ll see you in 2026 for more!

I have been deep in the mines writing up details for ChargeReal, more specifically platoon lists for the various forces. However, as I was working on it, I hit an awkward problem.

The original idea was for the books to be entirely rules agnostic, but the more I’ve spent time thinking about it, the more I decided that theming it around one system makes it much more usable for the general market as well as making it easier for myself to decide the level of detail that is actually required. The question though is which system to use?

I started my Ultramodern wargaming journey back in 2014, fresh out of university and with the wages of my first job in industry burning a hole in my pocket. At the time, the focus of Ultramodern rulesets was mostly section level, with players activating single figures – after all, this era was one of counter-insurgency and special operations raids. The main exception was Force on Force, a ruleset which is well made but never clicked for me (even if the full set rulebooks for it are now my emergency cashout plan).

Fast forward to now, and things have moved on. The world’s focus has changed from the wars of counter-insurgency into a new type of conflict, one that is often far more about. At the same time, I’ve moved on. I’ve played a lot of Special Forces kicking in doors and talked a lot about games revolving around the actions of heroic individuals. I feel like I’m kind of done with purely focusing on the individuals in a fight and this blog is a testament to that. I’ve now reached the stage where upon reading books and watching the footage coming out of today’s conflicts, my interest in what I want to play has been slowly climbing its way up another level of command – that of the Platoon level engagement.

A chunk of the blame can be placed on the TFL game Chain of Command for this but a lot of it comes from the reasons Why I wargame. As someone who has been playing ultramodern wargames to gain a greater understanding of what’s going on in the world (and drag my opponents along the way), the Platoon level comes with a whole host of interesting challenges to model. The skills of the individuals in the gunfight are still important but now you also need to look at how they work together, as well as what is required by those in command and those supporting to put them in the right place at the right time. We’re also in a market where there are currently several sets available that cover this scale. The problem was, after digging into them, I found none of them quite hit the spot. Some are focused on older eras and would require a whole host of work to try and cram my ideas into them. Others could model what I want but don’t seem to have the right level of focus – at platoon scale, I’m personally not sure I should be picking the exact loadout of every fighter on the board when building my list. Some of this comes down to the idea of a total sandbox ruleset, the one-stop-shop that means you only have to learn one set of rules and then use them for every type of game (be it the adventures of a small team performing a covert operation or a mechanised platoon advancing on a fortified position). This is a great idea and for lots of people it works out perfectly. For me though, I’d rather play a ruleset that is designed specifically for a task to get the best version of the game I’m trying to play.

The final point that pushed me into writing something was buying and playing BPRE28. Yes, the game is fantastic and yes, it’s not the scale I’m talking about above BUT there is something about the way it’s written and how it plays. All of the fat is trimmed away, focusing on the key elements that you need to know for a firefight and presented in a way that doesn’t send you diving for the rulebook after every move. Having played a chunk of it with various people, it’s incredible how quickly people pick it up and then how soon afterwards people work out the additional unwritten tricks, learning how best to combine your force’s abilities into moves that seize ground and win the game. However, BPRE28 has some differences (specifically pre-defined character types and maps) that don’t fit the style of the game I’m aiming to cover. And, as good as it is, a skirmish game with individual figures taking place over a matter of minutes of real-time is very different to a platoon-based game designed to support a fictional world with piles of different nations and organisations to model. But, it does provide some evidence of the idea that less can in fact be more.

With all that background covered, let’s go over the key target goals for my game that I wrote down one cold Autumn evening as I pondered my requirements:

1. Model the current realities of infantry combat in modern warfare. To succeed, the player must attempt to utilise tactics and procedures that modern troops are trained in. For example, the basic concept of “Find – Fix – Flank – Finish” is a fundamental part of small unit engagement – if a game doesn’t incentivise you to do this, then it’s not using its setting, it’s merely wearing it as a skin.
2. Focus on the important choices when list building and playing. Do you really need to be picking between an M16 and an M4 when building an element at platoon scale? Do you need 101 modifiers to cover every possible complication of putting a shot on target? Instead, it should focus on making sure you have the right combination of pieces in your force and then making sure you as their commander put them to good use.
3. List construction should also have plenty of flexibility. The key reason for this ruleset is to support the ChargeReal books, the main feature of each being several platoon and force lists. These vary massively in quality, size and composition. The ruleset will need to handle everything from a small SF raiding force with a high level of leadership down to a large but poorly led platoon from a developing nation.
4. Fast and Fun while still providing a Tactical Challenge. I’m not designing something beer and pretzels but, as someone with a day job, it does need to be easy to get to the table, rather than feeling like it needs a whole day to prepare for it. Ideally, it should be something you could write up an army list on your phone during your lunch break (or the bus home), grab your figures, get the board ready and finish a game (after learning the rules) around the 90 minutes/1 hour mark with plenty of time for food and beers around them. But, at the same time, it must obey point 1 – players will need to do more than just smash models together, you’ll need to have some level of strategy to go with just rolling dice and seeing what happens.

Based on these goals, I’ve started work on Project Elements. And before you ask, don’t worry, the name will be improved later.

In Project Elements, you take on the role of a Force Commander utilising a roughly platoon-sized force to perform a task. It could be assaulting an enemy position, patrolling through an area or attempting to prevent the enemy from achieving their objectives.

Under your command you have multiple Elements, each focused on a role within your force. They are designed to work together, giving you a toolbox to deal with the opposing force – Base of Fire teams for suppression, Scouts and Marksmen for spotting enemy positions and then Close Quarters Teams for finishing elements that have become pinned down and securing positions. The core of each force is the Manoeuvre Group with a varying number of riflemen – this is the most flexible unit in your force as it can be upgraded with various equipment to help them approach multiple tasks, but they will never be as effective as specialist units.

To control your force, you rely on a variety of trained NCOs. In order to use your teams effectively, they have to be activated by a leader – leaders activate earlier in each turn and elements under their control use the full range of actions. In contrast, Elements that a leader doesn’t activate use a smaller subset of actions ,mostly focused on self-preservation and continuing simple orders (such as engaging targets within their arcs). NCOs will have different levels of experience that increase the number of activations they can do, with each additional activation costing exponentially more. As well as commanding troops, NCOs are also responsible for helping to keep your units in the fight, managing suppression as it builds up once the rounds start flying.

As well as the elements and NCO of the core components of your force, you can also call upon various support assets. These can be off-map for fire support or reconnaissance or by bringing forward additional platforms (such as vehicles) into the battlespace. However, these actions take your time and attention away from controlling the battlefield as a whole – you’ll need to decide how to balance your limited resources to achieve your goals best, be that investing in your support options or providing direct assistance to your units.

Project Elements also intends to model the fog of war that falls once the bullets start flying, without making you feel completely powerless. The battlefield is empty when the game begins, with neither side quite sure where their opponents are until the first move or first bullet fires. You instead use a number of Contact Markers to represent where the enemy thinks your units are, although placed by the player who will control them. These then act as deployment points when you begin the fight, with certain forces able to use them for other purposes – you can even simply not deploy from them, all in order to play mind games with your opponent. Additionally, the effectiveness of a round of shooting isn’t handled until the targeted unit activates (although there are ways to force it), meaning that the shooting player will have to decide how much energy to spend keeping the enemy’s head down before advancing. After all, suppressed elements can then be manoeuvred onto and engaged in close-range combat to decisively remove them from the battlefield, providing a gap to be further exploited by other elements.

To please those who enjoy slinging dice and to keep things simple, tests for actions such as shooting, close combat, scouting and more will use mostly fixed values that depend on the element’s stats, with only a small number of modifiers based on the current battle’s conditions. All of the variety of exciting force multipliers will literally multiply the chances of achieving success by adding new dice to the dice pool when they are used. This should keep things moving at pace, without requiring hunting down a giant list of modifiers and doing maths rather than thinking about what the next tactical push will be.

Hopefully that all sounds good, but I’m sure there are some questions about it – mostly “what stage is it in?”

The answer to which is “very early”. The core rules have all been written down and over Christmas, there have been a few casual moving figures around and rolling dice to get the feel. The good news was that these went well, and I did spend a few days after thinking about possibilities from what I’d played, which always a good sign. However, there is a LONG way to go on it – I want to make sure that the mathematics in it is bulletproof and feels good no matter what style of force you’re running. Additionally, I will need to make sure the list building is also as reliable as I can make because as we all know, people love making the craziest setups to try and break things. Finally, there is a lot to do around the core rules – things like working out how to make it work for solo players, playing enough games to find all the edge cases and working out how to cut off all the rough edges that I will inevitably encounter while still keeping the key pieces of charm. I don’t think this will be anything close to release-worthy this year and frankly, I wouldn’t even attempt to rush something like this.

The good news is that members over on the Patreon will be getting their first look at the rules as they progress. As a little something else for the ChargeReal Researchers, you’ll be getting a first look at anything around the ruleset – this will include designer notes, some explorations to show off what the set can do and other things that I want to write and should be interesting. On top of that, when the Regular Opponents and myself are testing it on the tabletop, the Researchers will be getting the test information on top of the usual battle reports.

For those with no interest in trying out another ruleset, then don’t worry. For the most part, the ChargeReal Lore Books will still be designed to be as system-agnostic as possible – having a ruleset just helps to focus the mind on gameplay rather than going too deep. I’m aiming to have another ChargeReal platoon detailed before the end of the month so stand by for more details.

In part 1, we covered the background setting of Gunslinger 2030, detailing the world and factions of the near future. Today, we’re going to discuss the original plans on how we’d advance the storyline of Gunslinger, using each release as a new chapter to show the world evolving as time moved on.

This is an element that evolved (and then shrunk) as the Gunslinger project continued. A lot of the information in this post was very early on and in many cases hadn’t been agreed on both sides of the project team so I can’t 100% say it was going to happen – this is all merely ideas that were on their way.

Characters

Before we hit the main narrative concept, I think it’s worth talking about an element of the narrative that I was keen to work on as it affected both the story and the figures you’d get – Characters.

If there is one thing that’s easy to spot, people enjoy setting more when they have named characters they can latch onto. There are plenty of wargamers that don’t write their own backstory for each mission and yet still latch on big narrative figures – this is especially visible when you look at a setting like Warhammer 40k. Characters provide you, the player, that link to the world, a viewpoint that helps you understand the morals and motivations of the factions involved. Having the same characters appear across several missions is a short cut to ongoing storytelling, an extra hook to get people inereated.

On my side as someone writing plot and designing figure concepts, Characters would also allow us the abilty to create cool and unique figures alongside the larger ranges. When Gunslinger started, the main thing we wanted to do was have each range be complete enough to assemble squads with all the weapons you’d need. If that was the main meal, then Characters gave us the dessert – a chance to make cool one-off figures or unique twists on the other designs.

The main type of characters we were planning to introduce were the Contractors. These would be our main characters, the ones that would reappear across different arcs and in different locations, with the potential of having multiple versions in different equipment. The two that received the most detail were Catherine Jensen and Alexander Wallace. These two were released in the first ranges (Jensen with Black Sector and Wallace with Kojoti), with the idea that you would gain at least one additional Contractor model with each range (set of three months of releases). This would be a chance for a character that fit the look of the core team but also had some of their own gear and equipment as well as a unique head sculpt that we would reuse in all their variants.

Catherine Jensen was a former Norwegian Army Ranger who joined military intelligence. After being let got after a successful career due to cost cutting, Jensen found herself in a role as the middle man between PMC groups and those wishing to use their services. In her first figure, it was her overseeing the Black Sector team, using similar uniforms but with her own custom rifle and a few extra pieces of gear.

Alexander Wallace on the other hand was a former British Army officer in the Ranger Regiment, entering the army from noble stock. After encountering Kojoti during operations in the Balkans, Wallace would provide them with intelligence in exchange for cold hard cash to help keep himself in the lifestyle befitting minor nobility. This arrangement was eventually discovered, leading to Wallace being kicked out of the army for “bringing the regiment into ill repute”. This didn’t stop his work though and soon he’d be working for Kojoti as a Senior Consultant, overseeing teams around the world. We’ll cover some of his story later when discussing the arcs but for his initial Kojoti release I wanted him to fit in with the ragged look but with a little bit more refinement – he’s wearing a soft shell and with a chest rig rather than the vests many of the other Kojoti had. That way, he’d stand out from the crowd when painted up, without looking completely out of place.

The other type of Character we designed was the Character Team. This was where we’d assemble a team of four, give each of them a unique head and then set them up to interact with the rest of the range that they arrived in. This could either be as adversaries, special units to work alongside that release or just a chance to add something different and offer the players/collectors something new at the end of a cycle.

We had two Character Teams released by the time I left. The Blockade Team was to be a backseat intro for the larger faction that would have arrived in the later releases. These guys were my first chance to go really deep on figure design (Black Sector’s design was mostly worked out, so I only advised on the second and third months of that range). As you can see on the moodboard above, the idea was to take the classic look from MW2 and update it to 2030 – everything from the weapon systems to the life preserver. I was pretty happy with the final result – a unique-looking team with a combination of weapons and clothing that made it pretty clear their purpose.

Each of the Burya-156 Operators also received a name and background to explain how they found themselves on this particular operation. Led by Igor Zakharov, Sascha Antonov acted as the pointman with the mohawk, Valentina Kondakova handled commincation and electronic warfare while the young punk Ilya Dygalo provided a marksman. One of the advantages of writing this information, alongside making the characters more interesting, is the ability to drop more information about the world for people to latch onto. Alongside character details such as Sacha’s sea sickness (a problem for a unit mostly operating from ocean-going vessels) and Valentina’s entry to fieldwork coming from a posting in Bogota are tidbits such as Ilya’s time fighting for the Volga Independent Republic or Igor’s work against the Russian accelerationists before the Federation broke apart. It is unlikely we would have specifically detailed these parts, but leaving threads dangling would have given players something to fire up the imagination. As for where that information was given out? We’ll cover that down below.

In contrast, the High-Risk Contractors provided less story development but were more of a chance to bridge the gap between the original inspiration (Army of Two) and the world of Gunslinger 2030. These little dialogue clips help to reveal both the character of their faction and the type of person willing to dress up in all that armour and go into battle with it on. I went for a mix of nationalities and teams to shows this is a global organisation but also wanted a few interpersonal links – for example, both Taylor and Rodriguez being Rangers was down to the idea that one got the other into the business. If we had managed to do a second team of High Risk Contractors (or even a few additional individuals), it would have been a fun time writing even more variety to them.

While these were the Characters and Characters teams we released, I had a few other ones written on the drawing board. The Characters I’m going to keep quiet on as I’m redeveloping them all for ChargeReal, but as a rough guideline it was a combination of inteligence officers and soldiers for hire you’d expect for a more “boots on the ground” Tom Clancy novel. The Character Teams however I’m happier to share and had a few designed. In fact, you saw one of them in the form of the Raptor Diagnostics team. Gunslinger V2, with it’s focus on one and done teams each month, would have seen a few of the character teams evolve into a slightly larger team but with less focus on the lore. As well as the Raptor team, I had also created a Kojoti Killteam (the CQB focused operators mentioned in the first post), an additional Blockade team (La Maldición), a Middle Eastern Local Protection Force (think Mosul SWAT) and a set referred to as CIA Day Trippers intended for actions south of the border. These teams are in various stages but helped to show the variety of forces we could have potentially expanded the range to, creating an ecosystem to show off the aspects of the 2030 world.

Arcs

A big idea I had upon entering the project was a system of arcs, a method of tying the figure releases to an ongoing story. Every three months of releases would be a range, with five packs (two in the first month, two in the second month and one in the final month) for the focus range (for example Black Sector GIG or Kojoti Team Chernobog) while the sixth pack would be a character team. The plan would then be that each set of releases would give you a complete force, as well as something to either enhance the focus range or act as an OPFOR

Before we get to the fun details, it should be pointed out that in the end, this release system did not work. The number of figures produced each month was overwhelming to the sculptor leading to some aggressive burnout, while from the customer side it was effectively locking people out – for example, if you had no interest in the Kojoti team, then it’s possible that you’d be dropped off the Patreon for three months until we finished with the scruffy AK guys. If this was done again, it would probably make more sense to alternate months through the arc – take the same time to release the figures and finish the story, but allow for some more variety for everyone involved.

With that aside over, let’s talk about the arcs I came up with:

Prologue

Every good action film needs a pre-title card sequence – be it jumping off a dam and leaving your friend to die, raiding a cartel house and flushing the cash down the toilet or a gunfight in a KKK rally, a good prologue helps to setup the scene, establish the tone of the piece while planting the seeds for what comes later.

For 2030, I assembled the prologue to help get the vibe down of the first release. Black Sector had already been designed as a concept, while I had come up with a small OPFOR team dressed in scuba gear and primed for sneaking around. From this I worked out the idea – Black Sector had snatched a HVT and now Burya-156 were rolling in to stop him talking before he revealed too much. A quick look at a map gave me the region – the Black Sea coast of Georgia, close enough to Russian territory to allow some cross-border work before a Black Site hidden away.

Of course with this writing, I realised I had managed to write myself a prologue to my prologue, that being Black Sector actually raiding the target. In my head, it’s a combination of the opening raid from the French film Forces Spéciales and the Modern Warfare 2 mission Loose Ends. A remote Dacha somewhere near Sochi, the lights going out as the power is cut, the guards hired from Kojoti taken down by Black Sector teams moving through the darkness, finally capturing the target (a former FSB agent by the name of Victor Khorkov) in one of the upstairs rooms before Jensen watches him being dragged to a waiting helicopter.

If I was writing this as a film, this prologue to the prologue would probably be mostly shown in flashback moments as the Burya-156 team are briefed in their quarters on the old bulk cargo hauler the MS Konev, somewhere in the Black Sea as they headed out of Trabzon.

Speaking of which, it’s worth talking about a little narrative experiment I attempted during the final month of the Black Sector release that contained all this information – that of Tenebris Aquis. I’m not sure how many people actually interacted with this project, but it was a proof of concept to work out how best to share more details. Using a scripting system called Twine, this interactive experience was designed to be slightly more interesting than simply reading through a page. It was intended to be a conversation between Team Leader Igor and his Blockade Handler, setting up the mission to go deal with Khorkov. As well as a full briefing doc, it also included personal files for the team (where all the details mentioned above were displayed) as well as a few other hints for future events – the page for Kojoti was locked (with the intention of unlocking it once they were announced) while a mysterious “Project Vangarian” pointed towards events several arcs ahead. There was even a few other little hints towards smaller character moments – someone called Alexei (the original name for the team leader character) is implied to have been captured by Jensen in the past

Overall, it was a good starting point but it needed way more time and way more work. Due to the rush, I was unable to create custom graphics for it, having to rely on stock photos and the renders I made for promotional work, as well as half-assing the theme of the webpage. The push on social media also wasn’t that great – ideally it should have gone out to all the patrons and gone out early, giving them plenty of time to read through and start getting ideas before the release, building it up and getting much more attention.

The other downside to this release was not being able to get a scenario ready to play over. This was down to both timing but also down to the decision made not to support a single particular rule system with the Gunslinger system.

As for what would happen in the prologue canonically? Well in my planning, I always assumed Blockade would have been successful, moving past the Black Sector forceseliminating Khorkov after discovering him tied to a chair in a shipping container awaiting another round of interrogation. However, the former agent had already revealed some tidbits to Jensen and Black Sector, sending them off to the next location with a name “Wallace”.

Syria

The first full arc was set in Syria, in particular the eastern half of the country close to the border with Iraq and Jordan. From the off, I knew this was going to focus on Kojoti, our Serbian PMC doing shady work out in the desert. These guys gave us a different perspective compared to the Western teams, as well as a chance to push out further into the world. Syria is also a location which can play into the changing world of Gunslinger (as mentioned in the first post) – with the Russians out of there, the country is home to a mix of militias, contractors and private corporations. The story was that Team Chernobog, under the command of Alexander Wallace, had been deployed to fight off the counter-regime forces (both internal and external). However, they also had another objective, striking against private corporations operating in remote bases in Jordan and Iraq and stealing military and corporate secrets. These attacks are not going unnoticed, leading to Jensen’s arrival and the eventual deployment of forces to stop these attacks (once the go-ahead has been given by the Syrian regime).

The initial idea for the figure releases would have been to have Kojoti’s Team Chernobog as the first release before being followed up by a set of figures in the Ubique range (more on that in post 3) designed to represent a variety of Middle Eastern militia groups, accompanied by a character team of Western Contractors performing EOD duties in the region. These sets, combined with the Black Sector figures from the first arc, would then tie into an operation where Black Sector and Kojoti would fight each other, assisted by their local proxy forces, before culminating in a raid on the Chernobog base inside a factory complex in Deir ez-Zor.

With this longer arc, I decided to try and get in some more narrative through what was planned to be a series of short stories. This first one “The Lion and The Coyotes” (which you can find linked above) was designed to setup events in the region, introducing Wallace and the Kojoti team, as well as using a dialogue between the government representatives and Wallace to show more of the situation. Follow up stories would have then covered the events leading up to the final battle, mentioning the other elements as well as laying down information to be used in the future (such as the Intel Source “Fountain” and another group by the name of “Trident Acquisitions”).

Once I realised that we wouldn’t be getting multiple releases in the original plan, it was quickly slimmed down to focus on just the final encounter between Black Sector and Kojoti, with the intention to release coming at the end of the Kojoti releases. It even reached the point where I had started speccing out a layout for a possible final engagement (with talk of Dan from Desk-Ops potentially creating some elements to capture photos of before the final release). However, because of the time compression, this project was ended before it began – additionally, this was the time when I started to realise that maybe I should start looking for an exit.

The intended ending of the arc would have seen Black Sector (with assistance from a team of High Risk Contractors) raiding the Kojoti base, fighting both active fighters and the secruity team (including the PKM gunner in his Y-Fronts). Alexander Wallace would have been captured and taken away for interrogation but a phonecall from a higher power would have led to his release. Wallace, being the cad he is, would of course take a moment with Jensen to reveal that, despite working with Kojoti, he was actually a double agent, with British SIS using him to redirect Kojoti against targets that suit British Intelligence. It would also be made clear that this work was not out of some sense of duty but instead purely for the financial benefit – we have to make it very clear that he is no James Bond! With Wallace released, it would allow us to reuse him in future sets and give us a moment to move on to the next location.

Mexico

The final arc that had a chunk of work done on it was Mexico. This was actually one of the arcs I’d started thinking about when we began the project (perhaps inspired by the pile of people doing Cartel based projects at the time). The basic idea was that the increasing industrial base in Mexico after the US-China trade war was leading to an increase in wealth among industrial concerns but also that the Cartels and Government corruption would rise. This would then lead to an initiative by a member of the Mexican social elite (who had previously served in the US Marine Corps before returning home) to utilise former US military personnel (along with loyal members of the Mexican military, police and civilians) to wage war on the Cartels. This of course has some fans north of the Border and so the Project finds itself being equipped from the piles of gear that the US Army had put into warehouses during the economic downturn and supported (unofficially) by certain US Agencies. This scheme would be referred to as Project Vangarian (although it originally had another name that was used for another team in Gunslinger after my departure from the project).

A big part of this planning was to engineer a setup to release a group of figures that could be used for US Army Special Forces from roughly 2017 (inspired by the Coffee Or Die article “The Valley Boys”, as part of the idea that Gunslinger ranges should be usable for both the present day and our 2030 setting. I was also wanting to try and push the design out with a mix of body types so alongside the SCARs, M4s and M320s (as well as a few marksman rifles and machine guns) there would also be a visible difference between the figures – some guys built like linebackers, some a little more on the skinny side and everything in between. This was all part of the concept of pushing forward the types of figures available on the marketplace, as many ranges focus on a single body type with only minor differences between the figures.

The wider set of releases would have been split into three. The first part would have been forces from Project Vangarian, with the six different figure packs giving a variety of former US Special Forces and Mexican personal to build up a variety of forces for small scale operations while the character team would bring a set of Day Trippers from a certain three letter agency, sharing a similar look with a few more high tech elements. To go up against them, a Ubique release focused on troops armed with AR15 pattern small arms would be released, along with a series of heads designed for Cartel operations in the three months following. The Character team with them would be the Blockade operatives from Prizrak-222, the previously mentioned “La Maldición”, giving a set of Russian operatives dressed for sneaking around, striking from the scrublands of Northern Mexico before retreating away and leaving nothing but terror and misdirection in their wake. This set would then lead into the final part of the Mexico arc, as Blockade deploys larger and more aggressive teams to support their Cartel allies – this would bring in several squads worth of Blockade operators, with RPL-20s, PKP machine guns and Kord 6P67 assault rifles for that unique look and feel. Mexico would probably end with Project Vangarian on the back foot, setting up a return to this theatre later. But alas, it was not to be.

And with that, we’ve covered all of the narrative work that was done on Gunslinger 2030. Now over 9 months on since I was involved, looking back I’m glad I did Gunslinger. There was plenty that I learned, and much I was able to attempt to see what worked and what didn’t. That said, if I was to do it again, there are many things I would have done differently. Much of it comes down to planning – the biggest problem from my side was the rush to get things done. The entire project would have benefited from working much further in advance, having the chance to iterate on both the narrative and the figures released.

However, I’m not entirely done with the Patreon posts. One of the concepts that I came up with early on in development was a range called Ubique. Although we never got to release any of the sets I had planned for this range, I do think it’s worth covering the concept in detail, partially because it allows me to theory craft and partially because I want to see what other people think. For that post, see you before the end of the month!

Right, it’s time for a little plugging. I don’t do it much so I realise this may be a little bit of a shock.

In case you didn’t know, I run a Patreon for this blog! It mostly is to function as a tip jar, somewhere to drop a bit of cash every month if you like the stuff I’m making and want to help me get hold of new things to play around with. Thanks to helping me pay off my Patreon bill every month, I’ve been able to flex out a little bit and pick up some extra games I might not have quite had the chance to play around around with, such as the InCountry box that is winging it’s way to me at the moment.

For the most part, I try to avoid hiding too much behind the paywall – at the end of the day, the more eyes on my stuff the better. That said, even I can see I need to make the offering of what you get when you pay in every month a little bit sweeter.

So, I’m pleased to announce “Secret Notes from the Hobby Desk”. This is going to be a weekly update post, covering a bit more granularly about what I’m up to with the hobby as well as a few things that are only tangentially related to the things I’d post here. For the most part, you’ll probably end up seeing the stuff I mention in the Patreon Updates eventually appear her but you’ll get to see it beforehand.

The first one is now up on the Patreon, so if you want to take a look you can find it at https://www.patreon.com/ChargeBlog. The minimum level to get access is $1, and also means you get your name in the credits of my videos (when I make them) and get to shout at me in the comments on Patreon.

Oh hey it’s a new month. So let’s take a look at where the Patreon money is going (and what will quickly be appearing on the print bed).

Well, soonish. I really shouldn’t be adding more minis to the pile I need to move.

First up, let’s talk about Spectre Miniatures.

This month we got four releases. The JDB technical with the BTR turret is pretty cool (although you need to be careful with the printing as there is some holes that resin can pool in) while the small hescos are okay but no one is being converted to the Patreon with them. The Russian Mercs are pretty cool, giving you all the toys without being quite as terrifying as the FSB kill team. Some of the posing I’m not a massive fan of, with a hunched over neck looking a bit odd on the VSS and GM94 figure.

My main problem is that the Patreon still feels a bit little like it’s the Spectre team’s homework and it’s all being frantically done the night before without much planning. Ever since we’ve moved to 3D sculpting (and especially in the Patreon) we’ve seen a lot of sets with the same head model used for every sculpt. This month, we literally received the main releases at 8pm on the last day of the month – so if you paid for this month wanting some Russians and happened to be away from your computer on Wednesday night, you’re paying for another month.

They have also revealed some upcoming plans in a post, mentioning things such as Arctic Warfare figures and rules, boarding parties and pirates (also including rules) and the every elusive WW2 rules set. Additionally, a follow up post went into detail on whats coming soon, as well as teasing a possible Star Wars conversion for Spectre. However, I’m taking all of this stuff with a pinch of salt until we actually see the results seeing as the rules side is still pretty light. December is going to be a little bit of a major test – the CIA SAD guys that are part of a loyalty reward (something they have been teasing since October) are probably going a pressure point as to if I stick around for every month or not.

Last month was also Black Friday and so Spectre released a set of limited-edition models that are no longer available as I write this. Good news, I don’t think any of them are really essential. The Microgun is a fun new addition (that I strongly doubt is being used by Delta) but the other two sets are fun updates for classic figures – I’m always a fan of a juggernaut while the African militia leader and his hyena are the prefect recreation of one of the first flagship figures for the company. As someone on the Patreon, it might have been nice to have these become available through that stash, especially as the models went up for four days with no preview.

Combat Octopus didn’t actually release anything this month. Instead, he’s been hard at work on a set of characters inspired by a certain high school anime with zombies which are a little different from what we have been used to. Luckily, the images from the previews have been pretty interesting with some potential for non-anime uses. We’ll see when they are released next month.

Black Powder Red Earth has been busy this month with the release of Phaseline, the latest expansion for BPRE 28mm. I’m still waiting for my box to arrive (because global shipping and the UK are best of friends right now) but I am quite excited for cracking into it. And not just because they added some physical doors rather relying on the basic tokens.

From having talked to the guys behind BPRE, it sounds like the postal situation around this release has been an absolute nightmare, with components getting delayed or arriving with less than ordered left right and centre. However, from people that have received their boxes, there have been some really positive sounds about the new elements and figures. There have been some QC issues with the new Sapper models but BPRE has already sent out replacement torsos for free. Expect more info once they all arrive.

The Enemy Spotted Studios Tribe started month two of its subscription pretty damn strongly, dropping the files on the 1st of December. This month had the Insurgent Specialists (previously only available as physical models from Enemy Spotted Studios) which are actually a really nice set of figures, enough variety for an irregular force without falling into the militia cliches. All of them have web gear of some kind with a nice mix of heads from shemaghs to ball caps. The guy with the monocular is a pretty good look, ideal to mix in with your regular guys… such as the extra welcome pack they have included with four guys in balaclavas. Overall, I’m pretty happy with this selection.

Having had a quick look at the figures, INX/Enemy Spotted Studios is definitely a monthly output I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Despite the strange look they have in the slicer, once the printer and the processing hits them, they print out rather nicely with a really nice level of detail (molle loops are easily spotted, always a test of a new model). I did need to scale them down to 95% to fit with the rest of my force so definitely something to keep an eye on. Based on what seems to have been released so far, it seems like they are working through the physical releases that the original Kickstarter produced (usually with a couple of extra figures compared to the Kickstarter STL reward), which makes me excited we might get the QUDS Force Advisors that remind me strongly of the armoured OPFOR I’ve been sniping in Al-Mazrah recently.

Turnbase Miniatures in November continued their new releases with some IDF-related releases. These guys are definitely a step above the “old” TBM releases, with much more natural posing and some really nice details. The IDF guys have separate heads and (with the right choices) could easily stand in for any number of modern nations using the Tavor (Nigerian Navy Commandos would be a unique choice). As for the Shayetet 13… well they are very nice AR15 armed commandos with some nice heads. The main problem with TBM releases continues to be the fact they are great individual figures but for any kind of gaming you’re lacking some key equipment – no LMGs, UGLs, AT weapons or anything other than basic rifles. This I think is the key thing that stops me signing back up full-time – when I’m building forces, I’m usually aiming to build a rounded squad.

As for the Aussies I mentioned last time, I picked them up off Gumroad rather than re-subscribing. So expect to see them pop up on the blog one day soon.

Right, lets go talk about Fantasy.

Last Sword Miniatures has released what looks to be one of my favourite sets so far. As much as I love my Elves, I’m still such a sucker for the Empire from Warhammer Fantasy, that mix of Renaissance Germany and odd fantasy mixed together. Seeing regular humans taking on horrifying monsters, it provides that familiar edge to get you involved.

Well, this month Last Sword is releasing Imperial Militia forces. So alongside one of the best-looking set of angry local villagers (who, if Battle Brothers has taught me anything, are just waiting for a chance to be thrown into the meat grinder to see who survives) , there are also some Ogres and Halflings, both of which seem gritty enough for my setting (even if the Halflings are armed to the teeth with kitchen implements). For the characters, a very military-looking Arch Lector on horseback is a great addition to a larger force (and the armoured mitre seems fun) while the last figure is ideal to go with the other Purifiers Last Sword has released – hopefully this female one won’t cause too many problems… or be hunted down by the Black Knights and their Leader.

If you hadn’t guessed it, the female Purifier is basically Ciri from the Witcher books.

And speaking of gritty fantasy, next month Last Sword is starting on their Medieval fantasy realms, heavily inspired by old Bretonnia but with Last Sword’s style. The first release is going for a crusader style, with the Grail Pilgrims and the Reliquary to accompany. Last Sword has mentioned they are aiming for the ability to build a full unit of 20 with unique sculpts for each – perfect for a skirmish gamer! They have also shown off a female leader for your pilgrims HEAVILY inspired by a very specific Joan of Arc film.

I’m already looking at these pilgrims and seeing what could be an interesting scuffle in my fantasy setting. After all, the Empire doesn’t BAN the worship of other strange gods, but not all relationships are going to be 100% peaceful.

For this month, Highland is doing more Dwarfs and oh god I can’t look at more dwarves. I’m sorry I just can’t

Okay, I’m okay. See, these dwarves are ginger-haired nutcases looking for redemption after doing some great crime or shame against Dwarf kind. What I live is this set is chock full of characters – basically everyone in the full squad could hold a gap against an onrushing horde. Then, once you step up to hero units, you get some great champions. I think you could probably build a whole skirmish band just out of this release. Plus, we have some female dwarves! This is risky topic when it comes to fantasy settings (the good old beard vs no beard arguments will never end) but this is the style I like – after all at the end of the day, a female dwarf needs to look like she’s more than capable of caving a goblins head in with an axe/hammer.

Also yes, I am already preparing one or two to wreck the Dastardly Regular Opponent’s completion numbers

SPEAKING of Goblins though, next year we’re going to see more of them. With the Dwarves getting close to the end (I think we’re missing units like Gyrocopters and Rangers, both units I’d love to see the Highland Games take on) Highland is starting to look where it’s going next. They have settled on Goblin tribes and I am 100% behind them. Even from this first look, these aren’t just GW Gobbos with the trademarks filed off – the Green Man face on the standard already shows a certain level of design to them I can’t wait to see rolled out across the range.

To help launch the new range, and similar to how the Dwarves got a Lord before their release, the Goblin leader on his Feral Monster is coming in a pay-what-you-want Kickstarter I’ve embedded above and linked here. This is a fun way of getting the word out there and based on the sculpting of this guy, I can see that the range is going to be a lot of fun to paint and play with.

Finally, we reach Vae Victis. This month, the main part of the release is Gnolls. Tribal hyena creatures, this release is pretty much ideal for anyone wanting to get into Rangers of the Shadowdeep, a game that uses a lot of gnolls for many of its scenarios. As always you get both modular parts (bodies/heads and hands) as well as some prebuilt figures for characters like the berserker or the shaman, letting you easily assemble a full force. The pack also has some scatter items but what I’m really excited about are the heroes. The main one I think you’re going to see most of is the Elven Fighter, mostly because her posing and clothing definitely reminded me of my Sister and the HEMA she does in her spare time – so she’ll be getting a custom character for our fantasy games.

It’s also December which means Vae Victis is running their advent calendar. This means each day I’m getting a new STL from all the previous releases. Now, I’ve been involved in quite a few packs so mostly I’m seeing dupes, but this is an ideal month to sign up if you want to get a taster of what Vae Victis has to offer.

Finally, let’s talk Star Wars and Skull Forge. I didn’t actually back them this month. Despite my excitement last month, I actually got plenty of figures to use from just two months of releases. With Imperial Guards, rebels to fight them and a few hero characters, I have a selection of missions I could do. Combined with the fact I’m probably going to take a little break from kicking off new projects for a while (I have some 1:1 scale building to do), it didn’t really make sense to rush into adding more to the stockpile.

All that said, I still think that Skull Forge is one of the best Patreons you can sign up to if you like Star Wars. With a boatload of figures every month in the main release, a passionate team behind it and lots of little additional releases as the month goes by, it’s going to be hard to be disappointed in spending on it.

That’s the Patreon update for November 2022! I’ll be back next month with more updates on just what’s going on in the world of 3D printing minis, as well as some hints of what I might be up to in the future.

It’s time for a new month, so let’s take a look at what I’m backing on Patreon. We actually have some movement on the list, adding some new friends and new models to what I’m able to take a look at. The funding I get over on Patreon for me helps me to afford to follow along with these guys and keep the 3d printer spinning, as well as provide new ideas and inspiration for blog posts and articles!

Enough of the pitch, let’s get on with the update.

Spectre’s Patreon in October was… fine? Maybe? I mean we got figures at least, with new sets (a medic and some specialists) to add to the Local Forces release. The more useful part of this month’s releases however is a set of packs (which were supposed to have been released last month) that can be printed off and added to models, much as I have already with the Insurgents I’m still painting. But a promised technical with BTR82a turret missed the deadline of the month (not helped by illness among the Spectre staff).

Look enough trying to dance around the topic – I’m growing increasingly unhappy with how Spectre is going. It definitely feels that the Patreon is at the bottom of the very long list of priorities and is functioning mostly as a way of guaranteeing an income when they can’t release physical models. I understand they are a small company (and that this is no longer the day job in the same way it was pre-pandemic) but people are paying £10-£15 a month and releases are barely coming in before month end. The monthly update posts all start with apologies for missed targets and comments and questions keep being ignored and left unanswered. As you can see below, running a Patreon that provides miniatures is a solved problem – a little bit of market research would show best practices and methods to use as a guideline. I think there is a greater discussion to be had about Spectre’s business but this post isn’t the place for it (and it could be said I have no business talking about it!).

In better news, we also got the Local Forces physical releases at the start of the month. Heavily inspired by a nation currently engaged in a defensive war in Eastern Europe, these two packs are the sort of thing we like to see from Spectre. They were also dispatched pretty quickly and after taking a look at them, the casting is improved greatly over the Insurgents, with far less cleanup needed or full-on errors spotted.

Combat Octopus on the other hand kicks ass this month. Over the next few months until the end of the year, CO has taken the voting offline to do some projects he’s wanted to do for a while. First up, with have the second-place entry from last month, the Combat Octopods. These guys are a PMC that CO has come up with, a chance to do some really modern guys with the latest gen of Russian gear (such as AK12s and PPK-20s). For the Kitbashing lunatic in me, the figures in this kit are ideal for combining with the KSK to make up some well-armed, highly trained non-military figures. Even the heads by themselves are a gift, great for adding to other figures for the operator look when you don’t want to go full FAST helmet.

For me personally, this release is exactly the sort of thing I come to Combat Octopus for – modular parts with plenty of uses, an interesting mix of poses and a lovely level of detail on the weapons. I’m less sold on what has been announced for what’s coming over the next two months (it’s been announced as Japanese High Schoolers in the Zombie Apocalypse perhaps inspired by a certain anime) but he has confirmed that there will be some potential for realistic civilians among the parts – another bonus of modular releases!

This month is going to be a big one for Black Powder Red Earth as it sees the release of their new big box expansion – Phase Line, coming out on November 21st (although the rulebook is available now through Amazon). I’m going to be covering it more this month (and next month by the time my box makes its way through customs) but I am very excited for its arrival. The new box has 24 new models in it along with new building templates, cards and even resin doors and corner pieces to help hold up the multi-level buildings. Yes, I did say multi-level buildings, they are in the new rules alongside grenade launchers, MMGs and cool CQB guns such as the Raider carbine. The Patreon currently has the PDF for the rulebook as well, so you can get a quick glimpse of it (although I aim to cover it this month as a sneak preview).

We actually have a new entry for the Ultramodern Wargamer this month – Enemy Spotted Studios, fresh off releasing their INX Kickstarter. This is something else on my list to take a look at (although I’m still waiting for the rules) as it seems to fill their niche for a larger than section vs section game. However, they have also started a Tribe over on MyMiniFactory to sell off their figures. What I really like is the fact every three months you end up with effectively a full force for the game. They have started off with doing a set of insurgents, slightly better equipped than most other sellers (and similar in some ways to the Aayari in BPRE). The welcome pack also includes the Ground Branch team, a set of operators rocking the tac gear over t-shirts.

One point I do have to make though is that these figures look pretty awful when you first put them in 3D Builder – this seems to be down to some super rough topology on the models, so if you’re coming from Spectre or Combat Octopus. However, by the time you’ve sliced them and run them through the printer, they turn out just fine, with some great attention to the little details.

BUT WAIT, there’s more. Turnbase Miniatures is a patreon I backed for a long time but fell off as a lot of the releases started veering into SSDD, with some very obvious signs of corner-cutting. I haven’t re-upped but I did notice that this month’s releases are Australian SF and I’m actually very tempted to pick up. They seem much improved over the last set I received from them, and the gear and weapon combinations would work out very nicely for a fictional PMC. Maybe I’m just a sucker for masked faces and comtacs!

Okay, Ultramoderns covered, lets’s look at the fantasy and sci-fi stuff.

Last Sword’s releases continue to be pretty damn sweet. This month is High Elves, a faction I’m only so-so about they continue to make some fantastic figures. There is just something about the posing that even on the fully ranked units, you can easily pull out some heroes among them. I also like how they have included a “wild” phoenix alongside the ones being ridden – this is something they have done in the past few months with similar beasts, and is great for someone like mean who always can do with more monsters for their soldiers to hunt.

However, we do need to talk about next month when they are doing Imperial Militia and they are already looking pretty fantastic. The mix of body types reminds me really heavily of Battle Brothers, where you end up hiring people from different backgrounds and professions, often getting them to fight in their starting gear before you can afford to give them armour. And then there are the halflings – I can appreciate a group whose melee weapons are oversized cooking implements. I think you’ll be seeing plenty of these printed.

Highland Miniatures are also about to see plenty of their stuff printed – just as I’m giving the Dastardly Regular Opponent some Dwarves for his birthday, of course Highland would pop up and show off some new releases. This next pack is adding the gunpowder siege weapons to the range as well as heavily armoured huscarls and this Viking-inspired Dwarf Lord. As I said last month, I’m really on board with the style of these figures, especially after having spent some time cleaning up the ones I’ve already printed.

Vae Victis this month is serving up part 3 of their guard releases, giving us a set in full armour to go with the male and female guards in leather armour. Thanks to the modular nature of this set, parts interchanging means you can assemble a huge variety of guards, ideal for any kind of fantasy D&D game.

As for characters, there is a fun tiefling witch made in collaboration with a D&D content creator, an old Knight Captain to lead your heavily armoured troops and a trio of staff ideal for your fantasy hotel. I will admit, I just want to print the maid because she looks cool as hell. Bases and some scatter roads round out a set that I think is pretty awesome for anyone with an interest in gaming the genre.

Finally, yep what you’ve all been waiting for since I mentioned it at the top. Star Wars.

Look, I’m not going to lie. Star Wars for me is incredibly hit or miss – I love it when it leans hard into the western/ww2 adventure stories and immediately switch off my brain when the Jedi are treated as anything more than an “oh shit, that’s a wizard”. Rogue One is the platonic ideal of what Star Wars is – a story about a small group of plucky rebels taking on the Empire with force users only appearing in limited numbers and for maximum effect. Mandolorian comes a close second (up until the final episode of season 2 that had me shouting at the screen in annoyance in the final moments when a certain Deus Ex Machina appeared).

So of course, the series Andor is 100% my jam. Corporate guards, spies and assassins, secret missions and the secret police hot on your trail? I love it. The problem, of course, is that I watch it and then my brain starts going “what if this was a skirmish game”, “Skirmish Scarif is a good name” and “Man, Book of Boba Fett should have used Daiymo Boba like a Keyser Soze style character rather than trying to make it action-y”.

Luckily, Skull Forge Studios saw me coming a mile away and can solve two of those ideas. They have been making an incredible set of STLs for printing and I’ve picked up a few over time via their gumroad store (their first version of the Mandolorian was incidentally the first model I printed). However, with the ongoing series, and with a whole pack dedicated to the show, I jumped in and signed up. As well as the figures seen here, Skull Forge likes to add a few bonuses as well – for example, we also received in October a figure for a certain spymaster, some commandos in scuba gear and even some proper Imperial security guards to go with the Corporate ones.

November’s figures are all about the rebels and give you a pretty healthy selection. You have rogue space wizard, grizzled clone trooper, a whole host of weird and wonderful RPG style characters (including a gecko with a minigun probably annoyed that some little green git keeps eating his spawn) and a squad of well-equipped commandos based on designs from a mobile game. Oh AND a set of riders on Orobirds that were in Star Wars Galaxies. Between these two months, I’m swimming in possible figures for a small-scale game, all I need to do is add some greeblies to my adobe compounds and I’d be all setup.

But. I am interested to see what’s being done next. One of the ideas that has been floated on the Patreon is a set of Imperial infiltrators, spies and Imperial Security officers. As someone who has particularly liked how they have shown off the ISB in the series, maybe I’ll stick around to see what figures they make of it.

That’s the Patreon update for November 2022! I’ll be back next month with more

Let’s do a little round-up of the Patreons I’m currently backing that play into. I’d usually include this in my main update post but frankly, it keeps getting longer and longer to the point where it overwhelmed the main update. By putting it in its own post (and delaying it a few days), it means I can hit the update cycle of most of the Patreons I follow.

Spectre’s Patreon continues to provide some very nice models, although at maybe the not best value proposition. The terrain STL includes some updates to previously construction materials, including some truly massive pipe sections. For figures, there was a plan to give us more guys to go with an upcoming release (which I’ll mention in a moment) but due to some delays, we instead got some additional forces for the recently released insurgents, as well as sitting alongside the Insurgent PMC figures. I quite like the slightly ragtag look to them, the mix of fast helmets with a slightly older pattern web gear and weapons with last gen optics. The MP40 on the commander is definitely interesting as a choice but I think it’s in that “Odd but Plausible” category. Finally, someone picked up the Director level to get a new custom figure made and graciously chose to release it for the other Patrons. It was a fun model to paint, but I do also hope that this release wasn’t used to fill a gap in a month that struggled to match the previous one for releases. In all cases, I’ve had no issues printing the models I’ve received, even using the pre-supports. The end product is fantastic and I’m yet to print a model from Spectre that I then look at and struggle to get excited for.

There has also been a new scenario released – the first part of Operation Leatherback, seeing a Russian sleeper cell being attacked in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. It’s… okay? Maybe it’s just because I write my own scenarios (and get a lot of enjoyment out of it) but I’ve always found the Spectre scenarios a little on the weaker side. However, as I’ve said before, the written content on the Spectre Patreon is not why I’m there. The setup is definitely cool though, something different from Elites whacking Militia.

Overall, I’m still unhappy that Spectre doesn’t provide a preview and fixed release date each month, and not just because it screws up all my update posts. As it currently stands, paying for the Spectre Patreon each month is basically rolling the dice – you’re not 100% on what you’ll actually get your hands on. Luckily for the moment, they are not gating releases to only the months you pay for (if you pay in now, you can go back and grab everything released) but I can forsee them switching to that model in the future to further emphasise people sticking around. There is also definitely a lot of mentioning planned releases and then completely missing said release dates – fixing it to a preset date every month would definitely help with this.

The other side of Spectre’s Patreon is getting a sneak peek of what’s coming down the pipe for the physical releases. At the start of the month, we saw some previews for a range Spectre is calling “Local Forces”. Seeing as the preview was for the high-tier patrons only as a perk, I won’t reveal spoilers but safe to say, it’s a really cool-looking range that offers a full squad and supports weapons (including an incredible amount of AT systems). To go with this range, another preview shown was of a few limited edition figures – including an update to a certain lumbering fellow with an MG. These previews are fun but I do occasionally wonder if they are genuinely worth the excess on top of the STL only tier.

Combat Octopus has been preparing a new pack as well. After some close voting, we ended up with a team of hackers/intel operatives. I’m actually pleased he decided to go with an entirely unarmed set of figures with their tools, rather than just a continuation of the Covert/Overt figures. The strength of CO is the modularity and plenty of these parts should be great for kitbashing away. Aside from that, these will be ideal for adding to the civilian population or maybe setting up some cool undercover stealth missions – having recently watched Sneakers, I think there could be some fun gameplay using them.
EDIT: Having seen the finished pack, the new heads should also be pretty handy to add some variation to other packs (such as the KSK if you want more of a hero look to them).

Finally, for Moderns, Black Powder Red Earth has shown off their new rules coming in the Phase Line expansion. I may have had a little peek behind the curtain at what’s coming but Damn, Phase Line is some apocalyptic levels of shit for everyone involved. The background information included in the preview unleashes some pretty dramatic scenes that really fit the feel of the graphic novels. As for the game, it’s bringing in some new weapon load-outs that should change the side composition (such as the pretty deadly CQB weapons like the man above is using) AND multi-level buildings to really add to the game modes. I’m going to be covering more on BPRE 28mm soon (check the main recap post) but it’s exciting to see everyone respond to the new changes.

Okay, so now onto Fantasy. It’s heading into the spooky season and so the main thing on every 3D printing company’s mind is “How many skeletons do people REALLY need in their STL collections?”.

The answer is more.

Last Sword’s spooky models are… A LOT. Mounted undead nights, vampires in a crypt coach, an undead necromantic priest in a certain style and two undead heroes on foot and with two different mounted options. Including an Undead Griffin. I’m not an undead player in any tabletop game but honestly, I keep looking at this pack and wondering if this is the year I print them and start playing Age of Sigmar. Last Sword continues to be such a good set of designers that each set is an absolute steal. These guys will be out in the middle of the month (usually around the 15th) just in time for me to print them before Halloween.

Highland Miniatures are my other main Fantasy fix for large-scale forces, doing a really good job at building big units suitable for ranking up. For skirmish though, they are really handy models that print well and are fun to paint. Aside from the ones shown here, there is also a plague cart full of corpses (and led by a certain man bringing out the dead, if you will) but I am REALLY excited for Ghouls – from experience playing Witcher 3 and Battle Brothers show that Corpse Eaters are always a handy tool in the encounter toolbox. For example, is the disturbance at the graveyard human tomb robbers, the dead returning to life, or something equally nasty sitting in between?

The Dwarven Pikemen is an example of something that I think Highland does really well. Their range is strongly inspired by Warhammer Fantasy Battle army lists (or anyone playing systems like 9th Age) but they still have space inside that to make things their own way in their own style. The previous months of releases bring a Nordic Fantasy style of Dwarf, carving out a niche amongst the other 3d printing patreons.

Vae Victis this month brings us a release in two parts: Goblin Militia and Trick or Treaters. The Militia is a fun take on a traditional idea – putting Goblins in plate armour. They look almost comical, but for anyone running D&D, they would probably be a pretty nasty addition to your list of antagonists. They are available in both pre-built and modular form, both on foot and riding beetles. The hero models are just fun, although really nicely sculpted.

I don’t always find Vae Victis to be ideal for my fantasy gaming in the same way that Highland or Last Sword are (not always giving me the rush of new ideas or scenarios every month), but I do really like the individual heroes they release and have painted up one or two. I need to go back and look at the ahem “Frostgrave–inspired” sets to show how 3d printing the bodies can be used with the pile of leftover parts you get from the main Frostgrave/Ghost Archepeligo kits.

That’s the Patreon update for October 2022! I’ll be back next month with more upcoming releases from these Patreons, as well as maybe some of this month’s stuff printed out!

Remember the battle report for a scenario called Training Day? It’s one of my favourite games to write and play. Well, I’ve updated the mission, added it to the ChargeReal and created a version for Spectre Operations. Even better, I have released it for free on my Patreon – 30+ pages of background information, faction details and more. It even has some modifications that you can add if you wish to change it up slightly, especially if you want to let the Fates take the wheel in terms of the changes.

This file is effectively a test to see what people really like in my scenarios – as releases go on, I’ll aim to improve them, adding artwork and maps and more. Because of this, this scenario is going to be given away for free. Future scenarios (which will be released alongside my battle reports) will be for Patrons first and maybe wider release later.

If you want to take a look, more details on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/posts/scenario-release-58618048