As I find myself writing a truly massive post about my last Necromunda campaign, I find myself looking at the monstrosities that I unfortunately helped create. Much like a certain Doctor seeing his creature rampaging through the local town and deciding it might be best to get ahead of the bad press and get his version of events out there.

I am, of course, talking about The Blobbies that you may have seen online after Mr Dreadquill posted about them on BlueSky (and then Instagram nicked it).

For those not in the know, Mr Blobby is a horrifying entity beloved part of 1990s entertainment, appearing on Noel’s House Party during its 9 seasons from 1991 to 1998. There is something inherently terrifying comedic about him, from his appearance (including the staring eyes), ridiclous way of speaking and the habit to fall over and smash things. So when my Corporate Regular Opponent (who helps keep me sane at work) found a set of Mr Blobby STLs available online, he quickly asked me to print some for him, with no particular plan in mind. And me being me, I agreed and then never got around to printing them. This continued for a little while until the topic of Necromunda came up. And a plan was formed.

The Corporate Regular Opponent decided this would be the introduction to Necromunda, and he wanted a suitably whimsical gang to match his personality and play style. The Mr Blobby STLs were dug out, the gang decided upon and sketched out (Goliaths were chosen and my Former Housemate selected the list) and then it just became a matter of how to turn those ideas into models to be 3D printed, while also making them suitably armed and equipped.

Initially, the idea was to look at the weapons included in the blobby set, but none of them really fit for Necromunda. One key element of a skirmish game, such as our trip into the underhive, is some level of WYSIWYG – I don’t hold it as key as some people, but it’s handy to know that one person’s big hammer is different from someone else’s. Additionally, they also looked a little bit weedy, not really fitting for the 40k style – half the fun of putting Mr Blobby into a game of Necromunda is giving him a boltgun after all. Luckily, a few people are making Necromunda-inspired STL figures, and Print Minis have their Fleshforged gang as stand-ins for Goliaths (with both a core set and a female expansion).

Now it was time to jump into Blender and get to work. The first step was to make sure the Blobbies were the right scale (both to match against GW’s Necromunda figures and make sure they are to scale with the Flesh Forged who would be giving them guns. The next step was to prepare the weapons – this meant the careful application of a cutting cube (an object used with the subtraction tool in Blender to remove unnecessary bits of a model) to trim away the hands and then re-attach a pistol grip. Luckily, there was an exposed pistol grip on the female expansion set that was perfect. Although not perfectly matching the original designs, they worked out perfectly for the next stage – rigging the Blobby hands to properly grip the guns. The end goal didn’t have to be perfect, but flexing the fingers just enough for them to fully connect and keep the new guns and axes in place.

After a few evenings of messing around (and plenty of swearing at Blender), I managed to assemble the full gang. The list from my Former Housemate included a good mix of Goliath fun, such as the muscular Stimmer and a weird mix of guns. I also tried my best to make up a set of poses that weren’t just standing there. However, once you start assembling the arms onto them, you realise the same thing that the poor performer who had to wear the suit did – the blobby form is not designed for action, with the rotund body and short arms limiting the ability to do such useful poses for wargaming figures as “aiming” or “using a stock”. Even attempting action melee poses was tricky, especially with trying to grip a weapon across the body. So instead, I went for a few other poses, weapons held aloft to make it clear what’s being used.

To pick out a few of my favourites:

• The Stimmer was a challenge – not just to make sure it was the right size (Stimmers are a big, biologically enhanced freaks after all), but he also needed to look unique. We had originally talked about making his spots larger and more physical, but in the end, we went with the simple approach – increase the size, add two big spheres for the biceps, two big axes, done.
• I am notorious for using less obvious figures for the gang leader, and so I was keen to make sure that this gang it would be clear who would be in charge. For this one, we gave the leader the mowhawk off a regular Fleshforged ganger. Best not to think too much about where he got it from.
• Yes, that Blobby is racking a double-barreled shotgun. Yes, it makes no sense. Is it funny? Yes.
• With the grenade launcher blobby, I really liked the end result of him covering his face in embarrassment, a common occurrence with the actual Mr Blobby. It made sense for a grenade launcher user, as those weapons are blast templates and so have a chance to cause shennighans.
• My favourite model has to be the blobby with the boltgun and stub pistol. He is such a joyous figure, looking like he’s having too much fun.

Once all the figures were assembled and signed off by the Corporate Regular Opponent, I got them printed on the Saturn and passed them over to him to work his magic.

And I do mean magic. The Corporate Regular Opponent did a really good job on these guys, even during the early previews of him frantically painting them ready for the first weekend. He nailed the shade of pink, complete with the yellow dots. For the weapons, there was an original discussion about realistic stolen gear vs colourful. In the end, I loved how he went for the Nerf look, bright colours making them look like big chunky plastic and foam.

It’s the eyes, though. The eyes are a window to the soul, and dear god, the blank staring eyes of the painted Blobbies perfectly match the souless look of the original suit.

Which meant when I actually saw them on the tabletop, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. There is something gloriously gleeful about them – the pink and colourful weapons against the grime of the scenery, the fixed grin as they slowly amble towards you before doing some serious damage. You can almost hear the whispered “blobby blobby blobby” echoing through the hive.

Chilling.

Now, after an unfortunate ritual that occurred during the first weekend, the Blobbies would soon need reinforcement with a horrifying spawn replacing the Juve in his gang. For this one, the Corporate Regular Opponent decided to learn Blender (as he’d previously used 3ds Max in his day job). After much screaming and complaining, he sent me the file to print. Quite frankly, it was a horrifying file to open. I ended up printing two (one slightly enlarged) and crossed myself after peeling it off the build plate.

Yeah errr, that’s concerning. Chaos truly works in terrifying ways. He merged several of the Blobby bodies together (the different leg poses forming a writhing mass) with one oversized Blobby head on top. I do love that he also added a little collar over the gap, before marking it with the sigils of Tzeentch, the god that his gang had chosen to follow. I’ll talk more about it’s action in-game in my larger recap post, but lets just say it was a well-loved member of the gang.

With the Blobbies finished and the campaign over (more on that coming soon with my own results), the Blobbies have (luckily) disappeared into the underhive and so don’t haunt me any further. It was a really fun project – a chance to learn Blender, play around with existing models and have fun posing models which are different from purely a human man.

However, with talk already discussing an Ash Wastes campaign coming soon, perhaps the Blobbies will return to Necromunda. Perhaps we shall see more Blobbies, with dust goggles and a wider variety of headgear to hang off the side of ramshackle vehicles. Perhaps… Or perhaps we shall learn the true depth of the horror waiting behind those blank, glassy eyes…

I’ll see you later for a proper update on my own Necromunda time.

Huh, somehow it’s June. Odd that.

March saw the big Old World Day, April was Salute, and then May has been a lot of real-life stuff (those who know my day job can probably guess what’s going on with that). One of the downsides to being hyper inspired after Salute is that at the end of the day, I am still constrained by the day job, which can sometimes be less than ideal. However, looking through my photos, I actually got a chunk of things well on their way.

In my head, the focus of the blog is still Ultramoderns, and I’ve been having a good time getting stuff printed off. The last few Combat Octopus releases have been absolute bangers (both the Russian SSO and the new female operators), and I’ve already got some on my desk to paint. The other part of my Ultramodern collection that I need to take a look at is my Black Powder Red Earth figures. There have been a few people talking about getting into the game, and I’d like them to be able to do it with a full set of painted figures (as well as the correct-sized mat for the larger Phaseline games, which I have just ordered). I have also been working on something that I’m not quite ready to share (in part because it’s got an embargo on it) but it’s been very interesting to look at something new for moderns (and fun chatting to a sculptor about their stuff before they are in the general public). More details soon from that particular project.

However, the big thing is I’m continuing to build up Ultramodern terrain. Having FINALLY sold off my last MDF at Partisan, I now have several large boxes waiting to be refilled. However, this time they will be using Urban Scatter Gaming’s rather wonderful MENA range. I’ve printed a big chunk of buildings from the modular apartment blocks up to the larger main buildings. So far, I’ve found USG’s staff to be very printable even on my Neptune 4, ideal for building up a large area quickly. I still have a few more pieces to print, but I should also start getting this set together..

Speaking of moderns, there has also been a lot of stuff behind the scenes getting ready with blog posts. Project Elements is continuing work, including writing up a prototype playthrough of it that is coming soon for the Patreon. This has been a fun article to write up, and I’m happy with where the mechanics are going – there were a few moments as I was writing through a concept and suddenly realised it needed more testing and major tweaks before finishing the post. However, as it stands, it’s looking like it will hit the goals I have for – something with a lot of flexibility for list construction without it being overwhelming and gameplay which incentivises the right sort of tactics. It is however still in very early stages – it’s going to need a lot of testing.

In terms of painting, I’ve not been too focused on getting figures to the tabletop. There have been quite a lot of Monday night hobby sessions (which are still continuing) where I’ve had to be working on blog posts or non-painting projects instead (including one I’m looking forward to). However, I have had a lot of fun ignoring my actual plans and painting up random fantasy figures instead. The two figures up there on the left are GW pieces but with some tweaks to make them something different (mostly involving trimming off the various hammers). As someone who writes for fun (and not just the blog), I really enjoy fantasy as it’s an almost blank canvas for coming up with fun concepts and strong ideas. It’s also usually fun to just paint as you’re not painting things like camo, and I’m clever enough to not do something like “painting black and yellow checked patterns on figures”. I still have a lot of fantasy pieces waiting to be painted (despite my best efforts to get rid of some) and so expect to see a lot of random things pop up.

Getting back into FBOS this quarter was also fun – the ruleset is a really good toolbox for building up all sorts of fantasy encounters and with plenty of existing rules to be repurposed for other things. Playing it against the Creative Regular Opponent and his Normans was a great start, but this weekend I’ll be hitting the table again with a return to gaming with The Sister.

There was also a lot of boxed games being played this month, with games of both Halo Flashpoint (against my old housemate/delque wrangler) and also an introduction to Fallout Wasteland Warfare over in York. Both of these games were great, a chance to play stuff I don’t usually and also take a look at mechanics I don’t use too much. It’s also cool to see proper boxed games – the Ultramodern space doesn’t really have an opening for it (apart from BPRE28) while even the wider historicals only have the occasional box, usually from Wargames Atlantic or Warlord. In the meantime, though I shall continue enjoying my brief games outside of the Ultramodern space.

So the final thing to talk about is Necromunda. As I’m writing, I was supposed to have spent Saturday hard at work with my Spyers cleaning up the riff raff of the underhive. Unfortunately, a vision problem decided to evolve into two two-day migraine, and so my painting, planning and gaming time turned into lying in bed wishing for death.

However, I have also been hard at work printing more of the Dragon Rest Sector Fatalis to get myself up to a full 4′ x 4′ table. This has included a metric ton of walls, and my Neptune has been getting its backside kicked (and I’ve been discovering some messed-up problems you can get when a reel of filament isn’t wound properly). But hopefully soon I’ll actually be able to host games of Necromunda for the latest campaign with the proper terrain.

Once I finish painting my models.

Yes, it’s true. I am now free of the weight I put on my shoulder over several years of buying the finest MDF buildings in the land and then never painting them, I am happy to announce that today at Partisan, I finally managed to sell the remaining items. Two of them went to a member of the Ultramodern Discord (probably as a contrast from his Favela bundle) while the big box of modular compound pieces has found a home with Peterborough Wargames Club. I hope they have a great time with a wonderfully designed set (and am also glad I’m not going to be painting all of it).

As I’ve said before, my reason for getting rid of my MDF was not because it’s bad or anything wrong with it. It’s just I’ve reached the stage where I much prefer the detail and texture 3D printed buildings can provide, much more than trying to get the same thing with flat MDF. It served its time, and now I shall refill those boxes with Urban Scatter’s MENA collection – I might even have space for some of the larger pieces.

I have kept one of my MDF houses though – you may have spotted it on my desk during my PAINT-REPs. This single-room house from Sarissa’s colonial range is the one MDF building I finished, spending all the time to get it textured and painted up. It has a place in my sentimental heart and so it will be the lone survivor, forever living on as a handy backdrop to what I’ve been painting.

As for the show itself, I did a terrible job of covering it; I arrived late, spent most of my time talking to people or selling MDF and then headed off at the end having not taken a single picture. Luckily, WSS and co were in full effect if you want to see what’s going on, and it is well worth taking a look – even as someone with a rather focused interest in wargaming, there were still some very impressive gaming tables around. In fact, the Dastardly Regular Opponent himself ended up playing two games (assisted by his sprog) and had a thoroughly good day.

I on the other hand, did manage to chat to a selection of people at the show. This included Westbury Wargamers, Spectre (although he was there on his day off rolling dice), Flank March, Empress and Under Fire. I also managed a quick chat to the Lardmeister himself as I picked up my Chain of Command v2 order including a little chat about Chain of Command for Ultramodern – it seems like this is very much not a thing they are interested in persuing at this time and was more than happy to see what those enthusiastic about the period would do with it.

As for my overall thoughts, I feel that Partisan continues to be the best and biggest Historical wargaming show in the UK (especially if you combine it with Other Partisan later in the year). Its rather central location means that you get to see groups from the vast majority of the country coming together, including traders that you might not see in person at other shows on the circuit. This also feels much more like an old-school wargames show, with the mix of display and participation tables on the floor and the traders who were there. In fact, one positive of Partisan for me is that it’s quiet enough to actually chat to people, while Salute can end up being a rush to get around everything. It’s also a pretty good layout – although missing the outer circuit so beloved by speed walkers such as myself, the split between trader and game locations is well done to allow plenty of room for browsing. There was also a set of food trucks outside, meaning you could enjoy the Newark sunshine in between picking up the latest stuff

My only negative comment was the distinct lack of Ultramodern games there. Perhaps this is something to fix in the next year or so? After all, I have gained plenty of space for terrain…

It has been far too long since the last time I put fantasy figures on the board with the correct-sized base and in more reasonable numbers. As fun as the rank and flank of the Old World has been, my heart is much more skirmish-focused. Having received my copy of Famous By Our Swords at Salute (directly from the author himself), I suddenly realised I was eager to get back into the swing of things. More importantly, I was excited to get my Sister and the Regular opponents into the latest version – we enjoyed the last time we played and with a few tweaks (and the whole new monster generator section) it’s time for us to buy far too many random figures and get them on the table.

The First Regular opponent to hit the table was the Creative one. Driving down from the Frozen North, it turned out that he had been assembling a set of figures from Victirx and Wargames Atlantic for some Medieval fellows and (as is the habit with his army collecting) had built enough fellows for a full-size company. For our intro games, we decided to minimise the group to only five figures, a mixture of heavily armoured nobles, spearmen and a crossbowman.

On my side, I had originally planned for the party to go up against a trio of Last Sword’s Werewolves but alas, my painting was not done (I will blame Tarkov and a morning working in the garden). Instead, I delved into my pile of minis and prepared several scenarios.

For game 1, we played a familiar mission – the party out in the wilderness finds itself set upon by the undead, the taint of necromancy guiding their unholy movement. To compound the issue, the Necromancer is protected by a Hedge Knight, stomping across the field to be a real threat to our heroes.

As the horde descended, the fighters formed up. Taking point were the two heroes in the group, sword and board and with heavy armour. On the flanks, the two spearmen would provide some standoff (spears form a bubble 1″ around the wielder, which requires a test to pass) while the crossbowman would be able to ping things at range. Attempts to get the charge on the enemy were thwarted by the second hero being unable to pass the resolve test needed to charge something terrifying.

Soon, battle would be joined as the zombies made contact and the hedge knight waded in. The zombies have a nasty habit of only dying after the necromancer is killed, so there is very definitely a bit of spinning plates to keep them down so you can concentrate on the rest. On the other hand, the Hedge Knight was a very real threat (with a similar statline to the main characters) and able to wade in. There were a few close calls, but a one-two punch from the spearman and then the hero managed to wipe him out before he could do much damage.

With the bulk of the group keeping the zombies at bay, the second in command managed to push through the line of the undead and sprinted towards the necromancer. You may have expected the necromancer to go down immediately, but he did manage to hold off a few combat rounds before getting his head stomped in by a knight. Once the necromancer was down, the rest of the zombies got cut to pieces, letting the heroes manage to lead away.

After having reached the rest of the company, the Knights received a new contract from the local Baron. A visiting noble needs an escort to the next town. Fortunately, our Knights are available with a small group taking him across country while the main group took the longer roads. However, while trekking through farmlands, the group suddenly hear the sound of a clanking automaton before a Golem leapt out of the crops and into an ambush.

Yep, the poor poor Siccarian Ambassador is back – and potentially about to be in serious trouble.

This was a relatively simple game – the Golem started with three activations and gained more as he took wounds. He was also using the Cave Troll statline, meaning he could send opposing characters to the ground, ignore armour, and completely ignore any attempts to parry or block due to the fact that he was hench. There was plenty of back and forth in the fight, the Knights able to swarm the Golem, while my awful dice rolling meant the Golem was much less effective than he could have been. Next time I’d be tempted to give him an attack that would let him attack multiple enemies in a single attack, to represent a big swing.

However, as the battle continued, the wounds started rolling in. The Knights saw two people go out of action (one of the spearmen and the Necromancer slaying hero), but the Golem’s programming meant he was quickly forced to make a run for it. However, while making a break for the board edge, one of the crossbow bolts ripped through the monster’s head, breaking it into pieces as it removed the final wound.

Having finished the pair of games, it’s safe to say that the Creative Regular Opponent is very happy to play some more FBOS. The rest of the company will soon be gaining names and statlines and then from there we may launch into a campaign. We also got to talking about how the fun the possibilities are with FBOS for just getting together all the figures you might want to use, while the ruleset allows for some fun tactical plays thanks to its activation system and flow of combat. It’s also a great starting point for setting up your own little rules, in a similar way to many RPG systems, with plenty of options and entry points for minor rules tweaks – we already start looking at how you might add the rules for weapons or abilities using the built in keywords and adjusting them; maybe aswordmaster or two who can switch between Riposte and At Bay special rules on a turn by turn basis for just a starting point.

The next step for me is to finish off painting a few things. But I am a terrible person for all things new, and small-scale fights are just asking for the arrival of some sneaky fellows. The latest month of the Last Sword’s wargamers tier adds to their Dark Elf range and brings with it my favourite Dark Elf unit, the Shades. Once I get these cleaned off and assembled, I’ll have a little warband of murder elves all ready to go up against the Regular Opponents.

If you want to give Famous By Our Swords a go for yourself, you can find it over on Ko-Fi in paperback (with a PDF version hopefully returning soon). Eoin’s store also has their fantastic range of hero figures (one of which I still have to assemble) as well as Clash of Banners, the slightly larger scale game that everyone with an Old World force is eyeing as a possible add-on. If you’re wanting a fantasy RPG-lite skirmish game and want to support a small creator, definitely take a look!

For now, I return to plotting how I shall deal with someone’s Dwarves…

The weekend saw Europe’s biggest wargaming event, Salute. Run by the South London Warlords, this was the 52nd show (and yes, it runs as well as you’d expect for something that has been going on for over half a century at this point), this show is THE event of the wargaming calendar, a wargames show unlike literally anything else in the UK. The size and location means you get things you wouldn’t see anywhere else – wargamers flood in from all over the world to partake in giant participation games, see some of the finest custom built games, play the first previews of a whole host of rules and get to see a whole load of traders happy to give you a new piece for your collection in exchange for the contents of your wallet.

And this time I was there! After last year off (and a punishing single day visit the year before), I returned to London for roughly 24 hours. Driving down from Leeds and staying at the finest accommodation London can provide (the Travelodge at London City Airport), I got to meet up with a whole collection of designers, writers and Warlord club members for some social drinks at the Fox close to the Excel centre. I had A lot of fun and finished the evening with a pizza in my hotel room (a plan which, based on the number of drivers coming to the hotel, I shared with the pile of people there for an international event for the TCG Flesh and Blood). Said pizza would also be the fuel for the following day, meaning I got to happily munch a slice while walking across to the convention centre.

This year, I was lucky enough to be invited down by Brad Sanders of BobMack3d and Battleground HD. A keen fan of the blog since the early days. Brad reached out earlier this year, and I took up his offer. The bonus of this was that I got a fancy red visitor band, letting me get into the show early before the usual kick-off time. It was great to run around before the show filled up with wargamers, letting me chat to some of the usual suspects before the show kicked off and all their time was taken doing glorious trade.

Speaking of BobMack3d, let’s kick off with a tour of the Cold War Corner. With Battleground HD, BobMack3d, Flank March Miniatures and Full Metal Miniatures all working together, there was an impressive display of Cold War wargaming, with figures, vehicles and a wonderful-looking Berlin Wall board, complete with apartment block, period cars, a chunk of the wall and even an exclusive figure. One thing I really like about going to wargaming shows is being able to see figures in the flesh – in this case, it was getting a chance to see the Flank March sculpts in non-render form and the metal/resin hybrid figures released by Full Metal Miniatures. Now, when I first saw the renders, I will admit the proportions looked a little dumpy and round. However, having seen them in person, that effect massively diminishes when at figure size – they may not quite have the same style as companies such as Spectre, but I think the chunkier look means that in person, you really see the exciting details.

Across the aisle, there was an area dedicated to Battleground HD, with another Player vs Player BAOR game nestled next to a step in the light green. I was lucky enough to, right at the end of the day, get to have a game of Hunters on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a PvE module for the game that pits players as MACV SOG against an AI-controlled set of NVA. The PvE system was exciting (including a clever use of a QR code to throw a wrench in your plans) but I’m even more excited to talk about Battleground HD in the next few weeks – it’s one of those systems that at first glance is a little overwhelming but as you play it, you start to see just how well it models certain elements of modern wargaming. I’m also interested in seeing how it scales up – the demo game I played was only two small teams, but it can potentially go up to platoon level, complete with vehicle support. More details coming soon – I think B is a good place to start some kind of comparison series.

Famous By Our Swords is one of my personal favourite small-scale skirmish games, and after their successful Kickstarter, I was super excited to see them at Salute. Of course, it helps that I was also picking up my printed copy of both Famous By Our Swords and the larger regimental game Clash of Banners and so hunted them down pretty quickly! They had a good pairing of a table featuring both games and the retail table showing off books, the range of hero figures for the setting.

A return I was glad to see was Spectre Miniatures! Fresh off their successes over in the States, they had a pile of new items and an exclusive figure available, while across the aisle from them, they had a demo game that was run during the day. Of course, being a filthy STL user, I’m going to have to wait for them to appear on the website before I can get my hands on the new goodies. However, one thing I was very glad to see was just how busy they were all day – a healthy Spectre is a positive thing for this little niche of ours that is Ultramodern Wargaming.

Now, COMPLETELY out of left field was 1918 – A First World War Wargame. Remember those Friday night drinks I mentioned? I ended up chatting to one of the guys behind WarFulcrum Games, a team running a patreon and making a historical wargame around the final stages of World War 1, where the static trench warfare changed into the first version of modern combined arms combat. Well, we got to talking and it turned out the mad lads were launching a Kickstarter the following morning at the show, aiming to bring a hardback rulebook and a collection of STLs to life.

The following day I turned up to find this rather impressive table showing Villers-Bretonneux, the clash of a German offensive into British-held territory. This is also the first tank on tank engagement, with both A7Vs and MK IVs hitting the table. It’s a great-looking game and I’m excited to see more once the book releases. It’s already passed its funding goal, but if you’re also interested in wargaming World War 1, you can find the project over on Kickstarter.

Also from the Friday drinks, I managed to chat to the guys at 3D Junkie. Well, more accurately, we said the magic words “3D printing” and one of the guys immediately appeared. These guys sell everything to do with 3D printing, be it machines, filaments and resin or more and were fantastic to chat to even as someone who is very much a hobbyist. I’m genuinely thinking that, when it comes to my next upgrade, I’ll be going straight to these guys.

The more dangerous thing for me was the fact that they had one of the new Elegoo Centauri printers there and some example prints. As someone who has literally moved all his terrain acquisition over to filament, this is very interesting as a possibility for getting even more detail into my terrain. And now I need to go and hide my wallet.

Something I am very excited about for this year is Chain of Command V2, the updated version of probably the Regular Opponent’s favourite WW2 game. To help demo the game, the Lardies brought with them this rather wonderful Oesterbeek game. It’s a lovely scene from the Netherlands, complete with some awesome details (from Sabotage3d). It also features a super impressive feat in tabletop wargaming – the gently sloping railway embankment.

I also missed the demonstrations of the new ruleset, but seeing the reference cards listing off new abilities using the CoC Points and chatting to Mr Skinner has got me very excited. They are aiming for a May release date, and I will 100% be getting my pre-order together when they go up.

There were also a few other super impressive games that caught my eye as I wandered through the show. Joe Bilton‘s What a Tanker game has filled my BlueSky feed with perfect shots of the ruins of Caen but it is fucking incredible seeing it in person. I managed to chat to Joe and, as well as being incredibly pleasant to chat to, he managed to talk about the process of making the board and how important a little touch such as “using the same polyfilla mix on the buildings” to make sure everything fits together. I look forward to seeing what he gets up to next!

Speaking of large WW2 games, the 15mm version of the Battle for Berlin (complete with Reichstag, flak tower and more) was awesome to see walking past. Chatting to the guys, it turns out this wasn’t even the full size that they were aiming for which is quite frankly bonkers.

Finishing the trifecta of WW2 games is this Warsaw Uprising game. I literally had a double take when I walked past it, the different levels of detail from the railway tracks up to the rooftops. The layout literally looked like a museum piece, and yet as I walked around during the day it was very clear that this was an active game. Seeing as it also won game of the show, I wasn’t the only person to be blown away by it.

I’m not getting into Battletech with terrain, you can’t make me. Even if this Alpha Strike board looked like something out of the mental image of Mechwarrior 3 that lives in my brain.

Another game that caused me to pause was Zeppelin. Ironically, the balloon was the least interesting bit for me, as the sheer level of detail on the Scottish castle and island pulled me in and made me take notice of what was going on, as it perfectly captures the feel of the remote Scottish castle. There was a wonderful level of detail to the board, and a fun backstory relating to a 1971 film. Brought a smile to my face!

Butcher and Bolt appeared on my Facebook feed the weekend before Salute (so I’m glad that Facebook’s ads actually work for some people) and it was actually cool to see the board the guys had set up to show it off. With both an industrial yard and then the UBoat pens, this was definitely a cool setup. Chatting to the guys at the stand, it sounds like the rules are well on their way to being ready (aiming for later this year) and if the crowd around the table were a guide, I think this could be one to keep an eye on.

Last but certainly not least – truly the largest game of Floorhammer I have ever seen. It’s actually pretty cool seeing this many titans, especially on a board that is a sensible size for the god machines to fight.

I was so enraptured in my game of Battleground HD that I suddenly checked my watch and realised I had to run back to my car before I ended up with a fine. However, as I walked back and then jumped in the car to head back north, I realised just how much I enjoyed the day. In previous years, I’d been done with the show in two hours flat, leading me to disappear off into London or head home. This year though I stuck around and had a wonderful time. During my time at the show, I managed to dig through the show. I also managed to say hello to a pile of people both friends (such as fellow writer Bill and the lads from Dougie’s Wargaming Blog) and people I’m a fan of (such as Arbitor Ian, Dave from EXP and most surprisingly, climate YouTuber Simon Clark), something that just wouldn’t happen at most shows. It’s a truly titanic experience and I 100% recommend anyone who is able to come to give it a go. It was also nice to see how varied the crowd was at Salute – everyone from the traditional wargamer inspecting the latest Napoleonics to cosplayers, families and more experiencing everything the hobby has to offer.

My haul from the show actually wasn’t too bad. I picked up the Bello Lundi Kalashnikov rules (another success of Friday night’s chat with Peter and Jurgen) and some items from Deep Cut Studios (some road pieces and off-cut mat pieces for forest areas). The Famous By Our Swords books are my Kickstarter rewards delivered in person (truly impeccable service), while as I left, I was handed a full-on Press Pack for Battleground HD despite halfway through my demo game saying I’d be handing some cash over. So overall, I’d say a very successful set of additions to the collection!

However, the biggest thing I took away from Salute was a return of energy for the hobby, both wargaming in general and ChargeBlog as a whole. There were plenty of nice comments about the site and getting to sit down and chat with my fellow wargamers has definitely focused the mind on the types of things I want to get around to doing. We’ll see how the inspiration goes when I return to Salute next year!

With the Old World taking a pause post-games day (read all about it here) we’re returning to the Ultramoderns. However, before we can hit the table and get Project Elements on the road, we’re going to need a table to fight over. After years of never getting them textured and painted up, I sold most of my MDF structures (although there are a few more to go) with the plan was to replace them with a set of 3D-printed buildings. The question was, which ones should I go for?

I originally had started printing the Patrick Miniatures Eastern European buildings (as I showed off in some of my What An Operator games) but I’ve decided I’ll come back to the Shyluz/Tsarist borderlands once I have a bit more time to kitbash together the Shyluz Scouts and their specific weapons (the combination of lightweight belt kit and G3 variants including the HK21 should make them standout). So in the mean time, time to head back to somewhere more familiar. Long time ChargeReal fans may remember Al-Bawaaba, the Albion Protectorate sitting between the Commonwealth and the Bazi Emirate, home to the slightly dead foot patrol generator and the site of one of my Skirmish Sangin V2 games. This is one of a set of states that broke away from the Albion Empire during the Civil War and now act as a buffer between two large empires while at the same time seeking to grow it’s own territorial control through the use of independence movements in both the Emirate and the Commonwealth.

My idea is that the fighting in these region will take inspiration from the battles in Iraq and Syria during the mid-2010s but reframed for my setting. With various militia groups, military forces and foerign assistance and advisors involved, the fighting is perfect for testing the force building for Project Elements, as well as provided a wide variety of tactical situations for platoon commanders to deal with. It also, as you might expect from a blog post talking about terrain, gives a wide variety of landscapes to deal with – from compounds hidden among rolling hills and wide plains, to small villages clustered on the dry land at the mouth of the river that, further upstream, flow through several major urban areas.

But how best to build said major urban areas? I’m pretty sure you can guess what I’m using if you’ve been following the blog, seeing as I’ve been a fan of Urban Scatter Gaming‘s stuff for a while. It helps he’s also a great guy to chat with so I’m more than happy to push his products as much as possible. His latest MENA range has basically released a complete pile of items to get you started with building up your own board, covering the key categories of terrain – scatter, linear obstacles, repeatable structures and key character buildings.

I’ve been hard at work getting the buildings printed off. These are all coming off the Elegoo Neptune 4 at 1.6mm layer height, so while they are taking a long time to go through (8-16 hours or so) they are coming out with a pretty nice level of detail to them. As you can see above, I’ve printed the Houses, corner pieces and multiple pieces from the apartment set so far and they look pretty good! I still need to do a little more cleanup on them and I had a failure with the arched building which I need to take a look at before trying again but otherwise the larger pieces are well on the way.

The next step will be printing off some of the wall sets to make the landscape more interesting to fight through (and take up more space on the tabletop) before then adding some scatter terrain for those final touches. If you’re wanting to see how these buildings can look, I’ll point you over to The Solo Wargamer who is building up a new MENA board for some upcoming games. I’m probably planning some similar painting choices, including getting out the textured rattle-can to smooth over the details.

For now though, the printer is hungry and the filament must flow…

In the last few days, it’s been very Old World-y around here. The reason of course is The Ides of Marc, an Old World event that my group of friends (including the Regular Opponents) arranged at the start of the year. You’ve seen a few updates on the journey since the start of the year but now it was time for the main event. The good news was that I was able to pack the whole week before the game day full of stuff to do, enough that I didn’t have a chance to write about any of it. So here we go, one big post full of Warhammer The Old World updates.

First up last weekend – I played a game of Old World against The Creative Regular opponent, effectively part 2 of the campaign against the Goblin Menace. Seeing as the last time I played away (requiring the drive up north), this time it was a home game, both because my opponent was aware of my long drive but also probably because he wanted to visit a certain Leeds based wargames shop. And visit he did, as during my time preparing and cooking up pizza, he proceeded to assemble a whole additional hero for his force.

Speaking of forces, this list I decided to do a few tweaks that I had previously mentioned in the last post. Chosen Knights and Warriors had lost their plate armour and the Demon Prince lost his magic items, but both groups of Warriors had full command. This gave me a solid core of infantry, with heavy cavalry, hero and dragon on the flanks for mobility.

As for the game – well it went a little better than the first attempt at the Goblins but not by much. I ended up giving up too much ground at the start, mostly due to the advancing goblins and piles of fanatics. This allowed those giant units of Goblin Bowmen to set up and secure the bulk of the board. However, there were still some good points – having the command groups in both units gave them a lot more staying power, as well as the champion being able to slap back in a fight. The Dragon and Demon Prince caused a chunk of damage (even if the Dragon then blew up) and the Chosen Knights… ended up clearing off one flanking unit before ending up out of position.

Of course, the fact that the Demon Prince was taken out by a direct Goblin Doom Diver hit should tell you that the dice were not on my side during that game. But, more importantly, I had a fun time rolling dice on my dining room table, and it gave me a good warm-up for the wargaming that was to come.

So then there was a week to get ready before the big day. My original plan was to get as much painted up to a finished standard as possible, thinking that I’d be able to clear the foot troops but leave both the characters and cavalry unpainted. However, something started gnawing at me after the last few games – the Chosen Chaos Knights have great potential (and have absolutely slammed anything they hit) but in the last few games they have found themselves stuck on the flank, dragged away by various flank units.

So, there was a bit of a list jiggle. Both sets of Warriors with Shield gained an additional hand weapon (letting me choose between protection and attacks), the Chosen Warriors were downgraded and changed to regular Warriors (as well as getting a shield for additional protection) and the Demon Prince gained a Biting Blade to up his AP (and add armour bane). The Knights were dropped entirely and replaced with Forsaken.

What, you ask, are Forsaken? Well, they are a core infantry choice with no upgrades (other than picking a special rule) that give you a rapid-moving unit with a pile of special rules – random attacks, a randomised bonus (such as additional AP or poison or killing blow) and a set of abilities that help to make them some close combat monsters. They don’t feel overpowered (as they really need to get the charge to make sure they don’t get overwhelmed) but an 11″ charge (with Forsaken by Slaanesh giving them Swiftstride adding another 3″) can make them almost cavalry levels of threat. For me though, it also allowed me to use another set of figures I already owned – the Myrmidesh Painbringers from the Hedonites range in Age of Sigmar are a beautiful set of models, giving a very different look to the regular warriors (and much closer to the Sigvald model I use as my Demon Prince). The benefit of using them for Forsaken is that there are no weapon options, letting you pull from both the sword and board for the Painbringers and the wide variety of weapons for the Twinsouls that come in the same set. I had five of them to begin with before adding two more bases from the Hedonites Underworld set (sadly the Beastman is too large for the 30mm bases). To bring them up to the 10 models I had on my list, I had to very quick run around the wargames shops of Leeds to find an additional box, finally getting them from literally the front door of the Travelling Man warehouse. I then got to have a fun evening building them up before they joined the pile of paintings.

Now, as I said above, my original plan was to get all the infantry fully painted and leaving everything else unpainted. However, part way through my painting day, I realised that I really didn’t want to spend my time doing all the chaos trim that the models have. Instead, I shifted to a different goal – every model would have the big areas painted. On the plus side, this means the force would look better overall, and much more cohesive on the tabletop even if not perfect. On the downside, this meant putting paint on the Keeper of Secrets. So, at roughly 3am, I started painting up probably the most expensive model in my collection to at least get the basic colours. I went for various purple tones but also went with black “armour” to keep the colour scheme consistent. There was also a pile of gold touches to make her stand out. I also updated the Demon Prince to continue the Black and Gold look. In the end, even though it was a rough paint scheme, I’m very happy with the vibe and now that the rush is over, I’ll be looking to finish them before the next event.

Saturday rolled around and we all met up in York for a day of gaming. We managed to get 12 of The Old World’s finest squashed into the Scout Hut, with a good spread of armies for people to play against. A big thanks has to go out to The Dastardly Regular Opponent for getting the whole thing set up (including laying out the tables and getting the Burco filled up) and The Creative Regular Opponent for coming with a pile of terrain and mats to get the tables filled up. I liked how we managed to have a good mix of tables (including a desert ghetto that we locked the poor Tomb Kings player into), including some urban areas which are unusual for Old World.

This also included my table which I set up. With Games Workshop hills, Vae Victis ruins and trees bought from eBay, I really like the fact I can set up some Warhammer Fantasy Battles-looking boards. I especially like the Age of Sigmar beacon model, such a simple piece that is perfect to add that extra touch (and now I should paint the rest of that set). However, this table has reminded me I need to make a trip to a fabric store and get some felt for the road and tree areas. The tree areas are especially useful, letting you shuffle the actual trees around to best site your units, as you see later during the Ogre game.

My first game was against one of the Manchester boys, who had morphed from running Brettonians last time to instead running his childhood Empire army. This was a pretty fun game, the two of us reminding ourselves how the rules work and then getting a proper clash of armies into play. I ended up not getting the charge and instead eating (and then being destroyed by) a double hit of Greatswords and Flagellents while my Dragon was too busy chasing stuff up and down the flanks. On the plus side, the Forsaken and Demon Prince did manage to do their thing, storming across a hole in the front ranks before chewing their way through the volley gun team, with the engineer getting sephiroth-d by the Demon Prince. In the end though, this shenanigans was nothing as all of my chaos warriors got destroyed and overrun, the Flagellants collecting a pair of banners to really drive it home.

Game 2 saw me introducing one of my Former Housemates (the Necormuinda/GM’ing one) and his brother to The Old World, helping to turn their knowledge of Total Warhammer into tabletop experience. They decided to go with the Ogre Kingdoms army that was available and I’m pretty sure it was mostly for the puns that filled the game. Going up against Ogres was an experience – each basic ogre has three wounds, a pile of attacks, impact hits and some very nasty toys. Despite an early win in the duel against the hunter in the woods, the centre became a bloodbath of Ogres ripping and tearing warriors apart. However, I did manage to drag a unit away using the Forsaken before a Demon Prince, Dragon and Warrior block managed to lock the enemy general in place and crush them, leading to them being destroyed while trying to flee.

However, man of the match has to be the enemy giant. After crossing the bridge (which wasn’t large enough for any other movement), the giant proceeded to smash into the Warriors with great weapons. After a stomp that took the central heart out of the unit, the pair of jokers across the table from decided it would be time… for the pants attack. Giants have an ability where, if the enemy model fails an initiative test, they are immediately removed as they disappear into the giant’s pants. This then continues until either the giant gets bored or the unit is destroyed. The giant in THIS game managed to absolutely destroy the warriors over two turns, before finally (as the rest of the room crowded around) the Champion ended up in the giant’s pants.

Old World is a gloriously silly game, and this single combat helps to illustrate that.

All in all, last week was a great time. The Old World continues to be one of my favourite games, and there is something incredible about finally (after almost 26 years from seeing my first Warhammer Fantasy Battle list) having my own army laid out on the tabletop that I assembled and (mostly) painted. I’m actually looking forward to getting them painted up, as well as the last pieces I already own and will add to the force. I think this force is also pretty close to being done, which has made me look at the pile of STLs and ponder what might come forth from it.

We’re two months into 2025, so I should probably talk about what I’ve been up to huh?

You may have seen my PAINT-REPs so far, covering two sets of figures from Spectre. I was hoping to have more than three figures painted so far but alas I’ve been suffering the malaise. Plenty of models on the desk but the excitement to actually apply brush to figure is lacking a little bit. I’m hoping that will be corrected soon, so I can get back to painting up everything I’m planning.

Okay, just going to very quickly sidestep away from the tiny mans to go over something else I’ve been doing.

I’ve really got into SP-Tarkov and Fika. Please allow me roughly 311 words to discuss this very definitely not a wargaming thing but has some links to the rest of my hobby.

Tarkov is something that I’ve owned since 2017 but absolutely hated playing online due to a variety of reasons – dodgy hit detection, the wipe system which doesn’t appeal due to my lack of time to play, the lack of an effective handle on the cheating populaiton and how aggressively sweaty much of the player base is. However, I think that it’s core is one of the best tactical shooter experiences, managing to be a much more complete game than other games such as Ground Branch or Ready or Not (or the 101 other Unreal Engine attempts people are making to fill the tactical space) It’s definitely got a learning wall that can cause people to bounce off it but for myself (and a few of those in my friendship group) we’ve really enjoyed getting into raids, sneaking around, getting into intense firefights and then frantically running to exfil covered in injuries and horribly dehyrdrated. In other words, it’s fun. It’s also just the right level of relaxing at the moment – it’s a chance to play with friends, while playing solo it’s bringing back the risk/reward play from another game that stole all of my hours…

So how does this link to Ultramodern gaming? Well, I think that the concept behind Tarkov is a fantastic way to get players interested in Ultramodern wargaming if you want to avoid larger conflicts without going too far into the STALKER/Zone style of games. Fighting through the post-EMP world of Tarkov, there are plenty of spaces for your highly trained operators sneaking around past local military and militia forces. It’s also the perfect setting for multiplayer games – two teams of operators, each figure’s equipment chosen for perfection and then the third player, pulling out individual figures from the figure case and going “huh that should work”. There is plenty to be playing around with.

Anyway, back to the real reason you guys are here, the tiny mans.

To start with, I had originally planned to go all in at the start of the year with the return to the moderns. However, it was only a few weeks in before someone started planning another big Old World event for our gaming group. This is a chance to get a big group of my friends (currently scattered all over the country) to come together in York to roll some dice and play some games. Old World is our current favourite game as a group, seemingly designed for a group of 30-year-olds who haven’t quite yet reached the Napoleonic era of wargaming but don’t want to get into Warhammer 40k. The plan is for three games in the day, with certain people not allowed to play each other to keep things exciting – for example, the Regular Opponents and myself have been practising with each other, so we’ll be trying to make sure we’re fighting different people.

I’ve written in the last few weeks about a whole selection of Combat Geometry posts. Now, originally I had planned ot have my entire force painted. The problem is I’ve had a real problem getting the motivation to sit down and paint – I’ve barely managed to do it during our Monday painting sessions (too busy writing news posts instead) and so it’s looking like I’ll be going into this event with only a partially painted force. Unless I magically get a load of stuff painted this week… Or I massively change my army composition..

However, once the Old World event is over, I’ll be returning to Ultramodern Wargaming Hard. The reason behind this is Project Elements, a ruleset that I’ve started working on during my ChargeReal writing. I’ve covered more details in a previously Patreon exclusive post (linked above and here) but basically it’s a quick to play platoon level game focused on encouraging realistic tactics and very customisable forces. The last point is specifically from it’s creation, giving me a ruleset to support the various forces I’ll be developing for ChargeReal.

And speaking of ChargeReal, I should probably talk about what I’ve been writing. Shyluz and its environs are still being worked on, but I must admit I can feel myself slowing on enthusiasm. A big part of this is because there is a lack of forces for it – I haven’t had a chance to sit down and set up both the Shyluz Recce Platoon and Dammed 44th figures. I’ll be initially kitbashing them, but there are a lot of specific items I’ll be needing to do a little work on before I’m truly happy with them.

While I work on the figures for Shyluz, I’m going to quickly get another region up and running to be home to all of my Project Elements games. With a wide selection of terrain and STLs suitable for a MENA style region, it’s highly likely we’ll be fighting in the Bazi Empire. I’ll be getting to work on that soon, as I’ve already written down a selection of platoon setup that might work for the region.

In addition to getting figures together, I’ve also started working on more terrain. Having sold off a chunk of my MDF, the next stage is replacing it with ready textured 3D prints. These pieces are from Urban Scatter Gaming and I’m pretty sure they are going to form the core of my new terrain collection. I haven’t had a chance to print more than just these test pieces., but I’m already very impressed with them – they fit together really well and come packed with plenty of details (both interior and exterior). The only downside is that I’m FDM printing them at a high level of detail, so each building takes a while, hence why I’m already starting printing even though I may not get to them for a month or two. The plan is for reasonable terrain density, with a mixture of buildings so I can do anything from close quarters engagements to more scattered compound arrangements. I’m really excited for the walls that USG has and I’m looking forward to getting them done on FDM. As much as I was excited for the greener Eastern European vibe, USG‘s work keeps pulling me back in… and we haven’t even talked about the hotels yet!

As an aside, I finally managed to actually play a tabletop wargame against my Dad. The last time we played miniatures gaming was back in the ancient times of 40k 3rd edition and our last game ended because I was being a horrible little cheater in the way only a child can. However, I’ve grown up since then and with the rise of various tabletop games, I decided it was time to try again. Turns out my Dad still has the skills and managed to absolutely trounce me in two games of Halo Flashpoint. I look forward to playing more, and maybe even get him into other games such as BPRE or my Project Elements when it’s a bit further on.

As you can see, my initial planning for the year went out the window within seconds of the year starting. However, the plan is to claw it back, as motivation has returned for my own projects. I’m hoping to have a few more games up on the page within the next two months, hopefully trying out my own rules and beginning that long process.

For now though, I have some painting to do…

In my last Combat Geometry post, I mentioned about adding a command group to my second Warrior formation. On paper, this is a good idea, giving the various bonus to combat resolution and striking power. The problem is that I don’t have a second Warriors of Chaos command group.

I do, however, have my version of Khagra’s Ravagers, a set of Underworld figures from Games Workshop that are among my favourites they have ever made. This gives me a champion (you can probably guess who) and a sorcerer who could be conscripted into counting as a Musician (something you can get away with when only playing in groups.. However, a banner bearer HAS to be a banner bearer in my opinion – it adds a pleasing visual element, an icon or banner hanging over the battlefield, something to draw the eye. Initially I looked at simply cutting and replacing parts on one of my existing figures (the older Chaos Warriors are especially good for this) but after a little bit of investigation, I found a better figure to go with.

Yep, it’s a different Sorcerer. There are a lot of sorcerers in Age of Sigmar’s Slaves To Darkness range and they are great to work from for banner bearers. This is for a couple of reasons; for one, their staff wielding (usually held upright) is a good starting point for attaching a banner to. The second is that Slaves to Darkness Sorcerers are almost all armoured, making them fit in rather well next to the rest of the range. I could have used the limited edition Tzarketh, Bane of Law, but his pose is a touch too “I’m a mage” with his off hand holding a suitably book. On the other hand, the latest Chaos Sorcerer Lord is VERY martial. Sword out, leaning on the staff in front of them, with a pose much more suited to a banner bearer. I could already visualise them fitting in the army – the armour is fancy (as befitting a hero character) but this does open up this figure to be used for potentially a Battle Standard Bearer (if my army grows big enough or I decide to re-roll my collection in a different force). Having decided on the figure, I headed over to Leodis Games and got them ordered on Sunday evening. By Tuesday, I had a box in my hands, and so kicked off a Wednesday night conversion project

(And then I got distracted running tech support for my buddies on SP-Tarkov so oops)

Back to work though, the first step was assembling the basic figure. I left off some of the fur pieces and the head to begin with. I had pondered about rotating the sword to lie across the body, but a discussion with two of my fellow wargamers pointed out some potential pitfalls. In the end, I decided to go with the body as close to stock as possible. It helps that it’s a lovely sculpt to start from!

One of the big problems with using Age of Sigmar models for Old World is getting the damn things to rank up. This is especially a problem with Chaos figures thanks to all those spikey bits. A key part of assembly was putting together a figure that fitted in with its fellows. As you can see above, the Ravagers were used as the test models. I had to cut down part of the Champion’s base to guarantee a fit, but this was a tweak I’d need to do later. I was a little worried about the sword into the back rank, but that wasn’t a major concern – there is plenty of overlapping blades in a Chaos force.

After this initial test, and after putting the banner pole from the Chosen sprue into place, I decided to flip the figure 90 degrees. This moved the sword to protrude out of the front rank (rather than into the rear), while still allowing the standard plenty of space. A little tweak to the exact facing of the banner pole’s slot moved it to face in a better direction.

And speaking of the banner, once the pole was in place, the next stage was to get the main event in place. Most banners use the same guide slot, so I was able to take a look through the collection to find a banner I liked. I ended up going with one from the Chosen sprue. Admittedly, it’s not the most exciting design but the empty space would allow for more chances to paint it in a unique fashion.

The problem is that I have already used this banner in my army – I prefer the banner style over the Chaos icon, so my chosen march under this banner (with a demonic head added for good effect). This meant I’d need to make this version look slightly different, while also befitting an important standard for when the character would be pulling BSB duty. One of the staff tops from the Sorcerer Lord kit was ideal, taking the existing bannertop concept and giving it more – quite literally in the case of number of points on the icon. I’d have to trim it down to fit, as well as removing the existing spikes and the mounting from the banner itself. Once glued in place, the icon covered pretty much all of the cutting work while also standing out from other banner designs.

After a little bit more work (including fetching a head from the new Marauders kit and trimming the neck to fit, she was done. I’m still working on the little details like names and character, but the physical creation side is over. I’m really happy with the end result, both from doing a quick physical kitbash for a change but also how all the pieces came together. I think the Age of Sigmar sculpting team has been going from strength to strength and even a relatively “normal” figure is still packed full of details. Flipping the model 90 degrees was the moment that really pulled it all together, giving it a very different look to the original figure.

When the new character is put along the others, you can see the other benefit of turning her slightly. It makes the front rank look a little more uniform, a united command group preparing for a fight. She is a little taller than the Champion so not using the scenic base was a good idea. Put together though, they do look like a group of hardened fighters, which is the feeling I really want out of my Chaos Warriors.

And speaking of, any excuse to get out the collection and see how they look together. This is all of them – original plastic Chaos Warriors, Slaves to Darkness push-fit and regular kits, a converted Chaos Lord, a Made To Order exclusive Chaos Warrior character, the Underworlds Band and finally the latest addition. I love the aesthetics for this range, with each figure having some little touch to make them individual while still fitting into the whole of the unstoppable armoured fist coming to strike down your lines.

The next step is to get her painted up, which should hopefully be a relatively simple job. I’m just doing my best to avoid thinking about how the banner itself it going to be done…

The next Old World games day is fast approaching on the Ides of March. I’ve been attempting to get some figures painted up for it (and avoiding the Knights for as long as possible).

However, new events mean a chance to build my list further. After my last game in January, I expressed some concern about my lack of magical defence, although in retrospect that might be because that particular list was incredibly magical focused. The bigger problem (and one I had last year as well) was that the marauders weren’t around in big enough numbers and were not fast enough to perform their screening role. By the time they were across the board, they were so shot up they would be unusable or have fallen too early and the units behind were not taking hits.

My first thought was to swap the marauders out for Warhounds, a cheap and high-speed unit to cross the board and potentially be causing trouble in the early turns. This would be relatively simple to get sorted – print a few of the wolves from Last Sword and then good to go. There is only one problem – Warhounds are boring. Although mentally I could see how they fit the force (the hunting hounds of the lord leading the list), nothing about them excited me.

And then I remembered that I have a model I am VERY excited about putting on the table.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember me buying, constructing and converting a Keeper of Secrets model. Unfortunately, the current Old World rules don’t let you include demonic units in a Warriors of Chaos force – at this time in the setting, Chaos hasn’t quite reached the level that you see in something like the Storm of Chaos back in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. This has meant my creation has spent more than a little time on the shelf, unpainted and waiting for a chance for carnage. It is also partially because I am terrified at the idea of getting her painted up – this is a large model, with lots of exposed skin and I don’t think my skills were quite there.

Looking at her again after the goblin shennighans, I started thinking about how I could use her. In the basic list, the closest is probably a Gigantic Spawn of Chaos but things like randomised movement don’t quite tie into my mental image of how she fits in the list. Narratively, the demon prince leading this force is the formerly mortal champion for the Greater Demon, having been gifted her shield and spear early in his rise to demonhood. Having on the field, she should be a nightmarish force, matching some of the Demon Prince’s powers. Luckily for me, the Arcane Journal marked the return of Warpfire Dragons to the Chaos list, giving a flying S6 T6 W6 monster with some funky rules including both a ranged attack (unheard of for Chaos) and the ability to turn off the ward saves of those close by. After looking at the rules (and pondering about using her as the special character dragon, I ended up settling on a regular warpfire dragoon.

Getting her into the list was also part of reconfiguring the essentials. First up, the Chosen on foot found themselves downgraded to mere warriors with great weapons, saving a chunk of points. Elsewhere in Core, the Brick suffered next; for as amusing as it can be, a single chunk limits my ability to take control over the map and can be very easily flanked and outmanoeuvred. Instead, I decided to split it in half, setting up two squads of 14 warriors. I unfortunately lacked enough points to upgrade the second squad to have the command elements, leaving it lacking several multipliers for combat.

This resulted in a trio of core units (ideally deployed in a two forward, one back formation) with knights, demon prince and dragon acting as flanking units. It also provides me more options, with more pieces around to push forward and grab board areas to setup flank charges. Having one flying unit was a massive benefit to allow threat to the enemy’s rear, so having two adds an additional terror on the flank.

The planning is all good but the proof is what it does on the tabletop. Luckily the Dastardly Regular Opponent had a Saturday evening free and the desire to get some games in before the next event. I’d be facing his new Dwarf army, one that has had a few changes – including the fact he had his own Brick!

Across the table from me I had two infantry blocks (hammers and veterans) with multiple characters split between them. One flank had the Rangers forward deployed while the other had a gyrocopter ready to make a move and a team of Irondrakes hanging around waiting for a certain flying pretty boy to turn up.

The proximity of the Rangers on the left flank was just ASKING for me to charge in on them with my Chosen Knight and on turn 1 that is exactly what happened. However, the rangers did manage to take out a knight before I even charged in and then proceeded for the next three rounds of combat to hold my knights in check, dragging them up the board and whittling them down to the champion and the standard. It’s easy to see the Rangers as chaff but in reality they are an absolute pain.

On the other flank, the Demon Prince went in to destroy the gyrocopter, wrecking it in one turn before leaping away from the Irondrakes that were closing in.

In the centre, I was rather surprised to see the Dwarfs taking the initiative and moving forward in columns – highly unusual behaviour! With two separate units, I was able to intercept both of them independently, one block of warriors taking each with the great weapons moving to assist.

Oh, and the dragon came in to flank one unit of dwarves, I’m sure this will go well…

As you can see above, the unit fighting the Dwarf king and Hammerers managed to break and fall back at speed after losing almost an entire rank to the onslaught – turns out Hammerers are very good at dealing with being charged.

The unit of longbards on the other got squished between a warrior block and the dragon. Only causing two wounds and taking five casualties in the fight, an unlucky roll of double 6 on their morale test meant they ended up fleeing – a situation made worse when the dragon pursued, rolled a swiftstride dice and overran them. Not a good start for the Dwarfs.

This now meant that the Dwarf King and his accompanying unit were flanked on two sides by pretty much my entire force. However, some troublesome positioning meant and a sneaky Dwarf charge meant I wasn’t able to engage fully, letting the Hammerers engage my force piecemeal.

First on the chopping block was Chaos Warrior Unit 2 which got absolutely SMOKED on contact. Killed down to a man by the hail of blows, I think we have had the most successful combat I’ve seen to date, winning by 13 points.

However, this simply led into the rest of the force descending on the unit in my turn, leading to three separate charges in three of the four arcs. This fight would then expand as I threw in the rest of the force, with even individual stragglers playing their part.

In the end, with time running out and the King’s unit falling apart under a pile of attackers, we finished off by playing a challenge between the Dwarf King and the Demon Prince. The king landed a few good hits but in the end, the Demon Prince cut down the shield bearers before taking the king’s head off.

Into the Book of Grudges I go.

Having hit the table with an updated list and coming away with a win, I was pretty happy. The dice gods were in my favour (having the Longbeards break and get overwhelmed by a dragon while fleeing was a big help) but the rest of the units felt like they did their jobs. Multiple units of warriors were able to spread out and cover more of the battlefield, making it an area engagement rather than a mess of flanks upon flanks. The Demon Prince, for a change, actually survived this game and was able to do his job of zipping around the battlefield.

I’m having a few changes I now want to make though. The first thing is a slight toning back of the Demon Prince. The Runesword (the replacement for the suicidal Demonsword) is a nasty piece of kit, adding +1 to strength, weapon skill and initiative. However, while this may be incredibly useful on a mortal chaos champion, the demon prince already has a nasty statline with WS7 S6 I7, with the potential to raise it even higher thanks to Gaze of the Gods each turn. One item I am not giving up though is the Armour of Meteoric Iron – always having a 5+ save means I have Triple 5 Save (Armour, Ward, Regen)

This reduction in power allows for some additional spending elsewhere in the list. Splitting The Brick into two smaller units went really well, but unit two was slightly lacking. Well, good news, thanks to the windfall of points, the second warrior unit has a full command – the banner feels like a requirement for combat, the musician is handy just in case, and the champion is handy to tie down anyone attempting to use a multiple wound weapon on the troops.

There are also going to be some changes in the Special slots, something I’m not 100% but I think is worth testing. Chosen are the hammers of my list, and the Chosen Chaos Knights have been chewing their way through everything I’ve thrown them at. I’d also really prefer my Chosen Warriors to be played as Chosen rather than being down turned to regular warriors. This is both a visibility thing (my opponent can tell what they are more easily) but also the improvements that being chosen brings. However, the downside is that the points have to come from somewhere. I’m going to make the risky decision to reduce the Knights from full plate down to heavy armour – they still have the shield and barding to help out with the protection, but shooting with AP will be slightly more likely to crack through. This is something I’m not 100% sold on, but I think I’d rather drop the armour than lose the lance. Hopefully the dragon will distract most of the shooting until the cav slams home.

Speaking of testing, it seems the Creative Regular Opponent is also needing to do a final trial run on his Orcs and Goblins list, so perhaps one more game…

In a move that I hope isn’t a guide for how the rest of the year will go, I have managed to start off the second month with two figures! Ideally, I’ll be working to something more like a Fibonacci sequence rather than just “month = figures painted” – although 144 figures in one month might be interesting. For now, let’s talk about these guys.

These two figures join the figure I painted last month, adding two more low-profile agents to the mix. I like the contrast with the first guy, who looks very “Gunfighter-y”. In contrast, these two look a little more traditional undercover, with lightweight chest rigs and belts worn under outdoor clothing or jackets. The headsets, vital in close quarters or for communication, also show these guys have had a second to get geared up and ready for the operation.

With the M4-wielding figure, I love the cruiser-length shotgun slung across his back. Between that and the beard, he has the feel of some grizzled vet in the game, helped by the M4A1 being of the SOPMOD style (complete with the quad rail and SOCOM suppressor). I can see using this guy for both covert military and police action – he reminds me of some of the detectives from the breaching scene in the film Triple 9 or ready for the mean streets of an updated The Shield.

For the SCAR marksman, I like the pose of him keying this radio mic while still keeping overwatch. For the SCAR itself, I actually went for colours that match the build I’m currently running in Tarkov – the black lower and tan upper (pulled together from parts found across a series of raids) is a cool look and a nice change from the usual visuals. I also decided to go for some camo on him – it’s been a while since I painted up some patterns, so I went simple with it. Desert DPM is nice and simple too – only two colours (Vallejo Iraqi Sand base and Vallejo Beige Brown for the darker areas) and a wash, with most of the visual coming from capturing the swish

Unfortunately, I forgot to get the exact paints on each model but they are very similar to those used on the first model. I’m currently working through my GW selection, both to find which ones have dried out in their time since I last painted and which ones I actually use.

Next on the paint list is getting some figures together for test games of Project Elements. I’ve pulled out the Spectre Task Force Operators to make a high-end team but I’ve also still got a set of Combat Octopus NAWE guys on my desk… and they did add some Marksmen and Direct Fire Support figures.

Yesterday was Vapnartak in York, the first show of the calendar for many hobbyists. Operating out of the racecourse and spread over 4 floors, the show usually has a good mix of traders, well-put-up games and a thick and fast bring-and-buy sale. This year things definitely felt a little quiet, with a lot of the major traders (including Empress) that would usually pack the floor not taking up their spaces.

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However, I was not a mere punter; instead, I turned up to sell a whole bunch of my MDF. If you haven’t seen my ongoing sales page for my MDF shenanigans, I have been clearing out my collection of unpainted/partially painted structures as part of the move to 3D printing. Despite some success in shipping out big chunks of it, I was starting to get bored of them taking up space. So for the low cost of a few hours and under £10 of table fees, I was away to the races (quite literally)!

And by the end of three hours, this is what I had left. There were definitely some absolute steals to a few people (and quite a few people trying to work out how to get their purchases home) but there were also a lot of people talking excitedly about what they were doing. This is much more exciting than getting rid of it all in a skip, and I’m happy that my purchases will live on.

I’ll be updating the MDF list soon and once it’s cleared out, I’ll start selling the older metal model collection.

It’s not every day that you receive a mysterious message from the Creative Regular Opponent to come north and face him on the tabletop, with the promise of food provided. It’s also not every day that a storm is strong enough to knock Scotland into having a red weather warning and my target of the mysterious land of North Yorkshire is suddenly experiencing 65MPH+ gusts. After a little back and forth (and a slight delay due to work), we eventually decided it was safe enough and I thundered up the A1.

While partaking in a platter of cold meats, cheese and veggies (a far cry from the usual snacks of piles of sweets or pizza), we got down to playing some Old World, the game that the Creative Regular Opponent was mostly responsible for getting me into. As much as both of us have a lust for rolling dice, the main reason for me coming to the windblown north was to give the Creative Regular Opponent a chance to try out a new force that he will be bringing to the next game day. This Night Goblin heavy army is still in its early stages, so he took a chance to get some proxies and unpainted models on the table to work out how much the new shenanigans will cost him spiritually and financially.

For me, it was also a chance to re-learn my list, re-learn the game and then see how it plays against a different force. So far, it’s done okay against Dwarfs (mostly a gunline) and Bretonnians (all movement all the time) but still needed some work to learn how it’s going to function against armies that use different archetypes. There are also a few mechanics I haven’t dealt with such as magic that may appear when we play in our next event in March. So as much as I was a punching bag for the experiment, I was taking the chance to learn something about my own force.

So how did it go? Well, Orcs and Goblins are an army I haven’t faced before, with plenty of tricks up their sleeves. They somehow managed to perform the roles of both a gunline army and a manevoure army, with a giant block of goblins with bows combined with two sets of squig riders bounding down the flanks. This was then made worse by the fact that the mages with them were able to do what is best described as “Fucking Bullshit” – translated, this is a teleport move that lets them set up with 12″ allowing them to rapidly avoid charges and get into position to shoot what they would need. Combine that with two wizards hammering out buffs and nerfs left right and centre, and suddenly you have replaced goblins with a literal machine gun. In this case, my demon prince lost half his wounds on turn 1 thanks to the shooty boys.

This also showed off another flaw in my force – the distinct lack of magic defence. I was unable to stop any of the shenanigans that tore down my armour saves, affected toughness and initiative and then let those bowmen dance around. I haven’t fought much magic in the past so seeing just what it can do when left mostly unopposed was eyeopening.

The “stars” of the show had to be the Night Goblin fanatics though. These little gits caused a massive amount of damage to my force for their actual cost, leading to what is best described as utter devastation. The fact they are CONSTANTLY moving means that you can get slapped multiple times in the same turn by them. They are also pretty deadly and not even my beloved Chaos Chosen were not immune to being beaten up. The fact they are also lurking in the midst of a unit that otherwise is very tempting to get charged, effectively letting you block the potential of a charge and then deny an area. They aren’t reliable though and we had several just smash into buildings in the truly comical fashion

One startling example was the fanatic that managed to roam across three units (chosen, the warriors and then the marauders) and knocked out a figure from each. Seeing as a fanatic is 25 points, the little git more than paid for himself in this single move and this was the second big swing the guy managed to pull off.

The other thing that I got to see was someone finally breaking what has been amusingly referred to as “The Brick” by some of my opponents. Thanks to the stack of magical perks the archers got (and the sheer rate of fire) from 36 archers volley firing, they managed to wipe the block down to only a handful. The final stand-and-shoot reaction wiped out everyone except the champion and my hero character meaning that unless my demonsword-wielding champion was to go full murder mode, combat was lost. The demonsword did manage to slay a pile of goblins, but it then proceeded to slay her buddy after rolling a 1.

Seeing as it was 10pm we called it there as the goblins had managed to win. To wrap up, I think the Goblins list is going to be one he’ll be pushing forward on as he had a blast. It seems to have massive damage potential but also lots of hilarity with things like random movement and those swingy ball lunatics. We both also want to see how it does up against some of our other friend’s forces. Despite my loss, I had a really fun time playing Old World again.

So with that experience over, what is the next step for me?

First, I need to spend more time learning my list and reminding myself of the rules. The last time I played was back in September and since then my brain has been bouncing around 101 other things. I was constantly forgetting rules all the way through, which slowed down play. Before March, I need to make sure I know how each part of the list plays – it’s fine to quickly catch up on on stuff with NewRecruit but basic rules I should be more familiar with. This also covers larger chunks of rules such as magic which although I’ve not used yet, I should have at least an understanding of.

Speaking of magic, I need a method to handle it. Having someone finally break “The Brick” was just a touch eye-opening to just how much danger it can be in without some kind of magical cover, with the various enhancements allowing for even the heaviest armour to be penetrated with ease. I’m going to need something to assist with preventing the enemy spells affecting the warrior block and potentially going on the offensive. The spell Steed of Shadows would allow my infantry units to fly, marching them at high speed across the battlefield to reduce the time spent under the enemy’s guns.

Finally, there needs to be a change to the chaff. As the battle showed me, the marauder units feel like they aren’t as useful as I’d hoped, with the horsemen too expensive and the marauders on foot too slow. For this reason, I’m going to trade them out in favour of some warhound packs. These will be faster to get across the board, and at only 45pts per unit, it opens up additional options across the force.

With all this in mind, it’s time to think about getting ready for the next game day in March. Luckily for me there is nothing new I need to buy (I already have files for some big wolves) so I just need to get them printed and then get on with painting. As for learning the rules, there might need to be another game with someone to test it out…

MS_Paints is one of the best hobby channels on YouTube. A strong statement to begin with I’ll admit, but the combination of excellent skills, fantastic videography and a tone that is actually genuinely funny. I’ve been watching piles of his videos over the years and then end of last year, he released a video covering the new Halo skirmish game from Mantic, Halo Flashpoint. It’s a pretty great video!

Now I have mixed opinions about Halo – as a teenager, I had an Xbox 360 and played the tail end of the good Halo Games (Halo 3, Reach and the best one in the form of ODST) but I was always much more of a Call of Duty or Gears of War player, or disappearing into the ArmA hole for tactical shenanigans. As much as I like the human side of Halo, with the ODST troopers and many of the guns being iconic pieces of sci-fi for me, I feel that the more alien side has always felt much less interesting. A lot of this got weaker as Halo went from Bungie to 343, with Halo 4 and 5 being incredibly weak entries while Halo Infinite was fun for multiplayer (and added the Commando rifle which is very much my vibe when it comes to weapon design), it didn’t keep my attention for long. As you can tell from this, I’m far from the target market for the game, especially as it is focused on the Halo Infinite era.

Despite the positive vibe around the game from MS_Paints and others, I wasn’t looking to add another game to the selection – I have plenty going on. So for this reason, I kind of put it to one side as “Huh that’s neat” and went back to thinking about M4’s and operators. Except then the Creative Regular Opponent mentioned he’d got his hands on a copy of it, raved about it for roughly 20 minutes and then suddenly we were planning to play it at our first Regular Opponent’s game session of 2025.

We were playing the Halo Flashpoint Recon edition, the entry-level box that includes 8 spartans (2 teams of 4), a paper mat, some thick cardboard terrain and all the dice, cards and tokens you’d need. The setup was incredibly quick – the Creative Regular Opponent had everything out and gaming in 15 minutes. Component quality is very nice – the terrain feels quality, while the figures capture the look and feel of the suits from the latest game (Halo Infinite). The Creative Regular Opponent has already painted up the two sets inspired by Red vs Blue (one of the fundamental parts of internet culture around Halo) and apparently they were remarkably quick to paint.

Our first game was a 2 v 2 using the rear of the play sheet. This actually includes quick reference for both sides and every part of the game. There was a little bit of shuffling around to double-check specifics (and the lack of a separate quick reference sheet is one of the game’s few weak points.) I’ll go over the rules properly some other time but let’s just say they are a very solid set. It’s developed from Mantic’s Deadzone game, so it has a foundation with plenty of playtime under its belt.

However, what I can say is that we picked up the concepts pretty quickly – working with a dice pool system and a rarely modified target value means you’re not spending time working out a list of modifiers, you instead focus on thinking about your tactics and how best to set yourself up for success.

Game 2 saw myself up against the Dastardly Regular Opponent in a mirror match of Slayer. The goal was first to three kills, with dead Spartans able to re-spawn from the markers around the edge. Each side had one of each of the Spartans, such as the armoured but scouty Zvezda, the shotgun-equipped Brawler, the DMR-armed Deadshot and the MK VII Tactician with the classic assault rifle. The other big change is that we added the power weapons, giving us a chance to upgrade our firepower with additional weapons – I managed to get my hands on the mini-missile spewing Hydra and the Covenant Carbine with its ability to knockback while my opponent eventually got his hands on the classic Battle Rifle. The weapon system is fun and manages to perfectly capture the frantic rush to grab power weapons in a Halo game.

And frankly, we had a fantastic time playing through the game. An early push by myself was punished by my opponent seizing the high ground and getting those bonuses to significantly damage my Zvezda. However, moving across the board aggressively meant I was able to secure the first two power weapons to drop, giving me a major firepower advantage (and was able to punt my opponent off the high point with Knockback). A close-quarters brawl meant that we were able to stay pretty close in terms of VP. However, thanks to some earlier damage and then a respawning Brawler, I was able to sweep in and hit the 3rd kill before my opponent had the chance to grab victory.

Overall, we left the evening having had a great time both catching up after Christmas and also getting a chance to play a new game that we picked up and played two games of in an evening. And someone may have decided to spend some money by ordering from Leodis to be collected the following day.

Let’s talk quickly about where Halo Flashpoint fits into my hobby. I don’t see myself going too deep with the game – this is not where I’ll be hunting down every set to complete my collection. However, the main advantage of the game is that it’s quick to get up and play, lightweight enough to get anyone interested, and has a core rules loop that doesn’t take a huge amount of time to understand and then make use of. This means it’s ideal for those times when you want to get a game on the table ASAP while still being something more than just rolling dice and seeing pretty numbers without much thought. I dislike the term “Beer and Pretzels Gaming” because it can often be used to cover up bad game design, but Halo Flashpoint is something you can play with a couple of beverages and still have interesting choices to make.

Or it lets you play games over a lunch break at work. I’ve already introduced it to my Corporate Regular Opponent with the demo game and once we’ve finished Undaunted, we’ll be adding Flashpoint to the rotation of gaming options. I’m actually tempted to try and play this game with my Dad – the systems should be simple enough to pick up and I’ve grown up from my last experience of trying to get him into games (which was cheating horribly at Warhammer 3rd edition as a literal child). When I go away on holiday in February, I’ll throw this into the bag as well.

Now, who do I talk to about getting a Gears of War miniatures game…

Things are a little bit quiet on the Old World front it seems. As the New Year has rolled in, it is time to talk about the game of giant moving rectangles and frantically ranking up figures.

Before I go over our last game day, I should probably talk about the force I took out with me. We played 1500ish points and so I assembled this:

• Flying Demon Prince with Runesword and Mark of Slaanesh
• Exalted Champion with Demonsword
• 10 Chaos Marauders
• 27 Chaos Warriors with Command
• 5 Marauder Horsemen
• 5 Chosen Chaos Knights with Command
• 10 Chosen Chaos Warriors with Command

Overall, I feel that this list is in a pretty good situation. In pretty much every game, Chaos is going to be on the assault and this list provides a central push and a flanking force. The main force is three waves – Marauders to absorb enemy fire on the way in, Chaos Warriors to slam into the largest enemy unit it can find and then the Chosen Warriors to either act as flank protection or to flank whoever the Warriors have locked in place. The Horsemen and the Chosen Knights do the same thing on one of the flanks, ideally being able to push into the rear of the enemy.

When it comes to characters, the Demon Prince effectively acts as a super flanker assassin, using fly to leap the battlelines and start shredding enemy war machines – despite his power, instability is a real son of a bitch that means anything that has any form of combat resolution bonus is going to quickly eat through his 4 wounds. You may notice that he has lost the Demonsword he had during testing in favour of the much more reasonable Runesword – still a powerful boost but without the potential drawbacks of a hissing demon inside of it that cares not where the damage flows. Instead, the Demonsword ends up with the Exalted Champion who is leading the Chaos warrior block. This is, for all intents and purposes, a trap – the Chaos Warriors are able to enter into a combat that flows back and forth becoming an anvil, except for the fact that the anvil in question has a circular saw attached to the front to it, and every so often chops apart a friendly. A unit of 27 armoured warriors has enough protection to occasionally prevent a nasty accident, making it a far more useful deployment of such potential.

As I mentioned at the time, I hadn’t managed to get everything full painted before game day. As you can see in the army above, my distaste for painting horses extends to even putting partial paint jobs on them – I just hate them so much. That said, even getting a few pieces painted up did help to make the force look a little more cohesive as well as selling me further on how it’s going to look in the end. Getting paint on the Demon Prince (one of the first figures I bought for this army) definitely helped unlock the mental block around painting such a focal model. The Chaos Chosen on the other hand were set which reminded me of one of the reasons people fear painting Chaos – there is a lot of trim to deal with which meant quite a few evenings hunting down every last bit of it.

Game day rolls around, and after a little bit of a late start we finally got some games up and running. All of us are in our 30’s (ish), all met at university and all spend a lot of time chatting online in a Facebook messenger chat I am dying to move to Discord so I can reduce my hell site intake. But any chance to get together in the flesh, roll some dice and hang out is always much appreciated – I genuinely felt much happier after this weekend and will be striving to run more. This is doubly useful as thanks to the Dastardly Regular Opponent, we have access to a scout hut that comes with most of the things you need for a wargaming event – parking, tea-making facilities and tables to then cover in our piles of terrain. There was actually a good selection of mats and other pieces brought along, and I was pretty happy with all three tables that were setup – definitely helps the visuals of the game when there is a small town or focal points to fight over.

Unfortunately, the Dastardly Regular Opponent was busy with real-world stuff and could only turn up for one game, so there was a touch of swapping people in and out. I decided to skip the last game to make sure that the others who had driven from the wrong side of the Pennines and North of God’s Own County could get their third game in. It also meant I got to hover and watch some of the other armies on display do their work. We had a reasonable mixture – two Bretonnian armies, a Dwarf army from the Dastardly Regular Opponent, an Empire army, my own Warriors of Chaos and the Creative Regular Opponent’s Tomb King army.

Because of how long ago it was, I won’t provide blow-by-blow coverage of the games, just a few overall thoughts on each encounter.

Game 1 saw me up against a former housemate and his Bretonnians. The knights on horses are always interesting to play against, especially as someone more used to clashing against the static forces who like to sit back and shoot your incoming horde of armoured boys. This is doubly so when you’re dealing with someone bringing two sets of Knights on flying rats (pegasuses but shush) and a Pegasus-riding hero designed for monster slaying. I did do a little funny when the game started by rushing my Demon Prince at his Pegasus hero. This went as well as you might expect – Demon Prince caused some damage but a single wound by the Bretonian Hero was converted into some monster-slaying shenanigans and he was banished away. I found myself outmanoeuvred by the rest of the knights (as you might expect) but both the block of warriors and the Chaos Knights caused some major damage and lasted almost until the end of the game.

Game 2 saw me against the Dastardly Regular Opponent and his familiar-looking Dwarves. Familiar in the fact I printed most of them for him. This was a more familiar game – the Dwarves sat back and shot while I advanced across the board. The marauder horsemen got shredded pretty quickly by the various blackpowder weapons shoved down range but when the Chaos Warriors hit home I managed to push the usually resolute Dwarfs back. I don’t remember the end results (we had to call it due to time) but I do love how the Dastardly Regular Opponent and I are slowly starting to learn and evolve from each game. For example, he’s learning to ignore the big block of Warriors and position his troops far enough from the board edge so that they don’t immediately flee.

All in all, it was a good day, with everyone enjoying the games they fitted in. We were all ready to play some more Old World soon.

And then that didn’t happen. Plans were suggested but never made, the end of the year came around and we hadn’t managed to get together again. However, things are looking up – there has been a verbal agreement for another Old World day in March, with a discussion of moving the points total up to 2000 as all our forces have grown.

The good news for this is that I’m actually well on my way to being ready. Although there is still plenty of painting to do, I am very lucky that I don’t actually need to buy anything to get me up. I already have the additional 5 Chaos Chosen Knights I’ll need, as well as another block of Chaos Marauders. The big addition is a Chaos Sorcerer, who has a combination of spells and items that could turn my advancing Warrior block from “oh they’ll be here in a few turns” to turn 2 assault in the right setup. Going further, such as up to 2500 points, I think I’d probably end up printing another block of Chaos Warriors to turn the slow grinding advance into a two-lane threat.

It’s safe to say though that passion for the Old World isn’t dead – everyone in the group is still excited to play, I’m very much looking forward to getting some more games in!

Let’s start this off with a strange statement:

Somewhere in my collection, I potentially already have some of the last physical figures I’m ever going to buy.

Now I admit, that sounds a bit like I’m going to die and I’m preparing for my end so let me explain.

Over the Christmas break, I finally finished assembling the BPRE28 Spearhead sets, giving me 28 new figures to add to the tabletop. There is some nice variety to these guys, with the Scorch and Hongbin teams now expanded with the local Awabari Nitto team and the Qasara SPEAR Brigade. The addition of all these units to the game opens up some new gameplay systems and I’ve been dying to get them on the board.

The figures for all these units are fantastic, dare I say some of the best for BPRE. The two new factions are very distinctive in comparison to the older sets, with the Nitto guys mixing older helmets and different equipment compared to the Scorch guys while the Spear Brigade appears as a modernised force with Russian rifles and, of course, the gas-masked heads. Then the next stage is going to be painting, and this is where actually I’ll need to be working on figures for both expansions. This is because SOMEONE may not have got around to actually finishing his Phase Line set, having to rely on merely undercoated during the last few games.

However, all this assembly time got me thinking about the hobby. More accurately, what I actually enjoy about it.

With both finishing off the Spearhead guys and the mass of plastic glueing that was needed for my Old World army over the summer, I found myself actually kind of hating the process. The trimming, gluing, filling, losing pieces to the carpet monster, finding damaged elements on the models and working out how to repair them, the whole process was very frustrating. I think part of this comes from how much time I’ve spent dealing with 3D-printed models (where the construction in most cases is limited to a few separate arms) and the abilty to go from printed to ready for painting (a stage I genuinely enjoy) is much faster. This was laid especially bare when one evening, after passing over some dwarves for the Dastardly Regular Opponent to get started with, I managed to assemble a single Chaos Horseman while he had a 500-point force glued on bases and ready for the rattlecan.

It all comes down to the fact that miniature wargaming isn’t actually a single hobby – instead, it’s five or six wearing a trenchcoat. Putting ideas to paper, I’ve roughly come up with six, although I’m sure that some of them could be split further.

1. Collecting – I realise “buying models” is an odd hobby to have, but there is a collection element. Finding the figures you like, especially if they are rare or finish a collection. Some people like to have stuff on the shelf – I used to very much enjoy having shelves full of stuff but there does come a point where you can have WAY too much stuff to ever get to use it. There is also the problem of collecting rules and STLs, both of which take up less space but are still nice things to have.
2. Assembly – this one could be split further into Assembly and Conversion work. Assembly is the process of getting the model from box to table, while Conversion is all the Green Stuffing, Plasticarding and Kitbashing that goes on around it. I like the conversion work but being a cack-handed goblin it is something I struggle with. Digital kitbashing has been a great help but there is still that rush to get figures all ready for the next stage.
3. Painting – I used to be a pretty consistent painter and I do still enjoy it. For me though, the painting is a required part of the process for getting to the gaming side and it’s a little bit of personal pride to have painted all the figures I play with. I also think it’s a handy piece of mindfulness, a chance to sit back from the PC and assemble
4. Gaming – this is what I’m here for. I collect miniatures to plan and play games. Getting stuff on the board, getting a few friends around and rolling some dice is still the main target I aim for, as it combines all the aspects I enjoy together (social, competitive, narrative and more).
5. Writing – this is what I’m Here (on this website) for. I love writing and thinking about wargaming, both on the games design side and on the coverage side. Would I prefer to do more gaming than writing? Yes, but for now, I’m happy enough to spend time pounding the keyboard.
6. Terrain – Terrain goes into a special corner. I know it’s needed, I love playing over it, but every part of me dislikes the process of getting it ready for the tabletop. It’s probably mostly because I haven’t done it enough to learn the techniques and so I’m hoping to improve this quadrant.

There are other reasons for the decline in certain areas of the hobby. I’m getting older and lazier, with limited time for the hobby thanks to work, family/friends and even other hobbies. This last year has seen a massive increase in how much time I spend playing games with friends online and a decline in how I spend with the paintbrush and dice. This change can be a good thing (it’s nice seeing my nephew more) but it does mean I can’t match the heady heights of hobby production in 2018. This then rolls onto the types of models I’m finding myself enjoying – the Old World army I assembled this year was fun when it was done, but there was a lot of teeth-pulling when I had to grind my way through assembly.

The 3D printer has made so many things so much easier. The ability to reprint models also makes me less worried about the figures I do have – a constant terror of wargaming models is broken barrels, snapped spears or dropped chunks, especially if such damage occurs in transit. This is especially true for rare or outdated models where replacements are nearly impossible or massively inconvenient to pick up. It’s also reduced the need for stockpiling physical items (and hard drive space is cheaper than new houses), removed waiting for deliveries and reduced how much I’m paying for delivery or customs charges. I’m aware that I’m in a unique situation with this (not everyone can use a 3D printer and there are a ton of safety concerns around it) but it has genuinely improved my personal hobby experience for the better.

The other thing that the printer has opened up for me personally is just an increased ability to kitbash with far fewer concerns. When you don’t have to worry about snapping donor parts, being able to deliver precise cuts or even modify the geometry itself with ease, this creates so many more opportunities. Combat Octopus‘s continuing releases have been vital for this – although there are a few key pieces that I’m missing to be able to build entire forces with them (I am once again asking for more UGLs please) the sheer number of pouches, guns, poses and body types means there is plenty of opportunity for kitbashing. And that’s just from one manufacturer. There is also the possibility of sculpting your own stuff, an opportunity I’m putting increasing time into as I feel that the type of figures I’d like for my games just aren’t getting made at the moment.

There is, of course, a two-hundred-ton, £132-per-share elephant in the room – Games Workshop. I am playing a few of their games (Old World and Necromunda being the main two) but I must admit I’ve begun to feel a bit stung by the costs paid vs what’s in the box. Last year’s Spyrer kit was disappointing, with two identical spures – an incredible piece of industrial design to be able to build 5 models from it to be sure, but not great as it’s missing all of the limited options that force includes – a situation very different to the other box in the same range which had all the upgrades you’d ever want. However, I also think that in both cases, I’ve reached the end point of collecting those specific forces – I have four Necromunda groups (Enforcers, Escher, Outcasts and Spyrers) while the Old World Chaos Army has roughly 2000 points in it, with only a few specific models (such as command groups) if I decide to move figures around. As for future Old World armies? Well, there is a big box of Last Sword and Highland Miniatures STLs all ready for an Empire army at some point.

Perhaps my initial statement is a touch hyperbolic. However, the result of internalising this thought (you can tell I’ve been playing Disco Elysium over the break) is that this change is a uniquely personal one for me, based on the combination of factors around my hobby and what I choose to collect and play. There will continue to be fantastic kits being released as physical items – I just think at this stage, I’m happy to make the switch to focusing mostly on 3D prints and all the things it provides. It’s also fun to think about and this has definitely been a key moment on my ongoing hobby journey, hence why there is a post about it. There will be more posts like this coming up over the year – last year I felt really unfulfilled by the lack of finished posts aside from news, so I’ll be pushing for more writing for you all to (hopefully) enjoy. Something I have found myself enjoying more and more are people like Small Scale Victory and Jim’s Wargames Workbench, both people who put out posts covering both “things I have painted” as well as grander schemes.

In the meantime, let’s see if I wrote down how I painted up the rest of my BPRE28 guys…

aka “The One Who Looks Like A Guntuber”

Starting off the year with one figure painted during New Year’s Eve. I’ve really gone off actually going out on New Years in favour of a quieter and more relaxed intro to the new year. This year I reached for the closest model next to my desk and found myself clutching one of Spectre Miniatures’s Crisis Response Agents.

I really like this figure’s design, with the dynamic pose mixed with a very modern-looking AR15. The clothing works for a wide variety of “low profile but well trained” figures in both military and law enforcement scenarios, assuming you want a “Gunfighter” esque figure designed for close-quarters combat; The belt equipment (which includes stun grenades, plasticuffs) and rifle setup definitely tie into this specific role. This guy would also be great for BSS’s game Breacher, as he looks the role of the lone gunman up against the faceless goons.

The paint list for this figure was:

• Undercoat: Black spray with light dusting of white from above
• Base colours
  • GW Calgar Blue – Jeans
  • GW Cadian Fleshtone – Flesh
  • GW Zandri Dust – Shirt, Front Pouch
  • GW Baneblade Brown – Boot Upper, Gloves
  • GW Deathworld Forest – Chest Rig, Hat, Dump Pouch, Various Pouches
  • GW Black Templar Contrast – Headset, Base Colour for Weapon, Lower Boot, Base Colour for Glasses, Various belt pieces (pistol, holster, flexcuffs, etc)
  • GW Baal Red Contrast – Electrical tape on belt
  • GW Fire Dragon Bright – Lenses on Sunglasses
  • Vallejo US Field Drab (70.873) – Weapon details (stock, handguard, suppressor)
• Additional Base Details
  • Jeans
    • GW Nuln Oil – Shade over jeans
    • GW Caledaor Sky – Drybrush over jeans
  • GW Dawnstone – Drybrush over Rifle Mags
• Shade O’Clock
  • GW Agrax Earthshade – cover the entire model in the good stuff
• Touch-up
  • Go back over large areas with the base colours to lighten them back up again.

Next up on the painting tray are two other figures from the same set, with the agent equipped with the SCAR-H and the other with the classic M4 alongside a breaching shotgun. My aim here is to make sure these guys work alongside each other while still looking like individual agents/operators. I’ll probably use a few common colours for things such as pouches or headsets while keeping the larger areas of clothing to be more unique.

It has been a while since myself and the Dastardly Regular Opponent got together to play some games (with the last time being the Old World day back in September). Time has grown short with both of us busy with work and family stuff. That said, it’s hard to escape the need to roll dice and so we decided to get together for a Saturday evening game session, as well as giving me a chance to drop off some 3D printed parts for his collection.

The problem was to decide what to play. We both have plenty of games in common that we enjoy but as times come and go, we can both have different moods for the sort of game we’re interested in (you can probably guess where mine usually point – more SF than swords) and there is also the more practical concern of getting the table setup in a busy house and then tidied down at the end of the night before I drive 45 minutes home. For this night, we decided to keep things simple and went with an old favourite – Open Combat by Carl Brown at Second Thunder. This game has graced the pages of this blog before (including in some games with my sister) so it was something we could relatively easily relearn and get playing.

In fact, we managed to get two games in on one evening. First up, I was given a part of adventurers to go and stop an evil necromancer from completing a ritual at a burial cairn. With the usual motley crew (heroic leader, tanky heavy, elf archer, halfing thief and battle wizard) I jumped into the fray against a concerning number of skeletons.

The game was pretty fast-paced so I didn’t have too much time for photos or a blow-by-blow. Instead, let’s talk about the ruleset and what it did. I really liked the fact it was pretty simple to kitbash some profiles for characters together and get them on the table, with a very strong feel of getting your hand on a toolbox to build what you want. I’m also a fan of the combat system – it fits on a single sheet of A4 with all the basic details and we only had to check a few edge cases back in the main book. The dice system (roll X dice based on comparing skills, all dice rolls use the same values) meant we were able to jump in, understand what to aim for and when and focus on playing the scenario.

It’s not all roses though – maybe it was the combination of figures we had (there were a lot of Resolute folks around) but it did feel like we had quite a few dice rolls where the result of “nothing happens” in our two games. To make it clear, I don’t need every dice roll to make something explosive happen, but it can still be frustrating as the “nothing happens” rolls start to rack up, especially when you pit ordinary joe against a literal liche. Similarly, I think although we got the basics down, the specific tactics of the game can feel a little directionless – I can understand the aim to flank your opponent’s fighters to gain the benefits of attacking outside the front arc but some of the abilities we were using did nothing to assist with this. I feel like maybe I need to spend more time on the game to really get back into things. I can remember sliding off playing it because it lacked that gritty feel I want from a fantasy game, even if I think the core systems are great. It’s maybe something that could be added on, with a few special rules to evoke that feeling of heroes in the darkness.

These issues aside, it didn’t stop us from finishing one game and immediately leaping into another. This one was a bit more of a mirror match, pitting my adventurer party against another in a battle for survival. It went poorly for me – although I did manage to squash his halfling before my own was killed, I lost fire superiority with my elf going down to a magic and crossbow bolt attack while my own wizard ended up being outmanoeuvred. My leader and heavy did still manage to tie down their opposite numbers, but the arrival of the enemy wizard left me to concede. It was however still a game with plenty of fun and a good end to the evening.

After the game we managed to get another date in the diary for our next game (a good start). Hopefully, this time we’ll be able to get a better schedule together, especially as next year I want to take full advantage of a venue that the Dastardly Regular Opponent has access to so we can run big games or games days every two months, such as the What A Tanker we ran last year after Vapanartak or the Old World game day.

The other thing is that the Opponent didn’t sound too opposed to trying out some rules I’ve been sketching down. If the test goes well, I’ll report more here.

Editor’s note: Yep, going to try and write more posts as I start ramping up my hobby activities again. As much as I like the weekly update for gathering it all together (which is not stopping), getting smaller posts up keeps the heartbeat going and I don’t lose myself worrying about making 10,000 word updates.

I am beginning to wind myself to play some more Ultramodern games but the first step is building up my terrain collection. Luckily I’ve got the 3D printers to help me – that said, the Resin is currently busy printing for friends but the FDM printer (after I got my settings redone following a PC reset) is up and ready for work. I’ve been printing a few things from Modern Miniatures that hit the store a few weeks ago after a successful Frontiers campaign. Seeing as Shyluz and the Tsardom are very much inspired by Eastern Europe, the elements from these sets are very handy for exactly what I need.

In terms of my mental picture of the Shyluz/Tsardom border region, I can see a lot of woods among the rolling hills and mountains. So for this reason, some signs of forest management are always a good call. These log piles and stumps are some of the little things that fill out the more open areas on the table, offering some cover while also breaking up the base mat underneath. Both of these can be printed as FDM and SLA (or Resin) but I went with FDM for the speed and cheapness. This does require sticking the two log halves together (and then frantically shaving down the join to make sure it looks alright that I did after the picture). I can see these being pretty ever present – even if you’re not fighting over a sawmill, a few log piles will end up in other locations.

The other element from today was printing off the Bunker Entrance. I’m sure every Tarkov player recognises this (along with all the screaming you’d have when you realise it’s locked). I’m planning on using this for some elements of the upcoming ChargeReal scenario book (more details coming soon on that), as these bunkers link down to old Tsarist military locations underground in several of the locations. The fetching purple colour is due to me using up a reel of filament my Sister bought for me for a project but seeing as I plan to paint it, it won’t matter in the end. I do like the separate door piece in this set, which was a literal 10 minute print job on the Neptune 4

The next step will be to break out the paintbrush and get all of these painted up and ready for the table. I do need to create the forces as well, but terrain is something I need to break past a mental block with and just paint them up when I get them.

As you might have seen in the past, I’m a huge fan of Combat Octopus‘s modular figures for Ultramodern Wargaming. Each month you get a set of four figures, each split into multiple pieces (usually head, torso, legs and arms) and with multiple weapon options per pose. For example, the image below shows one of the recent NAWE sets, with the figure in question having two torso options and five weapon options (AR15, Masada, SCAR-H and MK46, with a HK416 that was made available after release).

With each set usually sharing the same connection type at the waist, with a bit of work you can combine the different torsos with different legs giving you (potentially) 16 combinations to start from. Combine this with the gun options, previous kits often sharing compatibility with bodies and even (with some fudging) weapons, you can suddenly find yourself building a lot of interesting figures just from kitbashing. Not to mention the Molle implementation CO has worked on, giving you even more options to make your figures fit whatever you are assembling them for.

However, I can appreciate that modular figures can have a slightly higher barrier to entry compared to filling a build plate full of figures ready to go. If you use the files as is, once they are off the supports, there is some time spent sanding down any imperfections from the 3D printing process, making sure everything fits and then glueing it together while hoping an errant hand doesn’t cause all the glue joints to break and requiring a reprint. It’s a little different from the experience of many other STL sets online where (while losing out on the options of modularity) it is far quicker to get them from downloaded to basecoated to the table. There is also a little bit of choice paralysis – with so many possibilities, it can feel a little bit like hard work to decide exactly what you want. This is doubled when you pick up some of the units with the Molle pouches as now you have to work out a tactical loadout, get the parts printed, don’t lose them during the cleanup stage and then align them on the model. Which for me, is a problem.

I’ve said in the past I’m a cack-handed goblin child when it comes to fine detail tasks (there is a reason my painting is very much designed to get figures to the tabletop and not picking out fine detail) so the idea of manually placing pouches on a 28mm model physically seems a bit like a bad idea. To be fair, most of the pouches are reasonable enough for a careful hand and good set of hobby tweezers but my hands are far from careful.

Now, these points may, at first glance, appear pretty negative. In reality, I actually adore the unique modularity that Combat Octopus brings to the 3D printing space and without it many of the ideas for the ChargeReal would not have happened – being able to mix and match pieces together, to effectively prototype what an army could look like, is great fun. It’s also great to have such a big bits box for Ultramodern Wargaming, with heads, bodies, legs and weapons all coming together to play around with. So for this reason, I went looking for alternative solutions to how best to assemble these great modular sets.

To steal a famous Infomercial line, “There has got to be a better way!”. Luckily there is – putting the unsupported files into Blender and assembling the figures there. For a long time, I actively tried to avoid doing things digitally (for one specific reason you’ll see later) but in the end decided to bite the bullet and get to work.

Blender is an open-source free application used for animation and 3D modelling. It’s something I’ve encountered in the day job back when I first joined the industry and at that point was pretty ropey. Luckily one of the advantages of open-source software is that it usually trends to improving as time goes on (especially if its premium competitor has seat costs for single licence in the quadruple digits) so Blender 4 is a pretty handy piece of kit (after much kicking and screaming). It does have its little quirks and there are plenty of features you won’t need for digital kitbashing (never touch the animation tab), but luckily YouTube is packed full of tutorials to take you over the basics and a quick search will give you an answer to most questions.

Something else that helps is that when you import the Combat Octopus STLs into the program, they are already located at the correct positions over the origin point. This means to get the basic figure, you just have to import the STLs, toggle off the parts you don’t want and then export the selected files as a new STL (making sure to mark “only export selection” to prevent it just dumbing random items into mid-air). as you can see above, when you first load them all in there is a little bit of a collision taking place between the options (in this case both with the torso and the guns), but you can toggle visibility of pieces using the Blender interface.

Once you have things under control by hiding everything you don’t want, you can start building up the figure you do want. Seeing as I’m using one of the NAWE guys in this case, this includes those tiny pouches. The advantage of assembling these in Blender is:

1. Much smaller chance of losing a part under the desk when it pings off the supports.
2. Much easier to create multiple pouches and play around with the positioning.
3. The ability to sink the pouches into the underlying model to make sure they fit properly – hard to do when colliding two physical objects, very easy when merging two models together. This also works with pushing pouches closer together without having to break the file out.
4. The ability to rescale and merge pouches, either to improve their positioning or setup something new – for example, I’ve made a triple 7.62mm pouch simply by placing two of the twin pouches with one mag overlapping. Other uses include rescaling generic pouches to stand in for MG ammo pouches.

And speaking of pouches, it’s worth showing just how many Combat Octopus has made over the years. Between the PMC packs (Pack 1 and Pack 2), the Eastern Octopods, the CBRN troops, the NAWE Octopods (Pack 1 and Pack 2), the Marksmen releases (available on the Patreon in July and August 2024) and the KSK set (and it’s reinforcements), there are plenty of mag pouches, rucksacks, utility pouches, radios and even sidearms to play around with. The only comment is you’ll probably need to upscale the KSK items slightly to match the size of the rest of the figures (it worked out to roughly 1.05 scale). This massive selection means you have plenty of pieces to toy around with, letting you gear up your figures as much (or as little) as you want.

It’s not just pouches you can play with – you can also import whole other sets. By combining the kneeling legs from this month’s marksman release (which also appeared at the right height above the origin to match the torsos, thanks CO) with the LMG gunner from the second PMC set, you can setup a whole other style of figure. Not all these pieces together perfectly – there is a slight gap at the back of the model between the torso and some clipping at the front. Luckily with Blender, it’s relatively easy to add an extra piece of geometry to plug the gap while the clipping isn’t bad enough to cause a problem.

So far, so easily done in a physical format. However, without some very skilled scalpel surgery, it’s much harder to do things such as changing out optics on the weapons. As you can see above, I’ve replaced two optics on two different figures with the almighty Eotech (the one on the left removed the Torrey Pines thermal optic while the one on the right took over from a Spectre DR). This required using the Almight Cutting Cube – a cube made in Blender that can be reshaped and moved around to cut chunks of the model away with the Boolean operators that Blender includes. I ended up cutting out a large chunk around the optic (including the rail below) although with a little more work, a more surgical removal could limit how much of the model you need to rebuild. If you look carefully, you can see on the render some of the damaged rail sections that had to be rebuild. However, these is zoomed in massively – when working with STLs, it’s important to remember that no matter how much detail you can see in the editor, the end product is going to be roughly 32mm tall. You can get away with a cut and shut job on your personal edits as only you will know about it (unless you a blog and tell people about it).

An important not about this “feature” of 3D kitbashing – this modification of existing STLs is a little bit of a grey area. Many sellers will include in their terms of a service an agreement not to edit or modify the files provided. What isn’t grey is that under no circumstances should you be distributing any files you’ve edited to other people or attempting to utilise them in figures you then later sell. There are definitely a few people on Cults3d who are breaking this particularly rule.

Once you’re happy with setting the figures up, and loaded with pouches, custom model tweaks and making sure nothing is clipping through each other that shouldn’t, then you can export it (again making sure to only export the selected items) and you’ll be ready to actually get it printed.

Which leads me to my dirty secret – despite having two resin printers, I actually don’t support my own figures very often, relying heavily on pre-supported files. However, we all have to put our big boy pants on, suck it up and learn how to support your down pieces. Now, I make it seem like it’s hard but genuinely to begin with, most of the work can be done via your slicer’s auto-support function. This helps to give you some rough ideas of what needs supporting and over time you’ll start to identify problem points that even the auto-supports might miss. I’m still heavily in the auto-support phase but it’s all just a matter of practise. These guys took me a few attempts to print successfully with no print errors – auto-supports managed to avoid most of the complete failures but there were a few flat elbows and damaged pouches that forced a reprint for the sake of quality.

Assuming it all goes well, you’ll end up with a set of single piece personalised figures, all ready for you to pop the head into place (assuming you didn’t add them at the earlier stage and export the model as one piece). This ended up being a much quicker way for me to work and I’m overall much happier with the final result. Now I just need to paint them and get them on the table!

Overall, I think that moving forward I’ll be doing all my modelling of the Combat Octopus figures using the PC – it’s just so much simpler and far less likely to run into problems. Blender isn’t the only way to do this – other people have used Windows 3D Builder that comes pre-installed or the classic MeshMixer. What remains the same however are the great starting point – Combat Octopus is yet to release a set I haven’t looked at and found something useful from. It’s hard to make a bits box for Ultramodern gaming but thanks to 3D printing and the modular design, the sets act almost like a toybox, full of exciting parts to play with. Even if you don’t go as quite far as I have, the last few sets have setup the ability to make a set of figures ideal for many Western style forces specifically by combining the PMCs, NAWEs and Marksmen together.

Of course, once you start digitally kit-bashing, it won’t be long before you’re eyeing the sculpting tab. Maybe you just need to fill a gap, or add a moustache or upgrade a few guns with a new optic. I know I’m already looking at doing some tweaks while assembling my Shyluz forces for the ChargeReal – if it goes well, who knows what I might get up to moving forward.