Tooth & Sword

With a little over 9 days to go, Tooth & Sword is 80% funded on Kickstarter. If any readers have an interest in anthropomorphic fantasy minis, then I heartily recommend taking a look.

Rock Outcrops

Rock Outcrops (BB 545) from GF9

Another recent terrain acquisition, these Rock Outcrops are by Gale Force Nine, and like other Battlefield in a Box stuff are ready to play straight out of the box as they come fully painted.

The set includes 6 sets of rocks and two types of static grass to add as desired. This set is BB 545; there was an earlier set of Rocky Outcrops (BB 521) which had 8 pieces included.

It is easy enough to create rocks etc with foam, but for me, as I have said before, that would take away from the little time I manage to focus on painting my minis. The price is around £16-£18 and for me that is reasonable value as a trade-off for time and materials to do something similar.

One useful advantage of these over a foam alternative that is not immediately obvious however, is that they have a certain heft and weight and so are less likely to get displaced on the tabletop.

As is evident, I like the GF9 Battlefield in a Box range. The quality is consistent, so I know what to expect when picking up a set. Consequently the pieces I have picked up have been good value for me. I like that certain sets go nicely together to allow an expandable range. All in all, highly recommended.

The volunteers used for scale are:
- Crimson Oni (Pulp City)
- Azriel (Anima Tactics)
- Red Skull (What The? Miniatures)

Tooth and Sword Kickstarter (Meridian Miniatures)

Another KS I am backing, and I really hope the project makes it as I love the Chibi meets anthropomorphic fantasy look of the line.

I am in for the resin bundle and will top up if Stretch Goals are met - check it out. :)

Click the image below for the link.

Interviews From The Gaming World

Over the past few years I have conducted a few different interviews with some industry types.  Here are the links to those I have done so far.

The most recent was a brief interview with Carlos B. Garcia, the man behind Anima Studios and the Anima raft of games (including Anima Tactics; click for link to interview). He recently launched the Anima Gate of Memories: Extended Campaign on Kickstarter, as a supplement to the original Anima: Gate of Memories Kickstarter campaign.
As the Anima Gate of Memories: Extended Campaign heads into its final days, Carlos kindly agreed to answer some questions posed by the Anima Tactician (click for link to interview).

I have also conducted a few interviews with creators and developers working on the Pulp City game and on behalf of Pulp Monsters.

Maciej Żylewicz (part 1 and part 2) - the driving force behind Pulp Monsters and Pulp City.

Melvin de Voor - artist, concept designer, layouts and design.

James Van Schaik - sculptor, industry veteran and consultant.

Blasted Terrace & Ruined Fountain

Blasted Terrace

The Blasted Terrace and Ruined Fountain by Gale Force Nine are ready to play straight out of the box. Both can act as centre-piece type scenery in of themselves, but equally both should substitute well for hills, having the right kind of profile to achieve that.

The Blasted Terrace (BB556) was a birthday gift from my best mate and frequent gaming buddy Rob, and a cool addition to the array of scenery I have. I see it as functioning like any typical medium size hill in most games, having a nice profile to block line of sight for human size models.

Ruined Fountain

I bought the Ruined Fountain (BB553) for myself as an extra option and variation. The footprint would make it a small to medium size hill equivalent.

Like the rest of the Battlefield in a Box range they are solidly designed and cast, and neatly painted. The Ruined Fountain has the bonus of the water feature of course. I think that GF9's attention to quality is very good.

In my opinion, based on quality and usefulness, I think they are fine value at around £18-20 GBP.

As with the recent Terrain series of posts, the figures used for scale are:
- Crimson Oni (Pulp City)
- Azriel (Anima Tactics)
- Red Skull (What The? Miniatures)

Mage Knight Castle: Keep

I saw this only recently for the first time, and I thought it was an ideal extra for my burgeoning terrain collection. An OOP piece for the defunct (or is it?) Mage Knight game, and part of the Mage Knight Castle range, there were various sets that went with this Keep. This can be picked up from Ebay for around £20-25 GBP based on some recent listings. I have heard of much better bargain prices if you look around.

There is a click dial with opening on the roof which I decided to fill-in with green stuff and paint over. My painting did not match the original pre-paint style, but it will do. I also painted over the slots where I *think* the walls would connect, to make them look a bit more like arrow slits.

In all a nice little piece that becomes war-gaming friendly with a minimum of fuss and work.

Figures used for scale:
- Crimson Oni (Pulp City)
- Azriel (Anima Tactics)
- Red Skull (What The? Miniatures)

Ziterdes Terrain

Watchtower Ruin 'Nalog'; 12009

I have had these pieces for a while now, so thought it was high time to post a few considerations.

I like pre-painted terrain as it frees up time for painting minis (which I am slow enough at, without adding more terrain painting to the mix). I have been amassing a number of bits and pieces and most fall into the category of hard-foam or some kind of resin material. Minis are Pulp City, Anima Tactics and a not-Red Skull for scale reference.

These Ziterdes items are the hard-foam type and feature typical pros and cons.

The pros:
Lightweight
Durable enough for gaming
Easy to modify with sawing (apparently!)

The cons:
Air bubbles - pretty much every hard foam piece I have has this problem
The finish - arguably inferior to what Gale Force Nine does (click for some examples of GF9 terrain I have posted about)

Not sure about this one; OOP piece I think

Price wise I find Ziterdes and Gale Force Nine competitive with each other, even though they don't produce identical pieces by any stretch. The Nalog Ruin is around £30-35 GBP. The second piece is currently OOP I think.

I like the solidity of the material Gale Force Nine uses, which means when it comes to a choice, I will likely go with that over hard-foam alternatives. But despite that, there is some nice stuff out there that can be useful for the time-strapped gamer.