Looking Forward - New stuff in 2018!

In the first of my 'looking forward' posts, I'm going to highlight the Kickstarters that will be fulfilling over the next few months that I've backed.

The first half of 2018 promises to be a busy one for my postman with several 'big box' and a few smaller (yet perfectly formed) offerings dropping through my door!

From Cool Mini Or Not, we have two - SMOG: The World of Moloch, and Zombicide: The Green Horde.

The World Of Smog: Rise of Moloch appealed to me as it's another spin on the Steampunk theme, with players working together to stop the villainous Cult and it's members from taking over!  The minis look as nice as ever, and as with every CMON Kickstarter, they're in abundance! The rules will appear familiar to anyone who's played Zombicide (lots of cards, a character dashboard and random enemy activation) but with a change in setting, I hope it'll keep my groups attention for a while. Even then, I'll have lots of nice Steampunk models to port over to my other games (including the excellent Osprey Books 'In Her Majesty's Name' which I adore).  This is due Feb 2018.

Also from CMON is Zombicide: Green Horde. The next in the ever so successful Zombicide franchise, moving the Black Plague setting on using... Zombie Orcs! This appealed to me as I've enjoyed playing the other versions, and this promises to build up on if not reinvent the game. Not to mention that the figures are getting BIG in this edition (2 Giants, a siege engine and... a Dragon!) Again, hundreds of miniatures are included, with some really nice nods to celebrities and popular culture characters (I'm looking forward to painting Lemmy, Prince and David Bowie's survivors). This is due Feb 2018.

Ever wondered what would happen, if Orcs, Dwarves and Gnomes were involved in a World War 1 setting? That's the premise behind the brilliant game PANZERFAUSTE, from Hysterical Games.  Adding to the table top skirmish battle is the forthcoming Spitfyre: Aerial Combat game!  Taking to the skies on the backs of giant eagles, wyverns and.. pigeons(?!), the game promises to be fast, tactical and fun to play. The minis look lovely, detailed and nice to paint. This is due June 2018.

The fourth game I'm looking forward to is one that's a reinvention of a previously released game, but one I've not had any experience of.  TT Combat are rapidly becoming the guys who buy up great IP from companies that haven't had the best of success, turning it around and making relative successes of them. From this comes Carnivale - Gang fighting in the streets of Venice.  Whilst that on the face may seem a little... dull, the setting is a lot darker than that allows for - vampires and fishmen stalk the streets and canals, fighting for supremacy against religious zealots and cultists a plenty! The figures look stunning (I've gone for vampires, werewolves and aristocracy), the add on MDF buildings (which TT Combat are famed for) are great and the rules - the rules look smooth to run and easy to pick up.  All in all an exciting package!  This is due in February 2018.

In the coming posts I'll be previewing RPGs, what we know is coming from Games Workshop in terms of 40k, AOS and Horus Heresy and accessories galore! 

NEW YEAR... NEW DIRECTION!

I'm sat here on the Saturday before New Year's Eve, watching Total Recall (the Verhoeven version, not the remake - ew.), thinking about the last year in my hobby, and the last few days....

2017 has been a good year for my hobby related activities, with me building not one, but 4 near-complete armies, due to the release of the excellent 8th Edition of Warhammer 40,000:

Craftworld Eldar

Eldar Harlequins

Exorcists Space Marines

Astra Militarum


All tied around a central idea of them working with a senior Inquisitor following the start of the Terran Crusade, to stem the tide of Chaos across the galaxy. I'll be showcasing the miniatures of each over the next few weeks, along with the back stories I've started to flesh out.

That's just a small part of the goodness - I've also got a stable, regular RPG group now which is playing Starfinder (and loving it), along with a more casual group who are playing 5th edition DnD (my holy grail of a long term Cthulhu campaign still eludes me however...)!

The not so good...

There's been a noticeable rise in the more.. negative participants in our hobby. At first they seemed to have been restricted to the more risible Facebook Groups, but recently, they've begun to show themselves in Youtube channels, blogs and other media. One such negative channel is Arch Warhammer - a Youtube content creator who has delighted in becoming alt-right in their leanings, attacking (and having their followers attack) anyone who disagrees with their anti-feminist, ant-left rants (such as attacking the Feminist 40k group for wanting equal representation of women in the miniature ranges outside of the Sisters of Battle line).  It would be easy to just ramble on and rant about this idiot, but, wanting to channel that energy to be more positive and welcoming to everyone, I've reached out to my fellow Twitter users (under the #warmongers tag) to look at how we can promote the positive, inclusive attitude that's needed in our hobby, with the aim of making it the best it can be.

Look out over the coming weeks for highlights of other blogs, channels and websites that all have a positive, proactive and inclusive attitude, along with reviews of manufacturers, sellers and all-round great hobby providers (a small taster of these can be found in the 'Friends of CGI' sidebar).

I look forward to sharing my hobby with you over the coming weeks and months - hope you're along for the ride!