Rangers of Shadow Deep: Solo & Co-Op Miniature Adventures

December 24, 2021August 3, 2022 wilburLeave a comment

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a solo and co-operative tabletop miniatures game from the creator of Frostrgrave and Stargrave, Joe McCullough. Joe was a recent guest on the podcast and you can listen to the episode with him right here.

One game we didn’t spend much time talking about on that episode was Rangers of Shadow Deep. Fear not though, because we give it our full and undivided attention this time around. I’m joined once again by Robert who helped me talk through the Song of Blades & Heroes rulebook on a previous episode.

Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choice. Recent episodes include Warhammer Fantasy Battle Alternatives, and Shopping in a Mid-90s Games Workshop Store.

What Do We Cover?

Firstly, we delve into the lore and fluff of Rangers of Shadow Deep. Like any of Joe McCullough’s games, there is a loose setting, but no attempt to micro-manage the story world. A lot is left up to your own imagination, creativity, and miniature collection.

Then we take a look at the turn sequence, before moving on to the ins and outs of creating your Ranger. This is the character that represents you on the tabletop, and there are many ways to customise them via their stats, skills, heroic abilities, weapons and equipment, and range of spells.

Your Ranger doesn’t need to venture into the Shadow Deep alone either. You’ll find a list of potential companions who can join you on your quests and missions. These range from naive recruits and enthusiastic hounds, to ferocious barbarians, knights, and templars.

Next, we have a peek at the opening scenario in Rangers of Shadow Deep. “Deserted Village” sees us investigating the disappearance of one of our comrades. Do we find him alive, or are we confronted with a gang of zombies, rats, and giant spiders instead? You’ll need to pick up the game and find out for yourself!

Ghostly warband: A few possible enemies in Rangers of Shadow Deep — *What creatures will you meet in the shadows?*

Rangers of Shadow Deep Miniatures

Finally, we look over a handful of minis that’ll act as potential Rangers in our first campaign. The Knight, Druid, Assassin, and Half-Orc Assassin were purchased from Otherworld Miniatures.

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a miniature agnostic system that lets you use whatever you own (or would like to own). That said, there’s a great “official” range of miniatures available from North Star Military Figures.

You can also find gnolls and other fantasy creatures at CP Models. Another of my favourite miniature companies, Midlam, have some great options for Rangers (as well as pretty much anything else in the game).

Playing Through the Scenarios

Rangers of Shadow Deep: The Deserted Village

The first scenario tasked us to venture out and look for one of our companions, a chap called Aventine.

Aventine has been missing for a few days, and on top of that, there have been reports of an attack on a nearby village. It’s up to our party to take a look around and get to the bottom of things.

Here’s our full report of The Deserted Village.

Rangers of Shadow Deep: The Infected Trees

It was time to take on the next one – The Infected Trees. Except I’ve actually no tree terrain in my collection, so let’s just go with “infected ruins” instead!

Here’s our full report of The Infected Trees.

Rangers of Shadow Deep: The Bridge Guards

Onwards to Mission Two (The Beacon Tower) with its first scenario, The Bridge Guards. Here, we see the introduction of the Gnolls, and those were a mixture of beastmen and goblins on our tabletop.

Here’s our full report of The Bridge Guards.

Thanks very much for listening, and please take a moment to subscribe to this show on your listening app of choice – that way you’ll never miss a future episode!

Song of Blades and Heroes Fantasy Skirmish Rules (Use Any Minis)

November 26, 2021November 26, 2021 wilbur2 Comments

Song of Blades and Heroes is a cult classic miniature agnostic fantasy skirmish ruleset. It’s an incredibly simple game to pick and up learn, with a low barrier to entry (you only need a handful of miniatures). Despite its simplicity though it isn’t a game that quickly feels limiting or boring. There’s a lot you can do with it, from the varied warbands you can build to the scenarios and campaigns you can play through.

On this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast, we take a deep dive into the Song of Blades and Heroes rules. We talk through the Quality and Combat stats, before covering all the core mechanics around moving, fighting, shooting, magic, and, of course, running away.

Games typically last 30-45 minutes and there’s no bookkeeping either. This makes SBH a great game for beginners to start having fun with right away.

Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choice. Recent episodes include Warhammer Fantasy Battle Alternatives, and Shopping in a Mid-90s Games Workshop Store.

We talk a bit about a game we played recently (pictured above) where a classic Chaos alliance (the Oldhammer type where Orcs and Goblins got in on the act) took on an undead “force”. The undead were actually far from what you might call a force and generally hung about in their deployment zone doing not very much at all. In any case, it was a fun afternoon and lessons were learned.

In our next game of Song of Blades and Heroes, we’ll be finding out if one Ancient Dragon can come out on top against 85 zombies. The answer is probably yes.

Elsewhere on the podcast, we talked about the return of HeroQuest and why we might just opt to play Dungeon Saga instead.

Here are some follow-up resources for you, too:

Thanks very much for listening, and please take a moment to subscribe to this show on your listening app of choice – that way you’ll never miss a future episode!

Spacemen Who Diehard, & More Dungeon Daemons

November 21, 2021November 21, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

Doing an Oldhammer miniature companies roundup was always going to come at a financial cost. The latest company I decided to pick up a batch of cool and interesting minis from was Diehard.

Diehard Miniatures create metal wargames miniatures. The company started as a collaboration of 3 sculptors back in 2014 (Tim Prow, Chaz Elliott and Drew Williams). With the assistance of Richard Luong for the initial artwork and concepts, Diehard has expanded its artist stable to include Chris Walton, Johan Egerkrans, Kennon James and Jody Siegel.

I’ve been working on building a crew for Stargrave and I’m going for an undead theme.

I loved the look of these skeletal astronauts, and they were fun and easy to paint, too.

There’s a brilliant range of undead miniatures on the Diehard site which cater to both sci-fi and fantasy.

Joining the bony ranks of this crew is an undead Space Marine, also from Diehard.

No “here’s what I’ve painted recently” roundup would be complete without something from Midlam, either. This guy is a crow shaman and he’ll act as my crew’s “medic”.

Another character from Midlam is this demon who’ll be used for my dungeon crawler games.

Back to Diehard for another dungeon denizen, this guy is a Satyr.

Have you ever wondered why undead creatures persevere in their attempts to play wind instruments?

Another company I buy from a lot is CP Models. This trooper is part of a group of 5, so I just need to get his pals painted up now.

Finally, I painted up the last two Blood Bowl beastmen that I found in a box a while back.

So that’s what I’ve been up to recently on the hobby front. Well, that, and running our new Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast. We’ve had some great conversations on there recently about Oldhammer, Herohammer, and old White Dwarf mags. Have you listened yet?

The Ninth Age, Collaborative Design, & Slow Hobbying

November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 wilbur3 Comments

The Ninth Age is a mass fantasy battle miniature game designed and maintained by teams of collaborators across the globe. One of those collaborators is Rik Newman who joins us on this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast.

Rik comes to the show with a background that many will relate to. He grew up with the hobby in the 80s and 90s, only to fall away from it before returning later on in adult life.

Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choice. Recent episodes include Warhammer Fantasy Battle Alternatives, and Shopping in a Mid-90s Games Workshop Store.

Here, we talk about that return to the hobby, his initial thoughts about how gaming and miniatures had changed, and the omnipresent question of “what did they do to Warhammer Fantasy Battles?”.

It wasn’t long before Rik found himself discovering, drawn towards, and then involved in The Ninth Age. This was a game that was undoubtedly born out of the ashes of WFB, but it has since grown into its own independent entity with its own lore.

The Ninth Age has a certain ethos about it. It’s designed with balance in mind, and caters to “slow hobbyists” who want to collect armies over a long period of time, rather than quickly putting together the latest greatest list in order to win a few games.

With this slower approach, hobbyists can immerse themselves in the background and lore of a particular faction, exploring all of its avenues and possibilities.

On this episode, we also touch on 3D printing, and I recommend checking out the Precinct Omega podcast for some great insights down that particular rabbit hole. Precinct Omega is run by a previous guest on this show Robey Jenkins.

Also mentioned on this episode: the Collecting Green blog (which focuses on collecting orcs, goblins, and other greenskins), Rik’s Agoners gaming blog, and the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast Podchaser page.

Please also take a moment to subscribe to this show on your listening app of choice – that way you’ll never miss a future episode!

White Dwarf: Issue 166, October 1993

November 10, 2021November 10, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

I fancied a nostalgic trip through the pages of my first ever copy of White Dwarf, and who better to enlist for assistance on this journey than Josh from The Crown of Command Podcast.

White Dwarf magazine, issue 166, October 1993

The Crown of Command is a popular podcast dedicated to the games produced by Games Workshop during the 1990’s, and Josh himself is a former ‘Eavy Metal painter.

Space Orks, by Josh of The Crown of Command Podcast — *Josh’s stunning Ork crew*

Josh also runs a fantastic Youtube channel where you’ll find all sorts of Herohammer content. There’s battle reports of all your favourite games (from Epic Space Marine to Man O War), interviews with cool and interesting people, painting tutorials, and readthroughs of classic Citadel Miniatures catalogues.

Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choice. Recent episodes include Warhammer Fantasy Battle Alternatives, and Shopping in a Mid-90s Games Workshop Store.

In this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast, we’re taking a wander through White Dwarf issue 166, from October 1993. The magazine cost £2.25 and came with a free plastic Space Marine. This was to celebrate and promote the release of the brand new Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition.

Legion of the Damned Space Marines — *My ‘Legion of the Damned’ attempts from the mid-90s*

There’s a lot of classic material in the pages of this magazine, and you can view the entire thing in glorious PDF form right here. There’s one of those prize winner features with some smug kid sitting in £500,000s worth of boxed sets, a load of John Blanche sketches, and some 25% money off tokens for Games Workshop in Shrewsbury.

On top of that, we muse over what happened to Space Marine legions like the Whitescars, Silver Skulls, Iron Hands, and Mentor Legion, as well as what exactly was on that Snotling’s plans in the catalogue pages.

Big thanks to Josh for spending some time with us, and be sure to check out The Crown of Command Podcast. Please also take a moment to subscribe to this show on your listening app of choice – that way you’ll never miss a future episode!

What is Oldhammer? Bring Out Your Lead!

November 4, 2021November 4, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

The term “Oldhammer” means different things to different people. On this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast, we’re in conversation with Garth James, who’s one of the organisers behind the annual Bring Out Your Lead event.

Nothing screams Oldhammer more than Citadel Combat Cards

Bring Out Your Lead

Founded in 2013, the latest Bring Out Your Lead gathering took place in early October 2021 after taking an enforced year out in 2020, just like the rest of the world. One of the many great things about this event is its venue. BOYL is hosted by Foundry Miniatures – a company whose roots can be traced all the way back to the origins of Citadel Miniatures.

Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choice. Recent episodes include Warhammer Fantasy Battle Alternatives, and Shopping in a Mid-90s Games Workshop Store.

Garth is keen to point out that Bring Out Your Lead is not a tournament. Rather, he likens it to a classic car meetup. In these types of meets, people will admire and drive the cars, but they won’t necessarily race them.

“I think one thing that’s fairly constant in anyone’s Oldhammer, is the desire for narrative.”

Going back to the question of “what is Oldhammer?”, Garth feels this is purely down to each individual. Oldhammer may be seen as the nostalgic period where a person found and fell in love with the hobby. The ethos of Bring Out Your Lead seems to encapsulate this and doesn’t try to dictate what “is” and “isn’t” Oldhammer to anyone.

Elsewhere in the episode, we touched on Citadel Combat Cards, the aesthetic of monopose miniatures, modern Oldhammer miniature companies, and using contrast paints on old models. There’s also some serious discussion over which vehicle from the Warhammer Old World would make the best car, and which creature the best pet.

Garth’s blog is called Warhammer for Adults, and he also speaks highly of an Oldhammer-focused blog called Somewhere the Tea’s Getting Cold.

Be sure to check out the Bring Out Your Lead website to find out more about future events, and, as always, please subscribe to this show on your listening app of choice – that way you’ll never miss a future episode!

Simple Tabletop Wargames: Best Miniature Games for Beginners

October 31, 2021December 6, 2021 wilbur3 Comments

How many beginners are attracted to the hobby because of the miniatures, lore, painting, not to mention the scenery covered tabletops, only to be put off the minute they get a look at a set of rules? Sure, there’s definitely a place for complex and ultra-deep rulesets, but if you’re just starting out then chances are you’re going to be seeking out simple tabletop wargames. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best miniature games for beginners.

Simple Tabletop Wargames

When we use the term “simple” it comes with a few caveats. A game of coin-toss is simple, but it’ll get boring pretty fast. In miniature wargaming, the phrase “easy to learn, hard to master” gets used a lot. Most beginners are looking for a ruleset they can quickly grasp, and then spend the rest of their brainpower working out things like tactics and strategies to outfox their opponents.

When weighing up the best miniature games for beginners we also need to consider a ruleset’s “replayability”. There’s little point in investing in a tabletop game if you’re only going to play it once, so we’ll bear that in mind here, too.

To kick us off, I’d like to shine a light on a company that does a fantastic job of creating simple tabletop games…

Dungeon Saga by Mantic - Simple Tabletop Wargames — *My heroes and villains from Mantic’s Dungeon Saga*

This roundup contains a few affiliate links which mean the site may earn a small commission, should you choose to buy through them. This helps support what we do and is never at any extra cost to you!

Mantic Games

Mantic are a company with a great ethos around making their games enjoyable and accessible for beginners. Any game you buy from them is going to be easy to get into and offer a lot of replay value to boot.

I’m a big fan of their mass fantasy rank and flank game Kings of War. KoW was designed by Alessio Cavatore, who’s also well known for his work on Games Workshop titles like Warmaster, Warhammer 40,000 and Mordheim. It’s arguably the best modern alternative to Warhammer Fantasy Battles.

If sci-fi is your jam, then look no further than the futuristic Warpath. On the other hand, if you’re up for a bit of fantasy naval warfare then Armada might well float your boat. Or, enable you to sink some.

Dungeon Saga is another favourite of mines and is as close to a modern and supported version of the legendary dungeon crawler HeroQuest as you’re likely to find.

Finally, Mantic offers some licensed boxed miniature games in the form of The Walking Dead: All Out War and Hellboy. These are perfect “gateway drugs” for pals and partners who might otherwise baulk at the very thought of playing with toy soldiers 😉

One Page Wonders

I want to give a nod to the One Page Rules project which offers some of the best miniature games for beginners. Their name is slightly deceptive as you’ll find few games there that are literally one-page rules, but they are all easy to understand and look like a lot of fun.

There’s no shortage of sandboxes to play in here, from Grimdark Future to Age of Fantasy, as well as some cracking one-offs that will explore every setting and scratch every itch.

As an added bonus, these rulesets are all available for free. That said though, they do run a Patreon, so if you enjoy their games it’s nice to chuck them a wee tip to say thanks!

*Building a warband for a skirmish-level game makes miniature wargaming accessible for beginners*

Simple Skirmish Games

I’d couldn’t write a simple tabletop games roundup and not mention two of my favourite skirmish games, Song of Blades & Heroes, and Open Combat. I can’t speak highly enough about these two titles, which both cater to medieval and fantasy miniatures.

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If you’re a complete beginner or plan to play with one, I’d start with SoBH. With this game, the stat lines and bookkeeping are kept to an absolute minimum, and you don’t even need a tape measure to play. The game has been re-skinned to fit many settings too, from Mutants & Death Ray Guns to Fur & Buttons, and everything in between.

Open Combat will give you slightly more depth when it comes to the stats of your warband, as well as their weapons and armour. That said, a complete beginner will have no problem at all picking the rules up. An added bonus is that the game’s hardback rulebook is beautifully put together.

Simple Tabletop Wargames

Hopefully this roundup of some of the best miniature games for beginners has helped you find something that suits your needs, wants, and tastes.

I personally struggle to learn new rulesets and get intimidated by chunky rule tomes. There’s no game I’ve mentioned here though that I wouldn’t have the confidence to pick up for the first time and have an enjoyable playing experience with.

If you’re aware of any more simple tabletop wargames not mentioned here too, then I’d love to hear about them in the comments section.

Finally, we have a Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast where you can get more ideas and inspiration in audio form. It’s available anywhere you get your podcasts, so be sure to check it out. Click here to find out more!

Warhammer Alternatives for Mass Fantasy Battles

October 27, 2021November 4, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

Big units of troops marching across a scenery packed 6 by 4 table – there’s no aesthetic quite like it. For most of us growing up, there was only one option when it came to fighting out mass fantasy battles and that was Warhammer. And whilst the Old World is returning at some point in the future, there really is no need to hang around waiting on that day, whenever it might be. There are plenty of good Warhammer alternatives you can pick up and start playing today.

Warhammer Alternatives

Heads up! I’ve included some affiliate links when linking to certain games here. This enables the site to earn a small commission should you choose to buy through them, though at no extra cost to yourself 😀

For starters, there’s absolutely nothing to stop you from playing whatever edition of the game you own or liked the best. There are also projects like The 9th Age and Warhammer Orchard Edition which remain lovingly supported by their own respected communities.

Then there’s Kings of War by Mantic games. This is perhaps the most famous and popular of the Warhammer alternatives out there on the market today. You can use your old and existing miniatures to play this game, or buy from Mantic’s ever-increasing range of original units and figures.

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On a previous episode of the Tabletop Miniaure Hobby Podcast we heard from Joe McCullough who’s most famous for games like Frostgrave, Stargrave, and Rangers of Shadowdeep. Joe has also created one of the big Warhammer alternatives out there though, in the form of Oathmark. Have a listen to our episode with Joe to find out more, or, check out our roundup of miniature agnostic games.

A lesser-known (but still definitely worth checking out) game is Mayhem by award-winning game designer Brent Spivey. Brent is known for a popular sci-fi skirmish game called Rogue Planet. Mayhem is his mass fantasy battles contribution and lends itself particularly well to dropping down to 10mm or even 6mm scale wargaming.

Warpack – A Diceless Mass Fantasy Battle Game

On this episode, we’re adding another option to the ever-growing list of Warhammer alternatives. It’s called Warpack, and we’re going to hear all about it from the game’s creator, Joe Prince of Prince of Darkness Games.

Here, we’ll learn about the game’s mechanics and structure. This includes its use of a deck of playing cards rather than dice to work our way through the tactics and turns. We’ll also find out a bit about the motivations and inspirations that lead Joe to create Warpack, and, naturally, we’ll chat a bit about Games Workshop.

You can get a copy of Warpack by supporting Joe on his Patreon, and you can also follow him on Twitter at @JoeJPrince.

As always, please subscribe to the show on your listening app of choice, and we’re always keen to hear your feedback and opinions!

Frostgrave, Stargrave, Silver Bayonet, & the Worlds of Joe McCullough

September 28, 2021January 4, 2024 wilburLeave a comment

Frostgrave is one of the most recognisable games in the tabletop miniature wargame hobby. It’s also one of the most popular outwith the Games Workshop Empire.

On this episode, we’re joined by the architect of the frozen city himself – Joe McCullough. We’re going to talk about the lay of the land when this miniature agnostic fantasy skirmish game was released back in 2015, and speculate on the key factors behind its success.

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Joe’s no one-trick pony though, and his scope extends well beyond Frostgrave. Stargrave may sound similar in name (and certainly shares a few core mechanics), but this sci-fi skirmish game is much more than just “Frostgrave in space”.

Die Hard Chaos Space Reavers — Get yourselves ready for Stargrave, lads!

Then there’s Rangers of Shadow Deep – a solo and cooperative game that became a firm favourite during the year of global lockdowns that was 2020.

More often than not, Joe has appeared to release games in the right place and at the right time. One notable exception, however, is Oathmark. This mass fantasy battle rank and flank game was undoubtedly subdued by its Spring 2020 release date – a point in time where very few people could actually play it. Joe offers his thoughts on that as well as how the game might recover from this setback going forward.

One of the reoccurring themes of this conversation was that of miniature wargame terrain. Frostgrave and Stargrave in particular benefit from their tables being extremely busy. But does this create a barrier for players with no existing terrain collection or no budget? Joe tells us about many players using simple wooden blocks or polystyrene packaging to build their frozen cities and intergalactic outposts, and why it doesn’t need to look “real” to capture the imagination.

You can keep up with Joe on his blog The Renaissance Troll where he posts updates on his games, his hobby, his painting, and his thoughts in general. You’ll find the official range of Frostgrave miniatures over at North Star Military Figures, if you want to go down that route, as well as a raft of other games and supplements on DriveThruRPG.

We’re also looking for future guests or co-hosts for this podcast and if you’re interested in coming on, we’d love to hear from you. Head on over to the podcast section of the website, fill out the short form, and we can get the ball rolling from there!

Does Digital Technology Have a Place in the Hobby?

September 18, 2021September 18, 2021 wilburLeave a comment

Is this hobby the one remaining place we can still escape from digital technology and leave the phones, tablets, etc at the door? Or, are there benefits to be had by implementing certain tech to run “hybrid” style gaming experiences? That’s just one of the topics we touch on in this episode of the Tabletop Miniature Hobby Podcast.

Terminators — *Brace yourselves, SkyNet are coming*

This time around, we’re joined by Robey Jenkins of Precinct Omega. Robey is the creator of the Horizon Wars games series, as well as the Precinct Omega News & Game Design Podcast. You can find his games (as well as a whole trove of others) on Wargame Vault.

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We talking about storytelling, and worldbuilding in miniature agnostic games, referencing some of our own favourites like Open Combat, Song of Blades & Heroes, and Rogue Planet. Does providing a universe or setting limit players, or does it help them to build their forces and play out more meaningful encounters?

We couldn’t have a chat with Robey without dipping into game mechanics. What are some of the most innovative ones he’s come across? What are the mechanics he’s most proud of creating himself? Are there only so many different variations of miniature wargame rules out there? And while we’re at it, what makes a hobbyist gamer want to start writing their own rules in the first place anyway?

Robey also offers his thoughts on how he’d go about adapting a popular miniature game into a solo or co-op ruleset, and whether or not you could make a “tiny” game with only 2 minis.

No conversation on this podcast would be complete without touching on Games Workshop either. Does GW have more or less of an influence and hold over this industry than it did, say, 25 years ago?

As always, please subscribe to the show on your listening app of choice, and we’re always keen to hear your feedback and opinions!