The Ninth Age, Collaborative Design, & Slow Hobbying

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.

Perry Miniatures crossbowmen

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.

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Subscribe on your podcast listening app of choiceRecent 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!

3 thoughts on “The Ninth Age, Collaborative Design, & Slow Hobbying”

  1. This was my first ever listen to your podcast, and I don’t regret it! I really enjoyed the natural, conversational style of the discussion you were both having. I first found the site some months ago but have only just recently had the free time to explore it more thoroughly. It was really great learning about T9A, and relating to the shared experiences (as a returning hobbyist after a long break myself). The only thing I’d say you could use, and I’m yet to explore your backlog so it may just have been this episode, but an introduction to your guest would be good; when I listened on here it seemed to just jump right into the middle of a conversation. I still quite enjoyed it though, so I’d definitely recommend it to friends.

    1. Heya Jay! Really glad you enjoyed this episode 🙂

      I guess there’s more of an “intro” here on this blog, but yeah I agree it could be nice within the podcast itself too – obviously I know about myself, lol, but for other guests it maybe useful for me too for sure.

      If you have any questions or want to know more about T9A, don’t hesitate to ask! 😀

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