Ganesha Games – When Cannons Fade…

First game of DeepWars.

I’m super excited to be heading out to Adepticon tomorrow, to see all the cool stuff that I can’t afford, but mostly because I want to see if there will be any sneak peeks of the new Sisters of Battle.

Anyhoo, last week I sallied forth up to Grognard Games and played my first ever game of DeepWars by Antimatter Games, a rule set based on the Song of Blades and Heroes engine by Ganesha Games. It was actually at Adepticon a few years back that I saw the demo games being played there and was immediately struck by the fact that this was a game set in the unfathomable deeps, where dive-suit clad fortune hunters pit their wits against all manner of enemies in the quest for fortune and glory. (Unashamed Indiana Jones reference there, kid).

Pantheon of Chaos – Warband nostalgia!

Now that Chiberia/Ice Planet Hoth seems to be retreating, life seems to be returning to normal. I recently picked up a copy of ‘A Song of Blades and Heroes’ by Ganesha Games as I wanted to use a simple and fun rule set to give me an excuse to put together a warband using the Pantheon of Chaos figures I picked up a little while ago through the Knightmare Miniatures Kickstarter campaigns.

Dark Mariner Vanguard finished!

“Most curious, the morphology of these creatures. I have dissected one of the recovered bodies and found that its structure has a basic skeletal form of calcareous bone, but replaced in some sections by soft tissue, supported by a surgically embedded alloy lattice. The techniques used in this type of surgical work is far beyond anything I have witnessed, and the alloy is much stronger and lighter than any we can produce. I must determine the origins of these technologies if we are to repel these creatures…

Research Journal – Pilny the Aged, 1689″

Finally, after what seemed to be an age, I managed to finish up this underwater lurking creep. I had a lot of fun painting him as I wasn’t as ‘tidy’ as I am on other miniatures, and that was mainly due to the fact that I wanted a more organic feel to his look. This guy does, after all, live under the sea and his armor is going to be rusted and barnacle covered, and worn down with the elements, so I wasn’t looking to have a ‘clean cut’ paint job like I would do on say Infinity miniatures for example.

I’m pretty pleased with the lighting effects I have on the ether crystals, I always dread doing that stuff as if it looks crap, it’s hard to rectify it without repainting the area!

I’m looking to get two starter warbands painted up so that I can start running some demo games of Deepwars, and now i’m a step closer to that goal. I’m actually really looking forward to making the gaming surface (more on that later).

I’ve started a painting tracker spreadsheet which is (hopefully) going to help me rage through the Heavy Metal and Plastic Pile of Shame that I have accrued (I’ll be writing an article about that shortly too, that’s going to run for several posts). So, first entry is completed, it felt good to fill the first line in lol!

I’m excited to work on these figures, it certainly gives me something a little different to go at, and I love the fact that it’s a game set underwater (cue JAWS music…). You should all really do yourselves a favor and check out the Antimatter Games website/store and take a look at the worlds of Shadowsea and it’s sister game Deepwars (most miniatures are compatible for both games).

Alrighty… on to the next! >fistbump<

Deepwars Dark Mariner – work in progress

Good morrow all!

I had made an unofficial rule a while back that I wouldn’t be posting miniatures on here unless they were completed, but I’m breaking my own rule today as I wanted to share my WIP picture of a tentacled, barnacle encrusted beastie from Deepwars by Antimatter Games. The Dark Mariners faction have a very obvious Elder Gods/Cthulhu connection which is pretty darn cool. He’s looking very orangey brown right now but I’ll be adding a few green patches here and there to break it up a bit. So far what you’re looking at are a basecoat and a few washes. The only part that has received highlights are the helmet and the ether crystals on the shoulder and the weapon:

I’m going to try some of the OSL on this (hopefully I won’t cock it up!) because I love the idea of these creatures skulking around in the abyssal depths, eerily outlined in the gloom by the light from the ether crystals.

When this guy is done, that will be 2 of the 4 miniatures for the Dark Mariners warband that I have for playing Deepwars. Then I can start on the Ancients of Atalan! I’m hoping to run a few demo games of this soon to try and garner some interest at the FLGS’s in the area. The setting for Deepwars and the fluff and the miniatures are all really great, and deserve to have a lot more exposure, especially since the low buy in costs can be very appealing. Couple that with the RPG elements and different play styles that you can opt for, this really is a hidden gem in the depths that more people should know about!

I have lots planned for upcoming articles: Deepwars demo game terrain, some long overdue fan fiction and also another international paint pledge/reducing the unpainted pile of shame project. In fact, I’m considering opening this up to other people who may be interested in participating. Drop a comment below and we’ll see what happens!

Cheers!