Ventauran Kickstarter from Darkest Star Games

Darkest Star Games is one of the many boutique figure manufacturers I support by buying too many of their toy soldiers.

Producing an excellent range of 6mm scale miniatures, Darby has also been expanding his 15mm line. Recently, he has been "upscaling" a number of his 6mm vehicles to 15mm - such as the Talin IFV and the S'orhan LODAN GIFV.

The Talin Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) has a nice Low/Mid-Tech vibe about it. Civilianized, it would make a great ATV.

The S'orhan Low Orbit Drop Assault Vehicle, Grav Infantry Fighting Vehicle is a Ventauran Grav Assault ship and is a huge model - over 12cm long.

So it really wasn't a surprise when Darby announced a Kickstarter to accelerate the "biggification" process. Initially aiming at getting two new vehicles - the Ventauran Kh'erian Main Battle Tank and the Federation Scorpion Light Armoured Combat Vehicle into production, one of the stretch goals is the release of a new batch of Ventauran Infantry.

Sculpted by the gentleman who produced the original 25mm Ventaurans, these new 15mm sculpts can be seen as an upgrade on the excellent Ventauran Infantry produced by Eureka Miniatures.

So, if Ventaurans are your thing or if, like me, you see Zhodani, check out the Kickstarter and help get these little guys onto a battlefield near you.

Note - all photos lifted from either Darkest Star's website or the Kickstarter page.

w00t!

I came home from work, today (this sounds like the opening verse to a blues song) and found a package waiting for me ...

Bleedin' 'eck! You can land a Scout Ship on this.

Two packets? Or a packet and a box ...

And in the packet - a set of dice, a Travellers' Aid Society membership card in the name of Dietrich hault-Rauln (one of my few characters - I tend to GM more than I get the opportunity to be a player), a Jump Drive and two Cr25 coins.

Close-up of the TAS card - this is a really cool prop.

And inside the box - Captain Jamison's Beard! What a monster!

Two inches thick - you could repel a pack of Vargr boarders with it! Whatta book!

Marc signed the book himself - he signed all two thousand copies that went out to Kickstarter supporters. No wonder it took some time to get them all out.

And a patent of nobility ... pour moi?

Dietrich gets his gong. Another cool prop!

My favourite T5 quote so far is:

My God - it's full of tables.

Finally! X-Boat enroute.

I received this email tonight:

Marc Miller was hoping to have all Kickstarter pledges shipped by the end of June. Looks like mine just squeezed in. A year in the waiting, I'm really looking forward to finally getting hold of it.

At 2.4 parsecs per week, how long does an X-Boat take to get from Illinois to West Auckland?

Rumour has it, the book looks like this:

I hope to confirm very soon.

Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter - Final Days

It's the final four days of this Kickstarter, and they're just under $3k from the target goal. Joseph and the team have recently revised the order and availability of the figures they hope to release with this project, and have even opened up access to copies of The Department, the rules and scenarios that established the Fabricant setting, and to sets of the original The Department figures.

Check out all the details for the Ghosts of Hefei here.

Ghosts of Hefei on Kickstarter

I saw this announced on Dropship Horizon the day before yesterday:

From the creative team that brought you The Department, and using the Goalsystem game engine underlying Blasters and Bulkheads, the Fabricant story continues as rival criminal gangs battle for supremacy on the mean streets of 2060's Hefei. Compatible with The Department, players can move between the worlds of Investigator and gangster, pitting their DFM Agents against criminal gangs, or battle it out for dominance amidst the decaying glory of a rotting city.

A figure range, projected to be in both 15mm and 28mm, and sculpted by PF - the famous French Maître du mastic, is planned for release with the rules.

I like both The Department and Blasters and Bulkheads, and I love PF's figures, so I'm really looking forward to this Kickstarter succeeding.

For more information on the game check out the Ghosts of Hefei website, while Kickstarter details can be found here.

Space Raptors in Kickstarter

My friend Eli has taken his concept of an intelligent, tool-using, species of raptors beyond the development stage to the sculpting stage. From kicking the idea around in a series of Facebook chats, the Chuhuac project in 15mm scale has driven the creation of Loud Ninja Games, Eli's new games/concepts/miniatures company. This, in turn, has lead to the Chuhuac Kickstarter project which achieved its funding goal within 24 hours.

Eli has discussed the concept of the Chuhuac on a number of occasions in various threads on The Miniatures Page, as well as being actively involved in other discussions about the types of alien life forms that one might encounter in Science Fiction gaming. I think it is a testimony to Eli's patience, persistance, and clarity of vision that his project has reached its funding goal so quickly.

I decided to support this Kickstarter project ,my third, as I like the concept of the Chuhuac and I think they'll be a great addition to the range of 15mm figures available. So I would invite you to take a look, see what you think, and consider whether a few Space Raptors - as game tokens or as a faction in your gaming universe - would look good as part of your collection.