My Favorite Minis
All miniatures are pretty great, but some are greater than others. I really can’t start talking about my favorite minis without starting where it all began… Britains The classic toy soldiers are absolutely where my love for these little people started. A local specialty toy retailer stocked Britains and my brother and I spent lifetimes drooling over the catalogs and peering through the display cabinet glass. Debating about which figure to get. Cowboys? Soldiers? Knights? Space aliens???? Sadly, Britains have been gone for a while. But I still have most if not all of them. I’m pretty sure some mounted knights were lost to the ravages of childhood play. As much as that pains me a bit, that’s what they were designed to do. To be loved and potentially lost. These were the days that I pined for “Indian in the Cupboard” to be a true story. Playmobil The next…
Warhammer 40,000
A few weeks ago I wrote about something strange happening (being interested in perhaps playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle). It happened again. One of my offspring has developed a real and growing interest in acquiring and playing a 40k army. I have not discouraged this. It’s made me reconsider all the 40k minis I’ve had since my own childhood. So I fired up a list at https://www.newrecruit.eu Turns out I have a roughly 1,000 point Space Marine army. Painted. 😳 Including unpainted minis, it’s approximately 1,800+ points counting everything that forms up into a proper unit. That’s just the ‘Marines. I was really surprised. Shocked even that I’m sitting on a whole army. Though I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how these forces would turn out in a game. I’ve never read the Quick Start Guide, much less the full rules, despite being an original paperback Rogue Trader co-owner. I was always…
What’s on the Table?!
Cursed City: Halgrim Decapitation! We (I) did make one, kinda big mistake. I constantly forget to buff the Ulfenwatch attack while Halgrim was on the board. Woops We’re here for fun, not to be bothered by silly rules that might make us lose!
Sci-fi or Fantasy – Follow-up
GW continues to blur the lines between far-future and fantastical-past. I recently wrote about how Games Workshop mixes technology and mysticism liberally in both their fantasy and science-fiction settings. They’re at it again with their AdeptiCon announcements. Question: What GW setting features footsoldiers with machine guns and flamethrowers? If you said Warhammer 40k, you’re right! If you said Age of Sigmar, you’re also right! For more machine guns, also see the Cogfort. This ridiculous monstrosity is actually kind of awesome. I expect this to become one of those legendary sets that people will still talk about for years to come. But, it’s bristelling with machine guns (and flamethrowers) too. Which is cool I suppose, but kinda blows up the fantasy illusion in my head. Am I being a curmudgeon here, or is this genre-bending fusion just what these games need? Why is it that I find the anacronistic Wizard with…
Gargoylian Alert!
More of my favorite little creatures are coming out! The 2026 AdeptiCon preview has a trifecta of critters! Check these things out! I’ve taken the liberty to provide them names.
OMG WHQ!!
Check out these WHQ minis!!! 😍 😍 😍 Someone loved this set!! This is a new listing at Noble Knight games.🤩 🤩 🤩
Work in Progress – Darkwater
Contemporary Quest I was fortunate enough to get a copy of Cursed City in the original run. But oddly, I felt bad about having it and it was more than a year before I tackled it. So this time around I told myself that I want to stay up on Darkwater, and strike while the paintbrush is hot! It made me feel like I’m making good progress on the set, because I’m currently in Stage 3 of 4! Normally, I base after painting. But this time around, I based first. Then I primed and base-coated most of the minis. I really like getting a base color on the minis, it catapults them towards completion.
Warhammer Quest Day (2025)
Today is Warhammer Quest Day, in a way. Pre-orders for Warhammer Quest: Darkwater go live today at 1:00 pm EST. I’m looking forward to the game system that I care most about getting some coverage. I, and the whole world, expect the game to sell well. Despite a price tag that rivals an eBay copy of Warhammer Quest 1995. I’m hoping for a good, fun game, despite some obvious cutbacks. The board-book is unproven (for WHQ), the new character and activation system looks “a bit clockwork” as a youtuber described it. Removing unnecessary grind from the game is a good thing. Cursed City was bloated with grind out of the box. Luckily that is easy to skirt, just play the missions that you want, based on your level. We’ll see. Fingers crossed. Word on the street is that there are no special incentives to pre-order. No limited edition foil character…
Did Tariffs Kill Games Workshop Bookshelf Games?
This is speculation, but I’m guessing that tariffs and other economic chicanery killed GW bookshelf games this year. 2025 has been slim pickings at B&N. We’ve definitely had more the last few years than this year. Dawn of War: Onslaught came out this year, but that’s it. By my count, at least 14 games 2019-2024. Only one in 2025. So here’s a summary of some of the most interesting boxed (bookshelf) games released by Games Workshop. I’m not even counting “mainline” games like Age of Sigmar, Kill Team, or Underworlds starter sets. Combat Arena In previous years, we had three versions of Combat Arena: Warhammer Quest: Lost Relics This is a bookshelf stand-alone Warhammer Quest game. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hear is a puzzle/optimization type game, rather than a true dungeon crawler. Blitz Bowl We’ve had three editions of Blitz Bowl, plus all the team expansions from…
Darkwater – Inara Sion
There’s been another hero reveal for Darkwater. Aqua-mage!