Other Miniatures Games Forum?

So, there are other miniatures games out there than those made by GW (I know, hard to believe). Interest in Warmachine is starting to pick up, and the last game I actually played was Uncharted Seas, while the last miniatures I painted were for Field of Glory. Perhaps it's time for a forum for "Other Miniatures Games"? I know I'd appreciate one, and I don't think I'm alone.

Blasphemy!! Death to the Heretic!! GW is the only minis game out there! (As I figure out how to manipulate the force this week at Star Wars Minis.)

On a serious note, I looked at getting into Warmachine, or more specifically Hordes, but came to the realization that the game is broken and things can be abused more than in either version of Warhammer. They do have some great looking minis though. GW is the only stuff I play that requires putting them together. Played some Mageknight, Heroclix, D&D Minis and of course the soon to be out of print Star Wars Minis. Also dabbled in Axis and Allies a little.
The only other non-GW minis game I own is Warzone, based on the Mutant Chronicles stuff. Good looking minis. I have two armies for this game and have never played. The other game I have considered is AT43.
But I barely get the time to play as it is, so to keep the expenses low I will stick to GW and Star Wars for now.

Done! Anyone can let me know anytime if they would prefer another branch of the forum or the creation of a subforum. We will cover any given system if there is a community interest.

I have a ton of Mutant Chronicles in the store that has never moved. Not one box, ever. It was dropped by Fantasy Flight around a year ago and I have not heard of any other company taking over the line. The minis are very large and can't be used to play in any other system. I see no reason to break open a starter to try to demo the game since it has been dropped. I plan to sell all the stock I have on Ebay; however a starter box is going for around $5 and boosters for around $1 last time I looked. That isn't even 10% of what I have invested in the game. But $ is $ at this point. Lesson learned for me; I will be doing much more research before I get that heavily invested in a new line again.

Warmachine has been demoed in the store by Shawn and it is doing well with much interest in the game. I will be stocking Battlegroup boxes starting next week. It has already far outstripped my expectations in it and Shawn shows a dedication and passion for the game that he is sharing with others. I hope it will do well and there is not a game system in the world that is not "broken" in some way or another.

Arcane Legions is also doing well and I have sold out of quite a lot of it already. I already restocked the core set several times and it is selling well. I will be getting restocks on all of it next week, as the boosters are semi-collectible.

I will also have the Army Painter and Quickshade products in the store on Monday and several people have expressed a great deal of interest in the paint already. We'll see how that goes. I plan on buying some of it myself, so I am literally putting my money where my (rather big) mouth is.

CHG is still working on getting a website that will also be robust enough to handle online purchases. It is still a work in progress that the owner is being rather picky about. Rightfully so since it is his money that is going into the project.

One day soon maybe we can build enough interest in Flames of War to get a separate forum going on that. I have a lot of product in the store but people hesitate to buy into the game since there are no games being played in the store on a regular basis. I assume because it is also another "broken" game system.

Sorry for the rant; I just get touchy when people start picking on another game system. I support many games even though I don't personally have any interest in them. Magic is one; D&D 4th Edition is another. I have played both of them and just have no personal interest in them. I do defend both games from disparaging remarks on a daily basis.

Thanks all for the support of all the game stores in NWA.

Verminlord wrote:

On a serious note, I looked at getting into Warmachine, or more specifically Hordes, but came to the realization that the game is broken and things can be abused more than in either version of Warhammer.

The new ruleset fixes a lot of the "broken" aspects of the game. Might want to check it out before making accusations of this sort.

"Broken" is in the eye of the beholder. Warmachine/Hordes isn't really my thing because at the competitive level it becomes a very combo based game that requires a complete knowledge of how all units in the game work to hope to compete. At the casual play level I think it's great, and am looking forward to getting in a few games before things get too competitive around here ;-)

On the flip side, I don't recall there ever being a case in Warmachine/Hordes where people looked at a new book and could immediately identify units that they would never play with competitively. This happens routinely with GW games. They simply have different strengths and weaknesses, and which you prefer is going to come down to what's more important to you in a game.

Also, referencing our recent discussion on cost, you really can play interesting games of Warmachine for a relatively small investment. A starter box and rulebook will cost you under $100 and will let you play the actual game in an interesting way (it gives you a minimum size 15 point army). It's much more scalable than GW games in terms of being able to play at lower point levels.

Chris, the recent Mutant Chronicles game has little to do with the old Warzone game other than a shared IP. Warzone came out in the mid-nineties but disappeared shortly after the turn of the century when the company that made it went out of business. I never played it, but those I know who did considered it one of their favorite miniatures games. The collapse of the company combined with an incomplete range of rules and miniatures is what keeps it from being popular today. In fact, if Fantasy Flight had had the sense to release the Mutant Chronicles game in 28mm they probably would have sold a ton more minis to fans of Warzone.

Wildeyedjester, thanks for creating the new forum!

Yes; thanks for opening up the forums to more lines, Jester!

Fulminata wrote:

In fact, if Fantasy Flight had had the sense to release the Mutant Chronicles game in 28mm they probably would have sold a ton more minis to fans of Warzone.

I agree; the minis look good and if they had been released in 28mm I would have gotten a few boxes myself just for the minis. I was dismayed immediately when I opened the boxes that had the boosters inside. I knew that they would never move.

Now you can get those boosters on Ebay for pennies on the $.

There were so many errors in that game it was ridiculous. Probably one of the single biggest blunders that FFG has made.

1) Scale. The excuse for this was that the sculpts were so wonderful that 28mm wouldn't have done them justice. Anyone who has seen the sculpts knows this simply isn't true. They are OK, but not so awesome as to need the larger scale. We've already discussed the reasons why the scale was a problem, but it's worth pointing out again that this was the single biggest problem with the game. The other problems wouldn't have mattered so much if not for this, because people would have been buying the miniatures just to have the miniatures if it weren't for the scale.

2) Lack of variation between rarity levels. The game used a three tiered rarity system for army building. For every X level 1s you could have Y level 2s and Z level 3s. The problem was that the only difference between a level 1, level 2, or level 3 model was the color of the base! Nothing in the sculpt indicated that it was any different. Lacking an aesthetic difference between pieces is a huge negative in a miniatures game. Aesthetics are why you play a miniatures game in the first place and not a board or card game!

3) The rules sucked. From all accounts the rules simply weren't that great. It wasn't even the usual problem of FFG rules that are hard to understand, even once you understood the rules they apparently didn't provide for a very interesting game.

These three combined led to a game that very few people were interested in playing, and a disaster from the point of view of sales.

Fulminata wrote:

"Broken" is in the eye of the beholder. Warmachine/Hordes isn't really my thing because at the competitive level it becomes a very combo based game that requires a complete knowledge of how all units in the game work to hope to compete. At the casual play level I think it's great, and am looking forward to getting in a few games before things get too competitive around here ;-)

Yeah, this is why I passed on the game. Also the lack of gaming time influenced me as well. To each thier own, I am allowed to have my own opinion.

There was only a few of the Mutant Chronicles minis from FFG I wanted, and they sold out pretty fast. I might be able to find them on ebay now.

I could be mistaken, but I think some of those look close to Warjacks for Warmachine.

Verminlord wrote:

There was only a few of the Mutant Chronicles minis from FFG I wanted, and they sold out pretty fast. I might be able to find them on ebay now.

I could be mistaken, but I think some of those look close to Warjacks for Warmachine.

I have a ton of boosters in the back and will make a firesale (waterleak?) deal with you if I have what you want.

I've actually looked into getting into Warmachine and Hordes which I think as neat because not only are they stand alone they be played with each other as well. Has anyone had any experience with the game Tannhauser?

AbbottJ83 purchased Tannhauser and he really likes it.