Weekender: The Perfect Time To Be A Fantasy Wargamer?
November 23, 2019 by crew
Come and join us for another dive into the world of tabletop gaming with us as part of The Weekender.
Weekender Podcast Download
Make sure to delve in and tell us what you think in the comments below as we always love hearing what you have to say. We'll join you in the comments I'm sure!
A quick reminder that next Monday kicks off Firelock Games Week! We'll be talking Blood & Plunder, Blood & Valor and more from the team in the US.
Fog & Friction
We're taking a peek at Fog & Friction which has been picked up by Warcradle Studios and offers a card game-based look at battle during World War II.
Warren and Gerry have had a bit of fun with this one and it would be nice to know if this appeals to not just historical fans but also those who like their tactical card games.
News
Come and delve into some of the news from this week...
- Guardians Of The Galaxy - This band of miscreants and The Black Order get previewed
- Mephiston Returns - The Chief Librarian makes his way to the tabletop for Warhammer 40,000
- New Elves - The folks at Wargames Atlantic are showing off their new plastic kits
- Goblin Wolf Riders - Snarling beasts and their cruel riders are coming next year for Oathmark
- Uncharted Empires - Get playing Kings Of War with all sorts of new armies and themes from Mantic
- Undaunted - North Africa is the new theatre that Osprey is focusing on for next year
Make sure to tell us what you make of the news and if this is truly a golden age for Fantasy wargamers.
Flames Of War D-Day Campaign
After their battle which you can see played out HERE, Gerry and Chris from Battlefront Miniatures sat down to talk more about the Flames Of War D-Day Campaign which is moving towards Phase Five next week.
Things have been going in interesting ways and we can't wait to see more people dropping their battle reports into the mix.
Kickstarter
What do you make of this couple of Kickstarter projects?
- Clash Of Spears - Gerry is excited about this fantastic Ancients game!
- Sci-Fi Heroes & Villains - FLASH!
What do you make of these projects and will you be diving into Clash Of Spears when it releases?
Have a great weekend!
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![Warcradle Studios Reveal TINY New 10mm Festive Marker! [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2025/11/christmas-kyle-main-600-338.jpg)
It’s the Weekender!
***Happy Weekend***
Did you all catch the news from FFG about Legion now having Skirmish rules?
https://www.beastsofwar.com/fantasy-flight-games/fantasy-flight-skirmish-star-wars-legion/
pretty cool if you ask me. I can’t wait to get in a game with them.
Who’s pumped up for next weeks focus on Firelock Games? I know I am!!!
Blood and Plunder
Oak and Iron
Blood and Valor
All good stuff!
Looks like the video is set to private @warzan
Sorry about that folks! – Should be fixed now, @ludicryan
Happy Weekend!!
When you say that Justin has discovered something else to eat besides chips,does this mean he’s discovered French fries?
Bloody foreign muck 😉
Still remember when the US went mad and renamed them “Freedom Fries” 😀
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/
The world is a crazy space (you couldn’t make this stuff up).
I still have them with my Mostly Content Meal.
It’s the Weekend!!
Time to try out the new RGG 360 handles that arrived this week, not that I haven’t got plenty of Infinity figures to catch up with – though I’m not so sure about the weight of metal minis with that putty (may stick with my Rathbone for those).
In the meantime, the wife’s snoring has woken me early so time for the Weekender…
I can see a massive upsurge in dice sales after lots of people have to replace their dice after they’ve melted them in the oven. They’ll be public information films with z listed celebrities on the telly again warning against misusing the oven
Fog and friction reminds me of Up Front
Late night of X Wing last night so coffee + Weekender is very welcome
I’m leaning towards Iberians for Clash of Spears. I’ll wait until I have the Book before I start buying stuff so I know what to get.
I’m collecting Iberians myself in readiness
in the facebook group we posted the draft army lists..
Iberians are fun and you can do Iberians, Lusitanians or Caeltiberians.. and even allied forces..
That’s good I’ll go take a look
Any chance you can invest in Ben’s tinterwebs and headset/mic if you’re expecting him to Skype in, considering you’re a Web based business
There’s some problem with the connection down the line – we’re working on it. Normally it’s fine heh
Great show…. rear Mephistopheles model is fantastic and Clash of Spears looks very interesting so much soniv3 jumped in on it.
@warzan Just out of curiosity/nosiness even/concern what’s happened to John, hope he’s ok??
he’s currently sticking a big resin model together and swearing
Good to hear he’s ok and in his element ?
Looking forward to Firelock-Week!
Cheers!
Fog and friction reminds me a lot of the mechanics of the 40kccg. This mechanic was made more complex with tokens and resource management in later 40k card game incarnations but this stripped down version still has tactical depth. A note to game designers everywhere:simple elegance does not mean shallow in terms of gameplay.
Have to agree that these are good times for us fantasy fans. “Agnostic” is a good word, and it’s making the process of building an army so much more enjoyable. I’ve an idea for a barbarian army that’ll do for (currently) Warlords of Erewhon, Age of Magic and Dragon Rampant. It’s mostly North Star, but enough other manufacturers to keep things interesting. It’s much more fun that everything from one manufacturer (for me: YMMV of course).
I’m also looking at a Northern Alliance army for KoW, using a lot of Mantic minis, but looking elsewhere for the bigger models: the trolls, ice elementals, giant, etc. Fun times!
I’m also tempted to pick up Mephiston as I could never get his sword arm to stick on the metal model (for anyone reading the glue comments on Pointless Views, that’s where a pin’s required: Mephiston’s sword arm!)
There are plans I think for Clash of spears fantasy as well
there are, they originally wrote and playtested it with WFB armies
That’s the second time Gerry has said I was at the FoW bootcamp, I’m almost starting to believe i was there.
But you were there right?
I was at the 40k one! I must have a doppleganger!
you all look alike, little people
Tall people’s chests and navels all look the same as well! I’m not getting a crick in my neck for people whose parents put angel dust instead of sugar on their Ready Brek when they were young.
Looking forward to getting some games of Clash of Spears in with Gerry and Paul – this might also be a game that I read the rules for as well and not just make it up as I go along!
I’m thinking of running demos at OTTers on 30th November.
Don’t think I can make it that day but I will be there in spirit.. I will try though.
don’t worry you won’t escape it will be there next time you come down 😀
You can send me pictures!
Justin & Chinese food: does that mean chip & (Chinese) curry sauce?
Really enjoyed this one guys, those two and a bit hours just flew by! See you tomorrow for yet more. ?
Gerry nailed the look of Mephiston.. its clearly a homage to Dracula movie (original sculpt) and good to see they merely updated it. Seen a lot of commenters but most overlook that detail. Thanks guys.
Awesome stuff again. Looking to get more flames of war models built today.
Fully agree with @warzan on the agnostic fantasy. It has really rekindled my passion for fantasy figures and gaming. While I personally could stick to one game system and lore, there’s no guarantee people who you game with will. Like @warzan said, it’s very liberating in many ways: you’re liberating the collector in you, you’re liberated from the meta (god I hate all the list building nonsense), the existing lore, the gaming group that only plays X and of course the rule system you might get bored with. It is great to see the agnostic fantasy movement also makes sense financially to the wargames companies (assuming we wouldn’t be seeing all these releases if it didn’t).
Yay the wee wee weekender
Pirate’s of the black Fridays?
If cooking dice work’s will this work for rule book’s!!!?
I think we are entering a renaissance in fantasy games. I was intrigued by the recent GW community posting about the return of the Old World for Warhammer and I’m currently impressed with the proposed releases for Warcry (nearest game to Mordheim that I’m happy to empty my pockets for!) and I continue to be impressed by the Oldhammer retro look of Diehard Miniatures – teaser released this week of a Mandalorian influenced chap via Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1905818789564929&id=753072024839617 . There’s so much great stuff being produced, I really need to win the Lotto to fulfil my wish list. Great weekender as usual.
Yay scottish dwarfs plenty of ginger about then.
Excellent show as ever! Have a great weekend, guys.
Another Weekender and the discussions of games and other awesome fun. Sadly Justin wasn’t around to defend his odd eating behaviors………
Guy thanks for the show. The Clash of Spears are going to get a look over. Postage is always an issue. Joan of Arc postage to USA was more than the cost of the game, so I had to pass regardless of how awesome (was able to play it as the AlePaly in London back in September). I will be getting the Firelock new WW I rules, but will wait till in the shops. I’m still a little mad at Firelock over the second Blood and Plunder Kickstarter where the new models were in the shop and I still was waiting for my order to arrive. I’m adult to know that these things happen, but once bitten… See you all tomorrow, where I get a second chance to win! BTW Jumped in on the Black Friday blog…really guys and gals out there are you that upset that saving money early is ruining your gaming???
Well CLASH is shipping from the UK ( as well as from the US ) so shipping is under 4 £ for the book and if you add 1 to 3 boxes ( in case you don’t have you ancients or just need more ) it is under 12£
don’t worry @irondragon6 is on your side of the pond @seldon. So he’ll be getting it from you guys 🙂
I see .. I missed that.. in that case shipping is 4$ for the book or 14 if you add 1-3 boxes.. so no problem for US backers… 🙂
Bomb the base @warzan ?
Great show guy’s.
Making an army that is based on something that I want is exactly what I’m doing with my fantasy army, the Order of Heimdallr. https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1401206/
I’m also planning different armies and warbands like this for other genres.
Dice baking. Learn something new every week.
Hi everyone
Well the choice of going with the Punic era for Clash of Spears is the best one. Usually most companies go for early Imperial period armies/rules, but by then it’s just Rome vs the “Barbarians”. The Punic era covers the rise of Rome and the bitter fighting that happened between Rome and it’s competitors. It’s an era that’s colourful, filled with armies that were distinctly different from each other (both in dress and unit makeup/tactics). It’s an era when things could have gone is so many different ways (Rome wasn’t in an “auto-win” situation), with alliances, betrayals, and an amazing amount of political intrigue.
Was very interested to hear how gamers have scaled up the games to 100 figs a side, and how “fake” deployments can scupper the best laid plans (rather than the usual “line em up, and walk directly towards each other that we usually see). Clash of Spears just looks far superior to SPQR (which is basically just throwing buckets of dice at each other). Am really looking forwards to this one (and agree with Gerry that the campaign books would have a far better impact than just moving things forwards to yet another “Early Imperial Roman Empire and it’s Enemies” game that we usually get to see (and it’s not gone all “fantasy” like Mortal Gods)
correct on all fronts
Campaign supplement design is already being worked on.. If any supplements come out before will simply be due to easy of getting those ready.
Many of the troop types for other expansions are already balanced and we have a through matrix to balance armies with those lists.. so don’t worry.. our efforts will go to the campaign book. But if through crowd sourcing we can give you quick small expansions with other lists we will do it.
Campaign will require more effort since we ( and Alvaro in particular ) are super fanatics about playtesting and we all know that campaigns easily get out of wack.. but we will get it on… We are not required to keep everything under closed doors and secretive like big companies so we will levarage extended playtesting groups like with did with this book and this will make it faster.
And yes the period is fascinating and we’ve gone far deeper in characterizing Italians, Iberians.. none of the lists are “secondary lists”. You will find the same level of depth in all of them which will make it really fun to play any of the nations !
The scouting section especially fake deployments is what attracted me to CoS. Vis Bellica had a scout and spotting phase many years ago and I’m surprised the idea hasn’t been used in more ancient and medieval rulesets
I’ve got a fair few random fantasy minis that I like to think will one day end up in some system-generic armies.
But there is something to be said of (some) IP-specific ranges too. I know they say there’s nothing new under the sun, but sometimes companies do manage to produce ranges of miniatures and worlds and settings to play them in that are different enough from ‘generic’ fantasy for you to want stay faithful to the look and feel they’ve established.
I suppose the answer is – have it both ways. Collect system generic stuff for gaming with a variety of games, and system-specific stuff for a setting or game that really catches your imagination.
Great episode, devoured in one go.
I do love the look of Flames Of War, and the campaign is looking very good.
I was mentioned on a weekender by Ferry. I am officially famous. Autographs £25
Just means that when all the evidence is collected you’ll be hauled in as well
Very glad I backed Clash of Spears. Slowly drawing the youngsters into historical as well as elves and dragons. Who would have guessed Roman legionaries and Germanic tribesmen would be such big hits? Now I have hope to get involved in Flames of War next year, even if the nearest “adult” campaign is 70 miles away!
Definitely a good time for agnostic army gaming. I’m glad there’s a rules set that I can use for the upcoming Raid on Serpent’s Temple shipment of minis from Titan Forge I’m expecting.
@warzan Squid jerky FTW!!! Get Justin some kimbop (with the squid) and forget to mention the ingredients when you go for galbi and bulgogi again.
@avernos Rank and Formation bases for round bases are a thing good sir. Litko has you covered for 30/40/50mm to square off. Next game you get in with Lloyd where he whips out his “boob-barian” horde from Chronopia I sent he can switch it up from the horde tray to something more formation-like.
Loved the show. The rise of Fantasy is indeed at hand! Lets face it, 10 years ago there was WHFB and LotR. These days there’s AoS, Frostgrave, Saga AoM, Parra Bellum, KoW, A Song of Ice and Fire, Warlords of Erehwon, and plenty of others all vying for the fantasy market.
@warzan, @avernos, the review for Clash of Spears was your best yet. One of the things that often gets missed when new products get announced is a compare and contrast review. As Gerry started to describe the command and control element it really gave the review some body by being able to compare them to other rule sets. The only thing that was an “out of 5 or 10” rating.
the problem is we don’t often get a chance to play or see the full rules in advance. Simply because I’ve been lucky enough to play it and have a nosey through the rules meant we could deep dive more than usual. The curse of time 🙂
Great show guys
Happy weekend!
Interested about next week 🙂
love pointy ears elves……fodder
In regards to fantasy I’m very similar to @warzan in that I’m happier building a generic army where I can take bits from a variety of ranges than just stuck with one range where my army apart from colour scheme looks to the same as every other army of the same race or faction.
I now have several rule sets which I can play depending on my mood or time available to me. Being a fantasy player today is a lot better than when I first started gaming in the 80’s.