Editorial: Out of the Grim Dark and Into the Light

     I've been a miniature wargamer for nearly a decade. Throughout this time, I spent almost all of it playing exclusively Warhammer 40,000. I had my first encounter with little plastic men in a Games Workshop, and for a long time it was the only game (excluding other GW games) that I had access to. Recently, I've been selling some of my armies to pick up some other games and give them a try. I'm not selling them because I think there's anything wrong with 40k, or because I don't like GW. I think 40k is a great game with an awesome community, and I've never really had an issue with GW. I recently got into Mars Attacks! (which I'm sure you already know from previous posts), and it was a breath of fresh air. Not only was it a new game with different rules, but it was a new setting and a different aesthetic. After ten years in the grim darkness of the far future, I loved the change. I had never really appreciated how stale 40k had become for me until I tried a new game out. Now, I want to try Warzone Resurrection, and I'm looking at some of the Star Wars miniatures that are out there. It's the excitement of a new collection and a new universe. It's the whole reason I fell in love with Warhammer 40,000 in the first place.

     My aim isn't to perpetuate the anti-Warhammer sentiment that has spread across the web. I instead would like to encourage all of you who are on the fence about a new game to take that first step. Give it a shot. The game doesn't have to be your new favourite game, and it certainly doesn't have to replace your old favourites. A new game might be exactly what you need to refresh your interest in the hobby. Come on in, the water's great.

A work-in-progress shot of some figs for the lastest game I'm trying out, Warzone Resurrection. While still a tad "Grimdark", Warzone still differentiates itself by toning down some of the gothic elements in favour of a more traditional military aesthetic with pseudo-national factions. Plus, I've had a great time making the Venusian Jungle bases. 

I'm also starting a foray into the defunct WotC Star Wars Miniatures Game to fufill my long time dream of playing out a Battle of Hoth mass combat game on the tabletop. The figures aren't by any stretch great miniatures, but they'll work for the size of game I want to run. My understanding is that the rules won't work very well at a large scale, so I've also been investigating some rulesets to use. FUBAR has one in particular that I want to look into. 

While the miniatures are prepainted, this project will still require some considerable hobby time to build a Hoth table complete with trenches and a shield generator. I haven't decided if I want to also work on some interior Echo Base terrain yet, but that's definitely a possibility. Look for more to follow as I continue working on collecting figures, building terrain, and playtesting rulesets. Furthermore there will be AT-ATs in the near future.