Soldiers and Captains of Gondor

I know that the colors of Minas Tirith are sable and silver, but I want to save black for the bad guys as much as possible. I went with blue as an alternate. The face-framing parts of the helmets looked to me like rays of the sun radiating out, so I did those in gold (Minas Tirith was once the Tower of the Sun, after all).

Warriors:

Archers:

Pikes:

All 6 squads:

A Captain and Banner Bearer:

According to my latest tally, I have 356 LotR minis, with 98 fully painted. A good start, but I still have a ways to go.

First Ruins pieces

Inspired by a step-by step online tutorial which I now can't locate, I tried my hand at my very first ruined buildings. Eventually I will have enough of these to coalesce into a larger map.

Battlefield: Mines of Moria – Durin’s Folk vs Moria

Dwarven standard units:
24 Dwarf Warriors: 4 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Dwarf

Moria standard units:
24 Moria Orcs: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Orc, Moria

Elite units:
1 Moria Orc Captain (Warrior), SA: Swarm: All Standard or Elite Moria Orc Warrior and Pike units gain +1 to attack rolls when adjacent to another Moria Orc Warrior or Pike unit. Keywords: Orc, Moria
1 Moria Orc Bowmaster (Archer), SA: Volley: All Standard or Elite Moria Orc Archer units gain a +1 to attack rolls when adjacent to another Moria Orc Archer unit. Keywords: Orc, Moria

Battlefield: Eaves of Mirkwood – Elven Realms vs Dol Guldur

Elven standard units:
24 Silvan Elves: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Elf, Mirkwood

Elite units:
1 Silvan Elf Captain (Warrior), SA: Stealth: Standard and Elite Mirkwood units cannot be targeted by a ranged attack while occupying hindering terrain. Keywords: Elf, Mirkwood
1 Green Leaf Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Mirkwood units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Elf, Mirkwood

Dol Guldur standard units:
None, yet.

Elite units:
Giant Bat Swarm (Warrior), SA: Flight: This unit ignores other units and all terrain except blocking terrain when moving. Keywords: Beast, Mirkwood

Battlefield: Fords of Isen – Rohan vs Isengard

Rohan standard units:
24 Rohirrim: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Rohan
6 Riders of Rohan: 1 squad of Lancers, 1 squad of Knights, 1 squad of Mounted Archers; Keywords: Men, Rohan

Elite units:
1 Riddermark Captain (Knight), SA: Charge: All Rohan Cavalry units gain +1 to attack rolls if they move before attacking. Keywords: Men, Rohan
1 Riddermark Banner Bearer (Knight), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Rohan units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Rohan
1 Rohirrim Captain (Warrior), SA: Entrenched: All Rohan units gain +1 to defense rolls when adjacent to blocking terrain. Keywords: Men, Rohan
1 White Horse Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Rohan units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Rohan

Isengard standard units:
16 Fighting Uruk-Hai: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors; Keywords: Orc, Isengard
24 Isengard Orc Warriors: 4 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Orc, Isengard
6 Warg Riders: 1 squad of Lancers, 1 squad of Knights, 1 squad of Mounted Archers; Keywords: Orc, Isengard

Elite units:
1 Uruk-Hai Captain (Warrior), SA: Fighting Uruk-Hai: All Standard and Elite Isengard units gain +1 to attack rolls if the unit moves before attacking. Keywords: Orc, Isengard
1 White Hand Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Isengard units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Orc, Isengard
3 Uruk-Hai Arbalists (Archer), SA: Pierce: If this unit doesn’t move this turn, it gains +1 to its attack roll. Keywords: Orc, Isengard

Battlefield: Ruins of Osgiliath – Gondor vs Mordor

Gondor standard units:
24 Soldiers of Gondor: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Gondor, Minas Tirith
24 Rangers of Ithilien: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Gondor, Ithilien
6 Knights of Gondor: 3 squads of Lancers; Keywords: Men, Gondor, Minas Tirith

Elite units:
1 Captain of Gondor (Warrior), SA: Phalanx: All Standard or Elite Gondor units gain +1 to defense rolls when adjacent to another Gondor unit. Keywords: Men, Gondor, Minas Tirith
1 White Tree Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Gondor units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Gondor, Minas Tirith
Cirion, Lieutenant of Amon Barad (Warrior), SA: Bold: Treat any bonus to Cirion’s defense rolls as a bonus to attack rolls instead. Unique, 1 Fate point. Keywords: Men, Gondor, Minas Tirith
Madril, Captain of Ithilien (Warrior), SA: Stealth: No Ithilien unit can be targeted by a ranged attack if the line of fire passes through another warrior or hindering terrain. Unique, 1 Fate point. Keywords: Men, Gondor, Ithilien

Mordor standard units:
24 Mordor Orc Soldiers: 2 squads of Pikes, 3 squads of Warriors, 1 squad of Archers; Keywords: Orc, Mordor
24 Black Gate Sentinels: 3 squads of Pikes, 3 squads of Warriors; Keywords: Orc, Mordor, Morannon
24 Corsairs of Umbar: 2 squads of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Mordor, Umbar
24 Southron Warriors: 3 squads of Pikes, 3 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Mordor, Harad
20 Easterling Warriors: 1 squad of Pikes, 2 squads of Warriors, 2 squads of Archers; Keywords: Men, Mordor, Rhun

Elite units:
1 Mordor Orc Captain (Warrior), SA: Reckless Assault: This unit and all adjacent Standard or Elite Mordor Orc units gain +1 to attack rolls, but suffer a -1 penalty to defense rolls. Keywords: Orc, Mordor
1 Red Eye Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Mordor units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Orc, Mordor
3 Mordor Uruks (Warrior), SA: Soldier of the Eye: This unit gains +1 to attack rolls when attacking a Gondor unit. Keywords: Orc, Mordor
2 Black Gate Captains (Warrior), SA: Entrenched: Morannon units gain +1 to defense rolls when adjacent to blocking terrain. Keywords: Orc, Mordor, Morannon
1 Corsair Captain (Warrior), SA: Salty Dogs: Umbar units gain +1 to attack rolls when adjacent to water terrain. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Umbar
1 Corsair Bosun (Pike), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Umbar units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Umbar
1 Southron Captain (Warrior), SA: Invaders: Standard Harad units gain +1 to attack rolls when adjacent to Elite or Champion Harad units. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Harad
1 Black Serpent Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Umbar units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Harad
1 Easterling Captain (Warrior), SA: Assault: Standard Rhun units gain +1 to attack rolls when targeting Elite or Champion units. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Rhun
1 Easterling Banner Bearer (Warrior), SA: Defender: This unit cannot move and attack in the same turn. Rally: This unit and all adjacent Umbar units gain +1 to defense rolls. Keywords: Men, Mordor, Rhun

PLAN A FOR LOTR

Until and unless I can come up with something better, here’s my plan for Lord of the Rings games. I’m going to draw up four 3’ x 3’ maps of different battlefields; each map will have a Free army and Shadow army. As I acquire more models, I can expand the number of armies and battlefields, but 4 will do to start with.

These maps are not meant to replicate any specific battle from the books or movies, but I do draw heavily on them for inspiration.

Fantasy Wargame Mass Battle Rules

This game is designed as a two-player game using dozens of miniatures and at least 3 six-sided dice for each player.

Getting Started:The first step is to choose a faction. Most games are Good vs Evil, though other scenarios can be used; for example, a Civil War can pit Good vs Good. Next, each player agrees on the number of Standard, Elite and Champion units that each side will use, then chooses the units for his army. One player is chosen as the attacker; that player sets up first, and acts first in each round.

Standard units: These are the ‘grunts’ of your army. They always act in groups of four called squads.
Elite units: These are mid-level leaders, captains, and specialized units. They act individually.
Champion units: Your toughest and best units, including warlords, wizards and heroes. Champions act individually and can use special abilities called Feats a certain number of times each battle.

Winning
Each game is played to a predetermined point total. The first player to reach this total is the winner. Points are scored by defeating enemy units as follows: Standard units are worth 1 point; Elite units, 2 points; and Champions are worth 3 points. In addition, a Unique unit that has used any of its Fate Points is worth 1 extra point for each Fate Point used, and a Champion that has used any of its Heroic Feats is worth 1 extra point for each Feat used. Extra points may also be scored on maps that have Victory Areas or by completing certain goals in Scenario games.

Setting Up
Before the game starts, both players should agree on a victory point total, a faction, and how many units of each rank will be fielded. The total number of activations should be equal on each side.

There are two battlefield types: pregenerated maps and constructable battlefields. Pregenerated maps should be agreed on when sides are chosen. If the players are using a constructable battlefield, each picks 3 pieces of terrain as part of building their armies. A blank map is used; each player uses the back two rows of his side as his start area. The players then take turns placing terrain on the battlefield. A player can only place terrain on the half of the battlefield that is closest to his start area, and cannot place terrain closer than 2 squares to the edge of the map or the edge of another terrain piece.

Once the battlefield is ready, the attacker sets up his army, then the defender sets up his. When setting up a squad, each unit must be adjacent to another unit in that squad, though they can split up during the game.

Rounds, Turns and Phases
The game is played in a series of rounds, with each round consisting of an equal number of alternating turns per player. To start the game, the attacking player activates one of his units or squads and moves it out of his start area; this is that unit or squad’s turn. Then the defending player activates and moves one of his units or squads. Play alternates in this way, one turn at a time, until each player has taken all available turns; this completes one round. Each unit or squad can only activate once in each round.

When a player has fewer units or squads to activate than he has turns, he may pass turns during the round to make up the difference.

A unit’s turn has two phases, a movement phase and an attack phase. These phases may be taken in any order. During the movement phase, a unit can move up to its movement rate, or it can Double-time. During its attack phase, it can attack one enemy unit. A unit may also activate and simply do nothing that round.

Rank, Type and Class
Each unit belongs to one of three ranks: Standard, Elite, or Champion; one of two types: Infantry or Cavalry; and one of six classes: Archer, Pike, or Warrior (if Infantry) or Mounted Archer, Lancer, or Knight (if Cavalry).

Squads: All Standard units belong to a squad of 4 Infantry or 2 Cavalry, identified by the color of the unit’s base. These units activate during the same turn; activate each unit separately, one at a time.
Reforming Squads: At the end of each round, a player may change which squad a unit belongs to by switching out the model for one with a different base color.

Movement
An Infantry unit can move up to 6 squares during its movement phase, or up to 12 squares if it Double-times. A Cavalry unit can move up to 8 squares, or up to 16 squares if it Double-times. Diagonal movement counts the same as linear movement. Units cannot move through other units, through walls/blocking terrain or across pits. A unit that moves out of a square adjacent to an enemy pays double the normal movement cost.

Double-time: A unit can move twice its normal movement rate if it skips its attack phase for the round.

Combat
When one unit attacks another, both the attacker and defender roll a die or dice depending on its rank. A Standard unit rolls a single die; an Elite unit rolls 2 dice and takes the better result; a Champion rolls 3 dice and takes the best result. Each player adds any applicable bonuses or penalties, and compares it to the other player’s result. If the attacker’s result is higher than the defender’s result, the attack is successful. If the attacker’s result is equal to or less than the defender’s result, the attack fails.

Any successful attack on a Standard or Elite Infantry unit defeats that unit; it is immediately removed from the battlefield. The first successful attack on a Champion Infantry unit causes that Champion to be Wounded. A successful attack on a Wounded Champion defeats that Champion.

Defeated Units: A unit that has been defeated is immediately removed from the battlefield. This could represent a number of things: the unit has been killed, rendered unconscious, captured, wounded too badly to fight, demoralized, routed, or any other condition that keeps it from fighting.

Reinforcements (optional): When a unit is defeated, place it off the map in a reinforcement pool. At the end of each round, each player may take units from his reinforcement pool and place them on the battlefield in his starting area. A player may take 4 Standard, 1 Elite and 1 Champion unit as reinforcements each round. Unique units cannot be respawned this way; once they are defeated, they are removed from the game.

Infantry Units
There are three classes of Infantry unit: Warriors, Pikes and Archers. Warriors and Pikes may only attack adjacent enemies; Archers may only attack non-adjacent enemies. Each class has special abilities that affect your tactics.

Warrior
Flanking: When an attacking Warrior has an allied unit on the opposite side of its target, it gets a +1 bonus to its attack. The Warrior and ally must be adjacent to the target and positioned so that a line drawn from the center of the Warrior’s space to the center of the ally’s space passes through the center of the target’s space. The ally does not need to be able to attack in order to provide flanking.

Pike
Facing: A Pike unit has a facing, as indicated on the miniature’s base. The square directly in front of the facing indicator, and the squares on either side of that square, make up the Pike unit’s front arc. A Pike unit can only attack enemies in its front arc, and suffers a -1 to defense rolls when attacked from any adjacent square other than its front arc. A Pike unit may only change its facing during its movement phase. An enemy unit who moves into to a Pike unit’s front arc must immediately stop its movement.
Charging: A Pike unit may charge at an enemy to get a +1 bonus to its attack. When charging, this unit uses its movement phase first, then its attack phase. It must move at least 2 squares, and it must move in a straight (linear or diagonal) path over clear terrain.

Archer
Ranged attack: An Archer can attack any enemy that is not adjacent to an ally and to which it has a line of fire. Line of Fire is determined by drawing an imaginary line from the corner of the Archer’s space that is nearest to the target, to the nearest corner of the target’s space; if the line touches blocking terrain, even at a single point, then the line of fire is blocked. An Archer suffers a -1 penalty to its attack when its line of fire touches other units or hindering terrain. An Archer cannot attack adjacent enemies, and it suffers a -1 penalty to defense rolls.
Range modifier: Apply the following modifiers to a ranged attack by counting distance from the Archer to the target:
2-6 squares: no modifier
7-12 squares: -1
13-18 squares: -2
19-24 squares: -3
25-30 squares: -4
31-36 squares: -5

Cavalry Units
As with Infantry, there are three classes of Cavalry: Knights, Lancers and Mounted Archers. A Cavalry unit gets a +1 bonus to attack rolls when attacking an Infantry unit. It isn’t impeded by moving out of a square adjacent to an enemy.

When an attack on a Standard Cavalry unit is successful, that unit is defeated. When an attack on an Elite Cavalry unit is successful, that unit’s player rolls a die. On a result of 1-3, the unit is defeated. On a result of 4-6, the unit is dismounted; place an Infantry version of the unit in any of the four squares it formerly occupied. When an attack on a Champion Cavalry unit is successful; the unit is dismounted.

Knight – Flanking, as Warrior above.
Lancer – Charging, as Pike above. Lancers do not have a Facing.
Mounted Archer – Ranged Attack, as Archer above.

Special Abilities
All Elite and Champion units have one or more optional special abilities. These abilities are always in effect unless a player declares otherwise. When an ability affects other units in a player’s army, it will use keywords to define which units are affected. When a unit is affected by two or more special abilities that each grant a bonus to attack or defense rolls, that unit only receives the benefit of the highest bonus.

Fate Points
All Unique units have one or more Fate Points. These non-renewable points are spent during combat. When a unit with Fate Points makes an attack or is attacked, it may spend a Fate Point to reroll one die, or to force his opponent to reroll one die. The rerolled result replaces the original result, even if it is lower. A unit may use any number of its Fate Points during a single attack, and can use Fate Points to reroll a result caused by an opponent’s use of Fate Points.

Heroic Feats
All Champion units have 1, 2 or 3 Heroic Feats available to use in each game. Feats are instant-use special abilities. Each Feat specifies when it is used; only one Feat may be used in a single turn.

1 – Burst of Speed: The Champion can move 2 extra squares when moving, or 4 extra squares if it Double-times.
2 – Frenzy: If the Champion defeats an enemy unit, it may immediately make a second attack against another enemy.
3 – Mobility: The Champion may use its attack phase during its movement phase; it may move, then attack, and then continue moving up to its movement limit.
4 – Protect: When an attack against an ally adjacent to the Champion is successful, use this Feat to make the attack unsuccessful instead.
5 – Throw: The Champion may attack an enemy up to 4 squares away if there are no intervening warriors.
6 – Vault: The Champion may move through one square of deep water or pit terrain or one occupied square while moving.

Terrain
Various types of terrain will have different effects on movement and sometimes on combat. Some terrain types are as follows:

Blocking – A building, wall, dense forest, etc. A unit cannot move or make a ranged attack through blocking terrain.
Hindering – Rubble, brush, etc. When moving through hindering terrain, each square counts as two squares. For Large-based units, each space counts as two spaces if any square of that space is hindering terrain.
Elevated – Hill, wall top, roof. All elevated terrain is treated as being the same height above the battlefield. A unit on elevated terrain is not adjacent to any unit on ground-level terrain.

Some terrain types incorporate only certain elements of the above, or combine different types:

Slope – The sides of a hill can be either abrupt (cliff) or sloped. Slope terrain is hindering. A unit cannot end its movement on slope terrain. Any unit that is forced onto slope terrain is placed in the nearest legal space at the foot of the slope.
Concealing – Reeds, bushes, low walls. Treat as clear terrain for movement, but hindering terrain for line of fire purposes.
Shallow Water/Mud – A stream, pond, or marsh. Shallow water terrain is hindering terrain for movement purposes only.
Deep Water/Pit – A river, lake, or ocean, or chasm. Deep water or pit terrain is blocking terrain for movement purposes only; it doesn’t block line of fire.

The Shadow

No Evil guys done yet. Heck, I just recently got 'em all put on their bases.



There are around 200 minis here. Time to perfect that cloning tech!

The Free Peoples

I have a whopping two of the Good guys done so far...

Silvan Elf Standard Bearer:



Captain of Gondor:



I've got a ways to go here:



Well over 100 pieces. Time to learn about speed painting techniques!

Lord of the Rings mass battles

Like many fellow geeks, I was sucked into Middle-Earth during my junoir high days. There was a fantastic RPG put out by ICE around that time... fun, fun.

Nowadays, LotR is a hot property again thanks to the Jackson movies. Games Workshop has a line of very inexpensive plastic LotR soldiers that are perfect for building a mass-battle system around.

I haven't been able to invest as much time (or money) in this as I'd like, but I'm off to a good start.

Fantasy Wargame Dungeons Rules

I'm reserving this space for the Dungeons rules, once I have a good first draft ready to post.

Dungeon 3: Haunted Forest

Another dungeon planned but not yet executed. The only critters I have for it are a few DDMs and some Chainmail guys:

You got your owl in my bear!
You got your bear in my owl!
Two great tastes that taste great together... and then rend you limb from limb while you're helpless with laughter.



Crazed Minotaur Cultist:



Dire Boar:



A pack of Hyenas:



For the Master Adversary, I want a 'Dark Druid' type... I'm thinking Reaper's Vulthus Oathcroak will serve nicely.

Dungeon 2: Vampire's Castle

What's D&D without Ravenloft?

I don't have this map ready yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to at least draw up a floorplan. I'm building on 3' x 3' foam boards, with a 1.5" grid, which means 24 x 24 squares.

I do have some un-dead critters ready to go:

Reaper's Flesh Golem:



Mage Knight Metal Wraith:



Mage Knight Metal Shade:



Mage Knight repainted Stalking Skeleton:



Reaper pack of Skeleton Archers:



For the Master Adversary, I have Reaper's vampire mage Morrdha.

Dungeon 1: The Underdark

My first (and only, so far) scratch-built D&D map for this scale. My terrain skills are still in their infancy; fortunately, it's not hard to make half-decent cave walls.




Toxanimer strikes down an Abyssal Maw:



Elisha menaced by a Displacer beast:



Tristana versus the Caller in Darkness:

Lizardfolk lounging around the Black Water:

Critters in the caverns:

The Master Adversary contemplates further wickedness:

A Carrion Crawler... crawls:

D'Khul, Mind Flayer:

Carrion Crawler (Reaper's Charnel Grub)

Repaint of DDM's Caller In Darkness:

Chainmail Abyssal Maws:

Chainmail Displacer Beast:

A pair of Ghouls:

My first Reaper dragon, the Nachtlufte:

Colorful feller, ain't he?

Doggie Break

Time for some pics of my other loves:

Berger:



Zoe:

"We're so cute! Give us Crunchy Bones!"

D&D Heroes

The core idea of my D&D game will be that one player controls the Monsters (like a Dungeon Master) while each other player has a team of 4 Heroes: a Fighter, a Mage, a Cleric and a Rogue. The Hero players will score points by killing Monsters and recovering Treasure (or rescuing Prisoners, or what have you). Also, one of the Monsters will be the Master Adversary... and there will be Dragons. Oh yes, there will be Dragons.

Each of the Hero types is going to have (at least) 3 classes. Fighters will be Knights, Barbarians, or Archers.

My first Knight, Sarno Stonechild:



This guy is a repaint of the D&D Minis Stonechild.

Mages will have 3 classes: Wizard (buffs/debuffs), Sorcerer (direct elemental damage), and Druid (bit of both).

Toxanimer, a Sorcerer:



Loremistress Tristana, a Wizard (Witch?):



Archmage Valdarynn, another Sorcerer:



And Elisha Lightsedge, a Sylvan Elf Druidess:

Clerics will come in 3 flavors: Hospitallers (healers), Paladins (fighter/clerics) and Monks (buffs).

Tolzar, a Hospitaller and priest of the sun-god Pelor:

Rogues will have 3 classes: Thief, Ranger and Assassin.

Ridley Darkedge, a Thief:

I'm still mulling over the mechanics for Heroes, but right now I'm leaning toward starting them at 1st Level and advancing to 3rd (meaning a player needs 8 level-ups to max out his party). Third-level Heroes will be tough enough to take on Master Adversaries and Dragons; lower-level, not so much.

I'm thinking each class can have its own point system that it spends on uses of special abilities (thus giving a way to limit the more powerful ones). Fighters will have Action Points; Mages, Spell Points; Clerics, Faith Points; and Rogues will use Skill Points.

More to come as I work it out.

Dungeons and Dragons

My dad is into model trains. One day, when I was in my mid-teens, I went with him to the local hobby store. On the way through the store to the train section, I happened to find a display of unpainted metal fantasy miniatures. The sculpts were amazing... every little detail was articulated, every fang, every link of the chainmail, every scale... I was instantly smitten.

Thus began my love of miniatures. I bought a few and started painting right away (Grenadier models, soon followed by Ral Partha). Eventually, my curiosity about these critters led me to Dungeons and Dragons - I got the Basic (red box) set as a holiday present, and ran with it from there. I roped my brother and his friends into playing, and for most of my high school years, we had a decent-sized group going.

I didn't keep it up much after high school, and ended up selling most of my minis. I would get back into the minis hobby a bit here and there, until the Mage Knight game came out. This game used pre-painted plastic minis with a set of rules for battling them against each other. Right up my alley! So I played MK for a while... and then Hasbro came out with the D&D Minis game. Here were prepainted minis of classic monsters from my high school days, plus DDM was just a better skirmish game. When Mage Knight switched to a 'new' (worse) format, I switched to DDM (and got my brother into it as well).

I played DDM on a tournament level for a few years, and eventually had a complete collection (don't ask how much money I spent). Then the unthinkable happened - DDM also switched to a 'new' (worse) format, and I dropped the game like a hot potater. I sold off my vast collection, except for a few of the cheaper models, and focused on painting and terrain-building.

Now, I'm working on creating a minis game that fuses the best aspects of DDM, Mage Knight Dungeons, Basic D&D, and mechanics of my own design, and mixes it all into a fun, playable game. It's... a work in progress.

But at least I have minis for it!