Steampunk Miniatures Games - Part 1 - An Introduction.

For many years the only game system I actually played was Games Workshops Warhammer 40K with the occasionally dalliance with other Games Workshop systems and didn't really look at anything else as (to be fair) I was quite happy with the game system I was currently involved in...then 6th Edition came along...To be fair I was growing a bit weary of 5th edition anyway and was hoping that we were going to get a tweak and instead we got a big pot with everything dropped into it...

He...had...nine...flyers...sob...and a 2+ re-roll-able save...

...and after persevering with it for a good six months or so I was forced into the unknown territory of 'other' games. A few of my friends stuck with 40K and are saying good things about 7th currently but at the time the majority of them were in a similar state of disillusionment to me and had begun to branch out...The two main benefactors of this mass migration were Warmachine and Malifaux.....

Those of us who had decided that we didn't want to risk starting a system that required a lot of models went with Malifaux and those of us who still had the 'actual army' bug moved to Warmachine with a few people doing both. Bolt Action and Dystopian Wars also acquired a few recruits but I had no interest in models that looked like actual soldiers and was put off Dystopian Wars by the fact that it was produced by the same people who did Firestorm Armada which I still consider to be one of the worst games ever produced*

*The new rule system has apparently sorted out many of these issues from a game-play point of view but as I still hate the models I can't see my overall opinion of it changing any-time soon...

I've always had a preference for Gothic and Steampunk styles and in fact it was the overall Gothic look of Warhammer 40K that had first drawn me to it...

That's about as 'Gothic' as a spaceship can get.....

...so I was pleasantly surprised when I was introduced to a game system that included pretty much all the influences that I enjoyed, namely Malifaux. Though locally and on certain groups it's a running joke that they had me at 'zombie hookers' it was slightly more complicated than that as one of the things I craved after 6th Ed 40K was a game system with some balance to it and at first glance Malifaux had this as well. Though on deeper inspection 1.5 had some serious balance issues (Pandora being the main one though the Ortegas, Hamelin and The Dreamer all had issues of their own) this was fortunately rectified in version 2 and I ended up with a balanced game system, with great models (for the most part) and despite the fact that I still occasionally say 'roll' when I mean 'flip' it became my go-to for an enjoyable gaming experience.

I also was a big fan of the art style and the later books as well as the version 2 rulebook only increased my admiration...

...and the fact that the models very closely matched their artwork was nice as well...

It also ticked another of my boxes in the area of 'counts-as'. As the system covered so many different genres it was easy to include the odd proxy here and there which enabled me to include other systems models in my crews and even to create the odd self indulgent side project that I could actually play a game with. It was while exploring this aspect of the hobby that I came across several other models that fitted into the Steampunk genre that I used for a variety of purposes though they were only there as a supplement to my Malifaux projects and I never really looked at the systems they came from.

For example, when I was looking for alternate Desperate Mercenaries for a list that required four (Wyrd Games only produced two at the time) I found some appropriate proxies from a company called Freebooter Miniatures. The pictures below are direct from their website though I converted some of the models slightly for my own crews...

As I should have one of every Malifaux crew painted within a couple of months and most of the rest of the range bar the Avatars done by later in the year I can give some time to looking at some other systems. Now Malifaux is always going to be my go-to but it's a big world and I thought I'd see what else is out there.....

This series is going to explore what Miniature Wargames are out there with a Steampunk theme that we can either steal models from to play Malifaux with or perhaps occasionally actually play...

I mentioned Freebooter Miniatures earlier from a model point of view that apparently also has a game system for it that appears to be themed more towards Steampunk pirates, Wild West Exodus has a nice cowboy vibe (as you'd expect given the name) though there are plenty of Steampunk elements to it judging from the artwork and models, Wolsung looks to have a nice Viktorian Steampunk vibe going on (As well as Having a Kickstarter funded expansion just started), Empire of the Dead from West Wind Productions might be worth a a gander at and I've also been pointed to a skirmish game system called In Her Majesties Name that I may have a look at as well.

For the first few articles in this series I'll limit myself to Skirmish level games though if there's enough interest I'll also look at larger scale Steampunk and Dieselpunk games such as Warmachine, Warzone Resurrection, Dystopian Wars and the like...

Well that's the intro over...in part 2 I think we'll take a look at Wild West Exodus...

Thoughts, comments or suggestions of game systems to look at are (as usual) most welcome.