Oathsworn Miniatures: Upcoming Kickstarters and Rule Sets

Oathsworn Miniatures: What have we got planned next? Well, the first thing is to get our webshop up and running... thanks to our two Kickstarter projects, we've got the beginnings of a fantasy miniatures range. So we need to have the figures available for sale on our website. That's our priority.  

After that, Jo is going to be having a go at casting... we've bought an old spin casting machine, and a little melting pot, and we'll see whether or not it is something we can do for ourselves. If it is, then that should speed things up for us a lot in terms of delivery. Fingers crossed! 

Next, we will be launching a new project - some more dwarfs (after all, my plan is to eventually have 1000 different dwarf sculpts - and we've only got 22 so far!). We seem to have a mix of backers; some want miniatures just to paint, some to use in role- playing games, and others as part of armies for tabletop wargaming. So the next dwarf project will feature 2 sets of figures; 8 to 10 dwarfs who run a brewery, and 8 to 10 dwarfs who form a unit of heavily armoured tunnel fighters. The first set is aimed more at RPG / skirmish game fans (like Jo); the second set is more for the army builder types (like me!). This will be a short project, probably 10 days to a fortnight long. I expect we'll launch it in late March. 

Around the same time, (maybe even at the same time!) we'll be launching another small project - just for one model. It's not really anything that fits in with our usual models, and is more just something I really want to try out. For a long time, I've been fascinated by Norse mythology - I've sculpted various Norse gods over the years... and now I finally want to try doing it properly, and making a range of gods. So, I'm going to have a go at launching Project Pantheon - starting with a sculpt of Odin riding on Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse. Size-wise, it's a bit bigger than other Oathsworn stuff (which is all 1/56th scale, if you were wondering). The Odin figure will be about 40mm tall, but I think as a god he should be an imposing model. He'll also need to be a multi-part kit, because it's a complicated model. I have no idea whether this project will be successful or not - that'll depend on whether or not there are enough Norse god fans in the Tabletop Gaming community... but then that's the beauty of Kickstarter, we can see whether people are interested before we spend too much money! If it is successful, I'd like to have a go at Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Hel and all the rest...There's a very early WIP pic below. 

In the longer term, we are aiming to launch our first game. This will be a tabletop miniatures skirmish game, a similar concept to Games Workshop's old game, Mordheim. So about a dozen models per player, and a campaign system with experience points and skills, extra equipment, stuff like that. That way, we'll cater to the role-players and the wargamers in our gaming group!

Originally, we were thinking of a generic fantasy skirmish game, but that idea has a few problems; firstly, we'd need a much bigger range of figures to make it work, and secondly, we'd need to do a massive amount of playtesting and balancing work to make sure all the races worked together properly. So we've settled on a game set in 14th century England, so all the characters will be human, but with fantasy elements. Basically, all the superstitions, religious beliefs, devils and witchcraft are real in the game. The game takes place in the lost medieval town of Ravensrodd; which gives a very cool, real-world setting. The town was devastated by storms, and became a haunt of vagabond bands of looters, thieves, pirates and mercenaries before it was finally destroyed by the Grote Mandrenke, the 'Great drowning of men' in 1362. 

In terms of miniatures, there'll be lots of human fighter types, plus some of the weird stuff - plague victims, the possessed, religious fanatics, witches etc. There will also be sprues of add-on parts - weapons, pouches, shields etc. As a project, there's a lot to do, and we will just be working on it between other things - so it could be a long time before we get it finished.