Forge Father Stormrage Veterans – Thoughts and Review

Mantic probably knew what they were doing when they invented the Forge Fathers. 20 years after Games Workshop removed the Squats from 40k, there seem to be a lot of people out there who want them back even though they were a bit silly, and certainly (at least how they were depicted) wouldn’t fit in with 40k’s over the top grimness.

Mantic seem to be a lot more tolerant to humour in their Warpath sci-fi setting, even though neither their Orx (space orks) nor their Forge Fathers (space dwarfs) act as comic relief. With their strategy of staying close, but not too close, to many of the concepts found in Games Workshop’s games, The Forge Fathers is a smart move. Forge Fathers is at least a much better name than squats.

In the yearly Mantic Crazy box (basically a once a year deal where you get a lot of random Mantic miniatures for little money) I got in January there was a squad of Forge Father Stormrage Veterans. Which supposedly are some of the toughest guys in the Forge Father armies.

There is five miniatures in the pack, all in Mantic’s “Plastic Resin”, which to my understanding is just some kind of PVC. They come with the option to equip the lead with either a big sledgehammer or a pointing finger. I chose the hammer. Obviously.

This is the leader of the crew. The guy who is either pointing or wielding a big hammer. I wonder if anyone actually assembles him without the hammer? Anyhow, he is a charming little fellow. The arms are maybe a bit long though.

This guy is wielding a heat cannon. This was also the only that was a bit more challenging to put together since the fuel line didn’t want to match up exactly. I think that there is something slightly off with how he is holding the weapon though, holding it eith tht arm that extended makes it seems quite light weight. Nitpicking aside, it is not a bad miniature.

This is my favorite of the bunch, simply because of the beady eye lenses. Giving some Forge Fathers helmets with face masks was a good decision by Mantic. It makes them a lot more mysterious and therefore more interesting. The Forge Fathers without masks are a lot more boring. The way he holds his weapon is also the weakness with this miniature, the side grip combined with the round magazine makes it look a bit awkward. The weapon is also a bit to long to fit with the compact forge fathers.

All in all I do like these miniatures, they have a lot of character and are of good technical quality. After reading lots of horror stories and complaints about the material I was pleasantly surprised with the ease they came together and how easy they were to clean. Mantic’s miniatures are often very likeable and they are a likeable company. However, I often get the feeling that the design would benefit of another round of concept design. This is also the case with these guys.

Seeds!

Seeds are one of those things that are a bit to fun to buy. A package of seeds is inexpensive, there is a HUGE variety and the shipping is usually cheap. In that sense they are a bit like wargaming miniatures… No wonder that it is easy to end up with loads of them.

Anyhow, this is the latest order of some of the stuff we are growing this year.

So it begins.

Today I planted my first seeds for the season, and today I make the first post on this blog. This blog will be about my attempts at urban gardening (it can’t hardly be called farming…) and my addiction to little plastic and metal men.

So what did I plant today? Chili. Early Jalapeño and red pepper to be precise. The red pepper and the Early Jalapeño are sorts I tried out with great success last summer. They grew well and gave a good harvest on my window sill. Since I live in northern Sweden and we have a risk for frost until april, these won’t be placed outdoors. I also took some seeds from a Jalapeño bought at the supermarket. The fruit was a bit green, so I don’t know if these seeds will give anything, but I figured it was worth a try.

We have also started planning for what we will plant in pots and buckets on the balcony. A post will follow with what we have planned.

The Geek part of the title then? It will come! I have a review of a 3d-printed board game, a post on my attempt to salvage the Basilean cat riding nuns from Mantic’s Kings Of War, and a recipe for bread to go with Twilight Imperium sessions on its way!