Firefight: A New Project

After completing all the models for Bardsung is was looking around for my next project and my initial thought had been to go with 10mm Napoleonic and whilst I enjoyed painting up the models I hadn't been able to settle on a set of rules that would allow us to complete a game in an evening. I had however heard about Firefight, a large scale skirmish sci-fi game by Mantic games written by Andy Sharp who also wrote Deadzone v3. Making use of alternating activations and Mantic's trademark streamline rules it promises quick and engaging games. It also has the benefit of allowing us to use our Deadzone models as a core of a large force. Model count looks to be in 40-50 figure range depending on the faction with a tank or flyer as well to spice the action up. As is often the way Mantic have released a free set of the rules to entice players in. From the seven factions currently available in Firefight I've chose to build up the Forge Fathers and Veer-myn. The Forge Fathers was an easy choice as I've already painted up a fair few for Mr T and so he already has an attachment to the belligerent little devils. The Veer-myn are my current favourite Deadzone faction and I like the scheme I've painted them in so that was also an easy pick.

Whilst I wait for the starter sets to turn up I dug through the models I have on hand to see if I could bulk out existing units and looking and the army lists I noticed Mr T would need another 4 militia to make a unit. Fortunately I still had some of the old metal GW Squats left so I've picked out another 4 to add into the existing ranks to make up the numbers.

I've not studied the rules very much yet but these chaps are the cheapest FFer unit they get so no doubt good for unlocking some more expensive Specialist options, I did notice that the cheapest Veer-myn 10 rat unit was only 75 points so the space Dwarfs are likely to be outnumbered by the space Rats .

I'd also picked up a single sprue of 10 Abyssal Dwarfs at a show at some point and decided that the blunderbuss wielding version could no doubt be used in Firefight as well. Looking through the list I noticed the Rekkhyrr who are armed with short range area of effect weapons, so these chaps looked the part for them.

No doubt these Dwarfs are descendants of the brave/foolhardy souls who used to clear patches of firedamp in the early mines by flinging something flammable into pockets of the deadly gas. Now they deploy their naphtha-launchers to break-up the formations of enemies attempting to get in close to the Forge Father lines.

This feels like a good start to the new project and allows me to use up models I already had, which is always a bonus.

Of course a new game often means a new set of scenery and this one is no different. Again I've reused some pieces I already had that hadn't really found their way onto the table and I've also ordered in a few new bits to make up a table themed around a reddish Martian type colony. I've mostly been slapping paint & PVA on the area terrain pieces so far, but have a few more exciting pieces planned as well.