Imaginary Armies III - Mold Lines

There are plenty of reasons why imagining armies is fun, but a large part of the appeal is the practicality of it. Imaginary armies don't take up space, and as long as they aren't real, they wont require the storage, painting, building, or casting that a real army would.

But what if they were real? Just, hypothetically, what if they were cast up and turned into buildable, paintable, playable figures?

This episode of Imaginary Armies deviates from the norm in that I've illustrated the components of molds I'd like to make somewhere down the road. I've had a longstanding fascination with armies sculpted from scratch, or all by my own hand, and I've realized it once before with the PUG TANKS from the Wasteman days. It could be vanity, or it could be an aspiration to be good enough to warrant the work, but having my minis in production is something that's meant a lot to me for a while, so it is, consequently, something I think about more often than the average bear. And so...

Below are a few of those ideas that are closer to reality than they are to imaginary. 

1. Ogres

While doing research for my Chaos Gnomes, I discovered that the Chaos Dwarfs had been the ones to supply the Leadbelchers of the Ogre Kingdoms with their trademark hand cannons. This army is based on a 500 point detachment I cobbled together, to support those Chaos Gnomes should they ever wander into 6th edition WFB. 500 points used to be the smallest advertised size you could play a match and have the rules still mostly work, and its status as minimum viable product has been burnt into my brain for going on two decades.

 

(note: I've never met anyone who wanted to play 500 points, nor have I met a soul who thought 500 was a good and balanced game, but I'm allowed to have my warband-scale hopes and inclinations be what they are.) 

If spun up three times, this kit would make a Bruiser, a handful of Leadbelchers, a unit of Gnoblar Trappers, and then 1-2 units of Bulls. Nothing particularly fancy, but hearty as heck and dressed for the weather!

 

(note: Its very cold here in February of 2025. Check the news logs that haven't been redacted.)

 

I particularly like the gnoblars for their cartooned flatness, and think that they'd be little thumb-sized chaps that just plop on bases without much fuss. The Ogres will be similarly Muppety, I think with simple shape noses and exaggerated eyebrows just like Groucho used to make. Part of the joy of the oldhammer heroic scale is the expressiveness of those oversized heads, and so it's only right that these guys get a taste of that traditional treatment.

2. Woodfolk

 

What's better than 500 points? A thousand! When I began my Entmoot25 project, I realized I'd be building something without knowing what army it'd fight for. Sure, I could sub it in for a giant somewhere, but I already have a burgeoning giant collection and liked the idea of giving Gus some friends. Thus, I've been developing ideas for a Wood Elf army to accompany him in 5th or 6th where I'm most likely to play him. 

 

This potential sprue has 4 monopose Dryads, and 4 archer bodies with an array of detached heads. The intent was that the archers could be Glade Guards with the unhooded heads, or turned into Glade Guard Scouts with the hooded heads, or one of them could be a General or a Prince with the crowned head. With four spins, you'd get a General, 10 Glade Guard, two units of 8 Dryads, and a 5 man unit of Glade Guard Scouts. That, paired with Gus and a Unicorn likely tap the 1k mark for a super elite army. 

The big divergent point for me is, I don't have any elves among my fantasy minis, and so I've decided to design them for my sensibilities rather than those of GW's figs. These elves would have big moon-eyes, not unlike the Kithkin from Lorwyn, and would be more diminutive than their LOTR counterparts, closer to shoulder height on an average manling. Is it sacrilege? Probably, but I'll likely never play them against people who'd get angry about that sort of thing. My hope, and the joy I'm finding, is fitting my own lens over the work that is WFB, and using my memory of the rules as a structure to explore new stories since the old ones have all been told by someone else.

3. Beast Balloonists with Crossbows

I remember how flying bases used to be; thin translucent plastic poles you shove up the butts of the fly guys in question. Whether these are better or worse than the current day interpretation of "guy with jet pack leaping off thing," is a debate I don't care to get involved in, but I have noted that very few go for a burst or jet that lifts the flier from off the ground. Nicolai and I had been talking the other day about the balloon animals from Shrek, and this led to hot air balloons and finally that to this. I've been thinking about fantasy balloonists since Age of Sigmar has the Kharadon Overlords and Turnip28 has the Aunts Ascendant, and so I scrawled out some munchkin-looking guys who could zoom around a classic fantasy setting with their handy steeds strapped to their back.

Already I can see room for improvement with this one, as the sprue only really works for a command squad. If I were to put my designer brain on, I'd want to see the command build as an option and not a necessity. Ideally, there would be four or five figs per sprue, with right arms that could be replaced with a horn, a banner, or some kind of fancy sword so that the kit could be either basic core or used as officers. If after that there's any room left, I think the sprue could have a handful of critters that are the uninflated versions of the backpack beasts, but that's an exploration for another day.

4. Gull and Rat Mariners

Recently I've been talking to Nikki from Sprue Goblin Games about Farm Wars, which is a game that sounds exactly like it sounds, and I was asked what I'd add to the mix if given the opportunity. I decided to go at it a skirmishy approach where you have a handful of identical guys and then a few elites to back them up, and thus the Mariners were cobbled together. You've got the Rats, who serve as quick and agile long range support, who can be backed up by a rolly cannon team. Then you've got a pair of birds who're much more durable and fill that heavy hitter role with a big spankin' oar and official-looking bicorn. Until I know more about the rules, that's likely the best I can do for designing-minis-to-function, but I'm satisfied with the concepting, and can still see room for expansion should that be a consideration.

5. Gobz

This year I reworked my Gnomemageddon rules into a skirmish game called Gobzooka, an irreverent skirmish game of Goblins blowing eachother up. Because it felt like a wargame that ought to have a solid factional identity, I carved out ideas for the Madcapz, who are wild and bloody chaos causers, and the Kingmakers who are staunch feudalists who all want to get to the top of the heap. I designed small ranges for each of them with some overlap for ease of production, and had intended to make it so that the molds (resin) would also yield terrain and measuring devices with every cast, but at time of writing the scope and needs of the project have changed.

 

Originally, as pictured here, there was one leader model in a power rig (9) who had a swappable tap so that you could change the head and allegiance of the pilot-character. Each force would get one of these leaders for free, and then have a number of points to bring along slightly flavor shifted infantry (1,2,3,4) or unique elite troops and heavies (5,6,7,8.) This project began as an excuse to commission some cool kids to sculpt an army of monopose goblins and killa kans for a novelty list in One Page Rules' Grimdark Future (20 gobs w leader, 20 gobs w leader, 6 kans, 6 kans,) but since then it's taken on a life of its own.

This month I saw a video about the kinds of starter sets 40k could have, with entry level pricing and a fun little mini game, and I was instantly hooked on the idea that Gobzooka could fill that niche. Honestly, the Carnevalle set Escape from San Canciano does an amazing job at being that starter set, and once I retool the rules and balance some lists, I'd love to put together a sprue or two of figures that could pair just like the Rashaar and the Guild do in that box.

And those is them.

Since I hear it's quite expensive to have minis cast and spun, I'm unsure whether or not I'd end up starting a little shop to help my odd projects pay for themselves. It sounds quaint, and I wouldn't mind much, since I already manage a shipping department for a living. 

Do any of these ranges interest you? Are there any armies you wished existed? What would you do with a balloon brigade? Be a nerd and let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear about what excites you.