Zombiesmith Booth at Kubla Con 2012

I tend to be drawn to unique, quirky independent mini ranges. Not that I don't like a lot from some of the big global spanning companies too, but there are a handful of uncommon ranges that reel me in, like World of Twilight, War Rocket, Eureka's Teddy Bears & Pond Wars, and Quar among others. Check the Label list at left for Quar and you'll find a lot of my past Quar.

If you still haven't checked out Quar, or the other fun ranges from Zombiesmith, you should.

I kept looking at the minis for years, considering getting into them, and when they released the cavalry, on those improbable guinea pig-like mounts, and the Royalist faction, I could resist no more.  I still have far more unpainted Quar than painted, and last weekend didn't help that ratio.

Quar are a non-human species, descended from animals a bit like anteaters, with a world and culture similar to Europe around World War I.  They have some very fun, quirky technology and the background is full of humor. They are infectious.

Here is a small look at what they have around the corner (with a sale starting early this month too, so not a bad time to consider purchases!)

To the right of the big Quar statue you can see one of the new factions: Fidwog.  Shorter than average Quar, with a great new mini: 2 Quar on a cav mount, a driver and a machine gunner in back.

Here is a better picture from my friend Dan:

If you find you can't decide between Crusader & Royalist (the two main factions) then Toulmore might be right for you: Once Royalists, now fighting for the Crusade (the anti-royalist cause),they have helmets & uniforms in a Royalist fashion, but the more modern Bogun rifles of the Crusade:

If I hadn't already bought into Royalist so deeply I might have gone this route myself! 

Speaking of Royalists, check out the awesome new beast they get!  This has a driver and two gunners, one on each side. This one was the prototype, the current version has the gunners attached higher and at angles that don't look awkward.  

A shot of two light tractors (tanks) for the Kryst faction:

Sorry for the slight blur, the glass made it hard to get a picture at some angles & the booth was crowded ;)

Check out this chap! A Quar regimental bagpiper! I picked one up, mine will likely join my Royalists, though here he is seen with Crusaders:

Another Quar I like- the Quar photographer! I'd waited a year to get one of these ;)

Zombiesmith also released a fourth book for the Quar, a book of scenarios, with many in a linked campaign system.  Pretty cool!  While there I left my 'Songs of Our Ancestors" Quar Rulebook, a skirmish game based on Songs of Blades & Heroes, with the talented Sequoia Blankenship who does illustrations for the books.  He did an illustration in my book while I was playing in a Blood Bowl Tournament.  

How cool is that?

This is worth the trip to Kubla Con right there. Nice to see the Royalist cause getting some resupply! 

Zombiesmith had some other news outside of Quar. They are developing a new game, War of Ashes.

It is a ranked regiment fantasy game.  For theme and style think Vikings. Now replace Vikings with Muppets. Have the image in your mind? Right... maybe not, but this will help:

There are four factions,

Elvorix:

The minis are thin and graceful. The detail is quite nice and not overdone.  They are thin muppets.  

The skirmishers, in the bottom picture of the two above are shorter than the others.  They also use big armored pig-cow creatures in battle which they light on fire and send careening through the enemy ranks.

The Vidaar:

The same species as Elvorix, but a different culture. They have some tall furry creatures with giant weapons. 

I really like the big guys:

Both Elvorix & Vidaar are designed to have spearmen fight from a second rank, over the shoulders of the shield troops. 

The Jaarl:

The most hard militaristic of the factions.  A lot like Romans, but looking like Ewok Gremlins.

The Kuld:

Cute and odd. Some ride giant snail creatures.  

This range immediately grabbed my friend Dan, which erased whatever resistance I might have had. 

I couldn't decide which I liked most. I was very torn between Elvorix & Vidaar. In the Elvorix favor: the cute little skirmish troops and I liked the round shields better than rectangular shields, also there are some really cool helmets with brush-crests.  In the Vidaar favor: the big muppet trolls are so very cool, I like them more than the pig creatures, since they are fuzzy muppets ;) and the troops are very similar to the Elvorix.  The Kuld are also appealing, but I thought they'd probably end up as a second faction after one of the other two, but which?  Well, when my friend went to get his book with illustration, and I was still playing a Blood Bowl game, he went and bought some Vidaar! Betrayal or Helping me with a decision?  ;)  So I got some Elvorix, one pig and I got a pack of 2 'wookie big muppets' (their real name is Nhilde) to add to my Elvorix! 

I like the minis, so they can defect and join my side! 

Why deny myself the ability to pick all the ones I like best? 

We got to try out the game on the demo table, and it looks promising.  

We also discussed using these for Saga skirmish! So expect to see some Muppet Saga someday.  

Dan is looking to run the Vidaar as Vikings and I am thinking the Elvorix would work well as Welsh. 

Come to think of it, those Kuld have a lot of double-handed weapons... could make for some interesting Anglo-Danes?  Could be. 

This got to be long- there was a lot of stuff to admire and buy! But I think it will be best to save the report of the Songs of Our Ancestors Quar battle for another update.  

This also marks my 300th Blog Post! 

It's all downhill from here! 

Thanks for reading!

And to continue the Muppet fun... 

Enjoy!