Retro Sci-Fi A-Go-Go!

It's a busy time in the universe of retro sci-fi gaming!

Hydra Miniatures has just released a batch of figures (show above) - the massive Aquaclops and more reinforcements for the Galacteers: Dr. Zahn, Simon 6 , Galacteer firing bazooka and Galacteer advancing with Atomic Bazooka.

The company is also working on a nice looking Flash Gordonesque space combat game called War Rocket and Hydra's Matthew Beauchamp told me: "War Rocket is progressing well, but very slowly. [The] 3D digital sculpts look great when they are finished, but it takes a lot longer than traditional designs because of the added number of steps. We're working on our fourth race right now and they are looking great. The rules need a little tweaking then we are ready to layout. Expect a spring 2010 release."

Meanwhile, over on this side of The Pond, Craig Rowlings of Killer B is gearing up with some new releases for his Galactic Adventures in The Fourth Dimension of the Forbidden Zone (or GAFDOZ for short) range, which is what hooked me on this quirky genre in the first place.

The new figures are:

GAFDOZ 33: Protectorate Guard II £6
GAFDOZ 34: Protectorate Guard Sgt. £2
GAFDOZ 35: Protectorate Officer £2
GAFDOZ 36: Kappa Slave Drones (5) TBA
GAFDOZ 37: Kappa Royal Guard (5) TBA
GAFDOZ 38: Prince Unukas £2
GAFDOZ 40: Murphidian Miners I (3) £6
GAFDOZ 41: Murphidian Miners II (3) £6

Craig said: "All are being cast as we speak."

The Murphidians are conversions of Bob Olley's Scrunt clean up crew, which Craig has gained production rights to.

As well as the new look rules (which I will talk about tomorrow in The Week In Geek), Craig is also planning "to bring out a sequel ... featuring vehicles and 28mm scale rocket ship combat."

Can you imagine that? Rocket ships, scaled to go with these beautiful, oversized figures, roaring around your table top... or more likely, given the size, across the lounge floor!

If that wasn't enough excitement already, Craig has pencilled into his schedule a "science-fiction Wild West" range of miniatures, which will be fully compatible with his flagship, chunky retro-sci-fi range, of which he says: "The Space Cowboys will be officially released after the GAFDOZ range is completed in the new year.

"However, I probably won't be able to resist bringing out a trickle of the main characters as I tend to skip from project to project. I would say expect some progress by Easter."

And talking of oversized figures, Foundry is currently running a "sale" on its 2000AD line of miniatures, which - although I haven't seen any for ages - I reckon might work well with the GAFDOZ range (Captain Gamma Versus Judge Dredd, anyone?)

Mention should also be made of part-time figure firm Newbold World. Although miniatures are only a small part of their portfolio (and used to raise funds for charity), they do occasionally produce some wonderfully weird and eye-catching science-fiction figures that I think would work well in the environment I'm trying to create.

Like all the figure company's I've mentioned here, Newbold's miniatures are larger than the "typical" 28mm figures (e.g. Copplestone or Black Hat) you generally see around. One range of their's I particularly have my eye on, but is only at the greens stage so far, is their "Malone Crew" of grizzled space pirates, which are previewed in their online magazine Middle Of The Road.

Ian Newbold told me: "Being a very small hobby outfit we save our greens up to make economic casting batches and only go to actual casting three or four times a year. So my guess would be that the Malones won't be cast and appear in the Shoppe until sometime next year."

He pointed out that they would be flagged up on the Internet font of all things miniaturey, The Miniatures Page, when they were available.

There's also a new player in the field of large-sized (or "heroic scaled") science fiction miniatures, Alternative Armies - primarily known for its bizarre fantasy/anthropomorphic animal Napoleonic mash-up games (Flintloque and Slaughterloo) - is launching its Ion Age range.

This new range opens with a pre-launch offer of 15 per cent off if you order the Firefight 2.0 box set of rules, playing tiles and figures, before October 30.

I shall keep an eye on this range, although I doubt I can afford (or justify) the box set at the moment. However I've been a long-time fan of Alternative Armies because they offer a great in-house painting service on most of their lines.

Last, but by no means least, we have the return to the Interwebs of Wargames Supply Dump's Dick Garrison range. As well as the old codes (many of which have a distinct Flash Gordon flavour to them, and definitely play nicely with Killer B's GAFDOZ range), there are some very intriguing new figures listed as "coming soon" - from a crew of female space pirates to aquatic aliens, a new hero figure and a monster.

Now I just need to raise the funds to buy all these amazing miniatures, then get Neil to paint them for me (while I toil away in the shed making scenery) and finally get Nick round for a few games of retro sci-fi mayhem!