Miniature Agnostic
INCORRECT, I am not about to go into a tirade about religion. Miniature Agnostic means no particular model line is needed for the game. Okay, what the hell am I on about?
What miniatures do you use for Warhammer 40,000?
What miniatures do you use for Infinity?
What miniatures do you use for Conflict?
For all of them, it’s in the name.
Now…
What Miniatures do you use for D&D?
That is what miniature agnostic is…
As you can see, these don’t have any one particular brand being used.
Now technically any miniature game can be miniature agnostic but not all games are designed to be. Anything from Games-Workshop is designed to only be played with Games-Workshop models. For those of you who don’t know, Games-Workshop is the people who make Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000, and their various speciality games like Necromunda and so on.
Now as a company this is a great way to keep your game going. I mean if someone just buys your book and never buys minis you only have the book as your core sales point… So your game has to be good… I think you can see where I am going. ‘Miniature Agnostic’ games have to be good, they have to have something to draw you into them so I am going to go over some of them.
The grandpappy of them all. Dungeons and Dragons. Now technically this isn’t that old, the game has gone through five and a half editions and no that’s not a joke. There was 3rd edition and 3.5 my personal favourite edition. This game has always been miniature agnostic and an interesting story, this is how Games-Workshop got its start, selling D&D and models for D&D.
This is a role-playing game so you're not going to need loads of miniatures. And if the term Miniature Agnostic means anything to you, then this game probably isn’t for you.
The replacements.
All Miniature Agnostic roads lead down one path. The death of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. For most of you, you will probably be like…
However, for a number of people, it was the death of a world that they truly cared about and to add salt to the wound… It is still one of the most successful online Games-Workshop games.
So what does the death of a very branded game ‘Warhammer Fantasy Battles’ have to do with miniature agnostic games? Well just like D&D it is the grandpappy of them all.. except it’s a corpse that a whole lot of people did necromancy on.
9th Age
This is just a full-on wholesale replacement for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, with names changed for copyright reasons probably the reason it died in the first place. So, How is it? I don’t know but if you loved Warhammer Fantasy, you would probably like it.
Kings of War
This was Mantics attempt to capture the Warhammer Fantasy Battle crowd after they lost their game. They have their own line of miniatures for this game, except they have said explicitly that you can play with models from other companies.
Oathmark
Joseph A. McCullough who also makes another game we will talk about later made this and that is the only thing I can say for it. I am not that familiar with it other than he has made other miniature agnostic games and he has a reputation for it.
FLGS
Friendly Local Gaming Store, it’s not a game but a plug, if you like any of those games. I urge you, ask if they sell copies of it, if it even does do such a thing, because 9th age I am fairly sure isn’t sold at all. However, remember the reason Warhammer Fantasy died is that it didn’t get support and so will your FLGS if it isn’t given that support so that you have a place to play.
Game unrelated concept very related
So obviously Miniature Agnostic was the default but then branded games came, one took over and then there was an attempt to remake the miniature world, however there have been a few people who have tried to do their own thing. Some have succeeded in a big way.
Gaslands
Its Madmax meets X-Wing. As many of you will know I am not the biggest game player… much more a painter and model maker. However, I think this game does something no other game really does. Capture childhood.
If you were around my age (ha ha I will never tell) at some point in time Hot Wheels and Matchbox were the bomb diggidy yo, my dogg homeboy, tots fresh. (If you cringe at any of this just remember this is how all slang ends)
I personally got a lot of enjoyment out of making a whole lot of these. Getting bits of junk and just going for it. You don’t have to be a great painter with these, with a combination of an already painted model some sponges and metallics and rust colours you can really change the feel of a car quite easily. However the thing I liked the most about these was seeing kids get in on the action, dads and kids working on these with reckless abandon.
Frostgrave
The baby of D&D and Mordhiem. Joseph A. McCullough’s brainchild and perhaps the most well known distinctly Miniature Agnostic game. Frostgrave is a skirmish game where each player is going to bring ten models to bare on the field with one more important than all others, the Wizard. A surprisingly brutal game by using the D20 system instead of the usual D6 system, using twenty-sided and six-sided dice respectively. D20s mean that there will be more explosive situations instead of much more stable and grindy games like D6s.
This game has a passionate fan base but also the biggest thing is that it has received continual support in two ways. One has been the author’s continued engagement with the community and they're continually putting out new work. The second and this may be a surprise in this article but… their own miniature line. Why would I be praising a miniature line about Miniature Agnostic games? Well… They’re really good. Now I am not saying they’re the best sculpts in the world but each box comes with twenty minis and a warband is ten minis so one box at a reasonable price twenty pounds from Merry old England or fifty dollary doos down here… That is an extremely reasonable price for a multi-part kit with lots of different options!
Stargrave
Is it just Frostgrave in space? Well yes and no… Unlike before where is was the bastardised mix of D&D and yet another abandoned Games-Workshop skirmish game this is more like a concept people wanted but never fully got to. This is Firefly, this is Star Wars Rogues, this is Alien. But gameplay-wise if you have played Frostgrave well… you won’t be lost.
For those of you who already know this isn’t a miniatures agnostic game… however… I have tricked you all! This was a history lesson in disguise! Miniature agnostic games were a response to the rising costs of certain Games-Workshop games and their abandonment of other specialist games. Particularly Necromunda.
Infinity was one of those first bridges, instead of the grimdark setting of the misery of Necromunda. It is set in a very interesting and diverse future. I mean that in both senses their model line is really quite different and they want to represent all of the different people of the world and how they each changed in the future. However, it’s our history not, their fictional one I am focusing on.
Games like Warmachine/Hordes, Infinity and a few others are the missing link in the Miniature Agnostic games DNA. While the original Homo Dungio Dragos remains unchanged, everything else did with the event of Games-Workshops Warhammer Fantasy Battle which spawned Warhammer 40,000 and then their specialist games and so on. These rises and falls left people out, and they were looking for games to fill the gap. Which brings us to, today.
3D printing
3D printing the 300-pound gorilla in the room no one is talking about… Yes its a 300 pound gorilla not a 800-pound gorilla like Games-Workshop or Wizards of the Coasts (makers of D&D and Magic the Gathering). See it used to be an anemic 100-pound gorilla when it first got here but it isn’t any longer. Now there are amazing sculpts out there and people are printing off beautiful things… However, 3D printing is still notoriously busted, I should know I have one, I am having trouble with it right now and I am pretty good at it… 3D printers however, are serious competition.
If a bottle of resin costs 100 dollars and a 3D printer costs 300 and a new unit of models costs 100 dollars but you can print ten times that many with one bottle of resin…
This has led certain companies to crack down during official events on 3D printed models. This is fair enough… except, it is the pressure they have exerted on other people which is the real problem, making them take down things that are perfectly legal under the threat of lawfare (a portmanteau of warfare and law filings). So, people feel pushed and have been walking away from bigger things back to smaller ones. Thus the rise of the 3D print Miniature Agnostic games
Don’t believe the lie the rules are more than one page, however, they aren’t that long, most armies are indeed… one page.
One Page Rules has a few different Miniature Agnostic systems Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future Firefight, Age of Fantasy, Age of Fantasy Skirmish, and Age of Fantasy Regiments. No points for guessing what these games might be meaning to replace…
You have to give them credit for the hard work they put in, not only have they made all of those replacement games they also have a slew of other smaller one off games. All of this in addition to producing a set of miniatures every single month. They are busy little bees.
Regardless of if their minis are for me or not, the game might be… and you don’t have to use their miniatures at all. Now they do have some content behind their Pateron walls (seriously guys make your own damn website already these people aren’t helping you at all). I expect they will be the ‘800 pound’ of the 3D print Miniature Agnostic games. For a very different reason, they are really big into collaboration. As far as despotic rulers go I will take the collaborative ones over the NDA forcing ones.
Conclusion: From Dust they came to Dust they will return
First, there were historicals, and from that came Dungeons and Dragons. From Dungeons and Dragons came Warhammer Fantasy, from Warhammer Fantasy came Warhammer 40,000 and an imitation of their father Hero Quest. From Hero Quest came the boxed games, and from them came the specialist games, and from them came the disgruntled gamers. From them came the fan game and from them came the new games. Then they returned to the historical games.
Miniature Agnostic games have been born from one thing, a rebellion from false demand. Dungeons and Dragons now have their own official miniature line. I am not 100% up to date with their messaging and such, however not once have I heard any hubbub about them saying you can only use official models. We are entering a new age of gaming. One that is far less collective because as sad as it is… we are growing apart. There are fewer and fewer Friendly Local Gaming Stores and with fewer people willing to put on events let alone fewer people willing to go to them, there will be fewer big army games.
The good news is this. The games will be better. Miniature games will only be able to rely on their marketing and their goodwill with their communities. There will still be boutique miniatures out there however, I foresee in the not too distant future the end of boutique >Game Pieces< where these models are necessary for gameplay but cost far too much. My reasoning for this is basically why these Miniature Agnostic games have popped up in the first place. The other bit of good news. Now games will have to stand on their own as far as their quality goes because people will judge them and more easily move on because their models won’t be tied to a single system.
Well, I hope you enjoyed that deep dive into the history of how miniature agnostic games came to be and a bit more of a total history of how games have come and gone. Until next time…
Keep those brushes wet.