CMoN's Dark Age

[Shub-Nullgurath]

I don't know if anyone's seen Dark Age at all, but lately the quality of the miniature sculpts has gone way above and beyond what they used to be. The rules are pretty solid too but there's no one in the UK to play with. My only problem with the system is that it's not very "your dudes"-y.

I've noticed that the Warband prices are getting cheaper for more models, too. Still not very cheap but considering the quality I doubt it matters that much.

But, seriously though, look at these sculpts:

[dijit]

I looked at the game quite a bit several years ago, before CMoN took over and even then it was quite unique and as you say some entering rules. I never bought any minis, though.

[Dr. The Viking]

I like the purple.

[Elbows]

Some decent sculpts but it suffers from the usual sci-fi plague...lack of enthusiasm for a random background/fluff.  I've watched some videos with the designers etc. and it's just all completely not intriguing to me.  I often wonder how many of these places would be better off just making generic sci-fi sculpts rather than attempting a game.

[dijit]

I often wonder how many of these places would be better off just making generic sci-fi sculpts rather than attempting a game.

I think youre close to the nail with many minis companies. It seems every company has to have its own ruleset to fit its own minis. Rather than having good solid rulesets that allow a wide variety of minis and then mini companies making just minis.

[Timotl]

The models are great but the setting is not interesting to me either. I have been thinking about using some for Rogue Stars though...

[manic _miner]

 That Shadow Elemental is a great piece.I have some of the old miniatures and they are quite nice pieces.Got a couple of the rule books but never played.Some nice factions in the game too.

[Achilles]

Great game. Quite venerable too (I think I bought my first Dark Age models when they were bringing lipped bases 'en vogue' in like 2001).

They've gone the free route where all the rules, cards and accessories are PDF downloads on their site. Quite a wonderful team working on it to, including Dave Taylor of GW's old Generals Compendium fame.

[tnjrp]

It seems every company has to have its own ruleset to fit its own minis. Rather than having good solid rulesets that allow a wide variety of minis and then mini companies making just minis.

Apparently the belief is that minis lines without games sell worse than those with -- even if the game is a bit vestigial. Difficult to say if there is any truth to that, certainly there have been moderate and even successful KS projects marketing only minis (excluding terrain), but all the example of the latter variety I recall off the bat have strongly tended towards a particular pre-existing popular aesthetic found in an established big name game (read "unofficial Wh40k models").

Likewise, I don't know of a miniature game without any dedicated miniatures that has been a big seller.

As to the original subject matter, I hear mostly good things about the current DA rules (when I do hear anything about the game at all) and even given my lack of enthusiasm for the overall aesthetic there are some very nice sculpts in the line (of the above, only Nathaniel and Orchid qualify however), even if they are on the big side for my general collection. I'm also of an opinion that, aside of the obvious postapocalyptic setting, many of the humans (and close facsimiles thereof) might find use in a "gritty superhero" one -- which is not something I'm into any more than into postapoc personally.

Aside of the above, DA seems to have always been an oddly fringe game and as I mentioned above, I don't really see much enthusiasm for it anywhere. Apparently it does sell enough these days for CMON to keep producing new minis and even plastic starters so I'm probably living in the wrong bubble. Years back, it may have hurt DA that it happened to come out around the time WARMACHINE craze swept the world and also there was reputedly some connection to some people who had acted somehow fraudulently or something like that, which gave some people reason to go all "Prodos Games" on the then owners of the game, but that was more than a decade ago so probably not a factor any more.

[Major_Gilbear]

I really Like Dark Age, but getting the models in the UK was really hard for a long time. I remember lobbying Wayland Games and others at various Salute shows over the years to carry them, and have since bought a few warbands.

The background setting is rather cool too, and there seems to be lots of potential for all sorts of different weird and wonderful scenery and viciousness.

However, I do find the scenarios and objective interaction to be a bit dry/artificial. Of course, I realise that it's meant to be a competitive and well-balanced game first, but I would love to see some "softer" story-based scenarios released just for fun.

I often wonder how many of these places would be better off just making generic sci-fi sculpts rather than attempting a game.

Unlike Historicals or (to a great extent) Fantasy, there is no "main" sci-fi universe/trope that most people know... Star Wars and Star Trek are probably the closest you'll get. This makes "generic" sci-fi stuff rather hard to sell, especially because for many existing games the specific look and feel of the game background is what attracted players to start with.

That said, I would love to see a lot more sci-fi models in general - civvies and more non-warrior types especially.

Great game. Quite venerable too (I think I bought my first Dark Age models when they were bringing lipped bases 'en vogue' in like 2001).

I'm pretty sure the round-lipped bases were originally DA-only, and then PP used them for their then-brand-new Warmachine game; afterwards, the round-lipped bases seemed to be much more common (thanks to WM, even though DA started with them!).

They've gone the free route where all the rules, cards and accessories are PDF downloads on their site.

One of the best decisions any game company can make in my opinion! I don't need much of an excuse to buy cool models, and everything-free rules-wise is a pretty great excuse.

Also, I am deliriously happy to see DA on your channel, so thank you for featuring it. 

[AWu]

DA have great miniatures but their problem were to many editions of the rules.. They changed editions every two or three years.. For game that niche it was total kill for me..