Famine, Sword, & Fire (TurnStyle Games) Battle Report, page 21

[Frugalmax]

The basing and arrangement really looks good on these goblins!

[Elbows]

Thanks, I'm just plowing through them as quick as I can The charm has worn off! 

[Elbows]

I picked up a box of these Chaos Knights from a buddy of mine..and boy I hated every single minute of painting these.  Despite not even being the latest obscene AoS sculpts...the unnecessary amount of detail on these guys was just...ugh.  Not my thing.

On the plus side it killed any enthusiasm I have for doing a Chaos/Beastman force in the future unless I go with alternate sculpts.  On top of that, the pictures came out like garbage too.  Hurrah.

[Tom Dulski]

 Well you may have hated every minute of it but the results are great.

[Pattus Magnus]

I completely agree, they turned out quite well. I can certainly see why painting a chaos army would be off-putting after your experience with these, though.

[Frugalmax]

They look mean and heavy- nice work!

Yeah, it's interesting that GW seems (or seemed- maybe they've changed, and I'm speculating here so let the grains of salt be thrown about, choked down, or spat out as you will) to cram each miniature with so much detail even when they were supposed to be rank and file troops in the game.

I guess I get it from the perspective trying to differentiate yourself as the maker of the highest quality miniatures, but when your game is/was about getting lots of painted models on the table, it would seem that fewer details, but well done, would be preferable. For example I really liked the 5th/6th edition posable plastic empire troops (sure, they could have used more head variants, detail could have been sharper, but for the time they were solid), and while there were various things that I didn't like as much about the 7th/8th edition version, one was that they just had a lot more junk built in to their belts, straps, etc. which just created more painting steps for guys who were going to be in blocks of 20-30. Anyway, there's a good number of other companies out there now doing great stuff, so options abound! End of rant.

Great work on those Chaos Knights!

[Elbows]

Yep, 100%.  Even more weird that a lot of the GW sculpts (even ones designed for Warhammer Fantasy) are too big for their bases, and too dynamic to be used in rank-n-flank, etc.

I vastly, VASTLY prefer stuff like Fireforge Games.  Plenty of detail, nicely sculpted and 'logical' from a gamer's perspective. 

[Elbows]

I just spent way too many hours writing up a battle report for my blog.  This was a smaller solo game, with photos to hopefully help deliver the narrative.  It's not a deep dive into the rules, but should give more of the "feel" of the game.

I'd like to do more of these in the future, despite the time/effort it takes.  Ideally I'll eventually put some up on video which could be easier!

Raid Along the East Trail

https://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2025/09/battle-report-famine-sword-fire-raid.html

[fred]

Good looking game, and nice write up.

Regarding the activation mechanism - does the failure rate feel right to you? For a solo game units failing to activate adds to the narrative and friction. In a two player game, too many failed activations can really leave players frustrated - it's a difficult balance to get some friction, without units doing nothing for big chunks of time.

Some of this also dependant on the length of a game, not activating for 2 turns out of 4, is much more impactful than not activating for 2 turns out of 8.

[Basementboy]

They look mean and heavy- nice work!

Yeah, it's interesting that GW seems (or seemed- maybe they've changed, and I'm speculating here so let the grains of salt be thrown about, choked down, or spat out as you will) to cram each miniature with so much detail even when they were supposed to be rank and file troops in the game.

Agreed! Most of the miniatures coming out of GW right now look more like display pieces than actual miniatures for a game. Nothing wrong with display pieces of course, but it's pretty frustrating for newcomers to the hobby who just want to paint something quickly and play a game.

[Elbows]

Good looking game, and nice write up.

Regarding the activation mechanism - does the failure rate feel right to you? For a solo game units failing to activate adds to the narrative and friction. In a two player game, too many failed activations can really leave players frustrated - it's a difficult balance to get some friction, without units doing nothing for big chunks of time.

Some of this also dependant on the length of a game, not activating for 2 turns out of 4, is much more impactful than not activating for 2 turns out of 8.

Yep, the activation system is a key component to the game.  This is dependent on the experience level of the unit, the traits they select, the number of couriers you purchase, etc.  There are numerous ways to manipulate that.  The goblin archer unit that failed to activate 5/6 times out of 11 turns had a Command value of 74%.  Just poor luck that it rolled 90%+ five or six turns.  So, not statistically likely, but it happens.

Units also have reaction functions during the opponents turn, and units in close combat fight simultaneously (and automatically activate), so you're not sitting twiddling your thumbs, even if you have an occasional bad turn.

Also, a key component is that FSF (when you're not solo reporting) is an extremely quick game compared to your average Warhammer style game.  If this 250 point game was two-player, each player turn would be 5-10 minutes max.  This game would have been maybe 45 minutes to an hour at most.  So time-wise, you're not sitting useless.

[Frugalmax]

Great write up- a real nail biter! And while I'm not going to go rebase a ton of minis, I gotta repeat my admiration of the multi-basing style you've got going. They really look good!

[mikedemana]

I agree with the cheap dragon, here! What a nail biter...!

Mike Demana

[blacksoilbill]

That's a lovely looking table and a great battle report.

[Elbows]

Thanks.

Fortunately - while it's a bit time intensive, it plays pretty well solo (despite losing the secretive scheming bits).  I'll probably do another one when I get a few more goblin units painted up, make a little three-game story arc or something.

I have several more mercenary units to paint, but those'll take a back burner for a bit.