Despite making bold proclamations that I couldn’t be arsed writing for Corehammer anymore and was instead throwing my limited energies into Dungeonpunx, it would appear I can’t leave well enough alone. I find myself at a loose end on a Saturday night with an urge to express some enthusiasm and to get this shit back on track. I wanted to write something positive about the stuff I enjoy. I love dogs and good pizza, ice cold cherry cokes, the Carcass back catalogue, D&D, John Blanche paintings and the many works of Mike Mignola. But most of all I love the defiant spirit of punk rock, the fire in the belly of those who just won’t quit, who believe in what they are doing despite all the obstacles and aggravations put in their path. It’s why I am excited about Nick Baran’s Broken Contract and Chris Brady’s Wild In The Streets. And it’s why I love Dead Earth Games.

We’ve mentioned DEG before on here and we are big supporters of the creative work Rich Chapell puts into getting new ideas, worlds and characters out into the world. Rich’s first project, designed with his brother Mike, was the post apocalyptic skirmish game Across The Dead Earth. Successfully funded via Kickstarter, the game garnered some great reviews for it’s very British take on the classic cursed earth scenario, with a lean rule set and some beautiful minis to accompany it.

Not one to rest upon his laurels Rich was soon back at the drawing board, this time the fruit of his labour was The Shattered Crown. A fantasy battle game that drew influence from the historical conflicts and cloak and dagger intrigues of 15th century Britain whilst still retaining a fantasy feel by weaving in some esoteric elements of Arthurian legends!
Sadly, this didn’t quite succeed in it’s Kickstarter bid, personally I think it suffered from a timing clash, colliding with the whole (R)Age Of Sigmar episode and flying under the radar of a lot of folk who would quite possibly have leapt upon it under different circumstances. In the post AOS/8th Edition landscape I think Shattered Crown could have been something special. The rules are available for your perusal via free download on their Facebook group HERE

This small setback has not deterred Dead End Games from bouncing back and unleashing some of the miniatures from The Shattered Crown just for the hell of it. The kickstarter HERE for the bear and stag riders has already succeeded in it’s initial funding and is now in the process of unlocking some very tasty stretch goals. These models are excellent quality and reasonably priced. The sculpts are crisp and I’m hard pushed to think of any other similar alternative cavalry doing the rounds at the moment. Ideal for use in AOS, Frostgrave, A Song Of Blades & Heroes and any other number of similar games.

I’ve gone in on a couple of each figure and chucked in a few bones extra to hopefully ensure that sweet She Ra/ albino Battlecat combo get’s unlocked so I can use it in my D&D campaign! Regardless of my hyperbole, this project is happening and wraps up it’s kickstarter in less than a week so go take a look and get involved!