I soon found out that the source of this was a Scotsman now living in Uruguay, who was associated with a wargaming company named Spartan Games. They produce some very interesting games, and miniatures to go with them:
So without further ado, here's my interview with him:
1. Who are you, and what can
you tell us about Spartan Games?
I'm Ross MacKenzie, Proofing
Team Leader, one of the Senior Play-testers, and a Vanguard for
Spartan Games: specifically for their Dystopian Wars line of games.
Spartan Games is a UK Table-top
company that started up in 2008, and has been going strong since
then. I got involved with them around 2012 or so, through my local
war-games group back in Scotland, as a play-testing team, and, over
time, we got more involved in the process until we got where we are
now.
2. More specifically, what
are Spartan's current miniature wargame lines?
Spartan has three main wargame
lines: Uncharted Seas, launched in 2008, a Fantasy Naval game, which
is currently mail-order only; Firestorm Armada, launched in 2009, a
Sci-Fi space battle game, which got a 2nd edition last year; and,
finally, Dystopian Wars, which launched in 2010, a naval and
land-based Steampunk wargame, with its second edition coming out on
the 28th of May.
There is also Dystopian Legions:
a 32mm Skirmish game in the Dystopian Universe, Armoured Clash, again
in the Dystopian Universe, and Planetfall, a Land variant for
Firestorm Armada.
3. The miniatures I saw at
the event at the Intendencia were very impressive, anything else you
can tell us about them? Were they made in-house?
The miniatures are all made from
resin, with some metal drop-ins, usually for turrets and the like.
Spartan is trying to move to using resin as much as possible because
it's cheaper, lighter, and easier for everyone to work with. Spartan
does an amazing job on the detail and quality of the models, which
are all made in the UK and shipped world-wide. They come un-painted,
and, for the larger models, with some assembly required, so the hobby
involves a bit of DIY and artistic skill, which is a big part of the
fun!
4. What were the inspiration
for the games?
The games are all original ideas
of the head of Spartan Games: Neil Fawcett, with amazing background
information written by Franco Sammarco.
From what I understand,
Dystopian Wars is pretty much a "what-if?" setting. It's a
world where, in the 19th century, people discover technology far
beyond what we have even today, along with a new element "Sturginium"
that powers much of this. The discoverers hoped that freely gifting
this new knowledge to the Great Powers of the world would bring about
a utopian society, but, instead, it brings about a World War of epic
proportions: indicating mankind's predeliction toward greed and
power. Unlike a lot of other Steampunk settings, Dystopian Wars
really feels like Victorian Science Fiction with a strong basis in
taking actual historical events and changing them in reaction to the
discovery central to the Dystopian Universe.
Firestorm Armada, similarly,
feels a lot like the older, hard science fiction of Asimov and
Clarke, with some of the elements of Frank Herbert's Dune thrown in
for good measure. People travel by "folding" space, there
are strange alien races with advanced technology, but the two most
important players are the "Terran Alliance" and the
"Dindrenzi Federation": two human organisations that have
brought in the other races of the galaxy in a massive war,
effectively over how humanity should be governed.
5. how do you think spartan's games compare to GW's; what would be
the incentive for fans of GW's games to check out Spartan's, what do you
think Spartan does better than GW that would make it worth investing
in?
The biggest incentive for fans of GW games to check out Spartan though is the price: Spartan's models are very high quality resin, but are sold much cheaper than GW's models. Not only are they cheaper, but they package their products mostly in "sets" that allow for a much more pick-up and play feel. If you want to get into Firestorm Armada, for example, you can buy the two-player starter set, which comes with a rulebook, and enough models for a small fleet for each player. There are also "Patrol Fleet" boxes, that come with the tokens, cards, and models you need to make a small fleet, and then all you'd need to do is to buy the main rulebook: the stats for each faction's models are available from the Spartan website for free!
This system is also being ported over to Dystopian Wars with the new 2.0 rulebook, 2-player starter set, as well as Naval, and Armoured Battle Groups being released in June, that will allow people to simply buy a box of the faction they like best, get a rulebook, and get playing!
6. What are you doing in
Uruguay? How long have you been here now? Are you here for good?
I'm in Uruguay because I fell in
love with an Uruguyan lady, I arrived in the country last December,
and we got married in mid-January, after having dated long-distance
for 4 years. I can't say for certain if I'm going to be in Uruguay
for good: I'm from Scotland originally, but I also have strong ties
to the USA, so we're keeping our options open, but I can say that I'm
likely to be here for at least 2 years, if not more.
7. How are you finding
Uruguayan life in general?
Very different from life in
Scotland, certainly! The weather is one of the things that has taken
the most getting used to, but now that we're heading towards Winter
I'm feeling a lot more comfortable! I got a job offer within two
months of arriving in Uruguay, which made me warm to the country
considerably! The people here are very friendly, and I like how
everyone seems to know everyone else here: there's a definite
community spirit in Uruguay which reminds me a bit of home.
8: What sort of work are you doing in Uruguay?
I'm currently working in Zonamerica, where I've found that pretty much everyone I bump into is into some kind of hobby scene, and pretty much everyone has native-level English there too: the place feels a bit like I've wandered into the USA!
9. How are you finding the
hobby scene here?
I'm very impressed with the
hobby scene here! I did not know what to expect at all, and was pleasantly
surprised to see that there are so many people into role-playing, card games,
board games, comics, animé, etc. One of
the best things about the community here, in my opinion, is the gender ratio:
the Uruguyan hobby scene has a very healthy mix of men and women. What's even
better is that it doesn't feel like there's been any particular effort
to make the hobby scene more inclusive here: it just is. It's a lot better than the scene back home in that regard, where there’s
still a very “boy’s club” feel to the scene, even if there's some progress being made, slowly. I was also really surprised to find that there's actually a community of
people who play Games Workshop games here, though I've not yet had the time to
meet up with them. The conventions and events have really impressed me so far,
and I'm looking forward to attending Montevideo Comics (where I'll be showing
off Dystopian Wars again!), as I hear it's the biggest event in the country.
10. The roleplaying hobby in
Uruguay is huge, and very strong in terms of networking. But its
also fairly cheap, as a hobby, to get into. Most gamers here don't
own their own books, those who do often use pirated copies. Do you
think that this would make it a challenge for the types of miniature
wargames Spartan does to catch on here?
I was worried that people would
find Wargames prohibitively expensive, but I've already convinced at
least 5 people to buy fleets, with more people asking for details on
where to get models at each convention I attend, so, on the price
side I'm not so worried. Maybe the community will be a bit smaller
than the role-playing one, but we'll have to wait and see.
Spartan actually releases the
rules for their models online for free, all a player needs to pay for
to get into the game after that is a copy of the rulebook, which are
sold at a very reasonable price. I wouldn't be surprised if groups
shared a rulebook between them, at least at first, but the fact that
everyone gets to know what their models do without having to spend a
single peso should, in my opinion, be a big draw.
11. Have you found the
language barrier to be a big issue for you, in terms of getting
involved with gamers?
My Spanish is, I must admit,
pretty much non-existent at the moment, but it's something that I'm
working on! However, I've found that most gamers here have pretty
good English, even if they don't speak much, they understand me. I
also have the advantage that my wife is into my hobbies, is a native
Uruguyan, and happens to be an English teacher, so she's able to
interpret for me if things get difficult. I've also met a few people
here with impeccable English who are very exciting by Dystopian Wars
and have been helping me out immensely.
I am hoping to learn enough
Spanish to get by by the end of the year, but we'll see how that
goes!
---
Well, thanks to Ross for the interview, and if you dig wargaming, check out Spartan games!
RPGPundit
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