Sunday 8 October 2017

Alternative Armies Sci-Fi Figures 01

I recently discovered a range of figures produced by Alternative Armies for their Ganesha Games 28mm scale sci-fi range. I was instantly attracted to them and ordered the complete range. I want to start my reviews of them with a look at the following four figures shown below.
At the far left is Graul Granite, a rock-like alien and a bodyguard of Lord Phalag. He does look a lot like Ben Grimm aka the Thing from Marvel Comic's The Fantastic Four. I have yet to decide what race he is. He could be a Boromite from Warlord Games Beyond the Gates of Antares game but seeing as I have no interest in that game at present, I doubt if I'll go down that path. Most likely I'll come up with my own stats for him. The figure is a two piece casting - upper body and lower body.
The figure that most intrigued me from this set is the one second from the left. He is Lord Phalag and most likely a human. He looks every inch the cruel despot, powerful crime-lord or planetary governor. I plan to use him as a crime-lord in my The Ace of Spades Campaign for my N.E.W. RPG that I'm running on my other blog. I also think he would be a great rival of Lord Valatrix in the Death Match game by Wargames Terrain Workshop. The figure is made of resin with the four lower panels of the hover chair and the familiar sitting on his shoulder being made of metal. The alien familiar very much reminds me of Salacious Crumb, Jabba the Hutt's familiar in the Star Wars films. Note that he is not supplied with a flying base. Fortunately, I have loads of spare ones. I attached him to the base with a piece of copper tubing.
The light turquoise skinned female second from the right is another member of Lord Phalag's retinue. She is called Skarra and is described as a mutant mindblaster, so that means she is a psyker. To me, she looks like a Yazirian, an ape-like race with wings who appeared in TSR's Star Frontiers sci-fi RPG. Or she could be a totally different species.
Sticking with the Death Match theme, the final figure is Lord Phalag's champion gladiator - Silas the Strong. He is clad in tight-fitting silver armour and he wields a laser sword. Note that in the N.E.W. game, the colour of a laser sword denotes its core properties. Red laser swords symbolise aggression and anger. They do more damage than other laser swords. That seemed highly appropriate for him. I'm in two minds about whether to add a shield to him. The way he's holding his left arm means it would easily fit on.
These figures are all currently available from the Alternative Armies web-store, see here - https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/ganesha-games-scifi
Prices are £8.00 for Graul Granite, £5.00 for Lord Phalag, £2.00 for Skarra or £15.00 for all three. Silas costs £2.00 and is also available as part of the Techno-Barbarian pack of three figures. I am very impressed with this range of figures, especially as I can get double use out of them in Death Match and in my The Ace of Spades Campaign. I realise that I could just as easily have posted this review on my WOIN blog, but by posting it here, ensures it gets seen by a wider audience.

18 comments:

  1. Phlag is a good looking sculpt and you have done a great job on him. The `Thing' type figure is interesting and may find use on a Bloodbowl team as a Flesh Golem.

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    1. Thanks, Phil. Lord Phalag is a most impressive figure. I could certainly see Graul being used as a flesh golem. That's an interesting idea.

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  2. Corking post, Bryan, one of my faves of the year. I was very tempted to back both kickstarters for these minis but ultimately decided to go with "Rogue Stars" Nickstarter instead. Seeing these minis I'm not convinced I made the right choice; especially as the rules for "Rogue Stars" seem to have taken a bit of a kicking.

    What's not to like about some of the key characters behind "Ganesha Games" "Mutants & Death Ray Guns", and that's a great idea to cross them over with Dave's "Death Match". Very fitting imho.

    There's also a great mix of Disney properties amongst the sculpts, with Marvel super-heroes and a definite Star Wars vibe to them too. All colourfully brought to the fore by your paint-jobs I stress, with the rich blue of Skarra being stand-out stuff in my books.

    Wonderful posting, as I've said, and I'm very much looking forward to the next one!!

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    1. Thank you kindly, Simon. I've heard too many bad reviews of "Rogue Stars" so I'm giving it a wide berth, although I do like some of the official figures produced for it. A few have made it onto my shopping list. Giving your obvious love of "Mutants and Death Rays" I'm not at all surprised you like these figures. I'm just surprised you haven't bought them yet. ;-)

      The "Death Match" crossover idea seemed so obvious to me and Lord Valatrix certainly needs some rivals.

      I'll be covering more of this range in my next few posts so you should be pleased with what I post.

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  3. Some nice (and not so nice ) aliens. The guy in the chair could so easily come from my home town..... maybe he does!!! Yikes.

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    1. Thanks, Clint. I was wondering if Lord Phalag was based on me! Now there's a scary thought!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. These look marvelous Bryan, the brushwork certainly makes them 'pop' -great choice of colours!
    I reckon Phalag wouldn't look out of place in a Dredd scenario too, so you could class him as "Triple use" ;-)

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    1. Thank you, Greg. You're right about possibly using Lord Phalag in Judge Dredd. It's not something I'd considered but it does make a lot of sense. "Triple use" indeed! How cool is that?

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  5. Very nice additions Bryan and great painting too. Great to get multiple uses out of a model as well

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    1. I whole-heartedly agree, Dave. It's always nice to get multiple uses out of figures.

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  6. You mentioned adding a shield to Silas. How about an energy shield a la Ulysses 31?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtdBe7YSL0M

    You don't even have to model it though where would the fun in that be? :)

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    1. What a great suggestion, Jason! Consider that idea stolen!

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  7. They have some cool characters. Great paint jobs on them!

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  8. What a great looking set of miniatures Bryan, My fave has to be the Lord figure, very sinister

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    1. Cheers, Andy. Lord Phalag is my favourite too.

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  9. I was considering getting that floating chap, myself, to use as a crime boss. I'm planning on at least buying the 'Lion' figure with the big gun from this range, as I really do like it and plan on using it as some sort of bounty hunter. Thanks again for the review.

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    1. Sorry for the late reply, Roy. Lord Phalag is a great figure. I have the "Lion" figure you mention and I hope to show him soon, but he might appear on my WOIN blog.

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