New Horizons

I don't know why. I haven't a clue why. All I know is that this is something I want to do, that I am going to do.

As most of you know I play more than just 40k. There is also X-Wing, Star Wars Miniatures and Drop Zone Commander to name but a few. One thing that I find lacking in our world of wonderful games though is an easy to learn large scale space combat game. X-Wing is fantastic, the models in particular are some of the best in the industry, but it does not cater at all to large scale games and the sheer number of tokens is ridiculous. Full Thrust is another brilliant game and it has not only free rules but gives you everything you need to design your own ships. It's also well suited to small and large scale games but it takes a long time to learn the game and that's before you add in vector movement, aliens and UNSC weapons which all add more complications. Battlefleet Gothic is another example of over complication, just look at that gunnery table and the nova weapons section, the diagram doesn't even match the description!

I bet you're sat there thinking "Where are you going with this?". Well I'll tell you, I'm going to design my own game. I'll be doing everything from designing and playtesting rules to creating the models. To create them I'm planning on building them in 3D on my computer and using a 3D printing service to get the first few models. I'm looking at Shapeways as they also allow you to set up a shop online through their site. Another bonus is that one of the programs they accept is the one I use at college for 3D stuff so I wont have to get to grips with a new program. Did I mention I do Games Design at college? It's aimed at video games but the process is much the same. I could also do animations to explain the rules if I got a website set up for this.

This is one of my first 3D models. My second actually (my first was an entire level and not a very good one :P ). With a bit of modifying to add details without the textures (windows, couple more weapons, etc) I would get this printed as a test model to see the quality of Shapeways for myself.

Obviously this idea is in the VERY early stages at the moment but I'll keep adding updates as I go. This is going to be long and hard (hehehe) but if I can pull it off then it'll be worth it.