Wargames Atlantic

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Wargames Atlantic
Year Established	January 2019 (Approximate)
Notable Employees	Bob Naismith
Notable Games	Death Fields
Website	https://wargamesatlantic.com/

Wargames Atlantic is an American miniatures company, notable for having some of their sculpting done by Bob Naismith, who used to work at Games Workshop.

Their main appeal to /tg/ is their Death Fields line, which is pretty clearly designed to provide cheap proxies for Guard armies, but they have steadily expanded into historical and fantasy offers as well. In December 2022 they have also opened a MyMiniFactory store, where they sell files for smaller projects they couldn't immediately put out as standalone kits, such as individual characters, conversions kits for bringing some of their kits into a different historical period, vehicles and larger critters, and terrain. You can suscribe to get all the kits of the month, or buy the files individually, and they are also planning on selling physical versions through their store in the future.

While more affordable than good old GW, the actual models are fairly high quality but also fairly monopose. The Grognards kit, for example, has only three bodies and three rifle arm poses, so you're going to get very familiar with the same nine dudes in your guard army. Still, GW's latest kits themselves aren’t exactly brimming with pose options, so it may not be as big a downside as it could have been.

Products

Warning: all Wargames Atlantic sets come without bases. It's not much of a deal breaker, but make sure you take that into account when working out if these boys and girls are for you. On the other hand, they also do sell bases that are specifically designed to be magnetised and work with models that already have bases.

Death Fields

Wargames Atlantic's sci-fi line, these kits represent squads or bands of soldiers and warriors abducted from all points in time and every corner of the universe to fight to the death in arena combat for the entertainment of a bunch of depraved aliens, the deceased brought back to life by advanced technology at the end of every match, and and many teams are even allowed to have children in order to feed the insatiable demand for the bloodsport.

• Raumjäger Infantry

24 men in a box for £25 so that's £1.04 a model. The idea behind these boys is a WW2 german paratrooper vibe, but they would make good proxies for someone looking at an Armageddon Steel Legion army. 6 identical sprues, each has a flamer, a plasma gun, some heavy rifle that won't port over to GW too well (maybe a melta gun?), and a vox caster. These are chunky boys with lots of webbing on them so its a bit of a challenge to make interesting conversions, though not impossible. They also have a smattering of female heads which is appreciated.

• Les Grognards

Yet another 24 for boys for £25. We have a classic French look and greatcoats, and they come with a plethora of head options (192 in total, I believe): shakos, bearskins (do I hear Vostroyan?), kepi, and the classic Adrian Helmet. Do you want each of these to come with a gas mask as well as an open-faced version? Well, that's what you get. Considering other manufacturers like Anvil Industries will sell you 7 alternative heads for about £3.50 alone, this box is a steal for the right audience. Each sprue comes with a flamer, plasma gun, melta gun and grenade launcher as well as a rather nice-looking chainsword.

• Les Grognard Command/Heavy Weapon

This box which comes with three sprues, and enough to build six heavy weapons and 12 men for £25. Everything is compatible with the infantry set, so if you bought one of each you get a few options to play around with. Each sprue has the option of four heavy weapons, a lascannon, mortar, some kinda gatling thing (could work as a stand in for a heavy bolter) and a weird anti-aircraft gun, so your mileage may vary but you can make three convincing Mortar and lascannon teams from the kit at least. You also have some command options such as a sniper, medic, standard-bearer and vox operator, also anyone looking for some decent sci-fi bicorns will be in their element. The set also has some lady heads which is always appreciated, and a bottle of wine.

• Einherjar

These boys come in a box of 24 for £25. These are a combination of Vikings and Squats, so we see furs and beards and some medieval helmets. It contains 8 sprues, and each sprue holds three bodies, a flamer, a plasma gun, a grenade launcher, a vox caster and a shield and an axe for some reason. As they are space dorfs, they are smaller than GW's (and WA's own) humans, but fairly slim compared to a GW dwarf.

• Cannon Fodder 1 and 2

30 guardsmen or 24 guardswomen for £25. They appear to be in some kind of prison jumpsuit and the rifles they carry look the most similar to a lasgun WA have made yet, and come with options for shaved heads, soft caps, helmets, and some kind of HAZMAT-esque gasmasks. Worth considering if you want to make a penal legion, Planetary Defense Force, Traitor Army or if you just want some conscripts that stand out from the rest of your troops. The only special weapon they get is one plasma gun per sprue, which is a bit of an odd choice considering what they are supposed to represent, but hey. The second box is entirely composed by female figures, so they naturally have different poses, heads and weapons, but the backpacks are identical. The girls only come in a box of 24 for the same price however, which is a little disappointing but still better than GW's prices. It's worth noting that the girls' box includes a couple of hands holding daggers, two holding pistols and one with a chain hook, so with a bit of work you could just about squeeze out a 10-(wo)man hand-to-hand squad from the box.

• Bulldogs

The set for the Praetorian Guard fans, 24 space British troops with a selection of quasi-historical heads and weaponry, from WW1-style Broodies, to Zulu Wars-era Piths, as well as a hand holding a teacup. Special weapons include a Lewis-looking LMGs, plasma guns, SMGs/assault rifles, a grenade launcher and an odd-looking flamer. For anyone who ever wanted those classic metal models here is a chance to put together a force for a very decent price.

• Ooh Rah

Operators operating operationally, the kit. US Marines from the near-future kidnapped to play in the Death Fields, they look perhaps a bit too modern for 40k aesthetics. 24 men per box, with assault rifles, shotguns, carabines, and big railgun-looking machine guns. Bare heads, baseball caps, boonie hats, combat helets with and without face mask protection for all of your head-picking needs.

• Harvesters - Alien Bugs

As you might have inferred by their name, these are WA's Tyranids, falling somewhere between Terma-/Hormagaunts and Warriors. You get 20 per box, plus 10 dog-sized beasties to accompany them, and have a couple of ranged bio-weapon options alongside the classic scythe-like claws.

• Space Nam

Technically not part of the Death Fields series, but pretty much made for it, in collaboration with Reptilian Overlords. A box of 20 guys with a very strong Catachan vibe, they sport the obligatory lasguns and have options for bolt guns, flamers, plasma guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, melta guns and the sword equivalent of a combat knife.

• Death Fields Weapon Upgrade Sprue 001

One sprue that gives you 6 Pickelhaube gasmask heads (with separate air units), 6 laser rifle right arms, 6 bayonets, 5 autogun/shotgun right arms, 6 long-sleeved left arms, 3 bio-prosthetic left arms, and 2 pistol right arms to play around with, and although they may not perfectly fit every of the above (and below) kits as they were mostly meant for the Grognards, it's nothing a little hobby knife work will stop.

Classic Fantasy

What it says on the tin, because life isn't all about 40k, but many kits come with interesting alternative options.

• Skeleton Warriors

32 Harryhausen-style spooky boys, mainly armed with spears and hoplon shields, but have options for pikes, swords, and bows, a horn for a musician (DOOT) and a bovine skull you can glue to one of the polearms for a DIY standard-bearer.

• Halfling Militia

Less cartoony than TTCombat's, you get 40 Late Dark Age-looking hobbitses, with options for spearmen, halberdiers, slingers and archers, as well as a buckler and shortsword intended for a champion, a horn-holding hand, and a (flagless) flagpole topped by a carved chicken.

• Giant Spiders

24 creepy crawlies, 12 big and 12 "small", including sci-fi upgrades for the larger ones because who doesn't love a cyborg spider with guns?

• Lizardmen

Another 24-models box, they come with weapon options for spears, swords, flintlocks and assault rifles, and a choice of heads including the classic lizard look, chamaleaons, and gasmask, so with a little magnetization you could use one box in multiple settings and game systems.

• Goblin Warband

This kit lets you build 30 stinky, green little creatures and arm them with spears, bows, an assortment of one-handed weapons and shields, and also includes saddles so they can ride the Giant Spiders.

• Landsknecht Ogres

9 big boys dressed up as German Mercenaries, sporting halberds, spears, huge handcannons, knives, clubs, greatswords, and large pistols. However, the box also includes auto-guns, shotguns, grenades, modern body armour and helmets to build their Death Fields equivalents, making for a good representation of some certain Imperial Guard auxiliaries.

First Empires

From the rise of Akkadia to the Fall of Alexander, as the boxart proudly displays, this is the line for everything Macedonian Greece and earlier.

• Persian Infantry

40 bodies to fill the ranks of any Darius admirer, the bodies are unfortunately very monopose, with each sprue offering you two light bodies (one of which is moulded pulling a bow), and three "heavier" warriors, but offers many choices of shields, bows, spears, kopis, and sagaris, alongside plenty of heads and some command options.

Decline and Fall

The last days of the (Western) Roman Empire, and the birth of the Barbarian Kingdoms. These kits are meant to combine and mix together to represent many armies of the Dark Age period, allowing modelers to represent many factions with just a handful of boxes, such as using the legionaries kits to represent the more elite warriors of the early European kings.

• Late Roman Legionaries (1): Lorica Hamata

24 legionaries armed with your choice of spatha or spear, plumbata on the back of their shields, two types of standards and the usual command options. Head options include Niedebieber, ridge, and Spangenhelm style helmets, “Panonnian” caps and a wolfskin, plus two types of crest options.

• Goth Warriors

A horde of 30 lightly-armoured (read: tunic and trousers wearing) barbarians, with spears, swords, slings, axes, bows and shields, plus the obligatory command options.

• Late Roman Legionaries (2): Lorica Squamata

Mentioned in the above's kit description, not out yet.

Blood Oaths

Kind of the same period the above kits are meant for, going from the fall of the Western Empire to the Viking age. It's not clear why the company decided to separate them.

• Dark Age Irish Warriors

A box gives you 30 unarmoured (but optionally caped) men with your choice of shield, spear, sword, sling, axe, and shillelagh, command options, plus 10 Irish wolfhounds to accompany them.

Reinassance

This stop for soldiers and warriors from the 15th to 17th centuries.

• Conquistadors

24 mercenary-looking men that can work both in the New and Old Continents and for a couple of centuries, sporting pikes, swords, halberds, crossbows and muskets, and - you guessed it - command options. They could serve very well in WFB, representing Estalia, Tilea, Dogs of War, and even the Empire, in a pinch.

• Aztec Warriors

The counterpart to the above, the kit offers you 30 warriors, split between 10 almost-naked men, 10 wearing a padded vest, and 10 with full-body suits to represent the various tipe of [insert creature here] Warriors, with bows, atlatl, machuahuitl, spears, slings, and... command options, yeah. It could be interesting to use them in place of Warhammer Fantasy Skinks, or maybe one could try bashing them with the Space Nam box above for some Feral World guardsmen.

Napoleon's Wars

For those of us who like bicornes, tricornes, and Corsican men against the world. Understandably, this line doesn't have that much variety in weapon options within individual boxes.

• British Riflemen

32 riflemen ready to fight Napoleon's ambition with their trusty Baker rifles. They come in a good few different poses, and besides the obligatory command bits, they also have a handful of heads, including bare and bandanas.

• Prussian Reserve (1813-1815)

60 men marching out to kick the French out of their country. Quite literally, unfortunately, as each model is made of only two pieces, being modeled on marching order. You do have a choice between shako or Schirmütz for every man, however.

Imperial Conquests

The great powers of the Victorian era carving out big swathes of land for themselves, and those people that were living on those lands at the time.

• Afghan Warriors

This kit can be used to represent the country's northern fighters from the 18th to the early 20th century, as there are pulwar and khyber swords, daggers, shields, muskets, jezails, and Martini-Henry rifles to equip these 40 men with.

• Boxers

While intended for the omonymous Rebellion, much like the above box this one can be used to build up to 30 warriors that took part in conflicts going from the Opium Wars to the guerrillas of World War II, offering polearms, swords, cleavers, pistols and rifles.

Great War

The lie and tragedy of the War to End all Wars, in conventient hard plastic.

• German infantry (1916-1918)

30 men on six identical sprues each containing 6 bodies. But it comes with all that Pickelhaube and Stahlhelm goodness you could want (approximately 150 heads in this one box, including gasmask options), rifles, MP18s, MG-05/18s, pistols, and potato mashers. Combine these boys with some Grognards and you're pretty much on your way to a Death Korps army.

• French infantry (1916-1940)

35 men, 5 full and 5 half sprues, with the full sprue containing 7 bodies. If you need lots of infantry in trenchcoats and Adrian helmets (including those in gasmasks) it's perfect. With Lebels, Berthiers, Chauchats, FM 24/29 and rifle grenades, it can also be used to reperesent early WWII French troops, so if you are a Bolt Action player this is a ground-breaking box, with one being more than enough for a core force and two covering more than you will ever need. Also comes with Harlem Hellfighters and Senegalese Tirailleurs head options, which is pretty neat.

World Ablaze

Because we didn't learn the lesson the first time. With a few other companies offering plastic kits for most of the infantrymen of the various Second World War nations, WA decided to start by offering models that aren't before branching out to the "more mainstream" factions.

• Partisans (1) French Resistance

32 men for £25, 8 identical sprues each containing 4 bodies, with a mix of weapons including French and German rifles, M3 and MP40 SMGs, Bren guns and pistols. By the number in the kit's name, we can deduce more variations will likely come in the future, perhaps with a box of ladies as it was for Cannon Fodder. While billed as "French Resistance", they can easily represent partisans of many European countries. In 40k they could perhaps be used for Frateris Militia, especially if kitbashed with Flagellants.

• Panzer Lehr Division

30 late war German infantrymen, with almost all the weapon goodies that entails (it's puzzling how Stg44s are missing), and has some nice options for tank crews as well. Great if you want to build a Bolt Action late war German army, but with some effort they could also have some limited use as some kind of Imperial Guard or, perhaps better, PDF.

• Italian Infantry

32 boys in Italian army dress, coming with standard helmet, pith helmet, Alpine hat, Bustina, and optional feathers to create Bersaglieri, so for a Bolt Action player it's perfect. Along with the expected rifles, Beretta 38s and Breda 30s, it includes two Breda 37 heavy machine guns which make for a nice couple of weapon teams.

• German Sentries

The first half of the limited release 02 Hundred Hours game, with this kit you get to build 30 between regular soldiers, Feldengendarmes and officers, plus ten German Shepards, making this the second of WA's boxes including some fluffy good boys. Five of the bodies sport a nice long coat, and the Feldgendarmerie gorgets are separate so you can put them on anyone. Being a kit meant to build guards out of, the only weapons you get are rifles, MP40s and pistols, nothing heavier.

• British SAS/Commandos

The other half of 02 Hundred Hours, you get enough bodies to make 30 men from any of the British special forces thanks to many headgear options. Equipment is what you'd expect such an elite group would have access to, meaning Stens, Brens, Tommy guns, Lee Enfields (including sniper variants), pistols, knives, a demolition charge, and radio equipment.

General Accourtments

A small line of kits that could be used in many different games, by multiple factions.

• Horses

Three guesses what you get in this box. 18 quadrupeds with some basic reins and no saddle (but a little blanket), while not useable by exactly every group in every historical period, they cover enough of them. A good starting point for Bolt Action's mounted units and Imperial Guard's Rough Riders both - WA even put out a cavalry kit for Les Grognards with their digital releases.

• 25mm Dual Use Bases

What it says on the tin. The "dual" comes from the fact that the recessed side has been designed to work with those figures that have puddle bases, so that they may sit flush with the base's edge after filling the void with flocking, avoiding every model standing atop a tiny hill. They also come with a 3x1mm hole in the middle for magnetisation ease.

Iron Core

• Eisenkern Stormtroopers

Probably the worst set so far if you're looking at a guard army, you get 20 men for £25 (still better value than Cadians though). The bodies are also noticeably slimmer than a standard GW human (considering all the armour they come in) and you get no special weapon proxies. However, the head design here is fantastic. They are a true update of the dreamforge models from 2013 so will not be suitable for everyone.

How to make a Cheap Guard Army

So the aim is to squeeze 500pts out of three boxes of Les Grognards, this will cost you £75 and provide you with 2 infantry boxes and one command/heavy weapon box. Wargames Atlantic do provide a discount of £70 for three boxes so you are getting a minor saving, as well as at this price postage is free from the company too (at time of writing).

So what to do with sixty men using just the contents of the boxes?

• HQ

2 company commanders (you can even give them powerfists);

• Elites

1 special weapon squad with 3 sniper rifles; 1 special weapon squad with 3 meltas;

• Troops

1 infantry squad with flamer; 3 infantry squads with lascannon and plasma (vox casters optional but you only get three in total),

• Heavy Support

1 heavy weapon team with 3 mortars (6 men).

Now that is a core for any budding Guard commander as it clocks in at about 467pts naked, 487pts if you give both commanders power fists and you can bump it over 502 if you attach three vox casters... Sure I put down a three man sniper squad but that's only because I am insane, the two infantry boxes provide a total of 16 special weapons (well 64, but 16 of each type, so 16 plasma). If you want to go plasma mad then have at it, you could even take the 12 men from the two special weapon squads and make a veteran squad and a couple more officers, heck if you have a bald head you can even give someone the Eagle banner and call him an astropath or psyker, or combine an officers head with the vox caster and phone and call him a Master of Ordinance (you do you).

Now to build the equivalent in GW models you would have need 3 command squad boxes (£22.50 x 3), 2 heavy weapon squad boxes (£25 x 2) and 3 infantry squad boxes (£22.50 x 3) and that little 5 man box for £6, which would have cost you £191 from GW directly and about £150 from a third party retailer with the old Guard kits.

You are missing the bases however, so lets add £15 for enough bases for the army.

So it is £85 versus £150 at best.... heck that's a £65 saving, anyone want to grab a couple of Leman Russes?

2023 update...

Just a little update on this as I believe the post was made in 2020 and it's now 2023. GW endlessly increase the price of everything and at this stage the command squads now cost £27.50, the infantry boxes cost £30 and the heavy weapon teams cost £30, the five man squad has also been removed because screw anyone wanting a few basic bodies. So now you really need 2 command boxes (£55) 2 heavy weapon boxes (£60) and 4 infantry boxes (£120) so the new cost for the same force above is £235, third parties only offer a 15% discount at best too (it was 20% when first written but GW changed that in 2022), so that's £200 total if your lucky. Wargames Atlantic have not increased the price at all in the same time, so now it's £85 (as we are factoring bases) verse £200, that's a £115 pound saving, also GW are going to increase the prices again in about a month so lucky us as the savings will be even more (or lucky us we get to give GW shareholders more profits).

Anyway, it's worth noting the Wargames Atlantic didn't use the pandemic and fuel crisis as an excuse to raise prices. The respect they are showing their customer's should be applauded. Fingers crossed they don't change.

Also GW killed special weapon squads, so we have an even bigger reason to cry, all our guard forces just became that little bit less unique (also no veterans.... Boo), though they can be used as command squads instead. The above exercise is to show you how many men your money can get you, not to put a rounded force on the table, the only thing you get spending £200 with GW is an extra two men to convert.

External Links

• <Wargames Atlantic>Link to their website
• <Kitbashing yourself some Vostoryan> Link to the video
• <Kitbashing yourself some Kreig> Link to the video
• <Lore and insight behind Death Fields> Link

Gallery

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  Cannon Fodder Preview

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  Command

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  Heavy Weapon Option

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  More Heavy Weapons

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  WWI Germans

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  Scale

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  More Scale