British Orcs Fight French Gnomes In Panzerfäuste
Hysterical Games have gone to Kickstarter with their take on “fantasy” WWII.
“Weird WWII” is a genre all its own, and Hysterical Games is currently on Kickstarter with their entry into the genre, Panzerfäuste. Panzerfäuste is set in a Tolkien-inspired fantasy world, but one where technology has advanced to a WWII level (including iconic guns of the era like MG34s and Thompsons) and each race represents one of the nations involved. So far the game has British Orcs, French Gnomes, German Dwarves, and Polish Troglodytes. One of the stretch goals introduced the Deathless, which are an Undead representation of the Russians.
The core gameplay will be similar to what you’d expect from a WWII miniatures game, but with fantasy elements like magic, racial traits, monstrous creatures, and bizarre technology. There are beta rules currently available for both a skirmish game played at the Section level and a mass combat game played at a Company level.
Hysterical Games has already produced models for the Dwarves, Orcs, and Gnomes. The point of the Kickstarter is to fund additional units for the three existing factions and start production on the core models for the Troglodytes and Deathless. For £105 ($161) you can grab the Sergeant Major pledge that includes one infantry platoon of your choice plus the rulebook. For £125 ($191) you can get an expanded platoon with a heavy weapons section. The campaign is already well past its initial goal, and the expected delivery date is around this time next year.
As someone who likes both fantasy and WWII miniature games, I’ll be keeping my eye on Panzerfäuste. The miniatures look pretty nice, and are made out of polyurethane resin. I especially like the Orcs, and I can imagine players of a certain sci-fi game buying some of them for their armies.
Anyone interested in this game and the Kickstarter?
