I got home from a fun few days of playing Warcry last weekend, and found a copy of The Doomed waiting for me.
The Doomed is a miniatures agnostic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, tabletop miniatures game with maximum, massive monsters and minimal, miserly measuring.
The game belongs in the “groups of non-conformist, monster-hunter types take umbrage with other bohemians/dropouts/misfits with whom they share low value, monster-haunted real-estate” sub-genre of heavily-hyphenated miniature games. Things like Necromunda, Mordheim and Stargrave share a lot with The Doomed, but there are significant differences.
The design diary for The Doomed on the Osprey website explains all of the design philosophy, if that sort of thing interests you.
There is a heavy push towards kitbashing miniatures in The Doomed book, although it isnt a rule or anything like that. This is absolutley fine, and potentially loads of fun. I may even kitbash a set of figures specifically for this game at some future point (like I did for Forbidden Psalm/Mörk Borg), but for my test game I decided to draft miniatures that I already had painted.
They were all prepped with precisely this sort of gaming in mind anyway.
Similarly, many (all?) of the the various types of sci-fi gaming terrain that I have prepped over the years suit the dilapidated aesthetic being pushed in the book.
That said, if you wanted to play The Doomed in a more comic book, primary colour driven, raygun-gothic sort of Futurama-esque setting or a Star Trek utopia suddenly awash with monsters, then you could do that too without making any rules changes. The game is designed with broad strokes and archetypes, rather than specific ranges in mind.
After that test game I’m looking forward to playing through a few fast and fun monster bashing games in the near future.
Credits
The game mat comes from gamemat.eu.
The ruins come from Citadel and Mantic.
Chompers, Verhoeven and Glo-stik are all old Citadel Miniatures.
The Scavengers are from Ramshackle Games.
Devourer/Marjory is an old Leviathan miniature, available from Scotia Grendel I think.
The Nexus items came from a Valquiria Studios.
The Doomed is published by Osprey.
Filed under: After Action Report, Game Rules, Games in Progress | Tagged: 2023, Horror, Miniature Agnostic, Post Apocalyptic, Sci-fi, Skirmish, The Doomed |
sho3box 
Looks cool!
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Yeah, it looks like it has loads of potential for laughs 🙂
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Hey, I recognize that lady on the left, with the funky hair. A fantastic Stargrave miniature, from the set “Investigators”. I should paint mine up…
Your Devourer and its minions there remind me of the cannibal cult at the beginning of the Iain Banks novel Consider Phlebas. Very cool!
Anyway, they’re all great, this is an extraordinarily attractive set of pics on all levels!
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Thanks man!
I painted the two Investigators for a Stargrave event that we had in April with some mates, a few of whom are also crumbly old farts with blogs, so you may have seen some photos including them already. I went for Blade Runner vibes, as you might expect.
The minis themselves are great, cyber-noir flatfoots, with all of the fun that brings to games. I aim to get some photos taken, but my schedule is up the walls these days, so who knows when?
The cult in Consider Phlebas was something that I wasn’t expecting to see in that book, having approached Banks books in a random order. Definitely a fun reference though!
The Doomed dovetails into several other miniature gaming projects that I am usually working on in some way or other. In terms of miniature figure and terrain requirements it overlaps heavily with The Last War, Necromunda, Inquisition Spy-Fi, Kill Sample Process etc. I’m excited about getting stuck further into it.
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“cyber-noir flatfoots” – great description. I’m not sure why these two figures intimidate me a bit. I should get on them.
… they’d make pretty good cyberpunk versions of Mulder and Scully too 😉
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Weirdly, I didn’t even consider them as those two. Yesterday I was looking at a pair of figs from the 90s in “modern” dress – Sculder & Mully or something – that I got from a German company called “Xcaliber Miniatures” or something like that.
I should probably ignore that they are wearing contemporary suits and just lump them in with my space cops really.
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http://www.excalibur-miniatures.com/shop/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=270
LOL at the sassy little alien. Nice set.
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The Spanish company is Valiquaria or something similar
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Thanks Tom!
https://www.facebook.com/valquiriastudiowargames
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Thanks for the review – very enticing aesthetic indeed.
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Thanks Mark!
The aesthetic and setting are pretty loosely defined. The intention is to give the players a framework to hang their own models/projects on, without railroading people too much.
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There was a local group who played a game and were hyped afterward. But I don’t think they ever played again. Do you think this title has legs? I’ve considered picking it up to use with my 1/72 minis.
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I have prepped miniatures and terrain for The Doomed since, and I played more games of it than any other in 2023. That doesn’t mean that you will necessarily like it Mr White, but I think that it is great.
The rules are simple in all the right ways. If you already have suitable miniatures and terrain to play it – and you do – then the financial outlay is low.
If you and your group are the sort of people who desire rules crunch, then it won’t likely appeal, but if you are the sort of people who enjoy a clear, well defined and simple framework for playing out goofy stories with your miniature grotesques, then I highly recommend it.
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Hmmm…I might have to check it out. I could see using the necromunda models as bases for kitbashing monster hunting squads. Any way to use those sweet necromunda models without getting into another GW treadmill I suppose…
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I used the opportunity to get a few of the old Rogue Trader era “Adventurers” and “Mercenaries” figs that I gathered over the years painted and on the table. Necromunda is the same sort of resource, just waiting for a treadmill free opportunity like this.
Honestly, as hobby expenses go, a nice Osprey hardback rulebook is pretty minor, and I’m definitely off the opinion that rulesets like this should be supported if possible, for many reasons.
I hope that you pick up “The Doomed” and have fun with it.
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Oh yeah, in addition, kitbashing is encouraged by the rules, but is in no way a requirement.
I love kitbashing, but at this stage I have plenty of figs that require zero alteration to slot into a game like this, so that’s what I did.
I just wanted to point out that kitbashing is optional 🙂
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