Jon Grant Miniatures

Overview Hunting Grounds is designated as a Strike deck with no plot card. However, as you will see, I think this deck plays far more like a Flex deck. Unlike most Strike decks that push aggressively into enemy territory, this one flips the concept entirely. It rewards defensive play, punishing invaders who dare to step into your land. Core Theme: “Get Off My Land” Ordinarily, Strike decks focus on driving your fighters forward into the opponent’s half of the board. Hunting Grounds , however, demands the opposite approach. It wants the enemy to come to you. You will score by holding your ground, pushing intruders back, and maintaining control of your territory, but interestingly not necessarily by killing them. Objectives The objective suite in Hunting Grounds leans heavily on maintaining your position and luring enemies into your territory. Once they step over the border, there is not much glory to be gained from outright slaying them. Instead, you are rewarded for how you co...

On the 4th of October 2025 , I loaded up the car early in the morning and set off at 6am for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Market Harborough . For any Australian or American readers, that’s considered a fairly long journey here in the UK! I arrived around 9am, got myself into the right frame of mind, and set up my custom board (for display purposes only). I knew the day was going to be tough. I’d chosen to bring Blackpowder's Buccaneers ,  a piratical Ogor Maneater roaming the realms in search of treasure, glory, and something suitably exotic to eat. From my practice games with Gorlock Blackpowder and his crew, I already knew what to expect: results that swung wildly between crushing wins and equally crushing losses. To make matters more challenging, I was aware that several World Championship qualifiers had also bought tickets for this event. For this tournament, I paired the Buccaneers with Blazing Assault and Countdown to Cataclysm . My plan was to lean heavily into Gorlock...

Painting September is always an incredibly busy month for real-life commitments, so hobby time was limited. Even so, I managed to make some progress on a few projects. I continued adding new tiles to my modular board. First up was a nine-hex stream to clearly mark neutral territory. In several games I’d found it tricky for opponents to determine where neutral ground began, and I wanted the board to be as fun and easy to use as possible for everyone. Next, I created 14 new starting hexes in preparation for the upcoming Spitewood expansion. I marked them with clusters of purple heather . My idea was that the colour would stand out clearly, while still looking natural as part of a heathland scene (inspired by the moorlands of northern England where I grew up). Finally, I built a set of four Waystone tokens , again for the Spitewood board. These were my first attempt, and while I’m happy with them, I may experiment with different designs in the future. On the painting desk, my mai...

Gorlock Blackpowder [1] stomped into the shadowed mouth of the Embergard mines, the ground trembling under each hungry, purposeful stride. Lantern light flickered across soot-black stone and half-collapsed scaffolds, but the Ogor Maneater only grinned, baring a row of cracked and eager tusks. “Right then, Kagey, Pegz [2],” he rumbled, glancing down at his gnoblar crew as they scrambled to keep up. “The way I sees it, this place is packed with three o’ me favourite things. Treasure. Glory. And whatever’s daft enough to end up as me supper.” Kagey [3] muttered something about cursed tunnels. Pegz pointed nervously toward a shuddering sound deeper in the dark. Blackpowder snorted. “Quit yer squealin’. Stick close and keep yer eyes peeled. If anything shiny or tasty comes runnin’ at us, we bags it. Simple.” With that, he cocked his Grunderbuss and hefted his sword. Mange [4] slunk at his heel and Shreek [5] fluttered overhead, both eager for the hunt. Together, they marched into the de...