Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look

As we all know, the grim darkness of the far future holds only war. This is true for sci-fi miniature games the world over. So, what is it about Valkyrx’s Terra Alien game stand out from the crowd? Is it the miniatures or the Intelligent Wargaming Table upon which it is supposed to be played? Allow yourself a peek at what’s to come in our Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look.

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Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – Summary

Exciting, dynamic, and original miniatures in a variety of poses, Terra Alien from Valkyrx is certainly shaping up to look quite promising. With only more factions to come, and more miniatures to be announced, this is definitely one to watch.

Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – Introduction

Last time we came across Valkyrx.com, it was in our review of their Days of the Valkyrx miniatures. Regular readers will remember that these fantasy resin figures were wonderfully detailed, though not without a handful of fairly minor notes regarding their assembly and painting.

Any readers of that article who found themselves wishing there was a sci-fi alternative, well, we’ve got some things to show you.

…And that’s just the start!

Valkyrx very kindly sent us a handful of pre-production 3D prints of some of their miniatures for their new Terra Alien wargame. Just like Days of the Valkyrx before it, this as yet unreleased game will be designed to be played on Valkyrx’s Intelligent Wargames Table – but more on that in a moment.

Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – What is It?

Terra Alien is the setting for Valkyrx’s sci-fi, far-future wargame. Set in a bleak, dystopian imagining of the far, far future, the beset and repressed Humanity find themselves at odds with a galaxy full of things that want to destroy them.

Here’s the run-down from Valkyrx.com:

A billion years from now, when humans have mastered superluminal and interdimensional travel, hope was that a new age of enlightenment and peace would be achieved as a consequence of applying scientific rationality. This was not to be. A proliferation of new esoteric philosophies created competing models for how the 200 billion inhabitants of Earth should live out their dire existence.

The misery of the people is often a catalyst for the rise of a despotic leader. Sardar Khan elevated himself, by guile and murder, to become leader of Empire Earth. Now in his 300th year, and kept alive by machines, he continues to rule with an iron fist. From the ancient texts of Niccolo Machiavelli the ruling elite recognised the need for a scapegoat, a common enemy to blame for the hardships suffered by the common citizen. Sardar set his sights on the extermination of “The Elite” a genetically superior leadership class created through the application of extreme eugenic engineering. Not only did this group represent the greatest challenge to his position, but their affluence and power was already a source of resentment amongst the general population.

A genocidal war was waged culminating in “The Great Exodus” which saw a million of the “Elite” escaping Earth to consolidate their power in neighbouring Galaxies. Here they applied their superior intellect to waging a never ending war against Empire Earth with the aim of overthrowing Sardar.

At the outset Sardar expected a quick and decisive victory against the rebels. That was not to be. Worse still the advent of superluminal and interdimensional travel introduce many new foes from distant worlds, all competing against each other for scarce resources and living space. Welcome to a universe at war.

From valkyrx.com

To many sci-fi fans, a lot of this will sound fairly familiar. Terra Alien is established upon some classic tried-and-tested dystopian future tropes. Tyrannical ruler, repressed civilians, and terrifying aliens, this is the kind of thing that tends to translate quite well onto the table top.

Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – The Miniatures

Valkyrx sent us a handful of pre-production, mock-up 3D prints for three of their Terra Alien factions. Because these miniatures aren’t released to the public, and aren’t ion their “final” state, we won’t be looking at what they’re like to build and paint as this will likely change quite significantly between now and release.

Intergalactic Marines (Light Brigade)

First and foremost, we have the Intergalactic Marines (Light Brigade). These space-faring soldiers form the elite core of Sardar Khan’s war-machine.

Dressed in “light” armour (we’ve not seen any in heavy armour yet, so can only speculate as to what the differences will be), these troops are designed to be used as rapid deployment, fast-attack units.

These miniatures come with a range of weapons: blaster rifle-style weapons, heavy machine guns, and an array of rocket launcher-style weapons.

They’re also in some really nice, varied poses. We have miniatures crouching, mid-run, and poised ready to shoot. The diversity in pose really helps create a sense that the units is actually doing something.

Valkyrx also sent us a number of PC mock-ups for their miniatures to give you all a sense of what else is to come.

The six miniatures in the image below will look familiar, as these are the original designs for those figures we were sent. Once these figures are in full production, they will likely look considerably more like this, but we get a true 3D sense of what these miniatures will be like thanks to the mock-ups.

An interesting start. Here at FauxHammer.com,. we’ve very used to associating any far-future spacemen with the classic Space Marine: enormous figures wearing huge armour carrying massive weapons. It’s quite refreshing to see something a little different.

Alien Reptiles

Now these, I like.

We know very little about the faction that these miniatures represent. A quick skirt about Valkyrx’s website shows us that, as yet, these figures – nor anypre-production artistic mock-ups – have made their way onto their hallowed pages.

The Alien Reptiles look great, even as 3D printed mock ups. Whilst there are still quite a few print lines across the minis, you get a really accurate sense of what these models will look like once fully released.

Once again, the diversity in poses across all the figures really helps create a sense that these miniatures are actually doing something, as opposed to just standing around waiting to be shunted around the battlefield.

The figures are already rife with details. Teeth, scales, spines, sinews, and several hundred pounds of muscle, these Alien Reptiles are the gym-obsessed lovechild of H. R. Geiger’s Alien and Games Workshops’ Tyranids.

We also have a few images of what these guys may look like once they’re painted up.

Colour is key here, and painting an army of these lizard-aliens in bright colours will make quite the statement.

Spider Roboti

The final of the three factions we’ve been sent samples of are the Spider Roboti.

The inhabitants of a highly-advanced and very distant galaxy, the Araneae Masanori IOK as they are called, began to die out and thus chose to become digital beings.

They now dwell in hyper-advanced mechanical bodies and can upload and download themselves from new forms at will. These insect-like forms come festooned with an array of guns and missile launchers to ensure maximum intergalactic space-bug domination.

These are some really nice figures, though I have to admit that when I first saw them I was certain they were part of the human faction. They don’t really give me that extra-terrestrial, alien feel that I would have expected.

Still, they make for some quite impressive specimens. The details you can already se on them will only become more profound when they’re in full production. Think back to those gorgeous resin figures we looked at as part oft he Days of the Valkyrx Miniatures Review we did – that’s the kind of quality we can expect here.

Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – The intelligent Wargames Table

So, you’ve seen the miniatures and you’re thinking, “This looks neat. How do I take these space-faring soldiers from my hobby desk and to the battlefield?”

Well, the answer is Valkyrx’s Intelligent Wargames Table (IWGT).

Like all of Valkyrx’s IPs, Terra Alien will be designed to be played on Valkyrx Gaming’s Intelligent Wargames Table. When he ran into the Valkyrx guys at the UK Games Expo back in June, Ross got a first-hand demonstration of how the table works using their Days of the Valkyrx game. The Valkyrx guys appear at the 08:36 mark of the roundup video.

The Intelligent Wargaming Table is all about streamlining the wargaming experience. As Jon Spalding, the visionary behind the IWGT said in an interview with Wargames Illustrated Magazine:

“Well-meaning attempts to make tabletop games more realistic have resulted in increasingly complex rules, a proliferation of look-up tables, and enough dice to sink a battleship. Games can be tediously slow, denying the player the opportunity to play in “real time”. Paradoxically, this defeats the worthy aim of making the game a true-to-life simulation.”

Jon Spalding in Wargames Illustrated Magazine

The IWGT is designed to keep excitement high and the immersion-breaking rules checks and computation to a minimum. Instead of reading your game manuals and checking rulebooks, you can focus on command and tactics.

Valkyrx do not intend for their table to be seen as a disparagement of current wargaming norms. The IWGT is an alternative, designed to aid the accessibility to wargaming by keeping paperwork and manual intervention to a minimum.

In spite of it being built to take us into the future, the IWGT is designed to retain that traditional tabletop feel. A range of printed 2mm vinyl mats can be placed over the table to match your particular battlefield. Players can then further decorate the field by adding scenery and other markers, ensuring your gaming experience is exactly how you’d like it to be.

However, a vast amount of technical mumbo-jumbo goes into getting the IWGT to do its thing. Beneath those vinyl mats lie printed circuit boards, transmitters, microprocessors, and a latticework of circuits and computing power.

These honeycomb-like circuits aid with play. From lighting up under the units of the player whose turn it is, to checking movement distance, the IWGT exists to hjelp make things quicker and easier for you, the player.

This is accomplished using Near-Field Communications (NFC). The table is able to read unique ID tags placed on the base of each model or unit, and thus match the appropriate stats to that miniature. It keeps track of weapons, spells, morale, and so-on so you, the player, do not have to.

That’s not all, either. The IWGT boasts a few neat touches to make play all the more exciting. Spells (which are selected from the IWGT’s touch-screen interface) are mimicked by the table lighting up certain squares between the caster and their target. The table will also track movement allowance, and plays atmospheric music when models are moved towards combat.

Terra Alien is still being created at the moment, so how it’ll work with the IWGT we’ve yet to see. However, fantasy gaming enthusiasts are being invited to participate in a free to enter “Days of the Valkyrx” tournament held at Valkyrx’s 3,500 square foot Gaming Centre in Edgbaston, Birmingham on the 3rd and 4th September this year. The winner will receive a £1,000 prize, so if you fancy your chances, check out Valkyrx’s website for more info, or email them at info@valkyrx.com.

Valkyrx: Terra Alien – Miniatures First Look – Final Thoughts

In all, I think we can agree this looks fairly promising. With an array of interesting miniatures on the way, as well as the futuristic Intelligent Wargaming Table at their disposal, Valkyrx’s Terra Alien is certainly one to watch.

It’ll be interesting to see just how good the miniatures are once they’re in full production. Given how gorgeous the Days of the Valkyrx figures are, I think it’s fairly safe to have high hopes for Valkyrx’s Terra Alien range.

As we said earlier, Valkyrx are running their “Days of the Valkyrx” tournament in Edgbaston, Birmingham on the 3rd and 4th September this year. With a £1,000 prize up for grabs, if you’ve an interest in playing the game and winning some cold hard cash, check out Valkyrx’s website for more info, or email them at info@valkyrx.com. It should be a belter – and an interesting glance at just what the future of miniature wargaming may hold.

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

• UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
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• Germany: Taschengelddieb
• Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
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• Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

• 3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

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