Today is Halloween, which can mean only one thing - It’s time for something extra spooky on The Army Painter blog! Luckily for us, Factory Team member and YouTuber extraordinaire Adam Loper, aka Uncle Atom (not a real uncle), has created the perfect game for the occasion. As the co-founder of Snarling Badger Studios, an indie tabletop game developer, he has several credits to his name, including their most recent game, Deth Wizards.
In this small, skirmish-style game, you take control of one of the titular Deth Wizards, aka a Necromancer, and raise your own undead warband to do battle. We recently asked him about the intricacies of necromantic magic and also about the game itself, the latter of which we can share today!*
Can you tell us a bit about how the idea for Deth Wizards came about and what made you want to add an undead themed game to the Snarling Badgers repertoire?
Adam: I honestly came up with the name first (I do that a lot) and then fleshed the idea out in my head some before bringing the concept to Vince Venturella. I've always loved the idea of necromancers in games and books and movies, so it made a lot of sense to me. Also, finding models like undead and villagers and heroes to use in our miniatures-agnostic game would be pretty easy for players because lots of companies make models like that, so it all slid together.
Deth Wizards is both miniature agnostic and a faster paced, smaller scale style of game. What draws you to this style of game?
Adam: Miniature-agnostic is my favorite way to play these days, and I can assure you that most, if not all of our games in the future (never say never, I guess) will be miniature-agnostic. It gives the player more agency and allows them to be more creative. As for faster-paced skirmish play - this is also my other favorite way to play. I'm not interested in playing a single game over four or five hours - if I have that kind of time, I'd rather play two or three games in a campaign instead.
You’re not the only Factory Team member to have worked on Deth Wizards, painting maestro Sam Lenz also contributed to it with some very evocative illustrations. How did this collaboration come about and how was it working with him?
Adam: I've been friends with Sam for right around 20 years, so it was a no-brainer. Sam has a singular artistic style and I knew that he'd be able to do great interstitial illustrations for me to put in the layout. If you've seen the book, then you know that he and the other artist Martin McCoy didn't disappoint.
Deth Wizards isn’t the first game from Snarling Badgers Studios, the joint venture between yourself and Vince Venturella. Can you tell us a bit about the history of the studio and your past games?
Adam: I've been friends with Vince for a number of years now, and knew he had a background in game design, as he's written and published some RPG games in the past and worked on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. When I had the idea for our first game - Reign in Hell - back in 2019, I reached out to him to talk about it and see if he'd be interested in working on it. When the pandemic came and we weren't going to conventions for awhile, we started work. About half way through the creation of Reign in Hell we decided this wouldn't be a one-off thing, so we started a company to keep making games because it was fun. That's where Snarling Badger Studios was born.
What would you say are the top points for someone to know who’s looking at starting a Deth Wizards warband and playing the game?
Adam: Look at the six types of Necromancers first, and decide which play style fits you best. This will inform what kinds of undead minions you'll pick for your initial seven rating of undead. And remember: any model can be a ghost if you prime it white and cover it in Ghost Juice (Pastel Seafoam Speedpaint).
What can we expect from Snarling Badgers in the future?
Adam: The new issue of our yearly 'zine called SNARL will be released in early November. It'll have an unannounced (at this point) micro-game in it, and a few mini-expansions for some of our previous titles. It'll be PDF only, and you can print it into a little booklet yourself, or keep it digital on your phone or tablet or whatever. Also, we're in play testing mode now on our next big printed game which will come out in the spring of 2025. We're looking forward to having folks check it out.
You can check out Deth Wizards here, as well as purchase your own digital or physical copy here. Also, be sure to follow Adam via Tabletop Minions on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X), for all the latest updates and amazing hobby content that he's known for.
*Dipit absconded with our newly won knowledge of necromantic lore.
