In our opinion is a great possible alternative to GW 40k and their range.

www.at-43.com a scifi based war game 28mm scale, with pre-painted figures that can still be very easily customised and overpainted for those who wish too. They have a demo on their site.

But for me, who cannot paint to save me life and still fancied a fully painted army these are great. Never really liked bear metal figs on a gaming table.

They do a starter set called Operation Damoclese for around £39 which has two small armies, rules, terrain pieces, gaming mat/poster and tapes etc, literally everything to get you started.
The OD box set only has a very basic rules system, but there is a full rules system out which can be downloaded for free from http://www.at-43.com/pdf_multi/game_rules.pdf

Plays very well, giving a good tactical approach to the game without being overly complex.
Another plus, is the company that design their minis are fireindustries, a UK company based in derbyshire.
The miniatures are pretty good and so far has been very impressed. If your interested have a look at the www.at-43.com webtsite and their forums or download the rules above and have a read.
The hardback rule book also has more stuff that the download and more pictures apparently.

Anyone else started playing this??

As the old robot saying goes "does not compute"

Just to give folks a flavour of some of the re-paint and touch up capabilities of some of the figures in the range. Here are some cutsomised therians. Really caught my eye when I spotted the photo.

Its actually a Rackham production. The Guys who make confrontation, Ragnarok and Cadwallon. They are french. Fire industries is a subsid but it a a UK based concern.

Their metal minatures are several levels of quality above anyone elses.... however they do seem to be getting into plastic prepaints rather heavily whether they can keep the quality level remains to be seen. AT-43 is their showcase for said new placcy tech.

I wouldn't be suprised if it plays well.

Confrontation does as well though its a lot more micro scale than WFB so I dont hold them as comparable. Confrontation is a Skirmish game and WFB isnt.

How does this compare with 40k?

The actuall rules system is pretty robust, though with a few typo's where the original french was translated into english. This aside, it allows for fast paced gaming with forces ranging from single units right upto major multi platoon sizes. The ability to pin and suppress units with various weapon types and the activation sequence system means you can deploy a whole rack load of different sneaky tactics and battle plans.

But the biggest thing that kind of emphasis how well it plays, is its "re-playability" factor. You can happily play a mission over again and again. I have not played Rachkams other games like confrontation etc, but at-43 for me has won me attention.

Well if your not sure its a game for you, just download a copy of the free rules and have a read and see what you think..