Heavy Metal Hordes- Intrepid Infantry 1

Prologue

Mabel surveyed the pitiful remains of the village militia gathered around her. Other than her  standard bearer Gastov, his brother, her champion Gaston le Gross, and young Romane, her squire, there was not a professional soldier left amongst them. Even the third brother, her drummer, Gastout had fallen to an orcish arrow. The villagers and their unconventional leader had lasted far longer than any of them could have imagined when Bigladd Badgutz’s horde poured down the pass, but surely it would soon be over. The old timers who had seen action in the King’s armies in their earlier years had been the first to fall, their bodies betraying them when they tried to fight like they were still younger men.

Whilst the smoke from the burning buildings offered a temporary respite from the onslaught and masked the terrified faces, Mabel could sense the streaming eyes looking to her for inspiration. She dipped her knee in genuflection, until it touched bloody, muddy ground. She cast her eyes skyward, past the ever-rising smoke. Standing again, deliberately and with a grace that belied her tortured muscles, she calmly called over to her 11 year old squire. ‘Romane, mon petit souri, pick up poor Gastout’s drum, and beat the advance’. The nervous girl picked up the drum and began to hesitantly hit it with the dead musician’s sticks.

‘Advance Mademoiselle General?’ queried Gaston. ‘My brother and I will follow you anywhere, but surely we need more troops to be able to advance against such a foe?’

‘Indeed brave Gaston. Ask and you shall receive’

As the words evaporated into the choking swirls, the volume of the drumbeat seemed  to increase, or was it just an echo coming from beyond the smoke? With every beat the drumming seemed to get louder-or was the echo getting closer? There was something else as well, milliseconds after each beat. Was that footsteps? Lots of them?

‘Mademoiselle General? Is that you?’ A voice called out through the darkness. ‘ My name is Captain Dubois of the Ducal Halberdiers. We came as quickly as we could. Have you really managed to withstand the foul peaux vertes all this time? It is truly a miracle! What is your command?’

‘We advance!’ shouted Mabel, with a grim smile on her lips.

No leader can win battles without troops, and this Heavy Metal Hordes Kickstarter is the first in a series intended to provide all the Heavy Metal Hordes Legendary Leaders (from our first highly successful Kickstarter) with an army’s worth of troops, one regiment at a time. All the troops are scaled to fit seamlessly into existing regiments of metal figures from the classic 80s and early 90s era of fantasy wargaming, so you can choose whether to bulk out existing units or add entirely new ones to your armies.

If we hit all our stretch goals, we will be able to offer 12 individual sculpts for each faction.

About Heavy Metal Hordes

Heavy Metal Hordes is a collaboration between vintage miniatures enthusiast Gary Westwell and Sculptor/Illustrator Aaron Howdle. Frustrated by the lack of variety in certain out of production ranges, Gary reached out in an Oldhammer Facebook group for suggestions. Aaron answered the call, and the two discussed how Aaron could provide Gary with the wood elf army of his dreams. And while he was at it, what about some proper scary old school orcs, sea elves maybe, and wasn’t it a shame that nobody really made more than a handful of chaos goblins? Come to think of it, maybe there were other gamers and collectors of a certain age who felt the same way? After all, he was always taught to share his toys!

Our aim is to populate the battlefields with our versions of the major factions found in many of the classic tabletop fantasy wargames of the 80s and early 90s, with miniatures which will scale and rank up with your existing collections should you wish. When we launched our immensely popular Legendary Leaders Kickstarter last year, we said that if we were successful, we would follow it up by populating the armies and regiments of the 10 leaders with troops. Intrepid infantry 1 is the first stage toward this.

All our miniatures are hand sculpted and cast in pewter as all proper miniatures should be. Miniatures are supplied unpainted.

Meet the Intrepid Infantry

All the above images will be updated as the stretch goals unlock.

How to pledge for the Intrepid Infantry

The Intrepid Infantry are available as sets of 4, 12 or 24. With the add on options, you can upgrade these numbers to whatever you need to fill your unit. There is no need to commit to exactly which sculpts or indeed which faction you want until the Kickstarter finishes and we ask you in the post pledge survey. Of course, you can always mix between different factions to make up the desired number of sculpts. That way you can see which unique sculpts unlock before you decide exactly which ones you want. Don't forget to keep checking back to add to your order if there are specific sculpts you are wanting to see unlock. You can choose to go with the classic 'monopose' look of the period with units of identical troops, or inject more individuality with a variety of different poses.

If you can't wait to see which of the sculpts from your chosen faction unlock, why not Pledge to 'Unlock a Faction and Build an Army'? This daddy of all pledges not only immediately unlocks all the sculpts of the faction you choose for you and others, gets you ten of each sculpt from the faction , from which you can also choose to swap some out against previous and future sculpts* so you can build yourself an army.  In addition you receive an exclusive piece of original signed artwork specific to your chosen faction, identifying you as their original general! Finally, Aaron will sculpt an exclusive miniature to your design, a 28mm human sized figure which can be anything you want! Note that this is only available for certain remaining factions, as the offer is limited to only one per faction and some were taken in the previous Kickstarter. See the faction sections for availability.

*get in touch for more details on how we can do this.

Available now all the sculpts are unlocked, there is the option to pledge for 'One of Each', for backers who want to collect one of each of the sculpts but aren't fussed about building regiments. If you back with this pledge, Aaron will also sculpt you a unique one off 28mm human sized miniature to your design.

Stretch Goals

At the start of the Kickstarter, some sculpts will be locked, until we hit certain targets. We did this with our previous Kickstarter, and all stretch goals were hit by the end of the campaign. As the total progresses, we will update the faction images above to reveal the newly unlocked sculpts.

Additional Stretch Goals- Including Free Items!

Added 10/03/26. With 2 weeks to go, we have exceeded our expectations and have realised we might run out of stretch goals! Therefore, we have worked out the following as a thank you.

If we hit £14,000, anyone who has pledged over £150 or more will receive a free miniature- pick any of the Leaders from our Legendary Leaders range, plus the Legendary Leaders booklet for free!

If we hit £16,000, anyone who has pledged over £150 or more will receive a total of two free miniatures, to be selected from the Leaders, and the Legendary Leaders booklet for free!

If we hit £18,000, anyone who has pledged over £150 or more will receive a total of three free miniatures, to be selected from the Leaders , and the Legendary Leaders booklet for free!

If we hit £20,000, we will release our wyvern sculpture for purchase at £89! In solid metal, we hope you agree this is a truly special sculpt we were saving for a special occasion. See below for a work in progress picture.

Add Ons

As well as the Intrepid Infantry 1 models, we have a number of add-ons so you can protect your troops from incoming sword thrusts, catch up on existing Heavy Metal Hordes models, wear your allegiance to Heavy Metal Hordes, or delve into the mythos of the Heavy Metal Hordes world with some Limited Edition non-core minis for collecting.

Add One More- £7

Although the Intrepid Infantry come in multiples of 4s, 12s and 24s, as both rewards and add-ons,  you might want to fine tune the number of troops in your unit. Use the 'Add One More' to add a single extra miniature to your pledge.

Shields- £6 for 6

All Miniatures are supplied without shields. However, if you wish you can add shield packs designed for each faction to your order. Shields are metal and come in packs of six, either one of each design for a faction, or six of the same design. Please note we are unable to offer any other combinations of styles.

Beastman Shields

Goblin/Chaos Goblin Shields

Wood Elf Shields

Sea Elf Shields

Orc Shields

Undead Shields

Human Shields

Dwarf Shields

Chaos Warrior Shields

Legendary Leaders Miniatures- £70

If you missed out on our first Kickstarter, you can still get the Legendary Leaders, and their command group miniatures, as add-ons to your pledge.

For all ten Legendary Leaders, along with a background booklet that details their stories and gives you ideas on how to use them in your games, select the ‘Legendary Leaders’ add-on.

Legendary Leaders Background Booklet only -£5

If you have the Leaders already but want to know more about them, or need to know more about the world of the Heavy Metal Hordes, you can add the 'Background Booklet' on its own. A5, full colour, 36 pages. Its also great for inspiration for painting schemes. 

Command Groups- £25 per group

To add a command group of four miniatures from any one faction, select the ‘Add a Command Group’  add-on. Then, tell us which one(s) you want in the post-pledge survey. (all photos below are of the original 'green' sculpts. Miniatures supplied in Pewter).

Catch Up on the First Heavy Metal Hordes Kickstarter- £290

To catch up on all the Heavy Metal Hordes releases so far, all ten Leaders and their command groups, (40 miniatures in total) select the ‘Catch Up’ add on.

Heavy Metal Hordes T-Shirt -£25

Become one with the Hordes by wearing this 100% Organic Cotton Tee-Shirt featuring the Heavy Metal Hordes Logo on the chest. Available in black only. We can get your size in the post pledge survey.

Ur Trog- Proto goblinoids from the First Age of Heavy Metal Hordes- Limited Edition Add-On- £30 for three.

As part of the Heavy Metal Hordes Project, we are developing a whole world which you may choose to use as a background to set your games in. Part of this is a mythical prehistory that traces the evolution of the world from before the creation of life by the Consciousness, through the introduction of the elemental proto-races in the First Age, and their subsequent evolution into the recognisable races of the Second Age, as seen in the Intrepid Infantry range. The Ur Trog were the original races with independent thought created in the First Age by the Consciousness, who swiftly abandoned them when it realised it could not imbue them with mental or physical stability. Ur Trog could unwittingly grow (or indeed shrink) to any size at short notice, until in the Second Age the Consciousness was later able to stabilise them and they began their evolution into orcs, goblins, trolls and other races. We therefore present 3 Ur Trog of different sizes which can be bought as a LIMITED EDITION add on to your pledge. Only 50 sets available. TO ADD UR TROG TO YOUR PLEDGE, JUST ADD £30 ADDITIONAL SUPPORT TO YOUR PLEDGE AND LET US KNOW WHAT IT IS FOR IN THE POST PLEDGE SURVEY!

Postage

Postage will be calculated after the pledging period has finished, and charged through our website. This will enable us to reflect the latest postage prices and any tariffs which may apply.