Thoughts From the King Goblin
It’s our 10th birthday and we’re celebrating in lots of different ways. We’re going to peek behind the curtain in a series of articles and celebrate the amazing people who work for Goblin King Games.
Given that Moonstone is his gobliny baby, we’re kicking things off with the King Goblin - Tom Greenway - himself!
Where did it all start - how did you get into gaming?
I have a brother 8 years my senior, who I very much looked up to. I vividly remember him playing games of HeroQuest and Epic with the little cardboard skyscrapers with his friends on our dining table. I was not allowed to join in of course, but I was enthralled. I had a game called ‘Crossbows and Catapults’ which I loved, and in the run up to my 8th Birthday, having failed to find an expansion for it in Toys R Us, my mum took me into a Games Workshop.
A red shirt pulled me over to a table set up for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, with a Castle Wall along one side lined with Empire Halberdiers at the top. I was given command of a Goblin Catapult and orders to bring down the wall. I had no idea how far away the wall was in inches of course, but thanks to some Red-Shirt magic, the wall was smashed (in my mind at least), the Goblin Hordes were victorious, and I walked out cradling my birthday present – a big fat box of Warhammer Fantasy battles. I never really did understand the rules but I was hooked on the glorious spectacles in my imagination none the less.
Painting (on a little easel my mum set up for me every Saturday morning on the easy-to-wipe-down tiles of our kitchen) and model making (clay, cardboard etc…) had been my number one hobby since I was old enough to stand and I took to painting miniatures like a duck to water.
Can you spot me?
Where did the idea for Moonstone come from?
A whole load of things came together in a very short space of time: First there was my discovery of alternating activation skirmish games from other creators and what a thoroughly superior way to play with miniatures that is, compared to what I’d known before. Then the frustration that since the dissolution of Rackham Miniatures and the complete dominance of GW’s Grimdark, Tolkein inspired aesthetics, there was a huge hole in the market for the softer, more whimsical miniatures, I personally wanted to collect and play with. Then a gnawing sense that the combat resolution systems of every game I’d played to date bore absolutely no resemblance to the experience I was having as a HEMA (Historical European martial arts) practitioner.
The idea of a card based combat resolution system came together very quickly as I was trying to drift off to sleep, and that set the ball in motion. The idea was not to rely on random number generation or any variant of ‘highest number wins’ at all, but use a Rock-Paper-Scissors type of interaction, where if only you could predict your opponents intentions, you could best them. Except they’re doing exactly the same to you in real time and you each are given a different set of clues to base your decision on. Within a few days a ruleset very similar to our best selling Dusk Till Dawn starter set had come together. And then, the real work began!
Yup, those are all me!
The characters and Factions are so different, what has inspired you along the way?
I think it’ll come to no surprise that I was heavily inspired by the art of Brian Froud, and especially the Jim Henson movies that he collaborated on in the 1980’s: Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. These aesthetics form the foundation of the Dominion faction. I also have a keen interest in the fashions, armour, crafts and sensibilities of renaissance era Holy Roman Empire (I have a full suit of c1505 Nuremberg plate harness and almost as many books on the history of Armour as I have on Fantasy Art) so this naturally informed the core aesthetics of the Commonwealth.
Leshavult was a peep into the darker side of the original central-eastern European fairy tales when forests were places to be afraid of and superstition ran rampant. And finally, the Shades faction is mostly inspired by the often hilariously ribald, grotesque or just down-right weird manuscript illustrations created by medieval monks to pass the boredom of hand-copying vast tomes. I like to shake things up with a bit of Terry-Pratchett-like-tongue-in-cheek parody of our modern world, especially with references to vintage British comedy.
What sticks out in your memory from the past decade?
Wow, so many things just flashed through my minds eye, its hard to know where to begin. From the jubilant moment the original full game Kickstarter funded, to the wee hour marathons I was pulling every night a few months later to actually get the bloody thing finished on time, while regretting ever starting! To the absolute joys of playing the first game of Moonstone where all the characters were actually real models I’d made, or attending a Moonstone tournament and seeing a whole room full of people enjoying themselves, thanks to the silly project I couldn’t let go of and became my life’s work.
It’s been a weird and wonderful journey full of so many memories this could be an entire article in itself and would only scratch the surface.
From top left to bottom right: First time demoing Moonstone (Beta – no minis yet) to the public in Tring. / First time playing in a Moonstone Tournament at The Games Table in Norwich. / First Salute as an Exhibitor on a borrowed corner of the TT Combat stand / Accepting the People’s Choice Award for Best Miniatures Range and Best Miniatures Rules at UKGE 2023.
Describe a typical working week - is it all painting miniatures and creating new characters?
Ha – if only! So when I first went full-time on Goblin King Games, which I think was right at the end of 2022, I guessed I’d be able to spend at least one day a week on ‘fun stuff’. Fun stuff to me being mainly new game development, painting minis, and playing other people’s games for ‘inspiration’*. I was quickly disillusioned. Turns out running a small business requires you to do a heck of a lot things, and chat apps and Microsoft Excel are in fact the main tools of the trade – not pencils and paintbrushes, unfortunately.
Managing the team and suppliers, all sorts of problem solving, IT support and re-ordering components with help from Mick so there are no interruptions to the supply side, all takes a chunk of time out of the week. Then there’s preparations and logistics for conventions, doing our taxes and accountant meetings, arranging shipping contracts, implementing new software, and dealing with whatever latest trade-damaging geo-political news that seems intent on kicking our business model savagely in the testicles this week - all that fun stuff!
I do manage to devote a day to play testing new Moonstone characters every other week, which is always a highlight though. There is a constant stream of Art Direction tasks passing through my mailbox too (writing character concept briefs, feedback on art, feedback on sculpts, production planning reviews with the caster, examining 3D prints and resin samples, sending/receiving studio paint jobs) and it’s deeply satisfying to see a final miniature come together. I do all of Goblin King Games photography, graphic design, book layout etc. which is also highly enjoyable work. And yes, every once in a while, I do get one of those beautiful golden days where I put a brush to a Moonstone miniature, or write rules for a new game system, and it really is the greatest feeling in the world.
*Doing this on work time has never actually yet happened, but I can dream, dammit!
This is Lolly, my co-worker and friend; every lunchtime we go for a walk together in the Welsh landscape.
What do you like most about Moonstone / what you do?
I created Moonstone without any pressure to appeal to a particular audience or hit any particular target. I just made something that I liked. I didn’t actually expect other people to like it. But they did! And that feels pretty damn good. There are parts to the job which I don’t actually enjoy but they are dwarfed by the parts that I do. I get to use all the different parts of my brain, especially the creative parts. Some moments are stressful, but never, ever, is it boring.
I think if I’d done any other job, I’d still be game designing and doing art and painting in my spare time. It’s just an itch I need to scratch, so being able to do it for a living is something I do feel deeply grateful for. I also get to work with some absolutely lovely people who I consider true friends and its very unlikely they would be in my life had it not been for Moonstone bringing us together.
From working with artists on initial concept sketches, sculpt feedback, deciding how miniatures will be cut for mould making, through to studio painting: I have my grubby little fingers in every stage of the artistic process.
If you could go back to ten years ago and tell yourself something, what would that be?
It will be harder than you expect, but it will be worth it.
What do you hope for the next ten years?
Moonstone has been planned as a four book series. The Rulebook introduced players to the world setting and core rules. But then three expansion books, of which the first ‘The Arising’ is already available, are where real plot line of this story actually plays out; beginning, middle and end. Our next book is currently in the works, and we are striving to publish this year (2026). That means part two of the three part story is now written (and for those not as captivated by story, just like The Arising added Campaigns, this book will add exciting new ways to play too). But it is my deepest wish and now an expectation, to see this series completed to the highest possible standards.
We are many years away from it but we already know what the ending is and it’s going to be spectacular! Alongside this I also hope to see a second game system published by Goblin King Games. We have something which I think is every bit as innovative and exciting as Moonstone in the works for when the time is right, so watch this space!
