About

Dark Tortoise Productions is the game-related creative outlet for Aaron Overton of Heatherstone Digital Solutions.

Aaron first got into miniature wargaming in the mid-90s with Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  Disappointed with the now-infamous “Herohammer” fourth edition of the game, he turned his background in software development to bear on the problem of building a great wargaming engine.

This led to Shock Force: Battles in the Remnants of America published as DemonBlade Games.  The first figures where for The Organization and the MegaComs and sculpted by Bobby Jackson, acquired from Grenadier Models as they were going out of business.  The first edition sold over 5000 copies and the figure line grew to around 150 separate products sold on three continents (that we know of!)

A major revision to the core rule system and a licensing deal with the band, GWAR, resulted in the publication of GWAR: Rumble in Antarctica and from there to a second edition of Shock Force.  DemonBlade had broken down a barrier to a new market: rabid metal-heads who already had some of everything found in the band’s merchandising booth.

In reworking the miniature production methodology (one that was going to include a renaming of the company to xB9 Games, a more palatable name for those uncomfortable with the word “Demon”,) Aaron’s financial analysis of the pros and cons of the miniatures business yielded an unfortunate reality: without a lot more base capital, it just wasn’t going to be terribly profitable.  DemonBlade/xB9 closed in 2000.

Despite the abandonment of in-house miniature production, Aaron’s interest in wargaming systems remained, so he established Dark Tortoise Productions as trade name.  Software development has occupied most of his time since then, include a stint at Microsoft in Seattle, but in late 2006 with a little time to kill on his hands, he brought his attention back to The WarEngine and its still-loyal following.

Thus was born the WarEngine Wiki, a release of the v2.1 WarEngine to the community for further use and development.  Use of the wiki is free, although advertising is from time to time presented there.  Now wargamers can experience the wonder that is The WarEngine with no expense except the figures they almost certainly already have.

Dark Tortoise Productions may well have other tricks in store.  Keep your fingers crossed for more creative ingenuity and may all your dice roll sixes!