Goonhammer Interviews: Chris, Chief Röknaut at Ontos Games

If you're a fan of dwarfs, space, space dwarfs, or any kind of retro miniatures, you may well already be familiar with the Röknauts, brainchild of Chris at Ontos Games. In advance of the impending Exö-Squad crowdfunder (live now!) I sat down with Chris to talk about his history with wargaming and the genesis of the Röknauts. Chris was also kind enough to send across some samples from the current Ontos Games range for our painters to check out, so stick around after the interview questions for some thoughts on the minis.

Probably the way that we start a huge majority of our interviews, what was your first exposure to wargaming and miniatures? Is it a lifelong passion, or something you've dipped in and out of?

My childhood was drenched in Mighty Max, Mantaforce, Hero Gladiators, Lego Space, Dragon Knights, Monster in my Pocket, Frosties Power Rangers – all the plastic monsters and spacemen. My Dad helped me make Airfix dinosaur kits and read us the Hobbit as bedtime stories. My Mum made me Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles from a skeleton of metal dress-making pins with Fimo over the top. Everyone at school was really into Top Trumps, and my Mum bought me a deck of "Spacewar Citadel Combat Cards” that had photos of (what I thought) were three-inch high pottery aliens and space troopers on. I didn't know you could buy and paint them yourself, but one day my cool uncle – Uncle Steve – gave me a handful of Dixon Minis Samurai and Rogue Trader Space Marines painted in enamels and I realised those old Spacewar things were inch-high metal miniatures you could collect and paint and game with. That was my gateway and I've been into them ever since.

A selection of Chris' beloved plastic monsters and spacemen


When were you first inspired to try sculpting your own miniatures? Is 
it a skill set inherited from other work you do, or something you
 learned specifically for this project?

My Mum had this crafting drive that imprinted on me at an early age. My first from-scratch miniature was a barbarian character called Pugnax the Pugnacious made out of Milliput, when I was eleven –  I wanted him to have a metal mask like Hercules from the Amiga/Atari game "Gods" which I made with stiff cardboard painted silver. It was fucking terrible.

And so you wanted to be a sculptor when you grew up?

Being honest, no! It's just something I enjoyed, but I only really flirted with the idea of being a sculptor and focussed on becoming a graphic designer that enjoyed wargaming in my spare time. And the spare time wargaming focussed more and more on the painting side as that's creative and fun and easier to dip into for an evening. I've even worked for a couple of wargaming companies (as a graphic designer) and considered jumping track to painting for them, but not really to sculpting.

So how come it happened?

Lockdown 2020! For my graphic design day-job I had to mock-up some twenty-sided dice with custom engraving and show the materials. Six-sided dice are easy to mock up, but I was getting nowhere creating d20s in Photoshop, so with lockdown evenings I threw myself into 3D modelling. When the dice were finished I had a lightbulb moment – and took a half-finished droid made out of putty and plastic tubing, and finished it in Blender in a few evenings. Then I thought I'd sculpt that old Amiga character Zool Ninja of the Nth Dimension. I just kept going and going in a hundred sculpting directions, thrilled with the newfound powers.

Some of Chris' other sculpting endeavours

I'm interested in the genesis of the Röknaut idea – did it start as a desire to make something retro and Space Dwarfs fit the bill, or were you keen to make some dwarfs and the retro styling came through due to your interests? Or perhaps the idea was fully formed from the start?

Miniatures are characters shrunk down to caricatures. Goblins/dwarfs/gremlins are already caricatures, so they're doubly great as miniatures. Remember Mini Boglins? They were perfect toys. Adding giant shoulder pads, sarcastically big guns and over the top muscles to these gruff little guys makes them so characterful. It’s like my cat: something that looks ridiculous but takes itself very seriously. Minis like that really sing. I’m always disappointed when the big manufacturers lose that, adding elements that make the dwarf seem taller and more sinewy rather than wider and slabbier. Madness!

The early medieval Scandinavian origins of dwarfs in folklore also give this rich aesthetic to draw on. I really like keying off the mystery of the era and then combining that with gonzo space elements, exploring the mythology and language and art styles without limitations. I went to see the Govan stones in Glasgow, Viking-age hogbacks and other carvings with intricately worked pagan and Christian scenes incised into brutal stone, and that contrast brings them alive in the imagination. I was poring through books on Viking knotwork when I was designing the tread pattern on the Týrstorm bikers, and devoured a typology of medieval anvils when workshopping the symbol for the Avenging Anvils Röknauts.

That's the "Space" and "Dwarf" parts of Space Dwarfs. But the 1990s vibe, why did you choose that? 

I love how wargaming got caught up in the 1990s aesthetic – the tentpole wargames companies were hitting the shelves with Rob Liefield's X-Force comics, neon Super-Soakers and the wild hairy energy of POGs. There was a shift from the dour machismo of the 1980s corporation-created entertainment where the same twenty boring Transformers robots go and shoot at Megatron's grey robots in the cartoon every single week – and suddenly the things you discover feel like the work of an individual creative with a radical vision. I want that energy to burst through again, and we can see it already in the computer games space with Hollow Knight blowing up so big.

Týrstorm Biker Trooper. Credit: Moogus

And there’s something bigger under the nostalgia – something that’s been lost from the wargames space. I see miniatures as a unique collab between the sculptor and the painter. You’re buying a kit that’s just a starting point you finish yourself. The sculptor pressed a triangle shape into the helmet, and the painter picking it out in bright blue transforms it into an eye lens. Over the last thirty-plus years the precision and intricacy of detailing has sky-rocketed to the point where the single piece metal spaceman I had in 1994 is now thirty-six components without being thirty-six times the fun. It's like a 14-minute Dream Theater solo – a lot of notes and is very difficult to play – but is it fun to listen to? The technical artistry on display is phenomenal (love you all – pls keep coaching me), but it’s mutated into this gestalt of designers aspiring to impossible intricacy. Big companies are racing into the distance with intricacy rather than keeping the designs at a level the painter – a single individual with their entirely analogue paintbrush and precious few painting hours – can interact with as an equal and enjoy. What I’ve put at the core of the minis I sculpt is they're chunky and simple (like the mass market had in 1994), in a way that everyone from beginners to competition painters can connect to the individual behind them. That’s the real point I’m trying to hit with my models.

Is that nostalgia? I think that’s more a rebalancing that puts the brings the focus back to the painter and their choices and tastes. My Röknauts I pitch as being paintable in a single session – where you sit down with a blister pack and by the time you’ve stood up several Tool albums later there’s a battle-ready Space Dwarf proudly pointing their cannon at you.

So, golf-course green bases all the way? 



All the way! Yeah, I have to say the bases are reactionary choice. This current fashion for universes where everything is grey, brown-grey, grey-brown is so dull. It’s like wargaming is growing up, and wants to achieve greater realism, but has mistaken realism for making everything turgid and brown. Big box of toy soldiers is exciting, but if you present them in gunmetal grey on a grey background you've sucked out all the joy. Gimme bright red spacemen fighting lurid green space monsters. The universe and your imagination is limitless! We can be cool adults AND choose to use colours, you don't even have to rock a 1990s vibe – this week’s 2000AD comic has a stellar Mike Dowling cover with Judge Anderson in a super-saturated green mist and it's so scarily good.

Is there any friction between the retro vibe and the cutting edge tech?

As long as there's a human creative at the core of the project, what difference does the choice of tools make? As far back as the 1980s plastic miniatures were sculpted at 300% size and pantographed down for steel moulds, which gave the sculptors a real edge in terms of smoothness and crispness over those sculpting at 100%. Modern digital sculpting is kind of just that again, but affordable for the indie producers. Digital sculpting doesn't force you into any aesthetic.

Röknaut Trooper with Wyrmboltr. Credit: Roxin

Röknaut Trooper with Wyrmboltr. Credit: Roxin

So you think that modern digital sculpting techniques lend themselves to trying to create a retro aesthetic?

Yeah, instead of using the tech to push the detailing to the moon you can lower the barrier to being part of the creative process. I can still work putty, but I really enjoy skipping the endless curing, and being able to ctrl+z mistakes. I’ve never squashed a fingerprint into a digital file (though there’s a whole suite of new digital-only mistakes to make.) I know the vibe I’m aiming for, and I can work digitally on a model to steer it away from a 2025 style piece to a 1994 style piece. When I showed the first physical prototype of the upcoming Wârnug miniatures to my friend she spotted the axehead was too sensible for the 1990s, so I scaled it up 20% and didn’t need to resculpt it from scratch. A 1990s sculptor would kill for that ability.

Chris posing with his collection of Super Robotic Warriors, and sporting a lifesize Röknaut helmet!

Did you have to learn new design or manufacturing skills to make it all happen?



The manufacturing is done by some fantastically skilled people out-of-house, based in the UK. Before I started I researched all the indie resin manufacturers and ordered models so I could judge their quality in hand. There’s such skill and craftsmanship and experience that go into these things. And I wanted to focus on learning sculpting rather than being sat in my shed endlessly casting at a tenth the speed of a trained professional. 

A big skill I've enjoyed developing is aligning how the components go together with what a converter might want to do. With Charnock Echogeld her axe has to be a separate piece to avoid casting undercuts, so it separates at the cuff of the glove and doesn’t leave any bits of the axe stuck into the torso, so I can in the future do a gunfighter variant with the same torso, or people can add their own weapon hand without having to carve away leftover pieces of axe. If you leave the banner pole off my Bikers then it doesn’t leave a hole in the chassis – in fact it reveals a little hex nut detail that you don’t get on the banner versions.

We surround ourselves with things that inspire us, or that are important to us. What hangs on the wall above your desk/workspace?

A complete collection of blister-carded Super Robotic Warriors, who are these strange pearlescent 3 3/4” action figures Hong Kong exported around the time of the global Power Rangers craze. While lots of companies were creating straight-up Power Rangers bootlegs, the Super Robotic Warriors have elements drawn from Robocop, SilverHawks, Gordian Warrior and Super Rescue Solbrain. On top of all that, they each came packaged with holographic POGs featuring characters from even more 1970s and 1980s sci-fi that I still only know some of. The toys are just this big melting pot of influences that give me an incredible feeling of endless obscure universes of lasers and robots spinning out in all directions.



What does the future hold for the Röknauts? Is your goal to have a full range of units that could make up an army?

I want to round it out to a full army chock full of options and tanks! 

I engineered the bikes with the idea of building out loads of variants and accessories for them – I’m working on a couple of special riders at the moment as people keep asking for the Akira-slide biker as a miniature. I’ve been puzzling over Röknaut Trikes too – the rear tyres on the regular bikes are so wide that simply putting two of them side-by-side on the back makes the trike look more like backwards steamroller, so I’m trying to slim them down enough to get beefy exhausts and maybe weapons mounts too.

Rökthane Charnock Echogeld. Credit: keewa

I’ve got early designs for a drill tank – the Drilldozer – that I’m establishing a scale and transport capacity for. I feel dwarfs should have underground vehicles and there are so many goofy toys from the 1960s onwards with a giant corkscrew drill on the front to find inspiration from. Trying to establish the right silhouette that looks stubby and dwarven but doesn’t stray too far into cutesy is tricky. I’ve been looking at the real world M113, a stubby little truck that can be an infantry APC, an artillery platform or a supply truck.

Rökthane Charnock Echogeld. Credit: keewa

I’ve been waiting until more models are out to do the higher-ranking military characters – the Röklords (army commanders), the Medgard (medics), engineers and seers. I’ve really enjoyed starting with just the squad leaders, where the aim is to establish them as personalities that stand out from the squaddies but are generic enough to have more than one in the army. I am bursting to do more one-off characters, with swirling cloaks, ornate wargear and jewellery.

And what about Ontos Games outside of the Röknauts? Is there any desire to craft some foes for them to fight, or anything else in other directions?



So tell me what you want, what you really really want! I’ve got two short-listed alien empires for the Röknauts to fight. I’m sculpting testers for both of them to see how people react. When I go to events people my age break out in a giant smiles when they spot the stand, and I want the next range to have that same effect – so it needs to be built out from a core of 1990s energy. A lot of people ask for evil mutant Röknauts, but maybe reptiles, maybe robots, maybe space dragons. I also want to do some stone-based trolls or monsters that explore the Norse themes that dwarfs are just a small part of.

And after that I want to make some even more 1990s minis – Bucky O’Hare…

You said Bucky?!

I said Bucky!

Captain Bucky O’Haaare!


Let’s croak us some toads.

Anything you'd like to plug, or any other signoff?

I’m running a Gamefound RIGHT NOW to get the new Röknauts Exö-Squad moulded. I’ve been dying to do super-armoured Space Dwarfs forever, but had to do the standard infantry first. Every set you buy now brings the next miniatures closer to happening, and I promise you'll have fun painting them.

Rökthane Hurtzr Wârnug and his Exö-Squad. Credit: Ontos Games

If dwarfs just ain’t your thing but you still dig my stuff – maybe shout out a photo of them in your group chat or public socials.

Rök on!

Bonus Stage - thoughts on the Röknauts range

Chris kindly sent across some of his existing range of Röknauts for us to have a look at, and a handful of our intrepid painters put brush to palette in pursuit of their retro dreams. You'll see some pictures scattered through the article above, and you can find our thoughts below.

Rökthane Toothcutter Schiltron. Credit: Bair

Bair: When Cronch put out a message a few weeks back asking some folks to paint up some Röknauts I was hurt for a brief moment, I thought we'd become good friends and that he would know that of course I would paint a space dwarf. Röknauts are one of those things that I've seen at trade shows like Salute a couple of times now, but never quite dove into because I often "need" to have a gaming-use for the models that I pick up and paint. If I ever find the right kind of skirmish game for a handful of these guys then I'll probably pick up a few more; maybe the Sci Fi reskin of Greathelm would be great to work on five more later on...

These minis are of an excellent quality with incredibly sharp details cast pretty well (mine had a minor mould slip on the back, which I was able to shave down fine). I painted this guy in a couple hours with some simple techniques and really had a blast with him. They do come at a slightly higher cost than you might expect for small minis, but overall they're a fun little side paint project. If you're more of a painter than a gamer, or have a very specific gaming project in mind for them, and don't mind the price then go for it.

Neon Goblin: I loved it, the mini was pretty easy to clean and prep. The retro stylings are lovely, but compared to painting actually old miniatures it didn't feel like such an adjustment, thanks to the cleaner modern sculpts.

Röknaut Trooper with Wyrmboltr. Credit: Roxin

Roxin: The figure is absolutely brimming with character, from the pleasingly chunky shoulder pads to the angular take on a classic bolter, which encouraged me to push bright and bold colours. Painting was a doddle, with big clear surfaces and easy to access textures, though I would advise leaving the arms off. Unfortunately the build was much more challenging. There was a fair bit of flash that needed cleaning and an annoyingly large gap between the shoulder and right arm that needed a big wodge of milliput (other epoxy putties are available) to remedy. Overall though, very pleased with my squat adult son.

Cronch: I really love these minis! They're super characterful, and really strike the balance of being fun and easy to paint whilst remaining faithful to their retro roots with chunky features, small slotta bases, and minimal separate pieces. I've got a small collection at this point, and I'm considering assembling a little diorama for them to inhabit in my display cabinet.

We do have a couple more Röknauts minis out with painters still, so keep an eye on the Goonhammer socials for those in the near future!

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