The following statement is issued today, Friday 25th August 2017.
Following a prolonged period of challenging trading and despite the directors’ best efforts to manage through, Rebel Publishing Ltd was unable to continue to trade and the directors have taken the difficult decision to cease. All members of staff were made redundant.

The company, which traded as Spartan Games, is a Somerset, UK based provider of tabletop miniature games which include

Uncharted Seas, a fantasy naval combat game (now retired)
Firestorm Armada, an exciting space combat game featuring highly detailed starship models
Dystopian Legions, a game based in the world of Dystopian Wars using highly detailed 32mm scale figures and vehicles (now retired)
Dystopian Wars– an exciting journey in a Victorian sci-fi world encompassing naval combat, ground warfare and aerial combat.
Spartan Scenics – a range of detailed and easily assembled wargames terrain.
Rebel Publishing Ltd was formed in July 2002 and traded successfully for a number of years. Spartan Games was launched in 2008 and grew rapidly. However, the tabletop games market is challenging and has changed over recent years, and suppliers are predominantly a small number of large well-known names and several small, cottage industry, type businesses.

Initially the business outsourced production but following quality control and production management issues, manufacturing was moved in house between 2009 and 2011. Over this time and since, significant investment was made into machinery and infrastructure. The business also expanded to provide models for a well known video game, moving this into the tabletop games arena. However, significant new development costs, timing issues and the deflection of management time from the core games brands resulted in a significant trading loss for 2015/6. The business was able to continue to trade by raising additional finance and refocusing on core brands, and direct / online trading improved significantly. Results for 2016/17 were significantly improved.

However, despite this it continued to encounter challenging trading conditions and it became clear this month that the company could not continue to service its liabilities, particularly given the burden imposed by the amounts owing to finance companies.

The company was in the process of running a Kickstarter project to raise funds for expansion of one of its successful product lines. This was well supported and positive feedback on the new products was given showing the popularity of the product line and ongoing demand. However, this does not, unfortunately, provide the full range of success and resources needed to sustain the business.

In addition to challenging trading issues, one of the directors has suffered from a long period of poor health which became significantly more serious earlier this year and although now back in the business, requires ongoing treatment. That has inevitably taken a toll on the amount of time available to the business so, along with other challenges, has significantly contributed to this difficult decision.

The directors are extremely saddened by this decision and particularly regret any losses incurred by employees, customers, suppliers or other trading partners. The directors fully committed their time, energy and personal resources to effect a turnaround. Employees will receive redundancy payments through state funds and although efforts have been made to fulfil customer orders, it is hoped that anyone who does not receive their goods will be able to redeem their payments through their credit card or PayPal.

If customers have made a deposit or paid for goods or services by credit or debit card and the goods or services are not going to be received by the due date, they may be able to get their money back by claiming a refund from their card issuer. They should contact their card issuer as soon as possible. Further information including time limits that apply is available from the UK Cards Association: Credit and debit cards: A consumer guide. Similar schemes exist in other countries.

Throughout the years that Spartan Games has traded, it has prided itself on the highest level of product quality and customer satisfaction. This has been delivered consistently and is evidenced though annual customer research that the company has undertaken.

We would encourage anybody who may be interested in acquiring either stock, assets or the business to make contact as soon as possible. Spartan Games and its product lines have a strong reputation in its markets together with an asset base which may be of interest to a number of parties, and a variety of machinery in addition to Intellectual Property.


All enquiries about this matter should be sent to spartangames@mail.com

Spartan have posted an update on the Dystopian Wars Kickstarter, it offer a glimmer of hope for backers

To all backers of this project, we sincerely regret the recent announcement of the closure of our company and those impacted including people waiting for products from this project. We hope you understand that our priority yesterday was our staff and then getting a formal statement out to the market. That was shared, via email, with everyone on this project.
As explained in the statement, there are policies in place with payment providers around the world for goods that are not received. Please explore these as appropriate to your payment method and location.
Monday is a public holiday in the UK but on Tuesday we will review the status of the project and, if we are able, continue to ship products to backers. We have stock manufactured; we have softback and hardback rulebooks but are yet to receive personalised rulebooks. For those that have speculated that the demise of our printer may have been untrue, please search online for information about Wheatons Exeter in the UK to see that they did, indeed, close in June.
Those familiar with rules governing the operation of companies will realise that what happens next is now out of our hands and will be managed by others. On a practical point, we may have limited access to shipping services and we only have a very small skeleton staff now. However, you have our commitment as directors that we will do all we can to ship products but we are now directed by others.
Enquiries to the email address given on the announcement (spartangames@mail.com) will be handled as they come in but please bear with us and we manage many things in the coming days.

Spartan Games Closure – additional information
First, the Directors would like to start out with a sincere thank you for all the messages we have received expressing sadness at our closure. It is good to hear that our games brought you enjoyment over the years.
Alongside a considerable number of messages of support we have received hundreds of emails with questions. We have made a start at answering them individually but with no remaining staff, this is proving impossible. We would therefore like to answer the most commonly asked questions here.
1. Will I receive the items I ordered from your online store or pledged for in the Dystopian Wars Expansion Kickstarter project?
Alas, for the most part, the answer is no. If you have received an email notifying you that goods were dispatched then they are on their way. Deliveries can take up to two to three weeks in different parts of the world so they may simply not have reached you yet.
However, if your goods have not left our building yet, unfortunately they can’t be sent. We were committed to shipping everything that was in stock and ready to put skeleton staff in place to do so. Unfortunately our accounts have been frozen so we have no way of paying for shipping charges and our landlords require the return of the premises. We discussed this at length today with our advisors and although we explored lots of options, because we know customers have offered to cover postage and even collect goods, unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to make this work.
2. Will stock that is remaining be available for sale?
There is a possibility that it will, although there is limited final product. There are still details to be worked out but we are building a list of email addresses for those who might be interested in purchasing whatever items of products stock we have available. This will include items built for the Kickstarter project. We wish we could send them to you but, as explained above, this won’t be possible due to circumstances beyond our control. If you want to be added to the mailing list, please send an email, if you have not already done so, to spartangames@mail.com with STOCK in the subject line.
3. Who is handling the closure of the company?
This appointment is in progress but it takes time to follow the required procedures. We will advise who this is once the process is complete.
4. Has there been interest in the purchase of assets such as the product lines?
Yes, considerable interest and we are following up on this with our advisors. Parties wishing to purchase assets should email spartangames@mail.com and their email will be acknowledged and their details passed on.
5. Are you answering emails?
As explained here and in previous statements, staff have been made redundant so we have very limited resources to handle emails. We are working through the hundreds we have received. If the emails are about orders, we will not unfortunately, be able to acknowledge them individually and hope this statement explains the status. If they are about individual stock purchases, we will add email address to the mailing list we are building. If they are about purchase of assets, we will acknowledge and pass on the details. If they are about anything else, we will answer where possible. Other email addresses are no longer being monitored and will cease to exist in the coming days and weeks.
Again we would like to express our regret at the impact this closure has had on staff, customers and other trading partners. We are doing all we can to minimise the impact and to do the best that we can under the circumstances. Please bear with us and thank you again for your support at this difficult time.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I actually really like the Firestorm system... but man.... Spartan games....

Fool me once shame on you... fool me fifteen times... I am a freaking moron.

 Digclaw wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I actually really like the Firestorm system... but man.... Spartan games....

Fool me once shame on you... fool me fifteen times... I am a freaking moron.

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat here. Went all in on planetfall. Then Neil saw a squirrel called Halo

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Because of how easily Firestorm and Planetfall hook together, even in terms of linking missions, I would say focusing on just those two games for a solid ten years could do wonders for them.

 RiTides wrote:
That Pathogen model - so sweet!

I've put in a pledge for the 3.0 rules and added on a Pathogen Battle Force. I always thought I'd support the first major company to make space bug ships and happy to finally have some!