When I hear about a game that uses miniature figurines with a videogame, I automatically think of Skylanders, Activision’s hit toy/video game that uses plastic creature figures placed on a special “portal of power” to use the creature’s special abilities in the videogame, on consoles and on iPad.

Sydney, Australia-based TableTop Interactive is going one step further to a fuller interactive experience, with mini-figurines reminiscent of tabletop games like Hero Clix or Warmachine, and gameplay that looks more like an action RPG like Diablo. The Kickstarter project is just getting started, with a £150,000 goal and 42 days left to get to it.

In the PlaneQuest universe, the four most powerful races of beings have sent their champions to fight the Dark Archons, who have come to rule the High Plane of existence, threatening all the lower planes in the multiverse. The Draken, Archon, Sauren, and Sentinel races are represented by a unique mini-figurine that sits right on the tablet, even casting shadows in-game. Each champion has its own set of strengths and abilities, and you’ll swap them out at will, with some pretty fantastic visual effects.

The gameplay looks fairly interesting, with the devs promising two-handed action, one to move and change out the champion, with the other hand activating attacks and the like on the many enemies you’ll have to get through in each plane of existence.

PlaneQuest will release on iPad and select Android tablets if funded, and there are plans to put it on Windows RT tablets as soon as that device supports Unity3D. There’s even a stretch goal to port the game to the huge Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon 27-inch tablet-top PC at some point, as well, which would be pretty cool, I’ve got to admit.

If you’re really into figurines, too, you can help support the development of the game and order the large, 7-inch figures of each of the four races, fully painted, sculpted, and made of high-quality resin to display on your geeky shelves.

If you’re interested at all, go check out the PlaneQuest Kickstarter page and check out the gameplay and development videos there, plus the sweet pics of the larger figurines. If you back the project at the £23 level, you’ll get one of each of the smaller gaming figures plus the game itself when it releases.

• SourceKickstarter