A Few New Bits And Bobs

I popped down to my FLGS store yesterday and, spotted something odd out of the corner of my eye.

In amongst the odds and sods pile of second-hand (but still in good shape) miniatures was a couple of packets of second-hand dice, one of which included this little bundle to the right for the very reasonable price of £6.

Dice for random weapons, armor, alignment, critical hits, critical misses, terrain, traps and, a couple of more besides. All great stuff as far as I'm concerned and, I'm just itching for an excuse to roll them.

I also managed to pick up a few old metal miniatures, some of which form an anti-hero party of ogres for only 20p a piece! Sadly they wouldn't photograph though due to the bare metal finish and the lighting conditions (not to mention a low res camera). All being well, they'll photograph a lot better once painted though. :0).

There's also a gnome in there. Gotta love gnomes. ;0).

First Look: Boldly Going To The Sorting Office

Well, it seems I have been through hell and high water, even as far as the local postal sorting office (which isn't that local) but it's finally here. After what I think is probably close to a year, I finally have a copy of the Star Trek Heroclix Tactics Starter to call my very own.

Was it worth the wait, and the walk? Definitely.

It's been a while since I played any clix game and, honestly, Horrorclix was always more my thing. The moment I heard that this product was hitting the shelves though, I knew that I'd be picking one up. It's just taken a while.

Still, I have a copy now at least. :0). More to come on this one in the future.

Plunder For The Cave #2: More Goodies!

In addition to the recent purchase of a rather awesome box of Skeleton Warriors, that I am REALLY looking forward to getting up and running, I also picked up a few other goodies worth noting.

There is a lot of sweet terrain to pick through in my local gaming store but, one small pack had caught my eye a few trips back and the purchase of the Skeleton Warriors gave me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to invest in it.

The pack in question contained a staggering 44 assorted gravestones for a meager £8! Throw in a hairy grass mat and that's pretty much a graveyard right there (although I'd like a mausoleum or two as well).

Renedra,who produce these gravestones are the same folks that were able to outfit me with 90 bases for only £5! As far as value to quality ratios go, these folks give you a lot for your money, which is always a good thing and, as far as the actual quality goes, I certainly have no complaints.

On top of all the modeling goodness, I also decided to pick up a copy of the Shadows Over Camelot Card Game by Days of Wonder. As well as the evocative box art, I was also drawn in by the promise that it could be played solitaire.. The fact that my copy came with the free promotional expansion (giving me a couple of extra cards that look like they'll really change the game) also certainly didn't hurt my decision making process in this either.

Although I have only had a chance for a quick flick through the rules, I have to say that I am quite impressed with what I have seen so far. At it's core, it appears to be a fairly basic memory game but, despite the typical Days of Wonder simplicity it actually opens up and encourages (and kinda doesn't work without) fairly deep roleplaying opportunities.

This should be an interesting one to bring to the table but, quite how a game that depends so heavily on roleplay will fair solitaire I really do not know. I sure plan on finding out though, and soon!

Miniatures Of Myth And Legend Or The BIG Box Of Plastic

Ever wanted some children of the hydra's teeth to call your very own?

I have. Jason and the Argonauts was probably one of the first, if not the first fantasy movies that I ever saw and, the scene with the skeletons was always one of my favorite. There's a reason why it's a classic.

It's awesome and, for me, sets the bar of how skeletons should look if you're modeling one. None of that red glow rubbish. Pure, animated bones that look like they might fall over in a strong (hell, even a light) breeze for me thank you very much. It's a timeless and iconic look and the chance to bring that to the gaming table was not something that I was going to overlook.

Enter the Skeleton Warriors of Myth and Legend (they really have a name that epic) by the Wargames Factory or, as I like to think of them, the big box of plastic.

For me this product is a win on three fronts:

1 - They don't cost an arm and a leg.
2 - They capture that "iconic look" far better than most plastic miniatures.
3 - There's a LOT in the box.. A LOOOOT!

So, what do you get in the big box of plastic?

40 Skeletal heads (4 different expressions, 10 of each).
48 Right arms.
30 Left arms.
30 Sets of legs and lower body.
30 Pairs of skeletal feet.
30 Torsos (3 different spinal angles, 10 of each).
30 Round shields (Greek style).
30 Spears (although they look a lot more like javelins to me).
10 "Arm Claw" (these look REALLY cool).
10 Bow and Quiver.
10 "Earth Burst" bases.
10 Greek Sword in Scabbard.
10 Greek Sword without Scabbard.
10 Persian Sword in Scabbard.
10 Persian Sword without Scabbard.
10 Knife in Scabbard.
10 Spears (these ones really do look like spears).
3 Pikes.

Now that's a lot of bang for your buck in one box, especially one that costs less than £20. Not only do you do you get the tons of choice, you'll also no doubt have plenty of spares to fill your bits box with, making this buy real value for money.

There is one drawback however. The 10 "Earth Burst" style bases included, are all you get. No standard square or round bases, which is definitely an issue with models that have little to no chance of standing up of their own volition. That feather light look is their appeal though and, buying a bag of bases won't break the bank (I paid £2.50 for 50), so I would still recommend these every time over the pitiful 10 warriors you'd get for a comparable price from that other company.

It's A Good Thing

 One of the most impressive home grown finds that I have been lucky enough to come across in the past few months is Project Good: The Battle by Project Good, a small UK independent publisher that could well make it big.

I say this because they have managed to break one of the biggest rules of any tabletop skirmish game. The often unwritten rule. The rule that dictates what is acceptable when choosing a force to bring to the table.

Games Workshop go the whole hog with this. Not only do you have to use their miniatures but, they even go as far as telling you pretty much what your army MUST consist off. True, it's not quite that regimented but, it's not far off it is it?

Other games present you with a similar situation by imposing you with a specific setting or genre. In Project Good: The Battle (PG:TB) though that goes straight out of the window. You can use any miniature you have to hand, whether that be toy soldiers, old action figures or, as listed in their very own miniature manual, the dread cucumber!

So there you have it! A game where you can bring any miniature to the table. Now that's a good thing!!

What this game is effectively doing is giving you the green light to collect and paint as many different miniatures as you like and, giving you a game to play them all within. No more laborious army painting as one-on-one combat is the norm. No more limitation on what you can and can't bring to the table. No real limitations at all!

All that and only a light A5 rulebook. Now that's what I call a game!

Why not give it a look?

$900 worth of miniatures for just $100

Yeah, you read that right! $900 worth of  Reaper miniatures for just a $100 pledge to this kickstarter project.

A big thank you to Erik of at Tenkar's tavern for putting up the original post that drew my attention to this great offer, which I just had to share!

I am a great believer in kickstarters (and even plan to do a couple of my own in the future) for getting new projects off of the ground.

In my opinion they are great way for small and large groups alike to continue to expand in these financially tough times and, in turn keep the hobbies that we love alive and kicking!

So why not show your support? There's lots of shiny things in it for you!

Alchemy Bytes #14: Dungeon Command

Another interesting insight into the world of gaming from Tom Vasel and Sam Healey over at the Dice Tower.

This time they take a look at a game that has certainly caught my eye and, promises to have a great deal of potential. I strongly suspect I will be picking up a copy at any rate. I also however suspect that this could very quickly become another expensive collection to maintain.

With each of the two box sets currently available costing over £30 each and, the realistic necessity being that you need both to play a decent game it's not cheap off the bat. Then take into account that there at least two further planned expansions in the works at Wizards and, we start getting into the realms of downright expensive!

Since this is Wizards as well, it isn't unrealistic to expect that they will go down the route of releasing booster packs that will probably set you back about £10 a time.

For that kind of money I could build a 40k army!

Dungeon Command does have certain advantages over Warhammer though. Chiefly the fact that the miniatures you buy here come painted and assembled. Also however, each miniature also comes with cards that allow you to use it in any of the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System games that you may already own (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, The Legend of Drizzt).

So if you do happen to own any of those you're not just getting a new game but an expansion for your old game to boot, which makes the £30 a box price much easier to justify and accept.

In conclusion, I would say that this game would make a great buy for any fan of the now out of production Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Game but, be warned, keeping up with this one isn't going to be cheap!