Let's waste no time and get unboxing!
On the top layer were the additional extras I'd ordered - a few extra counters, two resin adventures and the 'Dungeon Raiders' (which are just Kings of War miniatures, destined for my greenskin army)
It also contains the first error of the pack: extra clips when I had ordered some dungeon critters. There was also an unusual way of packaging the Dwarf Enginner, Gunn - put in a sealed bag, with a hole snipped off one end, just large enough for his loose left arm to fall out.
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| Fortunately, such things are easy to find among a hundred styrofoam packing chips |
But let's jump straight to the meat course: Dwarf King's Quest itself!
Once the packaging sleeve is removed (and thrown away, I assume), you get this nice faux-book (cardboard, reasonably solid with a magnet holding the lid shut).
And within, all the contents of your dungeon!
Books, cards, filecards, dungeon tiles and a quickstarter guide.
Furniture, miniatures, dice and tile clips. There was a nice additional touch: a couple of sealable A4 plastic bags to keep all the bits together (you always need them with these games, but never have them in the box).
I haven't opened these bags yet, as there was an error in the packaging - I got twice as many Undead Heroes and half the Undead Minions, so I'll keep the sealed until I can get Mantic to correct them.
Update: my resolve not to open the packets lasted exactly one day. I've kept the extra packet sealed for returning, but the Heroes are now free!
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| Should a Dwarf+Axe really be taller than a Barbarian? |
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| No doubt: the Zombie Troll Shaman is the star |
But I got another Undead set in the expansion, so here are some unpackaged ones. In terms of detail and sculpt, I'd say the miniatures are average (although for the cost, pretty good value).
There will need to be quite a bit of work with hot water just to get them straight (so it's not totally a 'play out of the box' set). I'm not sure I'd put my usual time into painting them, so maybe it's time I invested in some Quickshade.
For the furniture - it's pretty good. The furniture is a kind of solid, rubber, plastic. The doors are a lighter, hard plastic.The treasure chest have separate lids (so you can model them as closed or ransacked), and the little book removes from the plinth.
Off we go to the expansion sets!
This was the external packaging - one of the edges had been glued incorrectly, so it wasn't a straight edge (but as it's ultimately disposable, not really a problem).
Inside, we get a similar box-game book (the top corner is sadly battered, but I guess it was a long trip from China).
Similar contents for the expansions: The Warlord of Galahir, Infernal Crypts and The Tyrant of Halpi.
I like the idea that you can put everything you need in one box - shame it doesn't have the little separators that come with the main boxed game, or the plastic bags for the bits.
The Warlord of Galahir expansion (which I'm forever going to mispronounce as The Warlord of Gallagher).
The Green Rage booster - these models are my current favourite - they seem to absorb the loss of detail (as you get with this plastic) better than the other minis, who have attempted finer details.
The Infernal Crypts expansion.
The Deizens of the Abyss booster - there seem to be an attempt at details here, not too sure how well they work out.
The Tyrant of Halpi expansion.
The only miniature that comes with this expansion is a big damn dragon. This is a pretty good sculpt (although the dragon looks quite portly, compared to the usual svelte style).
These are the other bits that come extra to the expansions - miniatures, cards, heroes and a blank pad of adventurer sheets.
The villains of the expansions on either end. And in the centre, the two protagonists of the fourth expansion, The Return of Valandor.
Apart from the Orc Warlord, these were all a little smaller than I expected. The orc model had me fooled for a while - until you spot the orc face below the wolf helmet, it looks a lot like some kind of werewolf.
The bonus heroes - again, there will be a lot of hot water correction before I can get painting. The halfling thief is also tiny (seems smaller and more frail than even the LotR hobbits), so that's going to be a challenge.
The Kickstarter exclusives: these sculpts seem better, and I particularly like the Dwarf barkeep and dog.
The resin elf - nicely cast (although probably one of the least interesting miniatures in the set)
The final expansion: The Return of Valandor. Including the hardback companion, smaller journal and (it appears) duplicate copies of some mousemat artwork.
A quick flick inside the companion - it looks really nice (although that errata sheet is because these have apparently left out the index).
So that's the whole kaboodle. The production looks good, you get quite a lot of swag for the price, there are only a handful of packing errors, and the game stores neatly on the bookshelf.
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| Although, for the love of God - couldn't you have made the titles align. |
On first impression, I'd give this a B+
I'd go along with this analysis pretty closely!
ReplyDeleteMy boxes arrived today too. There's some minor fails in what was included - the worst is that despite getting all the expansions, there's no snazzy second book-box. And some duplicate bags of clips, bent models aplenty, two copies of one deck of cards and none of another, that kind of thing.
Personally, I reckon the models are mostly very good, although they've taken a right battering at some point. They compare well to the Reaper stuff I've got in terms of sculpts. The material is less flexible, which is good unless you batter the models I guess, they've got crisper edges and some nice detail.
That's balanced against a couple of poor sculpts, though. Bael, the undead demon, is a ragged undead thing that looks slightly like a dog with tatty wings, rather than the terrifying fiend he's cast as. I don't like the dragon, the details are a bit crude and the pose isn't great either, and the halflings Ally and Logan are both tiny and flat.
But I've already taken the game out for a spin (by myself, I'm that lame), and it's good! Looking forward to trying it out in more detail at a later date.
Can I steal your mini photos for the proper content list that mantic is refusing to produce. My box has yet to arrive.
ReplyDeleteOf course, go ahead. Aside from only having one set of Undead minions, rather than two, I think I got the complete delivery of core game plus expansions. Hope yours arrives soon.
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