You may not know this, but I really like miniature games. I have a lot of miniatures. I mean A LOT of miniatures. I'm sure that if you are reading this blog, you also have your own collection.
My problem is that even though I already have piles of miniatures, I can't seem to turn down new miniatures. When Mantic Games announced their Kickstarter for Kings of War Vanguard, my ears immediately perked up. I ended up backing at the Giant pledge level which gave me models for 4 factions and an awesome giant model. There were about 100 models all told, plus a variety of terrain. As it turns out, there are some really nice models included.
I still have not played the game, but I am currently working on painting the abyssal war band.
Here is a sneak peek at my paint scheme. Videos on how I paint these models will be posted in the future.
Below are videos showing off the models that came in the Kickstarter.
Unboxing the Abyssal Warband and Giant Model
Unboxing the Nightstalker Warband and Blaine Mercenary
I joined in on the P500 pre-order of Space Empires: Replicators at the last minute. This expansion of Space Empires 4x is published by GMT Games and was designed by Jim Krohn.
This is the second expansion for Space Empires 4x and this one adds several new features to the game: a new race (the Replicators), terrain tiles, a resource deck, and some new ships.
Below you can see a couple of pictures of the contents.
Such pretty art on the box
3 types of production sheets
4 copies of the Research Chart/Ship Chart
2 sheets of ship tokens
6 sheets of Terrain Tiles
Empire Advantage Deck
Resource Cards
The components are nice and match well with the components of the core box.
Another game arrived that I backed via Kickstarter. Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star is an expansion for Xia: Legends of a Drift System.
This expansion added more missions, titles, ships, and events. In addition, it includes a solo option. The solo option is what sold me on backing this and I'm pretty excited in giving this game a try.
The components all look very nice and are high quality.
This game has some pretty cool visuals and I hope to get this on my table soon. There are several games that claim to be sandbox, but most don't really fulfill that promise. However, from what I've read and watched from others, this game really does give that sandbox feel (with certain limitations) and offers several paths to victory.
I received my copy of This War of Mine (another game I backed on Kickstarter) last week. I often like to see what is in a game before I buy it so I thought I would make an unboxing video to show off the goodies.
In This War of Mine you play as a group of civilians trapped in a besieged and conflict-ridden city, enduring many hardships that often test the essence of humanity.
During the day you take shelter in a ruined tenement, which you need to maintain, search, and add improvements to.
During the night, you will guard your shelter and possessions and explore other locations to find various supplies. You will meet different characters; some good and some not so good.
Your goal is to survive until the hostilities end.
This game has a pretty dark theme and is not going to be a light hearted experience. It won't be for everyone, but I think it looks interesting and I look forward to playing this game.
As far as the components go, most everything looks pretty good. There are a lot of cards and they are of decent quality. The tokens look nice. I really like the look of the board.
The art work throughout fits the theme very well and sets the tone for the game.
I'm not real impressed with the miniatures that come in the game though. The are not as detailed as well as they could be. Other than that though, all the components seem to be good quality and should add to the immersion of the game play.
I backed Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game on Kickstarter and received my copy of the game last week. I wanted to share with all of you the goodies that come in the box so have put together an unboxing video.
Description from BoardGameGeek:
The land of Kilforth is a perilous domain filled with nefarious monsters, mysterious Strangers and treacherous Locations, and dominated at its centre by The Sprawl, a huge city where intrepid Heroes begin their journey to fame and fortune. Throughout the land various factions vie for power over each other, such as the supposedly noble Order of the Rose or the terrifying Doom Guard. And presiding over the world outside Kilforth is the ever-present Overlord, Masklaw. Over the coming month, a deadly Gloom will descend upon Kilforth,which the Heroes must Battle through to prove their worth, defeat an Ancient evil, and save the land from darkness.
Gloom of Kilforth is a card game of high fantasy with a Gothic edge, playable in 1-3 hours, where 1-4 players, working individually or together, must take their humble adventurers on a journey through a dark world of magic and peril. They will visit strange places, stranger people and overcome powerful enemies in their mission to discover mysterious artefacts and mystical Spells. Players follow their Hero’s tale from modest beginnings through an epic story to an exciting climactic battle for the fate of the world. Gloom of Kilforth takes about 45 minutes per player to play.
I've not yet read the rules so can't speak much about the game itself, but overall I'm pleased with the components except one minor gripe.
The artwork in this game is fantastic. The box looks great and when you open it up and start to take a look at all the cards, it only gets better. The amount of art is surprising and it all has a consistent feel to it. The cards appear to be of good quality and should hold up to repeated play. I will probably sleeve my copy of the game, but I do that with most card games, regardless of the card quality.
There are some wooden tokens included that look nice and functional. Nothing special, but not bad either.
My big complaint (and it isn't that big of a deal) is the card board tokens. They just don't seem to match up to the rest of the game. They aren't quite as polished as the rest of the game. They look functional and will work just fine in the game, but the could have used a bit more work in design.
I look forward to playing this game and seeing how everything works together and I can't wait to get to see all the monsters, locations, spells, etc in use.
This is another game that I backed via Kickstarter (No, I don't have a problem.). I backed this when they announced they were doing a solo expansion. I had previously been looking at this game, but I wasn't sold until they decided to put out a solo version. I gave them some money and they gave me this game with the promise to send the expansion later.
The expansion is getting closer to being completed so I thought I would open this box up and see what kind of treasures it holds.
There are quite a few components in this box and they are all pretty nice quality. I like the design of the components. They are colorful and look easy enough to read.
The ships included with this game come pre-painted (which isn't always a good thing), but these look very nice. Yes, some people could do a better job, but these look pretty good and they come already done which I count as a bonus.
This game looks to have a lot of content and once I get the solo expansion, I'm sure you will find me exploring the vast reaches of space.
I received my copy of Too Many Bones published by Chip Theory Games a couple of weeks ago. I purchased this game through Kickstarter.
Too Many Bones is described as a dice-builder RPG. It is supposed to be a strategic, fantasy based RPG that puts the player(s) in control of characters as they travel to the northern territories in search of a enemy forces that they must defeat.
I put together a video showing off the components that come in the box.
Overall, I'm impressed with nearly all the goodies in the box. My only complaint is really a pretty minor one. The health chips are plastic instead of the nice clay poker ships that are used for characters, monsters, and other things. I really feel that they should included the upgraded clay health chips in the game. They are available as an add-on if you would like to purchase them. As I said this is a minor gripe.
I really like the artwork in this game. The play mats are very nice, the cards are plastic, so they will hold up to repeated play very well. The rule book looks to be easy to read.
There is a lot in this game and I look forward to reading through the rules and trying this game out.
I just love the look of the Blackhawk helicopter. I saw that CinC had a model available and I was already ordering some M60 tanks so decided to add a couple of these onto the order.
Cold War Commander has a scenario called Airborne Assault, so I actually have a use for these. I believe they also will work with Fistful of TOWs 3 and maybe at some point Team Yankee will put them in an expansion.
These look very nice, though there are quite a few pieces, I don't think they will be to difficult to put together. The rotor blades are very bendy, so I'll need to be gentle with them.
I'm pretty excited to paint these up and may even get them into a game at some point. Of course, I've got to finish my US infantry for these to actually be useful in a game.
I really need to buckle down and get some painting down to catch up with my model purchases as of late.
I decided I need some lighter tanks than the M1 Abrams that I have been using for my US forces. So I put in an order for some 6mm M60A3 tanks from PFC CinC.
These will be used for Cold War Commander and Fistful of TOWs 3 (and maybe Team Yankee if they release stats for them).
I'm happy with these models and I think they are nicely detailed. Once painted they will look great on the table and will be a great addition to my forces. If you would like a lighter tank than the M1, you might check these out for your games.
Stay tuned as I'm planning to put together a video on painting these models.
