One of the earliest Kickstarters I backed was Deepwars. I haven't played Song of Blade and Heroes extensively or anything like that, but I like the 'Gonzo' of the game. Magic, high technology, ancient races, fallen races, all that good stuff. I went in for the three pack and as a stretch goal it made it to the fourth pack for free.
They arrived the other day and while I haven't done more than look at them, I thought I'd snap a couple of pictures quickly and share what they look like.
For a 'standard' fantasy campaign, the Dark Marines have to be the best bet for the money. They fit right into the whole Mind Flayer and Far Realm thing so regardless of the 'tech' look some of them have, they are a fairly good fit. Surprised that the 'warrior' of the set is actually kinda small compared to the 'scientist'.
While I like Mercenaries, or Fortune Hunters, as a general rule, too specific to the setting. Great for those who love the setting but the only figure I think I'll be snagging for use outside the boxed set is the machine, the resin figure in the back. It can make some weird space golem or something.
Another winner, the Scaly Horde was the bonus set. Almost every monster here looks like it can be useful in a standard D&D game right off the bat. I know the one with four arms may look a little off, but hey, Spellweaver anyone? The rest need no real thinking about even if the big fish is well, a big fish. I still bug one of my friends who lost a second or third level character when third edition came out to a giant catfish. He's still not happy about it.
There were a few other figures that came with it, but I didn't snap pics of them. The cards are a nice touch. I wouldn't mind seeing those for standard Song of Blade and Heroes games. Maybe if they do some specific miniatures for the game?
I'm also still waiting on the hardcover. Mind you, this is a Kickstarter that is on time. They tried to get it out early, but that went by the wayside. Nonetheless, I'm impressed it's out on time. That is a huge thing to me. They've also been very good about keeping people in the fold.
In terms of the hardcover, I'm hearing some good things about it . I enjoyed Shadowsea, or at least the first edition, so expect this to be good as well. I'm thinking about supporting the new Kickstarter but it's not really a matter of want, it's a matter of what am I going to give up that in order to do so should I go that route.
The other problem is, I think it's too soon. There are a lot of people who may have the funds, but want to see how this game works first. They want to play with their toys. They want to paint their figures. By overlapping the Kickstarters, I think they've done their fans a disservice.
What's worse though, is that the original had a very modest goal and made a fairly decent % over its initial goal, something like $18K. The new Kickstarter has a minimum goal of $30K. Hmmm.... Math is not being friendly here. They've gotten over the old goal for Deepwars but not much further than that.. I'm still thinking it over though. It's another one of those count the pennies and see what we'll see.
There are a lot of great miniature Kickstarters now but I'm tapped out. I'd love to back more of them but the funds are lacking, and while I generally think that the miniature guys are more on top of things than the RPG guys, the ones doing Blackwater and Tectonic Craft Studio have dropped the ball in months and quarters even so there is no 'perfect' medium for Kickstarters.
No comments:
Post a Comment