Kickstarter Loot - Gamelyn Games - Tiny Epic Vikings Deluxe

My copy of Tiny Epic Vikings arrived over the weekend. I have been looking forward to getting this one and I think it might even have hit a little early. Since this is the "Deluxe" version from the kickstarter it also included the first expansion "Ragnarok". Since its one of my favorite subjects I pretty much went all in with this one. I picked up the player mats and the main game mat which are just beautiful. The only other one I did this with was the Tiny Epic Western and I think I just bought the mat for that. 

Here are some pics, a feast for your eyes:

They hit all the goals I think, the first which is a box upgrade to some pretty thick cardstock.

There is a lot packed into this tiny box

Everything laid out, board is a nice thick cardstock, pieces were upgraded to wood. Gamelyn does a superb job with their game components.

The extras that I don't normally purchase; Game mat and Player mats

And the expansion, maybe not quite as jam packed as the main box, but pretty close!

Everything laid out. I know I didn't open anything that was shrinkwrapped so you will just have to use your imagination.

Kickstarter Loot - Gamelyn Games Tiny Epic Dungeon

Another game in the Epic series, Tiny Epic Dungeon from Gamelyn Games. My hat is off to Gamelyn for another high quality game. As part of my "reward" I received the main game with all of the kickstarter updates, the additional scenario box, the Boss Meeples and a reprint of the Dungeon Heroes game.

What was in the shipping box

Meeple Monsters

Miniature Heroes, note the ad on the side of the box for Tiny Epic Pirates

The supplement

More plastic heroes!

Kickstarter Rewards: Cats of Crumptown

I received my kickstarter rewards from Northumbrian Tin Soldier over the weekend. My wife liked this one and she is rarely interested in miniatures so I decided to jump in on it. It arrived safe and sound from the UK on Monday and I am very pleased with the contents on this one.

The box with the characters is heavy weight with a sleeve cover so it will serve as a case. Inside the box are the 12 character cats plus the kickstarter extra Luna, a kitten in a dinosaur costume. All nicely done and should be a lot of fun to paint. I really like the Kittenguard, 12 different guards in two blisters, as well maybe even more than the character box. The Cawlock and Crows I'm not to fond of but will probably offer a bit of a challenge to paint. The lamplighter and Gnomes back could be a lot of fun. The resin pieces are also nicely done although I probably won't have a use for those.

The castings are nice and clean so prep should be minimal. Round plastic slotta bases are provided. I'm not sure that there are enough but finding more bases shouldn't be a problem. I would love to dive into these right now, but I want to stay focused on Normandy for the moment, so these will go back in the box and hopefully will see that light of day in the near future as opposed to the far future.

This is basically the all in option with no add-ons. There were some add-ons that I was interested in but not interested enough to put down the extra money.

I do like the packaging a lot. This is a heavy duty cardboard box and the main cover is a sleeve just slides over to hold the whole thing together.

Kickstarter Loot - Armies & Legions & Hordes

One of my kickstarters delivered over the weekend; Armies, Legions and Hordes by Dave Taylor or Dave Taylor Miniatures. This kickstarter did very well and it went far enough that it came with a slipcase cover for the book. I nice edition. This is 171 page hardcover that covers a variety of army projects along with chapters on inspiration, planning, aims and expectations. Its full of great photographs on nice paper with at least what appears to be a very solid binding. Bindings on some of my kickstarter books have been less than stellar over the years.

I have to admit though that I was initially disappointed with the book. I was expecting more of "how to paint these armies" than what initially appeared to be just a bunch of army photographs. I took a little time though and actually read what the book and that is the key here, this book needs to be read and absorbed there is a lot of great information here and while it may not be focused on the how to paint it is focused on how to plan and execute building and painting an army. While the primary focus is how GW 40K armies there are a variety of other projects included as well, my favorite being the British Napoleonic army. This book is going to help you get those armies painted. Its written from the understanding that you know how to paint already, Taylor is not forcing his style of painting on you, just guiding you through getting started and getting finished.

If you paint armies, and most of my readers do, then I think this is a good book to have handy especially if you are contemplating starting yet another new army project. I don't know if this book will actually see the light of day in game store, many kickstarter books don't, but I would grab it if you see it or borrow one if the opportunity presents itself.

Nice slip cover, a little plain but certainly functionality

Kickstarter - Gunfighter's Ball, Knuckleduster Miniatures

A very large, very damaged box arrived full of stuff from Knuckleduster's kickstarter. I have been eagerly awaiting its arrival!

While this kickstarter delivered late, I don't let that upset me anymore. There are so many factors that contribute to not meeting the date listed in the kickstarter it should really only be considered a guideline. I did not immediately jump in on this one even though it features my favorite western gaming theme. I thought the primary package was a bit weak for the price so I waited to see how many of the stretch goals they were going to hit. I do believe they hit all of them, and I jumped in as soon as the game mat was included. To say that the box was full is an understatement. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and while I did receive a pdf copy of the rules time has just not been on my side to read them now with the actual rulebook in my hand that is likely to change.

A very full box, notice the completely shredded box corner in the upper right of the picture.

The basics; poker chips (who doesn't love poker chips), dice, cards and the character cards (I believe there is a card in there for all the western miniatures currently in the Gunfighter's Ball line).

A look at the front of the character cards

And the back. These are laminated so you can mark right on the cards with a grease or china pencil.

Three card decks. The Black Deck, I believe, can be used to replace the wound table. A Card deck, this is a standard card deck with some very nice artwork on the royal cards. The Pistoleer Deck, which looks like it has special character abilities. Everything is pretty much pure speculation on my part.  

Artwork on the royal cards, although I think they missed an opportunity of doing something fancy with the ace.

Three bags of stuff for the Saloon

That's a lot of MDF parts. I must admit that I'm intrigued enough to want to put this together right away. I have looked at the instructions posted for it and I think I'm going to only use them as a guide. It feels like its not quite in the right order.

Something a little different here with pewter doors, windows and matching interior pieces.

The resin bar along with a compliment of pewter pieces. I'm a bit disappointed that this is not a little fancier, again I think an opportunity was missed. I'm already considering some extra stuff to fancy it up a bit.

The Iconic faction, this is a new faction introduced for the kickstarter

A large pile of add-on miniatures.

The dismounted miniatures, very clean castings. I'm not sure how useful the bathtub guy is but its almost iconic if you watch western movies. 

A close up, and not a very good closeup, can you say Blazing Saddles? I already have a number of miniatures from the Gunfighter's Ball line and they have all been great. Some of the poses are a bit stiff but that's about the only bad thing I can say about them.

The mounted miniatures

A really nice horse, I'm excited about working on it. There were also some riderless horses available, since they were an additional buy in I decided to wait till later on those. They are already available on the Knuckleduster website.

The 3'x4' game mat, very nice, it feels likes it made from the same material as mouse pads

And the hard cover version of the rulebook

A random selection of pages

Overall, I'm very pleased with the results of this Kickstarter, well run, well communicated and great products at the end.