I'm sure it can't have escaped many people's notice that yesterday was a pretty monumental day in the history of our planet. Things will never be the same again... I am of course talking about me getting some Freebooter's Fate Cult miniatures to Beta test. What? Did you think I was going to start talking about electoral colleges, and the emergence of partisan party politics in the USA? Good God no, we've had way too much of that over the last ooooh... two years!!! Seriously how the hell is a president supposed to get anything done when they're expected to spend two years campaigning. Any way America has finally got the status quo they can believe in, and it doesn't involve guitars, lame chord progressions and Francis Rossi. It does however involve a bipartisan cluster*bleep* between a Democratic Senate, a Demorcratic President and an intransigent Republican House of Representatives with a highly influential Tea Party contingent, who will bog everything they can down and ensure another four years of deadlock ensues. You've got to love democracy.
However, things are changing with Freebooter's Fate! We have a new faction and a new play mechanic... based around loas... squeal!!! Look, I'm basically a big kid, and new toys and new ways to play with new toys is just too much for somebody like me to deal with. I'm not ashamed to admit that I stayed up late last night... no not watching the supposed swing states decide the resident of the White House for the next four years, but pinning and gluing my miniatures together, and trying to make sense of the rules. Suffice to say I think I'm now in a position to give them a blast at some point and see what they play like and feedback to the guys at Freebooter Miniatures. I'm not going to review these miniatures just yet... because that wouldn't be fair. I will however show you some pretty pictures of them and give you my initial thoughts after I've played a few games with them:
Firstly sorry about the standard of the pictures but they were taken really early in the morning while I watched the worlds supposedly most powerful nation spend £6bn on an election that pretty much gave them exactly what they had before. Oh how I did laugh at the redundancy of it all, If there is a God they have a wicked sense of humour. But hey, at least I had my miniatures to keep me company while I watched the worlds biggest democracy in action... you know what I quite the look of the Cult stuff. They have a sort of vagabond feel to them. As I say I believe I've got how they work sorted in my warped, tired and fragile little mind so I'll be testing them out this weekend I reckon. So what do people think of them? Peace out!
They look like they just crawled out of a hedge/barrel/ditch/... the second the Imperial Armada retreated.
ReplyDeleteLike the rest of the range, they've got bags of character. There's really no doubt that these are Freebooter miniatures.
"They look like they just crawled out of a hedge/barrel/ditch/..."
ReplyDeleteWho? The Republicans? Ouch! No you didn't!!! Oh yes I did. Boy did they look utterly gutted.
As to the Cult, yep they look like waifs and strays... with puppets and garden implements. Very strange looking, but as you say undeniably Freebooter's Fate miniatures. Bags of style and character and if I'm reading the play mechanics right a really interesting and quite unique style of play. I think it might be a tad hard to balance them actually, because n00bs will struggle. But, in the hands of grizzled old veterans they could be ever so slightly mean.
It got overlooked by the other elections, but it's well worth noting that Puerto Rico voted last night to become a state. In other words, a small island in the Caribbean will be single-handedly responsible for making everyone in the U.S. buy a new flag. :p
ReplyDeleteHehe... an extra star! Brilliant. But surely that's more bad news for the Republicans. Not sewing on an extra star, but more people who don't like them joining the union.
DeleteI think That PR should be a state...hell, I think we should close down all our US Territories and bring them all into the United States. The idea of Territories is so colonial and just plain old...
DeleteI like the miniatures, I keep eyeing the game but jsut don't have the cash.
@Styx, I agree with you on both your territories point, and that I too like the miniatures. :P
DeleteI'm really quite liking the fact that Freebooters Miniatures does not bother putting on tabs at the bottoms of figures. I don't care for them, usually just pin a leg to the base and I'm done with, but the tabs are annoying to remove properly.
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about normal miniature tabs or the ones of Freebooter Miniatures? Because I think the Freebooter tabs work brilliantly with their miniatures specific scenic bases.
DeleteI love what Freebooter are doing with their tabs + scenic bases. I'm a bit of a sceptic of the square base, but the fact that the figures are designed to go along with the base is a nice cost saving method in my books.
DeleteI don't like the "normal" tabs on most miniatures, they just don't work if you want to do any sort of modelling to their base.
The square base in gameplay terms is actually genius. Totally removes the need to paint LoS arcs on bases. Totally cuts out all the unnecessary arguments as to whether things are in the front or rear arcs etc. Brilliant.
DeleteI agree with you about normal tabs as well. I pretty much remove them from every miniature I own. It's actually usually the first thing I do in mini prep work. The way Freebooter do it is the right way for my money.
I knew voting for Freebooters Fate was a better vote than for Romney or Obama. Makes more of an impact on my life too in the long run.
ReplyDeleteNo seriously, I voted Libertarian (But, shhh - don't tell anyone), supposedly like voting Lib Dems back home, but with a more realistic bent on politics.
No but yeah but no but "really" seriously - have loved Verner Klocke sculpts for years and own a few, though not from Freebooters Fate. It'll all be quality to look at for sure, but I doubt I'll ever get into the game.
A vote for toy soldiers is a vote for jobs! A vote for toy soldiers is a vote for good fiscal policy! A vote for toy soldiers is a vote for a dynamic and forward thinking society! Vote toy soldier on November the 7th and you'll be voting for your own happiness.
DeleteNow... if someone from within our industry could just get their acts tigether long enough to see the spin off benefits of leech style marketing like the above paragraph we might actually have some effective marketing in our industry.
These comments have a distinct lack of jealousy.
ReplyDeleteI am so jelly of you right now, with your beta rules and unreleased models!
Also, we all know that Hendrik let you in on some inside information that you aren't sharing; so rude.
How could you do us like this?
(p.s. I think I'm going to have to give Freebooter's a good go once my stock arrives.)
If Hendrik had told me something trust me I'd be employing thumb screws and all sorts to get him to let me tell you guys. Like I do with pretty much every company I deal with. The fact that Hendrik is thumb screwless should tell you he didn't! :P
DeleteHonestly though. Freebooter Miniatures put all their info out way early any way. I mean 8 months before they think they might release the Cult they announced them to the world and have asked for customers opinions and feedback. When an organisation has that sot of open door policy the scope for exclusives and such like is sadly greatly diminished. Down with this being open and honest malarky I say!!!
I have noticed that about Freebooter.
DeleteI really like that they engage with their customer base and are so open with communications; it shows a respect for their fans.
It's basically the opposite policy of some other companies....
I honestly want to give the game a go more now, just because everyone involved seem so decent. I appreciate their ethics, so to speak.
Yeah, everyone I've been lucky enough to deal with back at Freebooter Miniatures have been splendid.
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