Something very important happened to the world yesterday

   
      

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.

Industry Talk: Hendrik Mell Freebooter Miniatures

     
       

Right then, given as though the last month has been a pretty busy time for the chaps and chapesses at Freebooter Miniatures and their game Freebooter's Fate I thought I'd try to get to interview one of them. I tried for Werner at first, but apparently he really is kept chained to a desk... although whether this has anything to do with his working practices or just for fun was never actually fully explained... any way... moving on, Hendrik Mell decided to step into the breach, or was more likely volunteered because he forgot to turn up to an office meeting or something. So I put my questions about Freebooter's Fate, The Cult (not the band but the faction) and their Indiegogo campaign to him, and he was nice enough to give me some answers...

New pledge option for Freebooter's Fate Indiegogo campaign

    
     

Do not trust these men... they're after all of your money!!!

For those of you of a weak disposition, and an inability to resist buying toy soldiers you should look away now...

New Freebooter's Fate faction

    
     

Awesome!!!

There's a double dose of Freebooter's Fate goodness today. The cat is well and truly out of the bag... or should that be voodoo cat? Well, whatever, Freebooter Miniatures have announced the sixth faction for their Freebooter's Fate game, the cult. You can read the press release here. There have been requests for a voodoo, or zombie pirates faction for Freebooter's Fate on many message boards now, but I know Werner didn't want to do just Le Chuck in miniatures form from Monkey Island. He wanted to find his own unique way of badging it and put his own unique stamp on it. So I'm personally really excited to see what he's come up with.

Freebooter's Fate Indiegogo Campaign

  
    

Yeah OK so my promise not to keep bombarding you with crowd funding campaigns looks to be faltering... badly. But, hear me out please. I'm weak. Yep, I said it, when it comes to really nice shiny toy soldiers I'm so painfully weak it embarrassing, I have slowed promoting of campaigns down considerably though! So what happens when one of my favourite sculptors (Werner Klocke), who produces the mini's, and 'stuff' for one of my favourite games (Freebooter's Fate) decides he's going to have a tenth anniversary crowd funding campaign, for some highly limited edition Freebooter's Fate miniatures? I tell you what happens, I start looking around for old ladies to mug and body parts I can comfortably sell, and hopefully live without. Something tells me either my bank manager is going to be very unhappy, or I'm going to end up with a criminal record...

Review: Freebooter's Fate Casimeere Flynn

Well yesterday I reviewed an older Freebooter's Fate miniature, Miedo a Morir. So today I thought I'd better try and review one of the more recent releases. As a heads up, this was actually given to me by the lovely Hendrik who works at Freebooter Miniatures... although thinking about it I'm not sure what him giving me a rose wielding Casanova for a present says about our relationship... o_0 ... any way please bear that in mind as you read my thoughts on it.

Product description

Unlike many of the more complex Freebooter's Fate characters, Casimeere Flynn is absolutely no where near as complex in composition or pieces. He normally comes served in a plastic blister pack, but as this was a pre-release mini he came in a zip-lock bag. As always with Freeboter Miniatures products there is the sunken black plastic square base, and a metal scenic base insert. I'm kinda starting to wish more companies would go with this sort of arrangement as it really set the miniatures off nicely. Beyond that the miniature is made of metal and comes in three further parts. The main body, legs, torso, right arm and head cast as one piece and then the left arm wielding a rose and the right had brandishing a rapier. As always with Freebooter's Fate miniatures it also come with two cards, one in the native German and the other thankfully in English.

Review: Freebooter's Fate Miedo a Morir

I realised the other day I hadn't actually written that many reviews since my brief hiatus, and sitting in my to do pile are a load of older reviews I've yet to finish off. There are a few for Freebooter's Fate reviews that I want to do, so I'll try to get them finished this week. So I'll start with one of my favourite Freebooter's Fate miniatures, Miedo a Morir.

Product description

Miedo a Morir is a single character for the Brotherhood faction in Freebooter's Fate... or he's just a sodding awesome painting challenge. He comes with both his German and English gaming cards, so my mission to brush up on my German using Freebooter's Fate continues apace... although I'm really not quite sure how knowing 'unterleib' is meant to help me in everyday conversation! Miedo comes with the usual sunken square plastic Freebooter's base and a metal scenic base insert, which is something I love about Freebooter's miniatures. The miniature itself comprises of 7 metal components, 4 of which come attached to a metal spru... sorry the technical term escapes me for now. Some of these pieces are quite small and fiddly so be careful when removing them, and when sticking him together.

A better shot of the individual components.

575(+) followers, time for another giveaway

You can win a copy of this... except yours will be signed!!!

Hopefully you guys will understand my reticence at releasing this prize earlier, because hell that would have meant keeping on top of 4 competitions at one time, and I was starting to run out of carrier bags! So even though I got to the prerequisite 575 followers a few days ago now I held off before posting this up, even though my Blog now sits at 593 followers. Any way after finally giving away the Heavy Gear Blitz PDF's earlier on this week I've freed up one of my carrier bags so I can now run the prize draw for the Werner Klocke signed copy of Freebooter's Fate. Those of you who have been keeping a watching brief of my Blog will know I'm a bit of a fan of this game, not just the splendid miniatures, but also it's pretty damn fine rules. Here are a list of my Freebooter's Fate reviews:

Review: Freebooter's Fate Chulo Bolu & Momma Galina

Chulo and his mommy watching his back.

I suppose I could have reviewed these two miniatures separately, but the truth is they clearly belong together. If you haven't read the back story behind this Goblin pirate duo I'll briefly fill you in. There's not really too much to tell, Chulo was a slave to a particularly smart and crafty tradesmen, who taught Chulo a thing or two. So he's a better educated crafty Goblin than most. He fancies himself as a bit of a rebel leader, wanting to lead his green brothers and sisters in glorious revolution... except he's a bit of a weedy git and a totally spoiled brat who throws temper tantrums. In short he's not hard enough to be leader! That is where his mommy steps in, Momma Galina is hard enough to be leader, but like most smitten mothers who spoil their sons rotten, they want them to be the leaders, and they're willing to clip anyone round the ear who says otherwise. So put simply Chulo is in charge because if you say otherwise his mommy comes and gets you. The stories behind the two of them are genuinely humourous. So that's there background and why I just feel like I had to review them together. I mean I just don't think Chulo would leave home without his mommy in tow.

Product Description(s)

Well I guess I better start with Chulo as I don't want to make his inferiority complex any bigger than it clearly already is!

As you can see Chulo comes with two cards, firstly there is the games native language German card as well as the English language card, which is handy for me as my German doesn't stretch much further than buying a return train ticket, ordering a beer and possibly asking for directions to the nearest krankenhaus! The miniature itself comes in 6 parts, one of which is the black plastic base. Next up is the nice scenic base insert you always get with Freebooter's Fate miniatures. Into this goes Chulo's legs, which are actually standing on top of a wooden stool. On top of his legs goes the largest piece of the miniature, his body and left arm, which is brandishing a blade. Then there is his head and right arm, which is holding a pistol like a club. He's not a massively complex miniature to assemble, but the fact the main miniature is cut into four pieces does me his stance is quite dynamic. Next up is Momma Galina, Chulo's over protective mother / personal bodyguard!

Ms Galine actually comes in 7 parts, one more than her son Chulo. As before you get the Freebooter Miniatures black plastic base with indentation for the scenic base insert. Momma Galina is mainly comprised of two large components. There is her main body, legs and head, which comes cast as a single piece and a large over coat. Again as always with Werner's Freebooter's stuff, both pieces are cut exceedingly well. The remaining three pieces are all relatively small in comparison. There is a parrot sitting on her right shoulder, her left arm, which is holding a harpoon gun and her right arm, which ends with a pirate hook for a hand.

Review: Freebooter's Fate Amazons Starter Set

    
 

Yep the cats do indeed approve of these lovely ladies.

I've deliberately taken my time over reviewing these Amazon miniatures because as the 'add-on' faction they run the risk of messing up the games balance. I wanted to be sure when delivering my verdict that I was doing so with a good level of information. So then, apparently four factions wasn't enough for us ever demanding gamers. Nope as is always the case we demand more and more swanky miniatures. Placing yet more strain on our games developers... for the love of God won't somebody think of the children! Or some equally emotive exclamation. I say thank God we're all greedy demanding gutter crawling curs! Why? Because our ever demanding insatiable appetite for shiny new toy soldiers forced Freebooters Miniatures to give us the very sexy, kitten like killing vixens that are the Amazons. Scantily clad ferocious female fighting figures ahoy! Set anchor me hearties I'm going ashore...

Product Description

Feminism, I'm told by far smarter people than I is a collective movement or movements aimed at establishing parity for women in all social matters, such as politically, economically, educationally and so forth and so on. Since the suffragettes the cause has come a long way, no doubt, and indeed many sisters are doing it for themselves. I was, however, struck by a recent article about the right to choose, and it's something many people often forget that while it's great women have more and more opportunities (equality is still some way off though), that doesn't mean women should be made to feel any less worthy because they choose not to take those opportunities. I think it's quite clear that these Amazons have chosen to rightly kick ass in loin clothes and crop tops, and I for one heartily applaud them for it. What? OK so it might not be the best feminist statement out there, but boy of they strong female role models...

Pehua is the most complex miniature in thisstarter set.

The leader of this band of female warriors is Pehua. She comes 7 metal parts plus 1 plastic base. The two main parts are her main body and her right arm, which also has a large piece of a cloak attached to it. Luckily there is no need to join that fabric up with any other fabric as there is meant to be a split. However, given the weight in the piece and the small contact area for the join I felt it was wise to pin the arm. Although superglue might have been more than adequate I don't like to take needless risks. The other pieces are a cinch. The head with it's large headdress fits in fine and slots in nicely to the groove provided. The sword and scabbard too attach nicely at her waist. The one other piece that might cause some issues is her left arm, as it comes in two very delicate pieces. Firstly the bow and hand, and secondly a very fine arm and ribbon. The contact point could be quite fiddly I guess but I ad no such issues, it just slotted together really well, I then left it to dry before attaching it to the main body.

Simple to assemble but very striking when you have

Tocatl is this starter sets one and only specialist, and a damn fine miniature she is too! She comes in 5 metal pieces and the usual Freebooter's plastic base. The largest part is her main body that is standing on a branch that attaches to the base. Her head slots into position easily, and there is a good sized contact point so the bond is strong. Her two delicate knife arms again initially gave me some concerns, BUT they attach really well and although I didn't pin them myself I can certainly see from the angles of the arms that they are more than likely straightforward to pin.

The two deckhands are exceedingly nice miniatures themselves.

There are two deckhands in this starter set. First we have the twin knife wielding Chicomeh. As you'd expect from Deckhands, she's an easier figure to assemble, comprising of only 4 metal parts and a plastic base. Her main body is the largest part of the miniature and this sits in the metal base insert. There are then two daggers and hands to attach, again the contact points were surprisingly strong and I didn't feel the urge to pin them in place. Although again given the angles it is more than possible to do I'm sure. The second deckhand is the blowpipe carrying Matqueh. She is even easier to assemble than her compatriot, comprising of only 3 metal pieces and the plastic base. The only fiddly bit is actually getting her to stand up straight in her base, as she is only standing on one foot. Her blowpipe arm is far too delicate to pin but the bond and connection so far seems strong enough. Finally the contents of the starter boxed are completed with 8 character cards, 4 in English and 4 in German. There is also the now obligatory quickstart rules, once again bi-lingual.

Review: Freebooter's Fate Deep Jungle Expansion

    
     

And here it is... the expansion book review you've all been waiting for!

Well when I first got this book I expected it to be your typical new faction / extra options for old factions update book. That would have given my normal reviewing method enough of a problem as it is. But no, turns out Germans don't do half-arsed faction update books! The Deep Jungle Expansion book, is an actual expansion of the core game. So it wasn't just a case of read the new Amazon's special rules, look at the new things for established factions, and then decide if I liked it. In effect I've had to re-review the entire game system again, and make sure everything was still hunky-dory. Obviously as I'm sure you are all aware, this was a massive imposition on me, being forced to play a game I'm a self confessed fan of. Not to worry anyone though, it is still balanced, lots of fun and I can say from the outset that I actually like the changes they've made to the game. So finally this is my belated review of the Deep Jungle Expansion book, I have my machete in hand and I'm ready to cut through the undergrowth for you...

Product Description

It's an expansion rulebook. The big news will be the inclusion of the new Amazon faction, with their special rules and the swanky miniatures range that has been released to accompany these lovely rules. There's also the standard new options for each of the existing factions. However, for me the real story is the slight tweaks to how the game actually plays scenery now and the inclusion of rules for combat on multiple levels. There are also rules for including 'animals' in the game and of course there are new traits and actions, mainly for the new Amazon faction, but also utilised in the original four as well. The book weighs in at 80 pages, all highly detailed colour prints with the type of satin finish I like so much. As with the main rulebook the Deep Jungle expansion book is actually a softback book, although the binding appears to be a step above most softback book bindings.

Review: Freebooter'e Fate Goblin Pirate Starter Set

  
  

 

So here I am reviewing the last of the original four Freebooter's Fate starter sets. It's actually the Goblin Pirates my own pirates have crossed swords with the most. Round these parts it's almost certainly the Goblin Pirates who are the most popular first faction choice. I guess that's because they're the clearly obvious 'fantasy' faction if you will. They're also highly colourful and full of humorous character which helps. Besides, who doesn't like mental looking Goblins with dead sharks on their backs? You have to be a particularly joyless individual not to smile at least a little bit the first time you see the gloriously unhinged Moby Dugg!

Product Description

As before this is a starter set for Freebooter's Fate, I guess the clue is in the title right? But unlike the other starters this set contains six individual miniatures instead of the usual four. Well I suppose it wouldn't be a Goblin faction if it didn't outnumber the other factions, right? Well lets take a closer look at what components you get in the box.

The Captain of this merry band of Goblin brigands isn't himself a Goblin. Nope Captain Malo Gordab is an Orc, and a bloody big Orc at that. He does though sport the smallest and fiddliest little piece I've ever had the misfortune to come across. In the picture above in the top left you'll see a metal spru containing Malo's head and two horns to go on it. Now that's not all that's on that spru. Oh no there is also a teeny tiny little tooth that needs to go into Malo's gob!!! Bring the tweezers and a large packet of Valium. You have been warned! Malo is arguably the most difficult of the Freebooter's Fate miniatures I've had to assemble so far,both legs are separate as are both arms. All in he is made up of ten separate pieces. My advice? Stick the base insert in first and then attach both legs to it. Pin the body into both legs and leave that to dry. Meanwhile pin the two horns to the head and glue that bloody tooth in place. Then pin the head to the body. After that the arms are a doddle. Malo also comes with a spare hat carrier called Bajo. He's not nearly as complex a miniature, being made up of a single body, a base insert and a flag. I would however advise attaching the flag first with Bajo's body in situation so as to be sure it all fits together.

Revlugg is the first specialist in this starter set and is far easier to assemble than Malo is. Revlugg is made up of four components. The base insert, two arms and the main body. None of it should prove too taxing for anyone with any experience with miniatures.

Moby Dugg is arguably my favourite miniature in the entire Freebooter's Fate miniatures range, why? Because he's utterly bonkers looking! Moby Dugg comes in five parts, the now obligatory base insert, his main body which is brandishing a bomb, a pistol arm, his head and a dead shark. Yep you read that last bit right, a dead shark. Now I mentioned in some of my other reviews just how wonderfully cut various components were, Rosso's overcoat and Curly Ann's rifle spring to mind. Well Moby Duggs shark is in the same vein.

The final two miniatures in the starter set are the rather cool looking Deckhands, the harpoon wielding Goblin Mariner and the oar carrying Goblin Valero. Neither are overly complex to assemble. The Goblin Mariner is only three pieces, his base insert, his main body and pistol arm. The Goblin Valero isn't that much more complex, being made of four parts, the base insert, his main body, a sword arm and for some reason that escapes me, and oar arm. No I don't know why either! Each of the six miniatures also comes with a plastic base to attach them too. You do also get twelve playing cards for your four miniatures as opposed to the usual eight. As before half of them are in the games native German tongue, and the remaining half are in English. There are also the quickstart rules, which come on a single sheet. Again one side is in German the other English. Speaking of the quickstart rules you can now download a set of the rules for yourself to peruse.

Review: Freebooter's Fate Imperial Armada Starter Set

 

Yeah I am re-using a picture again. Look I'm trying to be environmentally friendly

So I thought that my reviews of the Pirate starter set and the Brotherhood starter set would have been enough to sate your appetites for all things Freebooter's Fate. Turns out I was hideously wrong. My inbox was filled with requests for me to review the remaining starter sets, and indeed the Deep Jungle expansion rulebook. Luckily for you lot those terribly nice chaps at Freebooters Miniatures thought it would be a terribly good idea for me to review the rest of their range too. So here I am starting my review of the Imperial Armada start Set, these guys are the other main protagonists in the back story to Freebooters Fate. The flip side of the coin to the Pirates, and the most requested review. So what do I think of them?

Product Description

This is the third Freebooter's Fate starter set that I've reviewed. I will be following the same format that I did for the previous two reviews, so there are going to be a lot of pictures. This starter set contains four metal miniatures, which I'll now discuss in closer detail.

Nicely animated miniature despite the small amount of components

Capitan Garcia is, as his name suggests, the leader of the bunch. For a leader though he isn't comprised of as many components as some of the others I've come across. The majority of his bulk is contained within his main body. Attach a sword arm and he's whole again. The base insert is a nice simple affair that replicates a ships deck, there's also a box of cannon balls to glue to the insert. This is so Garcia can step onto it as he's standing. All in all it's a simple miniature to assemble.

This picture doesn't show it very well but there's a lot of detail on her

The Teniente of the Armada like Capitan Garcia before her is comprised of only 4 components and the plastic base. Again the majority of the miniature is cast in a single piece, her main body. Like the Capitan there is an uncluttered and neat wooden deck base insert. The other two components being a pistol arm and on open pistol box to be placed on the base insert in front of her. Again an exceedingly easy miniature to assemble.

Every faction needs it's bog standard deckhands

In keeping with the simplicity of the previous two miniatures the male and female Arquebusiers are themselves straight forward miniatures to assemble. Each of them comes with a base insert, although not the wooden decking of the previous two miniatures, these inserts appear to be a sandy tropical beach. They both carry a rifle (or arquebus d'oh) and the final component is their respective main body part. Attach it all to the base and bingo you're done. So that's your lot in this box for miniatures. You do also get 8 playing cards for your four miniatures. As before, four of them are in the games native German tongue, and four of them are in English. There are also the quickstart rules, which come on a single sheet. Again one side is in German the other English. Speaking of the quickstart rules you can now download a set of the rules for yourself to peruse.

More Freebooter's Fate reviews incoming.

 
 

More booty me hearties!!!

Yeah so it's pretty well known by now that I'm a bit of a fan when it comes to Freebooter's Fate. I've reviewed the rulebook, the Pirate starter set and Brotherhood starter set. I had a few of you ask me whether or not I was going to review all the starter sets, and maybe even the Deep Jungle expansion book. Honestly, it was always my aim to do so at some point. But, with finances the way they are you know, I thought it might be some take some time to getting round to doing them all. Well I had a package arrive Monday this week, except I wasn't home to pick it up, being as though I'm actually on a training course right now. So today I finally got a chance to see what the hell this mystery package was...

Freebooters Fate Quickstart Rules Available for Download

 
 

Quickstart rules available to download

Freebooters Miniatures have put up the quickstart rules to Freebooters Fate up on their website to download. So if you want to have a look at this game you can. At the very least you should check out the basic mechanics behind the game for yourselves. In my article of games that intrigue me I said they should offer some quickstart rules for downloading for free. So obviously it was all my idea, and I'm totally responsible... OK so I'm not. they were always going to put them up on the website once they had them in the right format to download. But hey, it's good they've done it right? Speaking of updates, the MERCs minis website has also been updated, and in their downloads section there is now a space for free rules download. When they put them up I'll go take a closer look at the game. So hey, it's great news all round. Perhaps companies are realising now that the best way to get us all playing their games is to go out and show us what they're all about. How long before we get free 40k quickstart rules do you think? Oh yeah, that's right we've already seen 6th Edition 40k haven't we? Peace out!

Review: Freebooters Fate Rulebook

   
  

The obligatory shot of the rulebooks front cover

So a few people have asked me to actually do a review of the Freebooters Fate rulebook. And as I own the book, and have played a fair few games now it's not a major imposition. As with my Pirate starter set, the rulebook was sent to me free of charge by Freebooters Miniatures to review. Given the last game I was gifted for review was Dreadfleet that could be seen as a pretty brave move. I do think though that I would almost certainly have brought the rulebook and some starter sets myself eventually. Simply because it's pirates and as Phil Kelly says, who doesn't love pirates? Good God how did they get Dreadfleet so wrong, it had pirates in it...

Product Description

So what do you get? Well obviously without wanting to labour the point too much it's a book. It's a typical softback glue bound affair that I'm sure wargamers are more than used to. It's roughly A4 sized. The cover isn't a glossy cover that you might be used to seeing on say a 40K Codex, it's somewhere between a matte and a satin finish. Like the recent Hell Dorado rulebook if you've seen that or the Malifaux books. Inside though the pages are on a nice glossy paper, and the print is in full colour. There are 112 pages in total, although 3 of them at the back are reserved for notes. Otherwise it is crammed with information, stories and of course those all important rules.

Review: Freebooters Fate Brotherhood Starter Set

 
  

Look I remembered to take a photograph this time. Score 1 for learning!

This box actually wasn't a freebie, I actually purchased this with actual cash and everything. So I must have been impressed right? Well yep, plus these guys are assassins and how the hell could I pass up the opportunity to own an entire faction of assassins? I couldn't could I. God I'm so easy to please, I must be a marketing firms wet dream. Any way, as the Pirate box set before it, this too is a starter set for Freebooters Fate. So it's aimed at being a good base from which to build your Brotherhood faction, and learn the rules. I was worried yesterday I'd included too many pictures, turns out some of you wanted more of them. So I'll be putting even more in this review...

Product Description

Like with the review of the Pirate starter set I'm going to look at the individual miniature components one by one for each piece. As I think it turned out OK yesterday.

Master Assassin, lots of fiddly parts.

The Master Assassin comes in 7 separate pieces. The main body is the largest part, but only just as his separate cape carries quite a bit of weight too. The remaining pieces are actually quite small, the head and neck slots onto the shoulders nicely no problem. The crossbow attaching to his belt is a bit of problem, but a bit of patience sorted that out. I thought the two hands being such small pieces might prove fiddly but they weren't. The cloak did leave a bit of a gap at the join but wasn't a problem to attach and a small amount of green stuff will fix the gap.

Bonaccia. Pretty straight forward really.

Bonaccia comes in 3 parts. The base insert being one of them. She's unsurprisingly a really easy miniature to assemble. First clean up the base insert and remove any flash from the foot holes. Stick insert into base, stick main body into base insert and attach arm. Job done.

Harlequin (left), Coscritti (right).

The Harlequin comes in three parts, including base insert. The main body is the largest part, the final piece being a very fine arm holding a face mask out in front of herself. Attaching the arm isn't difficult as there is a decent sized cavity that the arm actually slotted into. The most delicate bit was getting her to stand upright in her base. A squirt or two of rapid cure soon solved that little problem! The Coscritti was a more irksome piece to put together all in all. Coming in four parts I suggest attaching the base insert and waiting for it to dray. Then you need to dry assemble the leg to the main body to ensure it stands right as the separate leg is what attaches the miniature to the base. It's not difficult to do, but you may as well get it right first time. The dagger hand is a really small piece and actually was a pain in the proverbial. The contact point is really small, so it's difficult to get right and quite hard to pin. Rapid cure for the win yet again!

The character cards.

The two other component types in the starter box are the character profile cards. Again these are stylishly printed onto aged parchment looking cards with large amounts of artwork. All the rules for the individual characters are on the cards in an easy to read format. You'll get 8 cards again as before, 4 of which will be in English and 4 will be in German. You'll also get a set of the quickstart rules on a single sheet of paper. One side is the English rules, and on the other side are also the games native German rules. As I said yesterday, having had sight of the full rules I think the quickstart rules do a really good job of distilling the essence of the game down into an easily digestible format. They cover all of the basics really well and ensure you have the mechanics down before moving onto the full rules. You'll want the full rulebook eventually but for getting started these are fine. But remember, if you want to play the game right away you'll need a pack of those specialist gaming cards as well.

Review: Freebooters Fate Pirate Starter Set

 
 

The original studio photo... because I'm a clutz!

Much like I did with Bushido before it, I'm going to actually review the two starter sets I own for Freebooters Fate. The first of these reviews, as you can see from the title is the Pirate Starter set. Below that title however, you'll see the official website promo shot of the box. This is because I was so excited when reviewing these miniatures and prepping them for their pictures that I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the box and sleeve. Because I'm an idiot! Another thing to point out, although if you've read my introduction article to Freebooters Fate you'll already be aware of, is that these were given to me by Freebooters Miniatures to review. So as always I'm being upfront and honest about it because that's the sort of guy I am. Any way lets get on with the review.

Product Description

A fair criticism of my previous starter set reviews for Bushido was that I didn't actually include detailed enough close up shots of each individual miniature unassembled. So I'm rectifying that oversight with these reviews, so it might be a little bit picture heavy early doors!

Chuchillo and Pirate

As you can see from this picture, the Freebooters square bases come with a slight indentation where the scenic base insert each Freebooters Miniature comes with slots in. Both the Chuchillo and Pirate come in 3 pieces each (excluding that plastic base) and are a doddle to put together. The metal base insert actually makes securing miniatures to their bases easier.

Curly Ann, a sexy lady with a peg leg!

Next up we have Curly Ann, who has the most detailed base insert of the lot in this starter box. She comes in 4 parts, and at first glance you might wander what the hell is going on with the rifle arm. What's going on is that this miniature has been 'cut' exceedingly well. But I'll talk about that later on, there's also a pistol that actually requires some 'pinning' when assembling because there no obvious peg or notch to attach it to the miniature.

Captain Rosso

Finally we have Captain Rosso. Who is an absolutely splendid miniature he really, really is. I can't do justice to how well 'cut' this miniature is either as words sort of fail me. The over coat is shear genius and the way it sits onto Rosso's shoulders is just fantastic. His pistol and pipe hands also fit perfectly in their respective slots too. His hat is optional though and the studio miniature has it resting on the base, but I decided a Captain needed a hat. At 6 parts he's the most complex of the miniatures, but realistically like the others he's a doddle to put together.

There are also a few more items in the starter box besides the 4 miniatures. For starters there is the quick start rules that you will find in all the Freebooters Fate starter boxes. The rules come on a single sheet of paper. On one side you have the English rules, but on the reverse are also the German rules, so it could be educational as well! Having had sight of the full rules I think the quickstart rules do a pretty good job of distilling the essence of the game down. You'll want the full rulebook eventually but for getting started these are fine. But remember, if you want to play the game right away you'll need a pack of those specialist gaming cards as well. The final thing in the box is the character cards, of which there will be 8, 4 English and 4 German.

Games that currently intrigue me: Freebooters Fate

Well this is the first game on my list that hasn't got a clear, or obvious link back to anime or Japanese culture in anyway shape or form, I think! So score one for variety! It does though pander to one of my other vices... Pirates. Look, there's no point me denying it, I think parrots and peg legs are utterly cool. I like saying things like 'avast me hearties' and 'shiver me timbers'! Yeah OK, and like Michael Bolton I might just love Jack Sparrow a bit too much! I've also been waiting for a good excuse to buy these Pirate boats from Ainsty Castings, God I love those. I do though have a confession of sorts to make right at the start of this article. While doing these blogs on games that 'intrigue me' I contacted, or tried contacting as many people as I could at the companies responsible for the games. Primarily asking as many irritating questions as I could of the games companies involved about their respective products. In doing my research I happened to ask Freeboter Miniatures if they had any free to download quick start rules so I could have a brief perusal of them.

Arrrgghhhh, it's a pirate! Captain Rosso to be precise!

I got a very polite email back from somebody named Christian. Christian, who is a gentleman and a scholar I'll have you know, informed me that the starter sets have quick start rules in them and that they intended to get a set of quick start rules up on their website soon. He also said he'd send me a printed copy of the quick start rules. Brilliant! Anyway I went to pick up a package from my local Post Office and when I opened it I found a copy of the full rulebook, some playing cards and the Pirate starter set. Now I just want to make it clear I don't go around asking for free stuff... much!!! But hey, if someone offers it me I won't say no, and it's always appreciated, unless it's Dreadfleet. So again as always please bear that in mind as you read my thoughts on this game. Although in all honestly I was close to taking the plunge anyway as a friend, Dr Warlock over at Pulp Planet had done a good write up on Freebooter's Fate and had nothing but good things to say about it... and well, as I said I love pirates and the miniatures look ace.

Goblins fight their way across a rickety bridge to face some Pirates!!!

Company: Freebooter Miniatures are the brain child of respected sculptor Werner Klocke. They're based in Oberhausen, which is in the Northwest of Germany and part of a highly built up conurbation just north of Cologne that includes Essen, Dusseldorf and Dortmund amongst others. It's right at the heartland of western Europe, just over the border from Holland Belgium and Luxembourg. Freeboter Miniatures have been in existence since 2002 I believe and have therefore weathered what many would deem to be the two year risk period to new companies and then some, it also means that 2012 is their 10th anniversary maths fans. So they've been around a while. Freebooters Fate the game though was first published in 2010, and is therefore only just now entering its second year of existence. Freebooters Fate is their first wargame as a company. Many of the miniatures in the Freebooters Fate range existed before the actual game did. Freebooter Miniatures has 3 full time employees the aforementioned Werner Klocke and Christian Trinczek, the third musketeer being Dorothe Poll. They also wanted me to mention the huge support they get from the likes Hendrik Mell and Franz Sander.

Website: Freebooters Fate