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Kickstarter Alert: Critical Role Miniatures!

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Yesterday the RPG world has been stunned into silence (for like a second, before the cheering started) by the announcement that on 26/06 20:00GMT launches the Kickstarter for Critical Role Miniatures. And so it did.

There was a fair amount of speculation whether this will happen ever since in January 2018 Russ Charles, an incredibly talented miniatures sculptor (well know known for his previous work for Privateer Press, Warlord Games and other wargaming companies) started posting on Twitter 3D renders of his renditions of the Mighty Nine, player characters from the Critical Role’s second campaign. As everybody might have guessed, that was met with applause and ‘Shut up and take my money’ gifs.

So, when yesterday folks at Critical Role have announced that they will launch a Kickstarter with the minis (produced by UK-based Steamforged Games), I wasn’t particularly surprised but ecstatic nonetheless.

The Kickstarter was fully funded in about 4 minutes. True, the goal wasn’t too high (only £20.000), but nobody can say that it didn’t deserve the attention. The minis are beautifully rendered, detailed, characterful, with believable proportions and great design. And they’re dirt cheap.

This Kickstarter is rather unique: there is only one pledge level (take all), no stretch goals, and the set of 22 minis costs only £45. They’re plastic, which vastly reduces the price when the production reaches a certain scale, and come pre-assembled and ready to be painted or just played with. As six of the minis are marked ‘Kickstarter exclusive’, I suppose the rest will be available later via Critical Role / Steamforged Games website.

Even if you’re not a fan of the series (after all, it is a considerable time commitment to watch it all), the models are still worth buying: scaled for standard RPG purposes (28mm), with a good mix of genders, races and classes, and with an armoured bear. And for £2 per mini, so no reason not to get those.

The Kickstarter only lasts until 6 July, though, so get them ASAP!

General update

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So, I haven’t really posted anything in a while. A long while, if you don’t count an odd Instagram pic of the minis I’m painting, or an occasional tweet a out random rpg-related stuff.

However, there have been things happening. My collection of RPG book grew considerably in size, my collection of minis even more so (I got into Age of Sigmar, and it’s fun!). I’m playing Earthawn (3E), DMing D&D (5E) as a kind of fantasy spec ops (Wraith Recon, anyone?), reading through incredible 800-pages Glorantha setting for Runequest, making sample characters (D&D 5E, 3rd level, complete with backstories), painting terrain pieces, writing adventures, working full-time (plus some more) on cool stuff for Warlord Games, and finishing off my home office/paint station.

So, I’ve been busy. Add to that the impostor syndrome and you get a clear answer why I haven’t been posting much. I’m trying to do better though, and hopefully stuff will actually appear here soon. For the time being, please accept this random shot of the minis I’ve finally got to base properly this week – made by Midlam Miniatures, Reaper and a whomever made a game called Drakerys and put the elves in there.

What’s the use of the garden gnomes?

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I got my latest Kickstarter package delivered – a pack of Common (or Garden) Gnomes from Midlam Miniatures. Why did I need them? No reason whatsoever. But I am a big fan of this tiny UK-based company and their metal minis, and I make it a point to support all their Kickstarter campaigns. They keep creating original, less “popular” designs, filling several niches: beastfolk, halflings, civilians, Lovecraftian cultists, female characters in sensible clothing.

The minis are standard 28mm scale, but being gnomes they’re only 28mm when you measure them up to the top of the pointy hat. Here’s the size comparison of the male and female gnomes with a human woman (from Midlam’s Winter Adventurers set):

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I got absolutely zero need for those gnomes. Even if I get to play a gnome one day, they won’t be wearing pointy hats (unless they’re a wizard, I guess). But the minis are so sweet, well cast (little to no lines, no flashes, no rips, no miscasts) and detailed that they’re already on my painting short list.

As for gnomes they’re quite diverse – just another nice thing about Midlam’s minis. Out of 14 models in a set, there are four women (a mage, shown above, a flower girl, an unarmoured woman with an axe, and a leather-clad one with a sword), all of them in practical dresses (as far as practical dresses go). The other ten are male – or at least bearded, part of them armoured, part of them unarmoured, some with swords, some with axes, and some with wheelbarrows or angry gestures. The wizard has an owl familiar, so everything is good in the universe.

Anyway, guys from Midlam have just put a new Kickstarter campaign out there, with the Ghosts of Midlam Manor. If you ever need a dwarven or a halfling ghost, check them out.

Kickstarter Alert #1

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Tiny Dungeon

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With only three days to the end of of it’s campaign, Tiny Dungeon 2nd edition definitely deserves a mention. This amazingly easy to play game allows you to turn an RPG session into a party game. Little to no rules, only D6s needed, and all the happiness of a dungeon crawl in a small package of a micro-setting.

 

Forbidden Lands

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After Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis and Tales from the Loop, Swedish Free League team brings to the RPG table another visually stunning piece. Again, they can and will take our money. Forbidden Lands has an amazing feel of the 70s/80s fantasy land, based on modern mechanics, and paired with incredible art. With only 350 SEK  ($44 / €37 / £32) for a physical copy of the boxes set (including a large map, PDF version of the set available as early-access , and PDF versions of all stretch goals), it’s a bargain. Stretch goals look promising, the quality seems great as usual, and there’s little reason to skip this one of you have some gold pieces to spare.

 

Numenera 2: Discover and Destiny

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Just to clarify: it’s not a second edition. It’s a set of two new corebooks that will replace the current rulebook as it goes out of print. Discover is a straight-up replacement of the core book, covering the rules (not much changed), and still mostly compatible with existing books. Destiny, on the other hand, is supposed to enable the characters to play a part in actually shaping the world around them and influence its future. Sadly, it’s a bit pricy, with $120 for both books in print (includes PDFs, slipcase and some extras).

 

Starfinder Masterclass Miniatures

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Not an RPG in itself, this Kickstarter brings us a much needed set of miniatures for the brand-new Starfinder RPG. If you prefer playing outside the theatre of the mind, as I do, the availability of high quality and affordable minis is always an important factor. While Starfinder can be played without them, using some tokens, drawings, Paizo’s pawns, or just scrapping the map altogether, I wouldn’t say no to some Space Goblins.

The Battle Begins!

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So, as the Warlord Games announced today the release of The Battle for Xilos, I can finally share with you what I was working on for the last couple of months. And boy, what fun it was!

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Beyond the Gates of Antares or with wargaming in general. I happen to work as a graphic designer for Warlord Games, one of the biggest companies in historical and science-fiction wargaming. The miniatures range from Ancient Greece, through Thirty Years War, Napoleonic Wars, and World War II – up to s-f world of Antares. You’ll find it all here: http://www.warlordgames.com.

And now the new stuff: in June Warlord Games releases The Battle for Xilos, a campaign supplement about the discovery, exploration and conquest of Xilos, the mysterious planet that defies all former knowledge of all factions. I had a pleasure of creating the layout for the book, editing it, proofreading, and even creating maps, planet views, and other illustrations. You cannot probably fathom how proud I am seeing it finally out for publishing.

As it’s still at printers I cannot tell you much except of informing you of it being an absolutely cool thing; you may as well check it out and then join me (and lots of other people) at the gaming table.