These are some of the nicest minis to come out of california since the mac mini. They're beautifully sculpted and cast with little to no flash whatsoever.

I got the Karradorn fleet last year for Xmas and I was very impressed! The minis went together fairly smooth and had only a little flash. The first impression of those minis was fabulous.  However, the mold lines and lack of a mounting hole, and lack of any sort of assembly instructions were a might off-putting after the first impression.  There were lso noticable "stepping" marks from the obvious 3d sculpting process. However, I would not have thought twice about that if I hadn't already known their origins.

I painted them up and have to say that the mold lines were impossible to see from three feet up.  So overall, I'd give the first run a 7/10.

Now, the second run is a different story.

I got the terran box this time around.  The minis have very little of the stair-stepping that was the hallmark of the first castings.  There's also little to no "pitting" in the second run. A rumour I heard that the guys over at Xtreme were unhappy with the castings in the first round, but I never saw any of that so I can't speak to the quality improved or not.  they look about the same to me.

I gotta say that the basing solution they're providing is nothing less than asinine.  They could not be using these posts with these bases and these ships, they simply do not fit together

1. the friggin posts don't fit in the base.
2. the friggin posts don't fit in the ship
3. even after carving them up a bit and trying to squeeze them into the ridiculously small hole, I broke off one of the friggin fins on the Lorraga.

I was mildly annoyed with the lack of a post hole. I am downright peeved about the new stuff. Not only that, but the damn holes in the ships don't fit any damn posts I own, and I own a lot of space ship bases and ships.  I also slightly preferred the wooden bases, but that is entirely up to personal taste I won't gig them for that.

Okay, the rant's over.  I'll figure something out if I have to go to brass tubing.

When  I'm through cursing the friggin bases, I'll prime this literal MOUNTAIN of spaceships which I managed to get for a song because these guys really know customer service!  I got a hefty 1.5 discount because of the great attitude they have towards their customers.  I'll probably be buying more in the future because I really can't get enough of these ships.  The fact that they come with pre-built starmada ship cards makes it that much cooler.

Let's call the second run an 8/10 and hope the guys figure out the bases so i can give them the 10 they deserve!

Well, after many sleepless nights and finger chewings, I FINALLY got the brigade ships for the tournament awards.

The package came today and it looks like it was gnawed on by the grimmpule.  With a nice little letter from the Posmaster General saying how he or she apologized for burying it in the dirt and forgetting about it for a week and then finally getting it to me.

However, upon deep and careful examination, the contents were undamaged (whew)!

I am now laden with prizes for the convention.  Come one come all! Win Win Win!

http://www.diecon.com
Collinsville Illinois

jimbeau

Okay, before anybody says anything.

I know I'm supposed to be working on the For the Macedonians and FtM 2nd Ed. and I'm horribly behind on that.

But, as I was sifting through the Steve Jackson Games website and came across their submissions guidelines for card and board games, I thought... Why should I give Steve Jackson a chance to crush me with ridicule and mean editorial remarks about my rules, when I can have my friends do it instead!

Here's the game, the poll is to see if there's any interest in a board game:

Building Stonhenge:

You represent a clan vying for power in the "old timy" era of the aztecs and early native americans.

Each player's task is to build a Stonehenge before the infidel and smelly opponents do.

Okay, it's a rough idea, and I have a set of rules that completely sucks, so it would take some work to fix, but the idea is that it's a builder-style game wherein the players spend resources to create a phased-style stonehenge over the course of the game.

There may also be some form of combat as you will probably want to send soldiers with sticks off to your opponent's structures to knock over their rocks.

Additionally, there may be things like random events such as plague or blight or the invention of really soft pillows.

Whaddya think?