So after Captain Con all the Guild Ball talk from my buddies got to me and I'm completely hyped for the game all over again. It's odd, it was roughly around this time last year that I had the same thing happen to me as I go back and look through the blog posts. I guess I just have to accept that my love for Warmachine and Guild Ball will wax and wane for seemingly no reason.
But since I am interested in the game, I wanted to pick up the minor guilds for the main guilds that I already own. This meant picking up Navigators and Miners. What's more is that Steamforged surprised us all and released new captains for 4 of the original guilds, one of which is for a team I own: Yukai on Fishermen.
Since I had to skip out on game night tonight, but I did get time to build the models which arrived I figured I'd put up a review of sorts.
It wouldn't be Steamforged if there wasn't some kind of oddity with how the models were being released.
The good news was that the Captains were being released individually, not in a big box that had models for various guilds! Sweet!
The bad news was that it was basically direct only! Boo!
I tried to order through my FLGS, but when they had setup their retail account on SFG's website, they were effectively ordering at cost which seemed...odd? As it ended up, they couldn't order for me since the models I wanted were out of stock at the time and since they weren't making any money on the sale it seemed like a waste to try and line up when the models would pop back in stock AND I'd have to get over to my FLGS to effectively put a web order in for me that they weren't even going to get a cut of. In the end, I simply placed my order through SFG once the models popped back into stock a day or so later.
The last odd bit was that the Miners guild and all the new captains were being released in resin. I have not yet really seen any of SFG's resin minis. The rationale according to SFG was that Miners had such big models that it made sense to use resin, and they were obviously having problems getting the PVC models out of manufacturing in China.
That last part is a bit of a shame since I'm an absolute huge fan of SFG's PVC models. I have Blacksmiths and now Navigators and the fact that you open the box and can use them with zero assembly or fuss is amazing. The sculpts are solid IMO and they've painted up nicely so far.
So what about the resins? Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. It seems like the original Games Workshop Finecast models when they originally released. It feels like a kind of soft/fragile resin.
Here's my assembled set of new models:
The models don't look particularly bad, especially not 3 feet away, though there are a few rough bits.
The first issue I had was stability. When I had seen my friends Yukai model at game night last week, they were kind enough to let me play a game with it to try out their new rules. What immediately struck me was how light and flimsy the model felt. It doesn't help that the model attaches to the base via a single leg connection.
As you can see below, both Yukai and Spade both use the single leg connection. It looks cool, but that's just touchy and is begging to come off the base.
My solution was pinning through the leg as deep as I could manage without damaging the model. I then pinned through the base itself, which is tad shorter height wise than the usual base height you'd expect.
In both cases I went right through the base immediately and after pinning through I had to cut off the paperclip pin and then file down the bottom to make it flush. You don't want to go tearing up the nice neoprene mats we play on.
Once I did pin through the leg and base, the models definitely feel a bit more solid. I highly recommend it.
In terms of quality, I'm conflicted. Yukai looks good, but the model had a bit of odd flash that had to be shaved off the chin/neck which was a bit tight.
There were some definite issues with Fissure (the Tank), at least on the back of the model which was a bit of a mess and required a bit of cleaning. I'm sure the paint job can hide a lot of the problems here, but the back isn't anywhere near as pretty as the front. It's odd, because from literally every other angle the model is gorgeous IMO! It's a Metal Slug that plays murder-soccer, I was 100% sold the second I saw the render.
The other odd thing was that on the large bases the texture for the base looks kind of ill defined. There are also a good amount of mold lines to clean up which I'll have to go back and do. It's not the end of the world and nothing I can't fix up with paint and basing materials, it's just a little disappointing.
On the plus side the guild comes with a tiny little tank-ball. ITS ADORABLE!
Final thoughts
Based on a podcast interview with Double Dodge, CEO Matt Hart spoke about the problems they've been having with production and the desire to just hit a release date and knock a release out of the park, no delays.
On that front, they nailed it. While the captains did fluctuate in and out of stock, I was able to order both Yukai and the Miners guild on March 1st. It did take a week for SFG to get it out the door, shipped March 8th, but then the package made it from the UK to New Jersey by Tuesday, March 12th. I understand I was in the second wave which is what caused my delay. If you had ordered as soon as the models went up on pre-order they were arriving very promptly.
The cost on the captains isn't bad. $15 for a single blister is pretty much standard and I didn't think twice before ordering. The Miners box was a bit more of a stretch. It was $80 for the resins plus terrain and (tank!) ball. Given that the old 6 player guild boxes used to retail for $75 and were metal models, I have to wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just do the Miners in metal if they had to meet production.
So while they're able to hit the date, the models are in what feels to be a worse material than the PVC, require assembly, can feel flimsy, and are as expensive as metal without being metal.
On the other side the model designs are great, the rules are nice, and the problems aren't anything an experienced modeler/painter can't solve. If I had seen what I'd get before I ordered I'd still have bought them all over again, though it does feel a bit steep for what you're getting. In the end, I like the game and company enough that I was going to buy the models.
I would definitely be hesitant to tell my newer to the hobby friends or less hobby inclined friends to order the Miners guild vs. any of the PVC boxes which are amazing in both value and quality in contrast.
In the end, I do hope SFG is able to sort out their production issues since I think their PVC products are excellent when it comes to minor or new guilds.
Conversely, if this is how we get single blisters of new captains or models, I am 100% behind the approach if it's what allows the releases to work economically for SFG. Having seen/held Veteran Boar, the models is much more solid than Yukai, but it's also just a bigger model so it's easier to execute I suppose.
