What is it?: A set of the first 7 resin miniatures for a board game of fantasy paintball.
Price: €55/£47.15. This works out at €7.86/£6.75 per miniature
Price within the context of the game: A player needs 5 or 8 miniatures depending on the size of the game and the number of players
. This set provides 6 of the miniatures you will need.
Packaging: The miniatures come well padded in a large clamshell blister. Each miniature and it’s components are in its own Ziploc. There is a single large insert with assembly instructions on one side and a large colour photo of the startlingly well painted miniatures on the other.
The only area for concern is the width of the Maxi Golem miniature. Even though it fits within the blister it’s a snug fit and leves little room for error.
Contents & Parts Count: The pack contains 7 miniatures. 1 Chief (12 parts), 1 Warrior (2), 1 Hunter (4), 1 Shaman (5), Maxi Golem (3), 2 Mini Golems (2). This set allows you to create a playable force from any of the 6 factions.
Quality: The miniatures are cast to a very high quality. There was no flash and only a single mold line present on the set we opened (on the Maxi Golem). Joints are clean, though a bit narrow on some components, and apart from the resin channels there were no additional casting marks.
Detail: This set was sculpted by Rémy Tremblay, of Scorpions of Dirz fame, so I found the attention to detail on these miniatures amazing. The core concept of the game is that battles are fought with paint made from magical berries and this has been brought into the miniatures. If you look closely you will see that most of the miniatures are armed with types of paint brushes & berry catapults.
The Chief and Hunter in particular need a mention. The hunter has a large catapult and a back pack full of ammo. he also has, though it took me 20 mins to work it out, a grappling hook. The miniature does indeed look like the early ranger archetypes from D&D.
The Chief is relatively heavily armoured and is armed with a large brush and a wrist mounted catapult. He also has an impressive headdress upon which sits the symbol for his faction
Ease of Assembly: Straight forward but fiddly at the same time. Unless you are a collector and do not intend to use them in the game you will need to pin some or most of the joints. Given that these are all cast in resin that’s not such a time consuming task though it’s a bit nerve wracking given the thinness of some of the joints.
Due to the level of detail on them I found both the Chief and the Hunter took the most preparation and TBH patience … I had to get up and walk out of the room a couple of times
Summing up: Given the detail and uniqueness of the miniatures I found this set to be very good value. You get 5 miniatures with “hero level” detailing and two paint splats which are … strangely compelling.
Gamers I’ve talked to have been blown away by the concepts but fell that perhaps this initial set appeals more to a) people planning on playing the game or b) people looking to expand their collections. Obviously it would be easier to get into as a collector once Fluo Games provide single miniatures.
If you want to know more about the Color Warz setting and the Paint Brawl board game Fluo Games have released a working draft of the rules set here. Paint brawl is due for release in April 2012.
