MARVEL HEROCLIX X-MEN RISE AND FALL

One of the things that the Heroclix series of models do very well is capture the look and feel of a particular storyline or theme. For example, the FUTURE FOUNDATION release was so full of interesting characters and mechanics that even a standard game felt like an episode of the comics. MARVEL HEROCLIX X-MEN RISE AND FALL does this in spades; the source material is a cinematic style full on space action story with a touch of intrigue. This new release of Heroclix gives a similar experience; lots of action and enough strategy to delight any gamer.

Each booster box comes with 5 models and they’re a random selection, so if you want specific models you’re going to either get multiple boxes and play the odds, or wait for the aftermarket. The former is a lot more fun and if you play Heroclix, who doesn’t want more models.

Stand out pieces in this range include Iceman, who looks amazing as a model (it’s literally a translucent hero standing on a ice-style base) and also happen to be a great defensive character and also lets you make extra attacks in the right circumstances.

This is the more cocky and experienced Iceman that we see in the storyline.  We also really liked Mimic. This hero/villain is an X-Men/Exiles hero that can emulate other mutant powers. This sculpt gives him wings and he’s wielding energy in both hands. He looks cool and also his powers let you duplicate other powers in your team, which can be very handy, especially if you have some tough on your team.   Such as Colossus. As you might expect, this model depicts a more mature, contemplative Colossus, but he’s still pretty much invulnerable, especially now that he has the outwit rule to get out of terrible damage.  Similarly, this sets black leather version of Cyclops looks like he’s taking it all very seriously and not only can he keep doing the damage, he can also use the Rally ability (new to the game) to keep his team (and himself) going.

Smasher is one of the key models of this range; he’s a Shiar hero that is a mobile and tough combat hero. His exospex trait allows you to utilise abilities that will get you into the fight faster, so you can start dealing out damage straight away. Sticking with the Shiar,  Emperor Vulcan is a proper ‘one model to rule them all’ piece. Not only does he rock a great flying pose and look fab in his golden armour, he’s tough to hit, tougher to kill and can keep using Exploit Weakness and Quake to knock his foes out.

We get the ‘smaller’ version of Sentinel (person sized). This is a low level minion that keeps coming back once it’s knocked out. It’s a common model, so you can essentially have a horde of these mutant hating baddies, it’s a great swarm choice.  Speaking of swarms, Brood is only 15 points and though they’re easily to kill, this insect nightmare has blades and stealth; hard to hit and can deal enough damage before getting stomped.  This is a Shiar set and in terms of minions, we also get a Shair solider. It’s a bit of a generic sculpt and there high-damage potential is tricky to make happen, but it’s fun idea and sometimes it’s fun to play cannon fodder rather than just a few heavy hitters.

Wolverine spin-off villain Daken can do a lot of damage in a very space of time, is tough and the model is also very, very nice; it’s sometime tricky to pull off a near-naked character, but Daken is striking and deadly.  This set also features a very angry version of X-23, just in case you really want a low-level Wolverine-like fighter that can just keep going relentlessly. It’s nice, combat posed sculpt. Whilst we’re on that theme, we also like this set’s take on Sabretooth; it looks like he’s walked straight out of a classic John Byrne comic and can do huge amounts of damage with his claws.

The release has come with a ‘Play At Home’ Kit, which features a map of an Abandoned Weapon X Facility for you to use as a battle matt. It’s a well thought out map with plenty of strategic locations. The kit also features Deadpool leaping out of a Blue Birthday cake, as Deadpool is 30 this year.  It’s a fun model with a solid design, and it’s actually very playable in the game itself. They are blue and pink cakes available with latter being a super rare model available in the booster boxes.  Contact your Friendly Local Games Store for more information on Play At Home kits.

As expected with these releases, we also get a Dice and Token kit. These are two custom 6-sided dice and six poker-chips. We get X-Men pictures on one side and stats for Bystanders on the other. (Including Lockheed as a bystander, just in case you want an adorable dragon to blow up things for you.) The dice have the Shiar Empire symbol on them as well, just in case you missed the theme of the range.

Finally, for those of you who just want the core models, there is a Fast Forces kit, which feature six of the core models from the range. We get Marvel Girl, Darwin, Warpath, Havok, Professor X and Polaris. All of these models are heavy hitters with a good mix of damage and cunning. Both Darwin and the Prof can outwit your opponent whilst everyone else can deal lots of damage.  The sculpts on all these are great and paint job on these minis are of a very good standard. We really liked the Professor X piece; not only his he standing, but he’s poised in a way that gives off powerful business man style vibes.

Overall, the is a cracking set and one well worth seeking out, especially if you’re a fan of the X-Men. Ideal for gaming but also very pretty on display.

PATHFINDER BATTLES PREMIUM PAINTED MINIS WAVE 2

Pathfinder is Dungeons and Dragon’s cooler, scrappier little brother. The game evolved from a previous edition of D&D and is a rules focused but narrative-driven system. Every element of Pathfinder has been re-imagined from the ground up to provide story elements and ideas for a games master and Table Top Roleplay group. One of the consequences of the game design is that it leans heavily towards traditional style gaming; friends around a table rolling dice, eating snacks, and moving miniatures across a  table.

Wizkid’s has produced a range of pre-painted adventurer models suitable for Pathfinder (and other fantasy games). The models will easily mount on any base you require, and come with small round bases, but are already sculpted so they stand free. They are at the 25mm scale but can work with 28mm with no problem. They look great when placed with most normal size tabletop gaming scenery, even the weirder Games Workshop stuff. As these are Wizkids pieces, we can confirm that the paint jobs are straightforward and striking, that translucent plastic is used for the magical effects, and that the models are dynamically posed.  They’re a little tricky to convert if you want to swap out weapons and the like (as the plastic they’re made of is softer than some). An average hobbyist could convert them easily, but the main appeal is that they’re ready to go as soon you open the blister pack each model comes in.

The Female Elf Champion is clad in full plate, long hair, and cloak billowing out as they swing their magical blade.  The counterpoint to this is the Female Half-Elf Swashbuckler, who is wariy pointing their crossbow whilst readying a rapier, cautious compared to the Champion who is going at full pelt.  The Female Human Bard confidently strides into the situation, lute in hand and finely detailed cloak accentuating their ‘all business’ pose.  The Female Human Cleric wields a Holy Symbol and sword. They’re also on fire, because let’s be honest, Flamestrike is the best spell.

The Male Gnome Sorcerer is posed with a very, very big head and goatee beard. Chaotic magic flows out of him, finally the Male Half-Orc Druid is well equipped with a club, antler helmet, nature-inspired armour, and is summoning the power of the wild. It’s probably the best piece in the range which is good as they aren’t enough gentle-looking half-orc models out there.

Overall, a useful range for your gaming needs.

SCALEXTRIC ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES TWIN PACK

scalextricDelBoy

Only Fools and Horses is regarded as cult classic comedy in the UK. This comedy mainstay about ambitious London marketplace traders and their hare-brained schemes to ‘get rich quick’ dominated British sitcoms in the 80 and 90s and made actor David Jason a household name. Genre fans may recall friendly the highly contrived skit where the main characters, Del-Boy and Rodney, find themselves foiling a mugger whilst on their way to a fancy dress party. They are, of course, dressed as Batman and Robin.

Scalextric’s Only Fools And Horses Twin Pack features the two iconic cars from the hit show. The first is the battered-looking yellow Reliant Regal. The detail is fantastic, from the fluffy dice to the Trotters Independent Trader’s logo. It’s a three-wheeler and this really doesn’t give you an edge when driving it on a Scalextric track, but it does look fun (and it is fast). The front lights do illuminate. This model is not set up for digital use, but let’s be honest, most of us won’t be using that feature anyway. It looks great, right down to its weathered bonnet and thin wheels.

The set also comes with Del Boy’s other car, the Ford Capri Mk III. Affectionately called the ‘Pratmobile’ by Rodney, this lurid green has an extra bright pink antenna and side windows.  The model is quite shiny and it is set up for digital play, if you’re so inclined. When added to a Scalextric track the headlights come on automatically. We at STARBURST Towers are convinced that it is slightly faster than all of our other electric slot cars, but it’s probably just an illusion caused by the shiny green car whizzing past.

The box comes with a fun ‘leopard print’ theme and tickets for Hornby Hobbies Visitor’s Centre in Margate, so be aware that if you get this as a gift (perhaps for Father’s Day), it may result in you spending a day looking at lovely toy trains and cars.

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS PREMIUM MINATURES WAVE 6

GenasiDandD

The Icons of the Realms range are a series of pre-painted, sculpted plastic models designed specifically for use with Dungeons and Dragons, but easily adapted for use in any game you fancy. They also look pretty on the shelf and are at a scale compatible with most games.  It’s nice to have a model; not only as an aid to the imagination but it’s also handy if you’re trying to figure out who is trapped in the bard’s Cloud of Daggers spell.

Wave 6 comprises individually packed high-quality pieces.  The Male Dwarf Cleric has an impressive beard, carries an absolutely massive hammer, and is summoning fire with is firing out from his arm. This is achieved with cleverly sculpted translucent plastic, and looks specific enough to delight any number of gamers, but is flexible enough in design to be useful to any gamer.

The Elf Rogue Male piece is dressed in finery, including a cloak and scale armour. He’s in full-on Legolas mode, bow drawn at full. He’s a great rogue model, but also a decent ‘elf with a bow’ character. Similarly,  Elf Wizard Female wields a powerful magical staff (which ‘sparks’ with translucent blue plastic) and suits the part of ‘wizard’ but is great for pretty much any sort of spell-wielding elf.

The Fire Genasi Wizard piece gives gamers access to one of the less used D&D races, the elemental Genasi.  They are two neat effects here; firstly the flaming hair effect looks fab, put we also get a translucent orb in the process of being summoned, which adds to the aura of power to the piece. Again, it’s all very cunningly sculpted and well thought out. It’s also a great counter-point to the Water Genasi Druid, who is summoning a tidal wave. This model is a little wobbly because the big plastic tidal wave is quite large, but a little common sense and some glue fixes that.

A D&D party can’t get started with a rogue, and this range comes with two. The Tiefling wields scimitars and honestly looks like they’ve just stepped out of Monster Manual;  they look truly devilish. The Tabaxi rogue is almost adorable; its cat-like face off-sets the blades it wields menacingly.   The Human Monk piece is posed in a mid-flying kick and yet the model is very stable. It’s a dynamic pose and fun to move around the table (because they look like they’re flying).

Rounding off the range is a Human Cleric and a Halfling Fighter. The former looks like they’re about to kick ass whereas the latter is wearing so much armour you suspect the poor little chap won’t be able to move. Still, they’re fun models and a great addition to the range.

As always, totally worth picking up if you’re looking for models to fill your gaming table.

SCALEXTRIC 1966 TV BATMOBILE

Scaletrix batmobile

The engines over at STARBURST Towers are pretty much fuelled by nostalgia. Yeah, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best and brightest in new genre output, but let’s be honest, most of us get a little misty-eyed when we see a cool thing connected to the past.

Case in point, the Scalextric 1966 Batmobile. It combines to things into one delightful package. The sheer joy of sending model cars screaming across a plastic track, smashing round bends, and flying into the furniture, and the classic 1966 Batman. This old-school version of the character was pure fun; no gritty voices or walking nightmares, just optimistic, future-forward, innocent silliness. Even if you find this version of Batman too simplistic to enjoy, it’s hard to deny that the iconic design of the Batmobile. It is a classic.

The model itself is locked into a display quality case, which features some iconic 1966 Batman art and protects the piece from dust, dirt, and random pets. The case pops open easily and there’s a little bolt at the base that keeps the car safely in it’s box when you’re not playing with it.  It’s clear that Scalextric now that this will spend most of it’s time sitting looking lovely on a shelf until you finally decide to dig out your slot car racing track from the loft.

The model itself is gorgeous; it’s a lovely version of the classic 1966 Batmobile. It’s very shiny, very black and the detail is very faithful to its first appearance. When on the track, the headlamps activate though the ‘rocket’ at the back does not; which given that’s meant to shoot flame is a good thing.  The bubble windshield, the Bat-symbols on the tyres, and even the weird steering wheel are all here. We just got the Adam West Batman sitting at the controls which adds to the retro sense of cool.

It’s a very light car and shifts quickly on the track, and it’s compatible with the usual sets. There’s a hatch on the underside to add the Scalextric Digital gubbins if you need to, but if you don’t know or care what that is, then you’re fine to completely ignore it.

Overall, this is an excellent choice of toy for anyone longing for the classic Batman days and likely to delight an older sort of fan. If you’re looking for an amazing Father’s Day gift (or you just want to dig out your old slot-car racing set), then this perfect.

AGE OF SIGMAR SOULBOUND STARTER SET

The worlds of Warhammer have always been attractive to table-top roleplayers. The strange mix of high fantasy, grim-dark realism and lurking horror is simply a lot of fun to play in, and Games Workshop’s most recent setting, Age of Sigmar. The award-winning games designers over at Cubicle 7 took on the heavy task of turning this heavy metal guitar riff of a fantasy world into an actual game you can play and produced the RPG Soulbound, an accessible and high-octane table-top RPG game. It also came in a very large and heavy book and though it’s heavily illustrated, sometimes you need something a little easier to handle, hence the Soulbound Starter Set.

There’s a fine tradition that a starter set for a table-top roleplaying game should come in box, preferably one that’s crammed with components, dice and two softcover books. It should also fit on the shelf. Cubicle 7 have produced exactly that. Inside the box we get some thick cardboard counters, some starter characters on heavy-set card-stock, a load of durable reference sheets, a map, two books and dice. The game uses d6s and they’ve given us eight red d6 with the Sigmar design on the 6. They look striking and it is a lovely touch.

The map shows the city of Brightspear on one side and the Great Parch of Aqshy on the other. It’s clearly designed to be a player-aid, as most games masters find describing entire cities hard work.  Either side would lovely on a wall though.   The inside of the box has some rules-references printed into it and it is clearly intended to be used as a dice-tray. The whole thing is very comprehensively laid out and the art is both striking and pretty. The starter characters are designed to make it easy for players to get stuck it quickly and every effort has been made to make this game fun and straight-forward to play.

The 48-page adventure book The Faltering Light is a great starter – it takes everyone through the basics including the games master. It’s a very well done ‘how to play’ game though you will want to pick up the core rulebook if you want to go further. Still, the game is a good length (depending on your players) and a nice intro into the Age of Sigmar setting.  The other book is the 64-page Brightspear City Guide. It contains a smaller sample adventure, but really this is designed to introduce players to the world and also encourage those new to the hobby to invent their own adventures. Experienced gamers will still find this a useful resource and an excellent way to get a handle on the world.

Overall this is  a great introduction to a very fine fantasy game, and if you’re looking to get into fantasy roleplaying but don’t like the look of Dungeons and Dragons, start here. (It’s also very reasonably priced, which is nice.)

 

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS WILD SHAPE & POLYMORPH SETS 1 & 2

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS WILD SHAPE & POLYMORPH SETS

PUBLISHER: WIZKID GAMES | RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21st

Anyone who plays the world’s biggest roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons knows that the main reason to play a Druid (or pick up the polymorph spell) is so you can shape-shift into the form of some powerful animal.  Get enough D&D players together and they will inevitably start swapping stories about how then polymorphed the scary villain into a miniature giant space hamster or transformed into an octopus to sink a pirate ship or some such.

Of course, if you’re the sort of gamer Wizkid’s produce the official pre-painted models for Dungeons and Dragons and their D&D Icons of The Realms sets have rapidly become the go to for gamers who like using models. The Wild Shape and Polymorph sets are new range of pieces that can be used to represent your heroes (or the Dungeon Master’s NPCs) when they decide to change shape.

The Wild Shape & Polymorph Set 1 includes a regular sized house cat, a Tiger, a rat and giant versions of a boar, a toad, a scorpion and a shark. The shark comes on a translucent base, which is meant to represent it swimming in the sea but honestly it looks like it’s flying. But hey, if you can convince your DM to let you run a flying shark druid, go for it.

The toad is also a lot of fun, with its very green skin and gross tongue. The octopus is simply charming due to its relaxed pose and the scorpion will easily find itself on the gaming table as a monster because it’s so scary looking.

The Wild Shape & Polymorph Set 2 features a both a brown bear and a polar bear, as well as a dire wolf, an owl and three giant beasts; an eagle, wolf spider and ape. The ape is an especially well done; it’s really easy to get the paint job and detail wrong on apes and this one looks superb. The eagle looks perfect for transporting halflings away from epic adventures and the owl is cute, but clearly going to get killed by an evil wizard at some point.

Over all, this is a very nifty set of nicely painted toys / miniature pieces, suitable for dioramas and your regular D&D games.

WARLOCK TILES – TOWN SQUARE

PUBLISHER: WIZKID GAMES | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Wizkid’s Warlock Tiles series are pre-painted scenery pieces specifically designed to let you build your own fantasy. The core sets so far are Dungeon and Town themed, starting with a base set that provides walls and flooring, with other expansions letting you build on that.

Warlock Tiles – Town Square  is a new core set and as the name suggests, introduces enough pieces to create a cobbled Town Square. Not only does this let you stick your Merchants and Town Watch it also lets you connect various buildings together, so if you’ve been happily using the Town sets to make Restaurants and Taverns, you can now have your characters roll out of one and into another, if for example, your adventure involved a Stag-Do in Baldur’s Gate.

We get single sided flagstone pieces here, the underside is smooth rather than the double-sided pieces we’ve seen in other sets. They’re pre-painted and well detailed, but they’re mostly things like flagstones, cobblestone paving, and various patterned bits of road . The example given on the box is a sort of cross roads with different coloured paving creating a please town square effect, but creative types can happily slot it all together differently.

The pieces slot together easily thanks to the specially provided clips, which are compatible with similar systems such as OpenLock and DragonLock. We also get actual little lamp posts, as in posts that you hang a tiny lamp on.  The different types of sewer grates and some of these are hinged so you can indicate exactly where that horde of goblins came from when the time comes.

Overall, this is a great set, either for creating set displays for your models or as a portable way of setting up encounters. It is quite time consuming to set up, but that’s part of  the fun and it’s very pretty.  A good addition to a gamers cache.

 

 

WARLOCK TOWN AND VILLAGE 3 EXPANSION – ANGLES AND CURVES

warlock-tiles-town-village-iii-curves-p360599-362912_medium

PUBLISHER: WIZKID GAMES | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

One of the more interesting aspects of the Wizkids Warlock Range is how they want to give the tabletop gaming experience the full works. It’s not enough simply to map out a typical dungeon or castle layout with detailed plastic pieces, they also want to do the same for things such as kitchens and taverns,  allowing a canny Dungeon Master to create whole worlds if they wish.

The third wave of expansions for Wizkid’s Warlock Town and Village features two separate boxed expansions, curves and angles. Much like the similar expansion for the Dungeon Tiles series, each box contains either curved or angular wall pieces to make your buildings more interesting.  Unlike the Dungeon expansion, the potential uses are a little bit different; Taverns, Blacksmiths and so typically don’t have twisty corridors and other zones useful for death traps to lure your adventurers into, but we don’t know what your campaign is like.

What it is really good for is making pleasingly circular huts and floors for towers and the like, or weird little cubby holes for a blacksmith to store his weapons (and for the DM to hide a horde of goblins in the back).

As always, these slot together well and are designed to allow you to make pretty much any map layout you want. Combined with earlier sets this can be pleasing in itself; like putting together LEGO or doing a jigsaw. When combined with actual tabletop gaming it’s very, very satisfying.

WARLOCK TILES : DUNGEON TILES 3 – ANGLES & CURVES EXPANSIONS

PUBLISHER: WIZKID GAMES | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Wizkid Games Warlock Dungeon Tiles are a range of modular gaming pieces designed to help you create your own 3D tabletop gaming experience. Everything is pre-painted and pre-constructed, all you need to do is slot together the various connectors and tiles and you can create your own dungeon to fight dragons in.

Previous releases have covered the basics; we’ve got you basic square dungeon set-up (as seen in the map section of countless adventure gaming modules) and taller walls for when you need to define various sides of the structure.  Dungeon Tiles 3 features two separate boxed sets; curves and angles.  Both are pretty much what they say on the box; one set allows you to create large circular dungeons, the other angled geometric patterns.

What’s neat about both sets is how flexible they are; not only do the floor pieces flip over (so you can have wooden or stone floors), but you can combine these with existing sets to create all sorts of twisting and turning  sets; this is both useful for tricky Table Top RPG scenarios but it’s also a delight for miniature skirmish gaming. It’s hard to argue about line of site when the table top scenery is so precise. You ideally want both the angles and curves sets to provide maximum flexibility, of course.

Whether you intend to decorate it with the Torture Chamber accessory set   or add your own monsters, scenery and special extras to the display, this set is essentially a very specialist construction kit for gaming. It’s a delight to use and though some of the tiles require a little force to slot together, once you get used to it you’ll be building all sorts of horrible places for your games. Not essential, but boy is this fun.