BOYL approaches once more. This year my plan was to take nothing and just join in with Paul's big game that he's been working on painting for the last... three? four? years. Sadly that's now not able to happen so at our GROG meets we have been discussing what to bring. We've settled on some of the GW bookshelf board games and I'm going to be bringing Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
This is not my original set which I picked up (second hand) from a wonderful independent games shop in Bournemouth around 1995. That one only had two of the heroes in- the dwarf and barbarian. I spent the early years of Oldhammer (around 2009/10 I guess) picking up the rest of the heroes to complete the set and even ended up with a spare barbarian which I painted for an Oldhammer Forum warband-
Sadly this now-completed set somehow got lost in the move to our current house (I keep imagining I will discover it behind a bookcase sometime). Last year when I had Covid in the run up to BOYL I found a reasonably-priced copy on eBay and decided to replace it. The box isn't in quite as good condition and it was missing the rules but all the pieces were there. It seemed like a suitable thing to take to BOYL this year. Just one issue- the heroes weren't painted. Could I get them painted in time?
Yes, it turns out that I could. They were surprisingly quick and fun to paint for such basic models. They are, I think, the second set of boardgame plastics GW produced (the first being Dungeonquest a year earlier) and the Psychostyrene Dwarf and Drastik Plastik orcs had been produced for Warhammer. A year later the classic Regiments set would hit the shelves with some models that a light years ahead of these in terms of detail and execution, but weirdly even the Dungeonquest figures are probably better executed than these guys. Nevertheless they're still better than most of the soft plastic board game toys supplied by a lot of modern manufacturers. I've kept them on their original plastic disc bases but mounted these of 20mm rounds (they are small spaces after all!) and disguised the edges with some putty paving slabs.
But now there's a problem... I have three weeks and two weekends left before BOYL and as always another seed has been sown... Could I get figures for all of the encounters? What about all the monsters? Wouldn't it be cool if everything was represented?...
I had a rummage in my lead pile and yes, I could, but would I have time to paint them? Damn! Another high pressure BOYL painting challenge when I'm meant to be finishing off my Skaven! Stay tuned...
The classic quartet of dungeon heroes.
Heroes for Firetop Mountain
nice ^_^ seen the game, being based on the Fighting Fantasy gamebook but never really had any experience with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's nothing to write home about. Basically Dungeon and Cluedo mashed together with the never-ending qualities of Talisman. You have to go around the dungeon finding keys whilst working out from the key cards held by your opponents which are the three needed to open the warlock's chest. Once you think you know you travel through the dragon's lair and the maze to confront the warlock, likely dying before you get there and starting again!
DeleteFair enough. While I knew the name, I didn't really know about 'Mighty Warriors' which citadel did.. now looking and reading the rules... I can't figure out what the hell is up with it.. (and I can't figure out the one Skaven figure on one of the character stat cards which.. isn't the AHQ Plastic, isn't the Metal prototype, but its kinda a cross between the prototype and the plastic.. bad image but.. it's weird..
DeleteI kinda want it just because of the theme, but yeah those 'use up the bits' starter boxes were not great games... This picture- https://cf.geekdo-images.com/V22BHb29ObdvNBEN5fdj_Q__imagepage/img/RqWAPV41gkDgzi8jz8xUolqTnJ0=/fit-in/900x600/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic263381.jpg?
Deletethat one is the plastic, but the one next to it, the Skaven Champion is the confusing one
Deletehttp://www.tesp.co.uk/OHam/SkavenChamp.png
That's the prototype one. Believe me, I have done comparisons. :)
Delete^_^ fair enough. Bits didn't look right for the proto to me but I did wonder if it was just due to the low quality (alot of artifacting) of the image. Do they resculpt figures AFTER the metal prototype before the plastic mould making, or just cast the metal in plastic and see how it comes out? (which surely would be more pricey)
DeleteThe prototypes serve a few purposes- They give the playtesters an idea of the feel of the game, they guide the 3-up sculptors as to the pose and look of the models and they provide a much quicker to produce model which can be painted and used for promotional photography whilst the plastic injection moulds are being machined. So the metal prototypes precede the plastics production and the plastics are cast from a resculpt (in larger size) of the metals.
Delete