Sunday, July 31, 2016

Games Workshop Lost Patrol Review

Picked up my first GW Game in quite some time called Lost Patrol.  For those that don't know, GW released Lost Patrol back in 2000 and 16 years later they release an updated version.


Lost Patrol Year 2000



Lost Patrol 2016

The game retails for $60 + tax. You can find it on ebay for a little less, but not much less.

The game comes with
5 Space Marine Scouts
12 Genestealers
6 Infestations
30 Map Tiles
3 dice and rules

Lost Patrol pits 5 Space Marine Scouts against a planet full of Genestealers.  The subtitle "Death In The Jungle" is essentially what happens to the Scouts 99 out of 100 times.



There is a 8 page rule book (6 pages actually have rules) and 30 map tiles.  The rules totally favor the Genestealers.



The Genestealers and Scouts have their own How-To directions for putting them together.



The Genestealers are grey.  There are enough bits to make 12 Genestealers, 6 Infestations with a bunch of arms and heads left over.


The Space Marine Scouts come in a burt red/orange color.  There are bits to make 5 scouts with a few extra weapons left over.



Playing The Game

Lost Patrol is played via a turn sequence.
  1. Scout Players Actions
  2. Genestealer Player Removes old Jungle Tiles that can't be seen
  3. Genestealer Player Places new Jungle Tiles
  4. Genestealer Player Takes Actions
  5. Genestealer Launches Assaults

Scout Player Actions

The scouts can perform 2 types of actions.  Move or Fire.  They need a 6 to kill a Genestealer, so most of their shots are going to be misses.  They don't have the ability to boost any of their shots, so their weapons are pretty useless against the Genestealers unless they roll a lot of 6s.

Tiles

The Genestealer player adds and removes tiles based on where the Scouts are located.  If a Scout can't see a particular part on the map it gets removed from play.  This can be good news for a Scout, if that part of the map contains Genestealers.  If that part of the map contains Scouts, they are lost in the jungle and die.

Genestealer Player Actions

The Genestealer player can perform 3 actions.  Place Genestealers, Infest and Move.  They can perform any of the 3 actions in any order they wish.

Assault

Assault works based on how many Genestealers are in a hex where the Space Marine player needs to beat the Assault value.

1 Genestealer = Assault 2 2 Genestealers = Assault 4 3 Genestealers = Assault 6 (Maximum Assault value) Bonuses +1 Sergeant gets a +1 bonus on Assaults +1 The Heavy HMG gives a +1 bonus on Assaults if he is supporting from a different hex. -1 If there is only one scout in a hex that is being assaulted Assault Outcomes
  • Genestealer wins - Scout is removed, others are pushed back
  • Scout wins - Genestealer is removed
  • Tie - Scouts are pushed back
I have yet to win a game playing the Scouts and my guess is I would have to be amazing lucky to win.

I found the rules easy, but IMO GW should have added additional rules to make it easier for the Scouts to win.  It doesn't matter what the scouts are equip with besides the heavy bolter.  Having other weapon options that add bonuses could improve game play.

Here are some recommendations

Heavy Bolter - Hits on 5s instead of 6s and gets 3 dice.
Shotgun - 2 dice against adjacent hexes at 5s, 1 dice at 2 hexes away at 6s
Bolter - 2 dice at 6s
Bolter Pistol and Sword - 1 dice at 6s, +1 Assault

Overall the game is fun, although for a scout player it is rather frustrating because you know you will almost always lose.  I really like the tiles.  I decided to sell off the Space Marine Scouts, because I already have painted metal ones.  The Genestealers are Genestealers and are pretty cool.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Kroot Big Ape

While looking for alternative Kroot figures, I came across a rather cool figure that people called the Kroot Big Ape.  I tried contacting the person who was selling these on Ebay under the name irina_est, but I haven't heard back from them.  It doesn't look like they have been active in a while.

The figure is about twice the size of a normal GW Krootox.




Thursday, July 21, 2016

Alternative Tau Miniatures

In keeping with the Tau theme here are some other alternatives I found a company called Zealot Miniatures that make some Tau Female alternative figures called the Kadesh.




PupetWars.EU has a cool set of head called "Space Insect Heads" that could work for a Tau assassin conversion.



Chapter House Studios has a few conversion bits.



Tuesday, July 19, 2016

WarGame Exclusive - Greater Good 40K Tau Proxies

For those that don't know, there is an amazing miniature company out there called WarGame Exclusive.  They produce some of the best 40K Tau proxy figures bar none.

The range is called the Greater Good and IMO it is their best range of figures.



I first saw them on Ebay, so I emailed the company and got a few samples sent my way.

The figures arrived today.  The detail and character of the miniatures is stunning.  They are multipart resin figures and each figure includes a very dynamic base.




Scale Wise, I would consider the figures Epic 28mm, which means they are slightly bigger than GW's Tau.  Scratch that some are much bigger like the Strike Veteran Ranger and the Master Sh'o'gun.  Those guys are big and nasty.  Perfect for anyone who needs a hero type in their army.

The sculpts are absolutely beautiful with loads of detail.

We were sent 5 blisters and a total of 6 figures + 10 Pulse Rifles


Each blister contained a multi part Greater Good Figure

Here you can see how really detailed the figure is.  
What I found really refreshing is all the parts had fit together really well.
Each figure comes with their own base, which is also really detailed.

The figure above is the Strike Master Sh'o'gun.  He is perfect for a leader or hero figure.



As you can see the Strike Master is a good head taller than the normal Tau Trooper and still taller than the Stealth Suite.

The WE figures are much more detailed than any of the GW tau trooper figures I have seen.  The person is is sculpting is obviously a master sculptor.  Truly amazing.

Below is 3 of the WE Pulse Rifles along with a GW pulse rifle.  The WE rifles are a big beefier and cooler IMO.



Fantastic looking female Greater Good figures.


Love this figure.  He is the perfect sniper or leader for the Fire Warriors


Another really great looking hero type.  I included a tau shoulder pad for comparison.


Excess resin after putting together all the figures.  Realistically these were so easy to put together and I only had to snip a few parts to remove excess resin.  The figures themselves were wickedly clean casts.


Definitely check out WarGame Exclusive.  They have a ton of really great figures, so even if you're not a Tau fan, you might find something really cool to your liking.

I really like how each figure that showed up were all really unique with slightly different weapons.

I had a few interview questions answered

Do you plan on expanding your Greater Good Line?
We are expanding Greater Good Line all the time.

Do you have any plans on doing heads and arms for the line?
Heads yes, arms maybe in the future.

Do you have any plans on making some more generic grunt troop types for the Greater Good line?
Yes we have plans for a generic grunt troop

I notice you have an asian theme sort of going with some of the Greater Good line.  Do you plan on continuing in that direction?
We added Asian type models just for fun, actually. But as they are quite popular, another one will appear - banner-bearer.

If you're really into Tau, check out this forum called Advanced Tau Tactica.  Lots of great advice on everything Tau.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Tau Inquisitor Force And Review

I received 3 Tau 54mm figures from Papah (papahminis@gmail.com)  You can also find them on ebay (http://picclick.com/?q=54mm+tau).



Package Arrives


 3 blisters and one dead human. :-)  Each blister contained a slightly different poses.  


All the Tau figures had the same body, but had different arms and weapon hand hold positions.  Papah also provided a few extra heads.  Papah did an incredible job designing these figures in such a way that there a so many poses.

As far as the figures go, the sculpts were extremely clean.  Zero flash.  I decided to pin the figures.  I went about it by pinning each arm, and the hands.  I used green stuff to help adhere the pieces to the body.

Each figure came with the following
  • 1 Pulse Carbine or Pulse Rifle.  You have the option of choosing it.  To make the pulse rifle you need to cut the Pulse Carbine.  I didn't attempt this.
  • Backpack
  • Sword
  • 2 arms
  • Head 
  • Should pad
  • helmet antenna 

 When pinning the figures, I felt the metal easier to drill than GWs metal figures.  It seem slightly softer for drilling, which made it much easier.



Quality of the figures is top notch.  There is a lot of detail, which painters will love.



Here is my setup when putting the figures together.
  • Drill
  • Dill bits
  • Zap-a-Cap glue
  • Green Stuff
  • Plyers
  • Round 40mm bases

Tau Proxies - Proxy - 28mm


Found a really amazing website that has a ton of fantastic figures for Warhammer 40K.  Here are some of their Tau Proxy figures under the "GREATER GOOD" range.

http://wargameexclusive.com/

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Tau Proxies 54mm Inquisitor Size Comparison

Here are some size comparisons of the Tau Proxy figures I recently received.

As you can see they fit extremely well with other Inquisitor figures and are absolutely gorgeous miniatures.

Contact papahminis@gmail.com if you're interested in them.  They are also listed on Ebay http://picclick.com/?q=54mm+tau




54mm Inquisitor Tau Proxies


So you love everything Tau and since GW never came through producing any good 54mm figures, along comes papahminis@gmail.com. Papah sent me some samples of his 54mm Tau Proxies, that IMO are some of the best 54mm figures out there.

You can find them on Ebay http://picclick.com/?q=54mm+tau

In the next few days I will be putting up some comparison pictures of what these bad boys look like.