And so begins our journey into Wild West Exodus...
After my last article I got a sudden craving for some good old Westerns! Although I have a big collection of movies at my disposal, I quickly realized I've never been much of a Cowboy movie fan...however the ones I have are classics for anybody who grew-up in the 80s and went to high school in the 90s.
So let's get back to the subject...
Opening a box from a new miniatures game makes me feel like I am 12 again...it's Christmas and I'm opening my gifts in my PJs. Only this time I paid for my gift...so I know I'm gonna love what I get!!!
This box comes with 28 miniatures (14 Outlaws, 14 Lawmen), 2 of which are bikes (Iron Horses) and 2 are Alternate sculpts of the Bosses of each Posse (Wyatt Earp & Jesse James).
(On a side note; did you know the Lawmen did not make the kickstarter, as they were a stretch goal that was never reached...I guess 'Outlaw Miniatures' really wanted/needed them for their story/world! I sure am happy they are there...)
Also included are the cards for each miniature (used in a similar fashion to Warmachine) a multi-use template/burst, 2 Halo Templates (used to measure Halo = Melee range), tokens and four 10-sided dice.
Oh and a mini-rulebook (it's Blk&Wht but has all the rules).
(The rulebook is on the left...I just couldn't stop myself when I passed by 'Chapters' and picked up one of the three books...I haven't really started it yet but can't wait to immerse myself in the world/story/fluff.)
The Hired Hands miniatures (grunts) come on a sprue (they are GW Style plastic) and boy there's lots of parts. However 'Outlaw Miniatures' also give you detailed assembly instructions and the parts are well identified on the sprue. These make for dynamic models in cool poses, as a matter of fact each of the 10 Hired Hands has a unique pose/sculpt.
On this subject I know not everybody will be pleased. A guy like me who likes cool models, with minimum work LOVES these!!! They may take time to assemble, but they look very cool with not too much effort.
Where as somebody who is good with green stuff or who likes the GW style of creating your own poses may be a little disappointed or have to spend more time assembling/changing his models.
Let's look at the models...I find they have character, even the standard grunts. I can only imagine once painted...
In the complaints department, someone has told me he thought the grunt models weren't very cool/inspiring. I don't know if he looked at every faction, or where he looked at images of sculpts...but to me these are gorgeous! And my camera/lighting probably doesn't do them justice!
I guess opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one! And not every game can please every gamer...
As for the rules and the gameplay, well I haven't had a chance to try the game out yet! I was supposed to play last Thursday but life got in the way...the game was re-scheduled to this Thursday (July 24th 2014). I can't wait, it'll be a great test as my Outlaws face-off against Mooseman's Warrior Nation!!!
(Why start with the Outlaws? Because they are cool and they were the easiest to bring my Posse down to the same point level as my opponent. He only has a Faction Starter so far...)
Getting back to the rules, having played many games (wargames & others) in my life, I can grasp the general idea of a game system without having played the game. To me the rules seem decent, not too complicated but still complete. I do see a few abilities that can be very powerful and some not so much.
I am happy that 'Outlaw Miniatures' already has a FAQ out for certain rules and miniatures.
http://www.outlawminiatures.com/WWXFAQErrataV1Feb2014.pdf
The Influence mechanic is one that I really like the concept...but am afraid of how it can be used. I will need a few games before I can give my opinion on it...
Influence Pool
The Dark Council secretly manipulates events from the shadows, while the Great Spirit protects its Native American children and guides their hands. To represent the influences these powers have over events, each faction has a pool of Influence Tokens based on the models they choose to field in battle.
A model's Influence statistic indicates how many Tokens it contributes to the player's Influence Pool.
Before making any die roll, a player may commit any amount of available Influence Tokens from his pool to that roll. The player then makes the roll, if he does not like the result, he can spend one of the Tokens he had committed to the roll and re-roll the die, using the result of the re-roll instead.
If he committed more than one Influence Token to the roll, he may continue this until he decides to keep the result and/or up to a number of times equal to the number of Influence Tokens he committed. All Tokens are 'used up', even if they are not actually used. At the start of each Activation Phase, Influence Tokens are generated by models left on the field.
Well, that's it for now...at least until I play my 1st game! I will leave you with a few pics of the Outlaw Boss (Jesse James) who I can easily predict, will be MVP of the game!
DanSolo
Glad to see this one taking off in the store, I've got a hankerin' to try it out! (after too many years playing Deadlands the RPG).
ReplyDeleteI will gladly face your posse in a Desert Land or a Western Town!
DeleteOnce the store gets in the other starter boxes, I don't fancy the Union troops as much as some of the others.
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