Forge World Crisis Suits – A Review

Posted by Phil on May 18, 2013

So regular readers will know that I rather took to the Tau Empire Codex. Followers on Twitter will know that I decided to collect a small 1,000 point force to use as allies with my Ultramarines. Quite what 9,000 points of Ultramarines, including the full first company needs from 1,000 points of Tau I don’t know but I wanted some and didn’t want to break my ‘no new Games Workshop’ army rule.

I started the project by quite impulsively buying the Commander Shas’o R’Alai model at Salute. At that point I hadn’t even written a list and wasn’t sure if I wanted crisis suits because I dislike the plastic models so much.

R’Alia however is just too cool not to use as a force Commander. I just love the look of the model. Aside from being a graduation to a more ‘grown up’ style, it just feels like it was intended for war. Granted, the submunitions rifle helps but still.
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I also loved the fixed sensor ‘head’. Aside from looking far more menacing than the standard block heads I like the idea that the head is purely a design choice and not actually needed for the pilot to crump skulls and mang faces.

The other thing I love about the model is it kinda reminds me of the robots from Castle in the Sky. I dunno why. Maybe it’s the segmented gangliness. Maybe it’s the glowing read eye.

Although in Castle in the Sky the robot has a laser face. Which is something the Tau should maybe look into.

But anyway, the model is way cool. The design is a little like a Transformer in so much as it looks like it could change into a plane or something at a moment’s notice.

In terms of building the model, however, the coolness ends and is replaced, instead, by misery. The biggest problem with Forge World kits is usually Forge World themselves. They’ re such an excitable bunch of scallywags that they design kits without really thinking about the practicalities of cleaning or building them. Let me explain: to build the model you have to glue the feet, legs, hip joint and body all pretty much at the same time. This is very difficult. It is also made worse by the fact that the feet and the ankle joints don’t fit. At all.

So you’ll have to resort to the time-honoured method of slapping on slightly more glue than is needed and getting everything stuck together before the super glue sets. Needless to say it can result in the pose not being quite what you wanted so if you can, try blu-tacking it all together first, especially as the arms are no better. Although they’re very cleverly designed using a curve and pivot joint which allows quite a degree of poseability but still being straight forward to build.

The story is a similar one with the Shas’o R’myr’s suit which I bought as a unit leader. Although this bad boy is a conversion kit, using the back and feet of the standard crisis suit. The fit between the two torso halves is surprisingly good and does wonders to change the look of the crisis suit that I’m amazed at least a conversion kit wasn’t made available for the re-release of the Tau range.
I also love the head. Again, it’s just a more interesting look and the single aerial on the back makes the whole look sleeker and more menacing. Same for its load out really. Twin-linked plasma rifles and big boss of a shield is nothing to be sniffed at. But, again, the kits is let down by the over ambitiousness of the kit and the often non-existent QA at Forge World.

Aside from the legs coming in two parts hand having to stick to plastic feet, they also had to stick to a body made of two difference materials creating a socket that wasn’t completely flush. Needless to say it collapsed under its own weight more than once in the process of building it. But the icing on that particular turd flavoured cake was that one leg had been soon poorly cast that it was not just warped but transparent. I shit thee not you could see right through the entire joint piece. Granted this isn’t going to be an issue once the model is painted but the brittleness of the joint has got me treating the model with kid gloves. More so than I would normally with the shatter prone resin that Forge World uses.

It occurs to me that you’re almost better off building the models of they’re on flying stands so the pose is much easier to position. Although there’s every chance you’ll have every crisis suit looking like a not-gay Dean Cain taking to the skies on cable from the Adventures of Superman, complete with awkward bent leg.

The bottom line, however, is that the crisis suits from Forge World are immensely cool. So much cooler than the standard GW ones and if I’m honest they’re worth the higher prices and the frustrating amount of cleaning and build time required. They’re even worth the truly reckless amount of wastage Forge World produces. The models just look ace. They look like they’re designed by a species surprisingly bothered about looking good whilst they kick your face in. Which is absolutely the way it should be.

Tomb Raider – A Review

Posted by Phil on May 13, 2013

It’s been a wee while since I looked at a video game and as I was given Tomb Raider by my lovely wife for my birthday earlier in the month I figured it would be a good opportunity.

Back in the distant 20th Century in the year 1996 a game came out that changed video gaming as we knew it. Not only was graphically and environmentally ground breaking but it put the character at the heart of the story, not just the action. Of course it helped that she also had enormous, pointy, boobs.

I loved the Tomb Raider games growing up. I enjoyed the puzzles – as frustrating as they often were – and the action could be genuinely hairy. Sadly, like so many franchises of its day, it became the victim of its own success and soon Lara Croft was surrounded by bastard children each uglier than the last. I hung in there with the series until the Angel of Darkness that looked so bad I resigned myself to the notion that Tomb Raider would become nothing more than a cash camel for the publishers until sales dropped enough that they could close the studio and move the developers on to something else.

I played Anniversary for nostalgia’s sake in 2007/2008. And it was fine but all it was was a veneer over old levels. I know the clue was in the name but it pushed ‘homage’ to its absolute limits. I even bought Underworld. But didn’t get past the first level, the novelty of ‘realistic environmental impact’ – she got dirty basically – wearing off incredibly quickly along with the overly fussy targeting system.

And there things would have ended had not some bright spark decided to jump on the reboot band wagon and hit the reset button. At first I met the news with indifference, then mild disdain when I heard the story was going to be an origins piece. I rolled my eyes and I may have uttered an obscenity or two – not like me at all – and moaned about how video game developers were getting as bad as studios for resetting a clock rather than just drawing a line under the shite and moving stories along.

Then I saw visuals. The grim, gritty and visceral realism appealed to me hugely. Because I’m mental presumably. The focus was the story, which is where it should be but driven by a beautiful looking graphics engine and impressive game play. At least, that’s how it seemed.

And you know what? It kinda delivered.

So the premise isn’t a complicated one. A young Lara – she’s 18 so it’s okay to still stare at her tits – is on a merry quest to prove herself to her long lost/dead (delete as appropriate). It all goes tits up when the ship – typically called the Endurance – hits a storm and gets ship wrecked. And, obviously, much mentalness ensues surrounding a sun goddess with natives and weather patterns that would be right at home in Lost. And seeing as there’s ship and plane wrecks from just about every era in history you’d be forgiven, on occasion, for getting the two confused.

It’s not a complaint per se, it just highlights the devil is in the details, and some of the details aren’t very original. But then again Tomb Raider is basically Indiana Jones with boobs so what the hell.

Although the previous incarnations never worried about mentally scarring its audience with crypts, animal slaying and being dismembered by dinosaurs, the new Tomb Raider gets so grim and dark it comes dangerously close to getting a cease and desist letter from the Games Workshop. At times the physical and mental abuse that Lara experiences is tough to watch at times, realised as it is with some truly stunning cut sequences. I swear at one point she’s drenched head to foot in human blood. This shit ain’t for kids. 14 year old me probably would have had nightmares. Some of the death scenes even for my jaded and cynical eyes are a tad too much to bare too with, depending on which quick time event you fuck up, sees Lara getting her face impaled on a metal spike or bodily impaled on a tree branch with all the properties of a metal spike.

Sadly the quick time events are back. I’ve never been a fan of quick time events because it’s just a way of punishing you for wanting to sit back and watch the action. Anniversary handled quick time events quite well giving you reasonably time to respond. Tomb Raider 2013 is rather brutalwith the speed it expects you to press buttons. Needless to say the story isn’t flexible enough that a bodged quick time event could lead to the same end point but along a more unpleasant path, instead it usually results in a grim and unpleasant death.

Equally some sections feel very formulaic to the point you’d mistake them for a series of Steven Segal movies. But instead of his buddy getting shot in the arm or the bag guy punching the car window where Segal’s face use to be it goes something like this: action sequence, exploration sequence, action sequence, wander about like a twat, break something plummet down a slope or fast flowing water whilst avoiding inplausibly positioned barriers and other unpleasant obstacles. It wouldn’t be so bad weren’t those ‘sliding’ sequences so intensely unforgiving and take a couple of stabs to complete. And seeing as they’re an inconvenience and purely a mechanism to move Lara a significant distance without making the player grind their way through pointless set changes, you’d think they would make them a little easier to navigate.

Not that the game is hard to navigate. Long gone is the aimless wandering around environments. Instead everything is conveniently laid out on a map so you can find relics, note books – which give you a very cool insight into the shenanigans that have gone on prior to Lara’s arrival – with relative ease. In fact, because the controls are so intuitive, including instinct sight which highlights key objects and terrain features in yellow for a moment or two, a lot of the challenge has gone from the game. It’s not entirely bad. Lara will no longer allow you to walk her off a cliff edge. She will also crouch for you rather than having to hold a sodding button. Because of this fluid movement she finally feels like a person rather than a statue that weebles around just to face a different direction. But the important thing is that it feels like a Tomb Raider game. Puzzles still need to be solved, ledges climbed and rock faces to be scaled.

The challenge comes from the beautifully realised environment which can turn on you at the drop of a hat, and bad guys which range from shooty mental to run at you with bloody great machetes mental. And the AI is good too. On normal they will attempt to suppress and out flank you whilst all the while attempting to burn you out of your cove with Molotov cocktails and explosives. They keep you under pressure so God knows what hard is like. And your cover breaks apart too. The game does give you plenty of objects to help you blow up or set fire to your assailants though so it’s not all bad but even with that Brucey bonus I still felt hard pressed at times to deal with enemies.

The combat is the slickest it’s ever been although some times the camera does struggle to keep up. The weapons feel balanced and their existence justified, but there are times when the game tries to push you into playing a particular way and when you don’t enemies are defeated with surprising ease. The key is usually long range manging of faces.

Where it gets a bit daft is the endless foraging for scrap that allows you to turn, for example, a World War 2 Japanese Type 100 SMG into an AK-47 and a simple recurve bow into a compound bow. I don’t claim to understand the mechanics of firearms but I did use to do archery and that’s a staggering amount of bullshit. However, it’s a reasonably clever way of improving weapons to compete with the ever increasing stakes. And to be fair a lot of the upgrades are extremely cool, it’s just nonsense that a person with no formal training in such ‘bush engineering’ (fnar fnar) could turn a pistol into a commando pistol. There’s also a range of natty skills that you can develop along the way including some brutal finishing moves which look fantastic.

Tomb Raider, despite its slightly formulaic campaign progression, irritating quick times and nonsensical equipment development, is a superb game. The story is nicely paced, the stakes getting amped up with Lara being pushed further and further, gradually becoming the wall climbing, gun toting adventurer we all were captivated by 17 years ago. And this time her boobs won’t impale you if you get too close. The difficulty curve is pretty much perfect too, with shit getting real…um…er at a rate that won’t make you throw down the controller in frustration. Tomb Raider is just fun. Huge piles of it. It doesn’t get bogged down with the weight of expectation, it just massively entertains. It’s a worthy start to a new saga and I’m looking forward to what happens next.

Dark Potential Reclaimers – A Review

Posted by Phil on May 12, 2013

This is long overdue, but following on from my interview all those months ago with Matthew Glanfield, one the creative minds behind Dark Potential, I got to take a look at a set of the toys from Dark Potential. Specifically the Reclaimers.

The Reclaimers, for those not in know, are the descendants of the crew aboard humanities fleets. Born and raised on board space faring vessels, their bodies have adapted to a life spent in zero gravity and as such need exo-suits to be able to survive on Earth’s surface.

So they’re all a bunch of weeds. But weeds with big shiny guns.

So what’s in the box? Well 7 Reclaimers including a captain, an initiate squad (a leader and 3 blokes), a forward observer and a redeemer. Which presumably is the chap with the big gun.

As I haven’t (yet – hint hint) read the rules for the Reclaimers, I can’t comment on the rules but the look of the Reclaimers is pretty cool. I love the Iron Man/Crysis mash up going on with the exo-suits and the fact that they’re all all slightly different as if built, or at least maintained, by their owners rather than something off a production line. It’s a nice touch. They’re futuristic but at the same time have a twist of the ramshackle. Which I like.

The weapons I’m a bit mixed on. Partly because I don’t know what any of them do and because MiniWarGaming went for a very ‘alien’ feel. It’s not a bad thing, I just have to assume they’re some sort of energy projectors. The Redeemer looks a little…old fashioned, I guess is how I’d describe it. It reminds me of the Space Marine missile launcher from second edition Warhammer 40,000. It’s not really a complaint, it just seems a little at odds with the small arms which are, by comparison, very high tech. Of course it could be some super sci-fi mega weapon of face kickery for all I know but there we are.

Being honest, which is kinda my thing, I don’t like the forward observer. I understand why it was designed the way it was but it makes the model feel 20 years out of date, the pistol and view finder especially being quite lazy sculpts. I’m sure he’s pimp in the game but he just doesn’t do it for me. Not, at least, whilst striking a mighty and heroic pose fresh out of a 70′s comic book.

The quality of the models is pretty good. What mould lines there are, are very slight and don’t run over anything too important and/or lumpy so that’s a bonus. I like sensible casting. The arms and heads also fit the models nicely, although make sure you marry up the rifles to the bodies before you start gluing as it’s not immediately obvious what goes where.

All in all the models aren’t bad. They look cool and the weapons are largely on the good side of different. I like where MWG drew their design influences from, but I do wish they hadn’t rushed the observer and that the captain wasn’t holding a Pokeball. I also wish they weren’t £40 a box which is a pretty tall order for 7 metal models with cheaper models with comparable quality in the market.

It’s difficult for me to find justification in a price that makes GW & Hawk Warmgaes, by comparison, seem good value. The models are cool though and I’m sure the game is good but right now with those prices I wonder how far it can go without a Kickstarter or some such to really give the investment to release a wider range that hopefully has a lower cost per model.

Fantascape – A Review

Posted by Phil on May 11, 2013

One of the foundations of The Shell Case is the search for companies that produce great toys and games that deserve attention from the wargaming community but may not be getting.

One such company is called Fantascape. Fantascape produces a small but growing range of bases, accessories, and scenery and as the business was just getting their site off the ground it seemed an opportune time to do a review of their stuff.

I got to take a look at two of the bases ranges – Wyrdstone Mines and Glacial Ruins.

Let’s start with Wyrdstone Mines.

Well, they’re just awesome. It’s bitter-sweet timing really that such a perfect set of bases for Mordheim should come my way at the same time as Games Workshop sacking off the Specialist Games range. But for those of us that love that game this range of bases couldn’t be more suited. And they come in sizes enough for Ogres, dogs and other beasties. So that’s a win.

The look is just right: broken stone and splintered wood with just a hint of wyrd stone. It feels every bit of the ruined city that I have spent many a happy hour romping through and manging faces. The temptation would be there to make the wyrdstone the star of the show but instead it’s simply, elegantly, done. The effect is, once the model is positioned, that wonderful sense of narrative that a good scenic base can give you. And because they were designed by someone who gets it, neither the model or the key details of the base will be overshadowed or obscured. These are not bases that will make you want to burn things when you try to position the models.

Of course they don’t have to be bases for models, those with stones on them make ideal objective counters for scenarios and needless to say, you don’t have to paint them green. But it really highlights the skill with which the bases were conceived and sculpted as they just work. Whatever your intention with them, they’ll fit and look damn good doing so. Regular readers will know the two following things:

1. The only fully painted collection of miniatures I own is my Mordheim warband.

2. I never have the time to bloody paint anything.

So with that in mind, when I say that I can’t wait to rip all the bases off my Mordheim gang and use these you should understand just how much I like them. The casting quality is excellent too. No flash and no residue. And you get 20 of them for £8 which considering the scale of production and much of the stuff is cast to order – which incurs a higher overhead – that’s amazing value.

The Glacial Ruins range is equally impressive.

Again they find the perfect balance between looking the tits and being a functional base one which to glue ones toy soldiers. Again, there’s an uncluttered simplicity in the design of the bases that means that you’ll get all the cool detail without it being a colossal ball ache to stick the model on or paint the model or base once you have.

That said, you won’t be lacking for detail on the bases once you do start slapping paint everywhere. The detail is very crisp and considered. It’s also an extremely nice touch that the engravings are chipped and worn whilst the runes – which are made of magic n shit – have escaped the ravages of time.

Of course you don’t have to paint the rocks as ice, instead opting for ruins consumed by the world, lost to time. Which would look way cool. Needless to say there’s the obvious applications for the bases – namely Space Wolves I think with the right paint job and quite possibly a little bit of green stuff and you’ll have some pretty cool, no specific, ruins.

Like the wyrdstone bases, the casting quality is very good and the range covers pretty much all sizes, not just the ones I’ve pictured which means that you can base your whole army should the mood take you. And why wouldn’t it? They’re the tits.

And the range starts at £6 for ten standard round bases. Which again isn’t bad value either.

Overall I can’t fault Fantascape a bit. Their products look ace with strong detail and good casting and as a relatively new player in the market I think we can expect to see some great things from them.

Changing of the Guard

Posted by Phil on May 8, 2013

You may have noticed a general lack of content coming from me in recent weeks. This is partly due to adventures in fatherhood and increased pressure at work knackering me out, but it’s primarily due to the aforementioned adventures impacting on my already limited free time to the extent that I don’t have time to maintain this site and do anything else fun. Ever.

As much as I enjoy writing this blog it is meant to be as fun for me to write posts as for you to read them. When it stops being fun you have to ask yourself why on Earth would you bother? To that end I was coming to the conclusion that The Shell Case would be shut down, at least for a little while, so I can focus on projects that require more attention than I was giving them – which was the square root of fuck all – as well as give me some time to do hobby or possibly even fire up the xbox of an evening.

So it all seemed pretty grim and I was really quite sad that The Shell Case was coming to an end well before it’s time. That was until I had a chat with Erin – known as @sixeleven to many of you – who suggested that I adopt a more editorial approach and bring in contributors. Aside from being genius in its simplicity it is my hope that this will take The Shell Case to its next logical evolutionary step towards becoming a legitimate wargaming portal.

To that end you will be hearing a little less from me over the next few months – although I shall still be doing reviews and chucking out the odd opinion – whilst the new writers flex their muscles and I can concentrate on other projects. And if I find the energy I’ll resume my Tragedy of the Primarchs series as well.

This new team of writers have a lot to bring to the table including hobby experience and interest outside my own which means a whole host of new topics being discussed which will, hopefully, make The Shell Case a more interesting place to visit for a much wider range of gamers.

As I say, this is not me going hands off, just allowing me the head space to split my focus knowing that the site is in good hands. I have complete faith in my new team and I’m excited about the future of the site.

If you’re interested in contributing to The Shell Case then go to the Contributors page and complete the form below. I’ll do my best to respond in good time and it may involve you writing an example piece so I can see if your style suits the site.

So there we go: a new chapter in the life of The Shell Case and one that I hope will take the site from strength to strength. I’ll still be here, just a little quieter than normal for a while.

A Reflection on Tau Fire Warriors

Posted by Phil on May 5, 2013

So once again the Tau march across gaming boards around the globe for the greater good of the galaxy. And, as ever, the Fire Caste are at its vanguard, blazing a path through those that will not join in the Tau’s noble undertaking. At its heart are the Fire Warriors, the front line troopers of every Tau military action in its history of expansion.

I thought rather than review the Fire Warriors I would more reflect on them as it’s tough to review a box of toys that’s 13 – I shit thee not – years old and that I owned 4 boxes of. All those many years ago when I was a Games Workshop member of staff during, what I refer to as, the Golden Age.

I can remember first opening up a box and pulling out the sprues which are, by today’s standards, very sparsely laid out. At the time they were so far removed from anything the Games Workshop had done before it was a very exciting time to be in the hobby, let alone for an 18-year-old member of staff who could get it all at a discount.

Compared to the multipart plastic Space Marines that had been released 2 years before they were actually less sophisticated with arguably less variety. But what they were was different. And sci-fi. They were the first models in the 40k Universe that felt near future and more in line with the future path that I would argue humanity is on rather than the grim darkness of the grim dark Imperium of the grim dark future. Grim. Dark. Whereas the Imperial Guard weren’t much more than the army 30 years ago with sci-fi guns, the segmented armour over fatigues of the Tau is far closer to the armour worn by soldiers the world over and the future armour currently being developed.

The Tau also won fame for their unintentional Pokeball style grenades and scanners that looked suspiciously like the ones from Ghostbusters. But I like to think that it was a homage along with the obvious 90′s Manga influences that inspired the Crisis Suits.

I think for many, the appeal of the Tau has been their weaponry; not just in game terms but their aesthetic. They feel a little bit Star Trek: lots of interlocking panels that look like they’re held together with magnets and the rail guns aren’t too far away from the technology being developed in the present.

The sculpting is now a tad dated. The laziness of the detailing on the legs around armour plates is by recent standards quite poor but I suppose one must consider their age in the same way that most Space Marine players forgive the corners cut on the multipart Space Marine legs.

In game terms the Fire Warriors are one of the best troop choices in the game. If not one of the best units overall in the game.

Aside from benefitting from armour that ignores the AP of every basic weapon in the game, they also get a 30 inch range, strength 5, AP 5 basic weapon of their own. In 6th edition this spells untold misery for any army with low armoured vehicles but it actually makes them as good as Space Marines as they gain on the wound roll what they lose on the to hit roll. And all for 9 points each.

Granted that 4+ armour save isn’t as good but the option of taking a couple of shield drones at 12 points each affords the unit a 2 4+ invulnerables at a spread out cost of an extra 2 points per model for a full unit. So 11 points a model, which is still 5 less than a Space Marine. And a Fire Warrior will get the first volley off which will include crippling the Rhinos Space Marine players will take to try to keep their blokes alive for longer.

Although the Tau army only gives you two choices for troops, as choices go it’s a bloody good one. Yes the helmets and legs look a little tired compared to other models in the range – even ones as old – but they’re still pretty cool. And at 9 points a model for a model that can comfortably put a dent in an armour 10 vehicle it really doesn’t get much better.

Tau Fire Warriors are available from Firestorm Games priced £19.80.

Dreadball Pelgar Mystics – A Review

Posted by Phil on May 1, 2013

The first my Dreadball Season 2 articles I take a look at the Pelgar Mystics, the Judwan team featured in the all new Dreadball: Season 2. The Judwans are the space hippies of the Dreadball universe boycotting the usual tactic of kicking in faces and instead try to out play their opponent. Had I read the rules first I may have just opted for another team, rather flying in the face of my usual style of crump things and run through the hole they leave.

That said, never let it be said I’m not up for a challenge.

So, a new Season in the life of Dreadball, does it mean a new standard of models? Well…no. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still cool and there’s some nice detailing but Mantic seem to holding steady on their ’3 model variants and that’s your lot’ line. Which is fine providing you know that going in.

The detail is better and sharper on the Mystics compared to the Marauder team and they do a pretty good job with the heads in terms of detail. Unfortunately mould lines run over all their heads and faces so meticulous filing is in order. But, because of the type of plastic Mantic uses they come away with minimal effort. Which is just as well really.

As a concept it’s nice to see a faction that has its roots in classic science fiction but with Mantic’s own twist.

Equally in game terms they more like the greys from X-Files than from Independence Day. The entire team is made up of Strikers so if you like a punchy gang, forget it. But they are quick – movement 5, with speed and skill rolls of 3+ and 4+ respectively. So all in all a pretty nippy bunch of buggers.

They also get Long Arms and Feint (Misdirect) which means they not only can throw the ball further than everyone else – and having a whole team that can is pretty tough to deal with – but they can pretty much dance around any bugger that tries to stop them. More over they get to turn any would be attackers in another direction which means their threat zones are pointing the other way. And that means the Judwans can run about the place with impunity. And that means scoring.

Although what’s a tad unfair, considering how massively tactically you have to play with the Judwans, is you don’t get bonus points when you score. So you can only score a maximum or 1 or 3 points, depending on the zone. It strikes me as a tad harsh considering how easily they’ll get their faces kicked in so every play will be a close run thing.

But I suppose the cocktail of speed, long throws and feints is quite potent. That said an MVP (or two) will be an essential purchase especially if you’re in a league as the Judwans simply won’t have the durability required when going up against teams more interested in the manging of faces than the scoring of strikes. In fact I’d probably try to take an MVP straight out the gate the points are available as you’re only allowed 6 players in your starting team so the team will be two players light. Which is a steep hill to climb on top of the other restrictions.

The Judwans quite clearly fall into the ‘experienced’ gamer column for Dreadball but that’s fine because they present a genuine tactical challenge that some players will find very rewarding in cracking. Against certain teams, like the Veer-mym that can match their speed they’ll have a tough match. Equally the Forge Fathers for their strength. But what it’ll be is entertaining. Which is kinda what Dreadball is all about.

The Pelgar Mystics are available from Firestorm Games priced £13.49. This time requires the Season 2 expansion book available from Firestorm Games priced £8.99.