Some of you may remember my post from Salute 2015 where I raved about a game called Infernal by Wartorn Games. Obviously having a link to the project helps one's enthusiasm (we know one of the creators, Jon Corps, from our 40k tournament days), but Al did a great job of selling the game to us on the day. It was not a difficult decision to back their Kickstarter when it launched.
As with many a Kickstarter before, I forgot about it once it finished. Messages and updates from the guys landed in my inbox but I'll admit I didn't take much notice as most were production updates. Unfortunately when the survey came in I wasn't paying much attention either and managed to send it back with our old postal address on it. Fast forward to earlier this month and I suddenly felt left out as everyone was getting their stuff and I was still rather empty-handed.
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| Miss Neith |
A bit of investigation revealed my mistake. What an idiot! I sheepishly contacted Al to explain the situation. Without any hesitation Al was happy to send another set to the correct postal address. How awesome is that – customer service at it's best. This was quite a gesture since they had gone out of their way to make sure people gave them the correct details, with reminders and prompts (which I had ignored). What an idiot!
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| Spider Bitch |
Let's get one thing straight – this game is a horror movie in miniatures form and is not for the faint hearted. The monsters will give you nightmares and elements of the rulebook should come with a 15 certificate. For my £45 pledge I got six models: Miss Neith & Spider Bitch (two pics above), Dr Goodall & Black Death, plus a couple of scrawny looking zombies (Husks?).
For me the flagship model has to be the 13-piece Spider Bitch. Digitally created, it has a massive amount of surface detail and I am happy to say that it looks amazing in real life. The resin is remarkably clean (no release agent residue, almost no mould lines and no imperfections), in fact it's some of the best resin gear I've seen… ever.
Just to prove a point I took a closer image of the Spider Bitch body sprue.
The Black Death model is a huge lump of solid resin. I get the impression this was sculpted traditionally rather than digitally? The detail doesn't seem quite as crisp as Spider Bitch, but that may be intentional and it doesn't stop it being an impressive (and rather large) model. You can just imagine the ink washes flowing over this model bringing out all that amazing detail.
The 'host' models for these two big nasties are similarly impressive. Very unique characters that benefit from the same great production as the bigger models.
As you can see I haven't built anything yet – this is just an opening observation. I also got to download a monstrous zip file containing all sorts of files: tokens, character cards, wargear and of course the rulebook.
I have looked through the rulebook and that's going to need it's own blog post – I have plenty to say about that! Till then just enjoy these lovely models…!
I was sorely tempted by this as rather liked what I saw at Salute and then had you enthusing about it, but in the end decided not to - still regretting that! As you say customer service at its best and I can't wait to see what you do with those spanking models. Now speaking of Kickstarters have you seen how the Walking Dead is coming along...
ReplyDeleteAlas the Walking Dead has lost me as a potential customer. Despite the IP I just think it's all a bit late after the Zombicide boom. They should have done this 12-18 months ago and I'd be in big time (if I had a job)!
DeleteI'm looking forward to seeing where the Wartorn guys take Infernal now that the Kickstarter is done.
Nice, I saw their awesome table at Salute but couldn't remember anything else about them by the time I got home, I'll have to have a peruse now!
ReplyDeleteIt was the stand out thing at the show for me (though it helped that I know Jon Corps). Whether I do anything with these models or not it was all about showing support to a friend and his mates who are giving it a go.
DeleteI was positively surprised by the quality of the miniatures as well.
ReplyDeleteBut it was their motivation, regular updates and the way they tackled the KS as a whole that made me stay.
It looks like this will become a great game. The way it plays is different enough for it to stand out among so many others and when backed by such excellent miniatures and Customer service they will probably get a chance to grow. Something I look forward to. During the KS they already hinted at other factions, which is a thing this game needs to attract more players. I once heard a game needs at least 4 factions for it to be succesfull, and I can see why this is the case.
The quality of the resin really surprised me (no offence to the Wartorn crew intended). The Spider Bitch model blew me away.
DeleteThe game definitely has some potential, but you're right they need the two other factions to give it some backbone. Both Al and Jon talked about these factions in some detail at the show last year, so I think they'll be amazing when they arrive – add a whole new dynamic to the game.
Wouter! You're everywhere!
Delete@Mike, thanks for the review, glad you like everything. There are plans afoot for another couple of factions (we have plans for 7 all in) and each of the factions has 3 waves.
Dagger Teams get exo armour frames and a walking tank
Tortured souls get more models in the range
The Thaddians and The Incarnari get the full treatment too, with wave one goodies introducing the base to the range (everything you needed to table a force) and then extra power-ups in the form of support troops and a "Big Bad"