Shadows Of Brimstone

Nefaro · August 22, 2014, 02:49:16 AM

Lovecraftian horror mixed with the Old West.

Marco says it's fantastic, and I believe him. My wallet will be lighter when this is released in... October?

Arctic Blast · August 22, 2014, 09:40:40 PM

I'm skeptical, because most Flying Frog games tend to feel samey after awhile. I also wonder how much replayability is going to exist with one of the core sets. If people are still digging it 6 months after release, I'm down, because I love the setting and concept.

Nefaro · August 23, 2014, 01:28:03 AM

Quote from: Arctic Blast on August 22, 2014, 09:40:40 PM
I'm skeptical, because most Flying Frog games tend to feel samey after awhile.

I agree. Hell, they all use a very similar system, although the Brimstone set looks to have more detail than usual after seeing Marco's review (posted below). I also never liked their use of live actors with poor props instead of artwork. Fortunately that isn't the case this time.

QuoteI also wonder how much replayability is going to exist with one of the core sets. If people are still digging it 6 months after release, I'm down, because I love the setting and concept.

Dunno. But I'm quite sold from the word of mouth and reviews. Only drawback is spending the extra time assembling the minis, that I can see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDoq2wQk_vs&list=UUqjObEZh6BQw2xpgMjPZ7qg

Nefaro · September 22, 2014, 02:18:08 PM

I pre-ordered both core sets last month. >:D

That will be a lot of work putting the minis together (and eventually painting them) but from what I've seen of this, it looks to be a contender for one of my favorite "Ameritrash" games.

It actually reminds me of a beefed up Warhammer Quest but with Lovecraftian awesomeness set in the Old West.

Check out this guy's AAR with pics (despite his spawning the final encounter brutally incorrect for solo play):

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1239347/shadows-brimstone-solo-game-playreview-pic-heavy

Nefaro · December 08, 2014, 05:09:04 PM

Just got these in, a day earlier than expected. :)

The amount of stuff present between these two base sets is almost as obscene as the amount of packing peanuts inside the massive shipping box.

Gonna be lots of work just getting the minis glued. If I can also get the heroes painted before getting started, I'll be happy. Was thinking of starting tonight but once I get going, it can be difficult to stop since I'm a bit of a completionist when doing little fiddly things like this that resemble work too much.

The two sets of minis, most with multiple body parts to put together:

All the crap in one of the two core sets:

I'll post pics of those bastards as I get them painted. The gunslinger heroes first, and the Lovecraftian horrors second. It's times like these when I know I am crazy.

bob48 · December 08, 2014, 06:34:08 PM

Been following this one on KS for some time. Looks very tempting, except there are a lot of mini's to paint.

Nefaro · December 09, 2014, 02:22:22 AM

I got about 90% of the Swamps of Death minis cut & glued tonight. Most of them were no problem except the Restless Dead people. Some of their arms fit badly, with wide seams showing on a specific sculpt. I may have to use some putty on that one.

Another issue is gluing some of them on the bases with the textured tops. The humanoids are only glued onto the bases by their feet, which are very small. There isn't much flat area to bond the pair together. I foresee some of them coming loose sometime during future play.

Other than that, it was just time consuming. The minis are more detailed than other Flying Frog titles, but their previous stuff was pretty poor. The FFG Descent minis I painted were notably better sculpts and I didn't even have to cut those off sprues and glue them together myself.

Still.. there is some pretty cool looking stuff in these. The artwork is great. I'm so happy they didn't (or probably more like "couldn't") use the crappy live action actors with the bad props as in much of their previous stuff.

The 'Adventure Books' are surprisingly thick with content. I've not read the Rulebook(s) yet but it looks like some of the character classes have unique mechanics, not just different stats and bonuses. They're in the big "coffin boxes", like Fortune & Glory but a bit thicker I think. Very heavy too, from all the stuff.

There are a large amount of minis between the two sets. But painting may not be quite as tough as I originally expected. There are only four characters per set and those are really my only must-have-painted ones, the monsters can be done at leisure. The monsters come in groups of a specific monster type so those will go faster when I'm painting; doing a specific coat on all of one group at the same time. I believe there are four monster groups plus one boss per box. Although the monster cards have further sub-types with different stats and abilities.

I may give just the Swamps Of Death set a 2-character playthrough after I get the stuff assembled this week. Depends on whether I feel like painting after spending all this time assembling. Pretty stoked about having something like an improved/expanded Warhammer Quest style dungeon crawler in this theme so I may have to buckle and play once in between assembly.

Glad I jumped on the CSI pre-orders, as it saved me about $60 on the pair!

MikeGER · December 09, 2014, 05:30:16 AM

if you like to see it in action here is a good playthrough i have watched to the end

bayonetbrant · December 09, 2014, 06:16:33 AM

Always good to save $60 on *any* game :D

BanzaiCat · December 09, 2014, 07:22:02 AM

That's pretty cool, but WTF is up with having to assemble your own pieces?

I can understand needing to paint them, but putting them together? Is that just a cost-saving thing on the part of the publisher?

Nefaro · December 09, 2014, 09:50:41 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on December 09, 2014, 07:22:02 AM
That's pretty cool, but WTF is up with having to assemble your own pieces?

I can understand needing to paint them, but putting them together? Is that just a cost-saving thing on the part of the publisher?

Yep. Definitely cost saving. Although another part of the reason given was that the quality were supposed to be higher then most. Which isn't the case. They aren't terrible sculpts but they're certainly not good, with some poorly fitting seams and less well-defined than expected. I'm sure they realize this, after the fact. There has been plenty talk about the subject on BGG. Yet the gameplay seems to be very popular. I'll just be happy to get over the assembly hump and then it's all cheese from there.

Nefaro · December 09, 2014, 09:54:45 AM

Quote from: MikeGER on December 09, 2014, 05:30:16 AM
if you like to see it in action here is a good playthrough i have watched to the end

Doug has also done a series:

I just started watching Callsmar's set. But his pace is a bit slow so I watch in short bits.

MikeGER · December 09, 2014, 11:37:24 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on December 09, 2014, 07:22:02 AM
That's pretty cool, but WTF is up with having to assemble your own pieces?

I can understand needing to paint them, but putting them together? Is that just a cost-saving thing on the part of the publisher?

the big boss endgame monsters have a size that would not fit in the card box, with wings spread n such the size of a human head ...check the last video of Callsmar's series, its also in Nefaros's pic

Nefaro · December 09, 2014, 12:19:13 PM

Quote from: MikeGER on December 09, 2014, 11:37:24 AM

the big boss endgame monsters have a size that would not fit in the card box, with wings spread n such the size of a human head ...check the last video of Callsmar's series, its also in Nefaros's pic

I may just leave the wings off the huge one and just put a little sticky-tac in the joints for plugging them in during play. I think the big guy in the other set will likely fit in a box, with proper organization. They're pretty deep boxes.

Nefaro · December 10, 2014, 02:08:15 AM

Finished assembling the Swamps Of Death set. Can't say it was fun.

The big ass Harbinger looks cool but, as with some of the other models, it has a bit too much spacing left open in some of the seams. I have a tube of the filler putty stuff but have never really needed it before. Will probably end up doing so right before I paint them some time in the future. Meh. It was also a pain in the ass getting his body and appendages together since I had to position the head, arms, and tail (five total) inside the two pieces of the body (they are anchor joints) and none of them could be balanced. So it took a series of gluing halves of each at a time then doing it again around the whole thing. Bleh. I hope the big guy in the other set isn't so involved.

His wings are also pretty damn big and heavy so I don't think the poster putty will hold them well. Looks like I'll have to glue them in too. He will look pretty cool after he's done. Still gotta decide on what colors to use for him. The light pink flesh color they have on him in the adventure book doesn't look menacing enough to me. I have debated sets of purples, reds, blues & purples, or black & green. The latter two are still in contention.

The rulebook is 35 pages long, so I should get started on that thing soon. Really want to mix the stuff from both sets together from the start, but after the time spent assembling the minis of one, I'd like a playtime intermission. :))