Thursday 31 July 2014

A closer look at the models of Arcworlde, part III.


Time for the final Arcworlde look at-post. For monsters, mercenaries and Bayourks, check out part I here. For the Wild Elves, Albonnican Empire and Undead Pirates check out part II here. For today though we have the Halflings, Jungle Gremlins, Hobgoblins and 'other goodies' left to go.

Arcanite, magically infused stone, will play a big role in the world and games of Arcworlde. Not only are the Undead Pirates the results of exposure to large quantities of the stuff, do wizards use them to enhance their powers, it also makes for a set of rather nifty objective markers and base decorations. Really cool, colorful stuff you really don't need, but probably still will want. Same goes for the custom dice, the translucent green and gold really work well together. Check out the Hobgoblins further below for a few examples of how the crystal look when used as basing accessories.
Besides Arcanite, Arcworlde has another thing in abundance, massive flocks of Grifflings. Half pigeon, half house-cat, these little pests terrorize many a small town. That's not to say that everybody seems them as such a nuissance, if anything Griffling racing has become quite the sport. Which is where the Halfling Berrick Melling, Griffling fancier extraordinaire, comes in. A tribute to sculptor Alex's late grandfather, the model ads even more charm to the universe and I for one hope to see an option in the rules for Grifflings to have a direct, probably optional, impact on the game!
The Kickstarter also helped fund a set of pets/mascots with one model for each of the main, six warbands, with the Hobgoblins only making it into the campaign though some strong arming of one of the helping hands on the project. Rather like these, there's a nice mixture of light-hearted and mischievous sculpts in there that will greatly complement any leader model. Or make for great separate models and/or objective markers.



The Halflings of Hobbleshire.

Sturdy folk who will do what needs to be done to defend their lands from raiders and plunderers, while also enjoying the good things in life. Ah Halflings, and damn fine ones at that. Hobbleshire has some of the most expressive models in the range thus far, with such models as the Cook and Flinger crew putting a smile on one's face while placing them on the tabletop.

 Warband Starter - as is to be expected, the Halfling starter has quite a few models.
 
Thing Flinger - Halflings and makeshift catapults just seem to work well together, the Arcworlde variant is definitely no exception. The multi-part resin kit comes with a four-part catapult and five crew members, though I am missing one of those. The model has tons of little details all over the place, which include a ton of little critters such as a mouse, chicken & snail.
Cook - Halflings and food, what more needs to be said.
Mounted Halfling Captain - on noble ram. First to the fight, first to the post-battle brunch.
Town Guard - quite a bit more heavily armored than the rest of the town, they even look more fearsome.
Standard Bearer - this proud lil' fellow comes with three different icon to add to the banner pole. Naturally had to go with the sheep, but there's also a swan and a town symbol.
Big Skeet Feet - the promo model for the Halflings, meaning this model will only be available during shows and special events organized by Warploque. Old Skeet seems to have been the result of a Kickstarter in-joke where somebody made the comment that they preferred metal models over plastic as they have more weight and definition to them.....as well as making for an excellent defensive weapon when shoved into a sock.
Berrick Melling - Special Edition model, which will eventually get a general release. Such a characterful model, and hopefully the focus of a special Griffling scenario somewhere down the line.
Adding a little something non-Warploque to the Halflings as well. Recently got a package from JoeK Minis (link), which include a rather big troll, an ghost Baroness and Servant Prime. Well looks like my corner of Hobbleshire will have a haunted pumpkin patch where the ghastly Countess dwells. Sure I can come up with a cool scenario when the rules eventually arrive! Just too cool a model not to instantly put to use and I've always wanted to sculpt me some pumpkins ;-)



The Jungle Gremlins of Chaq-Itza

The jungles of Chaq-Itza are home to vast tribes of Gremlins, who do not take kindly to anybody intruding upon their lands. Eating about anything they can get their hands on, wearing the bony leftover as charms and trophies, the Jungle Gremlins are a characterful band of borderline-cannibals that will be a ton of fun to paint and convert bases for.

Jungle Gremlin Warband Starter - another starter with a lot of models, and one rather fat Big Chief.
 
Jungle Troll - this rather interesting mix of classic troll and jungle ape is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Personally I prefer, even if only just slightly, the look of the River Trolls, the Jungle Troll's pose is great though.
Headhunters - Jungle Gremlins will truly eat anything, it may take a bit of chopping for things to fit everything into the cooking pot though.
Shaman(s) - by the look of things fire is going to be the big thing for the Shaman. At the very least he will nicely complement the Shaman from the Goblinaid campaign that was ran to help Kev Adams after he got seriously injured when his house was robbed.
Wuka-Wukka - the Jungle Gremlins' magically-infused Promo model.




The Hobgoblins of the Gaulag Wastes.

The Hobgoblins made it into the campaign at the very last moment and I for one am very happy they did. There's just something about the models that really draws me to this warband, must be the mix of characterful and evil sculpts.

Hobgoblins Warband Starter - for the time being the sole Hobgoblins available, though something tells me we will be seeing more of them in the future.
 
 
 
Servant Prime (by JoeK Minis) - given that the Hobgoblins are described as nomadic warriors and slavers, selling captives to the dark powers that dwell in the northern lands of Gaulag I might as well put the JoeK Servant Prime to work as a Gaulag Envoy! Pretty sure he'll make for a cool 'count as' mercenary and its just a beautiful model (cool post about the background and inspiration behind the Servant Prime post here).



Future releases?

Well the official webstore is nearly upon us, so most of the stuff that has passed by in the last two weeks will be on general release soon.
 After that it's a matter of waiting for the rulebook and who knows where things will end going from there. Alex certainly doesn't seem to be running out of ideas anytime soon!


And that does it for another 'closer look at the models of.....'-series of posts. Hope everybody enjoyed them as much as I did writing and prepping minis! Thanks for reading & until next time. Now I'd better get painting on all this new stuff!


-Heph-

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