A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Chibi Style – Ages ago I picked up a bunch of minis from Impact Miniatures fully intending to create some rules for Super Dungeon Explore. Unfortunately I managed to get distracted and they sat on the shelf for years. Fast forward to 2020, between having lots more family time and realizing my boys can both read well enough to finally play my games meant lots of games found new life.
Read MoreBoard Games – Ages ago I had backed Impact Miniatures Chibi line of miniatures, at the time I had planned on using them with Super Dungeon Explore and making my own rules. I never got around to that but I did finally get some of the assembled and painted.
I’ve been kicking around so ideas for home-brew rules to use with Super Dungeon Explore, I like the stars and button push mechanics they use and it should be easy enough to come up with something fair that could challenge the heroes without being overpowered. I’m also kicking around creating some missions/adventures that I can run the kids through without trying to play the full game which seems to run long right now.
Random – Saturday mornings in the early 80’s were a great time to be a kid. From 1983-1985 the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was my favorite show.
Read MoreSuper Dungeon Explore – I recently found the box of Chibi Dungeon Adventure miniatures from the Impact Kickstarter a while back. When these came in I was super excited to paint them up and make up rules for them to use in games of Super Dungeon Explore but some other shiny thing caught my eye and I boxed them up and lost track of them for a while. (Oddly enough I boxed them in my Super Dungeon box with the tiles ... I keep my minis in a Battlefoam bag and built a 3D board that I use anytime we play.)
Read MoreKickstarter – I recently received my order from the Impact Minis Chibi Kickstarter. I've been super excited about these since I pledged and was nervous about it when the creator had health problems. Amazingly he was able to get through the problems and deliver pretty close to the deadline.
While I love the models and can't wait to get them all assemble and painted I do have to voice a single concern. Trollcast/finecast/whatever it is kinda sucks. Most of the minis have some minor bubble issues which is easy enough to correct with liquid greenstuff; in fact most of the bubble problems and on the undersides of models or in inconspicuous areas. The miscast issue is a bigger deal as I'm not a fan of resculpting ears. Thankfully it only looks like a few models are affected and I imagine impact will provide replacement parts once they get through the initial shipments. Another issue with the molding is the placement of the vents the areas they were place is less then optimal in some case. Notably with the Flesh Golem had a vent placed on it's chin ... really guys? The same can be said for where the mold lines run.
Ok now that the uncomfortable criticism is out of the way I can't stop gushing about these models. They are slightly larger than the Super Dungeon Explore stuff but the aesthetic matches up perfectly. As a fan of the old D&D cartoon I can't wait to see them on the table killing stuff and collecting loot.
Once I have them all assembled and painted I'm going to make custom rules and cards to increase the number of heroes available in my Super Dungeon Explore games. I'm also going to have to figure out custom spawn points for the monsters I picked up as well as decide whether to make the type 2 figures mini bosses or dungeon bosses.
Chibi Dungeon – Not to long ago Impact Miniatures ran a successful Kickstarter to produce chibi style characters based off the old D&D cartoon. The campaign was a success and they wound up reaching many stretch goals. I believe the bulk of the rewards are supposed to ship in May. However they were able to produce a five headed dragon early which is now available in their web store.
Overall the sculpt matches the concept sketches and looks very cool. The size is comparable to the Boss monsters from Super Dungeon Explore and as such could be used as a replacement (or if you're ambitious and want to make your own stats like me as a new boss monster) for the existing monsters.
I was a bit bummed at the amount of flash and sprue chunks on the mini when it arrived, however the "troll-cast" plastic they're using is pretty easy to work with. The model looks to have a bit of texture from the type of 3D printing that was used but I'm hoping it goes away one it's fully primed and painted. For the cost this is a really cool model that can add a new level of monster to your Super Dungeon games or supplement a chibi style RPG campaign.
As you can see by the photo the overall size of this model is impressive, weighing in at slightly larger than a Contemptor Dreadnought. For the cost you're getting a great deal for the amount of raw material. Assembly was a pain it the ass as this isn't normal plastic so plastic cement won't work in it instead you have to use super glue. Because this is "spin-cast" plastic rather than injection molded you will notice a large amount of bubbles in the cast which is disappointing. Luckily Games Workshop has the same issue with their Finecast product and has come out with Liquid Greenstuff to fills the inevitable bubbles and gaps. I'll be picking some up as I assume when the Kickstarter shipment arrives the models will have the same problems.
Super Dungeon Explore – No I didn't miraculously finish painting all the models. Yes they are still in the same state as my last post about this game. Yes they are on their way back around to my que. Yes I finally played a game ... AND IT WAS AMAZING!
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