Secret Weapon Miniatures: A Review

As a preface to this review, this encounter took place a few months ago.  I am just now getting around to writing about it.  The product mentioned below seems to no longer be available from their website, but I would assume the same quality from their other products.

I ordered the Secret Weapon Miniatures Infected Village bases for my Mordheim Skaven warband.  I ordered two sets since Skaven can get up to twenty guys in the warband.  The shipping was timely and inexpensive.

Image courtesy of http://blog.secretweaponminiatures.com/

When I got them I was impressed by the quality.  They bases have a nice heft to them, they're not flimsy at all.  They stand slightly taller than a standard base and the edge is not bevelled (more room for detail that way).  I had to do a minimum of trimming flash and washing to get them ready to go.

As I was cleaning the bases I noticed that I had only 19.  I double, triple counted and emailed MisterJustin and told him I was short one.  I had already worked out which of the ten it was I was missing and was prepared to show him which one, expecting only to receive the missing base.  I was surprised when I received an email back saying that he was sending me a full set of ten!

This is a great example of customer service.  He responded to my email promptly and sent the new bases out without delay.  I recommend Secret Weapon Miniatures if anything for their customer service.  They have a wide variety of products, not just bases.  They've been adding a lot of terrain lately as well as creative additions to terrain like buffalo skeletons.  I will certainly be buying from them again.

Using Instant Mold

Vacation is over.  Back to work.  I recently purchased some Instant Mold from CoolMiniOrNot and am thoroughly impressed with it.  Below you can see the first piece I did.

It's pretty good!  The only thing you need to be aware of is that air bubbles can get caught in fine details. Watch out for that.  You can mitigate it slightly by the way you put the green stuff in.

You can also make two part molds.  This is a little trickier.  What's this image above?  You'll see soon!

It's really simple to use.  The thing to remember is patience.  Don't peel the mold off while the GS is curing, and don't peel the mold off while it's cooling.  Let it cool normally.  I'm not sure if you can put it in the fridge to speed things up, but don't peel it off early or it will deform.

This is going to be a vital tool in my conversion arsenal.  Anyone who does a lot of converting should have some of this.  It's not expensive and opens new doors of conversion possibilities.

Review: Gamescience Dice Part 2

Continued from Part 1:

Now, are they actually balanced?  I did a completely non-scientific study of my dice.  I made 1,000 rolls each on both my old Chessex dice and the new Gamescience dice.  I'm loath to publish my results because they are pretty non-scientific but here they are.  The rolls were made on a hard surface.  I picked 5 dice at random out of my pool for each roll.

Chessex Results:

1:  15.8%

2:  17.4%

3:  18.2%

4:  15.2%

5:  16.5%

6:  16.9%

Average roll:  3.499

1:  15.5%

2:  18.1%

3:  13%

4:  16.3%

5:  19.2%

6:  17.9%

Average roll:  3.594

So it would appear that the Gamescience dice roll higher and the Chessex roll lower but closer to average.  This is where I think my results are flawed.  I don't know enough about probability to say if 1k rolls are enough to really determine an average.  And if the Gamescience dice do indeed roll higher, am I an unethical gamer if I use them and I know they roll higher?  Am I a total nerd if I made 2k rolls to see if my dice really are biased?

In the end most gaming rolls are made on a felt surface.  I probably need to redo the test on a felt gaming board but I really don't feel like doing it again.  Furthermore, when I roll my dice I try and bounce them for best results.  I also own a dice tower and I wonder how the results would be there.  So I don't think I can count these results.  Further tests are needed.

Final Verdict, the Bad:  The sharp corners of Gamescience dice kind of hurt my hands and they're a bit bigger than the usual dice so it's hard to pick up a big handful of them.  The clear non-inked ones are hard to read (if you buy the clear get inked) sometimes.  They're more expensive than Chessex dice and are not sold in bricks.

Final Verdict, the Good:  They don't go bouncing every which way when you roll them or when they fall on the floor.  Also, this will sound really stupid but I feel more confident rolling them, that I know if I get bad dice rolls it's because of probability not because of flaws in my dice.  The greatest plus of all is that if they are truly statistically even, that should outweigh all other considerations.

So for anyone who knows more about probability and statistics than I (which isn't much), I'd appreciate you weighing in.

Review: Gamescience Dice Part 1

For this review, you will need to do some extra reading or it may not make a lot of sense.  About two months ago I bought a set of Gamescience dice after watching this video and this video.  Oh, and while you're at it read this famous thread, this too provides the necessary context.

Have you done all the required reading?  No?  Well here's the summary.  The normal dice you use such as the Chessex and GW dice are flawed because they are tumbled.  The tumbling process removes the mold line but it also causes the dice to favor one side meaning that yes, your dice do hate you.  Dice with straight edges will give you more statistically even results.  Casino dice are the best probably, but they're heavy and super expensive.  Gamescience dice are a good solution, they're way cheaper than casino dice but will roll statistically even.

But seriously, at least go watch the two videos.  It's about 20 minutes total but worth every minute.  The guy is very interesting and explains his case well.  I tested out his claims that normal gaming dice are flawed and he was certainly right on that.  All my D&D dice had horribly uneven surfaces.  My Chessex brick has problems all over when you look up close.

Here lies the tale of my dice.  After watching those two videos I quit using my Chessex brick that I've had since I was 17 in favor of the Gamescience dice.  Did I magically start winning games?  Did I miraculously pull out those sixes when I needed them?  Well...no.  If your dice are average you shouldn't really notice anything.  Not to mention with the laws of probability you will still have bad dice games no matter what dice you use.

Indeed, I still have bad dice games.  My first game of WHFB was the absolute worst dice I've ever had in my life.  I didn't succeed in doing anything (failed all charges, failed all to wounds or if I did they passed their saves, failed to cast anything, miscasted on the first roll, etc) until about turn three or so at which point it was far too late.  I have had good dice rolls (in a later game) in which my champion needed to pass three armor saves at a -1, I rolled two sixes for the armor and then rolled a 6 for his parry save.  However, it's always the really bad and the really good ones that stand out.  We don't remember the average rolls.

In all, I'd say my experiences have been quite average.  For dice that's a good thing.

Now the dice come with a bit of a blemish from the casting, it's similar to a mold marking where it's been cut off the sprue.  The website says to take it off with sandpaper but it didn't work for me, it scratched the surface.  I used a very sharp exacto blade and that took it off just fine.  As I said before, all dice are born with these but since Gamescience dice are not tumbled you have to get rid of it yourself.  It's small enough that it won't affect the roll (it's on the flat surface, not the edge).

They are sold both inked and non-inked.  The non-inked ones are cheaper but you'll have to ink them yourselves.  I used my Micron pens and they worked great.

Coming up on Monday is part 2 in which I reveal the statistic results of the Chessex and Gamescience dice.  Stay tuned!

Review: Battlefoam X-Board Travel Display

I had the chance recently to paint up the Battlefoam X-Board Travel Display.  The image shown above is directly from Battlefoam's website but below is how I painted it.

First, the good.  This is an efficient way to get yourself a tournament display board.  It is modular so you can have the hill in the middle or on the edges.  It packs up into a backpack sized case (included) and when put together it is very sturdy.  

Now the bad.  The texture on the board is rather poor.  If you've ever looked up close at the GW Realm of Battle board, this is nothing like it.  The cliff isn't very realistic.  It can be kind of a pain to put the clips in that hold it together, and it's even more of a pain to take it apart.  Furthermore, the flock rubs off every time you take it out of the bag.  Even if you're careful it still scrapes off the edges.

So if you want a tournament display board but don't want to build your own, I would recommend this.  Even though the texture is rather poor it will be covered up by your models.  As long as you're not constantly taking it in and out of the bag the flock should be fine (I would recommend not flocking the edges though).

Even if you have the gumption to build your own, I would say that this board is a great starting point.  You can certainly add a lot to this board and the fact that it snaps together and apart is a big plus.  While I was painting it I imagined placing ruins on the hills and sculpting a few craters in the flat area.  Of course it may not fit in the bag anymore depending on how you do it.

A few notes on how I painted mine:  I tried to match my client's bases as closely as possible.  The flock is the same that I used on those, I don't like the radioactive green grass I see everywhere.  I tried to go for more natural patches of grass as opposed to a bunch of green blobs.

Review: The Army Painter Spray Black

I picked up a can of this stuff as the quest for a good black primer has been eluding. The GW Black primer is excellent but I was hoping for something a little cheaper. None of the local hardware stores carry black primer (they used to when I was a teenager) and the only place I could find it was at an auto shop, but the stuff was horrendous quality an would simply dust off.

A while back I tried Armory primer and that stuff was terrible. It made my guys look like they were covered in black aphids even when I followed the directions on the can perfectly. I know I'm not the only one who's had a bad experience with that brand which is sad because the price is right.

I decided to give The Army Painter a try. It is an excellent primer. That's really all I have to say. It goes on even and coats very well. It doesn't obscure detail and dries quickly. I was handling it within minutes, flipping the pieces over to coat the other side. Within a minute or two it was dry to the touch and I could move it. Granted, where I live has almost 0% humidity but that's still really fast. With other primers I can wait for hours to be able to even flip it over.

I'm considering switching my white primer brand of choice to the Army Painter. Granted, it's only a couple of dollars cheaper than the GW stuff but I'm loving the quality. Now I really want to try their colored primers. I'm already planning on using their brown for my Skaven.

The Econo-Box: A Review

I am desperate for a new carrying case. Currently, I carry my models in an ancient leather doctor's bag which I have no idea how old it is or how it even came to be in my possession. I don't even know if it was a doctor's bag, but it looks just like the ones doctors would carry in the early 20th century while making house calls. It is made of very firm, wire reinforced leather. I place my models in, and use towels to separate the layers. Let me assure you, I am well versed in the benefits of a good matte sealant.

While I am saving up for a nice one, I figured I'd give the "Fuzz Box" from the Warstore a try. The price is only $12.99, even if it was terrible at least the price isn't too bad. It's a good thing I didn't throw down for more than one as I was sadly disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Warstore. I pretty much order exclusively from them. I was disappointed in this product because I couldn't fit anything in it. But fear not! There's good news too. I'll cover that more later, but for now I'll give a good description.

The box is about 15"x11"x2". It comes with three foam sheets; a top, middle and bottom one. You have to punch out the holes in the middle one leaving you with 66 foam blocks. The cardboard is- well, cardboard. When I got home from work I found my daughter standing on it. Why was she standing on it when there's plenty of other places to stand? The world may never know. She's about 20 lbs and she only put a slight bend into the lid, so that's a plus. I hadn't punched out the squares yet so it was a little firmer inside so I'm not sure if that's a good test.

Here's where the box failed for me: it doesn't fit any of the armies that I play. I have both Eldar and Tyranids. The only Eldar unit that fit inside were Fire Dragons and Guardians. Dark Reapers kind of fit, but the Exarch wouldn't fit. Warp Spiders kind of fit, but the gun really sticks out. The only Tyranid units that fit were my Termagants and Spore Mines. The Spinegaunts (I only have 2) kind of fit. Here is some photographic evidence.

As you can see not much really fits. Click on the picture to get a better idea of how everything fits (or doesn't).

This is what I'm using the box for. I have 34 gaunts, and they fit well enough. If the rumors are true and Termagants are going to be 4 points and get Without Number for free...well I'm going to need a lot more and this box will be great for storing them.

I considered cutting the squares to fit my guys better, but the amount I'd need to cut wouldn't be worth it as I'd be basically combining two squares. That trick might work for the 60mm Guard Heavy Weapons teams, however.

Now for the good news. At my big game on Monday, I tested several different armies. Space Marines fit perfectly. Assault Marines maybe not (I didn't test them) but Tactical Marines fit great. Slugga Boyz fit perfectly (I did not test the Choppa Boyz but I'm pretty sure they'll fit, especially the AoBR guys). Imperial Guard fit perfectly. I'm sure Necrons will fit great, as well as Tau. So if you play one of those armies, go for it! The Fuzz Box would be a great buy for you. But if you play Eldar, Tyranids or any other army that uses small bases but with tons of gribbly bits, cresting plumes, dynamic poses or what have you, you might want to reconsider.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars