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Post by sgtslag on Jul 12, 2019 14:14:14 GMT
I saw a posting on TheMiniaturesPage.com, regarding North Star, a gaming seller, based in the United Kingdom. I like the figures for my AD&D/BattleSystem games, so I looked around for best prices. Shockingly, North Star, across the Atlantic from me, had the best prices, delivered! They also gave me a 4 Pound discount, during checkout! They worked out to be $1.40 per figure, in a set of 20 figures! I entered my order for one box of 20, 28mm (meaningless size term, but more later), multi-part, plastic figures. When I went to checkout, they dropped the price by 4 Pounds! They had the best price, to start, but then they dropped the price by another 4 Pounds... I watched it like a hawk, as I checked out using PayPal for the payment. The discounted price remained. I never entered any discount code. I struggled: for my mass battles games of 2e BattleSystem, I would really prefer 40, or more, Gnolls, for an army. Units can be made up of as few as 5 figures, but 20+ are more commonly favored, and preferred, by me, at least. I decided to play it safe, just in case they are too large. I am attempting to follow the sizes listed in the 1977 1e AD&D Monster Manual, written by E. Gary Gygax, himself. My goal is to see the fantasy figures in the scale he imagined them to be, relative to one another. Gnolls are around 7-9 feet tall, I believe, so there is some fudge factor. As long as they are 32mm-54mm tall, I will be happy with them. I'll post photo's, after I assemble and base them. Here is a YouTube video review of them. If interested, here is a direct link to North Star's site offering them. When I went to the checkout, the price dropped from 22 Pounds, to 18 Pounds, after I entered my USA shipping address! I can't promise you will get the same price I received, last night, but even without the discount, they are still the lowest price offering I could find, as of last night ($1.63/figure, without the discount). Cheers!
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Post by sgtslag on Jul 19, 2019 20:09:37 GMT
I received the package, from the UK, in six days... The figures are around 35mm tall, which translates to roughly seven feet tall, if 25mm = 5 feet. So they are a good fit, for 25mm-28mm figures. They come with more head options than you will need, as well as more weapon options than you can use. There are glue-on bits to dress them up, such as extra, sheathed weapons.
They come with a variety of different weapons to choose from: most are fitted into the right arms, with only one choice for the off-hand, on the left side. You get 20 bodies, two of which are two-part, but they glue up easily, and neatly. The arms attach very well, too, with minimal seams, IMO.
I went back to the 1977 1e AD&D Monster Manual, to see what their listed weapons are, and in what proportions, or percent chance of each. Gary gave them a wide variety: Great Bow, X-bow, Great Sword, Spear, and more! I believe he limited their Great Bows to just 15% of their group. In the kit, you get three bow weapons to choose from: Great Bow, Short Bow, and Lt. X-Bow, times four sprues.
Since I had ordered a second box of figures, I knew I would have twice as many to choose from. Each sprue is indentical, so you get three bow weapons, per sprue, and four sprues: four of each type, in each box. With two boxes, I will have eight of each bow weapon, to choose from. In 2e BattleSystem, eight figures is a decent, and common, number of figures for a bow unit. I chose to make 8 Great Bowmen, and 8 Lt. X-bowmen, for two different units, each with different ROF, and different Range categories, to give them some genuine fighting abilities. Short Bowmen, in BS games, die quickly when facing Long/Great Bowmen enemy units -- they're killed before they ever get within their own Long Range with the enemy, as by that time, they're usually within Medium Range of the enemy's Great Bows... It's like grinding sausage, on the battlefield, or watching Lemmings going over a cliff.
You get to choose each figure's head, right arm, and left arm. There are too many choices to list, for configuration. The heads are widely different in facial expressions, two have different eye patches, two wearing different masks. There are only two crude shields on each sprue. There are some paired right/left arms: one is the Short Bow, with a hand holding/drawing an arrow; there are two sets of two-handed weapons, with the paired left hand holding it across the chest.
I made two copes of each weapon type used, to give some minor consistency, and a lot of variety amongst the entire unit. These sets are true to Gary's concept, whether by design, or not. The extra heads, attachable weapons, and other bits, are fantastic for the bit box. The extra quivers (one with arrows, and a smaller one, with bolts) can easily be attached to other figures to accessorize them. There are hand axes, with leather covers, which can be hung from belts, as well.
They glue together using typical plastic model solvent glue. They dry to the point of not needing support, or holding, within 10-seconds, typically. The arms can be attached in varying positions, even with the arms which support the two-handed weapons. There are glue-on quivers, sheathed swords, and other decorations (a pouch with a human skull, a bone attached to a pouch, and others). These accessories attach easily. I was able to put a reaching/plucking, open hand, just above a quiver of arrows, as if the creature had just fired, and was reaching for his next arrow.
The variety offered, and the fluid configuration possibilities, make these the most versatile figures I've seen thus far. They are really quite impressive. You can angle the heads, up, down, left, right, or even twist them to one side, or the other, to create some interesting body language and attitude.
They provide you with 20 round, flat, circular bases. They are smooth on the back, with a mild, shallow texture on the front/top. I briefly tested them to see if I could use them as medium/large shields for my 54mm Hill Giants -- too big. They are just under 1-inch in diameter, I believe.
I really hope they come out with more traditional, D&D type monsters for the Frostgrave game -- I don't play it, but these figures are nearly perfect for what I do play...
I'll post photo's later tonight, if I have the time. Cheers!
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Post by sgtslag on Jul 22, 2019 1:36:45 GMT
I finished up assembly of the first 20 Gnolls, tonight. I added just three shields, out of eight, due to my left arm selections for the figures -- the remaining 17 models all had secondary weapons in their left hands! Here are some photo's, as promised, of the finished assembly of 20 figures. They are not primer'ed, yet, so details are difficult to spot -- I apologize for that. I opted to skip all of the add-on details for the figures, aside from quivers for the archers, of course. The truth is, they are just more details to paint, which will be invisible at arm's length, which is how they will be viewed, 99% of the time! I see no value in painting for the 1% viewing. YMMV. Here is a link to a shared album. Sorry, linking to the individual photos, in my Google Photos, is not working properly, within this forum. One album link, will need to suffice. Here it is: album link.As you can see in the various photos, you have to glue each head to a large, sprue-like, neck. This gives tremendous freedom as to how you position the head! You can have it looking down, on puny Humans/Elves/Dwarves/Gnomes/etc., or you can twist the head to the side, for some really fun body language (like when your pet dog turns his head sideways, while you are talking to him...). It's really quite fun to play with their heads in this manner. I only did this with around one-half of the figures, though, as it can be overdone. These figures are a great deal of fun to put together. The variations you can make, are incredible. I took a photo of just two, of the four, sprues I had left over, with plenty of bits still attached: add-on pouches, weapons, plenty of extra heads, and even a number of shields. I glued on a few shields, but the majority of the left hand's I chose, had a secondary weapon in them, so a shield would be inappropriate to attach to their off-hand. Adding a shield to their back would make painting them much more difficult, so I just left them for my bit bucket. For this batch of 20, I went with individual, 1-inch squares of MDF, for bases. The supplied, round bases, do not work for 2e BattleSystem rules, as they require square bases, to firmly establish facing: front, flanks, and rear (fudging/arguing is too easy with round bases; marking the four sides of the round bases, is too much fidly work, and it still is open to interpretation...). These 20 figures will work superbly for my RPG sessions, as well as making change, for casualties in the BS games, from their larger Units (typically 8, or more, figures per Unit; I will have 8 Longbowmen, and 8 X-bowmen, so two Missile Units. There will be 24 Infantrymen, which can be one large Unit, two Units of 12, or three Units of 8. The next batch of 20 figures, will be mounted on 1-inch by 2-inch bases, as well as 1-inch by 3-inch bases, to make moving larger Units much easier than it would be if each figure were mounted individually. This makes movement much quicker than moving 40 individual figures! Especially if I employ movement trays. I make movement trays using peel-n-stick vinyl floor tiles. I peel the paper off the glue side, then I apply it to a sheet of craft foam. I cut the foam to match the size of the tray, paint the foam a dark, Hunter Green, using craft paints, and the movement tray is done. Set the larger number of figures atop the movement tray, and then move them together, with the movement tray, across the table. Cheers!
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Post by sgtslag on Jul 24, 2019 13:27:46 GMT
I heard from the proprietor of North Star Games, in the UK: the discount I received was him subtracting the VAT tax from the order, as I live in the USA, not the EU, so I did not have to pay it. Yay!
Something to think about for future purchases. It may prove worthwhile to buy from EU member nations, to see if they will subtract the VAT from your purchase price! For me, it was 4 Pounds off of a 22 Pound total. Air Mail shipping was 5 Pounds, and he had the lowest prices I could find anywhere: 18 Pounds + 5 Pounds = 23 Pounds, or US$28.72, delivered. Vendors in the USA wanted a minimum of $32 + S/H, while most asked $38-$42 + S/H...
Caveat emptor! Cheers!
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