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Eisenkern may be more expensive,

but the free accessory sprue will give far more options for tricking them out than DFG marines though

Plus you'll be able to pick up da gubbinz from the Defiance germans separately - weapons and IIRC heads have been confirmed so far - if any catch your eye since they're not on big sprues.

true that, so it is still a toss up between the two. I guess it comes down to taste.

Come on, Tony, September is nigh upon us, we want production tests of hardsuits and FEMALE MARINES!!!

So, at long last here's the full review:

Defiance Games Bugs
MSRP: $29;95

Disclaimer: I am a playtester for Defiance Games' Alien War rule-set.

Box Contents

All the parts came separated by type in seven baggies: two each for the legs, one for the arms, one for the heads, one for each body segment, and one for the bases. The parts are mounted on tabs and are easy to snip off with minimal flash -- plus, the parts are mounted in such a way that, usually, the separation point won't be visible (inside of an arm socket, underneath the bug's hood, etc). Additionally, the set comes with several "eggs" (5 in the first box, two in the second). These are very low detail.



The parts are generally cast well, more so in my second box than the first. There is some flash and and a few legs show mold misalignment (ironically, this works on their favor -- the legs have a two-clawed appearance). The first box was significantly worse about this, while the second was barely noticeable.



Arms in three poses. Since there are no labels or instructions, I only knew there were the arms based on illustrations and previous experience.



Legs. Notice how similar they are to the arms at a casual glance? Also, the leg on the right is noticeably longer than the other two if you do a side-by-side comparison.



Heads. These have the only really problematic attachment point: the head attaches at its crown, meaning you'll have to carve the plastic into shape. Luckily, this is normally covered partially by the top protrusion on the Bug's torso.




Torsos. The Bug torso comes in two pieces are attach by a socket joint. A few of the upper torsos had slight miscasts at the base, but, after assembly this is not visible. I should mention that the vast majority of the torsos were cast just fine. There are noticeably mold lines on some of the torsos, but nothing particularly egregious. The gap you notice above is from me not trimming the piece properly -- a couple seconds with a hobby knife evens that up nicely.




Bases. While the rest of the pieces are generally good the bases are mostly poor. Several of the bases in the first box were badly miscast and damaged when being removed from the tabs. The ones in this batch aren't as bad but, from the selection above (picked randomly from a pile of 30) the results aren't great.




Those of us who pre-ordered received a pare of minis from the upcoming Panzergrenadiers set. These are from the pre-production mold, not the final, and, as I understand it, the small errors have been corrected. This include some smudged details on the shoulders and a slightly concavity in the bases. You'll note that the German bases are much better than the Bug bases.


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Assembly

The Bugs are fast to put together. The arm and leg holes are ball-and-socket with nice, deep sockets. A little drop of super glue is fine. You will need to use super glue: the plastic used by the Defiance Games Bugs and Germans (and all other upcoming products) is not high-impact polystyrene (the stuff used for most plastic minis) and so standard polystyrene glue will not work. Defiance chose this plastic because it can be spin cast, and the molds and machinery needed are much less expensive. Differences in chemical formula do not translate into poor material, though. The plastic a little softer and more flexible than HIPS, but cuts and carves very well; modding should be simple. I plan to convert a few into "tech bugs" armed with energy weapons and suspect the assembly will be a dream. By the way, soft plastic does not translate into "bends easily" -- these things seem very sturdy.

An important note: DO NOT TWIST OFF THE LIMBS! They will snap on the thin part above the ball, rather than where it connects to the tab.

With five different legs, three different arms, three heads, and bal joints you can get a lot of pose variation. However, you need to take care when positioning the legs lest the Bug not fit on the bases (15mm users probably won't need them anyway since Bugs on four legs should be plenty stable sans base. I didn't pay attention and will have to snip and re-glue the legs of about a 3rd of the Bugs I assembled so far.






The last picture, aside from being hilarious (I can't look at it without hearing thumping techno and imaging strobe lights) also gives you a good look at the texture of the back plates. They intentionally have an uneven striated texture that, unfortunately, will probably vanish under my poor painting skills.

Also, the warped base is from the first box; the bases from the second box are just fine and, ideally, I should have showed off a mini on one of them, but I ran out of glue (pathetic, I know).


And, lastly, a group shot of all three of Defiance's current models:



I really should paint up my Marines . . .

Am I anthropocentric? I just can't get excited about the Bugs, even though I would most definitely like to fight them.

I'm pretty excited about them, but I don't need that many. Want to split a box?

So, that aside, have some scale comparisons:



Defiance's line actually matches pretty good to Warlord's WWII offerings. If you want to pit Tommies, Yanks, or Jerries against flesh-ripping horrors, you're good to go. Plus, the bits should work well together.






Is is just me, or does the Bug on top of the Chimera look like he's having a hell of a time? I like 'im. I think I'll call him George.




Compared to some of Mantic's sci-fi offerings and Wargames Factory Shock Trooper.


Lastly, a nod to the 15mm fans out there:


From left-to-right: Rebel Minis Post-Apoc Survivor, Eureka Sci-fi German, Khurasan Mid-tech Insurgent, Rebel Minis US Infantry, Khurasan Mekanoid, and Rebel Minis Titan Marine.


With Khurasan Bugs


With Khurasan Neo-Sov powered armor and Corsai and Rebel Minis Titan HAMR.




Final Thoughts:

Despite its flaws (mainly the bases) I like this set. Of course, I'm biased, but I do think they stand up well, especially for the price. The casting is a little uneven (as is the color -- they apparently used several different shades of gray during manufacturing runs) but I think the sculpts are good and, along with the variety of parts, lend themselves well to creating a flailing, ripping, screeching mass of chitinous horrors. They are easy enough to put together and lend themselves well to speed painting. Priming, base-coating, and dry-brushing should produce an acceptable force in a relatively short time.

As to the Germans, I like the sculpts enough that I have decided to pre-order a box. Maybe they'll ship on time . . .

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I'm pretty excited about them, but I don't need that many. Want to split a box?

I have to prioritize, unfortunately. See the sig? A significant chunk of my remaining mini budget for the year is going there.

Looking at that dwarf with a gun... squats have got to make a comeback in the 40K universe. These would be awesome!

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Am I anthropocentric? I just can't get excited about the Bugs, even though I would most definitely like to fight them.

That's perfectly reasonable. They are, after all, only animals. Like zombies, they only work on a single level: as a tactical hazard.

And that is why I want to create fluff for DreamForge. I do NOT want one of their major factions to only be a tactical hazard.

Those bugs would have been perfect for a board game à la Zombies! you're right.

Eh, wait until they make the big Bugs and the gun Bugs . . .

Xeno wrote:Legs. Notice how similar they are to the arms at a casual glance?

That's not surprising given it's the same photo.

I really should paint up my Marines . . .

Shush, you. Primed is painted, dammit!



Whelp, that would be the final nail in the panzies coffin if they still needed one. Soft detail, horrible shoulder and waist joins, magic floating backpacks, and it looks like someone forgot to account for shrinkage when printing the masters as they're even smaller than the marines. Useful for making Space Marines look fluffy-bigger next to allied IG, I suppose. And a buck a bug is good for zombie hordes. *gives cute widdle bug a hug* If the hardsuits are to the same scale they'll only be the size of the metal termis, which is going to disappoint a lot of people. Easy way to bulk 'em up though:

I don't mind smaller hardsuits, as long as the base are a proper size. It might allow for a bit more basing.

I was also unimpressed with the, as you say, magic floating backpack. Especially since they had done such a good job with the UAMC backpacks (aside from the fact that you only had enough for half your force on the sprue).

Now I know this is Labour Day weekend, but I expect an update the week after, especially since it has been quiet in the last few weeks.

And after looking at the minis and the concept art for the PZG, I now know exactly what bugs me about the figs. It's something minor, I guess, and down to personal aesthetic preferences, but I love the look the mid-section full of bags gives the concept art. It makes the PZG look top heavy. They seem too lithe in the flesh. Now if only I had hundreds of pouches from any other company lying around to bulk them out...

 Construct wrote:

Xeno wrote:Legs. Notice how similar they are to the arms at a casual glance?

That's not surprising given it's the same photo.

I really should paint up my Marines . . .

Shush, you. Primed is painted, dammit!



Whelp, that would be the final nail in the panzies coffin if they still needed one. Soft detail, horrible shoulder and waist joins, magic floating backpacks, and it looks like someone forgot to account for shrinkage when printing the masters as they're even smaller than the marines. Useful for making Space Marines look fluffy-bigger next to allied IG, I suppose. And a buck a bug is good for zombie hordes. *gives cute widdle bug a hug* If the hardsuits are to the same scale they'll only be the size of the metal termis, which is going to disappoint a lot of people. Easy way to bulk 'em up though:

Image fixed (and it looks like all the others are broken. Sigh . . .).

Also, thanks for posting that picture. It's glorious!

I had to do a double read, I read Xeno's post as "wait til they make the bugger bugs."

That was... uncomfortable.

Liking the weapons, the bodies are less inspiring unfortunately.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I had to do a double read, I read Xeno's post as "wait til they make the bugger bugs."

That was... uncomfortable.

. . . yep, whole lotta wrong with concept . . .

I could imagine people willing to take weapons up against them though.

What are those pictures I just saw?

The German Panzergrenadiers, pictures don't look particularly great though, so difficult to get an idea of what they really look like.

A few questions about bases.

Anyone have an actual close up photographed shot of the standard textured DG bases? I'm looking for cheap pre-textured bsaes and the renders I've seen of these seem to have good texture. Are they rough enough that they look good with just a paint and drybrush or do they need flock?

Also, any word on whether the diamondplate bases that will come with the Germans will be sold separately?

Not a word so far. Since they aren't part of the sprue, it might very well be possible.

As for the UAMC bases, I don't think a quick drysbrush would be enough to make it a hit. You'll need to spruce them up a little bit, imho.

Hardsuits, where are you?

The swamp snakes have just been added to pre-orders, according to FB.

Gooooooooo Gators! I mean... Swamp worms!

<-- still waiting for bugs ordered in June :(

Oh, dude. Necros, I'm sorry for you. That must really bite.

But look at the nice swamp snakes!

I'm a bit uneasy with pre-ordering, tbh. Even the DreamForge KS had me leery for the first few days. Communication eased my fears. I'M not saying Tony needs to be as communicative as Mark, but there must be a happy medium between GW and DreamForge, no?

Necros,

I got my order a few weeks ago from my pre-order in May. Have you e-mailed Defiance Games about it?

Have they run out of Bugs already?

yeah I just keep meaning to email em and forget. But I was thinking since I ordered in June they still had to get through all the earlier preorders anyway

Seriously? How many pre-orders were there? Even a thousand should go out in a week of less, even for a one man outfit.


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Oh geez, I just turned into angry gamer real quick. Sorry about that, folks.

I just get yelled at for giving bad service once in my day and it turns me into uber-a$$h0le, apparently.

Zazen, people, zazen.

Don't worry, they've been 'shipping' since early July. It's now two months later and most of the pre-orders still haven't shipped. (including mine, i paid over three months ago)

 Construct wrote:
If the hardsuits are to the same scale they'll only be the size of the metal termis, which is going to disappoint a lot of people.

I actually would really like that. Bulkier than a PA SM but small enough to fit on a 25mm base. If the actual minis are close to the art/renders Ill be picking up some for sure.