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 Absolutionis wrote:

 BrotherGecko wrote:
Those Hakims don't look anything like their renders...wtf?

Are you making a joke about the Tanko, or have there been Hakim renders revealed?

Yeah there were Hakim renders from gencon. Go back a few pages.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Tanko

Those are uh...

Looks like the old haramaki will be staying on the table for the foreseeable future.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Tanko

I like the concepts of the hats, but so far I haven't liked them on any of the models (Musuashi, the Shikami, the Daiyokai).

I was really hoping that both these and the Daiyokai would come with alt-heads.

 Bladerunner2019 wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Tanko

Those are uh...

Looks like the old haramaki will be staying on the table for the foreseeable future.

After I put mine next to my new domaru, it was easy to sell them, because having kids in my force was not really something I wanted.

 Micky wrote:
...okay, so, its really cool that all three have different sculpts and poses, that's actually cool to see.

But... 3 models in a box?

They have AVA3 in their army.

Mastiff wrote:Those hats are awful. They look like mascots for a poorly designed line of tupperware.

If they were the same it would help; the consistency would at least reinforce the idea that the silly hats were intentional. But now it looks like they designed one, realized how silly it was, tried again with a different design... hated that one and tried yet again.

The salad bowl is passable I guess. But Mayor McCheese and Starbucks Coffee Lid need to go.

The background is the equipment is a hodge-podge of components, scrounged together to form a suit of armour as the uprising left a lot of shortages (reading the unit entry, I almost expected the Tanko to get scavenger). I like that each is visually distinctive, but the fact the hats seem to actually be the helmets rather than an aesthetic addition is...odd.
It'll take some getting used to.

As for 3-in-a-box, well CB damned themselves there by making them AVA 3 in the first place. They could either put 4 in a box and face complaints that they were selling a model people couldn't use, or put 3 in and face complaints that they're under-filling compared with other HI box sets. While I don't expect to see them 25% cheaper than the (for example) Hospitalers box, I'm hoping to see at least a little price differential (or an as yet unrevealed 4th model, maybe another Kuge/HVT?).

I kinda feel the "hats" are the sensor array the helmet has, they just do not have the miniaturisation technology to spare for "mere commoners"

They are not CB's best unfortunately.

 The Infinite wrote:

Mastiff wrote:
As for 3-in-a-box, well CB damned themselves there by making them AVA 3 in the first place. They could either put 4 in a box and face complaints that they were selling a model people couldn't use, or put 3 in and face complaints that they're under-filling compared with other HI box sets. While I don't expect to see them 25% cheaper than the (for example) Hospitalers box, I'm hoping to see at least a little price differential (or an as yet unrevealed 4th model, maybe another Kuge/HVT?).

They could have packed in a Domaru Combi Rifle as a fourth model. Except of course the unit si also available in Ikari, which has no Domaru.

The hats are bad, but headswaps are easy enough. I'm more concerned with CBs new trend towards oversized neck guards that look like frontiersmen kettle spouts. The Daiyokai have it, the Tanko have it, DeFerson has it, the artwork for the new Rasyats have it. All I see when I look at the new figs:

 Kalamadea wrote:
The hats are bad, but headswaps are easy enough. I'm more concerned with CBs new trend towards oversized neck guards that look like frontiersmen kettle spouts. The Daiyokai have it, the Tanko have it, DeFerson has it, the artwork for the new Rasyats have it. All I see when I look at the new figs:

Its not new. At least not for Morats. Its been part of their design since before the resculpts.

 jake wrote:

 Kalamadea wrote:
The hats are bad, but headswaps are easy enough. I'm more concerned with CBs new trend towards oversized neck guards that look like frontiersmen kettle spouts. The Daiyokai have it, the Tanko have it, DeFerson has it, the artwork for the new Rasyats have it. All I see when I look at the new figs:

Its not new. At least not for Morats. Its been part of their design since before the resculpts.

I really hate this trend. They look like GW space marines.
I think I will be able to stomach the ridiculous Tanko sculpts only because they are really a window dressing unit. If they were a core fireteam of 5 guys I'd really he hesitant to use such derpy models.

However, I'm loving the option to put Mushashi in a haris with anything and watch the opposition squirm as they barrel forward

It's a pretty crucial element to body armor to protect the throat. So I approve of CB taking design cues from actual protective gear, even if stylized.

Besides a big throat guard must be nice to snuggle into on cold nights doing guard duty lol.

I actually like the models, except for the hats. I think the armor is pretty neat and the poses are solid.

Does anyone have any idea if the heads are separate? Or if the hats are separate from the heads? I was hoping that would be the case with the Daiyokai, but from what I can tell the head/hate is part of the torso.

Just got a chance to check them out - the 'hats' on the Tanko aren't bothering me at all - and in fact, I quite like them!

It's certainly not the most ridiculous headgear I've ever seen (ha!) and actually looks great on them!

Someone on FB said that each model has 2 head options and 2 arm options. But taking that with a grain of salt til we actually see the box.

 Micky wrote:
Someone on FB said that each model has 2 head options and 2 arm options. But taking that with a grain of salt til we actually see the box.

That stuff usually gets shown off when these videos drop...but c'est la vie. Maybe they will, maybe they won't.

The multiple heads and arms comment was from the official Infinity account on Facebook, but on another post Angel Giraldez stated he wasn't aware of any options. So who knows. I'm hopeful, the Shikami received similar treatment.

mothman_451 wrote:
The multiple heads and arms comment was from the official Infinity account on Facebook, but on another post Angel Giraldez stated he wasn't aware of any options. So who knows. I'm hopeful, the Shikami received similar treatment.

If Angel wasn't given any options then that doesn't bode well.

 Kanluwen wrote:

mothman_451 wrote:
The multiple heads and arms comment was from the official Infinity account on Facebook, but on another post Angel Giraldez stated he wasn't aware of any options. So who knows. I'm hopeful, the Shikami received similar treatment.

If Angel wasn't given any options then that doesn't bode well.

I don't think I've ever seen Angel comment on options or anything related to the retail release of minis he paints.

HaleysRedComet wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

mothman_451 wrote:
The multiple heads and arms comment was from the official Infinity account on Facebook, but on another post Angel Giraldez stated he wasn't aware of any options. So who knows. I'm hopeful, the Shikami received similar treatment.

If Angel wasn't given any options then that doesn't bode well.

I don't think I've ever seen Angel comment on options or anything related to the retail release of minis he paints.

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but while he might not comment...when there are multiple options, he usually gets sent them at the same time and he paints them at the same time. His pictures usually will have them separate from the model proper or at a different stage. For example: when the SpecOps releases came out, he'd show off the alternate head fully painted on the primed model rather than mess with the paint job.

If he wasn't sent extra options, that either means they don't want to show them off or they're cutting costs by not having Angel paint them.

Side note: Just got my copy of the Soldiers of Fortune expansion of Areseia! today. Its a nice little box and well worth the cost. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plastic models are much nicer than the ones in the core set. They're still not perfect, but the details are sharp and the mold lines are minimal. I'm really impressed.

My friend bought a Star Wars: Legion set earlier this month and we were both disappointed to see that those models, while not poor at all, where also not particularly great. I've seen lots of arguments that its unreasonable to expect higher quality plastic models from a non GW company, especially one that doesn't have a lot of experience with plastic. That always seemed like a poor excuse to me, but this new Aresteia! set really makes it clear that it doesn't hold any water.

If you were looking at some of the models in this set and thinking about adding them to your Infinity army, but worried that the quality wasn't good enough, I'd say its worth a second look. They don't have the super fine detail of metal, but they are really good.

Good. They are just game pieces though. Nice to hear CB is trying to make them better than most other boardgame game pieces are made. They do have a reputation to maintain... despite the Tanko and Daiyokai. All hat and no cowboy samurai. XD

 Red Harvest wrote:
Good. They are just game pieces though.

I mean, so are all miniatures. There's no real excuse to have poor looking game pieces when having better looking ones for the same cost is an option, right?

Right. I agree. I meant, but didn't say --oops-- they are just boardgame pieces. There is an entirely different level of expectation for TTG miniatures/game pieces where the miniatures themselves, and their appearances, are part of the game. The visual appeal is as important as the gameplay itself. This is not really a thing for boardgames.

There is not much cross-over from boardgamers to tabletop gamers. The demand for high quality figures for the game is small.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Right. I agree. I meant, but didn't say --oops-- they are just boardgame pieces. There is an entirely different level of expectation for TTG miniatures/game pieces where the miniatures themselves, and their appearances, are part of the game. The visual appeal is as important as the gameplay itself. This is not really a thing for boardgames.

There is not much cross-over from boardgamers to tabletop gamers. The demand for high quality figures for the game is small.

Hmm. Well, I feel like one of the selling points for Aristia! was good looking miniatures. Much effort was put into talking about how the miniatures were high quality and, and a big focus of the advertising campaign was on the miniatures. That said, I do agree that for a lot of games that isn't really important. Not every game needs nice looking pieces. And certainly not every board gamer is going to care, but I'm sure a lot would prefer better looking models for the same or similar cost if the option was available. I mean, even if you don't really care at all, having a better looking pawn is always preferable, right? I also think that with more gaming options than ever, a game that focuses on miniatures should really be going out of their way to make those look as good as they can (for pre-assembled plastic mono-pose gaming pieces).

I see the "There's not much cross over between board gamers and tabletop gamers" argument a lot (or its twin "board gamers don't care about how miniatures look), but I don't think its really as true as it used to be. I've been working in gaming for a really long time, and I've seen that cross over a lot. Most table top gamers also play board game, at least sometimes. The opposite isn't nearly as true, but board games do often end up as a gateway into table top gaming. I've seen plenty of people get excited for Zombicide or Super Dungeon Explore or Imperial Assault or one of GWs board games and move on to more miniature heavy table top games (I got my start with Hero Quest). I've also seen people get super excited about the miniatures in their board game (or their rpg), painting their whole sets even though they've never played a table top game, and then eagerly looking at the Age of Sigmar or Infinity shelf at the store for something new to paint. Many gamers are project oriented, and one of the ways they invest themselves in a a game they enjoy and make it their own is by painting the models that come with it (or creating art or stories for their characters, or costume card sleeves, or whatever)

I don't think you're wrong, but I think things have been changing pretty fast (for gaming) over the last few years, and I think theres more people who are looking for better/more interesting/more detailed/prettier miniatures with their board games.

Probably a discussion for a different topic though. But something I am interested in

I know quite a few boardgamers. I game with them. They have no interest in TTGs, or "lifestyle games" as several have called TTGs. The cross-over, from what I've seen, is from RPGers to TTGers (RPGs can also be "lifestyle games"), and vice versa, and then TTGers and RPGer will play boardgames too. If it is changing, good. TTGs can use all the players they can get.

However, anecdote is not the singular of data. And yes, this is getting OT. Thus, back OT: Nice looking figures for Aristeia! should help sales across the spectrum of gamers. A quick look at Boardgamegeek shows it has an 8.8 rating (that's pretty good) and 144 reviews. Oh my, some of those names posting reviews are mighty familiar looking.

No announcement date for the start of the next BoW campaign? The calendar shows it starting by now.

I added a bit to the image.

I checked it for you, Tanko come as shown, nothing extra.

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