Size matters

I have recently been a proud supporter of no less than two Blood Bowl related crowdfunding projects.

I'll reserve my general opinion on crowdfunded BB-projects for another post, and just focus on the issue of size.

It is not really a secret to anyone with a decent pair of eyes that size has changed as the years have passed. Ironically, perhaps, as we often hear how materials have gotten more expensive (metal at least) and the level of detailing improved. By "changed", I mean of course that minis are an awful lot bigger than they used to be.

What is the correct size? Well, hobbyists seem rather content with the elitist terminology that has sprung up: "True" this and that scale, "heroic" and so on and so on. All this sort of cool, "he knows his stuff"-talk that sets you, the elite collector, apart from the poor consumer cattle who goes to Games Workshop. I think it's safe to say at this point that those of us who play in even the smallest BB-club/group of mates encounter minis of differing sizes who range from 28 mm to 32 mm (if not bigger at this point) and with hands/feet that are anywhere from proportional to their bodies to Goofy-esque and idiotic (Thank you, Gary Morley for your wonderful dark elves. What DID Bob Naismith say when he saw those?). Frankly, it looks silly. It is one thing that it is nice to be able to tell at a glance if a player has more ST than others, but there's practical and there's ridiculous, and the whole thing is undermined when the scale difference is a whopping 4 mm, ie that all members of a team are 1/7 bigger than their opponents. It makes mixing and matching impossible, making it seem odd or stupid if you mix players from different companies in your team. Sure, maybe you can get away with a few "large blokes" in your team, but ... well, you try it and see. It gets stupid when your opponent plays his classic Olley ogres, and you play humans who are the same size... Anyway, back to my point question, what IS the best size? I tend to favour a smallish 30 myself, and I don't like hands that seem inflated.

Now, here is my problem. Pretend for a second that I am hopelessly naive, ignorant of anything except what is right in front of my eyes and bereft of friends who might cry out in warning. How exactly do I order the minis I see online either in stores or in crowdfunded projects and have any chance of knowing what I am getting? Crowdfunded projects are particularly bad because the minis have rarely (hey, you tell me) been created already, and all you can do is look at some drawings, or at best some greens and figure out if you want to take a chance on them. Sometimes, usually very late in the process, there are greens and even some cast minis and size compares and you then go either "yay!" or "oh." and then... wait to receive your minis.

You've guessed it at this point, no doubt. My two crowdfunded teams are not even remotely compatible. Hell, one of the teams is so huge that I am kicking myself for even buying it and consider myself unlikely to jump on any more campaigns from that particular company. Not unless they put a nifty little ruler with mm next to the drawings of their minis and I like what that tells me.

(To be fair, yes, I had figured it might be on the larger side, and I did already plan for other uses for some of the minis when I bought it. See, one company's average ST3 player can be a muscled SOB for another team...)

So in closing... Maybe you people could sort of try to meet half way? Instead of this "oh, this is how WE do it"-shite, then maybe you could all try and go for, say, that 30 mm which is between 28 and 32 instead of creeping ever upwards or staunchly rejecting all progress and going old skool and back to the small side of 28. I am sure your fancy 3D-drawing can work to scale anyway, right?

Book review: The Burning Shore

Recently both my painting and converting has been on a forced hiatus (redecorating my "studio"), but I have been reading a bit... 

I picked up "The Burning Shore" because it had a few things going for it, obviously. It seemingly had enough quality to spawn two sequels, and I THINK I recall there being miniatures for the pair of (dubious) heroes? Perhaps my old mind plays tricks on me, but nevertheless, I picked up the book (for a song, of course) with expectations... somewhat above average.

As mentioned in other reviews, I like a bit of exotic info in my Warhammer fiction. That is to say, I like a bit of pulpy tourist lit where I as reader can learn about exotic corners of a fictive globe and/or about exotic races and creatures. However, as the sayings go... "Be careful what you wish for..." and "too much of a good thing..." That is perhaps the major problem here: The book is basically a stack of cliches and it offers no surprise what so ever in terms of plot. We have a coming of age story where our hero Florin D'artaud is uprooted from his native Bretonnia with his friend/servant Lorenzo and travels to Lustria. Gradually he matures into a capable mercenary leader and the pairs adventures are as predictable as they are colourful. That is to say, there is nothing MISSING in terms of plot, but the plot is just not that satisfying. Like... Given the elements a seasoned reader would easily come up with something along the lines of what the book contains.

Is it well written then? Yes and no. The details are many, the descriptions are just fine, but it is not riveting at any point really. I was left with the feeling that had the plot been better, then Robert Earl could have treated us to something better, as it seems he had the tools, but did perhaps work to boring specs. "Write us an extended bromance with Old World mercenaries and lizardmen for when the new army list comes out." Something like that.

Another thing that may annoy the piss out of not just me: The Tilean mercenary captain. Why? Well, I have seen "Allo Allo"... Laughing at national stereotypes and pidgin English is just not my bag, bay-by. Well, other than in that whole Warhammer World way that we of course all buy in to it, but still. Ham-fisted.

The book was not packed with nuggets of info, but it was fiiiine in that sense, I guess. I learned that Lustria is a jungle hellhole full of insects, lizardmen, more lizardmen, predators and more lizardmen. It is hot and humid too, and a bitch to get to. All duly noted.

What is perhaps most frustrating is the fact that Florin and Lorenzo both seem like they have virtually no depth at all. Their bromance is not quite explained in any way or made all that believable, and neither have much of a personality. They are both supposed to be quite rogue-ish, but this just does not hit home to a point where you love it, hate it or love to hate it, and the book would have been vastly more interesting if this had been probed a bit better and somehow gotten further.

Over all rating: 2 out of 5.