DeepWars

Something a little "different" today, not Supers, not Pirates, not Cult TV - but rather Undersea Adventures!!

Unfortunately, I can’t pass on my thoughts about the DeepWars rulebook as I don’t actually have it yet.

However, I’ve had a good long “play” with the Fortune Hunters Deluxe Starter Set – I am in a position to give some thoughts.#



The Box contains – A 400 point starter warband (well, 405 points)

1 x Armored Dive Soldier (63)
1 x Heavy Support Trooper (77)
1 x Marie du Chaletet - Scientist of the Ethers (99)
1 x Anti-Ship Breaching Mech Construct (91)
1 x Recon Trooper (75)

The Box also comes with the game card for each miniature, and the requisite plastic bases. Each model also comes with a base insert in the same material as the parent model, and is “undersea” themed – the Fortune Hunters inserts fit the bases well, but not “exactly” – a little putty work can easily sort this however.

There’s also supposed to be a way (according to the website – there is no mention of it on the Box) to get a hold of the free downloadable rulebook – that information is neither on the Box nor on the Website – the only thing I can assume is that if you buy direct, that link is supplied to you.
The packaging/presentation is quite nice overall, the box card sturdy and the colour printing bright and strong. HOWEVER, the “sticker” on the front wouldn’t fill the casual buyer with confidence – it LOOKS ill thought out, like its either an afterthought or maybe something got screwed up along the way – I know I’m being picky here, but the first “bite” of any product on the shelf is with the eyes – and in this oh so competitive hobby of ours, if a potential buyer has any doubts – they can move onto a different product (of course to online shoppers and die-hards it makes no never mind LoL).

This is a nice touch, inside the box with the contents are a number of polystyrene popcorn packaging pieces, which I think are a really good solution to packing miniatures for sale. The Miniatures themselves are in strong stapled shut plastic bags, as are the Bases. The only thing I wasn’t keen on here was the fact the Cards are loose inside the box, and whilst the polystyrene popcorn packaging pieces did their job protecting them – I could envisage of a scenario where they don’t. The use of another plastic bag would prevent any chance of damage to the cards.

Right, enough with the Packaging – onto the Miniatures themselves.

The Armored Dive Soldier is a cracking sculpt, and was for the most part flash free – there is one problem however – where the Spear on his Gun meets the housing, the cast seemed very “thin” when I attempted to clean the gun arm it snapped off. A minor repair (but now the spear is a mm or so shorter LoL) but worth mentioning to others, to ensure they are a little more careful with the part.



The Heavy Support Trooper is another cracking sculpt, nothing super fancy – it does exactly what it says on the tin. He has heft, and looks like he could “do the business”. This one was totally mold line and flash free.



Marie du Chaletet - Scientist of the Ethers. She was my least favourite sculpt till I got her in my hands. She is far nicer and more interesting in the flesh – and a worthy addition as a named character to the set. Again she was totally mold line and flash free.



The Recon Trooper  is a Scuba Diver wearing an undersea “jet pack” (for want of a better term), the pose is a little “odd” so I can’t see me ever owning more than one (he looks pretty awkward to convert to any satisfying degree) but as a single miniature, he’s really nice. Again mold line and flash free – there is an issue where he fits into (onto?) his scenic base insert, it’s not a brilliant fit with mine – I can only assume it’s down to warping/shrinkage during the casting process – easily fixed with a little greenstuff though.



Lastly the Anti-Ship Breaching Mech Construct – unlike the other miniatures in the set which are metal, this is resin. The quality is good, just not as good as the metal casts in this set. In particular around the “thrusters” at the ass-end of the Construct. Theres a lot of extra material in and around there, when it’s cleaned away (no mean feat, I recommend intermediate to advanced modelling skills here) there are “issues” with the casting, the thrusters and other parts of that area are somewhat malformed, fortunately it’s a part of the model you don’t look at a lot!



DeepWars has a LOT of promise, the ideas and concepts are cool – and the Miniatures are great. I just hope they can keep this game going, because it deserves a fair crack of the whip – and as with all new miniature games – only time will tell.