Welcome to another review here on the Space Dinosaur, where I'll take a deep dive into a product, game, or technique and offer my opinions and recommendations. Today's topic is Epic Encounters: Caverns of the Frost Giant, made by Steamforged Games. It's marketed as a small adventure in a box, and is actually the boss encounter for an earlier box but can still be used in a standalone fashion.
As seems to be necessary in every review ever: I purchased this product and all my views are my own and are not influenced by getting a free product. I wanted this particular box for the giant model inside, and for the price of $40 compared to GW's monstrous $195 price I thought it was worth it. I didn't know the size of this giant, but when the package arrived I was amazed at the size of the box, as can be seen below when compared to a GW Chaos Warrior.
Opening the box was also a big surprise to me, as usually when I get a model kit it comes as pieces on sprues that you clip out and assemble. This however, came as two pieces: the giant itself and its scenic base. There was also a small booklet with rules and adventure setup, a two sided fold out battlegrid, and some tokens for traps and orcs.
Assembly is obviously easy, but since it's made of softer plastic there's a bit of warping so not all of the pegs lined up with their intended slots, which required some trimming for it to work. This is definitely not the hard plastic from GW lines, but neither is it the soft plastic of a Reaper miniature. Some might find it off putting that the miniature is already built and lacks any customization options, but I was fine with it.
The pose to me is a little static, which might be a result of the manufacturing process. I personally don't like how big and far out the axe sticks, and maybe I'll end up converting it. When parts of a model overhang a base so drastically that it hits other nearby models I find that it interferes with play and becomes annoying to work with.
Details on the model are nice, not super crisp but enough to be easily readable. Mold lines aren't a big issue, with a few minutes of clean up the model is ready for priming. The details also tell a nice story about the model, with all of the weapons sticking out of the giant in various locations it lets the player know that this giant can take a hit and not even notice.
My favorite detail has to be the deer hanging from the giant's belt. Really helps to sell the scale and inform the player that things of this size are akin to snacks. Enjoy some glamor shots of the model before I render my final verdict.
-The Space Dinosaur
Whats the size of the base it comes with?
ReplyDeleteIt's about 105 mm or 4.25 in.
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