Really good podcast this month, gents! the discussion on Critical Hits was thought-provoking and I did feel very flattered and grateful to be mentioned, not to say commisserated with
"Nemo's War" has also piqued my interest, which is
perhaps a good thing though my wallet might disagree . . .
On the topic of Warcradle Classics, I'd like to do a capsule review of what I pre-orderd, as it arrived this past week, or rather the
complete order arrived this week. When Wave I came up I was very happy to see the Russian Coalition (RC) Chany submarines were part of it, so I ordered a full squadron plus submerged markers; Not only for completeness, but the teams working on the 2.5 orbats and rules corrections are looking at making the other sub slightly different to make it a better fit between this and the Magadan, so it gives a better feel to the fleet. So, having pre-ordered those ( And recieving some confusing messages about the pre-order details, which although rapidly solved, show that Wayland Games do things rather . . . Differently to
other miniatures companies when it comes to pre-orders ). A fortnight later Wave II came onto pre-order and I avilaed myself of the companion ships to the Khatanga and Nikels which I have acquired, namely the Tiksi mortar cruisers. Also some more Thales corvettes for the Covenant.
First note: They were sent in cardboard flat packs like a book or magazine, which in the case of the Chanys was not so much a problem, given the flat nature of the casting, but it raised a concern for me for the safety of other casts- these fears proved unfounded though, as the second arrival three days later was
also packed similarly but no damage had occurred. Only the first had a 2 inch wide strip of "Warcradle Studios" tape on it, so they missed a second opportunity for free advertising
Second note; Each and every miniature came in it's own individual bag as Warcradle had siad would be the case. this raised two issues for me - First, my country has just made a wide range of single-use plastic bags illegal and they are looking to revisit *all* plastics in the near future so this is a touch orf a worry that future items might be stopped at customs, but that might be premature. The second point stems from each one having a bag-It
does seem a bit of over packing though I have to admit, but as there are extensive stock information labels on the bags I see why this is. Having said that, the packages had just enough bubble warp around them to kleep things safe
and little enough to open easily, so that was fine
Final notes: the miniatures themselves are really extremely nice. Spartan customers might recall that the resin used was variable between a classical "stone feel" resin to a material than felt almost like high-impact acrylic plastic, like some auto parts are made of, with a slight waxy texture? ( The epitome of this last was the material the Sturginium Rigs came in ) Warcradle are using this latter and it's great because it cleans up very nicely and works well when cleaning off flash, of which there was some on the edges of the lower surface of the bases of the submarines, nothing I add that a craft knife run along didn't fix in a . . . well, flash
Air bubbles were limited to undersides where TBH not many of us
care about, and the only defect I noted was that
ONE Tiksi has a small 'wart' of resin at the bast of the rudder on one side, which I could remove with some delicate cutting, but frankly, that's a level of criticism and effort I don't care to exert here
Tiksis come in two parts of course - The hull and the seperate superstructure, and in this case, unlike some original Spartan castings, the superstructure fits like a glove and fits flat into the hull without
any sanding or cutting required. A slight issue with the underside of the Thales was that there seemed to be a raised bit of the underside, like about a 2mm extra leval of resin on the model, but again, a minor thing athat doesn't detract from the miniature. I'd call that a high standard of Quality Control, though there
are some companies with somewhat better QC even if they are smaller outfits; still, perfectly happy with the miniatures and looking forward to more
Side note - I was involved in the Facebook page thread where Richard and Stuart discussed possible metall turrets/fittings being done some time in the future; And yes, the message was that while none of the Warcradle Original designs would have metal fittings
at all some of the Classics might get limited runs of them, I don't feel this to be vital, as frankly the ships I would like most to see have either all resin parts *or* variants without metal parts anyway. namely the Stalwart heavy destroyer and Felshaw light carrier for the KoB, the various Covenant cruisers, and all the Egyptian and the League of Crimson items
Though if anyone is hoping for East India Merchant Company ships for one example, this is not great news.
Like to hear from others on this and the other podcast topics. Carry on the good work!
