Core Space

[Bloggard]

can see the pics now - yep, great paint-jobs on a very strking range of figures. Like the whole Purge schtick, and nearly went for the game a while back - should look at it again.

** - actually I realise I can't see the OP's photos - just aren't any links (broken or otherwise) visible at all?

[Grumpy Gnome]

I heartily recommend it.

[Bloggard]

very tempted GG. Such a good all 'round package.

[Bloggard]

aaaand ... I went for it. Particuarly when I learnt that Battle Systems were offering KS deals for left-over stock on the new First Born stuff.

General impression: I think it is an overall brilliant package - and I really like the look of the rules - particularly using the Deluxe rulebook and Dangerous Days together with ALL the expansions to open up the sandbox, with GM control.

But - have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the figures. I guess one is spoilt these days, but some of the human/oid ones almost seem like 1/72nd scale - not least because they have real peanut heads (often a thing with one-piece 'board-game' figures it seems to me).
And Battle Systems have been a bit naughty - they seem to be using 'prints' or master figures on their box art which most def. aren't what you get in the box (I could post a telling example from the 'Trader Post 5' expansion).

But then some of the purge / first born figures are great - the 'insane god' is just spectacular.

Anyhow, hope to get somewhere with this, so might get 'round to my own thread.
Still wish I could see the OP's pics !!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Glad to hear you got it and at the better price. I look forward to some battle reports in the future!

[Bloggard]

well, you never know, I might actually get to play a game sometime!

I'm warming to the figures somewhat - it's partly my eyesight / age I suppose.
There's lots of detail and they've very characterful sculpts. Not much in the way of flash or mould-lines etc (not that the latter bother me at all).

Just wish they were a bit bigger / chunkier, and that the heads (at least on the figures I have) were a bit larger.

I've been looking at proxying the figures from various other manufacturers ... would be a costly process; think I might stick with the official ones.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Yeah, they went more “true scale” and 32mm instead of 28mm apparently. I did not realize that until listening to Colin (the Battle Systems bossman) talk about their figure size in relation to their upcoming fantasy game Kickstarter. I am more of a 28mm than 32mm guy and I like the chunky look of things like the North Star Stargrave minis but Mrs. GG convinced me that tall and lanky works for spacer humans.

Here is a decent blog post by Charlie Theel (Player Elimination) with a review of Core SpaceFirst Born.

https://playerelimination.com/2022/03/21/the-second-coming-a-core-space-first-born-review/

[Bloggard]

can't access that - although I've read a number of his posts on the first game and expansions ... asking me to sign into Wordpress or something ...

[Grumpy Gnome]

can't access that - although I've read a number of his posts on the first game and expansions ... asking me to sign into Wordpress or something ...

Try it now mate. I think I messed up the link before.

[Bloggard]

Cheers GG. That's great - was looking forward to reading his thoughts on the new iteration - have read all his previous posts and noticed many a post on BGGeek.

[hubbabubba]

I bought the kickstarter edition of the original core box a long while ago. I'd painted up some of the figures but this weekend I finally got around to assembling the cardstock terrain, with a view to playing the game.

I have to say, if I knew then what I know now, I would have saved my money.

The original selling point for me were the minis, and like Bloggard I was bitterly disappointed with the quality of the casts I received in the box. I know others do it too, but this practice of selling products with beautiful pictures of painted master casts, which are far superior in quality to the final production pieces, sucks balls. (Studio McVey’s Sedition Wars was another example of this dodgey practice.)

After spending what seemed like an age, (over two days,) freeing the card pieces from the sprues and edging them to hide the card edges, I found assembly to be frustrating and annoyingly fiddley. Many of the slots in the wall sections were not properly cut, meaning that the scenery did not fit in them, and after just one set up, multiple pieces are suffering from fraying edges where the layers of card are separating. Considering that one of the selling points is how adaptable their terrain is, suggesting it can be assembled and taken apart many times, I have serious doubts about the scenery’s lifespan.

I haven’t played yet, I’m still to get stuck into the rules, which I hope will be Core Space’s redeeming feature. I’ll do a write up after my first game.

[Bloggard]

forthright views mr. Bubba 

But to clarify: don't think I said I was 'bitterly' disappointed ... my reaction to the 'production' figures was more of a comment on my own declining faculties really.
[Although this practice of using 'masters' or possibly 3-D prints for box art does seem to be fairly common practice in some areas (Fallout Wasteland Warfare could be the same based on my experience).]

Overall I think the production figures, on their own terms, are very good - particularly the aliens (the first-born are mostly brilliant).
In general all the figures have very dynamic and natural poses, and all are individual.
There are great painted examples around, both in this thread and elsewhere.

I haven't made up any of the cardboard terrain, but guess one has to work with it and 'at' it ... to get the best from it?
Again - it clearly 'does' work from examples around, but is a bit flakey in certain respects.
It is 'what it is', and one has to be forgiving in some areas to get the best from it (which in terms of pre-coloured detail [superb] and storability [new word?], etc ,  is excellent).

I think its glory is combining those features with its particularly well-done RPG-lite quality - but here, again, I think you have to work 'at it' - and the 'advanced /deluxe' rulebook, and 'dangerous days' supplement go quite some way in adding (pretty much essential imo) refinements / options.

I love the fact that the game's basic premise (overall) is that you're 'searching' for 'stuff' (with the lovely conceit that this is given physical representation within containers), and the 'baddies' come into play in a staggered-way based on the character's actions etc (to a degree).

Again - I think a GM-managed campaign using the material Core Space supplies, both in terms of play-concepts/mechanics and physical components, would be just about the perfect game for me ... but ... :

That's my take on it anyway - without having played a game (and not looking likely to for personal reasons unfortunately).


Should add -  when I was buying into the game, Stewart at BattleSystems (seems to be the main customer care guy, although he's considerably more than that) couldn't have been more helpful and responsive.

[hubbabubba]

Deleted as I'm getting old and tend to repeat myself.

[hubbabubba]

forthright views mr. Bubba 

Yeah, I wrote it after putting together Battlesystems’ card stock terrain, and I was not a happy bunny at the time.

But to clarify: don't think I said I was 'bitterly' disappointed ... my reaction to the 'production' figures was more of a comment on my own declining faculties really.

Yes, on reflection, that's me projecting, sorry.

I also had a very good experience with Battle Systems’ customer service. After opening my box and discovering a lack of detail on some of the minis, I wrote to them and they happily replaced the worst offenders. Unfortunately the replacements were not really much better.

I too have noticed over the last year that my eyes are failing me, I find it very difficult to focus on the faces of the figures and painting eyes has become a most arduous endeavor. The shallow detail on the Corespace minis makes this even more difficult. Still more annoying is the clean up, mold line removal is a real pita.

My experience with their figures is similar to that of CMON's zombicide line, I find it frustrating that such fine sculpts are produced in such poor material, (although the Zombicide sculpts, being larger, generally have superior detail, they have the same issues with clean up.) Interestingly, they released two sets in resin, but their production was short-lived.

My conclusion is that as the product straddles that thin line between board game and tabletop mini game, concessions have to be made in the quality of the minis for the product to appeal to the board game market, and as such I'm perhaps foolish to expect the type of quality product that one might receive from Corvus Belli, GW or one of the smaller indie manufacturers. Additionally, the sheer quantity of beautiful digital sculpts available online has perhaps raised the bar even higher in terms of my expectations.

I hope as Grumpy Gnome has said, that the quality of the product has improved because as a company I like their ethos and hope they succeed, even though I myself will not be spending any money on their products in the foreseeable future as there's just too much other good stuff out there.

[Grumpy Gnome]

The cardstock terrain has not in my experience been as robust as I had hoped. Judicious use of superglue helps. And the quality of the cutting for the slots has improved with each iteration. But it is still just cardstock. There is only so much that can be done with it.

Colin, the boss at Battle Systems is a brilliant salesman and his enthusiasm is infectious. He is perhaps a little too good at his salesmanship at times if you catch my drift. But I do not think it is malicious. He merely loves his products and if he glosses over an issue it seems down to his positive mental attitude rather than trying to con anyone. The customer service at Battle Systems seems to support this.

The material used for the figures,  like with CMONs Zombicide is a pain. But it is robust at least. Again a compromise for a game straddling RPG, wargame and boardgame markets. Both this plastic and cardstock keeps costs down compared to other mediums… and in generally I think those cost savings are passed down to customer. And allows for neoprene mats instead of paper ones to be standard.

I do wish the First Born mats did not have a grid though.