Westwind's Empire of the Dead News

[Phil Robinson]

Latest news from their newsletter

"We also have our brand new game, Empire of the Dead due for release in the Spring. This is West Wind's brand new 28mm Darkly Gothic, Victoriana, Steam Punk tabletop skirmish game. It's going to be a good one!
The rules and most of the miniatures are done and looking superb. Andy Cooper is presently chained to his desk, sculpting the final miniatures to complete the range, so it's full steam ahead........ You will be pleased to know, all boxed miniatures for this new game will be released at the same time as the full colour rulebook hits the market. For those of you who would like to know more about this new game, we will be in touch again next week with tasters and information, so watch this space".

[axabrax]

Awesome! (Although "spring" is a bit vague.)

[Phil Robinson]

When manufacturers say "spring" I always read that as in time for Salute

[Anatoli]

I think West Wind learned it the hard way when they released Secrets of the Third Reich and only had parts of the main range released. It ended up with people waiting for official models and after a few months got around to buy stuff from other sources - meaning they didn't but the official models once those were released.

It sounds very good indeed if they manage to release all of the planned stuff alongside the rulebook.

[Sterling Moose]

I hope the figures are better than the previews they've already released.

[Phil Robinson]

I hope the figures are better than the previews they've already released.

In terms of what, sculpting quality or concept?

[Sterling Moose]

In terms of what, sculpting quality or concept?

Quality I'm afraid.  Too cartoony for me.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26289.15

[itchy]

Quality I'm afraid.  Too cartoony for me.

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26289.15

I agree ,I wont be buying the figures if they are all like those

[Conquistador]

Roger that.

Two two teams each of Vampires, Werewolves, Mad Scientists, a team each of Treasure Hunters and Monster Slayers I can afford to be very picky about what I buy to fill in any gaps.

Gracias,

Glenn

[discok3]

I would prefer the figures to be of the 'Smog 1888' mould/quality personally but we'll soon see...Malifaux has also set the bar high so fingers crossed all round

[vaganardi]

I'm in! I look forward to the game and the minis. I have a number of the Vampire Wars figures and I like them. (I also have a lot of the secrets minis which I like, and they are also fun to paint.)
Yes, they have exaggerated, cartoony features, but in a good way. The exaggerated features look good on the table and are fun to paint. They are also a lot simpler in design than some lines. It’s a style I like. I paint figures to play with. I want them to hold out well.

The Wyrd, Helldorado and Privateer figures all have amazing sculpts, but at times they are just too detailed for me. I have found the details are in some cases, especially faces, so fine that they are hard to see let alone paint (especially as my eyes grow older.)  Also some are so delicate and so multi part they are useless on my table. (My club has a lot of great apes with huge monkey paws, delicate figures don’t survive long.)

On a final note, like many gamers I blend in figures from a number of lines to build my forces, but I also believe in supporting the companies that make the games I like. (It keeps them making the games I like.)

I like the figures, and I like the company, So they will be getting a bunch of my dollars this year.

[Anatoli]

I think it's a matter of taste. Personally I'm fine with the models as well, nothing prevents you from using other miniatures. The most important thing for me is that the rules are good - can't wait to see what they are like. And since I already have a ton of painted up Gothic Horror/Vampire Wars stuff this will be a pleasant change of pace being able to jump right in 

[jet]

I haven't made up my mind about the cartoony thing yet. I have lots of the current Vampire Wars range painted in my collection right now and I really love them. What I do like about Westwind minis are the simple lines and the clean sculpts. I've reached a stage in my geeking where I just can't stand painting models that are festooned with gear and doodads on every available surface. I find that many of the  up-and-coming skirmish mini companies suffer from this issue. The minis are beautiful but, at this age and stage of my life, I just don't have the patience to spend 40 hours on one model in order to do it justice. I can do a lovely job on a Westwind model in about two hours.

I love our Chaos in Carpathia gaming and am not looking for a replacement. However, as a Gothic Horror nut I shall order these rules no matter what the word on the street is.

[richarDISNEY]

Yea...  No thanks.

Not that big of a fan of WW sculpts.  These do look too cartoon-y, or like Mr Hyde from the Van Helsing movie.  I had hopes for better sculpts.
That being said, I own most of the Vamp Wars line, as they are really the only ones out there making this kinda figs.

And I have never found a WW ruleset that was decent (which I REALLY wanted to, trust me). Vamp Wars was a nightmare to read, while I got the jizt of it, and that there were some really neat ideas, the book layout and editing was horrific. 
Granted, it was not as bad as their Road Kill rules...  Missing pages, pages out of order, editing, spelling, incomplete sentences, etc... The list goes on and on and on...
 And PLEASE, don't get me started on SotTR... They were not for me, or the guys in my Club.

My two pence.

[Lowtardog]

"the book layout and editing was horrific."

Not half, I had to create QRS, and there were lots of anomolies from what I remember, the figures went off to e-bay in the end.

I think also the OG priates rules were poorly written with the ship hit table missing...and this was the only set of rules which accomodated their large ships!