I received my first package a little over a week ago, and was finally able to spend some time going through all the stuff that came in the sizeable and nicely packed box! I won't be posting up any photos for this article, because dozens of other folks online already have.
First off, there's a lot of stuff in the base game box: a full-color rule book, 2 token sheets, 5 doubled-sided board tiles, 50 profile cards, 50 figure bases, 8 dice, clear green counters, red and blue base inserts and of course figures. Lots and lots of figures. I pledged for the Biohazard level on the Kickstarter campaign, so I also received an extra box with even more figures in it. The base game has 50 figures, and the additional figures totaled another 30+, including the special resin Kara Black sculpt. Lots of monsters and troopers to provide support and cause trouble for our character models! I also received the Vanguard patch (which I have no idea what to do with), a signed print and some custom dice, which are actually very nice looking...far nice than I'd expected. Custom dice are always fun.
It took me a fair bit of time, but I went through each baggie that came in the box and sorted them all out. I had to look several entries on the Studio McVey blog to figure out what some of the stuff actually was, and which bits went with which figure. This was mostly true in relation to the character figures, more so than the others. There was only one revenant that looked damaged (one of the legs was twisted around, but not fully broken off), but it'll be easily fixed during clean up.
A components list and construction guide really should have been included in the box. I simply can't imagine a person buying this a year from now and having any clue how to get started. There's no good excuse for not including one.
These figures are really nice looking overall, and I'm quite looking forward to putting them all together. Since this is, in my opinion, a packaged board game with miniatures I intend to try the it a few times after constructing the figures. While I'm sure they'll look fantastic after they're all painted, I see no reason to wait until I've painted them to simply try the game out.
Also, since one of the stretch goals was a how-to-paint video, I'd like to wait until I receive that before I get started on the project in earnest. I like the look of the white-armoured Samaritan troops and see no real need to deviate from that colour scheme on my figures. The strain can probably have a little more differentiation and personality added during the painting, but again I'd like to see what they're recommending in the painting video before I actually get started with my own paint brush.
There are a few small niggles about the components, mainly that the cards from the base game are not quite the same size as the ones that came with the extra models. This will become unnoticeable once I put the cards in clear plastic sleeves. I also think the artwork on the board tiles is a little dark but without playing the game I can't really say if it's a problem. Overall though, I don't really have any complaints about the actual stuff in the box. It's got tons stuff in the box and looks great.
It'll require no small amount of work to get all the figures put together, but I'm looking forward to the task, and of course playing the game. I do hope that I can get that far along before the rest of my stuff shows up in the spring!
Overall initial impressions however are quite positive. I have a new game that looks fun, lots of extra figures that I'll be able to find a use for, and yet another project to work at. I wasn't lacking for those, but it's still fun to have all those options!
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