This is the fifth of a series (of 6 at least, rules to go) reviews of the Brushfire Miniatures Game by On The Lamb Games, and some of the attendant starter sets for it. I am reviewing the starter sets first as I am still acquainting myself with the rulebook and wish to have at least three solid games under my belt before reviewing the rules themselves.
I will be presenting the starters as I un-box them and prepare for assembly/painting and give an accounting of what I perceive to be the good, the bad and the ugly. This is purely subjective and My Opinion Only. I am not connected in any way with On The Lamb Games. This is because of how little I have seen out there about the game.
Brushfire is an Anthropomorphic Alternate History Miniatures Game. Animal People take the place of Humans here. Think Redwall and the Secrets of NIMH rather than Flintloque though.
The Vandalands: Quickstart Rules, 3d10, Armory Cards, 1 Rat Lord, 3 Rat Raiders , 1 Hamster Berserker, Metal minis, plastic bases. Retail Price: $34.95 USD ($27.99 at TheWarStore)
The Box and Packaging: Clamshell type like an old VHS box. For those of you too young to remember a VHS ask an old grey-haired person. ;) Color artwork on front, color picture of box's assembled miniatures on the back. The picture is not the best and a ‘cleaner' shot of all the models would have been nicer. The picture from the website is MUCH better and even it is a bit small and not a very close shot. All told, it's solid and more than adequate, with thin foam inside and individually bagged minis and attendant parts.
Rat Lord: 3 Pieces (Body, Sword in hand, and tail) +30mm base.
The Good: This is a nice looking miniature. Enough detail without being overdone. Nice casting, with next to no mold lines or flash issue. There is a mounting point for the tail and the Hand with the sword is set up so the gauntlet is a nice socket for attaching it to the arm. One of the best attachments I have seen in this line of models. The ONLY way this mini could have been better would be to have a crossbow or bastard sword as ‘extras' for when it is a higher level hero.
The Bad: There is no bad. And that's a good thing.
Rat Raider: 8 pieces! Body (2 different styles) 2 left arms, 1 right arm (Pike) 3 heads of differing styles + a 30mm base.
The Good: Again, as expected, nice castings with next to no mold lines or flash issues. A very clean, nice model. Detail is minimal, not overly detailed, but adequate. There are 3 heads: wearing a helmet, one without headgear and one with cowl type. One of the two body types has a clear mounting area for the tail and while the other does not, it's fairly obvious where it will attach. Decent surface area for the tail mounting point as well
Good(ish) Bad: There is no peg and hole here for the arms, however the contact area to the body is decent and it is more that fairly obvious in how the arm should be positioned, it's still a bit ‘off' and yet again, I recommend pinning the arms and possible a little putty work depending on how close you get it to go together. I pinned mine and only did some minor putty on one left arm.
Right arm: Kind of short to be ‘pikes' but they look nice.
Side Note: I'm not quite sure why, but the small round shield (the Targe) is an armor upgrade over the larger heater shield
it doesn't really affect anything, just call it how you like.
Hamster Berserker: 5 Pieces, Body, 2 arms, 2 heads, + a 40mm base
The Good: It's a Hamster Berserker
what isn't there to like?
Nice clean, detailed fur, nice casting. No mold lines and a very clean model. 2 heads with nice detail. The arms fit into sockets at the elbow area and are some of the easiest to attach yet in this series of miniatures.
The Not Good, but Not bad:
The shafts for the axes are a bit on the thin side BE CAREFUL if/when you need to bend these as breakage is possible.
The Ankles of the mini are also a concern as they are a bit thin and bendy as well
The Bad: There isn't any bad.
The Dice: 3d10, nice, clean, numbers contrast marked. They're dice.
The Armory Cards:
The Good: Uhmm
they have the minis' info on them.
The Hopefully Good: Replacement cards available through WargameVault's POD feature: link
The Ugly:
As I have been reliably informed that I have OLD box sets and that new and much better cards are available as above, I will not be complaining about these old cards any longer. . . Move along, ugly is being paved over.
Quickstart Rules: 1 Front and Back printed Legal-sized paper. Nice type font that you don't have to squint to see. Pure basic rules of the game. I'll get into the stats of the minis and game play when I review the game itself.
Note: There are Three Resource costs inherent within this game (Food, Lumber and Gold), so purchasing troops or upgrade equipment is a bit different than in other games. The standard equipment seems to come included in the base cost of the mini. I did have a question about upgrading weapons, and I am waiting on reply from owner/forum before I post on that issue and I will follow up on this post when I have the answer.
Heroes don't cost Resources; they have Hero Levels that you and opponent will determine before the battle. If you are having a Level3 Hero game you could have 3xHeroes of Level 1, 1x level 1 and 1xlevel 2 or 1xlevel 3 Hero. You're the one who has to decide what you take. This is a nice feature.
Overall: It's not a big budget production, but the maker is obviously trying hard. The minis look good when finally assembled and awaiting paint. The Troops points cost does come up the 25 (before add-ons) so back of box was accurate.
On a grading system of: Very Satisfied, Satisfied, Not Satisfied and Gimme me back my money!
I have to count this as Very Satisfied. In fact I'm probably happiest with this set more than I was the other four.
Maker Website:
link