Monday, 1 January 2018

Unboxing Malifaux - Gremlin Criers

"Here Ye!, Here ME!!!"
The Gremlin Criers box contains enough parts for three miniatures...namely the Gremlin Criers. It also contains stat cards for them though there are no upgrade cards.

Gremlin Criers - Sprue
The box has two sprues in it split into three pieces (so it actually fits in the box one presumes) as well as the aforementioned cards. Here's pictures of both sides of them and some close-ups of the individual sub sections.


Gremlin Criers - Stat Cards
Wyrd Games didn't like my publishing pictures of both sides of the stat cards so you'll have to make do with this...

Should there be any assembly issues with the model then they will be listed in the appropriate section and you can view larger versions of the smaller pictures or instruction pictures by clicking on them.

Gremlin Criers - Instructions

Some General Notes on Assembly.
Many of these models contain quite small parts so depending on how dexterous you are you might consider getting yourself some tweezers. Dry-fitting is also always a good idea in case a part needs a tiny bit of extra filing or filling as some of the fits are quite tight. Where the parts on the sprue are quite thin (chains, weapon shafts, cables and the like) then it might be better to remove parts with a sharp scalpel rather than cutters.

Gremlin Criers
These models were fairly difficult to photograph due to the poses so you may get a better idea of the overall appearance from the rotational views at the bottom of this article rather than the actual model pics.

Gremlin Crier A
This one has the highest part count of the three but by Gremlin standards the pieces are fairly substantial. The arm holding the loudspeaker will fit in place with the head attached but it's easier to put on first. This also allows you to ensure that the gremlin mouth lines up with it.
The main issue with this model is that the upper gremlins arm aligns with the lower ones head, his legs wrap around the lower gremlins upper arms, while the lower gremlins arms in turn wraparound in front of the upper gremlins legs...and it's exactly as bloody awkward as that sounds. There's a couple of solutions. You can glue the left upper leg to the lower gremlins chest and then slide that sub assembly into place and then add the upper gremlins left arm which joins the two together...or you can leave the left leg off, slide the lower gremlin into place (there's a little groove where his ear goes so you know your in the right place) and then add the aforementioned left leg.

Gremlin Crier B
This one is quite straightforward with the mount being made from decent sized parts and the gremlin rider also consists of surprisingly few pieces. You do need to align the separate arms with the hands on the scroll but that's relatively simple.

Gremlin Crier C
The structural weak point here is obviously the rope from the Gremlin to the bell but by Wyrd/Gremlin standards is actually quite thick. The bell also lacks a 'flat' piece so is slightly awkward to base on a smooth surface...and of course the whole model overhangs...a lot...but there's not much that can be done about that I'm afraid.

Gremlin Criers - Rotational View
Here are rotational views of each of the three Gremlin Criers.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.
Should you ever choose to purchase something based on one of my features or reviews then it would be nice if you could let the company know where the inspiration came from...who knows...they might be grateful to the poor unappreciated blogger who sent you their way...if however I've put you off a product...well...you can keep that info to yourself...

Chaosium Inc. - Newsletter

The latest news from Chaosium...

#63 the straight scoop from the well of chaos...

2017

Chaosium's Year in Review

By Rick Meints, President - Chaosium
On this last day of the year we at Chaosium look back on the whole of 2017 with great pride. While we always have things we can improve, we also need to remind ourselves of how much we have accomplished—especially in terms of bringing out new books and games that surprise and delight our customers.
In general, 2017 has been a year of growth for Chaosium. We produced more books and games than we did last year, and printed them in greater numbers, while never sacrificing quality. 

New members of the Chaosium team

As our production output has cranked up, we've added new members to the Chaosium team. In 2017, our CFO Neil Robinson fully embraced the Chaos with a full-time role at Chaosium as our Chief Operating Officer. We also welcomed (from left to right) Susan O'Brien (line editor for board and card games), Ian Cooper (line editor for HeroQuest), James Lowder (executive editor for fiction), Lillian Cohen-Moore (director of marketing and media) and Lynne Hardy (Call of Cthulhu assistant editor - it's good to have a Lynn(e) back at Chaosium!)

ENnies!

As you can imagine, we were most gratified to receive ten ENnies this year at Gen Con, particularly because the awards spanned our art, writing, and production quality.
Our full color hardcover standard was certainly a fan favorite, and we were delighted to receive the Silver ENnie for ‘Fan Favourite Publisher’, behind our friends at WotC.
When accepting the Fan Favourite Award, Chaosium founder Greg Stafford said the awards were a tremendous honor and thanked the fans—whether they voted for Chaosium or not—"because it's the fans that make the industry thrive". On a personal note, Greg added he was also very happy the new Chaosium team is carrying on the great work and reputation for innovation and quality that the company was known for back to the golden age of gaming.
We appreciate the efforts of all the creators (writers, artists, production staff) behind our ENnie success, and we thank everyone who voted for us.

Call of Cthulhu

For Call of Cthulhu we published The Two-Headed Serpent, The Grand Grimoire, and Down Darker Trails in print and hardback, and released Reign of Terror, Petersen's Abominations, and Alone Against the Dark in PDF (physical books will be released in Q1 2018). 
These span quite a range of topics and timeframes, from the French Revolution, to the Wild West, to Pulp era of the 1930's, and up to the modern day. With the publication of Reign of Terror we have at long last been able to bring to a close our Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter, somewhat ironically within one month of the wonderful big box of scenarios that is the Horror on the Orient Express going out of print (at least for a little while).
We are on the verge of completing the 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu Kickstarter as well. The final premium backer reward known as the "Temple Edition" remains to be sent out in January of 2018. Those premium books bound in real red leather goatskin will be a great start to the New Year.

RuneQuest, HeroQuest, Glorantha

We have also been busy with RuneQuest, HeroQuest and Glorantha, with more than a half-dozen titles added to our catalog. Of particular note was the RuneQuest Quickstart we produced for Free RPG Day in June. It provided several thousand recipients a taste of what's to come with the new edition of RuneQuest, due out in 2018. Our participation in Free RPG Day also allows us to support your friendly local game stores. Speaking of FLGSs, we also continued to help sign up more retail sites for the Bits-and-Mortar program, providing you with free PDFs of our books when you purchase them in a game store.
Our HeroQuest line saw the release of the two-part "Red Cow" campaign, with the The Coming Storm is available in hardback and PDF, and The Eleven Lights in PDF (hardback due in early 2018). 
While the 4 additional titles (Cults of Prax, Cults of Terror, Plunder and Rune Masters) we added to our RQ Classics line were well-received, we know we still have more overdue titles to go before we can wrap up the RQ Classic Kickstarter in 2018. 
Lastly, we greatly enjoyed the debut of Khan of Khans, our Gloranthan card game designed by German board games legend Reiner Knizia. It was a favourite at the demo table at every convention we attended this year, and the first of several more board and card games we have in the works.

New submissions guidelines for all lines

As part of our website redesign, we launched new submissions guidelines this year. We're keen to open the door to mythic adventure to writers, designers, and artists, and these are the blueprints for the process: we have guidelines for RPGs, fiction, board and card games and art. We also announced the return of our house magazine for Glorantha, Wyrms Footnotes, with the aim of regularly publishing articles, maps, short scenarios, background, fiction and more, exploring Greg Stafford’s World of Glorantha.

New Licensing policies

We also launched new licensing policies, offering individuals, small publishers and commercial partners the opportunity to share their creations or to partner with us. This year, we've seen a plethora of wonderful releases produced by our licensees. One in particular to single out is Stygian Fox Publishing's The Things We Leave Behind, which won a gold ENnie in the Best Electronic Book category for their licensed Call of Cthulhu release The Things We Leave Behind. And we applaud and thank our French language licensee Ã‰ditions Sans Détour, whose wonderful artwork graces the S. Petersen Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors, winner of two ENnies. 

The Miskatonic Repository 

Another way we're supporting and valuing the contributions of the wider Chaosium Tribe is through the Miskatonic Repository, which went live in December. The repository is an official online collection of user-made content for Call of Cthulhu, hosted on DriveThruRPG (very similar to the DM's Guild). To help creators get their material up fast we've made special free Art Packs available, and there are easy-to-use templates. We're excited about this initiative, and there are already some excellent products in the repository, with many more on the way!

Conventions

This past year saw us greatly expand our presence at conventions, both in the USA and around the world. After more than a decade's absence, Chaosium returned to Origins in Columbus, OH, and we also greatly enjoyed the first PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA —we'll be back at both in 2018. 
When you add those to our regular attendance at UK Games Expo (Birmingham, UK), HP Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon (Portland, OR), Eternal Con (Bacharach, Germany), Gen Con (Indianapolis, IN), Necronomicon (Providence, RI), The Kraken (Berlin, Germany), Spiel (Essen, Germany), Dragonmeet (London, UK) and PAXAus (Melbourne, Australia), and having one or two or some of us at conventions including GeekGirl Con (Seattle, WA), OrcaCon (Bellevue, WA), NordCon (Hamburg, Germany), Gamehole Con Madison, WI), Concrete Cow (Milton Keynes, UK), D6 Con (Rugby, UK), GrogMeet (Manchester, UK), Gamestorm (Portland, OR), and AetherCon (on line), we sometimes feel we're always on the road. Regardless, we love running demos, chatting with our fans, getting your feedback, and playing games with you all. We have lots more convention appearances lined up for 2018. 

Podcasts

While face-to-face chats are wonderful, we also greatly enjoyed chatting about what's up at Chaosium on a number of podcasts, including (but not limited to) the Good Friends of Jackson Elias, Yog-Sothoth.com, the Miskatonic University Podcast, Legends of Tabletop, and the Grognard Files, among others. Seeing Chaosium online—watching, listening and experiencing our games being talked about and played—is another area we're working on building up in 2018.

We look forward to sharing our mythic stories in 2018

On behalf of all of us at Chaosium—Greg, Sandy, Dustin, Nick, Mike, Rick, Jeff, Neil, MOB, Raja, Todd, Jason, Susan, Ian, James, Lillian and Lynne, thank you for helping make 2017 such a wonderful year. We look forward to sharing our mythic stories, and to many more wonderful conventions, games, and products in 2018.

Recent Releases from Chaosium - Available Now!

ALONE AGAINST THE DARK
Defying the triumph of the ice

Rules: 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu
ISBN: 978-156882-453-6
Page Count: 102
Format: B&W PDF (print edition available in Q1, 2018*)
Authors: Matthew J. Costello, Mike Mason
Cover Art: Petr Å tovik
DOWN DARKER TRAILS
Mythos Terror in the Wild West

Rules: 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu
ISBN: 978-156882-448-2
Page Count: 256
Format: Color Hardcover, comes with PDF included
Authors: Kevin Ross, Mike Mason, Scott David Aniolowski, David Cole, and Todd Woods
Cover Art: Sam Lamont
PETERSEN'S ABOMINATIONS
Five Epic Tales of Modern Horror

ISBN: 978-1-56882-452-9
Format: Color PDF (full color hardback available in Q1, 2018*)
Pages: 200
Authors: Sandy Petersen, Mike Mason
Cover Art: Victor Lesa

 
REIGN OF TERROR
Mythos Horrors in the French Revolution

Rules: 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu
ISBN: 978-1-56882-451-2
Page Count: 128
Format: Color PDF (full color hardback available in Q1, 2018*)
Authors: Mark Morrison, Penelope Love, James Coquillat, Darren Watson
Cover Art: Victor Leza
*Buy the PDF now, get a coupon for hardcover version later!
So you want to purchase the hardcover version, but really want to get your hands on the Alone Against the Dark, Reign of Terror and Petersen's Abominations PDFs now so you don't have to wait. We have you covered! When you buy the PDFs now, we will send you a discount coupon that will offset the PDF purchase price once the hardcover version is available.
What is Ab Chaos?
(...from Ab Chaos #7, May 31 1992)

Ab - Latin "from"
Chaos - (1) Any condition or place of total disorder (modern vernacular); (2) the disordered state of unformed matter which preceded creation (since Milton, Paradise Lost); (3) the dark, empty space which preceded creation (Greek Mythology); (4) the [formerly] Californian roleplaying game company.

Ab Chaos is an informal newsletter for Chaosium fans. Through our history we have tried to serve the players and gamemasters through craft and art as well as (and sometimes at the expense of) marketing and moneymaking. We appreciate your loyalty, and offer this communication to those who are curious about us, beyond the mere "product".

It is planned to be informal and irregular. We are, after all, not the Orderium.
Copyright © 2018 Chaosium Inc., All rights reserved. 
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