Have you ever thought of how the Epic Encounters range can be used in more traditional board or skirmish games? For solo use as well? They look like great components to add / expand content of games as well. Not only RPG.
Epic Encounters is great for that sort of thing. I don't really do homebrewing, but I do play miniatures agnostic games like Rangers of Shadow Deep, which means having lots of miniatures is very uesful.
They work very well in skirmish games like rangers of shadow deep , lasting tales, frost grave etc… now obviously you are going to be ignoring the 5e stuff but overall they work very well for skirmish games.
Very impressive..! I can almost hear their eerie hyena cackle. Not thinking about how I can adjust these for HeroQuest... Oh who am I kidding, of course I am!😂
Thanks for watching, and I've glad to hear you are enjoying the gnolls. They are great. I've just done a review of the Epic Encounters Local Legends Tavern Kit and there will be another Local Legends video in May.
Great overview of the box contents. Thanks for posting. All of the Epic Encounters sets are fantastic. Looking forward to picking this one up when it is available in the US.
Gnolls are some of my favorites, but one thing that has always bugged me is they are often portrayed as dog people. Hyenas aren’t dogs. In fact, they’re more closely related to cats. The females are dominate in spotted hyena societies, and despite their reputation as scavengers, they are very successful hunters. I like gnolls that lean into a more “tribal” look than decked out in medieval armor and clothing, and these minis are promising.
Yeah, I always think of them as "dog people" myself, but they are really their own thing, not in the same family as cats or dogs (although apparently, yes they are more closely related to cats). This set seams to lean more into the nomadic tribal side of things, with the miniatures and the content in the book.
They definitely skew towards the pricey side of things. I've commented before on some of their products that felt like the price tags were a little high; but I think they do good work, and you can often find discounts online. They certainly aren't quite reaching GW prices just yet!
I play Rangers of Shadow Deep and packs like this are great for that. There is an Epic Encounters set called Hall of the Orc King that is winter-themed and has orcs riding polar bears. Might be able to do something with that for Frostgrave.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring what’s funny is that I did the original ROSD campaign without Gnoll minis and used those orcs from that set to stand in. Can’t wait for these.
Two of my players still get a little twitchy around gnolls and flinds. in a Westmarches-style game, a small army of gnolls had taken over a ruined city and raided out from it. To satisfy Yeenoghu, they would lead captives back there and force them to fight in the abandoned arena, and then feast on the losers. Yes, one PC (a human fighter) ended up killing another (a dwarf ranger), and watched him get eaten by the gnolls before another group managed to come to the rescue.
I love the idea of Epic Encounters, but I hate all the repeated sculpts. If each mini where a unique sculpt I would have been buying them since the beginning. I love the dragon they made.
You get no more than four of any one sculpt, which isn't too bad. I appreciate where you are coming from (I like lots of sculpt variety), but I think if you want 18-20 unique sculpts in a box you are adding an unrealistic level of production costs and you have to move away from factory assembled miniatures to kits on sprues, which isn't really what these packs are aiming for.
Is this the final packaging? I remember epic encounters having more artistic, evocative box art. SFG are getting better with their sculpts though for sure. The errors in the book are a little disheartening, they're pretty obvious goofs that a quick proofread would find, like the difficulty error. I wonder what their approval process is.
As far as I am aware this is final; the products come out this month. Epic Encounters used to have almost monochromatic art, which looked amazing, but maybe they have decided to change approach to focus more on the miniatures. This style does make it more immediate what the box is about if you see it on a store shelf. I believe the Local Legends range even used window boxes so you could see the actual miniatures.
They look good and i am in need of some gnolls as i'm running a BG3 campaign for my sons. the only thing i'm not keen on is that chunky, ugly black base they are on 😅I think they would be much better if they just had the sculpted base they are standing on and not the glued on black part, but that's just me.
There are a few reasons why I appreciate the black, round bases. 1. Most of my other miniatures are on round bases of similar depth and it keeps everything consistent. 2. It means the bases are a standard size and shape, which is helpful when you use the minis for skirmish games where you measure from the base edge. 3. The plastic bases have enough of a recess underneath that I can glue a magnet under there for storing the miniatures in crates lined with rubber steel. 4. When the miniatures are painted, you can paint the rims to match the scenic element or paint the rims in different colours to make it easier to identify different enemies on the battlefield. (For example, you could paint the boss with a red rim to stand out.) 5. This one isn't relevant for me, but the round bases will fit into unit movement trays that have round recesses, for those people who want to use the miniatures for games that benefit from that arrangement.
I have to disagree on the design of the box. I think it is not fitting a DnD theme. I would like a more classic aproach with a nice painting on the front and painted miniatures on the back.
Epic Encounters used to have dynamic artwork of the enemies on the cover, but they seem to be changing to put more focus on the miniatures on the box art, which while not quite as nice, does make sense. But I love the graphic design. It's cool and modern and really makes the range stand out amongst other roleplaying products. Also the boxes are really good quality, and have a nice tactile feel to them (like I said, I am a weirdo for boxes). I think they have veered away from showing painted miniatures to emphasise the "out of the box" nature of the set. They cast in plastic of a suitable colour, and for the bosses they often use several colours of plastic.
Never played DnD and probably never will, but I still might pick these up for painting
They are really nice miniatures. Detailed without being fussy; which is how I like them.
Have you ever thought of how the Epic Encounters range can be used in more traditional board or skirmish games? For solo use as well? They look like great components to add / expand content of games as well. Not only RPG.
Epic Encounters is great for that sort of thing. I don't really do homebrewing, but I do play miniatures agnostic games like Rangers of Shadow Deep, which means having lots of miniatures is very uesful.
I use them for Hero Quest.
I recommend the Undead and Snakemen sets.
They work very well in skirmish games like rangers of shadow deep , lasting tales, frost grave etc… now obviously you are going to be ignoring the 5e stuff but overall they work very well for skirmish games.
Very impressive..! I can almost hear their eerie hyena cackle.
Not thinking about how I can adjust these for HeroQuest... Oh who am I kidding, of course I am!😂
It's a really nice set of sculpts. I'm very happy with them.
Epic Encounters works great with HeroQuest
Great review... first time finding your channel... will check it out future reviews & the like...
PS
Bought both box sets & enjoying the products.
Thanks for watching, and I've glad to hear you are enjoying the gnolls. They are great. I've just done a review of the Epic Encounters Local Legends Tavern Kit and there will be another Local Legends video in May.
Great overview of the box contents. Thanks for posting. All of the Epic Encounters sets are fantastic. Looking forward to picking this one up when it is available in the US.
Yes, they are really good. The miniatures are nice, and the adventure books always have loads of great content in them.
I did NOT expect these models to be so sharp!
Steamforged Games are getting better and better with their miniatures. These ones are really nice.
Great vid
Thank you.
A nice box of G-Nolls to fight all your G-Nomes.
Gnomes in mechs, fighting hyenas. There's a concept.
I have a couple of these sets and I’ve been thinking of writing up some HeroQuest rules for them and running each box as a themed HeroQuest campaign
That would be cool. I've seen a few people saying they use these sets for HeroQuest.
Steamforged keep acing it.
They do a lot of good things, and I think their Epic Encounters range is really solid.
Gnolls are some of my favorites, but one thing that has always bugged me is they are often portrayed as dog people. Hyenas aren’t dogs. In fact, they’re more closely related to cats. The females are dominate in spotted hyena societies, and despite their reputation as scavengers, they are very successful hunters. I like gnolls that lean into a more “tribal” look than decked out in medieval armor and clothing, and these minis are promising.
Yeah, I always think of them as "dog people" myself, but they are really their own thing, not in the same family as cats or dogs (although apparently, yes they are more closely related to cats). This set seams to lean more into the nomadic tribal side of things, with the miniatures and the content in the book.
Great minis, although I found some of mine were bent. Easily fixed though, just dip in hot water, change pose and then dip in cool water.
Yes they are very good, a bit pricey.
As someone who is used to GW products, I find Steamforged sets a hell of a lot more of a justifiable purchase.
They definitely skew towards the pricey side of things. I've commented before on some of their products that felt like the price tags were a little high; but I think they do good work, and you can often find discounts online. They certainly aren't quite reaching GW prices just yet!
This would be ideal for Frostgrave.
I play Rangers of Shadow Deep and packs like this are great for that. There is an Epic Encounters set called Hall of the Orc King that is winter-themed and has orcs riding polar bears. Might be able to do something with that for Frostgrave.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringthat set is how I led into Frizen Horror for HeroQuest
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring what’s funny is that I did the original ROSD campaign without Gnoll minis and used those orcs from that set to stand in.
Can’t wait for these.
Two of my players still get a little twitchy around gnolls and flinds. in a Westmarches-style game, a small army of gnolls had taken over a ruined city and raided out from it. To satisfy Yeenoghu, they would lead captives back there and force them to fight in the abandoned arena, and then feast on the losers. Yes, one PC (a human fighter) ended up killing another (a dwarf ranger), and watched him get eaten by the gnolls before another group managed to come to the rescue.
Yikes. Yes, I think gnolls are incredibly creepy and unpleasant enemies, and that scenario sums them up quite nicely!
I love the idea of Epic Encounters, but I hate all the repeated sculpts. If each mini where a unique sculpt I would have been buying them since the beginning. I love the dragon they made.
You get no more than four of any one sculpt, which isn't too bad. I appreciate where you are coming from (I like lots of sculpt variety), but I think if you want 18-20 unique sculpts in a box you are adding an unrealistic level of production costs and you have to move away from factory assembled miniatures to kits on sprues, which isn't really what these packs are aiming for.
How do the minis compare to hero quest minis? I might pick a few of these sets up for some home brew.
They scale fine. Regular models are on 25mm baes and the bigger ones on 50mm bases. Lots of people use Epic Encounters for HeroQuest it seems.
Is this the final packaging? I remember epic encounters having more artistic, evocative box art. SFG are getting better with their sculpts though for sure. The errors in the book are a little disheartening, they're pretty obvious goofs that a quick proofread would find, like the difficulty error. I wonder what their approval process is.
As far as I am aware this is final; the products come out this month. Epic Encounters used to have almost monochromatic art, which looked amazing, but maybe they have decided to change approach to focus more on the miniatures. This style does make it more immediate what the box is about if you see it on a store shelf. I believe the Local Legends range even used window boxes so you could see the actual miniatures.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring makes sense. Their Godtear line uses the window packaging as well if I remember correctly.
Godtear is a really good game I just don't get to play enough. Yes, you are right. The core sets aren't windowed, but all the warband boxes are.
They look good and i am in need of some gnolls as i'm running a BG3 campaign for my sons. the only thing i'm not keen on is that chunky, ugly black base they are on 😅I think they would be much better if they just had the sculpted base they are standing on and not the glued on black part, but that's just me.
There are a few reasons why I appreciate the black, round bases.
1. Most of my other miniatures are on round bases of similar depth and it keeps everything consistent.
2. It means the bases are a standard size and shape, which is helpful when you use the minis for skirmish games where you measure from the base edge.
3. The plastic bases have enough of a recess underneath that I can glue a magnet under there for storing the miniatures in crates lined with rubber steel.
4. When the miniatures are painted, you can paint the rims to match the scenic element or paint the rims in different colours to make it easier to identify different enemies on the battlefield. (For example, you could paint the boss with a red rim to stand out.)
5. This one isn't relevant for me, but the round bases will fit into unit movement trays that have round recesses, for those people who want to use the miniatures for games that benefit from that arrangement.
How wide are the bases? Are they like wizkids (1 inch) or wider?
It's all D&D compatible, so the regular units are 25mm bases and the larger boss and hunting dogs are on 50mm bases.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Much obliged!
I have to disagree on the design of the box. I think it is not fitting a DnD theme. I would like a more classic aproach with a nice painting on the front and painted miniatures on the back.
Epic Encounters used to have dynamic artwork of the enemies on the cover, but they seem to be changing to put more focus on the miniatures on the box art, which while not quite as nice, does make sense. But I love the graphic design. It's cool and modern and really makes the range stand out amongst other roleplaying products. Also the boxes are really good quality, and have a nice tactile feel to them (like I said, I am a weirdo for boxes).
I think they have veered away from showing painted miniatures to emphasise the "out of the box" nature of the set. They cast in plastic of a suitable colour, and for the bosses they often use several colours of plastic.
aree they pre primed
No, they are cast in coloured plastic.
The plastic holds primer well and the detail is as clear as a Warhammer mini.