Friday, February 7, 2014

Relic Knights Battle Boxes Revealed on Kickstarter!

Starting on the 31st of January Soda Pop has been revealing the contents of the Relic Knights Battle Box starters. In this post I'm going to share my thoughts, the contents of the packages and shots of the Battle Boxes we've seen on Kickstarter. Also, I'll share links to the individual updates, because in these updates we are shown video of each model fully assembled.



The Battle Boxes are different than what we Kickstarter backers are getting. Rather than getting the large Knight and what was listed on the KS page as the faction starters. The Battle Box contains a smaller Questing Knight, some standard units and an upgraded unit. This was done to help lower the entry price for retail, and while it's lead to some confusion on the Soda Pop forums and the KS page, I agree with it.

Included in each box are a 32 page mini rule book, faction themed plastic tokens, a 42 card Esper deck as well as double-sided action reference cards, objective tracker cards, scenerio reference card and a token key card and a dashboard to keep your play area organized.

Included in the updates are some quick and dirty assembled minis shown off in 360 degree video. You can click on the following links to be taken to each respective update on Kickstarter to check them out. I'm really pleased with the quality shown here and my hype level has been slowly increasing.

(All pictures are from Kickstarter updates)

 Star Nebula Corsairs
In Update 104, Deke from Soda Pop unboxed the Star Nebula Corsairs. These vile space buccaneers are lead by Captain Harker and his cipher Ceaser.

Models included in the Battle Box are:

1x Captain Harker
1x Ceaser
5x Corsair Crewmen
1x Breaching Gun Cannon Team

Overall, I liked this box, and I kind of wish I had selected the Corsairs after seeing it. I still might pick it up at retail. I'm nore sure though, I do like the way that a lot of these models turned out and think they look much better than the artwork. But the overall theme doesn't do a lot for me.

Cerci Speed Circuit

Update 105 revealed the Cerci Speed Circuit Battle Box, which I was excited for. Cerci is one of the main reasons I backed this Kickstarter and I own the metal version of Princess Malya. This Box brought about considerable debate in the comments section of the KS. Mainly because the Special Edition Marie-Claude miniature was given a cipher named Esmee and became the box's Questing Knight, over Suicide Queen and Rollo. And none of the minis included in this box are from the original Kickstarter Starters, instead they are made up of the additional optional figures you could pledge for.

Models included in the Battle Box are: 
1x Marie-Claude
1 x Esmee
2x Pit Crew
1x Royal Wrecker

Personally, I don't really have an issue with the changes. I am getting all the Cerci stuff and Marie-Claude so I'll end up with all the contents of this box anyway. I'm digging the Pit Crew, one of them reminds me of Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist. Also the Royal Wrecker looks super sweet, I just hope its not a pain in the ass to assemble.

Noh Empire

 The brutes of the Noh Empire were revealed in Update 106, lead by the sexy High Priestess Zidena (which lead to more uproar about her nakedness) and her cipher Spite. I originally didn't like the theme of the Noh Empire but eventually decided to go with it as my final faction when deciding on my pledge totals. In the end, I am still only getting the base KS Starter and none of the additionals. But I am prolly going to pick up the difference at retail to bring them up to speed with the other factions.

Models included in the Battle Box are:
1x High Priestess Zidena
1x Spite
2x Kyojin Berserkers
1x Render

These guys look great, Zidena is one of the reasons I decided on Noh for my last faction and I hope I can paint her skin properly. The Berserkers and Render look nicely bulky and brutish and they look like they'll server nicely as orges and demons if I need to use them in table top RPGs too. I can see this being a pretty good seller among folks that like big heavy hitters.

Doctrine
Update 107 brought us the mages of the Doctrine, lead by child prodigy Delphyne and her giant wolf cipher Ekhis. The Doctrine has seen considerable controversy already thanks to models such as Relic Knight Kisa's scantly clad outfit, Togan and Cecelia and the Novitites's sculpt.  When this update went live the Novitites sculpt issue cropped up again, this time due to their super short skirts and panties. For what it's worth, I don't have a problem with it, I've seen way worse in anime and manga. These figures just seem more in line with Tentacle Bento's humor than the rest of the line.

Models included in the Battle Box are:
1x Delphyne
1x Ekhis
1x Librarian
3x Novitates

Compared to the original Novitates I do like the updated sculpt more than the concept artwork. Also Ekhis' resculpt looks awesome and much better than the original model, in my opinion. Delphyne has a nice Red Riding Hood vibe going and I wonder if opponents will mistakingly ignore her at first. I'm happy I picked up everything for Doctrine, I think they might end up being super fun to play and paint.

Shattered Sword

The paladins of the Shattered Sword were revealed in Update 108. One of my least favorite factions overall, I don't know why, perhaps because I never really cared for paladins in general. They are lead by Francis Mallory and Quill.

Models included in the Battle Box are: 
1x Francis Mallory
1x Quill
5x Swordsworn
2x Paragon

I was hoping that the Battle Box would sell me like the Corsairs did. But in the end I'm not really impressed with them. The swordsworn seem to lack details have odd poses. Mallory and Quill look cool, but it doesn't save the faction for me.

Black Diamond

Finally Black Diamond was revealed in Update 109. This is one of the factions that I really wanted to see and also one that I bought in for everything as well. Leopold Magus and Static are here and ready to take no prisoners.

1x Leopold Magus
1x Static
1x M-8 Blitz Tank
5x Diamond Corps

All in all I'm really happy with the Black Diamond figures. I love the M-8 Blitz Tank and the Diamond Corps look great, I can't wait to paint them up in blue urban camo. Magus looks like a certified badass too... while Static makes me think of an evil Pikachu/Eevee mix... or Carbuncle from Final Fantasy. Which makes me think maybe he needs to be painted light blue rather than purple...

Overall, I think these minis look great and show that quality is there for the things we didn't see yet. Hopefully after Chinese New Year production will run smoothly and the game will hit the shippers running. It's been a long while coming for Relic Knights and with these I think we can say that it's been worth the wait. Now if only they would show off the Plushies so my sister will stop pestering me about her Cola.