If you listened to our podcast, eps. 000, available now (plug) we talked about what we enjoy about board games. One of those things is just the smell of the contents. It's a box opening tradition for me and I'm sure (hoping) others. This is the same as that new book smell, or new comic book smell, new car smell, new carpet smell ... you get the drift (pun intended). There have been a few occasions though were my olfactory senses were bombarded with a VERY nasty smell. This was the case for me when I opened the World of Warcraft miniature game box.. and every subsequent miniature booster box from Upper Deck's game. I don't know if you remember this game and it gave me a fairly reasonable play experience (yes.. this means I played it 2 x -- that's all 'reasonable play' experiences give me). I'm pretty sure it was the paint on the mini's that attacked me. It was nasty!! You might as well of shoved my head into a vat of latex paint can. I'm pretty sure that's why this game didn't take off at the time, not that it was bad, just the death toll on players was high! I jest of course, but I'm sure some of you have had similar experiences. What is your WORST miniature/board game sensory overload?
Lets face it, there are times in the board gaming hobby when you pick up a cool game, check out the components and realize that now matter how COOL they may look ... they NEED to be painted. For me it was the Shards of Ashardalon game. You have all of these cool dungeon miniatures that were crying out to be painted, because the feeling of being in a dungeon facing hordes of enemies just doesn't seem as awesome otherwise. So I began the task of picking up loads of paint and brushes and painting my dungeon creatures one at a time, and there were A LOT of creatures to paint. What I found out from this process is: a) No matter how bad of a painter you are, once you put paint on any mini, it looks better than the original dull plastic. When you first put a flesh-tone paint on a characters face, automatically there is life in the figure, it becomes your own. It's a good feeling. b) You learn about your pieces. You spend so much time painting each individual piece that when a 'card' or game mechanic tells you to put a certain creature into play, you right away know which one it is. c) You become a better painter over time. My technique still sucks and I really am not that great of a painter, but I'm better than I used to be and with that, my confidence in tackling another board game project has grown exponentially. d) A bigger world of gaming opens up -- the possibility of getting into miniature gaming is not so daunting. For me, I took the plunge to try out MERCS, a great skirmish game, that isn't overwhelming in scope (ala. Warhammer), but fast and fun to play. e) Your board games become .. YOURS! My Ashardalon game is my own, with my creative hand-print on it, my Star Trek Fleet Captains is MY own, not like anyone elses, and my Fortune and Glory game is my own. I become a part of the game's design. It is unique. Now I'm all for having pre-painted pieces (Love my X-Wing), but anytime someone wants to traverse the dungeons of the Forgotten Realms, I'll be ready. So what board games do you have that you want to paint, caused you to paint, or made you afraid to paint? Descent? Arkham Horror? Zombicide? Cyclades? comment below. |