Smart Max Birth a Bouncing Baby… Squid?
April 23, 2013 by dracs
While we were at Salute a particularly bizarre looking addition for Smart Max's cool game of Victorian pulp and fantasy Smog: The 13th Hour caught my attention. They say that all baby's are cute, but I think you would be hard pressed to say that of the Little Lord.
For a range that is famous for its weird and disturbing sculpts, this Son of Cthulhu stands out. Or rolls out. Or slithers out?
There is something far more disturbing about a child being a source of menace and this sculpt combines the creepy elements of a spooky child with the over the top horror of, well, a human squid monster!
Anyone fancy taking this Little Lord for a stroll around the streets of London?
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These minis stood out to me at Salute as well. Lots of interesting varied characters with great detail.
Thats rather weird model right there.
To paraphrase Alice:
That baby will grow up to be a very handsome octopus, or a very ugly boy.
Good grief, how the heck are you supposed to change the nappy?
Carefully 😉
Being a little boy you may end up getting squirted with ink! lol
I bet he sucks his tentacle 😛
lol I completely misread that!
Either way nursie won’t like him doing it!
“He said I am the Octopus baby-eating bishop of Bath & Wells…now pass me that lemon”
🙂
Also it reminds me of Dagon – love that film…
And the scientist is like, “I need this machine to perform an abortion!”
“We’re sorry. This machine is only designed for men.”
“Okay, well, let’s do the procedure that opens up my stomach and takes a living thing out of me.”
“Oh, okay, men get that one all the time.”
And she gives birth to a bouncing baby squid.
FROM HELL!
– Chester A. Bum, Prometheus Review
oh pandora may have a new baby for the warband
Mind the scale… it’s 54mm !
Smart Max’s minis are really cool. But I don’t buy any more of them because:
– They are poorely protected in their boxes, which is a real shame considering they are pretty expensive and a bit of foam is not
– Characters aren’t balanced at all from one to another, making the game pretty painful
– No faction rules. Why not. But with so much differences in power, some minis are useless, other are totally overpowered. Very painful to be punished because you chose characters without caring about their effectiveness on the streets, especially when you thought you were playing something funny and light.
– The boxed game is a real shame : poor quality poster, poor quality box (even postal services packages are better!), AND you’ve got to cut the tokens yourself oO
Too bad. I would have enjoyed buying some only for painting, but the general feeling i have about Smart Max is that they are not very respectful of their customers, so i just stopped…
How sad that you think that !
In their defense, I’ve NEVER had any issue with the condition of the miniatures, boxes or not. If there’s an issue, I know for a fact they always replace the faulty miniature as fast as they can.
I agree the SMOg game could be a lot more developped, and the box is downright shoddy… but that’s no reason to shun the miniatures for themselves. Especially since you can download everything online, and you don’t get miniatures in the box.
I find it disappointing that people think of these miniatures like gamers instead of like painters when the game is obviously an afterthought, a dalliance in that universe rather than a super-balanced competitive game.
Not everything has to be about a game ! If you want that, get Empire of the Dead. It doesn’t have the same elegance, of course… In any case, I don’t think you’re being “punished” because you’re a gamer at heart. I think it’s just not your game, not your range of miniatures. You’re just not the target, here.
Don’t take it out on them, as they are doing a tremendous job with their company : their miniatures are reasonably priced for resin at that scale, they have regular releases, and they’re always top quality.
Well, i see your point, but i must disagree. You can be both player and painter at heart.
I am not a tournament player at all, i don’t mind if everything is not perfectly balanced. I like to see everything coming to life. Great stories, funny moments, etc.
But in my opinion nothing is balanced in this game. Characters, initiative rule, cards, nothing. So fun is quickly lacking because you don’t know why you are losing or winning.
I enjoyed the painting, but after a year of loyalty, buying minis, painting them, seeing pictures of the board to come on the web, i was waiting for something nice, indeed. We even made a 3d board in our club, to give it a real chance, to give other members a taste, and maybe make them want minis, to be ready to play something different and elegant with us.
So when the game was out, It was a painful cold wind when we discovered the box, cut the tokens (please ! Is there any brand in this market who’s doing that ?!), and played, and nobody understood how it could have become this.
Still, those minis are great, i won’t deny it. Not everything has to be about a game, agree. But they announced a game, once, and it was supposed to be a game of gentlemen, a game that would give great life to great minis. To me, it is not.
For people who want to paint something cool and different, those minis are great. But they are not sold as exposition-only models. So i find it a bit unfair.
Sure hope Smart Max will keep existing, but i was too much disappointed to be a part of the adventure any longer.
I fail to see the point of boycotting the miniatures when you don’t like a game (I sometimes buy GW miniatures myself) but I can’t argue with sentimentality and emotion.