Dungeon Saga Origins : Legendary Edition, pt 2

Merry Christmas!  And as a special Christmas treat - lets take a look at all the miniatures for the new Dungeon Saga: Origins Legendary Edition

So let's start with what comes in the basic box - and with the Heroes. 

We have the same 4 heroes as the Original version, but the sculpts are significantly improved, and much larger.  I believe these are 32mm scale instead of the original 28mm scale, and it shows.

Let's start with Orlaf the Human Barbarian

A beautiful sculpt, though people have already mentioned that the sticks out WAY over the base, than can have some issues.  Also, I personally don't care for the round bases instead of the square ones for the original game.  Especially because the way the model is facing matter - you have to know where the back is.  Especially on someone like Orlaf, - where is the back?  Is the Ax facing in front of him or to his right?

Like I said they are bigger - so let's take a look at the original version.

All I can say is WOW!  I mean seriously - the original models are good, but these are a head and shoulders above them :-).

Next is Madriga the Elf Ranger.  Again, where exactly is her back?  That aside, once again a beautiful sculpt.  Unfortunately she has that 'female' pose on one leg attempting to look more dynamic, but her cape comes all the way down to make this a nice, solid model, so standing on one foot won't be a problem with the model breaking.  I do ask why they picked that pose.  Ok, it is a beautiful sculpt - but just feels completely unrealistic.  She is shooting more than 90 degrees from the way she is running.  It would seem to be to be a bit better to have her left leg flat on the floor turned toward where she is shooting - more stable and a better shot.  Plus for the entire range she is the ONLY model in such an awkward dynamic pose.  (Why am I assuming that the sculptor was male as well?)

The old version had her reaching into her quiver with her bow down - this is better, just a bit weird for my taste.

So next is Danor the Human Wizard.  Again much improved (though I'm not sure about that huge collar in the back.

The older version was still casting, but his non-staff hand was empty (instead of a fireball). The staff is also significant beefier.

Finally is Rordin the Dwarf Fighter.  Not sure why his leg is up, but it is at least on a rock.

Again larger, and a 'cleaner' sculpt to me.  The pose seems to be more in keeping with his role as a defender as well.
 

So who are they going up against?  Why the undead of course.

First up are the base skeleton warriors - two sculpts.  Again larger, but they are both very similar - one with an ax and the other with a sword, but having the same shield and clothing.

This in comparison to the original set - which had a clothed skeleton warrior with shield and sword, but the second one was naked with a scythe.  They just didn't fit well together.  These two sculpts definitely belong with each other.

Then there is the single skeleton archer.  Again, he now looks like he belongs with the other skeletons (just no cape as that would get in the way of keeping his quiver on his back.  I think the larger models really work better for a board game vs. a wargame as well.

Next up are the zombies. Not sure why they both have their shirts off, but again, they feel like they go together.

It might be interesting to pull out my Walking Dead walkers and see how they compare to these.  But that would mean digging them out in the basement - and they just may have to wait for the re-release before seeing the light of day.

Then there is the armored zombie - a bit stronger simply because he died in his armor.  Once again it is a basilean man-at-arms - a nice tie in to the world where everything else in the set can be set in any generic fantasy setting.  He also looks a little less 'broken' than the previous one - much more dangerous, as fits both his increased fight stat as well as his armor.

The Ghost is much improved as well.  I do like that they kept the idea of the ball and chain, anchoring the ghost in place where it is haunting.  

This one is much more menacing than the previous version.

Then comes the dwarf revenant.  I have always liked this one - because why are all the undead (formerly) human - why not the other races in Panithor?  So dwarfs, elves, salamanders, orcs can all be undead as well.

Also not quite as skeletal as the old version - because he is completely covered with armor

The final minion is the Zombie Troll

Large and rotting, and definitely did not skip leg day before he was killed.

There are two Monster Bosses in the base game as well.  

The first is the Undead Dwarf Lord.  This is one case where the new model is not as 'fragile' looking as the previous one - but also could easily be swapped out for the Dwarf Revenant.  Part of this is because they use the same body, but swap out the arms and head, but even then they are similar.  The axe is slightly bigger, the shield has an emblem on it instead of being just wood.  (I wonder if the arms are ball sockets or flat (i.e. IF you had the separate parts, could you raise the revenants ax to similar to the lord?)  Even the helmets are similar (the lord has slightly bigger wings on his helmet).  

The original version was a dwarf king - with a crown.  I think they should have kept the crowned head instead of a slightly different helm.  This will be one you will want to paint up differently to more easily identify it.

The final boss is the Zombie Troll Tyrant.  Like the Dwarf Lord, it shares the same body as the Zombie Troll, but has a different head and arm.  (It is interesting that the character is holding the rock, when in the original it was the minion that was).

In the original game, this was a Zombie Troll Shaman - who could fight AND cast spells.  Now he just fights and regenerates.  The Zombie Troll Shaman was a beautiful sculpt though.  It is a shame that there really isn't a place to use that model anywhere at this point.

In the previous version the final boss was the necromancer - but honestly he was not a challenge at the end.  Because of the restriction that he couldn't cast spells if he was in the front arc of an enemy - he was easy to defeat simply by rushing up next to him and pounding on him.  Like all heroes/bosses he can only take a single point of damage per attack - but with Rordin and Orlaf both beating on him he goes down in just a few rounds.  Now (spoilers for the old version) a key to keeping this challenging is to try to prevent the heroes from ever getting into the second room with him in it - throw everything you can at the heroes in the outer room and try to take some of them out to make it challenging.  Oh well, live and learn (or maybe die and learn and come back to unlife?)

Before we get into the expansions, let me mention one thing about the organization of the trays.  I find it a little disappointing that in order to play the base game from the legendary edition, you have to pull out ALL the trays.  The cards/dice are in one, the heroes in another, and the undead in the third.  I can see the cards/dice/large models all being in one tray - but I wonder why the undead models weren't put in the same tray as the heroes?  For the base game they will of course be in the same tray.  I really wonder if anyone thought about that when designing the trays - it looks to me like they could have swapped out some (of the goblins in the undead tray with the heroes in the third tray.  But that is just me I guess.

Speaking of goblins, the first expansion is Glimmer of Gold - which is against Goblins!

So we have the goblin rabble

Comparing these to the new hard plastic goblins - it is apparent that these goblins are NOT larger - in fact they seem a little smaller than the plastics.  I can understand them being a bit less detailed as board game pieces, but still are nice goblins.

The sharpsticks are the spear-men spear-goblins.  Again, the same as the rabble (but then sharpsticks are just rabble with pointy sticks)

Spitters are rabble with bows and arrows, and the same comparison holds against the hard plastics as for the rabble and sharpsticks - just slightly smaller and a little less detailed.

Then there is the banggit.  I may have one in a box somewhere from vanguard (I think), but I'm not sure.  The sculpt is very similar to the one available in resin for Kings of War - he just has one set of fireworks in his pack instead of two here.

Luggits are not just rabble with double handed weapons - they are actually bigger goblins - because they have to be to carry those weapons.

The mawbeast pup may look cute, but if you try to pet it, it will bite you hand off!

The only new sculpts of mawbeasts I have are the ones drawing the redone Ogre chariots - and they are very similar in size.

Then there are the two goblin bosses

First is the Biggit

Then there is Bruko Grimchank

If you want to play these as linked campaigns, then after Glimmer of Greed is Mirrors of Malice followed by the kickstarter exclusive Darkness Under Dyr.  Daughters of Doom actually picks up after Glimmer of Greed as well however - So I figure is playing that one I would use new heroes for just that campaign instead.

So lets look at Daughters of Doom.  This one seems to be a weird name because it is all against Abyssal Dwarfs.  The daughters are actually the McGuffins of the story, not the villains.

The villains start of with Blacksouls

Of course I had to compare them to the hard plastic blacksouls.  Again these are not larger than the Kings of War models.

Blacksoul HeavyHands are the ones with two handed weapons (I didn't make any of my blacksouls this way for my demo army)

Then the decimators

These decimators would fit right in with the hard plastic ones

Immortal Guard are the next toughest fighters (these do not have hard plastics however).  I do like this sculpt for them.

Then there are the hexcasters.  The biggest difference from the KoW version is they are one piece, so don't have the clear plastic part of the flying stand holding up the burning rune.

Then there is the ironcaster boss.  This is a little larger than the old metal ironcaster, but a very similar pose.

The final boss is Ahmazud Doomfyre - who used the ironcaster body with a new head and right arm.

Now let's move on to the Mirrors of Malice - against the Twilight Kin!!!

The thing about these is the three types of Neophytes here - which DO NOT exist in the Twilight Kin army list for Kings of War.  I can understand this a bit because they could more easily be swapped out with dark elves (and twilight kin are NOT dark elves), but is also a shame because I like these models.  (In the twilight kin background in the 2023 Clash of King book, the neophytes are the twilight kin that have infiltrated the other areas of Pannithor, so have to be the most 'normal')

First is the Noephyte Blade.  I like the idea that as these grow in power, more and more of their face is covered up.

Then the Neophyte Shade

Finally the Neophyte Glaive

Impalers are some of the most awesome new hard plastic kits for twilight kin, so it was cool to see them included in this game.

These we can compare with the hard plastics - unfortunately these scuplts are smaller than the hard plastics, and simply not quite as menacing either.

Since the twilight kin can control some of the nightstalkers, it only makes sense that they get some, so they have nightstalker reapers.  Nice and not fiddley at all.

They are slightly larger than the old PVC reapers, though I didn't build any new reapers from the new hard plastic kit (making the few I had into Tormentors)

For the bosses you have a crone

Then there is Yzariel Duskweaver - that uses thecrone body, but replaces the head and right arm.  Changing the angle of the head really helps to make this look like a different figure.

Then there is the Darkness Under Dyr 

This scenarios only has two new models - the two bosses.

I can't compare these to the KoW versions, because these have been released AS the KoW versions (though those come with square bases).

First it the Butcher Fleshripper.  This guy will really rip into you.

Then there is the Soulbane.

Finally, along with this module, there are six kickstarter exclusive new Heroes as well.

Saulion of Tarkis - Human Paladin (he actually looks a lot like the Paladin you get in the Barroom Brawl game)

Fenariel Duneborn - Elf Warlock

Jayne Klemthe - Human Cleric

Melissa Padfoot - Halfling Rogue

Svereg Ravenbolt - Dwarf Ranger

Haderas of Wolfmarch - Human Monk

What I find interesting is that Kings of War has Paladins and Dwarf Rangers, but does not have Warlocks (unless that is just another name for a wizard), Clerics, Rogues,or Monks.  In fact these sound more like D&D classes (to me at least).   I wonder if they had any connection at any time to a certain RPG that is still too painful to mention.

So some awesome models.  More to add to my near infinite pile of things to paint.

Stay tuned true believers, and next time we will check out what came in the Ultimate Pledge Extras box.  Same bat time, same bat channel.

And have yourself a Mantic little Christmas!!!!

Because it is all fun and games . . .