Portent  09/02/2008 - 00:19   
It was only a matter of time really. Upper Deck Entertainment, makers of the WoW card game, are now doing a Warcraft miniatures game too. It seems the format will be more akin to Warhammer Quest than big armies though. The name Studio McVey might ring a bell for GW fans out there (check out the fantastic work on their site), they're the people responsible for the WoW miniature colour schemes. Upper Deck have some some veteran sculptors on board too.

Sadly, I'm not too impressed by the flat colour (though that's probably more a limitation of the "pre-painted" format) or the miniature detail, in spite of the nice poses. Still, this is the kind of thing GW should be doing to save their plummeting stock price - going with a new long term license instead of closing business units whose products sold out in minutes. Frankly their continued incompetence, both as a business and in retaining creative talent, stuns me sometimes.

News

• Games News

Tags

• wow games miniatures

Brandir  09/02/2008 - 08:17   
Ever since I discovered WOW last month I have thought that it would make a superb tabletop miniatures game. Ten instant armies available along with an established user base of 10 million paying subscribers.

Unfortunately this will be a pre-paint line, but I'm sure it will be the first I will buy into.

Just like the WOW TCG this will be an instant hit, especially if they include some links to the online RPG.

Darkseer  09/02/2008 - 11:58   
I looks like something has finally come along that will give GW a real run for its money!

A pity that the miniatures look dreadful.

Cirrus the Blue  09/02/2008 - 14:03   
"Q. What sets WoW® Minis apart from other miniatures games?

A. WoW® Minis combines the quality you’ve come to expect from World of Warcraft® with the cutting-edge gameplay that has made Upper Deck Entertainment a leader in the gaming industry. The figures are dynamic sculpts featuring high-quality paint detailing by industry heavyweight Mike McVey and Studio McVey. WoW® Minis figures have a level of detail that's unmatched by any other product on the market. Add in an exciting, innovative game engine and a uniquely engineered miniatures base (check back here for more info on this), and you have a product that will redefine the meaning of quality in the miniatures gaming industry."

Well, obviously 'cause they say so, it makes it true, no? Unless they're referring to how lousy they look. hahaha Seriously though, I thought the very same thing, too. These are definately more along the lines of Mage Knight quality rather than, say, Warmachine, Infinity, or Confrontation by a wide margin. Going on the looks of it though, these do look like pre-painted and assembled figures, in which case they are rather decent at that level. I still think that they inevitably pale in comparison to the 3 others I just mentioned.

- Cirrus

KeeganKatastrofee  09/02/2008 - 18:55   
Ignoring that the minis look like crap, what are the chances of the gameplay being even close to the gameplay of Warhammer? There isn't any! Blizzard just wants another marketing scheme. I'd put money on it being a short craze and then being over, leaving GW with even more players.

But i'm optomistic.
=D

Cirrus the Blue  09/02/2008 - 19:30   
If it was 'WarCraft 3 Miniatures Game', then I can see it being a decent market, but with WoW, you have how many characters? 1? Unless you have multiples on the same account? *smirk*

- Cirrus

sanctusmortis  09/02/2008 - 20:11   
Hasslefree make better models. No offence to Hasslefree, but they do make some pretty low-detail scults, and they make these look like ART. This is Clix level.

Brandir  09/02/2008 - 20:20   
Personally I don't think that pre-paints are a threat to GW; they may even help GW as gamers may move on to a more in depth and satisfying gaming experience.

The massive threat would be if there was a Warcraft TTG. Ten armies with lots of unit types. I'm surprised no-one has tried it yet.

Lord Raneus  10/02/2008 - 00:20   
Well, the mindset of an MMORPG player may or may not translate well to tabletop gaming.

They have to have some patience, so it's better chances than say an FPS, but you never know.

vartemis  10/02/2008 - 03:31   
It's a totally different style of game. There are fewer figures usually per side, and it is focused more on gameplay than hobby. I used to play Star Wars CMG until it got too rediculously expensive with all the hobbies I had going.

Oh, and if you dont like the flat paint jobs, you can always paint on highlights. I did that with some of the D&D figs I use as MTG tokens.

j

Warpcrafter  10/02/2008 - 21:58   
Brandir is right, an actual Warcraft miniature wargame would be awesome. The rules should be more like CaoR than Warhammer, to keep it closer to the pc game. There are lots of titles out their that would make a great battle-skirmish type game but nobody has run with it. (Stargate SG-1 springs to mind. For fluff, just turn to the sci-fi channel anytime they need to fill a hour of dead air.)