Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I just got two products from Fiery Dragon - the new 4e Battlebox and the Counter Collection 4e Heroic. Claudio Pozas, if you weren't 4,800 miles south of me right now I'd give you a hug. I think I'm in love.
..With the products, that is. Um. Ooh, awkward.
Still, both these products get a serious thumbs up from me. Let's break 'em down. The $40 Counter Collection first. This thing is heavy; 15 pages of cardstock monsters with good art. It's thick cardstock and every single monster is die-cut to make them easy to punch out. Since I didn't like cutting out the 3e monsters, this makes me happy indeed. Even better, the back side of each counter is bright red to show when it is bloodied. Monster names are listed at the bottom of each die-cut sheet and on the backside (bloodied side) of each counter. According to the box there's 600 1" counters and over 100 2" counters, and the box includes a 17" x 22" dry-erase battlemat.
In general, I have relatively few monster minis; beasties are just as likely to be represented by a glass bead, a glow-in-the-dark zombie, or a poker chip. This is going to be a huge improvement.
The $40 Battlebox also has a battlemat, along with a dry erase pen. There are 128 heavy cardstock PC counters (also with bloodied side.) Colored "marking" counters show who a PC has marked, and a bunch of tokens cover elevation, action points, failed death saves, and a bunch of other conditions. Of particular use to me are 52 markers showing when a combatant is dazed, stunned, slowed, etc. - along with 24 of those little stands to hold them upright.
There are 2 sheets of transparent overlays to show the size of bursts and blasts (in 3 different colors). There's over 100 dungeon dressing tiles to overlay WotC's tiles or a battlemat. And a pad of character sheets. And a pad of blank power sheets. And there are dry-erase versions of player and DM combat tracking sheets. I had been considering those cool colored magnets (who makes those?) to track marking and conditions, but I think this solves that need while giving me a bit more.
If I'm discussing these, I should probably find some negatives too. I've found two typos, and our use of the ddi character builder means that the blank power cards are less useful for me. The rest of the stuff in the box balances that out, though. They're worth the $70 to me -- I'll get equivalent use from them as I would from 2 RPG books. I'll be buying both of these products for Sagiro when he eventually switches to 4e as well.
These now rank as my favorite non-WotC 4e products I've seen, and I think the condition tracking is going to speed up combat. I was a huge fan of the 3e Battlebox, so I may be biased -- I'll be curious who else has seen them, and what they think.
..With the products, that is. Um. Ooh, awkward.
Still, both these products get a serious thumbs up from me. Let's break 'em down. The $40 Counter Collection first. This thing is heavy; 15 pages of cardstock monsters with good art. It's thick cardstock and every single monster is die-cut to make them easy to punch out. Since I didn't like cutting out the 3e monsters, this makes me happy indeed. Even better, the back side of each counter is bright red to show when it is bloodied. Monster names are listed at the bottom of each die-cut sheet and on the backside (bloodied side) of each counter. According to the box there's 600 1" counters and over 100 2" counters, and the box includes a 17" x 22" dry-erase battlemat.
In general, I have relatively few monster minis; beasties are just as likely to be represented by a glass bead, a glow-in-the-dark zombie, or a poker chip. This is going to be a huge improvement.
The $40 Battlebox also has a battlemat, along with a dry erase pen. There are 128 heavy cardstock PC counters (also with bloodied side.) Colored "marking" counters show who a PC has marked, and a bunch of tokens cover elevation, action points, failed death saves, and a bunch of other conditions. Of particular use to me are 52 markers showing when a combatant is dazed, stunned, slowed, etc. - along with 24 of those little stands to hold them upright.
There are 2 sheets of transparent overlays to show the size of bursts and blasts (in 3 different colors). There's over 100 dungeon dressing tiles to overlay WotC's tiles or a battlemat. And a pad of character sheets. And a pad of blank power sheets. And there are dry-erase versions of player and DM combat tracking sheets. I had been considering those cool colored magnets (who makes those?) to track marking and conditions, but I think this solves that need while giving me a bit more.
If I'm discussing these, I should probably find some negatives too. I've found two typos, and our use of the ddi character builder means that the blank power cards are less useful for me. The rest of the stuff in the box balances that out, though. They're worth the $70 to me -- I'll get equivalent use from them as I would from 2 RPG books. I'll be buying both of these products for Sagiro when he eventually switches to 4e as well.
These now rank as my favorite non-WotC 4e products I've seen, and I think the condition tracking is going to speed up combat. I was a huge fan of the 3e Battlebox, so I may be biased -- I'll be curious who else has seen them, and what they think.
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