Super Dungeon Explore - Assembling the Heroes

Having been constantly at work on real-to-scale and anatomically correct miniatures over these past months, I found myself badly needing a dose of the opposite extreme. So rummaging through my impossibly long to-do hobby list, I got reacquainted with a board game miniatures project I had been meaning to work on. That the miniatures were chibi style anime characters - which contain smaller bodies with over-sized heads and over-the-top cuteness - meant they fit my criteria of anti-realistic miniatures perfectly. It's ironic that I first started out in this hobby to learn how to paint some anime models, a project I ultimately never started on as I got sidetracked by Games Workshop miniatures. 

Front cover of the humongous Super Dungeon Explore manual

Back cover of the Super Dungeon Explore manual showcasing three heroes

Straight out of the box I instantly fell in love with Super Dungeon Explore's humongous manual. In this day and age where manuals are increasingly smaller with fonts so tiny that it's undetectable by electron microscope (ok so I am exaggerating a wee bit), having a game manual whose size (10 inches by 10 inches, or 25.4 cm by 25.4 cm) is nearly equal to the board game packaging itself is a sight for a sight for sore eyes, especially for old and tired ones like mine. Much kudos to Soda Pop Miniatures for bucking the trend and giving us a good-old-fashioned, big and colourful manual.   

Simple instructions for assembling the Super Dungeon Explore heroes

Assembling the heroes was very straightforward with easy enough to follow instructions, which were needed because the pieces were all mixed-up together. One thing I noticed about these chibi style board game pieces was their details were not as clearly defined as what I have come to expect from dedicated miniatures. But I guess that is to be expected because the primary function of these plastic figures are as board game pieces to be moved around and not miniatures to be painted.    

Super Dungeon Explore heroes, assembled and ready for priming

In addition to the manual which contained many colourful references to the plastic figures, there was also a set of nine very beautiful playing cards that offer a glimpse as to the colour scheme that belongs to each individual hero character in the Super Dungeon Explore board game. I will most likely stay true to the individual character's colour scheme as I feel they have been well conceived.

Playing cards for heroes in the Super Dungeon Explore board game

I am pretty excited to be painting the Super Dungeon Explore heroes. Other than being an interesting diversion from the same old same old, this projects finally allows me to paint anime characters ... something that got me started on my journey as a miniature painter. Seems like fun days ahead!