Monday 5 May 2014

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! 

https://www.facebook.com/shire.works

16 comments:

  1. I really loved the chibi style minis I have done in in the past. I think you will have a lot of fun painting them although the prep is a whole new ball game. They are a great canvas for bright vibrant colors and my little pony is a good reference for painting chibi eyes. You may need to use a lot of thinned liquid GS to smooth out the finish on them and you'll have to actually slice the mold lines as they are a much softer polyurethane and less a scrape-able plastic. I look forward to your WIPs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I loved your work on the diorama involving the chibi dragon. That lovely piece is one of the inspirational pieces that is motivating me to paint the Super Dungeon Explore (SDE) miniatures. I was just doing a quick search on your blog for more SDE but couldn't find any. Would you mind posting the link to your pony? I am sure I have seen it before but can't seem to locate it again.

      Delete
    2. I only used the pony for reference on the eyes, but I did up SDE Vandella Here are a few links:

      http://almostperftec.blogspot.ca/2013/05/wip-dark-vengeance-chosen-helbrute-4.html

      http://almostperftec.blogspot.ca/2013/06/wip-dv-chosen-5-vandella-meet-mr-masson.html

      http://almostperftec.blogspot.ca/2013/06/wips-wips-everywhere.html

      http://almostperftec.blogspot.ca/2013/07/wip-vandella-sde-succubus.html

      http://almostperftec.blogspot.ca/2013/07/on-display-vandella-sde-succubbus.html

      Delete
    3. Thanks Zab ... much appreciated. :)

      Delete
  2. Looking forward to get a box of this for myself one of these days XD

    ReplyDelete
  3. Now these look curious, lot of fun though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are already a lot of well painted SDE pieces that are on show in the blogosphere so I am trying to do something different ... hopefully it won't be too off-tangent from what is expected of a chibi character so that I don't mess it up.

      Delete
  4. wow, this seems a funny and exciting project!
    looking forward to see what you will do with them.
    bye

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The explosion of colours these minaitures bring to the table is what gets me so excited about the project. :)

      Delete
  5. I can't wait to see them either, we will be watching :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. The same here! I'm looking forward to see what you achieve here!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's will be a different experience that's for sure. :)

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...