Painting Mansions of Madness: second edition

[WonderSlug]

Starting off with the absolute garbage minis that come in this box, we have the Star Spawn monsters. Using the air brush to base coat these guys really made them a breeze to paint. Definitely going to work the air brush into my workflow for big models. Really speeds up the process.

[Universal Head]

Well, I didn’t think it would be possible to make those ridiculous-looking monsters look good, and you haven’t. But by George, it’s the closest anyone could possibly get! 🙂

[Universal Head]

Really, that’s some of the worst miniature design I’ve seen since the 80s. I can’t believe there hasn’t been more of an uproar about the amateurish sculpts in this expensive game.

[WonderSlug]

Thanks. 🙂

There’s actually quite a vocal majority on the FFG forums complaining about it.

It really is ridiculous.

[Universal Head]

Good, there should be!

[CK Lai]

Just out of curiosity, how do the sculpts compare between 1st and 2nd editions? WonderSlug’s made these minis look decent tabletop board game minis. Obviously they must be B.A.D. if everyone’s complaining.

[WonderSlug]

I’d say compared to 1st edition, the quality overall is a little worse. More or less on par, but a little worse…as it concerns the monsters.

My biggest complaint about second edition relates to the investigator sculpts, which are much worse in second edition, IMHO.

1st edition left, 2nd edition right.

This picture in part explains my urgency to quickly track down any remaining copies of the first edition expansions, Forbidden Alchemy and Call of the Wild, which I hadn’t bought before this release. There’s just so much more detail on the original minis, and as a painter that’s kind of a big deal to me. Are they perfect? No, but they’re much better than second edition.

FFG is releasing “figure and tile” packs that contain all of the minis from first edition and it’s expansions. So a lot of people who never got around to the game in its first go-round can get all the stuff they’re missing that way. But I’m afraid their quality will be like the mini on the right. I’m eager to see pics once those packs release.

[CK Lai]

Thanks WonderSlug. Can’t believe that mini on the right is from FFG. Looks more like the minis from Pandemic : Reign of Cthulhu.

[Jack Romeo]

Are the old core better then the new expansions? From my understanding the S2 core box comes with new investigators (and thus new minis). The new expansions comes with the old investigators (and you would expect, the same minis in a different box). Or have they done a reprint of the old minis in worse quality? Sounds very odd if they have.

[WonderSlug]

I see two likely scenarios.

1. FFG has a warehouse full of original minis that they’ll repackage and ship out in the new expansion boxes.

2. FFG has the molds for the original stuff but no actual minis. They’ll reproduce the minis using the new plastic from second edition and the quality will be close to what we see in second edition.

A third, less likely, scenario could be…

3. FFG has the molds for the original stuff, AND access to the same manufacturer/plastic/process. They’ll reproduce the first edition minis and the quality will match that of the originals.

I think scenario 1 is the most likely, and what most people are assuming will occur. I just don’t want to take the chance, and I also wanted to get the original stuff just so I could play with the 1st edition rules/scenarios down the road if I choose. Though, my fingers are crossed that they’ll re-work the 1st edition scenarios into the app.

The app does such a fantastic job with this game. It really cannot be understated.

[razide]

I thought the Star Spawn comes up as passable when painted but the DeepOneHybrids are atrocious and beyond any help even painted.

[Talos63]

I had to request a replacement set of the small bases, which FFG posted on Friday. There is no way the chits can be inserted into the ones that came in the 2e box without destroying them.

The game is fantastic, but the components… Ugh…

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