Hey Ni, on a different topic... I've redone /homebrewed a new set of damage/rest/healing rules to enable a smoother combination of grit and fantasy play. I'm hoping you or someone else will allow me to send it for a critique, as I've no real access/connection to other gamers in my area. It should take no more than a few minutes to review, and perhaps another ten or so to add-on any suggestions you may have. If interested, respond and I'll post or email it at/to your main account. I don't send unsolicited stuff, as I consider that rather rude. Thanks, and I appreciate your videos/commentary.
I would suggest ; orange: bandits and a beholder, yellow: angels and a fallen god/archangel, dark blue: tritons and an aboleth, purple: duegar and a mind flayer, black: drow and a Lolth like monster, white: elementals and a white dragon, grey: zombies and a dracolich.
Hi guys! I just purchased the 'Swamp of the Hydra' package from Epic Encounters. Very much in line with what Ted has said, this is very much worth the price and all the pros have been nicely outlined if you watch the video. That being said, I won't go into the pros again and will instead point out the few small things that bugged me as DM. (*Disclaimer:* This is inteded to be constructive criticism! I simply want to make you aware of a few issues that I have encountered and to hopefully inform Steamforged Games of some kinks they could work out. Furthermore, this is specifically about 'Swamp of the Hydra' - I am unaware if this applies to other packages.) 1. Damage Scaling: Between the three difficulty levels of the hydra (Seedling (CR 8), Burgeoning (CR 13) and Blooming (CR 20)) the scaling is really, really wonky. The attack action (Bite) scales from 10 (1d10+5), to 38 (6d10+5), to 49 (8d10+5), respectively. At every difficulty level, the hydra starts with 5 heads and can attack 5 times (multiattack). At lvl 13, this means a character could theoretically receive around 190 damage in a single round. This, to me, seems a little crazy. 2. Attribute Scaling: The attack roll modifier for the CR 20 Hydra is incorrect. In the booklet, it is +8... Should be +13 (STR Mod + PB [7 + 6 = 13]). Furthermore, the attack damage modifier for the CR 13 and CR 20 Hydras are incorrect. In the booklet, they are +5... Should be +6 for CR 13 (STR Mod = 6) and +7 for CR 20 (STR Mod = 7). 3. For both the CR 8 and the CR 13 Hydra, the Strength and Constitution Saving Throw values are missing. Furthermore, these values - despite being present for the CR 20 Hydra - are incorrect. In the booklet, they are +11 and +9, respectively... Should be +13 (STR Mod + PB [7 + 6 = 13]) and +11 (CON Mod + PB [5 + 6 = 11]). I realize the CR 13 and CR 20 Hydras are somewhat 'homebrew' (I can only find the CR 8 Hydra on DnDBeyond, excluding any content from Mythic Odysseys of Theros). Hence, these comments simply outline an opinion. I want to reiterate that I simply wanted to shed light on something I think is worth being aware of (especially as a DM), and that I do not wish to maliciously criticise this product. In fact, I really adore this product. Apologies if I made a mistake somewhere - if so, let me know. Thanks and have a great day!
Well, guess who now has 4 of these nice boxes getting shipped to him right now, and I don’t even have a RL dnd group now xD love your content as always, you are honestly such a great source for DMs
if we are going with the theme of large bosses, we could use the giant crumbling skeleton from blackmarsh, or the lich/vampire could be on a dangerous mount/vehicle, or a draco-lich.
Fyi... Its my favorite so far... Amazingly crafted and love the ideas they have on there orc builds.. I heard they are coming out with a King of Serpents set .. Purple i think.. Though havent seen the minion set for it... I cant wait..
Obvious choices for other sets: Black/Dark Grey - Drow minions with Dryders - Lloth Avatar. Light Grey - Deep Dwarf/Gnome minions with Shadow Dragon. Orange - Fire mephits and Salamanders with Fire Elemental. White/Clear - Skeletons, zombies, and ghosts with either Vampire or Lich Lord. Brown - were-beasts with Werewolf Lord.
I'm finished painting the Red Dragon and halfway through The kobolds and I agree I think they're one of the best ways to get minis and Rihanna venture that is out
Two line ideas 1. Undead - zombies and skeletons of various types could be made with a lich or other necromancer. Big mini be a dracolich. 2. Beholders. Have a bunch of lesser beholder types or beholder relatives Gauth, Spectator, Gazers, and a Beholder in the set. Then the big mini make a Beholder Hive Mother.
The painting guide for kobolds on Steamforged Games' blog is not really a guide. It is a gallery with a link to a third party how-to video. The how to uses Citadel paints. As of today (13 hours after Ted posted this video) there is only the one for kobolds. Might be just as well off looking for generic guides for painting critters on the web. Even though it is not the specific model, you can still get an idea of shade, highlight, etc.
I wish I could buy all of these. I don't buy things online yet, and they stopped bringing these to my local EB Games. I only managed to get the kobold one.
Steamforged Games, well I got to say that this was a pretty solid merging, and I appreciate your takes on the art style of the creatures, opposed to using the art styles from DnD. I'm looking forward to picking these up.
Thanks for going through this! It was a good general review. Just some feedback - I wish you would look more at the camera and less to the right of the camera (where I assume a monitor is). I found it a bit distracting when your eyes wandered. Still great content, though - keep up the good work!
Yeah I was hyper paranoid this time. This was my 5th time recording that review. And the 4th time was perfect content wise, but I was out of focus the whole time so I wanted to make sure
@@NerdImmersion Haha! I get that! Great video otherwise, though! I've had all the epic encounter boxes in my cart for a few days now. Just need to hit that checkout button...
I was thinking about getting some of those but for me it's the stile used that keeps me on the fence. That said, Steamforged Games have awesome minis in other sets, like the Dark Souls game or the Resident Evil
@@Steamforged For me personaly the Goblin and Kobold are a bit over the top like Warhammer minis. But others like the Orcs and all Epic bosses fit better in my personal collection. I love the overtop look but they would stick out in my game^^
Steamforged Games... I was a backer of their Dark Souls: The Board Game Kickstarter... Once and no more. As a company, they lack almost everything (bad customer support, bad packaging, delays, secrets and lies to backers, a poor translation team (I'm spanish), etc) . But don't get me wrong, the minis are still awesome.
Hey, I think we can all agree Dark Souls: TBG was a catastrophic success and yes, delays happened, but we delivered everything and we now have a VERY good track record of delivering Kickstarters and launching products straight into retail :) - Giblin
@@Steamforged Well, nice to read that!! I really love (like crazy, I have a problem xD) the Dark Souls: TBG and buy everything (and waiting for news like new mechanics and new expansions, like Priscilla and Queelag, pls), but not enter in the others KS (like Bardsung or Horizon ZD) only for the pain to see and wait for news and only receive more pain... So... Now is it the moment to a second chance? Maybe. Was a really painful time >.< One thing is clear, now your answer was quickly than at that time... I'm glad to have caught your attention, and I'm glad you read this. Continue with the good work. Epic Encounters look good ^^
I would want to see: Yellow skeletons with dracolich Purple mind flayers and intellect devourers with elder brain Brown gnolls with greater demon, yennoghu like or orcus like preferred Dark blue sahaughin with kraken Black culists set which there are dozens of boss options for. So many options I would like to see really.
he keeps looking up and to his right to see that the dude from steamforge is still there holding his original DM's Guide over a fire until he is done and this is posted.
Did you run these all yet as well as the serpent god? Is there any one in particular that stands out as better then the rest? I’m leaning towards the kobold and dragon encounter to try these out but if there’s one that’s smoother or easier to run then others it would be good to know, thanks.
I'm curious how others feel about the minis coming in non standard dnd sizes? The orc in particular while great sculpts are 30mm bases and dont fit on a traditional battle mat (or the one provided). While the frost giant is certainly epic hes also way out of scale with official giants. Does this bug anyone else?
I’ve been wanting to get some of these to really get into mini collecting but I’m one of those people that gets very discouraged when it comes to shipping costs😅😅
Hey Ted, great video as always. I appreciate you and your reviews it definitely helps when I want to purchase something. Question for you how do the steam forged minis size wise compared to wizkids minis? Are they the same size pretty close or way bigger. I have the goblins, kobold, and orc minis from wiz kids and was wondering about size comparison. I have bought minis where size comparison was way off so I have some kobolds that looked almost medium sized in comparison to my PCs.
Hey Scott, I have the Orc and kobold sets. and the sizes aren't bad. The Kobolds are a little taller/beefier than some small minis from WizKids. Heres a few images I just took for you to see what I mean. Sorry for the paint jobs i just started recently. imgur.com/gallery/dNJUu8z
@@Malcolmgardiner thanks soo much man, I appreciate you taking the time to do that for me. I love steamforged games stuff I bought all their dungeon and doggies minis to play with my kids and was looking to get those sets. You made it way easier decision, thanks again I appreciate you.
@@scottlamb4577 Edit: This issue might be better now, read their comment below. No problem Scott. I will say that my only real complaint from the sets is the battle maps can be very dark and hard to see even with good lighting. Especially the Kobold/Dragon volcano battle maps. I don't have any regrets through, great minis, cool little adventures, but If I run them again I will probably just draw the map out on my vinyl battle mat.
@@Malcolmgardiner We took everyone's feedback on board (b'dum tss) about the mats and have made sure every set since has a much brighter mat than the kobold/dragons - - Giblin
Am I the only one here that is disappointed by the sculpts?? :( I purchased all four (4) Orcs/Frost Giant, Kobolds and Red Dragon and the miniature figures are all mushy... The details look like molten pieces of plastic compared to what I seen from videos. Are you all having the same experience or is just me with a bad batch??? :( :( :( This is preventing me from moving forward with this Hydra/Goblin set or the new Setsssssssss (see what I did there?) :) coming out... If needed, let me know and I WILL post pictures of the MUSH I"m talking about... ! :) Thx
Epic Encounters links:
steamforged.com/games/epic-encounters?tab=Overview
steamforged.com/games/epic-encounters?tab=Products
Hey Ni, on a different topic... I've redone /homebrewed a new set of damage/rest/healing rules to enable a smoother combination of grit and fantasy play. I'm hoping you or someone else will allow me to send it for a critique, as I've no real access/connection to other gamers in my area. It should take no more than a few minutes to review, and perhaps another ten or so to add-on any suggestions you may have. If interested, respond and I'll post or email it at/to your main account.
I don't send unsolicited stuff, as I consider that rather rude.
Thanks, and I appreciate your videos/commentary.
A water themed set would be awesome. Dark blue: Sahuagin minions and a Kraken or Dragon Turtle boss.
You're in luck. Lmfao
I would suggest ; orange: bandits and a beholder, yellow: angels and a fallen god/archangel, dark blue: tritons and an aboleth, purple: duegar and a mind flayer, black: drow and a Lolth like monster, white: elementals and a white dragon, grey: zombies and a dracolich.
Hi guys! I just purchased the 'Swamp of the Hydra' package from Epic Encounters. Very much in line with what Ted has said, this is very much worth the price and all the pros have been nicely outlined if you watch the video.
That being said, I won't go into the pros again and will instead point out the few small things that bugged me as DM. (*Disclaimer:* This is inteded to be constructive criticism! I simply want to make you aware of a few issues that I have encountered and to hopefully inform Steamforged Games of some kinks they could work out. Furthermore, this is specifically about 'Swamp of the Hydra' - I am unaware if this applies to other packages.)
1. Damage Scaling: Between the three difficulty levels of the hydra (Seedling (CR 8), Burgeoning (CR 13) and Blooming (CR 20)) the scaling is really, really wonky. The attack action (Bite) scales from 10 (1d10+5), to 38 (6d10+5), to 49 (8d10+5), respectively. At every difficulty level, the hydra starts with 5 heads and can attack 5 times (multiattack). At lvl 13, this means a character could theoretically receive around 190 damage in a single round. This, to me, seems a little crazy.
2. Attribute Scaling: The attack roll modifier for the CR 20 Hydra is incorrect. In the booklet, it is +8... Should be +13 (STR Mod + PB [7 + 6 = 13]). Furthermore, the attack damage modifier for the CR 13 and CR 20 Hydras are incorrect. In the booklet, they are +5... Should be +6 for CR 13 (STR Mod = 6) and +7 for CR 20 (STR Mod = 7).
3. For both the CR 8 and the CR 13 Hydra, the Strength and Constitution Saving Throw values are missing. Furthermore, these values - despite being present for the CR 20 Hydra - are incorrect. In the booklet, they are +11 and +9, respectively... Should be +13 (STR Mod + PB [7 + 6 = 13]) and +11 (CON Mod + PB [5 + 6 = 11]).
I realize the CR 13 and CR 20 Hydras are somewhat 'homebrew' (I can only find the CR 8 Hydra on DnDBeyond, excluding any content from Mythic Odysseys of Theros). Hence, these comments simply outline an opinion. I want to reiterate that I simply wanted to shed light on something I think is worth being aware of (especially as a DM), and that I do not wish to maliciously criticise this product. In fact, I really adore this product.
Apologies if I made a mistake somewhere - if so, let me know. Thanks and have a great day!
Well, guess who now has 4 of these nice boxes getting shipped to him right now, and I don’t even have a RL dnd group now xD love your content as always, you are honestly such a great source for DMs
Kickass! Im glad you took a look at this.
Fyi
I heard they are coming out with a King of Serpents set .. Purple i think.. Though havent seen the minion set for it... I cant wait..
Make a black set for undead! Zombies and skellies as the minions and the boss can be a Lich or Vampire?
if we are going with the theme of large bosses, we could use the giant crumbling skeleton from blackmarsh, or the lich/vampire could be on a dangerous mount/vehicle, or a draco-lich.
These are indeed epic. Definitely will get some of these
We appreciate your support! - Giblin
The value in these boxes is insane, about to buy all of them. Definitely one of steam forges best ideas and well executed too.
Looks great. Maybe a Chimera to go with the gnolls. They could also do a cultists box with some cool demon in the boss box.
The quality on these is fantastic and I agree I would start here if I could start all over again.
I was wondering when you would do a review on the epic encounters. Thank you.
love epic encounters i got them just got the paint the hydra and goblins lovly to paint
Please share your painted minis with us :) - Giblin
Love the orange dragon
I’ve been eyeing these at my local game store. Definitely been wanting to pick up the orc and Frost giant sets.
In the words of Palpatine: do it! - Giblin
Fyi...
Its my favorite so far... Amazingly crafted and love the ideas they have on there orc builds.. I heard they are coming out with a King of Serpents set .. Purple i think.. Though havent seen the minion set for it... I cant wait..
I love these sets. So far I've got the red dragon and the orcs. I just wish they had included a way to get the maps digitally for on line play too.
It's something we're looking at :) - Giblin
Great content. You are doing good. Will definitely come back for the next. Thumbs Up 👍
Thank you for the review. I have already put them in my amazon cart. Can't wait to get these and use them. I can never have enough minis!
We're biased (obvs) but we truly think these are some of the best 'bang for your buck' sets out there. - Giblin
Just bought on Amazon and I'm loving them.... still waiting on Dragon but over all a great buy... Frost Giant is Fav. so far.
Great review btw...
Obvious choices for other sets: Black/Dark Grey - Drow minions with Dryders - Lloth Avatar. Light Grey - Deep Dwarf/Gnome minions with Shadow Dragon. Orange - Fire mephits and Salamanders with Fire Elemental. White/Clear - Skeletons, zombies, and ghosts with either Vampire or Lich Lord. Brown - were-beasts with Werewolf Lord.
I'm finished painting the Red Dragon and halfway through The kobolds and I agree I think they're one of the best ways to get minis and Rihanna venture that is out
Undead with skeletons and zombies. Then a boss set with a litch and a giant flesh golem!
Two line ideas
1. Undead - zombies and skeletons of various types could be made with a lich or other necromancer. Big mini be a dracolich.
2. Beholders. Have a bunch of lesser beholder types or beholder relatives Gauth, Spectator, Gazers, and a Beholder in the set. Then the big mini make a Beholder Hive Mother.
The painting guide for kobolds on Steamforged Games' blog is not really a guide. It is a gallery with a link to a third party how-to video. The how to uses Citadel paints. As of today (13 hours after Ted posted this video) there is only the one for kobolds.
Might be just as well off looking for generic guides for painting critters on the web. Even though it is not the specific model, you can still get an idea of shade, highlight, etc.
I wish I could buy all of these.
I don't buy things online yet, and they stopped bringing these to my local EB Games.
I only managed to get the kobold one.
Target will order these for you
Steam forge is great. I reconfigured my entire collection based off of their guildball miniatures.
Steamforged Games, well I got to say that this was a pretty solid merging, and I appreciate your takes on the art style of the creatures, opposed to using the art styles from DnD. I'm looking forward to picking these up.
Gnolls with a Huge Demon that they serve would work real well
Thanks for going through this! It was a good general review. Just some feedback - I wish you would look more at the camera and less to the right of the camera (where I assume a monitor is). I found it a bit distracting when your eyes wandered. Still great content, though - keep up the good work!
Yeah I was hyper paranoid this time. This was my 5th time recording that review. And the 4th time was perfect content wise, but I was out of focus the whole time so I wanted to make sure
@@NerdImmersion Haha! I get that! Great video otherwise, though! I've had all the epic encounter boxes in my cart for a few days now. Just need to hit that checkout button...
An Undead encounter would be nice. In grey: 3 Skeletons, 3 Skeleton archers, 4 Zombie groups(2-4 Zombies on one base), 2 Banshee, 2 Vampire spawn, 2 Ghouls, 1 Deathknight, 1 Necromancer.
use hot water to soften the plastic of the dragon's wings and the giant's feet before putting them together and they will fit perfectly.
I was thinking about getting some of those but for me it's the stile used that keeps me on the fence. That said, Steamforged Games have awesome minis in other sets, like the Dark Souls game or the Resident Evil
What about the style is it that's holding you back? - Giblin
@@Steamforged For me personaly the Goblin and Kobold are a bit over the top like Warhammer minis. But others like the Orcs and all Epic bosses fit better in my personal collection. I love the overtop look but they would stick out in my game^^
@@Steamforged that said I just saw the trailer for Temple of the Snake God and I'm very excited to see more :)
Honestly got these and they are amazing
Grey theme- Undead: Skeletons, ghoul, wrights. Boss- Death Tyrant
Nearly $300 USD for those? Can I afford it? Maybe... will I be able to use them online? Sadly not
Steamforged Games... I was a backer of their Dark Souls: The Board Game Kickstarter... Once and no more. As a company, they lack almost everything (bad customer support, bad packaging, delays, secrets and lies to backers, a poor translation team (I'm spanish), etc) . But don't get me wrong, the minis are still awesome.
Hey, I think we can all agree Dark Souls: TBG was a catastrophic success and yes, delays happened, but we delivered everything and we now have a VERY good track record of delivering Kickstarters and launching products straight into retail :) - Giblin
@@Steamforged Well, nice to read that!! I really love (like crazy, I have a problem xD) the Dark Souls: TBG and buy everything (and waiting for news like new mechanics and new expansions, like Priscilla and Queelag, pls), but not enter in the others KS (like Bardsung or Horizon ZD) only for the pain to see and wait for news and only receive more pain...
So... Now is it the moment to a second chance? Maybe. Was a really painful time >.<
One thing is clear, now your answer was quickly than at that time... I'm glad to have caught your attention, and I'm glad you read this. Continue with the good work. Epic Encounters look good ^^
I would want to see:
Yellow skeletons with dracolich
Purple mind flayers and intellect devourers with elder brain
Brown gnolls with greater demon, yennoghu like or orcus like preferred
Dark blue sahaughin with kraken
Black culists set which there are dozens of boss options for.
So many options I would like to see really.
Purple should be mind flayers and duegar with the big boss being the elder brain.
he keeps looking up and to his right to see that the dude from steamforge is still there holding his original DM's Guide over a fire until he is done and this is posted.
Were you in the studio? - Giblin
How well do they take paint? 🎨
These seem awesome.
Zombies and a Lich/necromancer maybe.
Did you run these all yet as well as the serpent god? Is there any one in particular that stands out as better then the rest? I’m leaning towards the kobold and dragon encounter to try these out but if there’s one that’s smoother or easier to run then others it would be good to know, thanks.
Those little encounter books are better than anything that WOTC have written for 5e!
I'm curious how others feel about the minis coming in non standard dnd sizes? The orc in particular while great sculpts are 30mm bases and dont fit on a traditional battle mat (or the one provided). While the frost giant is certainly epic hes also way out of scale with official giants. Does this bug anyone else?
Blacklist minis, check em out.
It would be nice to see a bandit set.
What about gnoll and mantacore
I’ve been wanting to get some of these to really get into mini collecting but I’m one of those people that gets very discouraged when it comes to shipping costs😅😅
If you order from atomicempire.com and place an order of $100 or more it’s free shipping.
Maybe see if you have a gaming store nearby that might sell them
Hey Ted, great video as always. I appreciate you and your reviews it definitely helps when I want to purchase something. Question for you how do the steam forged minis size wise compared to wizkids minis? Are they the same size pretty close or way bigger. I have the goblins, kobold, and orc minis from wiz kids and was wondering about size comparison. I have bought minis where size comparison was way off so I have some kobolds that looked almost medium sized in comparison to my PCs.
Hey Scott, I have the Orc and kobold sets. and the sizes aren't bad. The Kobolds are a little taller/beefier than some small minis from WizKids. Heres a few images I just took for you to see what I mean. Sorry for the paint jobs i just started recently. imgur.com/gallery/dNJUu8z
@@Malcolmgardiner thanks soo much man, I appreciate you taking the time to do that for me. I love steamforged games stuff I bought all their dungeon and doggies minis to play with my kids and was looking to get those sets. You made it way easier decision, thanks again I appreciate you.
@@scottlamb4577 Edit: This issue might be better now, read their comment below.
No problem Scott. I will say that my only real complaint from the sets is the battle maps can be very dark and hard to see even with good lighting. Especially the Kobold/Dragon volcano battle maps. I don't have any regrets through, great minis, cool little adventures, but If I run them again I will probably just draw the map out on my vinyl battle mat.
@@Malcolmgardiner We took everyone's feedback on board (b'dum tss) about the mats and have made sure every set since has a much brighter mat than the kobold/dragons - - Giblin
Wooo new video!!!!!
What are you talking about it took me 2 second to find the painting used on their main page
2nd rant - The bosses look good Giant and Dragon but the Orcs and Kobolds... :(
any idea if these are just 5e? or are they pathfinder compatible as well?
Very cool
Now do you have to prime those before painting?
Yes, these need priming before painting :) - Giblin
Am I the only one here that is disappointed by the sculpts?? :( I purchased all four (4) Orcs/Frost Giant, Kobolds and Red Dragon and the miniature figures are all mushy... The details look like molten pieces of plastic compared to what I seen from videos. Are you all having the same experience or is just me with a bad batch??? :( :( :( This is preventing me from moving forward with this Hydra/Goblin set or the new Setsssssssss (see what I did there?) :) coming out... If needed, let me know and I WILL post pictures of the MUSH I"m talking about... ! :) Thx
Today’s Linda’s 🎂
Undead set...skeletons..with undead Boss
Average $2.00 ish a mini for this quality is pretty nice.
When you put it like that it doesn't seem too expensive
Unrelated to unboxing but what do you think of Hugh Grant as the villain in the Upcoming movie? Personally I'm a bit disappointed in the casting.
Dear friend. Any miniature that is bare plastic must be primed. Going forward please let people know that.
Looks awesome!
Please get some sleep!!
Giant looks to big