Heroines in Sensible Shoes review

Ok, so this is the second kickstarter from Oathsworn I pledged to, and boy do they not know how to run a kickstarter.

• They included an extra figure and a resin Dragon's nest as a "Thank You" to the backers -- not a stretch goal, but just as extras. Ok, functionally it's the same as a stretch goal but they didn't have to include them since they never said "Everyone gets extra stuff when we reach so and so much money."
• Despite the extra stuff included I recieved my pledge in time. Unacceptable. The first time they were a month late, even that was ridiculous. It's simply not how Kickstarters are done.
• The figures looked exactly like the pictures we were shown during the kickstarter. No change of design, no change of material. Surprise!
• Clear communications during the casting and sending out processes so everyone knew what was going on.

I'm joking of course, but it's refreshing to see a company using Kickstarter as it was originally intended and then actually delivering what was promised and on time.

For those of you who don't know what it's all about the figures are depicting female adventurers wearing sensible and practical adventuring gear. No chainmail bikinis, no high heeled boots, no slashed dresses revealing shapely thighs... just what women would wear if they had to go explore a dungeon and fight monsters. I don't want to make this into a feminist debate, but the thing is that these figures are needed. Have you ever roleplayed with a bunch of your male friends and suddenly a girl wants to join? Yay, you think! Awesome! But the only female figures you have are a half-naked barbarian and an evil elf sorcess with high heels striking that Angelina Jolie at the Oscars 2012 pose?

Yes that pose.

Sure, I like a bit of eye-candy. But there has to be ordinary figures too. And there are, they are coming, but those cheese-cake pin-up models are still the majority of female figures out there. So the Oathsworn Heroines in Sensible Shoes kickstarter was very welcome and fills a niche that's not yet full. Which about a 1000 backers also thought, as they backed the project. Compare that to their earlier kickstarters which gathered the interests of about 300 backers at most -- 207 for the Dwarf Brewers that I backed previously.

Enough soap-boxing, on to the miniatures.

I went for the Basic Dungeoneers pledge featuring seven figures, all classic Dungeons and Dragons character classes: (Human) Rogue, Fighter, Cleric, Magic user, Elf, Halfling and Dwarf. Back then only humans had classes the non-humans were their own class if I remember correctly. The extra figure included is a pregnant woman in a simple villager's dress and nice change. The Dragon's nest could be useful as an objective or just scenery -- maybe dangerous terrain?

Elf, Fighter, Cleric, Magic User and Rogue.

Dwarf, Halfling, a pregnant villager and a Dragon's nest with eggs and loot.

The castings are crisp and the details excellent. The figures wear appropriate armour and weapons for their class, so the Fighter has a sword and shield while the Rogue has a crossbow hanging on her side. The elf naturally has a bow on her back as well as a curved sword and the templar has a mace and a shield, etc. These ladies sure mean business. All have ropes, water flasks, small knives and backpacks and several have torches or lanterns. The Magic User most amusing is carrying her lantern at her side and lights her way with a small magical flame instead. Despite wearing all that equipment the figures are most definitely female, which you can tell by the shape of their bodies -- minds out of the gutter please gentlemen -- and I like that the fighter is a bit chunkier built than the templar.

The only critique I have -- and it's a small one -- is that the poses is perhaps a little bit flat, because of casting issues. As we now get accustomed to multipart plastic models and the 3D wizardery GW is doing with their slide mold technology these figures do look a bit 1990s. But that's the only quibble. They will work extremely well in Frostgrave as well as Open Combat, or any other fantasy skirmish or roleplaying game.

For those of you that missed the kickstarter, Oathsworn will apparently have the range available in june 2016. I presume that they are just waiting for all backers to receive their figures, most applaudable. Here is their website: http://www.oathswornminiatures.co.uk/

Highly recommended.