Orcs in the Webbe

The Rarest Tin is the first dedicated supplement for use with the third edition of Flintloque, Alternative Armies' (AA) black powder fantasy skirmish level wargame. Conceived and designed entirely after feedback from players, it's primarily a sourcebook of background information and rules allowing people to use AA's large range of limited edition miniatures in their Flintloque games. However, it is also an excellent resource for collectors containing both production information on the castings and history of the miniatures themselves.

The layout of the booklet is a simple but effective one. It opens with a nice introduction to why AA's limited editions exist and how the Rarest Tin publication itself actually came about. After which we are treated to fifty individual entries of one or two pages each, covering all the limited edition releases over the last fifteen years of Flintloque.

As expected in a collector resource like this each entry starts with the obligatory product code, name and rarity of the miniature in question. It also lists if the miniature is currently available or not, more on that later.

The opening paragraph of each entry is a creators commentary of sorts. It gives some insight into why the piece came to be and how they were originally received . For the Loquer old or new these snippets are a joy to read. Sadly I did find them a little short. Now I I know it's a matter of space on the page and that somewhere along the line a decision would have had to be made between including background stories, comprehensive gaming information or these inside information paragraphs however from a collectors point of view I would have liked to have seen these bits expanded upon but that would have had to come at the cost of the great background stories.

The bulk of each entry is the background piece. Originally these were inserts sent out with the miniatures themselves or reprinted as articles in Orcs in the Hills and Loque & Load. However whilst a few dedicated Loquers may have this information already the writing has been extensively revised and rewritten for this collection and each release has it's full background history updated to bring it in line with the 3rd edition of Valon's history. A lot has changed in the World of Valon over the last 15 years and it's nice to see these pieces get refreshed. Whilst these pieces are a mine of information for scenarios I would have liked to have seen a scattering of Scenario Seeds like those found in the Flintloque: War in Catalucia rulebook (5025).

The background is followed by a small painting guide and then by rules for the miniature in both Flintloque and Slaughterloo. This is the main section for the more gaming orientated Loquer. The old rules for all the miniatures had to be adapted for Flintloque 3rd edition as the core gaming mechanics changed quite a bit. The rules here are presented clearly and also include more than just statistics, often the rules sections (especially the Slaughterloo ones) actually add to the fun and character of the miniature in question.

Each article then ends with a photograph of the miniatures followed by two boxes to tick, one for "GOT IT!" and one for "NUMBER", these two features being one of the top requests of the players who asked for the book to be written.

The pictures are black and white but I think that is a good choice. If you were to ask ten different gamers about the same paint job you'd get ten differing opinions. The black and white images of unpainted metal really helps see the detail of the piece and lets you know if it fits the bill. The one exception to this is the Christmas Vignette, as well as the black and white unpainted photo there is also a black and white image of the unit as painted by Tony Harwood (Dampfpanzerwagon). Tony's work is always a joy to behold and even though black and white you can see the potential of these minis if prepped, painted and based by a professional. I do believe Tony's painting (and terrain modelling for that matter) personifies the core ideals of Flintloque and you can find many examples of it on his excellent blog here.

This brings me on to the tick boxes. Now these I actually quite like. Whilst many people would shudder at writing in a printed source book, the nature and style of this publication lends itself to being updated by the reader. However the availability of the miniature is printed on the page, I think it would have been better if this too was a box like the tick boxes, but this is such a small issue is doesn't really detract from the book itself.

So, how does the exterior presentation of the book hold up. Now after my many weeks of deliberating over this review (review writing is actually very very hard) I have got used to my somewhat battered trusty little copy of The Rarest Tin but I must confess I was initially a little disappointed when I first opened my order. I had been expecting the same printing and production qualities as the 'perfect bound' previous release; Flintloque: War in Catalucia (5025). However I realise with hindsight that this would have put the cost much higher. In fact after the past few weeks of use the stapled A5 booklet which is actually primarily of the same high quality paper stock as 5025 has proven it's worth and I do believe it will stand the test of time.  The booklet is let down slightly by the cover, it being thick paper as opposed to card, but having said that my copy is still going strong after weeks bouncing around in the bottom of my bag and only has small marks in evidence. A small mention must be made of the illustration on the cover, I really like the marbled effect background and the arrowhead of AA but the players voted for a colour photograph of one of the miniatures to go on the cover (LE011 Karl Lagerfilled in fact). It is a really nice sculpt and it is painted well but I don't think it represents the subject of the information within that well.

So should a Valonic gamer (Flintloque or Slaughterloo) buy The Rarest Tin. In a word, yes. It is a well written sourcebook expanding every single nation on Valon and giving plenty of ideas for scenarios and campaigns. The rules, if used, will enhance every single game you play even if it's just a source for you to get some special abilities for your own forces commander. From a miniatures collectors perspective it is an excellent read but is a bit light on collectors information leaning more towards the gamer.

Webmaster's Note

The Rarest Tin and all other things Flintloque can be ordered direct from Alternative Armies' webstore here.