Unboxing: Pike & Shotte Epic Battles by Warlord Games

By Troy A Hill

I put my preorder in for Warlord Games new Pike & Shotte Epic Battles Push of Pike boxed set, and it arrived this past weekend. Warlord continues their epic streak of 14-ish mm Epic Battles scale releases.

Special shoutout to Morgan, who packed my set. Everything looks spot on, and I couldn’t be happier with the set.

That said, I’m totally confused now. Growing up in ‘Muricah! and only getting to study the American Civil War (ACW), one can imagine my surprise to find out that our British cousins had their own civil war (English Civil War, or ECW) a couple of centuries before ours. So, now I’m wondering who the English versions of Lee and Grant were?

All joking aside, I’m excited to dig into this box.

Since this set covers the Push of Pike in both the ECW, and the Thirty Years War (30YW), Warlord included unit flag sheets to cover units from both conflicts.

In addition, the wizards at Warlord re-tooled their Pike & Shotte rule book for the Epic Battles range. At first glance, it appears to be much like the Black Powder Epic Battles Waterloo book. Basing and ranges were covered for the smaller scale, and additional battle scenarios were included beyond what the previous hardcover rulebook covers.

 

A fortified manor house from Sarissa is also included for those who want to grab some terrain beyond hills and wooded areas.

Another bonus is the assembly and painting guide. Always happy when Warlord includes those.

Like all of Warlord’s large starter boxed sets, they include a cardstock quick play guide, and color counters (wound/casualty markers) for players to cut out and use.

Finally, we’re at the models themselves. Anyone familiar with the Epic Battles range will recognize the line of troops shoulder to shoulder that forms the rows of fighting men from the period.

Sprues are in either Tan or Grey, so those who want a generic “Toy Soldiers” feel to their gaming can crack on right away without painting. Of course, painting is the most enjoyable part of the hobby for me, so these will join my HUGE Warlord pile of “opportunity” in the queue still awaiting pigment.

I’m seeing some mold lines on the figures, but nothing I don’t expect on hard plastic minis. The detail is good for plastics in this scale. As expected, and as others online working with the free sprues that Wargames Illustrated sent out, the pikes are a bit on the flimsy side but aren’t as “chunky” as I had half-expected. Do be careful in transporting these models. Also, be careful of applying heat to cheat your paint-drying times. I can see that the pikes might need a “daddy’s little helper” pill if one gets too close with a hair dryer in the painting process.

Each side of the battle (Grey vs Tan) gets a total of seven infantry sprues, and three Cav, artillery, dismounted cavalry sprues of figures.

My original goal was to use the set to paint up a bunch of units for either ECW or 30YW.  Now, I’m debating on finding room in my budget to order another box, so I can field units for either battle and still have a full table.

Oh, and a shout-out to whomever in Warlord decides to include the set of half-a-dozen 10mm dice in each starter set. I’m not sure that any gamers actually use those dice more than once for a real game. But, having a bunch of small and cheap dice to use as wound counters is always handy.

And this set came in blue!

 

The one and only downside to this set is how many frickin awesome new sets Warlord games has put out in the past few years! I’m still working on getting my ACW forces painted. Not to mention the WWII Bolt Action Italian and Russian Armies I’ve started but not finished. And the other games I want to play from other companies.

As Brad from Cast Dice Podcast says: We are in a renaissance of tabletop gaming. Having too many toy soldiers, and too many great games to play with them is far, far better, than the alternative.

So, keep on doing what you’re doing, Warlord Games. I wonder what the next Epic Battle time period will be?