Paulson Games is a relatively new company that makes resin bits, but now they’ve started to expand their repertoire into minis games.
Mechs have been a favorite of mine for quite some time. The first computer game I really got into was Mechwarrior 2. I played that game even after it was cool to do so. I only stopped playing because (after what felt like a century of waiting) Mechwarrior 3 came out. So any game involving mechs already has my attention. So when I started seeing previews and initial concepts for Mecha Front from Paulson Games, I knew it was one I would be following along as it developed.
Then I found out that one of my coworkers was the brother of the guy behind Paulson Games. It was looking like everything was coming up Polar_Bear! So I’ve gotten a hold of a Neo Bloc Goshawk kit and two NorAm Raptors (the Beta and Gamma loadouts) and wanted to let you know my thoughts on them.
So without further ado, I give you a review of Mecha Front NorAm Raptor and Neo Bloc Goshawk kits.
My expectations for these kits were very high. I’ve been burned in the past by mech game kits that I was exceedingly excited for, but horribly let down when I finally got them. So when I got my first little bag that had the Goshawk inside, I looked very carefully at the pieces. I was actually surprised to find out the parts were resin. Most resin I’ve handled felt at least a little “chalky” or at the very least felt slightly rough. This resin is entirely smooth. It feels much more like a plastic than it does a resin. Being large, blocky pieces by design, there’s not a lot of fine detail to really talk about on the pieces, but you can tell that the few places there are details like that, they’re very crisp (like at the end of gun barrels or near ammo feeds).
The bases the models come with is 60mm and you can see that they fill up the bases fairly well. You can see them here next to a 30mm base model. They’re about as tall as some of the warjack kits from Privateer Press.
The Goshawk came in 10 pieces and required very little cleaning. There were the obligatory places that the resin was injected into the mold, but really no mold lines to be found. The left gun assembly did have some, but they filed off rather easily.
I got the Raptor models a bit later (I’d been too busy with other projects to get around to reviewing the Goshawk by itself, I’m sad to say). I was happy that when the other models arrived they were made out of that same high-quality resin that the Goshawk was.
The two Raptors only vary slightly in the upper torso as one is molded to be able to hold the railgun while the other is symmetrical. The third Raptor chassis (the Alpha) I assume is also slightly different as it has two torso-mounted guns on it.
As the models are meant to be rather modular (you’re able to buy separate weapon packs from the game’s webshop), I decided to do something a little different than just straight assembly and went in for adding magnets to the kits. I got a ModFX Starter Set and set to work. The resin was very easy to drill into and the light weight of the parts meant the magnets have a pretty easy time holding the arms on. I magnetized the arms of all the kits as well as all the waists. Also, the one Raptor with the railgun (the Gamma), I magnetized that gun as well. The only criticism I have here is that the waist on the Raptors is really small, so I had to use the smallest magnets. While they will stay put, it’s a bit of a tenuous connection. I’ve considered simply gluing them in place instead. I would only lose out on the torso-twisting, which isn’t much of a loss, really. But overall I am rather happy with how the magnetizing came out.
The resin models are $25 up in the webshop. You can get different weapon packs for $5. So it’s actually pretty cheap to get some great-looking Mech figures if you want.
There are unfinished Mecha Front rules out there that Paulson Games is working on. I’ve tried them out, but it’s been a couple months and the rules have been changed since then, so I won’t really get into that too much, but I can say that what I played was pretty fun. I look forward to see more-complete versions of the rules, but more importantly, I’m looking forward to Medium and Heavy Mech kits.
There will definitely be reviews of those when they’re available as well.