Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Horror in Venice




during the Carnevale....
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5 comments:

abdul666 said...

"18th C. Venetian horror with Lovecract beasties!After a magical cataclysm that has changed Europe and the world as we know it, the city of Venice is under the effects of the Rent in the Sky. For the first time in history, magic is walking freely on its streets, ancient monsters have awakened from their submarine slumber and found their way towards the canals of this city, a decadent nobility has discovered new ways of depravity in senseless violence, and the citizens of Venice do the best they can to survive under the protection of the Guild of thieves."

The figurines look *great*.

I wish this game a gratifying success, but its initial marketing niche is narrow, being at the intersection of two very different sets of gamers:
- 18th C. 'adventures / skirmishes' ones, most of them so far ignoring, or not interested at all with, Lovecraftian Horror,
- 'Cthulhu' players, generally ignoring the 'Lace Wars' period and 'anchored' in the traditional 1920-30 time frame of 'Horror / Pulp'.
Thus at first most of potentially attracted people would buy a few specific figurines but would not pay for the whole game. Thus it's a very wise decision from the producers of Carnevale to propose the minis separately: a previous game with a not too different background (Horror in the 18th C.) 'A touch of Evil' seems to be largely unknown despite favorable reviews and rather good minis, perhaps because (a rash gambit!) proposed as a boxed complete game: very few people are interested enough in the 18th C. AND Horror gaming to invest in it.


For us 'EvE' members Carnevale has the appeal of being directly set in 'our' favorite period, without requiring a 'translation' -against e.g. 'Strange Aeons'.
One of its positive points is to be 'open', by opposition to games that are 'closed' because of a very peculiar look / setting (Malifaux) or the use of figurines of a non-standard scale such as 35mm (1650, Kingdom Death: a very rash marketing gambit if intended to prevent the consumer from spending a cent with the 'competition'!). Thus the game benefits from the immense wealth of 'additional' minis that can be thrown in: on the one hand, all known Cthuluesque monstrosities and then some; on the other hand the cornucopia of 'mainstream' 18th C. (and 'Pirates') miniatures.
And for those so inclined, a painting challenge (the quasi-18th C. costumes of the cavaleiras and cavaleiros of the tourada, the Portuguese mounted bull fighting, can also be inspirational for those enjoying to paint embroideries).

November 9, 2011 at 1:50 AM
Gary said...

Might we hope for an account of a game played with new rules?

November 9, 2011 at 10:10 AM
tradgardmastare said...

Interesting...
I spent some time looking on the website.
Thanks for drawing our attention to it Jean Louis!

November 9, 2011 at 1:42 PM
Soldadets said...

I had the opportunity to take a glance on some Carnevale painted miniatures during a gaming event held at my county capital town, Vilafranca del Penedès, a couple of weeks or so ago, and I can attest these look simply superb, extraordinary, beautiful.

So bad they're in 28mm --'cause, as some of you have noticed, I'm one of the few in this community who's deeply fond of 15mm...

It's a new-born Catalan company, their website is www.vesper-on.com, and it is in both Spanish and English version.

A definitely recommendable range, I'd say!

November 9, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Unknown said...

wow amazing setting and paint job! you made me wanna get those mini right the way....

November 22, 2011 at 7:56 PM

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