I'm still up for something a bit more Rip Van Winkle than LotR or Warhammer, and I never was a fan of historical theming for fantasy "races" (the demand for "Viking", "Scottish", "Japanese" "Assyrian" or whatever dwarves just sort of bugs me a little for some reason), but I get that WGA's Classic Fantasy is pretty much explicitly aiming for "boring" and "generic", and, though my "classic fantasy" tastes run from anywhere from Grimm's Fairy Tales, to The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, to Dunsany and Lovecraft, to Conan the Barbarian, Kull of Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane, I understand and say there's nothing wrong with "boring and generic".
So, I'd be perfectly fine with "settling" for nondescript classic fantasy dwarves of pretty much any sort (most likely drawn from old Tolkien illustrations), as long as the bodies are nondescript enough to be used for all sorts of flavors of fantasy, and the kits include some unusual head and weapon options beyond standard-issue helmets and axes (considering just how common the dwarf miner trope is, it always seemed weird to me that axes were the cliche default, rather than picks and hammers! Pretty much any band of dwarf miners my RPG parties ever encountered seemed to be hacking away in their mines with axes and swords, for some reason....)
As an aside, I really like Othmark's dwarf, human, and goblin light infantry: they're pretty useful for all sorts of things outside the usual Warhammer/Warcraft/D&D thing. I've used the bodies from these sets for sci-fi figures with no problems, aside from the lack of retro sci-fi bits to work with. The light infantry bodies also work just as well for "Renaissance fantasy" and "steampunk" style settings where chainmail and scalemail might look a bit out of place, as for generic fantasy. Those settings might not be for everyone, but it's nice to see options that allow for different flavors of fantasy and sci-fi!
If WGA can do something that's similar enough to be useful to gamers like me, different enough that they aren't doing the exact same thing as Oathmark light infantry, and still useful enough to mainstream fantasy wargamers to not rock any boats, then I'm all for that.
"Boring and Generic", but they look great, and I'm sure they'll work for the majority of fantasy gamers.
With that in mind, WGA's digital dwarf set doesn't excite me, and it's definitely not something I could kitbash far out of their established "boring fantasy" genre, but the set LOOKS great anyway - it looks like a standard-issue, default classic fantasy dwarf set to me, should blend right in with Reaper Miniatures and Warhammer and any other miniature dwarves, and should surely be a crowd-pleaser for tabletop wargamers and role-players alike. I don't think WGA can go wrong with it.
@timbus the thirteenth "...looks like there'd be tons of room on the sprue to go wild with extra bits, and maybe even some death fields upgrades. guns! grenades! dwarven gas masks! go weird and wild with it, while still keeping a solid core of Dorfiness. it could be a really fun kit, imo."
I approve and agree, but, to be fair, the Death Fields-friendly thing is pretty much where the Death Fields Einherjar faction was coming from, whether it's quite what you or I picture or not. I'm pretty sure that set dates back to one of the earlier Wargames Atlantic sets, before the multi-use Lizard Men were introduced, but still covers a lot of sci-fi dwarf territory, while honestly, they really aren't far off from generic fantasy dwarfs either: swap out the arms with spare medieval bits like swords or axes and shields, and the Einherjar are pretty much ready for "generic fantasy" use (in fact, the kit appears to come with some axes and shields!) They wouldn't really be my go-to choice for either sci-fi or fantasy projects, but aren't a deal-breaker for me - I have been waiting for my first sprues of them from the Damned crowdfunder, and will certainly find some uses for them.
Death Fields Einherjar: pretty close to a fantasy dwarf set with Death Fields options already!
