As you might guess from the Roman numerals, this is Dungeons & Laser’s seventh crowdfunding campaign for their line of roleplaying miniatures and terrain. I reviewed their sixth campaign, Caves, last fall, which featured three different themes of modular cavernous terrain. The rewards from that campaign are about to begin fulfilling to backers.
What Is Porthaven?
Porthaven is the seventh miniatures campaign from Poland-based Archon Studio. It’s a nautical theme, set in the bustling harbor town of Porthaven, part of Dungeons & Laser’s own world of Deuslair. All of the miniatures and terrain are 32mm “heroic” scale (similar in size to a Warhammer miniature), and compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5e.
It’s currently seeking funding on Gamefound, with a minimum pledge level of $99 for a single core set. There are four different core sets available in the campaign, as well as a playable ship. There are multiple pledge levels available, with larger discounts for more core sets pledged. The all-in pledge is $349, and includes all four core sets, the ship, and all stretch goals. The crowdfunding campaign runs through April 16th at 12 PM PDT.
New to Gamefound? Check out our crowdfunding primer.
Porthaven Components
Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality.
Archon Studio sent me a really big box of sprues, which included 3 miniatures of the Ship Crew, and an engineering prototype of the playable ship.
As you can see, all the sprues are high-impact polystyrene, and can be assembled with clippers, plastic glue, and a file to clean any mold lines.
Ship Crew Miniatures
I received a single sprue for the Ship Crew minis, which contained all the components to assemble 3 miniatures, along with their own sculpted bases.
The miniatures are very well-engineered, and fit together very well without leaving any gaps. I would have loved to have seen a few less parts per mini, and I found the smaller female pirate to be a bit more challenging to put together, partly because of the smaller size of the parts. Still, it’s hard to argue with the results. The completed miniatures look just as good as the 3D renders that you’ll see on the campaign page.
Here’s a look at all three miniatures together:
I haven’t had a chance to paint any of these yet, but you can tell from the level of detail that they’re going to take paint well, and look great on the tabletop. These are only three of the 30 miniatures and 32 props in the Ship Crew Core Set, not counting any of the stretch goal miniatures you’ll receive.
The Playable Ship
As an alternate to purchasing 2 of the Core Sets, you can instead receive the Playable Ship. When completed, the Playable Ship is 28 inches long. As you can imagine, there’s a few more sprues involved than in 3 Crew miniatures:
The construction of the ship is broken down into sections in the instructions.
Lower Deck
You start with the Lower Deck. As you can see, I did use clamps or tape where I could to make sure that I got as good of a fit as possible while the glue dried.
And here is the completed Lower Deck:
The final step for the Lower Deck is adding in the deck guns, which are positioned at the gun ports:
Alternately, there are hatches that can be glued down over the gun ports:
Main Deck
When building the Main Deck, you will also add the anchors.
The two anchors each hang down from small plastic s-hooks. Sadly, one of the hooks was missing from my sprues (possibly a victim of shipping) and I lost the other hook while moving the model from room to room. I’m hoping that the final plastic piece to attach the anchor will work much better than in the prototype. Ultimately, I’m planning on using some wire and pliers to create a sturdier hook of my own.
Steering Deck
The Steering Deck simply slots into the Main Deck:
Front Deck
The Front Deck assembled so quickly, I forgot to photograph that sub-assembly! You’ll be able to see it in pictures of the completed ship, though. You can see in the picture below where the Front Deck will slot on top of the Main Deck:
And here is the Front Deck in place:
Masts
Assembly of the Masts starts with assembling the crow’s nests, which will then get attached to the masts and rigging. This is the last bit of assembly to complete the ship.
Once the masts are assembled, you can either glue them in, or just slot them in to make storage of the model easier. Here’s what the completed ship looks like:
It took me about a week to assemble the Playable Ship, but that wasn’t because of difficulty level. I was working on and off, taking my time to make sure that the glue dried completely for each sub-assembly before moving on. If it wasn’t for having to wait on the glue, one could probably easily assemble the ship in an afternoon.
The production version of the ship will also include fabric sails. There are also options available to upgrade to a clear plastic Ghost Ship, or even a Prismacast pre-painted ship!
Here’s some more looks at the ship, with its removable, playable sections:
Why You Should Back Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven
I’ve been relatively late to the party with Dungeons & Lasers, having just begun to take a look at their work with their sixth crowdfunding campaign. I can’t say much about their first 5 campaigns as I didn’t back them. But I can say I’m duly impressed both with their terrain (from the previous Caves campaign) and now, their miniatures in Porthaven. Not only are the designs engaging and characterful, but the sculpts are detailed and dynamic, and the miniatures are easy to assemble.
The Playable Ship is truly massive, and you can easily remove pieces to gain access to the decks below, making the model truly, well, playable. Like the character miniatures, the ship model itself goes together well, and will make a truly impressive model on the gaming table for a nautical TTRPG campaign. I’m sure it will even look better with some sails on the masts.
Let’s say you play Dungeons & Dragons, but you’re just not that into pirates? That’s OK, because there are still plenty of other miniatures in the campaign that will work great in any fantasy campaign. The Tavern Core Set has a fantastic set of both employees and patrons. The Female Orc Waitress looks to be worth the price of admission alone! And the Bazaar Core Set will populate a town marketplace, perfect for when your adventuring party decides to go shopping for supplies or gossip.
Each of the Core Sets comes not only with character miniatures, but scatter terrain and props. And if previous Dungeons & Lasers campaigns are any indicator, there’s going to be a ton of stretch goals to unlock as well, making the pledges much larger than just the Core Sets would make it seem.
If you’re someone that likes to physically set the scene for your tabletop roleplaying campaigns, then the Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven campaign is a great way to get lots of highly detailed terrain and miniatures onto your table without breaking the bank. It’s easy to assemble, and will really bring the “wow” factor to your games.
For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Dungeons & Lasers VII Porthaven Gamefound page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of these models for review purposes.
