February Loot Review

This is a review for February's Nerd Block and Loot Crate, here is what they cost:

Nerd Block - $19.99US/month + $12.50US shipping = ~$44 NZ
Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

This months Nerd Block Classic:

The shirt is Flash themed, also included is a notepad, Saul Goodman figure, Star Wars comic, 2 packs of Cliccors and 2 packs of cosplay cards.

For Loot Crate:

There is a Hexbug ant, Superfight card game, Paper/Scissors/Rock dice pair, Dice bag, Book, Munny DIY figure, Pacman poster, badge and a Firefly online starship.

I'm going to start with the Loot Crate this time; I squeed a little bit when I opened this one. Seriously, a grown-ass man, ecstatic with glee. I've wanted a Hexbug, the dice are awesome (the box acts as a game too,) and the firefly digital item is cool. I had never considered a DIY figure before but after a mate sent me a request for doing a custom one (he got a crate too this month) I had a quick play and it was really fun.

So, on to Nerd Block. The Saul figure is cool, I've not seen much Breaking Bad though. The Cliccors are ok, but all the stuff I could find online show cars, these are just bracelets. The shirt is just okay, the comic would be great, if I hadn't got the same one in Loot Crate last month (alternate cover and not really Nerd Blocks fault.) The cosplay cards had a lot of potential, if they were done well. The cards are a little cheap and a quick look on Reddit and you will find quite a few people who got two identical packs in their box (randomness is quite important!)

Loot Crate clearly won this month (I Squeed...) but the Nerd Block was okay. With belts needing to be tightened this months array made the decision of which subscription to keep quite easy. I've got quite a few geeky shirts now (some better than others...) so Loot Crate not always having a shirt (and replacing it with cool stuff) tips the scales even further.

I do like Nerd Block, but I think they spread themselves a bit thin with so many different theme options. Their Horror block shirts are generally nicer than any of the others, Classics have some decent collectibles and the Arcade blocks tend to have nice figures. Wrap them all together into one box and I would subscribe for a long time. Drop the bad, keep the good, simple really.

I've still got one more Classic Nerd Block to come, so there will be a final comparison next month.
Nerd Block - March is curated by Simon Pegg.
Loot Crate - March is "Covert" and includes a shirt.

Week 8 - On the Assembly Line

A quick post this week as nothing got painted. I spent the week assembling Enforcers, a couple Plague and my plastic Ramos crew. I figured it would be a good idea to get those assembled early and boy am I glad I did! Those little plastic spiders were a real pain and the robo-tentacles on the steamborg were scary thin... But they are done now, so now they just need basing and spray paint.

I have spent some time re-jigging my room of models, trying to find ranges to pear down and put some semblance of order into where everything is. I seem to have misplaced the rest of my Malifaux models, even after tidying up. Slightly worrisome but I'm sure they will show up eventually. It does make finishing off a faction a bit more challenging though!

Day 53
162/53 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 31/32
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - 0/34
Build and paint all Deadzone Plague - 0/21
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

Week 7 - Planetfall Commencing

Fresh out of two long weekends and straight in to a two full days babysitting by Grandma makes this probably the most concentrated hobby time I will get again! Thanks to my lovely wife for getting this as my valentines day prezzie (she was on a first aid course all weekend as well) so I used it as productively as I could. I spent the time finishing all my remaining Planetfall models, leaving just some objective markers to go. Pictures below.

This is a total of 37 more models completed this week, another goal finished and another game I can play painted straight away. This lets me move on to my next project, which I think will be Deadzone Enforcers until the end of the month. I worked out that I need 46 to be able to play pretty much anything I wanted, so with the 12 I have already done I just need to do 34 more. This should be pretty achievable since I have most of those already assembled. I'm thinking next month should be Malifaux, unfortunately the plastics are way too fiddly to trim at work which will mean cutting into painting time with assembly. Good thing it will be a slow month I guess.

I also received my Desolator for the Scourge, so that will be worked on this week sometime, just to keep everything all nice and complete.

Day 46
162/46 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 31/32
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - 0/34
Build and paint all Deadzone Plague - 0/21
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

Week 6 - Dropzone Completed

Back to back long weekends make for good hobby progress. This week I completed 29 Scourge models, bringing my current Scourge collection up to completion. Yay! Photos below.

So I am still waiting on a Desolator to arrive in order to give myself the full range of options for playing. Then I can decide on if and how I will expand. I had a little bit of spare time this evening so made a start on my Planetfall. I wrapped up 7 models and I hope to finish up most (if not all) next week as well. Pictures below.

I have quite a few of these guys to do but they are relatively quick. At least the small ones are, there are some rather large ones... By getting these done I can compare DZC and Planetfall and decide which I prefer, I would rather not spend too much if I'm not going to play one of them very often. The rule sets are quite different so hopefully I will get decent use out of both lots.

Also, WooHoo 1/3 through the years painting target!

Day 39
125/39 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 31/31
Paint all Directorate - 7/44
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - TBC
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

January Loot Reviews

Yeah, its a little late... This is a review of the contents of the January Loot Crate and Nerd Block Classic. I'm going to do a direct comparison this time, we will see about future installments. First up, the cost.

• Nerd Block - $19.99US/month + $12.50US shipping = ~$44 NZ
• Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

Each has 3, 6 or 12 month plans that drop the cost a little bit but only loot crate has subscriber specific discounts (clicking my referral link gets you a discount and me some credit.)

So first up Nerd Block Classic: Theme "A galaxy far, far away"

We have a Dr Who Shirt, Star Trek / Planet of the Apes Comic, Star Wars film cell, Lord of the Rings Elf ears, pen and bookmark, a Grumpy Cat Plush and some toy Darts.

Then we have the Loot Crate: Theme "Rewind"

This contained a Voltron shirt, Star Wars comic, Space Invaders tie, Pixel glasses, Comic notebook, Dr Who cartridge figure and a badge.

So both crates contained shirts and comics (which are always decent items) and easily make up about $30 of their respective values. A film cell equivalent retails at $50 on Mighty Ape including a frame, so it would be fair to say $15 for that, making the pen, bookmark, darts, ears and plushie basically free. A basic Tie will set you back about $15, making the notebook, cartridge figure and glasses free.

So which is better? Well this is the second set of glasses I have had from Loot Crate that I wont be using but the figure and notebook are cool. I quite liked everything on the Nerd Block this month, I could easily use everything in it this time around. I would say they are about tied, possibly with Nerd Block ahead.

You definitely get more stuff in a Nerd Block but Loot Crate has more exclusives. But Nerd Block always has a shirt so if you are wanting to expand your geeky attire that is a good way to go.

Get yours:
Nerd block - February theme is "Exclusives"

Loot Crate - February theme is "Play"

Week 5 - Elf Reinforcements Arrive

Here we are, February already! This week is where all the prep-work pays off as I finished a total of 43 models. This brings the Elves within striking distance of complete. I finished a final unit of 10 scouts, 30 Blade-Dancers and 1 Tree Herder. Pictures are below.

The tree herder was my first foray into working with Reaper Bones so I will write up a separate post for that at a later date. I probably will do some more posts on my experiences with other materials, to act as a guide for those looking at trying new product ranges.

I also finished another werewolf for my Undead this week (he was most of the way complete already) and the last model of my current commission. Pictures below.

I also received a lootcrate and nerd block in the last week as well. I've decided to split them into another post later in the week, I may as well try to post more often, it isn't like I'm super busy already! With it now being February I will be focusing on my DZC Scourge as a primary goal and wrapping up the elves as a secondary.

Day 32
89/32 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all DZC Scourge - 2/31
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - TBC
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4