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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Hell Dorado Cipher vs. Asmodée



A couple of weeks ago I received my first recruitment packs for Hell Dorado made by the American company Cipher Studios (of Anima Tactics fame). Marek was very disappointed when he opened the less than spectacular packaging and looked at the card (Cipher left, Asmodée right). First they have a generic picture for all the Damned of Wraith (why “Damned One”?). Second they printed on much cheaper card stock than Asmodée’s cards are and the new ones have pointed corners instead of rounded ones! Grr.


You can take or leave the new graphic design, but I hate the cheap feel of these cards. I don’t understand why Cipher didn’t choose to make cards similar in quality to the French ones.





Then when I finally opened a pack to put together a model, I was very disappointed with the quality of the casting. I have never seen a mold line on a French Hell Dorado figure, but there was a good amount on several of the American models. The only flash I filed on Asmodée’s figures were on some weapon blade and from the spruce. Cipher’s required extensive filing.


Another disappointment was that I was missing a body piece. I’ve read on Cipher’s forums that Cipher has good customer service. We’ll see if they’ll ship a tiny body part to Sweden for free or not. I’ll report later.


Asmodée Editions had an elegant product that was the epitome of good design and quality production. So far Cipher is not measuring up. I hope that will change.


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