Mantic Games have released the latest wave of the Hellboy Board Game Kickstarter, the so-called Box Of Evil. This consists of two expansions to the game, Darkness Calls and Hellboy In Mexico, and includes a number of bonus miniatures.
Upon lifting the lavishly illustrated box lid, the first items you come across are for the Hellboy In Mexico expansion. First, we have the character cards for Hellboy in his guise as a Luchador, the Mexican style of wrestling full of high drama and choreographed moves. Beneath the cards are two pieces of artwork, then even more art can be seen on the double-sided game tiles made from high density, top quality card. There are eight cards in total, all depicting key location from the two expansions, along with some tokens and markers for use during the game.
Beneath the tiles, we have the all-important miniatures. The first plastic tray contains graveyard critters, ghosts and ghouls, plus the game cards that outline the various rules and mission objectives to be used, plus the Boss Behaviour and Requisition Cards. The second tray contains even more denizens of the Underworld, with undead Conquistadors, ancient Arabic warriors. There are also Luchador figures, clad in capes and spandex, and the bonus miniatures that represent additional characters for use in the game. All the figures are one piece in the top quality plastic used by Mantic for these and their Walking Dead lines. Consequently, they are exceptional.
Mantic have once again produced a superior quality product based upon one of their comic book orientated licences. They have become masters at this, and the quality of their components, miniatures and even the exterior boxes themselves are examples of exactly what can be achieved. Other companies seem to seek to cut corners and costs with their presentation and realisation of licenced products but Mantic sets the standard that they should seek to follow.
