Bones 4 Chronoscope Expansion: Detailed look and review, Part 1

All that boney goodness!

Reaper's 4th Kickstarter for its Bones line has near completed backer fulfillment and a phased retail rollout should begin soon. This week, let's take a look at all of the miniatures in the Chronoscope expansion and offer insights on the good, bad, and great of this release.

For those unaware of the Chronoscope line, Reaper describes them as "The best choice for modern and sci-fi roleplayers, miniatures painters, and wargamers." It is a growing line of a mishmash of superheroes and supervillains, aliens, steampunk Wizard of Oz, zombies, killer clowns, and more. The metal ones generally come tabbed and fit on a slotted base.

The Chronoscope expansion from Bones 4 comes with 34 figures, and a collection of jerry cans, pylons, and posts. Some of the figures are brand new sculpts, and some are Bones versions of previous metal miniatures. 

So let's take a closer look at what's in the box:

The showcase models for this expansion seem to be the collection of 5 different SciFi dinosaurs (301-304 and 334 from the Kickstarter list). There is a Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Pteranodon, and two others - my dinosaur knowledge stops there. All are outfitted with armor and sweet firearms. The figures are good sized, larger than heroic 25-28mm figures, and they have exceptional detail. The shell of the ankylosaurus is particularly crisp, and several of the weapons have the start of a hollow barrel that would be relatively easy to drill out further.

They have integral 1" diameter bases, that are sculpted with a sci-fi flair to them. The only real disappointment I have is the breathing apparatus on the pteranodon. The detail just isn't quite there, particularly compared to all other aspects. That's about the only downside on these otherwise outstanding minis.

The other showcase piece of this expansion has to be #305 the IMEF Bulldog, which has been produced in metal previously. This guy is hefty and cast with exceptional detail as well.  He comes with two options for each arm, and two heads for the pilot. It also has an option to have the head "closed" for battle. The right arm has an integral gun or hand holding a power sword option, while the left also offers an integral gun or an empty hand. I dry fitted the model as shown in the picture, and it went together easily. Again, another great sculpt, with the only minor flaw of the power sword being a bit warped - but the boiling water/ice water trick should make short work of this.

Some people call me Maurice...

The next batch, 306-308, is a group of SciFi characters. The space sheriff (308) is an existing model, but I believe the other two are new - neither of which I was all that excited about. 306 is a female trooper with helmet and gun, again with nice detail, but just didn't do it for me. 307 is what I've dubbed Sleeveless Han Solo. It sure looks like Solo wearing stormtrooper armor from the waist down, and with a dope sleeveless shirt up top. The detail on the face isn't great on this one. 308 is probably the winner of the bunch, and the painted example in the Reaper gallery is enough to keep me excited about him.

Nice planet, we'll take it.

The final batches I want to look at this time are the aliens. All are from existing metal miniatures and were a contributing factor to my desire to back this expansion. 309 - 311 are the Mars Attacks! inspired dudes. 309 needs a little work to remove him from his casting sprue, and he and 311 both have a lean to then that should be an easy fix. But the details, overall, are really good. The new formulation for the Bones is really evident here. The face and extended index finger on 310 are crisp. Really impressive.

314 - 316 are the other aliens - Andromedans according to Reaper. I was really excited for the Empress in the throne, but honestly, these turned out to not be my favorites. The face and feet both have some softer details - not nearly the quality of the previous aliens. 316's gun is going to require some work to get aligned - the stock is cast to the base and will have to be cut free in order to try and get everything straight. Overall, these were a bit of a disappointment, however, the details of the feathers on the Empress's back are exquisite.

That's going to wrap up part 1. We'll look at the rest of the set next time, and discuss the perceived overall value. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to check in on the comment section.

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