A Short Review of the Odyssey Godforms Miniature Set | Aeon Trespass: Odyssey (Patreon)

Godforms are one of those rare and really exciting moments that occur during Aeon Trespass and can turn a moment of despair into one of brief, burning triumph. The dead sparks of the Olympian Gods still haunt some aspect of the titans and it is always really exciting when a Godform is triggered.

In the base game we get exactly one Godform miniature, which represents Zeus and while it is really sweet to pull out that miniature when it first lands on the table and your titan is supercharged with the lightning of the gods the lustre wears off a little when your selection of Godforms expands. For myself I sort of stopped using the Zeus miniature when could no longer represent the particular god with any regularity.

This is where the Godforms Miniature Set comes in

Now before we get into the actual box, I do have to sadly mention my experience in ordering this. I placed my order for the Godforms box in the last week of June and it didn't get to me until the last week of August. This is a frustrating situation to have experienced, but it also represented an uncharacteristic delay. My usual experience when ordering from Into the Unknown is that my orders are shipped out on the next working day without fail.

When I contacted support about this matter, it became clear that the box was not being shipped by the team in Gdańsk and instead was being handled by a distributor due to it not being a resin release. Due to the summer season, multiple Kickstarters delivering (Kingdoms Forlorn should be on its way to me any time soon, I'm at label created and just waiting for the shipping to start, so they're well ahead of Kingdom Death in that matter), holidays and similar it seemed that my order shipped through the cracks.

These things happen, it's a single isolated experience and it runs counter to every single other order I've placed with ITU, but to not mention it happening just wouldn't feel right. The team at ITU are now aware of what happened and are making sure that this shipping partner doesn't slip on such a matter in the future. No harm done here, and I don't expect this to happen again.

The Godform box itself on the other hand has no delay in impressing, as soon as I opened the package I was thrilled to see that the presentation of this box is excellent. In fact I'd go as far as to comment that this is one of the finest looking elements of ATO when on the shelf. It's as beautiful as the hardback books.

The box is the now classic white with the Aeon Trespass logo in the middle and across the lid we have these beautiful illustrations of some godforms. I think the presentation of these cropped art pieces is fantastic, the entire thing looks like a palisade, which gives the impression (to me) that these gods are like a protective barrier. I think the Godform art is so striking with the lines and colour choices and they've always been a favourite of mine because of the energy they project.

With the lid removed we can see that not only is there a tray holding the godforms, but there are also some dividers. These Dividers are similar to the ones which come in the Last Tome Tuck box and I am always happy to receive more dividers to help organise the two boxes that represent the game's full five cycles. Here they all are:

The dividers are split into each of the five cycles (plus some black ones to cover generic or secret elements) and they come in Tarot, Map Card, Standard and Small Sizes. In particular the Small "American" and Tarot size ones are really exciting for me because these are sizes which are very difficult to find dividers for. They have a linen finish and are very stylish to both look at and touch.

However, I do have to note that the small dividers only work in landscape format. Here is a selection of small gear cards to demonstrate that (the plastic in the back is a token tray I just used to prop up the cards for the photo).

As you can see the divider sits well above the long edge of the cards, but doesn't stick out at all on the short edge. Even without sleeves this remains true. This is not a problem if you store your gear cards in landscape format (which is how I currently have them stored for Cycles IV and V), but if you store them vertically then the dividers get a bit lost and you have to identify them on the sides. Here they are in my Fancy But Functional ATO insert tray.

They're a bit lost here, so this is something you may want to consider when/if you are picking a third party insert. I had to get one for Cycles I to III because the plastic insert arrived cracked and shattered, I'm still really happy with the insert though (There is a review of it in the reviews collection).

I've taken to using them with the tab standing at the top of the tray (something I figured out after the photo session) and they are satisfactory, if not perfect. Which is a shame because I really, REALLY need dividers to split up the gear cards, in fact I need far, far more than came in this box. I want to divide up every single technology production group of gear cards separately because I've found they get so disorganised when I'm playing. You can see above how they are just a mass of cards and sleeves, it takes time to find the right gear cards and it can also result in me forgetting some gear cards even exist.

So I love these small dividers and I just wish they were taller so they worked for both landscape and portrait and there was many, many more of them in the box.

That means it is time to look at the miniatures, I'm not going to label which godform is represented by each one, but I will share pictures of all fourteen here. If you have familiarity with the Olympian Pantheon there are no real spoilers here, but I'm going to do my best to show them without spoilering too much. You won't know what order they come in and if you can identify them all without having access to the godform cards then you've done better than I.

Here's the plastic tray lid lifted off, plus I moved to an angle with better light.

The tray holds each of the miniatures in a way that avoids them moving around without having unnecessary friction. The models themselves are constructed from the same plastic as the main game, so they have good detail, but it is not as crisp or rich as the resin casts that other shop sales come in. The material used for the game pieces in ATO is a compromise, and I understand why it was made, but the sculpts that come out of ITU's art studio really sing when they're in resin.

However, I don't want to play with resin miniatures on the board, I've broken enough of them over time to be happy with the compromise we have here. These models still do look good and I am hopeful I can fit them into my painting schedule at some point, I've painted as far as the start of Cycle IV at this point, though I did skip ahead and paint some of Cycle V because aquatic creatures are my jam.

Anyway, to return to the Godform miniatures here. they have a lot of character and style, with every single one being distinct from the others and presenting a fantastic render of the artwork. Here are shots of them all standing up because the photo I took of them in the box insert isn't great.

The "propeller" carried by #6 seems to be a bit warped/bent, but in this material that isn't an issue as some hot water will get it to return to its intended form. My favourite sculpts are #2, #4, #12 and #13. Two of our birds are named after numbers #13 and #14 btw.

As a miniature painter, I do have a few additional comments, I'm not completely sold on #6's "propeller" (It isn't a propeller, it is light beams being emitted) as that is going to be quite challenging to ensure it looks right. I'm unsure about the energy arcing off #5s notched arrow. Also there are a bunch of places where it is going to be hard to reach with a brush, this is an issue that often comes with preassembled miniatures. I'm one of those people who paints a miniature in seperate pieces and assembles them all near the end, so I find models cast in PVC and PVC mixes to be more challenging. I tended to break my Descent miniatures apart when painting them, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to break these beauties.

I'm not sure on my solutions at this point, but I do absolutely know that these are going to be both challenging and a joy to paint. I haven't decided if I'm going to do more abstract colour schemes to match the card art, or more naturalistic to match the rest of my ATO miniatures on the board. I'm looking forward to doing them justice one day.

Final Thoughts

This Godform box is certainly a luxury item, but it is one I'm exceedingly happy to own, I've been so critical with everything here because I love what comes in this box and want to see future iterations for other lines be even better. This is a stylish release that reeks of boutique elegance and I'm incredibly happy I picked it up because it's immediately made the fun factor of fighting in battles even higher. I cannot to have all these painted up for a replay with friends so I can hear their excitement the first time one of them experiences an awakening.

This product is available here: https://aeontrespass.com/store-all/p/miniature-set-godforms

Note: This review has not been requested by ITU, nor are their any requirements attached to my receipt of it. I ordered it normally via their web store and chose to review this through my own choice.