I have been pondering getting the Flintloque Bier and Bones Game Book for quite a while as my campaign is going to involve a Witchlands force pushing South. I decided to take the plunge with the last of my money from the sale of things I don’t use any more.

Rather than just buy the book I was going to get a few figures to make the postage worth the while. I looked at various types. The new releases were definitely on my list. Othari aristocrat, Hobgoblin miser, the new resin savant zombies. So I did my usual trawl through the various lists and came up with a list (this normally ends up at around £60 with my “oooh they look nice” or the “oooh I could just do with some of them to bulk out my forces” routine). I started perusing the Finklestein list and was enamoured of the ogres. It was then that I remembered the Shilling Service Pack.

I had £30 left to spend so went for it.

They came today and I am rather impressed.

So What did I get in my box?

The box came well wrapped and well protected with scrunched up brown paper to stop everything shifting about.

The rule book was inside a plastic sealable bag, which I thought was a good touch to keep the weather off it, The figures and dice came in the smaller box.

The book is 96 pages long covering troops and a bit of background to the conflict in the Kartoffelberg. I have Ostarian troops anyway so it is useful for that alone. I love the cartoony illustrations in the book they are full of life.  Most pages are black and white with some colour pages showing painted examples of the different models.

The first seventy odd pages deal with the actual troops and background  – the last twenty odd pages are the rules for the game. They are very well laid out and easy to follow.

The bag also contained a two sided piece of A4 that takes you through the process of choosing a section giving them skills and traits and then onto three scenarios that use the troops in the box.

Now onto the figures:

As mentioned earlier these came in the box, well wrapped in bubble wrap

This set consists of 11 models and two dice. It comprises 2 ogres, 3 Finkelstein dwarves and 6 Krautian dwarves to fight them.

The dwarves were all in the same bag and the ogres were in a separate one.

The 2 page sheet shows the two forces in case you are in any doubt. But to be honest the Krautians are in a uniform and the other dwarves are not, so there shouldn’t be that much confusion. The second ogre was wrapped in his own bubble wrap to protect him a bit more as he has a halberd blade acting as a bayonet and this extra protection was to ensure it didn’t snap off.

Let’s look at the dwarves:

These are lovely figures and full of character. To be truthful, the camera doesn’t do them justice. The Krautians look rather resplendent in their matching uniforms whist the Finkelstein dwarves have a bit more of a rag tag look about them.

Regarding the Finkelstein Dwarves…The two nearest the camera have no visible weapons so will be ideal for civilians or spies. The one at the back is armed with a sword.

The Krautians are on the whole armed with Dwarf Muskets MKII. The officer is armed with a sword.

The thing I like about the Alternative armies minis is that you have to spend quite a while looking for flash lines on the whole. The bugler has a bit between his legs and one of the ogre has a bit on his shoulders but on the whole they look like this.

On the hat it is noticeable but on the rest of him not so much. In the past I have had to turn the figure upside down and look to see where the mould line is on the base and follow it round to find it on the figure.

The Ogres look rather spiffing too.

The ogre on the right is armed with a Kannonderbus and the one on the right is armed with a double musket with attached Glaive as a bayonet.

So to end with… This set cost me £32.50 with a flat rate of £5.00 postage. Stamps alone came to £3.90 so not to costly on the postage.

I decided to add everything up to see if I had made any savings.

The rule book is £17.50

The nine dwarves @£2.00 each come to £18.00

The two ogres are £9.00

And a pair of dice at £1.00

Now by my calculations (I actually checked it three times as I kept thinking I had done it wrong as it looked a massive saving)…This lot if bought individually would come to £45.50. A massive saving indeed.

Now if you are thinking about getting into Flintloque then these Shilling Service packs are a definite saving (as is the resin Escape from the dark Tzar (5024) 10 figure set).

The Shilling packs at present are as follows:

SSP04 Bier and bones

SSP01 War in Catalucia

SSP02 Death in the Snow (Witchlands campaign)

SSP03 Grapeshotte (artillery set)

In my own personal view they are well worth their money (financially definitely).

Once I have sold some more surplus materials I think I will go for the Grapeshotte set. (This will mean I have all four books – The Witchlands book is an electronic one)