What’s up, gamers? Today we’re shifting gears just a bit from game reviews to a product review! I got a few nifty coins from Drawlab Entertainment in preparation for their season 5 Kickstarter campaign. So if you’re looking for some game upgrades, or if you just want to play with some metal coins, let’s check these out and see if they’re right for you!
General Quality
Size – The coins vary in size/thickness a little bit, but overall are pretty average size for metal coins. They’re not too big and clunky, nor too small and fiddly. They fit in your hand nicely, especially if you like to play with them (like I certainly do).
Look – We’ll go into the details of each set that I looked at, but each set has a copper, silver, and gold coin, and they all have a really nice shine to them. They catch the light nicely, and you can easily tell the different coins apart if you happen to be colorblind. Overall, they have a really nice table presence that adds to any gaming experience.
Weight – I couldn’t get an exact weight on these, but they have a nice weightiness to them. They’re substantial when held in your hands, and just have that great metal coin feel to them, and they’re not overly heavy that they are annoying to handle or anything like that.
Amerindian Set
This set is inspired by the iconic history and works of art of ancient civilizations of the Americas; specifically the Mayan, Aztec and Inca Empires. This set offers 3 different types of coins with no denominations listed on them, so you can use them however you deem fit.
I thought the copper and silver coins, both round, were really nice overall; a great size and weight, easy to tell apart. The gold coins, rectangular, were a little bit bigger and clunkier. Personally, I’m not a fan of the inconsistent shapes, I’d prefer them to all be round or square, but they’re still neat.
While I do not know much of the history behind the coins, I thought all of them had some interesting designs that were pretty detailed. Though some of the sides (back/bottom of the gold coin in particular) were not very exciting.
Definitely a cool set, and I think those who are particularly interested in the history behind them will really be able to appreciate these.
Train Units
This set features trains from as far back as 1840! As one of the “unit” sets, it offers copper, silver, and gold coins in 1, 5, and 10 denominations respectively.
I love the ticket shaped copper coin. I think it’s super unique and fun, and adds a lot to table presence.
The shapes are inconsistent, which again is something I’m not a big fan of, but it all comes down to what you’re using them for.
Overall, the train sides were okay, I think they’re nice, but the 1s and 5s do look like they lost a little bit of detail, and the 10 coins’ train looks a bit stretched out to me. Of course, the ones I looked at are not final quality, so that could change in the end.
The number sides are way nicer, in my opinion. The writing is fancy, everything is written clearly, and they’re just really nice to look at.
Werewolf Set
This set, inspired by various lycanthrope lore, was my favorite of what I got a chance to look at. I thought that these had the most detail, were the most unique, and were just generally the most interesting looking ones.
They all had really nice textures overall, which was cool, and my favorite was the silver coin which had a hammered background behind the wolf head.
I also liked that they were all rounded coins, because I appreciate that consistency, and they’re easier to kind of stack and play around with during a game.
The one thing I wasn’t huge on was the “chunks” taken out of the copper and gold coins. They were a bit sharp and just seemed kind of weird to me. I assumed it was supposed to imitate a bite, but it just didn’t seem to look like that to me. Regardless, these were very cool, and I’d be excited to use a set of these in a game.
Other Info and Sets
Overall, the coins I looked at were pretty cool! Again, they are not final so they might look or feel different after the Kickstarter, but as they are now, they have a great weight and feel, a lot of them are very unique looking, and they just add a nice aesthetic to a gaming table.
Season 5 will also have Space Units (numeric), Elemental Coins, Camelot Coins, and Magician Coins available to backers. While I did not get to see any of these in person, the images look super neat as well, and I’m excited to see final versions! As has been the case with past seasons, there’s something for almost everyone in Season 5 and with so much variety, it is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in some coins for games, RPGs, or just to play with!
Additional Information:
Some of the images and descriptions are subject to change.
Website (to purchase past coins)
Kickstarter
*I was provided a few pre-production samples to do this preview*
