Hello,
I’m Chaz Marler of Pair Of Dice Paradise, and today I’m going to cook up some board games. Really, I’m literally going to cook them.

Recently, I’ve been analyzing the unplayed board games in my collection, to determine why those dust ornaments keep getting passed over, and how to rectify it.

Today, I’ll be looking at Guardians’ Chronicles, designed by The Red Joker and published by iello. This game’s Kickstarter campaign raised three times its target funds. This was due, in part, to the spectacular miniatures that were planned for the game. But, even the best laid plans can go awry, because, whereas the Kickstarter page showed off minis that looked like this, due to apparent production issues, the majority of what arrived in the box more closely resembled a tangled mess of minis produced at an overheated candle factory by a team of perpetually confused goblins.

Now, there’s always some discrepancy between a creator’s vision and the final product, but it would be nice if the game’s figures, you know, stood up on their own. Unless I mistakenly purchased a box full of casualties, these don’t quite function as I would expect minis should.

Can these mangled minis be salvaged? Well, today, I’ll be testing two tips for how to improve the minis in Guardians’ Chronicles. The first tip can be used to straighten these, or any other bent plastic minis. It doesn’t get much benter than this, so follow me to the Pair Of Dice Paradise test kitchen, where we’ll put this first technique to the test!

To straighten your minis using this method, you will need the following items: a pile of horribly deformed miniatures that you wish to correct, tongs, ice water and boiling water. Remember, to avoid serious injury, please follow standard safety precautions when working with boiling liquids.

Using the tongs, dip the bent mini in the boiling water. This will relax the plastic, allowing the figure to bend back closer to its originally intended shape. You only need to dip it for a couple seconds. Too much time in the boiling water could permanently damage the figure. Then, remove it from the boiling water, quickly make manual adjustments if necessary, and promptly submerge it in the ice water. This will cool and re-solidify the plastic. If you don’t obtain the desired results the first time, you can repeat this process several times without damaging the mini, as long as you’re careful.

Using the hot-to-cold water method, I was able to correct the worst of my Guardians’ Chronicles minis in less than five minutes. Does this technique work? Let’s check our results. Yes, it worked like a charm!

Hopefully, this technique is something you can use to correct disfigured plastic minis in your own collection. As for me, now that the figures in Guardians’ Chronicles now actually stand on their own, hopefully it will help finally get this dust ornament to the table!