Colonel Marbles Miniatures Masterworks February 2002!

Colonel Marbles Miniature Masterworks - February 2002

Jan. 2002

Feb. 2002

Mar. 2002

Apr. 2002

May 2002

Jun. 2002

01/02/02

Some new Celtos figs - these 'Gaels' are supposedly gonna be R&F mini's for their new game. Pretty nice actually - better than some of their even more OTT stuff...

Yeah those are much better proportioned if a little square - I do like their figures it is the price that is frightening! - frotherbAz

Hmm, not my cup of tea for sure, but we have been hearing from a few people looking for suitable Rank and File to go with the "showcase" Celtos figures (and similar) so I'm sure the gap is there.

But are they going to be priced as rank and file? I hope there'll be more variants than this too! -Doc

02/02/02

Some of the new Picts from Black Tree - tempted Doc ??

Actually they are pretty fecking ugly. Is it just me or are they rubbish?

Ok, they're crap.

I thought so.

07/02/02

Some sneak advance pics of new Confrontation figs !

They really are barmy ...

He. I like the pierced gobbo, thats pretty crazy.

Now those look great nice and wacky - make a good addition to the all new Wizard of Oz....

Look like cool mini's. But poor images dude. -UnclEvl

Bah, you wouldn't believe the hassle I had getting them! Thanks goes to the guys at SDEN btw.

08/02/02

Aha! The Colonel asked me to deal with yesterday's Masterworks and there was a rather bad run of dysentery in the barracks, so he had to be dragged from his boudoir to provide for you frothers! Sorry Colonel!

Now that I'm all scrubbed up I'll show you what I was going to present- some rather fine new marines/special ops from Shadowforge. For those not in the know, Shadowforge are an Australian manufacturer that (for some reason) only make female figures. This means these figs will be great for adding variety to those male dominated Imperial Guard squads, as well as running alongside your Street Violence or other sci-fi hit teams.

These ladies certainly won't be letting the side down, either for casting/design quality or firepower- and theres some more to see at Shadowforge

Very nice too. Glad to see someone on the Colonels staff has 'healthy' appetites.

09/02/02

Given the dearth of anything else new, here's some more of the new Foundry Dwarves.

They get my vote !!

11/02/02

Hola !

Spanish mini makers Dragonrune only seem to issue new figures once every six months, but when they do they make some excellent miniatures.

Case in point is this brand new Gobbo on Wolf.

Colonel Marbles, he say yes !

Now that is cool. That is it, I gotta put a bulk order in, their figs are just too good not to have.

Wow, thats the most cartoony gobbo I've seen yet!

12/02/02

Perry Miniatures have just started their Samurai range - a must for any fantasy Army Of Nippon !

Nice. Get yer cheque book out Alex.

I like those they look pretty good!

Those are very impressive- those Perry boys sure know their stuff, and these are much better than Foundry's samurai range, and cheaper too (less than a pound a fig, are they nuts?).

The most likely problem for people with existing samurai (or fantasy Nippon) armies will be that these make all their old figures look like sh**!! Hopefully an upcoming Showcase will help these poor souls..

12/02/02

Finally new German mini-makers Masquerade release their first figure ! A very nice looking 'Waywatcher' apparently. Sorry but I have no further info on their forthcoming stuff...

Great figure and very good paint job. What the hell is a waywatcher?

He watches the way, Baz.

Looking at this again it does seem quite 'cartoony', y'know big muppet hands and head.

Is this cartoonery a developing trend in European fantasy miniature design? Or is it me? I think we should be told...

13/02/02

Todays pics are from historical firm Front Rank. Excellent Medieval figures available at a very handy price!

Those are good quality figs - looks like their unit pack deals work out less than 70p per figure too. Good find Colonel M.

14/02/02 Some of the new releases from Reaper - again, not bad at all... Not bad? You been at the sherry again? They're pony, esp them Orcs. One of ems armed with a giant banana for godsake. I know you may be into sharpened fruit, but I prefer something a little more substantial. You mean like a cucumber or something ? I expect he's thinking more like a chicken madras. With pulao rice. Hey, the troll and ogre are pretty good. Orcs are rubbish though, I have to say.
15/02/02 Some new Future Wars 'Scavengers' from Copplestone - excellent as always !
16/02/02 Some more new stuff from Black Tree - light Celtic & Egyptian Chariots, plus a Were-rat asassin to bolster your skaven forces ! Looks like the same horses and price as the heavy chariots, so the same thoughts will apply here I think. 2 identical chariots for £15 seems even less of a deal for light chariots, though again I think Egyptian commanders will be tempted. Hey I'll probably still pick up a pack or two of the Celtii chariots, if I can grab them at Salute or summat (I'm certainly not adding P&P to the price). Black Tree are pretty much the only (other) big supplier of rat-men figures, so its nice to see them expanding their range. Dunno what makes this fig a were-rat though? Except that its a bit pricier than Ver'men assasins...
18/02/02 The latest limited edition New Wave figures - odd looking beastmen/broo type figs... What say ye ? Those look really good - very alternative - probably best as some sort of personalities or something. The top one looks interesting, but difficult to see from that angle what its really like. The other 2 look pony - remind me of the old Trish Morrison designed GW beastmen. Love the female shaman. But what are the others? Female Ungor? -White Knight
18/02/02 Holy guacamole !! Those Dragonrune boys really know how to sculpt evil looking Orcs ! Thats it. I gotta order. They are just way too cool not to have. Whose the best people to order em from Col? Tricky one me old chummer. No distributor here in the UK, so the best I can suggest is u mail order direct from their website.

19/02/02

Especially for the Doc, some more new Copplestone halflings...

Very nice. Hero on pony, hero on pony! So cool, I'm having that!

Yeah, why not, all your other heroes are on ponies.

}:|

20/02/02

OK one and all, things have been desparately slow on the minis front, so the Colonel has resorted to:
a) suggesting showcasing a previously overlooked and only moderately new miniature b) retreating to his bunker and leaving me to fire off today's dispatches

Anyway I thought you might like to see what Amazon have been up to in recent weeks. The answer, in terms of their 'Fantasy' ranges, is bugger all, despite having created a new webpage just for these lines. However I'm sure you'll agree that these supposedly historical 'barbarian women' easily qualify for the 'fantasy' tag. Clearly at no point in history has a civilisation discovered plastic surgery before cloth, but we won't let that spoil our enjoyment.

This are not a representative sample btw, its the entire batch, and may seem a midge overpriced at over a pound each. But very, er, pnumatic for all that, you do end up paying a small 'porn surcharge' for these things in my experience, extra costs of smuggling them through customs I believe.

If you are stuck for 'companions', these should go rather well with Ground Zero Games' (only fairly recent) 'Cavewomen'- also enclosed for your discerning perusal.

-Capt. "Doc" Ashton

21/02/02

Here's some new(ish) greys from Foundry, including some 'Jason & the Argonauts' figures..

Yea, those are up to standard. Are these on the historical or fantasy lines? Can we expect some greek mythology figs from Foundry's forge?

The Persians are historical whilst the Argonauts are the first of a fantasy (film based I guess) line.

Any news on GB/Vendel's upcoming Argonauts range?

No recent updates on that front I'm afraid...

Typical. Its probably been out for a year already, knowing them.

24/02/02

Today's masterwork comes from the defunct FASA's underrated 'Crucible' fantasy line . Still available thru Ral Partha Europe, they do some tremendous figures - I have their cracking Elven Serpent Riders and I know Uncl Evl covets their unusual 'tribal' Orcs. Doc has their Halfling Asassins (the fiend). This is a 'Mammoth Ogre'.

Crucible miniatures are one of the best lines that are currently around IMNSHO. I have most of their Infernal Elves, including the serpent riders (Who could resist those?), some of the Royal Elves, the Dwarf Ornithopters, the superb Headless Horseman, a Witch of Selena and I'm probably forgetting some.

Hmmm.. Looks like I have miniatures from nearly every manufacturer. Not good.

The Ogre looks dashing, though I'd rather call him "Ice Troll" or something like that.

Everybody: Bring back Crucible! Give us more cool minis! NOW!
Pictures are hard to come by since the demise of FASA though.

Superb mini - and a brilliant paint job too!

Very 'Yeti'.

25/02/02

OK since we had a bit of interest in the Crucible fig yesterday, here's some of Ral Partha Europe's own 'Fantasy Armies' range (pics care of WK !). They are some very nice Gobbo wolf riders, chariot & orcs. No wood elves then <sigh> ?

How new are these figures then? The orcs are good but the gobbo's are feckin ugly.

Not new at all really but Ral Partha's line have had little or no publicity (that Im aware of) over the years, so mebbe this will do a little to put that right..

Yeah, not bad. NIce figs, although they don't go so well with the other manufacturers more industry standard GW Orcs. But still, might be worth a punt cos they look good. Quite like the Wolf Riders, but the Chariot is a bit of a cart.

Recognise the design style now though, sure they must be Bob Olly. He did some gobbos, amongst other things (Undead) for GW a few years back. Quite nice, bags of detail.

26/02/02

Some of the newChainmail releases. Including yet another orc figure godammit !!

Some even more f***ed up muties there for ya baz!

The howler thing is rubbish, and I'm not keen on the orc (very 'clunky') but the mouth thing is great! Feed me Seymour!

Ooo yeah. Very nice, bags of character. Very 'Orc-at-Arms kinda thing.

Some nice muties too. Go well in Bazzers mutie hoard thing.

Bags of character? Bag o' shite more like.

The figure is probably passable under that dreadful paintjob (purple orcs?). But it looks as if it would have enormous trouble actually moving.

No way! We looking at the same figure? You 'avin' a larf? Winding me up?

Ok, the paint job is not the best in the world, but its battlefield passable, no matter what colour the skin is (and I respect others rights to paint fantasy races whatever colour they like, and that passes ok as a 'reasonable' skin tone - not exactly garish). But the figure itself is cool. Be right at home with GW orcs, nicely proportioned, strong pose, right mix of hodge-podge armour giving it a scruffy but eminently functional look.

I definitely going to get it, just so I can field it as a Destroyer against your puny humies and give them a right pasting. How can I get em from Col? They do any more?

You sell off your minor possessions and send an enormous cheque to wizards of the coast, as I understand it.

Ah. They're not accepting souls anymore then?

Apparently there was a glut, and the price of the containment vessels sky-rocketed.

Bugger. And I've been saving mine at home in an old jam jar as well, for just such a purpose.

If you have a containment vessel already they will probably accept it.

I'll put a bit of bubble wrap round it then. Should be ok. Hope they don't mind it being a bit sticky and 'raspberryey'.

27/02/02

Bah even more great Orc 'n Gobbo figs, this time some Orclings from Foundry's design bench.

Not a Wood Elf in site, godammit !!!

These will probably fit in quite nicely with the GW snotlings (especially with the 5th edition ones). I only have one of them at the moment so that makes it kind of hard to compare sizes. The orclings look good, but what's with the goofy lizard-thingies? As for Wood Elves, I guess some of the Nymphs could serve as female Wood Elves (You mean there's such a thing as male elves?). At the very least you can't say their clothing wouldn't fit in...

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