Colonel Marbles Miniature Masterworks - APRIL 2004

01/04/04

Dragonrune seem to have hit a rich vein of form - these gobbos are great fun. - ColonelMarbles

But the basic design is pure GW knock-off, so minus a big load of points from me. Has the one in the middle just cut his own head off? It certainy doesn't look to be attached at a sane angle. - Von Bork

If Dragonrune continue to do a couple more goblins then they will be my choice for a goblin regiment. I agree that they look very EE, but these guys are alive and kicking compared to EE's. - Ugsome

Love the sculpts, you can almost hear them snarling - but I'm already thinking that getting them to rank up without sticking their weapons up other troops nostrils or into their faces is going to be the mother of all problems. - Reverend Nice

Yeah, I have to agree with the Rev. on that one. Bloody ace as RPing figs though, even if they are a tad Nelson-esque. - Grom

Deepneds what size base you sticke em on? If you go for the GW paradigm of 20mm, which is a crock of shite in my opinion, then could be hassle - go for basic 25mm (1"), should be fine. UncEvl

I have a batch of EE gobbies. I like these better. They're much more alive than the EE set. - Miniature Atlas

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01/04/04

Dragonrune Komodon Greens - Artemis Black

These are bloody tremendous !!! Miniatures of The Moment I think.

Look like the fishmen one from here. I dunno, nice I spose, but they do seem a bit... fussy? - Doc

These fishmen/lizardmen hybrid are the best I have seen. All other attempts to make this kind of fellows always missed in one or the other way. I don't really care about these type of creatures normally, but these tempt my weak soul. - Ugsome

God those are amazing. Just look at all the wonderful pictures of them at Sylvain's site. Until this moment I always thought "fishmen" were impossible to do in miniature without looking pathethic or silly. But these are cool. - White Knight

Very nice. Bit of a Fomorian feel about them? Would certainly work well in that capacity. - UncEvl

These are really attractive. Almost makes me want to get out the old Dragonlance underwater scenario and relive some Battlesystem memories. - chronofus

Very, very impressive. They deserve to do very well. I hope they are affordable so lots of people can get some. - Ian Newbold

wow, these really are great. Best stuff they have done yet IMO. I really like the concept they used for their sheilds. - Gloria Invictus

*Grins maliciously at all those Portent-dwellers who've been going on (and on, and on) about the lack of decent Lizard-type 'Alternative' figs. Great work! The sea-horse-type tails are ace, and they might even rank-up ok! Best of all, they've got a certain, well, nobility about them. - Grom

me likey. I would certainly buy them as they are, however, I think if they were marketed as Lizardmen and lost the fishtail they would be more useful mainstream (pun intended ) - no criticism, the figures are bloody marvellous and the concept is certainly more interesting than most. - squeaky

I'm very happy you like them. The standard/net is a bit stiff, but you are of course supposed to bend it, or even damage it to your liking (like on the sketches). - Sylvain

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02/04/04

big dark age green thingy spotted on headblast. - Waxfive

The sculptor was obvioulsy inspired by visions of his mother in law.

If there's no shield it needs armour on its knees. What are the spikes on the back of the neck for? The dynamic of the figure is missing from/contradicted by the position of the loincloth, albeit could be some slow hissing reptilian thing going on. I like the bare quality of sculpting but think the overall concept lacks unity. - Ohkier

It's not charging, it's screaming a challenge. I have no idea whether the spikes are armour or actual creature, the Dragyri are an odd race. They also have a strange honour code with stict adherence, including what weapons they use and what armour they use etc.

Look out! Halitosis attack!

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02/04/04

Spyglass Miniatures has a new website, which includes pictures of two new minis, Inge the sorceress (very tasty) and Maris the dark mistress (not bad). - Bloodfinger

Are these supposed to be Elves, or is Steve sculpting all women with pointy faces?

If he does r&f Elven Amazons, then why not... - Jakar Nilson

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02/04/04

Ebob Ranger - work in progress. - ebob

A return to sources, eh? Looks good.

It's hard to make out the face and other details, but I like it. The pose is excellent! - Aaron

Yes I like the pose and the overall look and feel as well. I hope you can get that arrow through casting ok. They always seem to cause me problems! - Ian Newbold

I love the pose, he looks full of character, certainly better than your run of the mill archer types.

He looks like he's got aviator shades on rather than an eye-patch. Weird, but I kinda like that. Be amusing to see the odd fantasy mini with strangely incongruous accessories, like the odd wrist-watch, mobile-phone, etc. Or is that just me?

I like the way he is loading up in the old English longbow style rather than the more modern arrow on the thumb method. - Si2

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04/04/04

Shadowforge has some new figures on their site. Dark Temple guard slingers, only some of whom we've seen before, and painted dryads. I like the way the poses of the slingers seem to form a "how to guide" to the steps involved in using a sling. And yes, they're topless, which I like but which may not be to the taste of the more PC Frothers!

The Amazons...PC has nothing to do with it. It makes no sense to have slingers using these type helmets with the restricted vision. I'm not sure that any part of their equipment actually helps (or fails to hinder) a slinger. The helmets could be "Helms of Fearsome Accuracy" or something like that.

Its a shame about the helmets on the slingers, looks well silly and even more so for the fact that they are topless.

Aye with you Doc. NIce poses on the slingers, but nakid with fucking great metal helmets on just doesn't work for me.

re.the slingers. I suppose the intent was to reinforce the "Dark Temple" theme, the helms being the re-occurring element. You know, give any "Dark Temple" army a consistent look... - The Masked Frother

Yea I can see that, but it doesn't escape the fact that it looks shit. I can (just about) buy a spearwoman with a big helmet and no other armour, but slingers with a full helm is stupid regardless.

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04/04/04

Perry Samurai, well up to the usual high standard.

Amazing figures, not only the consistent size and quality but the simple fact there is such a complete range to choose from, prolific perrys as always - an important criteria for potential army building in my view. - Squeaky

I still plan to buy these guys, give them ray-guns and use them as Mishima troops for UWZ. But then thats me.

What period are the Perry Samurai from, anyway? They sell back banners, but I suppose they are optional? One thing I especially like about the Perry line is the ammo bearers. Nobody ever bothers about that in a game, of course... - The Masked Frother

Late Sengoku, presumably, since they have arquebusiers.

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05/04/04

New stuff from Graven Images.

nb do they have a licence for Sharpe or are in for another LOTR copyright style haranging?

I guess that the Planet of the Apes Gorillas are in the same 40mm-ish size as the rest of the Cliffhanger and Gotterdammerung ranges. But how big are Sharpe & Harper? The same, or 28mm like the Border Reivers?

The apes are great!! Does anyone own Graven' mini's? Are they really 40mm. or somewhere inbetween 30mm and 40mm? And the Eureka apes are 'true' 25mm? - Area23

I've got the Frankenstein's Monster, which is about 45mm high. My descriptions of figures being 40mm-ish and 28mm are based on the ones I saw at Partizan in February.

I have a couple of Graven Images blisters. Except for a few exceptions where the figure should be "larger than life" they are all WAY TOO BIG for the rest of my 28mm collection. - frotherguest

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05/04/04

The first of the Cravid minis are available from Griffin miniatures. Drones.

Damn those bugs look nice!

blatant Robotech Invid rip-offs. Nice Sculpts though. - Demonetrigan

Interesting. I'd like to see a couple different painters interpretations, but they look promising. As a side note the Greys appear to have reverted to coming soon. What's up with that? - The Imp

Got to confess an interest here, as i mould some of the griffin stuff, but these really got be excited when these dropped on the desk. there's one with its hands behind it's back, Fantastic in a late Warner Brothers Martian kind of style. I laughed out loud. - PeteB

Is it me or are those Cravids total jank? They have a certain comedy appeal I guess.

I have to most heartily disagree with you, Colonel--those Cravids give me the twitch, as I am fond of saying when I see figs I like. - fourcolorfigs

I rather like these chaps. Something a little out of the ordinary - Marquis

Standing fully erect, a Cravid measures exactly 28mm. The bases in the pics were added by the painter (Simon 'Sturmhalo' Bradley). On the minis themselves the bases are metal and are just big enough to cover the figure's footprint. - UncHex

Not for me. These figures look like quickies: Basic composition, lack of fine detail, soft edges and limited motion. When I saw the concept drawings I was very excited...now I'm left rather cold. - Paintbeast

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06/04/04

Pissed off wolf, sculpted by Ebob.

Jaw looks a bit heavy there, has a bit of the boar about it sez I.

He does look pissed off, but maybe more like a wolf hybrid. I still like him though. I'm not really into realism in minis anyway. Is it just me, or is there a rather flat spot on his right shoulder? - Jenova

Probably matted fur from the fight hes obviously in.

Hail! I'm not trying to pick on your wolves...I'm really not. This wolf looks cornered. The position of the back legs doesn't suggest an aggressive wolf , but one in a defensive posture without the ability to flee (cornered). Sell this wolf with the other and the ranger and you would have a very nice scene of a ranger hunting two wolves. - Paintbeast

well it is supposed to be a defensive pose - like someone is attacking it with a sword say. To be fair it's one of my earliest sculpts dug out of a box - just wondered if it was worth casting up.

It takes years of alcohol, drugs and self-abuse to be able to produce a real cloaker. Sculpting with your feet also helps. - Woody

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06/04/04

Some new Reaper greens, all of which are pretty good and most are excellent. The best, I think, are Famine and the young mage. His face really looks young and slightly nervous. I like the Ice queen and the big bastard mountain troll as well!

frost bird =good
warrior monk=badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad

If I was going to be the sovereign of an icy region I think I would cover up a bit more than that. - frotherguest

A mixed bunch, as usual. The monk and troll are both pretty good though, especially the troll, even if 1: it looks a bit too much like the GW Olog-Hai, and 2: it looks more like an ogre than a troll imo. It's still darn cool! - Grom

I think the undead Mindflayer is pretty damn cool too

I think the Klockewerk needs to be taken in a new direction. The dark static sexy angular-cheeked babe has been well canvassed.

I like the Klocke sculpts. I'll buy all of them if I can. The halfling chick is my favorite .....

The Grim Reaper is poor. - Rob

I like the young mage. Will pass on the rest. - Exile

Yea I reckon Death could be a little more 'deathy' couldn't he, might make a passable 'war' I spose. Looks like hes going to do the hoovering. Surprised noone has complained that the ice queen seems to be leaning on her cloak though. What a wierd pose. I do like the young mage, its very D&D/old skool in design, but one of the better bits I think and well executed as you'd expect from SLG.

Gotta agree with you about Death - make a good conversion 'Death cleans up'. Somehow the armbads make it kinda look like he's got his marigolds on too. Not sure about the pose on the Ice Queen - leans a little far back. She's either:
a) got a well concealed shooting stcik lodged up her arse.
b) is frozen in position.
c) pissed as a cunt and about to fall over.
Personally I prefer c). "You wanna look at my shord #hic#. S'hi's big innit. #hic# Whoops, fugit."

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06/04/04

Spyglass Centaur.

I like her, but there's something odd about the placement of the female torso on top of the horse. Seems like she's too far back. This probably results in the belly, which makes her look pregnant. Still, pretty nifty. - Mancha

i think it is the fact that the front legs are not quite proportioned right, they are a bit long. the shoulder that we can see is a bit high and the female torso should be placed a bit lower, there is too much horse neck showing. i havent seen many centaurs but i do know a bit about horse anatomy!

apart from that small point i really like the female figure, she is very natural looking ( for someone who is half horse but you know what i mean!) steve is very good at females ( no pun intended ) and she is as good as we have come to expect from him. - looby

I think the two parts are out of scale. The horse is a third bigger in relative proportions to the girl. Not to mention it looks like a stalion...

I don't mind that it looks like a stallion (all centaurs should look powerful), but it IS kind of strange that all that horse funnels into that very tiny female waist.

It's an interesting interpretation of the theme. I like that Buddle made the decision to not compromise the size of the horse in favor of something dainty enough to seemlessly flow into the girl's torso. It doesn't flow quite naturally, but as a magical creature I don't think it has to.

Centaurs are a tough call either way you go. Dark Sword did a female Centaur for their first Masterworks set and although it came out looking good, getting the female proportions to match up with the horses proportions is really a pain especially if you are trying to have the human portion be a normal sized human and not some mutant/giant human.

I think Steve did a great job on this piece knowing how dang difficult it is to match the two parts together (horse body and human torso). I will be picking it up for sure as I am a big fan of his work. - DarkSwordMiniatures

Aye, I'm with the consensus - nice, but horse body too big in relationship to the human part.

To be honest, I think this is a fantastic sculpt and the form is right on. Most centaurs are shown with an Arnold the Barbarian upper body that is usually overly blown up with muscles and gives a grand tipping the scale forward appearance to the balance of the miniature. This centaur shows a graceful and functional balance. - peanutbutterjellyfish

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08/04/04

A Dark Age Dragyri Tempest, I don't think she has been posted here before.

Beautiful. Now, given the size of that Dragyri fem, I want to see the cavalry big enough for her to use that mancatcher on. Well, maybe I should have said skaardcatcher...

very nice.

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08/04/04

It seems that Retour des Dieux has a new website. I'm not sure if the list of miniatures is in fact new or if it is merely old miniatures newly added to the website. Some good stuff in there (love the crazy cat demon), but many of the new minis are dwarves (which I've never been very fond of) and goblins (of the Vendel variety). - Mancha

I like the mage with the staff.

The maiden in white has some nice titties

Yes, the fabric that maiden is wearing is amazing. The new site is a pleasure to visit. The pictures and the paint jobs are handy, and the excellence of these sculpts is well served by both.

Hi, few years ago before Ilyad was created, the owner of Ilyad had another company called "Armagedon". The big size cat mini is from this old company (as other big size mini: spider queen, minotaur, demon, ...). Even if it's not a "Chroniques de la Lune noire" mini, I like it. - isabelle

The Dwarf is awesome. It's a pose that many manufacturers seem to ignore... I grew up playing with figures that stodd around wagling their weapons ( oo-er) so to see a figure actually reloading is something I really like in figures with guns. - Adamski

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08/04/04

Hi All, The Gamezone site claims that these are "New", but I don't know how new they are. If these have been presented already forgive me. I think I'd remember the falling horse though.

bags of character-even though they do look a bit ruff. - frotherguest

Cracking figures. Shame the Spanish twats don't seem to know there might be a market for them outside their humble peninsula.

They look a bit rough around the edges.. but I may just have to get me one of those falling down horsey thingies.

I am a Spaniard and yes, I have seen then and even know someone who has bought some of them (sadly not painted yet). I thought that they are people from Seville and are trying to get to almost every good shop in Spain. I don´t know if they have any interest in the "anglo" market (they must). I will try to get some more info. - Sargento 100% Algodon

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08/04/04

Sorry, folks, I don't have anything to say about corporate ethics, but at the risk of going way off topic, here are some new minis from Assassin. The Egyptian priestess is nice, but the big cat's proportions look odd. The Berserker is cack. The two in between are OK. The rest we've seen.

I'd go along with that. I think the second figure (the amazon) is pretty good too, as for the third I think its quite nice that they don't feel the need to sculpt all of their implausibly underdressed females as gorgeous nymphs. Why indeed shouldn't ugly birds swan about in a pair of knickers and a cloak? And skull knee-pads?

I like the Priestess a lot, and her kitty is great too. Bloodrage is good, but it's strange to see a mini with closed eyes, and her face looks kind of masculine. (Her lips need a hint of red by the way.)

The convention mini is nice although the combo of the strangely bulging bikini bottoms along with the apple-breasts makes me think transvestite (I see transvestites everywhere though). I love the berserker, although only because his face looks truly berserky; I'd like to see some spittle coming down the side of his chin.

I agree with that too, (s)hes definitely packing heat in those panties. Pre-op transexual rather than transvestite, though I'm not PC enough to make a definitive pronouncement on terminology. If you look at it that way it is a pretty good fig, though I'm not sure how many pre-op trannies there are in most fantasy settings.

The cat strangely looked more like a dog to me.... but the priestess looks very cute.

I like the priestess figure a lot, but she looks more like a well dressed prostitute to me.

She's probably not a perfect replica of authentic Egyptia priestesses ... but, looks fine to me.

Priestess is fine...... but that deffo ain't no cat!!!!!!! - Windymillar

maybe she's a sacred prostitute like the one of ancient Middle-East cultures. (doesn't seem Egyptian practiced it, but you may never know...) BTW, there were also male sacred prostitution, which led us to the trannie... - s4794

I don't think this sculptor can do faces - over 50% of them are pretty 'orrible! The priestess looks OK, except her head might be slightly large and her neck has a definite snake-like quality! - frotherguest

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09/04/04

Reaper new releases are in the Galleries. Damn that Angel is nice.

Some look good, some (like the sun paladin/Rand Al Thor) look a bit naff...

badger-wolf is crap

I don't know how they allowed that badger-wolf to the range. It looks quite out of place and out of quality... The rest is great. - Catinator

Agreed it's a bit naff, but I'm tempted to get it as a laugh. I've got a spare goblin boss who needs a ride. - Bloodfinger

Agree with you guys, all good except for the badger wolf. Don't really see anything distimguishable that makes it a badger/wolf cross-breed. - Ghost

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09/04/04

CoolMiniOrNot have a new miniature for their latest painting contest. Apart from the position of the cloak, which looks too rigid too me, that is a very nice miniature. Should be good to see what some talented painters make of her (I on the other hand am too slow and too crap to even think of entering a painting competition!)

Funny, I knew it was sculpted by Gael Goumon before I read the text. His work is very recognisable.

Pretty good, but agreed the cloak does let it down a bit.

It could work if the tail and mane of the horse were blowing in the same wind, and if the motion of the cloak were a bit more chaotic. Gael should take in a gale. P.S. I like the horse.

I think thats putting it way to nicely, that cloak makes the figure look like shit. especially since its in the exact same plane as the arm. "the winds blowin thattaway"

I really don't like Gael's horses. The hind quarters always look messed up to me.

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09/04/04

Fenryll Undead Pirates (Bob Olley). Undead pirates - that'll never catch on....

Must resist buying thousands ... must resist!

Captures the whole feel, fantastically.

Wow, that is good stuff! I like those a lot!

Yes that swabbie is fantastic. The work on the bones is very good.

I like these a lot. As much as I like the Old Glory ones, these are clearly better.

Excellent. A must have for any pirates of the Caribean adventure.

Wow, I didn't really like Bob Olley before this. The captain is amazing. Talk about a pain to paint though.

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