Colonel Marbles Miniature Masterworks - NOVEMBER 2003

01/11/03

A Chick Challenge contestant sent in the following image, calling it a "Freebooter, Demoness". I can only assume it's a pre-release because I don't see it on their site. I have to say that this is one of the coolest minis I've ever seen. I will be ordering her in multiples when she becomes available.

(Hope I haven't let the Freebooter cat out of the bag prematurely. This image was, afterall, posted to a public forum.)- Mancha

Wow, what a saucy beaut - FatGoblin

I'll be interested to see how she shapes up when put together. - Col. Marbles

This is highly immature, but #froth# - White Knight

Maybe the sculptor or owner of Freebooter entered! - Rob

Apparently she's almost two inches high, but is still in 28mm scale. She's got an elf head in one hand. Mancha

Quite nice. - Doc

saucy mare

Are you sure about how tall it is? If so and one were interested in doing so, she would make a fine Slaneshi DP. With EE's new Daemonettes you could have an all female, albeit small, demonic warband if you were so inclined... - TheImp

Neat idea, but wouldn't EE object to the fact that the DP would cost less than a single Deamonette Blister? - Jakar Nilson

You mean more than they already do over non-EE products?

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01/11/03

Brand new Tom Meier. The level of detail is amazing.

Is that a pre-Raphealite style I see emerging?

Wow! I hate wood-elves on principle, but these are still utterly superb. - Grom

Oh my God! I really love where Tom is going with these. Just when I thought they couldn't get any better. Waiting for December. - Gloria Invictus

Any picture of them painted? Would love to see what colours Tom would choose...

I don't have time to paint much, if I did paint these elves I'd use various shades of green, brown and gray ( grey to all you Brits). The clothes on the wood elves are mostly meant to be soft buckskin leather so the colors would be rather muted. Metallic greens for the scales, as if they were enameled, would be interesting and the brightness would make a good contrast for the muted clothes. Chain I'd make bright and, as always, porcelain white skin and jet black hair. I've always imagined elves to have that Cornish look. For special figures and accents like crests I'd use autumn leaf colors (colours).

I've decided to push forward the standard and musician pack to come out at the same time as the infantry.

Pre-Raphealite is not a bad description but not arrived at so much through Rossetti and Millais as from Italian painting before Raphael. - Tmeier

Tom, I think it would be nice if you had scale comparability information on your own website, that way its readily available for people thinking of buying your mini's - I am a scale freak and find that that information is way to hard to find concerning other companies figures. After they are released, maybe you could have a way for people to submit pictures of your minis photographed alongside other brands of minis.....Like you did with the LOTR stuff

Glad to see you are pushing up the standard and musician as well, the more the better.

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02/11/03

At there is a metal figure [by Masquerade] titled "Elfenmagierin" which I take to be elf mage which looks new (says so under the star). Plus some really cool and cute stuff at the bottom which I would have sworn I've seen somewhere before.

Ooh, and "Monsters!" How adorable...

Interesting offerings. I hope better pics will soon be available on Masquerade's site.

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03/11/03

Freebooter just released a new limited edition (250 total) miniature. A pirate girl with big thingies (including weapon). - MiniatureAtlas

that's the mini that I believe someone said had a weirdly positioned leg. Did I make a Monkey Island reference about it as well?

And now, looks almost like Carla, the Swordmaster of Mélée? Island...

...You fight like a cow...

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03/11/03

Two parcels came in the mail today (wheeee!) One of which is from eureka and contains a 18mm treeman, in case you want to see it. Its just under 50mm root to eye and just over 70mm root to top branch. I also got the catalogue, nice thing is that alot of the pictures are real life size.

I'm looking for a treeman to convert into an evil hanging-treeman, but i've not found many i'm keen on. And I'm not too keen on that either i'm afraid. Although i guess it is big!

Woo-yay for the catalogue though! Any landed in England yet?

may have to pick that up for my wood elf force. will do as a dryad i reckon.

errr, forgot to mention they are not for sale yet... I did also get a brief sneak peek at some of the dwarves and elves for the range too and they looked quite nice for their size.

In 25mm, they should make for a good, cheap couple of units of Entlings... As for Huorns, well it's almost Christmas, so buy those cheap 3 for $1 fir trees...

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03/11/03

Discount Hobby has some new limited release minis available. The first is "The Lady of the Lake", the newest in their "Gods" line. (This should provoke as much wonder about what constitutes "God-dom" as did their previous Moses.) While I'm no fan of Sandra Garrity, I have to admit that she has her strengths and the whole classic-high-fantasy-based-on-reality theme is certainly it. This would look good in any Bretonian army and offers opportunity to practice painting one's transparent clothes effect.

The second mini is from Fenryll and is called "Orc Bomb". Er, what could be said about this? I leave that to you. Mancha

I like the Lady of the Lake...the sword is a bit large, but that's mere quibbling. The orc is a bit raw...playful but, given current events, not so much fun as it would have been 5-6 years ago. I really despise PC but I'll probably take a pass on the orc... Ohkier

Plus its a very poor sculpt. Whats that coat made of, fibre glass? If you wanted to check out how to do folds in fabric theres plenty of great cloaky type monsters to compare with... Lady of the lake is nice though. Sword too large? It is Excalibur dude!

The Lady is defo the best of the Gods line. Excellent work, the hilt of the sword is great too.

The Lady of The Lake probably was worshipped as a goddess in times of yore before the Normands came, maybe even the Anglo-Saxons. Basic Earth Mother cult thing I would guess... Worship?

I always saw Excalibur as a beautiful warsword of great quality, not a 2x4. It does have a beautiful hilt, but I would replace the blade. First human of sandra's I've bee able to say that I like for a long time.

It's nice to see that Miss G is getting away from 80's hair on the women. I like the Lady of the Lake, too. The orc is cute ... and, had it been sculpted better I'd like it, too.

If its post-roman britain and not victorian high fantasy, then that is a beautiful warsword. Er, but the style of dress would indicate the latter...

So with Victorian high fantasy Excalibur IS a 2x4? my bad......whatever was I thinking. Actually Victorian high fantasy is what I was thinking of. For victorian Aurthurian, I tend to be influenced largely by Tennyson and the Illustrations of Louis Rhead, which seem to portray Excalibur as a beautiful warsword, not a ZweiHander with a single handed hilt.

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04/11/03

Another 54mm Amazon and some pretty cool looking Beastmen types from Drew Williams workbench... I wonder who the latter are for? - frotherGuest

The amazon is still at an early stage, but thats fun to see in progress. Here are the beasties though (doesn't mention scale for them, or intended recipient)...

Nice, not your usual 'beastmen' so they could maybe be 'totem-spirit' types in feral armies as well as giving options to beastman commanders.

I like the "stag" warrior. This could be a great addition to a woodelf army, perhaps as a sorcerer-shapeshifter.

If it should turn out to be 54mm, it would make a great alternative to GW's woodelf king (Orion?).

Great... Now I'm gonna want one...

Schtop, this miniature is not ready yet!

You mean he's going to get arms too? great! It's getting better and better.

Oh, shame. I thought they were fanatical paraplegic headbutters. - UnclEvl

Too bad they aren't plastic - think of the conversions by mixing them with GW beastmen, Orcs or even Kroot! - frotherGuest

That "Wild Boar" fig is awesome. I don't have an army that could use it in any way, shape or form, but I am still going to have to have one.

I do so enjoy it when something cool comes out of left field -Marquis

Made me think for a moment of a Redwall range coming into being, but then I realized that the animals were too big for the scale (since the largest creatures in Redwall are Badgers, Foxes, and Wolves, and native to Britain, these guys are a bit too small for a 28mm Redwall range...).

Still, they could go into the Mutants masterwork...

ace,boar champion with studded butt plunger. - UAG Gwartisan

Well I did like the boar before, not crazy about the butt plunger though

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05/11/03

Flintloque is releasing new Bog Orcs. The Flintloque fluff pretty much sums up how I feel about them:

"'I don't know what they will do to the enemy but by Sentinel they scare me!' - Wheeling-Turn at the Battle of Slaughterloo" Mancha

Help, it's the Irish!*

* In Flintlocke, the Orcs are British and the Bog-Orcs are Irish...

Thank God I don't sell that stuff anymore. The sculpting quality has declined tremendously. - Brigade Games

Yep, they look like shit

But the Erin sculpts are very nice! - Area23

I know i say this every time, but they should hire the sculptor we saw recently with the NapOrc. Actually, scratch that, someone else should hire him and start afresh.

yeh that nap-orc was tremendous.

Flintloque figs have only one purpose and thats to throw at passing trains (note 1* only under strict parental guidance)<(note2* train cops are real bastards-so beware).

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05/11/03

More Askaris from Brigade Games...

Nice stuff ... I like this style of sculpting ... clean with appropriate details, without being too crammed with needless detail.

It's the "Foundry" school of style. Mark Coppolstone, Mike Owens, Perries, etc. It's an evolution from the ultra busy EE school of style...

Well, I like it

Although these are basically the same kind of figs as Foundry's Darkest Africa Sikhs, just by someone else than Mark Copplestone. And I just sold mine this spring...

What did you do such a dang foolish thing like that for? Lead is meant to be accumulated, don't you know? - FrotherGuest

Well, Sikhs don't fit in that well in North America. And I have bought over six to eight times their weight since (and more...).

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05/11/03

More ka-ka from Adiken. Hardly even worth a look, but I report it as a dutiful frother (or guest frother) - Mancha

Well, I like it more than EE's outgoing Bretonian archers...

I like him!

Well, the hands are too big. And, the eyes and mouth look strange ... but, I think those can be attributed to the paint job. I'd buy one if I had a need for yet another human male archer.

I don't like it. - Isabelle

I find the proportion between shoulders and waist a bit strange too. But still not so awful. The face looks like he just shot in the wrong target (and hoping nobody noticed it) - s4794

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06/11/03

More new Reaper greens.

Not bad, nothing to make me start frothing about though.

I do like the monkey and squirrel familiars.

Duke Gerard kinda looks like a GW space marine...

Blood Angel?

Gotta love the hamster! - Grom

Cuuute!

Really like the familiars,

Not sure about the 'Thrud' mega-barbarian...

I could see using the Duke as the Emperor in a game of 30K (!?) I like it. - Nudspinespittle

I've always wanted a lead stoat...

It's Thrudd's bigger, uglier brother, Uggh.

Swell, just what we need. More of that tripe ...

The duke is well sculpted but abit overdone I think... The familiars are nice, as usual.

Now now. Whilst EE may have their issues, their fluff is still pretty good y'know.

In fact, I just re-read Chaos Child by Ian Watson, and I have to say that it is a great book. All nice and bleak.

Yes, that's a cool mini from bobby Jackson, rejoicingly enough, it's quite sobre when compared to his previous over-dynamic and draped minis, that's the right way to go Bobby!

This mini would make a great 40k inquisitor with the wings removed 'cause the GW range really lack this sort of excentricaly-dressed minis.

The half ogre looks cool too, perfect proxy for the awful GW chaos ogres, let's hope reaper minis will produce a few other to complete the unit. (by the way, does anyone know the size of those minis?)

Oh, and as usual, cool squirrel, hermine and hamster from Sandra Garrity... - LFant

"Halloween Hamster". Oops, too late! Interesting to see brown stuff being used for a face. I sort of thought it was best for large smooth surfaces. - Von Bork

Whilst I am no big fan of EE's marketing, i am on the other hand quite a fan of the 40K universe. I like the idea of mankind fighting a loosing battle against tides of unmentionable evil, from every corner of the galaxy. It is poignant and evocative.

Hence the fact that the prospect of a pre-heresy 30K army and commander is rather appealing.

Reaper has been on a roll, no? I think Duke Gerrad is great but needs a sword, instead. The ogre is killer as well - Ghost

well the half ogre look quite like a full ogre in a very simple but good way. The duke is good too, but put this way, how much gourgeus should be the king/liege of this duke? -s4794

Make him as ugly as a Shakespearian King can get. Just so he gets ultra jealous and goes "nutty"...

I just picked up the duke yesterday and it looks great! The ultimate paladin. What I didn't notice first when I saw the green here was that the face is very nicely done too. Very happy to report that the only thing on his back is a small pin on a flat armour plate so it can be filled of very easily. The OTT back banner makes an interesting addition to the bits box though, maybe as part of a holy army standard. Very happy with it.

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07/11/03

Some Dark Age re-releases.

Ugh. First mini I see today. Am I looking at a mini, or is there a mirror on the screen?

Yeah. Very, er, Jabberwocky. -UnclEvl

Quite brillig.

It's crap.

It's a mirror all right. And it looks like I need to eat something...

Dark Age'S' not Dark Age *mutter* - Artemis Black

Dark Age "S"? An early version of Department "S"? With Jason King in pseudo-medieval bondage gear? Yuk.

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07/11/03

Well, we can't keep it under our hats forever...

I've been working on a project with Walt O'Hara called "Circus World: a Game in Two Acts".. this is a combined skirmish/competition game in a circus setting. CW is really two games in one; a competition game where acts are deployed and compete against each other, and a skirmish game which is a no-holds barred bloodbath under the big top. Circus figures will be sold by Family Pack with some generic extra acts. CIRCUS WORLD: A GAME IN TWO ACTS is currently in draft form and hopefully will be ready in early 2004.

Yes, I will have these at Fall In and they are in stock NOW. They are in the webstore under Brigade Games Adventurers and Games/Circus World.

This sounds like just the stuff I was looking for for my Wild West Carnival of Horrors project.

one of the circus families is the Coty Wild West Show.

I'm not really into the whole circus thing. If I want a laugh, I'll just look up what the politicians are doing... (...And just across the river, how convienant)

However, some of the figs would look good in an anarchist "militant group"...

cool! I already have some circus weirdos, more the merrier

Excellent idea if you ask me !

I've been thinking for a long time that it would be cool if there was a Wild West Show set of miniatures. Good job Lon. - Mancha

Good stuff. Nice to see somebody releasign an original and off the wall game, instead of the same old same old sci-fi/fantasy skirmish malarky. I'll be sure to check it out.

Wow, speaking solely as a man on the street with no interests in this project commercial or otherwise, I am compelled to say what a work of genius it is..

Hey Lon, the figures arrived tonight. YOWSA! Step right up ladies and gentlemen! Love the stilt-walker! - Walt O'Hara

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08/11/03

Beervarian Landwher Cavalry from Alternative Armies...Great fluff! The minis are a bit too thin...

dear god in heaven.

Crap. the one on the left is riding a pig?????????? - PeteB

Yes that is a pig. The original Krautian cavalry in Flintloque rode pigs. Whoever the new sculpter is has a thing for big bulbous noses. Not my cup of tea.

Allrighty then. I guess it's left to RAFM to come up with suitable industrial Dwarf cavalry then, right?

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08/11/03

Pictures from the new 50 Fathoms range from Pinnacle/Great White Games.

Hardly an improvement. The pics aren't better, they're just bigger.

Shinny, shinny, shinny pewter minis

Tentacled monstrosities in the dark.

With apogees to the velvet underground.

It's just the same minis...

09/11/03

Great stuff from Scheltrum. And if you scroll down the page, you might find some Chinese Kite Fighters...

Yup, and as well as the Swooping Dragon Braves, there's the Striking Righteous Fists and the Wheelbarrow of Doom for fantastic China. By Martin Baker. I wish I could bring myself to like his sculpting, 'cos he covers so many subjects I like.

But I think all of these are new images rather than new models. The Land Leviathan was out at Salute two years ago, IIRC.

But then for people like MiniaturesAtlas, that's exactly what they've been waiting for!

They're a perfect addenda to the "Chinese Showcase" - s4794

And also to the Superheroes showcase comming in 2099... (Doc Oc henchmen?).

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09/11/03

Some new releases from Rackham. I think I'm in love with Miss Misericorde...

I like the dog thing but not its master. Not particularly impressed with the other two.

is it right that rackham carve their figs from the illformed bones of still born babies?.les gwart des san.

Whatever it takes man. Whatever it takes.

The hyena is awsome, the rest are of the standard I have come to expect.

You know, we were just talking about bondage in the Comic Book History Class this week... But the first thing that caught my eye (other than the bondage lady, dwarf and Wulfen) was the Hyena. $12 a fig, right?

At the risk of upsetting Waxfive, I'll say that it's really just the paint jobs that make these so good-looking. Miss Misericorde has no hips, breasts like grapefruits and an iron spike superglued to her collar.

The doggy is great.

Wolfy + dwarf, ok if you like this sort of thing.

6/10 (Rackham normally poll 8's and 9's)

So where's the problem with that? You prefer yer wimmen with hippo sized arses and thrup'nies like grapes do ya?

With you on those spikes though. Could muchly improve her by cutting the bugger off.

Hyena is cool!! Wish they'd make some purple assed baboons too!

About the only thing I really like from this set is the hyena - now thats what a Warg should look like

I thnk Rackham has spoiled us. I agree that this mediocre mins are made better due to their paintjob. - Ghost

Well, you have to have a good figure to start with before you can do a good paintjob! The figures are pretty good anyway and the painting just moves them up a notch! - Sturmhalo

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10/11/03

Here is some Reaper new releases. Some we have some the greens for (fly demon), however there are some never seen before (at least not by me, IIRC) - Ghost

Not bad; I like the female gladiator; as a Runequest fan I always like to see armoured Greek style females, although I wouldn't claim she's anything special from a design point of view.

Don't think much of the iron golem though, unless you're after a superhero style giant robot. Much too Sci-fi. An iron golem should look like that big chap in Jason and the Argonauts (he was bronze I think, but the principle's the same). - Bloodfinger

The Iron Golem is perfect for Victorian Science Fiction though...

Is it just me or aer the proportions on that Anti-Paladin fighter type all wrong??

It looks like a stretched dwarf or a stunted human, or maybe it's just bad photography....or it could be me - DemonEtrigan

I liked the mummy. I know, it's a little static, but it would make a good scenery piece (for the Egyptian terrain showcase), or with some plastic skeletons you could build a palanquin with it, with some ancient dead king carried around (as undead hero or as a powerful relic), etc... Plenty of possibilities.

well if we insist on the classical Greek proportions, it's wrong. If we can accept a more realistic approach (with maybe a touch of expressionism) wouldn't it be acceptable, after all? - s4794

Funny how Anti-Paladins always look a bit naff...

I thought it was pretty good considering who sculpted it. A definite improvement!

And the Female Gladiator - I could tell Jim Johnson sculpted her without even looking at the name. His figures have too features:

1) Bad hair and
2) Bad arms - either flailing back at odd angles, or joined to the body in a funny fashion.

Can't say he's showing any improvement either... - frotherGuest

I like the Iron Golem though agree it looks much more like a sci-fi robot in a stylee reminiscent of 2000AD - thinking Precious Leglock or ABC warriors - than a magicallly created fantasy Iron Golem.

bugger classical Greek bollocks, I'm just concerned with ordinary proportions.

I'm not sure if the arms are too long or too thick, the legs are too short or the head is too big....or all of the above.

I think that its probably just the head being a smidge too big. Because the head naked, you metally make the rest of the body smaller under the armour so the whole thing looks odd. But proportion wise it is about the same as other fantasy figures. Or maybe you just spent too long looking at those T Meier figures...

Funny thing is, he makes a better Celtos Elf than the Celtos Elves...

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11/11/03

Some 1930s trucks for your pulp era games (from Pulp).

This looks like being a very useful range, as pulp adventures often have a car chase or truck chase in them.

"Professor, the natives are attacking!"
"I told you to leave that Jade Idol alone!"
Thwock, thunk, sping, arrows and spears fly past.
"That tears it! Run for the truck!"
"Aargh! I'm hit!"
"Keep going man!"
"I'll just slow you down. Go on without me, I'll hold them off with my trusty revolver."
"Good man. We'll bring the truck around and grab you on the way past."

Just a sample, but you get the idea of what having a truck model on the table can do. - Rossco

The guy doing this first posted about it on the GASLIGHT group, but since I tend to game more Victorian than Pulp, it sliped my mind...

Saw one of these in the metal at Fiasco. Looked very nice and crisp.

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11/11/03

Shitty pics of an Ebay exclusive ogre.

Is Mr. White slumming? Has I-Kore let him go? Does he too need to make a car payment?

I think he's rationalizing. Nothing like anticipating criticism. Nice mini though. - Mancha

that is a very nice figure. Good pose and a nice beer belly! - frotherbaz

It's got a cute butt... -aecurtis

I can wait till the normal release and make my own strapping

But hark, who's that as the current highest bidder?

"High bidder: okeir (105)"

Hmm...sounds familiar!

I swear that I have never heard of either fellow. What's Wargaming, and what's all this "frothing" that people keep mentioning?

This ogre might be cool. But, I can't tell, since the pictures are clearly drawn with Crayon.

Do you mean a 2H or a crayola?

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12/11/03

Reaper: Got some new ones added today. - Bill

Hurrah! A female reptile without breasts! Lots of intricate detail on the mini too, and good body mass. Harder to judge about the other Reptus because of the poorer photo.

One more for the Chaos Knights showcase, and another slice of fantastic China (but what a dull mini).

In that case, basically all existing figures could be redesignated "female" as you please. - frotherGuest

The lizardmen are pretty good for a change and the female monk is okay (tho somewhat dull).

The assassin is heavily influenced by a similar rackham mini though.

Thats exactly what I thought when I saw that... except without the evil face. I quite like it myself (I don't like miniatures with rocks and stuff bilt in)

Those reptiles are great too.

I'm no expert, but how would you tell the difference between a male and female lizardman warrior?

It's reproductive organs

Hmm...not much to froth about this time out is there?

Yes, but with reptiles... Let me just put it this way, does anyone truly know what Great A'Tuin's sex is?

I find the reaper assassin a pale imitation...

Solid chaos warrior though, and quality lizards. But i don't fancy having to sex them.

If I had the money, I'd buy both the Rackham and Reaper jumping assassins. Husband and wife sharing the same profession...

The Reptus shaman sorta makes me think of a Mystic from The Dark Crystal---only *mean*! - aecurtis

awfully dull and the hair is all wrong (for a Far-Estern girl, I mean.) - s4794

The rep's cool, male or female. Loads of detail, even if the pose is a bit flat.

Not sure about the jumpin fellah. Looks a bit forced and pose/trajectory all worng - not really doing it for me. Chaps got a major shoes issue as well - I mean, no wonder he jumps everywher cos it must be a bugger to walk in them flippers.

The warlord looks interresting, but the dark color of the green make its details hard to distinguish, we'll have to wait for the undercoated version to tell if the mini is really good...

A few entrants in the Chick Challenge have stated that Shany's the Shadow (the Confrontation mini) is THE best miniature ever made. I'm not sure I share that belief, but there's no doubt about it that there's something "new" and unique about her.

What I like about this Reaper mini, however, is the fact that it's not his feet forming his base. I can't think of many other minis that share this feature (most obvious being GW Seraphims). Anyone else think of minis that are not held up by their feet?

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13/11/03

Heresy seems to have some new Holidays action going on, although not yet completed. Andy, have you bought a new car yet?

looks great. The left arm looks bloody weird... Maybe its a tentacle. Other work in progress shots of the fallen is here (I had no idea it was so big...)

The left arm is slightly different since then - it was looking like a tentacle due to bending of wrist and angle. added some fingers since and bulked up one side of the forearm. supposed to be a big dat arm but had difficulty making realistic folds on it - unless you have a picture to compare they always look stupid, so i took them off again.

The fallen one is 54mm to the top of the head, which makes it about right for a demon prince figure in warhammer, if that's any help for reference. wings make it a lot bigger, obviously! they're more like the size of the bloodthirster ones, it turns out. am doing several optional arms for it, for different poses etc. - Heresy Miniatures

*sees the Demon Santa* froth - Grom

Great idea, that demon santa is really frightening, never show this mini to your children though .

The fallen one's new mini looks very good too. Andy, as you are around, I have a question concerning this last mini: You say that you'll make variants for the arms with different weapons, but will there be variants for the head too? (looking at this pic of the fallen one near a GW beastman, I started dreaming of some goat-headed version to lead beastmen armies...)

Actually, the reason it might never get released (at this rate) is an overload of things I could do with it. ALternative heads are wieghing strongly in my mind, although a goat head hadn't yet occurred. We shall see!

You know Santa is based, among many other folkloric characters of Europe, on Wodan/Odin. So to lead the 'great ride' (whatsit called in English) of goatmen/Ferals is quite plausible. As an 'independent demon' it could work very well.

I'd never paint it red though, that's an invention of the Coca-Cola company from the fifties. He should be dressed in green or brown.

Not to forget that the Christian version of Santa (that also gave the name) - St. Nicholas, wore purple.

Hey ask me about Sinterklaas! He wore purple (red, in fact) because he's depicted as a bishop. That's the cover-up. But that guy has a white beard and one or two dark helpers. More like Odin.

Santa is a coctail of dutch, german, austrian and other winter 'spirits'. Basically a mix of a variety of U.S. colonists traditions... only sinterklaas (Dutch/Belgian) wears red, the others green, brown, or something completely different. So actually this monstrous Santa should have some lesser demonic helpers!

Now we're entering the dangerous field of a Chaos X-mas army. Midwinter blood sacrifices etc. Horses' heads on poles, screaming cannibal witches riding on goats...

Actually, the initial "black helper", the true "Zwarte Piet" was supposed to be the devil.

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13/11/03

Assassin seems to have a couple new releases (albeit with very small pictures). First, we've seen pictures of the metal before, but their boxed set Monstern seems to be available. Here's a picture of some wizardy dude I don't recall having seen before.

I don't like the head, too boring and average old man, but i like the rest.

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13/11/03

Maidenhead has some new pictures of "heavy armored infantry". They look pretty good (especially the leader and standard bearer) and seem to have more natural poses than some of the earlier releases. And their breasts, being often armored, are no longer as unaturally "perky" as they used to be.

They'd look good as natural enemies for a lizardmen army.

It looks very nice. Odd that the archer doesn't have a bow though.

The standard bearer is ace but the musican looks crap.

On others it looks like they managed to forget to armour the breasts! Not that I'm complaining, mind you... - frotherGuest

Are Hornists, um, horny?

Woohoo! Kym decided to use my pictures! I did the photography on the gold-backed pictures.

Having seen them up-close, the "heavy infantry" definitely looks good.

and thank god for that too.... If you got pics of the other ones, do let us know... I'm wondering if I should grab a small unit of the heavies (I got the light already)

Wow! That sounds like high praise for my work.

Yes, I have taken pictures of many of the light infantry. I talked to Kym just a few minutes ago and he said that they'll be posting them as time permits.

And, he's sending more lead soon to have photographed. I believe the plan is to have new pictures of everything.

P.S. Yes. Having seen them up-close, I'd buy some if I didn't already have them.

My heavies arrived yesterday (along with some command for the cats and birds that weren't released when I got my first batch). Yep they look very nice. The only complain I would make is that their legs are spread too wide and cannot fit onto a 20mm square base. (They are provided with a 25mm one though). I kinda wanted them on 20mm but really I don't matter so much I guess. Oh well....

If ya take any pics, can I use them on my site? Their price automatically disqualifies them from my gaming table.

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14/11/03

Ainsty just added a pair of temple dogs to their line. Here they are.

Oh yeah... now that what I'm talking about! Ideally one of the paws should be resting on a ball of some sort but cool enough

I noticed that, too (isn't the female supposed to rest her paw on the moon, and the male on the Earth ... or something like that?). But, still, in 25mm/28mm ... at least they exist!

Yeah. The tops look good enough (I wonder if there's a steel ball inside the mouth...), but the bottoms had something that wasn't quite right. But at my club, the one this side of the river, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who can use chopsticks.

The two lions are really good. A warmly wellcome to the Chinese showcase btw, it seems that in Okinawa those lions need no earth, moon or anything else but, oh, in Okinawa they call it "shiisaa" and saa uses the character for "dog". They place them at the entrance of houses, not only temples, to protect from evil spirits and magic. - s4794

Of course you should buy from a great company like Ainsty and all, but there's also small statuettes of temple dogs/lions in Chinese shops, you know, the red resin ones, like the buddhas and all.

Probably a bit bigger though, about 5cm or so. Should get one next week...

Giant foo dogs on the game table! Imagine their faces....

Main problem I had with painting up an oriental beastiary (notably reaper's foo dog) is knowing what colours to use... though I suppose 'western' mythology is only standardised by the efforts of late 20th century writers (esp. roleplay/wargame companies).

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14/11/03

Archangel Games has news & pics of some new Excalibur 'Fearless' releases including a boxed set.

The figs for Fearless have never really done much for me. A little too crude for my taste.

The Mantis figures are very Tyranidish -ohkeir

Granted, there's a lot of crap among the Fearless offerings, but one of them, Natasha Nixon, is among my all-time top favorite minis.

And who could forget the baby with machinegun, racing in his baby buggy?

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14/11/03

I don't believe we've seen this new Fenryll three stage mage or this vampire. How do they come up with this hair?

The vampire could be good, but I'd like to see a frontal pic of his face.

Could make a good alternative 'strigoi', but if it was up to me, all vampires would wear evening dress!

The mage isn't vastly impressive either. What a bizzare hairstyle! - Grom

I would guess for the mage that she encapstilates Freudian theories...

Is the vampire melting, or just twisted by death?

I often wonder the same thing, too, WK. Perhaps their sculptors went to Beauty School in New Jersey.

... or, perhaps, Texas. A friend from Texas once told me about the Hair Style Philosophy down there: The higher the hair, the closer to God.

o_O too bloody weird for me... both of them

The mage is very static... dull,dull,dull.

I like the vampire though, that is really good for fenryll- I hope they can steer more to this sort of thing.

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14/11/03

Hi guys, For those who know and like "The Naheulbeuk Dungeon", be happy: the official miniatures have been produced by Fenryll!

Just have a look at www.fenryll.fr and enjoy.

These mini are poorly distributed in shops but I know that you can order directly by sending a mail to Fenryll (laurent@fenryll.com). - Isabelle

Gwaa, gwaa...

-Mais qu'est-ce qu'il a encore, l'ogre?
-Il dit qu'il a faim.
-Mais on viens tout juste de manger!
-Il a toujours faim.

It's been awhile, but I still remember parts of it... Actually, I prefer minis of the box artwork rather than the grotesque personas seen here. More in style with how I imagined it...

I agree that the execution into three dimensions is far from the original art work. Could be worth having though. I think they would be fun to pass out during role-playing games for people who have failed to bring their own pieces.

For those not in the know, Le Dongeon de Naheulbeuk is an audio parody of the typical D&D quest. Much in the vein of L'Album du Peuple. Oh, forgot where I was...

I've noticed that these mini are "SD" (look at the box title).

It means "Super Deformer". It's an humoristic version of Naheulbeuk characters. - frotherGuest

The chicken! got to have the chicken!

Someone should make mini's of Lewis Trondheim's 'Donjon' comix!!

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14/11/03

Just noticed Harbinger has a new Harbinger of the Fallen green. Of course, Rosemary was too modest to announce it here...

Nice fig, dramatic pose. Especially like the fingers on the outstretched had - you don't see many figs were the sculptor has taken the time and trouble (as well as had the neccessary delicate skill) to scuplt individual fingers. Course, maybe thats cos it won't cast well? Still, kudos.

I'm not impressed. The first two promo figs were pretty cool but the pose of this one isn't terribly interesting and the face is just ugly.

Some people are ugly though, thats only realistic. I mean someone with a pleasing visage doesn't really need to go to the effort of becoming a harbinger to get on in life.

But the proportions (esp. legs) look way off to me here, unless it is supposed to be a halfling?

nice enough, although the staff does look kinda dopey

It's your typical Hollywood mid-age actress before the botox...

The green is much nicer than that photo, and its mould ok. should be V. good when painted.

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17/11/03

Blackbeard himself from Freebooter.

Hmmm. Teach doesn't seem to have enough pistols (I remember seeing contemporate engravings with six pistols...)

Will Nicholas Rogers, esq. be making an appearance?

TBH, he seems to have a big, somewhat cartoony head in common with the freebooter pirate chick. New style?

Nice.

Not bad...kind of reminds me of a tall EE dwarf though...

Paints up really well, although i always imagined Blackbeard as a threatening pirate type, not Santa Claus in panto.

It's the fuses. They're not lit. Teach usually put puses in his beard and lit them during battle. So, along with his six pistols, pretty much made him worse than Nicholas Rogers, Esq.

it's the little skull decoration... #frown# is it really necessary? - s4794

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17/11/03

Pulp Miniatures has a "Giant Oriental Drum" newly presented to their catalog. This is pretty nice stuff! Alas, it's not yet available to order. - Mancha

I love Bob's stuff ...

Thats a cool big drum all right.

That should be Japanese... - s4794

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17/11/03

Hi All, Discount Hobby has a couple new Metal Magic listing. These are usually re-issues of old minis, but these are apparently new. I like the Travelling Salesman with Cart - Mancha

I like these mini but be carreful, they are real 25mm minis (smaller than usual 28mm) !

I like these mini By the way, I like DiscountHobby too which is a great sales site (great services).

Yeh there are some real nuggets of old but great figures on that site.

So... You can only get the girl from there?

I like the wagons ... but, US$10 seems a little pricey. Is it me or are miniatures going up rapidly in price lately?

Not according to one John Carroll of Pennsylvania, whom had visions when he saw the first blister packs... Since it was from that fatefull day that prices went up and up and up...

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17/11/03

New game thingy? - frotherGuest

Woof! 30-35mm though #frown# This is Mindstalkers from ManorHouse Miniatures.

So what's the game background? Psionic timetravelers fight through timestream, and the first release is the Hundred Years War?

I wonder if "perfect human proportions" is really appropriate in the description of those minis...

I would say not. Or perhaps its just that these really are perfect proportions and no real humans could ever reach this level of perfection! Not too impressed with the cape the guy is wearing either.....

They look to be fashion proportions with somewhat large hands and long arms (some of them could touch their knees without bending over). About 7 ½ heads tall and slender. Still it's good to see, I like it better than the smurf proportions which are so common. How big are they exactly? - Tmeier

Well, perfectly anorexic proportions then, because no healthy man would have such feeble legs!

It reminds me of those Rackham girls, I wonder why anorexy is so much appealling to some people! Kevin White's gorgeous girls, or even the more naturally proportionned girls sculpted by Steve Buddle, Mark Copplestone, etc. are so much more interesting...

It's a nation of ectomorphs....kinda like northern Italians, actually. Signed, ohkeir the endomorph. or as Leonard Cohen said, one who is "oppressed by the figures of beauty" -ohkeir

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18/11/03

Blurry pic of a Dec release here from Rackham.

... aime les papillons, Passe-Caro fait de sa façon... Mais où est Passe-Partout, la star de notre émission? Elle est ici, elle est ici...

OK, so it's a real obscure reference for most...

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19/11/03

Games Workshop's Thing of the Woods (supposidly based on the Bête de Gevaudin) looks nice, but $28 Can #shock# I could've used it to great effect in a Martian setting, but seing the price... Excuse me while I start to swear in Joual...

Môsus d'estie d' tabernac de p'tits tapettes de mongeule, voudrait-bin les grbrmnlkrrrr.... S'ti.

For claiming it to be based on the "Brotherhood of the wolf/Le Pacte des Loups", it looks surprisingly little like the movie version (except maybe for the lower jaw). Not a bad mini tho.

So their new pollicy is to mention the people they're ripping off?

Yes, I found that reference interesting. Maybe the comment slipped through because it was from the Fanatic part of the business? - Sturmpioneer

Both rather typical OTT GW nonsense if you ask me. How the Beast Hunter manages to hunt anything with a couple of bloody great logs surmounted by othersize skulls is a bit of a mystery really. Why they feel the need to lumber so many of their figures (especially characters) with these kind of ridiculously oversized accoutrements (including helms almost half the hieght of the figure) is beyond me. More definatly is less.

More crap from GW. Too many "details". I wonder what their designers think ... "Hmm, if one skull is cool, how about FIVE? And, if one sword is good ... then three REALLY BIG ONES is better!!!"

F'ing morons.

Unfortunately, someone at Reaper thinks this is cool, too (look at their recent "Space Marine"). I'm so glad that Copplestone, Murch, et al are all producing indepedently.

I bought a stack of the GW khemri plastics to make a generic Egyptian undead army with Anubis allies, and it took ages to deskull the crazy things. It was worth the effort though. - Chronopia

That's the frustrating thing, isn't it? They'd be nifty minis if they weren't covered in the latest "cool" junk from GW's "designers".

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19/11/03

D&D miniatures dragon: actually it's not too bad

Some actually look quite passable. Of course, the pics are small enough to make one wonder how well they'd stand up to closer inspection...

They are probably fine as long as you repaint them. They wouldn't have as much details as metal miniatures but its the random packaging that really sucks. The draconian looks interesting though.

I like the Kapak Draconian...

Naturally the showcase models look good, but the mass produced prepaints you can buy in the stores are going to suck. Honestly, I'm not too enthused with that dragon. It's too stereotypcal I guess.

I've seen these up close. I'd say 50% are utter garbage. 40% are passable and could be decent with a re-paint. 10% are pretty cool ... and, with a decent re-paint, would be respectable.

Hmm half-dragons and draconians could make an interesting addition to my army..

What are they made from though? Aren't these going to random plastic things or summat? - Dead Deputy

Are you new around here? ;-)

I don't quite know what to make of them. The Draconian sure has a bad paintjob, though...

Have to agree from that, at least from the pics, this wave does not look so bad. This opinion may change when viewed up close - Ghost

I actually got to see about 50 different D&D miniatures last weekend and I have to say it's really bizarre.

Basically there are two standards

A) Utter shite...and this is the majority of the figures, nearly all the humanoids (the werewolf was about the only exception)

b) Gulp..Not Bad...yep, you heard it here, not bad. The larger rares are actually half decent miniatures. Good sculpts and poses and the larger figures seem to be made from a less pliable plastic so they don't bend as much. In fact the Owl Bear figure feels like it's cast from Resin.

All the human sized figures are just crap, both in terms of paint jobs and castings. The smaller figures...halflings, gnomes, goblins, etc. are nearly unrecognisable blobs of plastic.

I picked up some individual rares, and if you can find them would recommend them to people. Scale wise they are true 25mm, NOT 28mm and so they fit in perfectly with my Reapers.

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21/11/03

I'm not sure if pictures of these have been posted here before ... but, I was just contacted by these folks. They've got some really cool 25mm/28mm scale "model" ships. These "models" are in the US$250 range. I wish I was a good enough modeler to warrant spending that kind of money on something I have to put together.

I've posted some pictures above. You can find out more at http://www.thegunboatcompany.com There are more pictures on the site. And, the gentleman who contacted me said (after I prodded him) that there will be more close-up pictures showing more miniatures to help gauge the scale.

They're nice and all, but they're too big for actual wargames (unless that's a convention game)...

It would do for a nice skirmish game if you have some boarding party or just a fight at the docks.

Oh i don't know, if you can accept a green sea that would sail perfectly on my lawn..

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23/11/03

New Privateer. I like the paladin, even though he's clearly over compensating for something, and Reinholdt.

Oy! Getz doze Khador und Cygnar fellahs offa me land! Oy be wanting big buckz for 'em!

Nice figs. Wish the local stores would carry them...

Hm, these are more spectacular paintjobs than I'm used to from WarMachine. Do I vaguely recall hearing a rumor that Jenn Haley was doing some painting for them? - Mancha

Those are clearly among the best minis I have seen from Privateer. The paint job on the Paladin is great, especially concerning the patterns!!! - Holger

You know, they really don't need Haley, they have Mike McVey and his wife Ali who are undoubtly as good (also, these paint jobs are cool but not *that* impressive, you really don't need such high-level painters to do that).

Onto the minis, great paladin, but sadly it's terribly static (people will have fun trying to give him a more dynamic pose!), cool goblin too.

I love the goblin, but i'm not sure of the necromancer: i like him, then i don't like him, then i like him...

I really like the Scarlock necromancer

the necromancer and goblin are great, really like them. The paladin not so much though the paintjob is good, I esp like how the patterns fade to white on the shield (unless thats a trick of the light)

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26/11/03

The first 3 packs of Babylons Burning's post modern range is out. Some bits look a bit crude but there are a few gems in there.

Bad hats.

The Ghouls don't look that ghoulish.... What happened to being exposed to Radiation and the FEV virus?

What happened to not bashing the green in the face with a miniature mallet before sending it to the casters?

I didn't see many gems... a few cubic zirconiums, but no real gems! - frotherGuest

I think "mallet-face" is actually supposed to have a mask on. I'll give them that ...

The ghouls don't seem very ghouly ... but, I do like the "ghoul" eating the rat.

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26/11/03

Quick! Someone get WK a bucket! The first packs of Artizan's vikings are out. That man does not disappoint! Twice the number of figures at the same price as foundry! And looks better to boot! (Not as much variants but heck! Its half price!) I'll be trying my best to grab a bunch when the lot is done.

Nevermind him, I need a bucket too!

WK will be getting the cheque book out again I think ...

#the sound of a man drowning in his own froth#

he has put up pictures of the hand weapons pack as well. a bit of a shame that the axe is mixed in with the swords, I would have preferred more swords.

wonder if he will sell the shields seperately like the moor ones. I'm seriously considering swapping the shields for the gripping beast ones I bought. But some of them has shields sculpted onto the miniatures dilema...

as every viking should, these kick ass. i'd be seriously poor if i could just make my mind up in regards to rulesets for the period...

I've liked everything i've seen from artizan. - NudeMonster

Did he actually also do the last foundry Vikings?

I believe those were sculpted by Mark Sims of Crusader Miniatures.

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26/11/03

Dragonrune has started producing some new minis again, beginning with a goblin foot command.

I can't make head nor tail of that picture - what is it - could someone explain? -frotherbAz

It's a goblin standard, and I believe there are two goblins in there somewhere.

'Fess to being somewhat 'fused mesen.

Them gobbos are mighty odd shapes, big 'eds, no bodies, too many arms?!

Makes sense to me. Theres a fellow crosslegged on the ground trying with all his might to keep the pole up while his jerk commander is half way up it, bracing both feet against the pole and gripping it with one hand while he orders a charge.

That being said, I think the pose needs some work.

I like 'em a lot. Nice pose on the gobbo holding onto the pole.

In the best tradition of gobbo weirdness that 'un. I think I just found my gobbo foot-general. - Grom

ace work on the drapery of the standard too. Thank goodness someone too pity on us poor souls who never figured out how to make nice banners

Not only do I like, it's solved the 'what to buy goblin owning friend for Christmas'? question! Or birthday, whenever it's out.

Quite neat, quite wakko! Could also be used as the surveying team for that WM land speculator...

Ahhhhh.......

I see if you turn it round a bit it does seem to make more sense. I think the picture really does this miniature an injustice. If anyone spots any other pictures of this I would suggest posting them here.

I like the concept though remain a bit unconvinced by the image.

Still looks all wrong to me. I mean each individual element (face, arm, etc) all looks good, but put together the proportions and psoing just looks way out. But maybe its just the picture angle like Baz says - I'll just have to trust its cool as so much of DragonRunes other stuff has been ace.

hrm... it's hard to say. I hadnt bought the goblin wolfriders before they went away - but they looked good to me. These dont quite have the same feel. I'm not sure. I'll reserve judgement until i see em painted - goblinpalace

Sure, I'm not the person to have goofy looking Orcs and Goblins in my armies, but those are perfect for that kind of army! Hopefully, they won't close down again before anyone can get their hands on one of these...

These are all very good but I am now certain it is the deep green colour that is not coming out well in the pictures. The coloured images are going to look really quite good.

I do second Uncl's comments on the pose of the standard bearer though.

I admit to being worried what was going to happen when they ran out of pre-existing DragonRune miniatures.

However my worries seem to have been ill founded for the meantime. The goblins look like they'll be more than fine. We'll be proud to add them to our lines.

Everyone cross their fingers for the new races in the new year

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26/11/03

Was looking at all the cool photos at a fall-in gallery , Then spotted these which had the comment "More Old Glory. I don't know what range these Viking type figures were but I liked". Could this be the dwarf wars Nordvolk?

Could be a new sculptor...those are impressive. Kudos to OG.

Other than the elefantitis deforming the arm of one guy, I like them. Very characterful.

I'm a person, not an animal! A bit too buff for my tastes. I like my barbarian minis to be more realistic and historic... - Ohkeir

cool !

The style is definitely Dwarf Wars. I wonder how big that makes them tho, given that the dwarves are 28mm. Size might become an issue, but if they're really big, I could perhaps use them for ogres...

Not very historical, but they look #froth#

And if they are the same price as the other figs in the range, with a lie number of variants then deffo a major bargain.

I was at Fall In!, and yes, those are the latest models for Dwarf Wars. They looked great, much better than the elves. They are big, though, like the rest of the range. I'd say 32mm, at a guess, maybe a little bigger. - Nudspinespittle

phew! Seriously good figures, loads of character - I bet Doc is pleased with these!

I am sure the historical gamer would want finer characters but there is an argument for more of this sort of style. We get a lot of very clean mini's with finely tuned gradients in the colouring which look great etc. So great that they are unattainable by most of us average punters.

With this style you begin to think "hey this might be doable!"

Its not that they aren't well painted - they are very well painted. Somehow the artist makes you think - OK let me give this a go and for me that means I am more likely to order them.

I painted those figures, so thanks Baz. It's a pretty dumbed down style that I have grown fond of. The blending isn't as subtle as most folks would like, but it really helps the figures stand out on the table and it photographs well. I'm working on improving my blending, but I don't think this is too bad. - Aaron

Bit beardy for my lot, or I've have had to hoover up Foundry's Germans before now (thank Christ for that eh?). Nicely done, but they do look quite big!

So maybe they could be used as Ice Giants for Hyborian games?

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26/11/03

New 3rd century Roman Pictures from A&A Miniatures. Including these Legionary casualties, which I think the best offering I have seen yet for a single range of Romans, and these Armoured Archers, which I think most excellent, and which could easily be used for Easterlings in a Middle Earth miniature battle setting -ohkeir

Neat! And fits within the real Middle Earth specifications, not Peter Jackson's...

Could also be used for 3rd age Men of Gondor also....

yeh very nice - i love a&a miniatures

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27/11/03

More Black Tree HYW

But WHY packs of twenty with only four variants ! non comprende!

Great figures, odd packaging. If you must sell a pack of 20 figs, and if you must only have four variations in that pack, why not 5 of each instead of 20 'random' figures? At least you'd know what you were getting. Still, great figures!

Or they could do like Artizan designs and have "collector's packs" with only one of each variant, next to the bigger packs. If they'd do that, I'd get the lot of them.

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27/11/03

Oh yes, more Tom Meier.....

I'm starting to like them more and more. Is the bottom one supposed to be holding a shield in his left hand?

That musician is amazing!

Great Scott! These shouldn't even be on the same planet as that WotC and AA tripe!

Good heavens! the cape on the musician is unbelievable! totally floored! Ace stuff!

Wow! Please Mr Meier, please turn your attention to some less....tree hugging? elves. I just can't bear to see such great sculpting go to waste on...on...them - Grom

Extraordinary. Though I must admit, the first thing that came to mind when I saw them was, "Peter Pan is gonna beat somebody's ass."

Tom's Elves are definately spectacular, and I will be getting them. -ohkeir

Tom Meier, Miniature God or sculpting genius. You decide kids, Vote now.

dont think much of the paint job

WHAT? .......well its the only vaguly negative thing that i could say to counter my overly gushing admiration for such stunning figures - waxfive

well, he certainly has raised the bar. Each set seems to be getting better and better......gorgeous mini's

I'm glad you all like the Elf line. There have been a few problems with experimental mold materials and metal which has delayed things a bit, but that gave me time to get the infantry standard pack done.

There are also two more infantry I think you haven't seen, my wife posted pictures on the Thunderbolt web-site. They also show the spearmen with shields.

The Peter Pan remark is right to the point. When I came up with these design motifs I knew I'd be walking close to that line, I tried to keep thinking of Mohican Indians meets the Italian Renaissance.

The High Elves I have planned will use sky rather than vegetable motifs, so they won't look quite so tree-hugging. They still will look majestic rather than mean, I think Elves are a bit too detached to be vicious. I'll be making test figures of men and other fantasy races in this style so you'll get to see vicious when I do a goblin, though they still won't be silly looking. I'm aiming at 'realistic' fantasy here.

Definitely tell your friend and neighbors about them. If they don't sell well my wife will make me go back to 'real' work (toys and gift-ware) - Tom Meier

Oh my! Tons of great detail without being stupidly busy like many EE products. Yes, yes! Love it!

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27/11/03

New Ogre Casualty from Alternative. OMG I think this must win the prize for worst miniature ever! - Woody

It's pretty bad. Unless they claim he's been hit by a cannonball, there's very little excuse for it...

oh my ! It looks like one of those marzipan things you would put on your child's birthday cake (if he or she was a frother that is!)! So is it made out of marzipan?

Bring back that badger all is forgiven!! -frotherbAz

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we've found ourselves a new cloaker!

He looks perfect for a 6mm Gulliver!

Manky

The mini is pretty poor (ok...it's crap)...but without the utterly appalling paintjob, I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to compare it to the cloaker! - Grom

Oh joy, you even get the 'base'.

yeah all for £1.50

i'd sooner give £1.50 to people in the street begging for money to buy crack.

my 7 year old can sculpt better with his feet and a garden spatula.

If you give your money to crack crazed junkies they'll only start producing crap like that!

You know, if that sculptor is reading these posts he's probably crying now...

No he'll back out on the streets begging for more crack! - Woody

Making an ogre, (Delia smith recons that this one is a quick little number to counjure up)
ingredients:
2oz fudge
1 cup of pity
4 sausages (for the fingers)
gloss paint (to glaze)
directions:
ram it all together in a pile and put it in a vulcaniser at 150 degrees for half an hour, or untill squashed flat. serve to a rabid pack of cloaker fans for £1.50. -waxfive

Its a joke. Gotta be. Made me laugh anyway. Top marks for the audacity to put it out.

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28/11/03

I almost forgot. Also worth mentioning, Old Glory had a new bag of ghost pirates available. I believe it was 30 ghost pirates for $35, or you could get them with a resin ghost ship for $150. Very nice, unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera with me to the show. - Nudspinespittle

The Black Cutlass with Ghostly Crew. As is usually the case with OG pictures, it's kind of hard to tell exactly what's going on. The ghostly crew looks more like a ghouly crew, and all sorts of opportunity to add piratical details to the ship seems to have been passed up (sigh). - Mancha

Still looks pretty good though.

The ghost priates look cool - what you can see of em. Could do with some better pics of the minis. But at 30 figs for $35 dolars thats a bargain. How many variants?

23 individual poses with 7 repeats in the bag. Not a bad deal at all.

Mancha, the crew is more zombie than ghost, with large amounts of bone being exposed and the like. I'm sure you could paint them in whites and greys to give the impression of ghosts, but I didn't think my meager skills could pull that off.

There are some ghostly / ghouly manifestations on the ship itself, but they don't show up in the photos. There is a large scary decoration on the stern and iirc at least one other place on the ship. - Aaron

Not bad at all. I might even get the ship if I can get hold of it somewhere in the EU.

I agree that the ship looks a little basic (does it come with anything on top of those masts?), but i'd want to add lots of detail anyway so I don't mind. However, there are a range of ships on the market and, while i'd pay $150 for that set, there might be better (time for another look at WK's showcase), especially if i don't have to make my own crow's nests!. $30 for all those undead crew looks good, but they look a mixed bunch.

It does have spars and a crow's nest included. No rigging or sails, but those just get in the way in my experience. - Aaron

True, but the playing i'll be doing with mine is putting it together. And i want to hang things off the rigging. Things. I don't fancy sails unfurled sails though.

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28/11/03

From Corvus Belli:

"Hello!
Available in www.corvusbelli.com next Wednesday!
Elephants for the Numidian and Carthaginian armies, and 2 new miniatures for WarCrow.
Silat is 60mm tall!
I think we are getting better, what do you think? Both miniatures are from Carlos Torres (design and sculpting) and painted by Angel Giraldez. Regards!
Fernando"

The lion guy isn't quite as cool as the Retour des Dieux Yao Warrior we saw not too long ago, but still pretty nifty. Not a fan of the guy with the super sized sword though.

don't like the human but the cat guy is quiye nice. Heads a touch too big though, as is his weapon

For a change I'm gonna defend the Elfs sword. It seems of reasonable proportion for a 2handed sword. It might be a tad wide but lengthwise it seems fine.

Silats weapon however is a touch big, although it seems the trend these days.

I think Warcrow are getting better. -Artemis Black

Decent sculpting. But I never like severed heads. It looks silly on the wargames table. I start thinking "Why has that guy brought an Orc's head along to a battle against reptilemen (or whatever)?" . I'm the same with over-elaborate bases: "Why is he dragging a gate round the battlefield?" -von Bork

I love the cat-guy, but the more i look the more he seems too smooth, too clean, not furry or catty at all. And the axe is a bit silly. As for the elf-like chap, i like him a lot: the sword is fair given some of the real double-handed weapons i've seen and i'm afraid i do like the odd severed head. I dunno, maybe you could make it magical and use it as a weapon? (did somebody say clash of the titans...)

Got excited about those ele's until i remembered they'd be 15mm! Still...

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28/11/03

Some new chinese packs and a US naval crew from Pulp

The street personalities are great!

Oh, yes. Quite like the Students militia...

I was going to post about it last week, but I got confused because I thought we'd talked about these along with the so-called "oriental" drums... Did we, or am I making this up?

the "commoners" a great. especially the girl with the paper umbrella. Really looks like the Japanese (Chinese?) servant from the Pink Panther's series in disguise. - s4794

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29/11/03

More 32mm greens for the upcoming Easternfront-Studio miniature line.

Err.. I'm not sure what the first one's supposed to be (well, it said "Antimage Assassin"), but I like the pose. The hands look a bit odd, but maybe she's supposed to be wearing some kind of thick special gloves.

The other one is a Revenant.

Any idea what the 'cracks' are supposed to be on that first one? Looks half-finished by with good potential, and I also like the pose!

As for the revenant, i'd cut that hat off and give him a different weapon, but otherwise good. One to watch (as they say everywhere else).

Neat, she either looks like a golem, has magick-protective plate shell armour, or happens to be Ben Grimm's (The Thing from Fantastic Four) sister...

Like her Kinda reminds me of a character I created a few years ago...

Cracks in futuristic armour seems to be a trend in certain comix.

Like it.

Was that shield originally a penny?

the assasin looks okay, proportions and pose is quite nice but the cracks does look bloody weird. The shield face looks poor actually.

The revenant is quite cute but those boots have got to go.

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29/11/03

Another green for the upcoming Sacred Blade line (has been upcoming for some time now). These minis are in the 40mm scale, but even then this guy is an exception as he'd be 55mm if standing upright...

The pose is great though.

My thighs ache just looking at him...

Are they some kind of superhero/manga miniatures?

Not that decent for 55mm.

They're 40mm. The only reason the first one is almost 55mm, is because he's supposed to belong to a tall space elf race.

Don't think much of his ghetto-blaster...

Regardless of the fluff, if the weirdly-posed cock-rocker is 54-55mm high, for whatever reason, the standard of comparison for how good it looks should be Andrea or Historex, and on that scale it's just not up to snuff. Hell, it's not up to the standard Tom Meier can achieve at half its height.

Fair enough. You don't have to convince me, though. I'm just passing them along for you...

Why more 40mm? Isn't 28mm large enough?

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30/11/03

Dragglestown now carries Lance and Laser 'Gloriantha' mini's. Pretty cool 'Broo' beastmen, by a Reaper sculptor. and Baboons!! by Bob Murch (Rafm Chtulhu and Pulp figures) Hadn't seen these before.

I recommend the .pdf L&L catalogue from http://megaminis.com/, perfect for offline forthing. The baboons and broo were in that; the question is not whether i should buy the baboons, but how many baboons to buy...

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30/11/03

Eureka 18mm Fantasy figs. Looks neat and well sculpted for 18mm (yes, weird scale, but it might sell)...

18mm is just another name for 15mm with scale creep. At least they're warning you in advance.

Is the legend of the standard figure scale dead? Everyone's making 6mm, large 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, large 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, large 25mm, 28mm, large 28mm, 32mm, 40mm, etc. etc. Have we moved from the mythical 'everyone makes 15 and 25mm' to an acceptance that every range differs so you can sculpt and produce what you like, and if people can mix and match the different sizes that's fine? These are my 15mm orc runts, these are my 18mm orc boys and these are my 20mm orc men. Oh, and those 25mm's, they're my orc bastards...

A long winded way of saying, has scaling just become honest?

I wouldn't go that far!

But perhaps scaling is getting more honest..?

perhaps selectively honest? who knows, maybe the things really are 22mm

these are some pretty nice looking sculpts for 15-20mm scale, one to watch imo.

They are really 18mm. This scale is a great compromise between 15 and 20mm as far as detail. The extra 3mm allows for alot of extra detail. And yes they are being honest. Rather than call them big 15's, they are calling the kettle black. - NudeMonster

I've seen these in real life and the wood elves and dwarves (the ones I saw) are really nice. The treeman is good as well, which I showed you guys awhile ago. But I'm so not going to start another scale. No no no no no. So there.

They're certainly very nicely done figs, esp. for the size. The Orc Fell Beast Riders look like they lean heavily towards those seen in the recent film.

But having said that, 3mm size difference at that scale is quite alot and I'm wondering how well they will fit with other 15mm ranges. Perhaps they would fit better as small 20mm.

Are figure manufacturers really so niave as to assume we will buy and game with only their figs, just cos they are good? Given I only have finite funds, I would be far more likely to buy figs of a more standard size, even if they are slightly lesser quality. This goes double for the smaller scale figs since they are less 'collectibles' in their own right than the 25mm and upwards.

unfortunately, i think these may go nicely with my old ral partha orc division... those were smallish for 25mm at the time, and these might well make an interesting 'goblin' division.

i say unfortunately because i'm still staring at my godawful pile of dwarfwars orcs that arent painted. ahh, but if we painted everything we bought, we wouldnt be frothering properly now would we. -goblinpalace

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