New releases: Hand-picked miniatures of summer 2012

Hello you all miniature freaks, did you miss us?
We decided to collect summer releases in one larger post, so we could only start working in autumn. And then it took more time than we expected due to the number of interesting miniatures released in that season. You’ve been waiting for this post long enough already, so without keeping you waiting any longer, let’s start!

Hero scale (heroic or sci-fi):

Sea.man: Let’s start with our usual Heroic Scale (which is around 28 -32mm) and a sexy looking troll huntress from Ax Faction is something I really would like to paint. She isn’t overloaded with details, has dynamic pose and comes with troll’s head, so you don’t have to think a lot what diorama to make for her.

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Hellspawn: I must admit that the troll head is nice, but I think that the lady is missing something, the sculpt is too clean for me I think. But talking about clean, what do you think of those nice Asian styled warriors from Studio McVey? I really like those, without talking about the awesome paintjob.

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But I also have something less clean in my pocket. Look at this cool standard bearer from BaneLegions:

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Isn’t he cool?

Large scale:

Sea.man: Moving on to our next category, I must admit that there wasn’t much going around in large scale, so I didn’t have much choice but to choose Pegaso. This miniature doesn’t have this ‘wow’ effect, but it is a very solid one for historical painters.

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Hellspawn: I have to agree, the number of releases in large scale wasn’t that great and they weren’t as you said giving the “wow” effect. The ones that I found nice were the ones from Knight Models again. Don’t you think that they did some really nice job on this Batman?

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They worked just as well on a Bane mini and they arrived just as the movie was out across the cinemas so nice job on that as well. And if we want to talk about movies, everyone knows that “The Hobbit” should be out soon so look at this version of Elrond (also from Knight Models) I know he’s more present in The Lord of The Rings saga, but he’s still related to Bilbo and look at his character.

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Busts:

Hellspawn: Like the large scale category, the number of bust released over the past few months hasn’t been good. You do already know that I’m not a huge bust fan, and amongst all of those who were released, the only one I found interesting was from Castle Miniature.

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Proxies:

Sea.man: Those robots are way too obvious to tell what army they’re for, aren’t they? Puppet Wars keep trying to fill all Necron players’ needs. 🙂

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Hellspawn: They are indeed, and on the other side, we have Raging Heroes who can’t stop thinking of our Dark Elves players. Check out this chick:

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Conversions parts/Accessories:

Sea.man: In conversion parts, the number of Orks’ heads types is just insane. There are many types of Ork heads you can get (Pirates, Soviets, Techno…) but they’re all usually around those themes. If you would like to have something new, then Spellcrow made you some desert Orks heads.

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Hellspawn: Indeed, it seems that while these days, for proxies, the love goes only to Necron and Dark Elves/Dark Eldars players, regarding conversion parts, the love goes mostly to the Orks players. And while you were talking about the desert heads, I couldn’t avoid talking about the punk ones from Spellcrow as well:

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Don’t you think that they would definitely suit those bodies from Kromlech?

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And while we’re still at it, Spellcrow released some cool Power Claws. They’re so very useful! But you’re gonna tell me, “yeah, but now, with all those bitz sites, we can get them for ‘cheap’ and in the right amount but I’m going to simply answer that “yes you can, but they’ll all be looking the same while here, they’re all different which is a really cool way to personalize your army”.

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And while I said that regarding conversion parts/accessories, only Orks players were getting some love, but it seems that I was wrong, wasn’t I?

Sea.man: Indeed you were! Want to convert you Imperial Guard army? Then those heads from Victoria Miniatures are something for you!

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Hellspawn: Since Sea.man just proved me wrong, I of course had to look by myself if there wasn’t something else, and of course, after some digging I found these from Puppets War:

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I’m pretty sure that this combi lasgun/plasmagun for a Razorback will be useful to many Space Marines players. But Puppets War didn’t only think about the loyalists, look at what they’re releasing for Chaos Space Marines players:

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This is only an example for the shoulder pads as they’re releasing lots of them for the various main legions (especially the ones that Forge World should release in the Horus Heresy books at the end of this September). So if you would like to have some nice shoulder pads those might be a nice alternative (prolly less expensive as well).

Main release:

Hellspawn: Talking about those nice shoulder pads for Chaos Space Marines players is a nice transition for this category as we couldn’t avoid talking about the release of the new version of Warhammer 40k and the awesome minis that are included into the starter box by Games Workshop. So without speaking more, check out those minis:

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This one is the limited version of the Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus.

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Bases:

Hellspawn: Though, as you all must already know, it’s not only cool to have nice minis, but if you can put them onto nice bases, it’s always providing a freaking nice effect on the table and it seems that our friend at Scibor’s Monstrous Miniatures knows that. Check out those bases:

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Sceneries:

Hellspawn: But having nice minis on nice bases to play with is not the only main important thing, cause playing on a superb table provides such another dimension to the games that it’s also really important to have nice sceneries to put on your table.
Look at what Tabletop World made:

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I have to admit that they’re a little pricey, but I’ve bought some of their stuff and the quality is insane. You’ll be able to have a review of their stuff soon on our website, so stay tuned.

Scibor’s Monstrous Miniatures did release some stuff that is supposed to be bases, but considering the size of the items, I must admit that they would fit nicely as accessories on a scenery or as sceneries themselves:

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Boobs of the month:

Sea.man: Yeah, all those things are important but what is better than nice boobs? A girl with nice ones and a big gun, like here from Miniature factory (JAG) . This country chick suits other rednecks sculpted by JAG very well.

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Hellspawn: Oki, you got me on this one as well and I like the one you picked (she also has a nice butt but you’ll have to check out our forum to see it) but you’re calling these boobs? Seriously? Have you checked the topic of El Viejo Dragon Miniatures? Now this is what I call boobs!

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And if you like boobs, you should definitely have a look on our forum, cause this manufacturer has plenty for you.

Worst miniature:

Sea.man: Alright, this may be a bit controversial, but what the hell… As for another debated thing, look at what we have in this category. For sure this miniature isn’t badly sculpted, but if you compare it with the concept art, it is completely different! What is worst, is that it lost all of its character and now she looks like a postman not like an agent. It is a pity that Anima Tactics guys didn’t take their time to make the concept art justice.

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Hellspawn: Well, I’m not really surprised here, Anima Tactics isn’t known to respect the concept art on the sculpt they have. I still don’t understand why they keep providing concept art since all their minis are way different of the concept each time. They should just release minis directly, it would be less disappointing.

Talking about worst mini, check this one from Kingdom Death. I’m speechless. Human body, dog head on snake’s body and even worse, he’s playing with its Johnson and nutsack. I don’t really know what to say about this horror besides that it’s just a waste of resin.

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Best paintjob:

Hellspawn: Thankfully, on the other hand some manufacturers can provide us with marvels. Look at this steampunk version of Alice in Wonderland from Guild of Harmony. Paintjob needs no words to speak for itself:

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Interesting to come:

Sea.man: Cipher Studios is really doing great job when it comes to making new units for Hell Dorado. This crocodile is called Ashoka and fights for the Lost, a faction which is full of lizards, worms and dinosaurs. Don’t you think it will suit this war band well?

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Confrontation may be dead, but some people like me keep playing it. That is why I was really pleased to see a Cartomancer from Anakron Miniatures. This miniature makes a great Fortune-teller Agent for the army of Cadwallon.

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Hellspawn: I can’t wait for the crocodile to be available for sale (couldn’t get one since I didn’t attend the Gencon. My “Lost” minis are waiting for it. But these aren’t the only ones that are interesting in the upcoming releases.

Wreck-Age is preparing some nice minis that I’m sure could be used as proxies or just stand alone ones.

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Wyrd is also reserving us some surprise for Malifaux with: a) switching from resin to new plastic (a review is planned for that, like for Tabletop World, stay tuned), and b) lots of minis planned and amongst what is planned, I picked those:

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I just love the concept/3D Sculpts, so let’s hope Wyrd won’t follow Anima Tactics on this one.

At last, the releases I’m looking forward are the ones from Spartan for a brand new game called Dystopian Legions. It’s based on factions from Dystopian Wars, but as a game with 28mm troopers and little vehicles.

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So this is it guys. As you may have noticed, the amount of releases for the past three months is pretty huge and trust us, it was tough job to pick up the best ones. Of course, we might have missed some but we can’t talk about ALL of them, but if you want to be able to see all of them, join us on our forum. Our active members always provide us with all the releases they can find all around the web.

We hope to read your opinions about this summer’s releases and see you soon for the ones of September and October!

— Hellspawn & Sea.man

Nocturna Models: Alice – Review

I’m a great fan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll so it was a great joy for me to see the preview of Nocturna Models‘ Alice a few months ago.

Today I received mine after a long period of waiting for it to be available, due to their page being redone.

So there are two new things about their minis. One of them I think its just marketing, so called HD resin casting, and a brand new steel case.

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Nocturna Models Alice unpacked

So what do we get for 50 EUR?

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An 80mm mini with a cool mushroom as a base. The casting is still of great quality with little to none flash or mold lines, there are no bubbles and everything is very clean. 🙂 A big cheer to them!

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My Nocturna Models Alice arrived with a broken finger. 🙁 It must have happened during transport and maybe due to the mushroom being in the same bag as the rest.

There’s also a small cut in one of the legs, but it is the place the other leg rests on. Every detail is very crisp, even the little lace on the leggings.
There isn’t much filling to do all the pieces fit almost perfect.

The only mold line visible in my mini is on the mushroom.

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And even here it doesn’t do any harm to the model and will be quite easy to remove. 🙂

I’m very happy with the mini even if the price is a little high in comparison to similar miniatures.

Verdict

I’ll give Nocturna Models Alice 4 out of 5 Panda paws and will be looking forward for the next Fairy tail girl 😀

Thanks!

Lord Baron Mantes review (Smart Max)

Hi there!

I’d like to show you a Smart Max (SMOG, Victorian Fantasy) model I was commissioned to paint recently. It was Lord Baron Mantes from the Deluxe 50mm Miniatures series. At least that’s what was written on the box.

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It is a model of steampunk-genre, which I am fond of. I’ve already painted it, but let me first tell you few words about it.

Packaging

I have to say the packaging is poor, very poor indeed. It is just a soft and thin box. The visual appearance is nice, but this box will not make for a good protection of a miniature. All parts were packed in the folic bag. The base was put inside the box separately.

The packaging gets the score of 2/10 (1 for the box – just because there is a box; and 1 for the bag – for the same reason as the box). No instruction was added. The model is not that complicated, though it would still be helpful to have some manual or catalogue photo during assembly.

So, what do we get…

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The whole set include 21 parts: 2 mechanical “sleeves”, head, body-can, cloak (kind of a tuxedo, actually), smoke, 2 mechanical hands, shoe, 2 flaps, 2 rotor blades, 2 parts with some pipes, wheel, part of an armour, odd spiral lolly pop to be attached to the hat and the base of course.

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Quality

Very uneven. I haven’t found much excessive flesh, though there were some lines to be filed. I found them mainly on these mechanical sleeves. Preparing them for paint was time consuming due to their shape. You can see it on photos below. Also, there were quite many holes and bubbles which required filling.
The main body has a few protruding elements and need to be treated with due care. My copy was slightly damaged – a piece of a collar was missing. I couldn’t find it in the box, so I assume it had been a manufacturing mistake. I had to repair this part by myself. One of the parts was covered by something that looked like a spilled resin. I had to cut this off to reveal one of the rivets.

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Oh well, let’s proceed.

Furthermore, some of the parts had pieces left after had been cut off from frames or inlet channels. Fortunately, these were not difficult to repair.

Those were the main drawbacks. Other details were so much better. The head is like not from this world! Face, goggles, teeth and nose, ears, metallic hat with rivets – PERFECT! It is definitely the best part of the set. The wheel is also cast perfectly. Can’t say anything bad about hands, flaps with rivets, smoke and other details either.

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Individual elements fit pretty well. There were not many gaps to be filled. The only real problem was the aforementioned damaged collar.

The base looks very good too. It’s thick, full; texture of the cobblestone is very nice. The base is made of a different material resembling marble.

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The final score

To conclude my Lord Baron Mantes review, let me say that the model is surely well cast, parts are clean and detailed, but there were few imperfections and damages (and that awful packaging). This decreases the overall score. Price is rather high, but if you can live with small defects the model will make for a nice piece in your collection.

Final score: 7/10.

Brom Hard Bark from Enigma Miniatures – Review

Welcome to yet another review of my recent purchases (not that recent at the time we publish this article). This time I’m sharing a Brom Hard Bark from Enigma Miniatures review.

First look

I decided to buy this model after thinking about it for a long time – Brom Hard Bark released by Enigma Miniatures under the catalogue code ENM5410.

It is a massive, heavy and very characterful model consisting of 7 elements (including 4 spikes on one tag): main body, two bats (longer and shorter version), plus round base. It was packed in a blister with printed insert showing the official paintjob.

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Details

I liked the typical, enraged face expression and the model’s pose too, which basically means it made a good impression on me. The model is in 54mm scale, thus is quite big, even if you consider it is a dwarf.

The metal used for casting is of a good quality, with all details cast well. This especially applies to the face, which of course has a great impact on the overall impression.

The model is attached to the tag which may be cut off; there is also one piece of metal joining both elements.

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Any flaws?

Following thorough assessment I haven’t found any holes, uneven surfaces, signs of shifted molds or poorly cast details on the model. I haven’t found any mold lines either (apart from one on the back of the right leg), but these may become apparent after priming the miniature. There were few spots with excessive flash which should be very easy to remove.

Nevertheless, I’ve spotted few subtle mold lines at the whole length of weapons (including hands), which are typical for such details. They are quite visible, thus should be removed before painting. The same applies to spikes, which also require some preparation work.

The quality of details is good. Texture of wood, metal, hair – all of these make the Enigma model a top-shelf product. Separate pieces fit very well and all one has to do is to pin them before assembly.

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Some small imperfections should be removed easily and do not have a negative impact on my overall opinion, which is very positive. Enigma could have perhaps used a piece of foam to protect the miniature better in the blister. Not that any damages are probable in the plastic packaging. 🙂

Verdict about Brom Hard Bark

Sculpt and cast are very good. I believe it should be really fun to paint for everyone who will buy it. 🙂

— Slawol

Mrokin and Helloween Mage from Spellcrow – Review

You can do many different things during night… one of them is to take pics and write reviews. I didn’t really feel like sleeping, so I decided to spend night on something productive – writing a review of Spellcrow miniatures.

I’d like to present two models released by Spellcrow, a company behind the Umbra Turris game. I had bought them last year at the Mad Days event and recently found them in my boxes. I thought it’s a good to review them.

Both minis were packed in folic packaging inside blisters. No bases were provided, as these miniatures were brand new releases at the time. Fortunately, I was able to pick square resin bases at their stand. Miniatures sold through their online store do have bases of course!

Helloween Mage

The first model I chose is a Helloween Mage – pumpkin-head released for Helloween 2011. It’s a one-piece cast, but it doesn’t mean a poor quality, quite the opposite! The is not quite fresh, as we have many pumpkins on the market. Nevertheless, I wanted to have this one from the very first moment I saw it. It’s a second pumpkin-head in my collection, many more still waiting for a purchase…

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And here’s a nice painted version of this miniature, done by C’Tan.

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What’s good

The sculpt is precise and detailed. There’s a lot of interesting details and textures, thus should comprise a very fun model for painting and should “paint by itself”, as painters use to say. Textures on the pumpkin, wood and details deserve the highest notes. I’m sure I’m not going to regret time spent on painting it and final effect will the best reward for my efforts.

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Not so good

There are some drawbacks of course, as always. Cast is not bad, but there are some mould lines and excessive flesh. The metal piece connecting the wand with tag is the biggest part to be removed. These are not complicated things to do. Also, a piece of foam could be added to blisters to provide additional protection for miniatures (not that I expect any damages to light metal miniatures packed tightly in folic wrapping).

Packaging

The packaging does not contain any specific information apart from the name of the game. This might have changed in the meantime. If not, I believe it would be reasonable to add at least name of the model and few more pieces of information, to make it look more professional. Just a minor issue, really.

Score

Final score: 9/10.

Mrokin

The second model is this Mrokin with a staff. Fun sculpt with quality not worse than described above. One-piece cast again. There were also a few mould lines and other elements to be removed, nothing exceeding the standard preparation and assembly things you do with all miniatures.

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Detailing

Face, and equipment deserves a special attention. Fantastic! Small brush and steady hand will make the most out of this sculpt; other manufacturers in that scale might be ashamed! Finer and better details can be found on resin casts only.

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I have to admit that Spellcrow models’ quality and amount of details are amazing! The model is very small yet the sculptor did a superb job.

Score

This model will get the same score: 9/10.

Spellcrow miniatures review: conclusion

In my opinion Spellcrow did everything one could do with metal and produced miniatures of high quality. This is supported by an outstanding sculptor’s performance. As you can see – impossible is nothing. 🙂

I can sincerely recommend both miniatures and will surely get more from them in the future. Prices are also good – EUR 11.98 ($15.97) for the Helloween Mage and EUR 5.99 ($7.99) for Mrokin.

— Slawol