Category Archives: 28-32mm fantasy

STONEHAVEN MINIATURES, Cleric

Stonehaven Miniatures have updated their Kickstarter campaign page with a second green, the Cleric.  With every update, I’m more convinced that backing this project was a great investment.  More importantly, I’m elated that Kickstarter has enabled a deserving someone to get a healthy start in this industry.

RED BOX GAMES, HelsVakt Horde Kickstarter Campaign

Red Box Games has just started their first Kickstarter campaign.  I’ve been waiting for this ever since Tre started intimating at his intentions in conversations and a few posts over on Frothers.  Tre’s work impressed me the moment I first discovered his sculpts four or five years ago, for Reaper and later his own company.  I jumped on board this Kickstarter the moment I learned it was finally live (supporter #9).

Never heard of TrollCast?  You can learn more from this video or by visiting the Troll Forged Miniatures website.  I have some of their models made from this material, and I’m as convinced as Tre about the quality of the product.  This is a smart move for RBG, and I wish them all the best of luck.

JOEK MINIS, Emerald City Guards

JoeK Minis recently released three new models for their zO range of figures.  The models were sculpted by Bob Naismith and retail for £16.50 for the complete set.

STONEHAVEN MINIATURES, Kickstarter Update with Green

Stonehaven Miniatures has updated their Dwarven Adventurers Kickstarter campaign with the first green for the set.  According to the update, this is still a WIP.

I know for some the lack of greens at the beginning of the campaign was something of an issue, but I was never that concerned.  I gambled when I decided to contribute to the project, to be sure, even though Stonehaven posted examples of previous work at the very beginning of the campaign.  As the owner of a small studio myself, I also felt somewhat behooved to help at least one project get off the ground.  At $32,232 as of this writing, they’re soaring; and I have zero regrets.

VICTORIA MINIATURES, New Store

Victoria Miniatures has updated their website with a new platform for their online store.  From Victoria’s announcement:

I am very pleased to be able to finally have a dedicated online shop for my miniature range. Please take a look around and let me know what improvements could be made. Creating this shop has been a big learning curve so please contact me if you spot any problems.

If you are already a customer of Victoria Miniatures, and are pleased with your minis, please sign up and leave some feedback in the product reviews.

I will continue to add to and update with new images, products and news. All suggestions welcome. Email victoria@internode.on.net or join in the conversation on Facebook

I have always been a fan of Victoria’s Spanish Inquisition and her characters for Labyrintus, which are like haunting vestiges from a juvenile dream.  But it’s her  recently released “conversion bits” and “conversion kits” that have impressed me the most (see Riflemen of the Victorian Guard below for some examples).  I’m definitely getting some of these for my on-again-off-again pulp scifi project.

On another note, entries for Victoria Miniatures and Victoria Lamb have been added to the wiki, which, as of this writing is still just getting off the ground, but will continue to grow as new entries are added daily.  (Do a search for “Alchemists of Dirz,” for example, to see some of what’s been added this week.)

STONEHAVEN MINIATURES, Dwarven Adventurers Box Set

Stonehaven Miniatures, a new venture making its break on Kickstarter the “old-fashioned” way, has launched a campaign featuring a crew of dwarven adventurers.

The Dustforge dwarves project is about creating miniatures to represent a set of 5 dwarven heroes. The Group will include a paladin, a berserker, a cleric, a mage, and a rogue.The goal here is simple: get the 5 dwarves sculpted, cast, and distributed to all of you! Depending on the level of funding that the project reaches, the miniatures will either be cast in a durable urethane resin or white pewter metal. The Dwarves will represent a relatively balanced adventuring party and or a selection of dwarven heroes to lead in any fantasy army.

The Dwarves will be sculpted on a 28 millimeter heroic scale as to fit well with most of the wargame and RPG miniatures.

I was intrigued the moment I first learned about this in a thread on Frothers.  That being said, I don’t agree with the opinions expressed in the thread, otherwise I never would have made a pledge.

I’m supporting this campaign, as opposed to some of the other higher profile Kickstarter projects (save OGRE), because I like to support the underdog.  It’s not just that, though.  The creator of this project has made a demonstrable investment in the art and shown some skill as a sculptor, as evidenced by his past work displayed on the KS page (although he’s clearly still a bit green).  I’m not a huge dwarf fan, but my curiosity pushed me over the edge.  The investment for the base set + stretch and epic goals wasn’t a lot and worth the gamble.  So for now, I’m just going to sit back and see where this goes.

PODCASTS, Game Classy 12

The latest episode of Game Classy, “Kickstart It,” is now available to download or stream over at the Planet Arbitrary website.

Steve loses his shit over Kings of War. Is it a flavor of the month, or can it take on Warhammer? Also we get to hear an update about D&D Next.

I’m delighted to find others intrigued by the Mantic project as much as I am.  I think it’s a sign of aging, however, and the dwindling free time that comes with it.  Don’t tell Steve and Joe that I said that, though. 😉

VESPER-ON, June Carnevale Releases

The French Revolution has fascinated me since I first read A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens years ago.  I’ll never get out of my head the image conjured  when Dickens described the man in the street writing BLOOD on a wall with wine spilt from a merchant’s cask.  That’s another story, however.

Vesper-On’s Carnevale, given its background, has always threatened to pull me in, but until now I’ve been able to resist.  No longer.  I can’t say I’ll ever play the game, but a few of these models are now on my to-buy list.

About this release, Vesper-On wrote:

We want to finish this second Carnevale release showing the family pic with all our new miniatures, to compare dimensions.

The new miniatures will be available from Saturday June 23rt
Thank you for your support

MICRO ART STUDIO, Company Split

Micro Art Studio, makers of Discworld miniatures and fine resin bases, among other popular products, recently announced the dissolution of their partnership.  From the main page of the Micro Art Studio store:

As you may (or may not know) Micro Art Studio is a mutual property of Grzegorz Tomaszewski and Sebastian Makowski. Since in the last time they didn’t get well with each other a decision to split the company has been made. Due to this fact by the end of June Micro Art Studio will be split into two separate companies.

The one ran by Sebastian Makowski will retain Micro Art Studio name, website, facebook account and license rights to Discworld, Infinity and Wolsung brands.
The one ran by Grzegorz Tomaszewski will have new website, new name – Basicks and will retain many patterns of bases and convertion parts.

The full list of changes may be found here:
http://www.microartstudio.com/_Products/Micro_Art_Studio-Product_changes.pdf

Soon, all of the items owned now by Mr Tomaszewski will be removed from Micro Art Studio store and will be available on his website. Orders made until Saturday 30th of June will be processed normally.

Please do bookmark this websites:
Grzegorz Tomaszewski’s Basicks – http://basicks.eu
Sebastian Makowski’s Micro Art Studio – http://microartstudio.com

Best regards,
Micro Art Studio Team
Basicks Team

Breakups like this are painful to learn about, and I hope they find a way to resolve their differences at some point down the road.  In the meantime, I wish them all the best and nothing but success in their new private ventures.

ANAKRON MINIATURES STUDIO, The Guide to sono hoka

Anakron Miniatures Studio has just released the Guide, previously featured here, and two sets of scenic accessories, skulls & bones and bottles.  All if these models are cast of high-quality resin.

The Guide retails for 10,00€, skulls & bones 6,00€, and bottles 4,00€.  That’s a great deal, if you ask me.  I’ve already placed an order for all three.

Be sure to visit the main AMS site for more information and lots of great articles and tutorials on the hobby, especially his video series, which is starting to include subtitles.

FICTIVE MINIATURES, Closed

Remember Fictive Miniatures?  Maybe not.  They were a one-man operation out of the UK that started up a few years ago with two releases.  All together there were four orcs, including three warriors and a lord dubbed Bilebelly.

Bilebelly (sculpted by Paul Muller, painted by Myrmidon Studios)

I made some inquiries in a Frothers thread recently, and as luck would have it the owner of Fictive Miniatures, JSG, responded.  He confirmed the demise of Fictive Miniatures, but said that anyone wanting some of the models could place an order with him via email.  He didn’t mention the price, but back when they were still available the pack of orc warriors sold for £7.00 and the lord for £6.00.

Inevitably someone asked about the fate of the molds and masters, to which JSG replied that “if someone where interested I’d be willing to sell.”  I hope someone takes him up on that, as it would be unfortunate if we lost these to oblivion.

LEGACY MINIATURES, Isabeau

CoolMiniOrNot has updated the product page for the Legacy Miniatures Nobles of Cadwallon box set with a photo of the correct version of the included Isabeau.

CADWALLON, Isabeau, O, Isabeau

(from the left) Werner Klocke’s Isabeau, MIKH’s Isabeau, and the C:CoT Isabeau

A little over a week ago Legacy Miniatures, in conjunction with CoolMiniOrNot, released three more sets of models formally produced by Rackham: Nobles of Cadwallon, Bodyguards of Cadwallon, and Griffin Pack 1.  The pattern for this release followed that of the others: each set was comprised of models previously available from Rackham (and still ubiquitous in the aftermarket) and one or two rare or never-before-released models.  It’s the latter that usually makes the sale (it has been in my case, anyway).

I’ve been hesitant to buy any of these three sets.  My gut tells me I’ll eventually give in and buy the two Cadwallon sets, but I’m not quite there yet.

During some downtime, today, I checked the CMoN site to see if there were any reviews of the models, as some have no doubt been delivered by now.  In the announcement for this release, one customer wrote the following:

There is a problem with this release.
The Isabeau miniature that is provided is neither the original sculpt (thats shown) nor the WK…. Instead it appears to be a recast of the pre-paint figure thats available in the Cadwe FFG hero set.

Really?  I began in investigation immediately.  It didn’t take long, because as fortune would have it the customer who wrote that comment on CMoN posted a comment here when I was in the thick of my search.  After a brief exchange via email, he pointed me to his post on the UK:CORD forum, which included a photo of the model in Legacy’s Nobles of Cadwallon set.  Sure enough, it is indeed a resin cast from the same sculpt used to make the board game piece for Cadwallon: City of Thieves.

I’m not entirely surprised to learn this.  Sculpts and masters, especially if they’re resin, are prone to breakage unless they’re cared for properly.  The only reason I can think of for including this sculpt in the set, is that the others were lost or damaged beyond repair.

As to why they advertised the set with a photo of a different sculpt, I blame this either on human error, or because painted models lead to better sales and they had access to a great studio photo of Isabeau.  Why not just use a photo of the model in the set with an updated paint job?  Because Legacy Miniatures is a side project for Dust Studio/Games, and their resources are largely devoted to the game universe they’re currently developing (Dust) as opposed to one from their past.  And thank god for that.  Artists create, they don’t dwell.  Ever forward, boys–ever forward.

NOTE: MIKH’s version of Isabeau was released in 2006. Werner KLOCKE’s version (together with Rafal ZELAZO) was released in 2007 as a free promo for subscribers to the French edition of Cry Havoc!.

REAPER, Mercenary Spearman

I bought this model at discount for about 100 yen at the Shinjuku branch of one of the few miniatures and analog gaming stores in Japan, Yellow Submarine.  It’s a pretty simple sculpt, and I initially got it purely for testing some new techniques, specifically those outlined in Dallimore’s books on using simple yet effective methods for painting gaming models.  In the end, I came to appreciate the model more during the prepping stage.  I put more effort than planned in the flesh and the red, but kept the rest very simple.  It’s not a showstopper, but I’m happy with the results.

For those interested, the red, green-grey, green, black, and metal were all painted using the respective Andrea Color paint sets.

AARKLASH ARCHIVE, Dragon Titan of Aarklash

I just uploaded some new high-resolution photos of the titan dragon to the Cynwäll elves page in the Archive.  Included in this upload are the photo for the box art (above), the box art, and a much larger version of the studio photo.  Enjoy!