Rackham's Kelt Musician with a fresh coat of gesso
I finally finished the base and painted on the gesso primer this evening. It will be totally dry in 24 hours. I can’t wait to start painting this.
In the meantime, 50 stands of Copplestone City Guard Spearmen are distracting me.
Comments Off on Meanders of Darkness Painting Challenge, Update 01
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Copplestone Castings, gesso, hobby, Rackham Entertainment
Molemen models available from Wyrd Miniatures
Wyrd has been around as a miniatures company and forum host for enthusiasts since 2005, but they’ve come to the fore in the last few months with the release of their highly anticipated and popular rules set, Malifaux. Leading up to and following the GenCon premier of the game, Wyrd started cranking out starter sets, blister packs, accessories, and loads of new characters.
I’ve bought into the game. I picked up a Witch Hunters crew, Mortimer (gravedigger), Nicodem (undertaker), the Malifaux core rulebook, a burgundy fate deck, and the coloring book. I would have purchased more, but due to the timing of my order (right after GenCon) they were out of many things that I wanted. Fortunately, between then and now they’ve refilled their stock, and I have a full cart again.
While keeping myself up to date on information about new releases from Wyrd, I recently came across this picture of the molemen. Another fine release from Wyrd, yes; but my initial reaction had me thinking of possibilities for these models that have nothing to do with the Malifaux universe.
What I see here are potential proxies for cave trolls for 10mm Middle-earth. The hands are way too large, however; they will need to be amputated and new ones sculpted in their place. But that’s a minor issue considering these are the closest matches to Weta’s interpretation of cave trolls at this size that I’ve ever seen. (I know about the plastic pieces for Risk and WotR, but dismissed them for being too large or lacking the kind if detail I require.) The models will also need chains and a weapon or two, and I’ll have to shorten the teeth with a Dremel, but that’s also easy to do. I’ve got some in my cart, and hope to have them in hand soon. I’ll be sure to post pictures when I do.
I hope that helps. And please add a comment if you feel inspired to do the same or have an idea of your own for 10mm cave trolls.
NOTE: Images featured in this post are Copyright © 2005-2009 Wyrd Miniatures LLC.
Today's purchases
A detail shot (click the photo for a larger image)
The back of the SnarfQuest card
My quest for “darkness” Rackham bits was a complete failure. The only two stores I know of that still have a few scraps of Rackham metal left didn’t have any decent evil models left (just a few old goblins). I will push forward with the painting challenge, however, but may, in retrospect, pick up an old goblin for fun. I’ll have to measure my mood once the Kelt is done.
I did pick up the Rackham earth familiars cheap—the store was selling them separately—a couple Reaper models (one more saproling to use as an ent for 10mm Middle-earth), and a pack of SnarfQuest minis for the old Elmore card game. For just 100 yen, I couldn’t pass them up.
Comments Off on Today’s Purchases, 04 October 2009
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, horde, Rackham Entertainment, Reaper
If you’re like me, Games Workshop’s Great Battles in Middle-earth: The Battle of Five Armies box set (slight price increase as of late) and its supporting release of metal blisters were just the beginning of your foray into the 10mm Middle-earth hobby. You’ve probably perused the plethora of catalogs of 10mm miniatures available on the Web dozens of times in search of models to use for the armies, monsters, beasts, characters, siege works and even architecture that were never a part of GW’s release plans for the system or have since gone out of production (i.e., Smaug, trolls, elven cavalry, spiders of Mirkwood, dwarf archers, bat swarms, and the storm giant). Not surprisingly, one of the more popular searches is for dragons.
According to The Encyclopedia of Arda, there are two primary divisions and two subdivisions of the dragon race: fire-drakes (urulóki), cold-drakes, flightless fire-drakes (urulóki, fire-drakes of the north), and long-worms. In the works of Tolkien, all of these types of dragon appear at least once as named characters: Glaurung the Golden (flightless fire-drake, urulokë), Ancalagon the Black (fire-drake, urulokë), Scatha the Worm (cold-drake or long-worm), and Smaug the Golden (fire-drake, urulokë). As the names suggest, the colors of dragon include, but are probably not limited to, gold, black, and red-gold (Smaug).
There’s a vast array of models from various manufacturers from which to choose proxies for named or generic Middle-earth dragons. Reaper, for example, has a number of great dragons that would potentially work for 10mm gaming. Some of my favorites include Shadow Dragon, Dragon of Fire, Silver Dragon, Narthalyssk, Guardian Dragon, Wy’zern, Young Fire Dragon, and Young Ice Dragon. But if you like the look of GW’s metal Smaug model for BoFA, then it’s probably a good idea to keep aesthetic consistency in mind when looking for more dragon models. In my opinion, the range of dragons with the closest match to the BoFA Smaug is Dark Swords’ Dennis Mize Dragons from their Visions in Fantasy line.
The Dark Sword dragons match the GW Smaug in terms of both size and aesthetics. Lithesome, perhaps, is the best adjective to describe the lot. There is enough variety among the DS dragons to choose proxies for all of the Middle-earth dragon types. Personally, I think either of the chromatics would work great for Ancalagon and Glaurung (although this would require some minor modeling with Green Stuff, since you wouldn’t need the wings for the latter); and for Scatha, either the green or blue dragon, because they are the longest of the bunch.
NOTE: Painted samples of Dark Sword’s dragons featured in this post are Copyright © Dark Sword Miniatures
REFERENCES:
“Dragons,” Encyclopedia of Arda.
“Dragon (Middle-earth),” Wikipedia.
Asylum Online Store, Reaper.
“Dennis Mize Dragons and Beasties,” Visions in Fantasy, Dark Sword.
Specialist Games, Games Workshop.
Comments Off on Beyond Smaug: Fielding the Other Dragons for 10mm Middle-earth
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Dark Sword, Games Workshop, Middle-earth
I’m pretty excited about the new Eureka 10mm fantasy releases. For me, the most anticipated models from this release were the wood trolls, because I’ve scoured the universe looking for good miniatures to represent ents for 10mm Middle-earth. I’m aware of nearly every alternative available on the market, but none of them were able to deliver the level of detail and aesthetic composition I was after. Now the wait is finally over, and I’m more than satisfied with what Eureka has delivered.
That being said, I would have liked at least one or two more unique wood troll sculpts, as two is not enough for anyone planning to field more than four of these. Fortunately, I think I’ve come up with a remedy for this minor problem: Reaper’s saproling models from their WarLord range. They fit perfectly, in terms of size and structure, with the Eureka wood trolls, and will lend a sense of variety to my ent army, which will number around twelve models total. I also see some potential for customization here, taking bits and parts from the Eureka and Reaper models to make custom heroes à la Treebeard.
I plan to mount the saprolings and wood trolls on 40mm round bases to match my Balrog.
Eureka’s new anvil dwarves were a welcome surprise. Eureka sent me a free sample of one of their chaos dwarves when I first ordered a bunch of war elephants, and they were a nice match with the GW BoFA plastic and metal dwarves. I only ordered one pack of the anvil dwarves, because I wanted to check them out before making a larger investment. I’m definitely ordering at least three more packs. These are fantastic models. The anvil on the shields will have to go, but that’s a minor problem.
The packs of anvil dwarves include three unique sculpts.
The new warspite elves are a huge improvement over the elf archers and warriors (wood elves) from Eureka’s first release. The wood elves were true 10mm (to the top of the head), but too small to work with any other ranges beyond the plastic GW BoFA stands. The new warspite elves are a tad smaller than Copplestone 10mm, which, while not necessarily the industry standard, are the yardstick by which I measure all other potential models at this size.
Packs of the warspite elves include two different sculpts, spears-up and spears-down.
I only bought one pack of warspite elves, but will get at least three more. I intend to paint them up like first-age elves: blues, grays, greens, and gold.
Comments Off on Eureka 10mm Fantasy, Second Release, Size Comparisons
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Reaper
Painted samples from the latest editions to Eureka's line of 10mm fantasy models
Eureka recently announced the addition of several new models to their popular line of 10mm fantasy miniatures.
As with the earlier releases in this range, the figures are for the most part sold in multi-figure / multi-variant packs in keeping with the gaming philosophy of large units and epic sized armies that is so popular with gamers who collect this scale. They are designed to be compatible with many of the other manufacturers’ 10mm fantasy ranges that are currently available.
New to the range are wood trolls (ents), woolly rhinos, anvil dwarves, high elf reavers, warspite elves, elves on stags, elves on (giant) falcons, woodland creatures (wood elf heroes), and chaos dwarves with blunderbusses. This is exciting news for Warmaster fans who have always wanted to paint and field an army of quality miniatures for the wood elf and chaos dwarves factions. The rhinos may have potential for anyone hoping to assemble a custom ogre army like my friend DaveC. I’ve been looking forward to this release since first learning about it from the author of Boromir and Kermit’s Hobby Page blog over a year ago. I can finally add to my 10mm Middle-earth project decent ent models and unique rank-and-file metal dwarves and elves to complement the plastic strips that came with the BoFA box set. Needless to say, I’ve already placed an order.
For more information, see the official news release, pictures of inked models from the whole range, and more painted samples on the Eureka Web site. (For those of you wishing to place an order in the United States, be sure to check out the Eureka USA Web site.) And be sure to click on the “Eureka” category of this blog to see images of some models from the first release.
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Eureka
Comments Off on 10mm Orcs, Half-Orcs, and Goblins
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Games Workshop
This is probably the rarest model for GW’s Warmaster system, High Elf Swordmasters of Hoeth. They are almost impossible to find these days. I lucked out a year or so ago when I won these in an eBay auction. That was the first time I ever saw the Swordmasters listed there, and I haven’t seen them since. Those of you with a soft spot for Warmaster High Elves are probably going to hate hearing this, but I plan to take a Dremel to them sometime soon. I’m going to reshape their swords a tad, and shave down their helmets to make stands of Galadrihm. I have some High Elf archers that will get the same treatment. Hopefully I don’t make a complete mess of things.
Click on the photo for a much larger image.
If there’s an “odd man out” in this sequence of photos, it’s Eureka’s elf archer. The GW BoFA plastics come in a distant second since, like all BoFA plastics, they are smaller than their metal counterparts; but the difference really is negligible. The Eureka halflings, metal GW BoFA dwarves, and Copplestone men are perfect matches in terms of racial height and proportions.
Comments Off on BoFA Dwarves, plastic and metal
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop
Here we have a strip of GW’s metal elf cavalry for BoFA next to one of Mark Copplestone’s Horse Tribe cavalry models. That’s a pretty perfect match.
Why in the hell GW discontinued the metal BoFA models is a complete mystery to me. These elf cavalry models are highly sought after now. They’re nearly impossible to find, though, and you can expect to pay a pretty penny if you come across some.
Click on the photo for a much larger image.
Fortunately, Rob Smith of Great Hall Miniatures has made efforts in this department for the benefit of us all. His site currently includes quality photos of “naked” (unpainted) Old Glory, Pendraken, and Magister Militum. (I’m aware that Magister Militum is in the process of uploading photos of well painted models from their entire range, and applaud their efforts. GHM’s photos are therefore a welcome complement, since they present clear images of the models sans paint.)
I mention GHM now, because I plan to include links to their catalog whenever I mention Old Glory models as a way of saying thanks. (I will, of course, include links to the OG site as well.)
Speaking of which, if you’ve never ordered OG models before, you may be confused, after a quick Google search, to find that there are four Web sites devoted to OG miniatures: Old Glory, OldGloryUK, OldGlory15s, and OldGlory25s. What’s the difference?
Old Glory main site
Company Web site for the “complete” range of OG miniatures. Very few pictures. Interestingly, they don’t have their own 10mm siege engine models on their Web site.
Old Glory UK
Same as US main site, but based in the UK. Few pictures.
Old Glory 15s
A completely different company. They’ve got lots of pictures, but their site is clunky.
Old Glory 25s
A coöp between Old Glory Corp and Merrimack Miniatures. Like the OG main site, this one doesn’t have a lot of pictures. Unlike the OG main site, they have the 10mm siege stuff in their catalog.
Back to the Persians…
I really like these models. The size is standard 10mm, the details are crisp, and the price is right. Plus, they look great as Harad. There are, however, a couple things a buyer should know about before making a purchase: figures per stand and stand length.
Figures Per Stand:
Old Glory 5
Copplestone Castings 5
GW Warmaster 6
GW BoFA (metal and plastic) 7
Strip Length:
Command strip 25mm (10 per pack)
Spearmen 32mm (20 per pack)
Heavy Infantry 28mm (20 per pack)
I hope this helps…
Comments Off on Old Glory Persians
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Old Glory
Here are three more photos highlighting the size differences between Eureka, Copplestone, and plastic GW BoFA 10mm models. Again, I think the Eureka elves, while comparable in size with the GW BoFA plastics, are too small in relation with the hobbits from the same range; the halflings look dwarf-size next to the elves. That being said, they look perfect next to the 10mm models from Copplestone Castings. Of course, all of this is purely relative, especially at this scale.
Click on the pictures for larger images.
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Up next, Persians from Old Glory.
Comments Off on More Eureka
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Battle of Five Armies, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop
I really like these. And because of their size, they fit in perfectly with most 10mm models (i.e., they are the size hobbits should be in relation to other 10mm human characters).
I’m looking forward to painting these sometime later in the year.
As always, click on the photos to see larger images.
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For more information on Eureka’s 10mm Fantasy range by Alan Marsh, please see the following Web sites:
Comments Off on Eureka Halfling Militia
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Copplestone Castings, Eureka
Here we have a comparison between the 10mm elephants from GW’s Warmaster Araby army (left) and Eureka’s fantasy range (right). I cut off the heads and decorative front pieces from all of my Eureka elephants. The second and third photos include a couple models from Mark Copplestone’s 10mm fantasy range, Horse Tribe cavalry and a strip of orcs.
Click the photos for larger images.
Comments Off on 10mm Fantasy Pachyderms
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Copplestone Castings, Eureka, Games Workshop, Warmaster
Featured here are some detail shots of my mûmakil, which are modified Eureka elephants from their 10mm Fantasy range. After I finished the first one, I made some changes to my howdah design, tweaked the tusks more, and cut off the heads of all my models (five total) so that I could reposition them. I’m very happy with my second attempt, and plan to paint it soon.
The crew is a mix of Old Glory (command and spearmen) and GFI Persians (the guy on the top).
Comments Off on Eureka 10mm Pachyderm Details
Posted in 10mm fantasy, 10mm Middle-earth, Eureka
