That Was The Week That Was #10

It's the return of a semi-regular round-up feature. Hooray! So what's caught my eye this week?

1. The new Scibor treeman - I absolutely love the look of this model. Do I need it? Not really. Will I get it? Very likely.

2. Manorhouse Workshop have an Indiegogo project on the way. Their buildings look very impressive but they do tend to be on the pricey side, particularly with postage included. This might be a good way to pick up some top quality scenery at a good price. Here's some concept art:

3. And finally, here's a lovely looking Demon Prince from Ultraforge, as a super looking WIP from James Wappel: 

Scibor Giant

Scibor have finally released their giant. I think it looks like a really good model and it would be so much fun to paint all that flesh. Something else to add to the wish list...

Super Scibor Miniatures

Scibor miniatures are getting better and better. They really are one of the best manufactures of top-end resin minis on the market. Over recent weeks they've been posting photos on their Facebook page - like the ones below - showcasing their different ranges. I've included one here with Dwarfs because I ordinarily find the short folk rather dull. Scibor, however, are developing on a solid base of dwarf minis and introducing some truly characterful dwarf adventurers - like in the second picture. Miniatures like these are an absolute dream to paint. Now... why might I need some dwarfs...?!

Alternative Nurglings Using Scibor Goblins, And Other Unclean Thoughts

First of all I should say that I picked up these Scibor goblins from the sinking ship Maelstrom Games, so they were a fraction of their normal price. Secondly, the idea for using them as alternative nurglings came to me as part of a more general money-saving-through-making-the-most-of-what-I-already-have scheme. So the idea is simply to base these up three to a 40mm round base and, hey presto, there you have it. I actually really like these as nurgling stand-ins. They have a little more substance to them than the GW offerings, which are OK, but I've never been particularly keen on them as grinning tiny impish things. These retain some of the impishness and fragility and also benefit from fitting into the look of my 40k Nurgle force more generally.

I also have these five old style plaguebearers, to which I'll add ten more from the new plastics.

And here's an old style Great Unclean One - stripped and pinned (my goodness, did that take a while!). Rumours abound that all the greater daemons will be replaced with new and suitably scaled-up plastic kits sometime around February, so I'm going to use this guy as a Herald of Nurgle, with him counting as riding a palanquin.

Scibor Mutant Snail - Out Of The Box

This is probably the tiniest 'out of the box' I'll ever do! But I'm such a massive fan of Scibor that I wanted to take the opportunity to restate just how great their miniatures are. I got this little fellow as part of a hugely discounted order from Maelstrom Games (who may or may not be going out of business, sadly). As with everything else I've got from Scibor, this is bursting with character and great detail, and requires minimal preparation work. I love the mix of horror and humour in this series and I think I'll try to pick up more in the future. This model will most probably end up as a unit filler in my work-in-progress pestigors (more on those next week) and as a plague zombie for my nurgle space marines.

New Human Fantasy Characters From Scibor

Very excited today to see that Scibor have released a brand new set of human fantasy characters. I think they look great! I have an idea for a 40k style old empire themed army in mind for the future and these would fit into that rather well. 

In Praise Of Miniatures From Polish Manufacturers

I am so impressed with the quality of Polish miniature manufacturers. Spellcrow, Titan Forge, and obviously Scibor (among of few others) are blasting the way for fantastic looking models at reasonable prices. Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to pick up a few more models from these jolly good little companies and give them the thorough reviews and praise that these deserve.

These are the models I'm thinking of picking up...

Titan Forge Flesh Reapers

Spellcrow Minotaure

Scibor Dwarf General 

Scibor Minotaurs - Out Of The Box

In a previous post I compared the Scibor resin with the FW and Finecast resins, and talked a little about one of the Scibor minotaurs. This was part of a set of three that I bought from Maelstrom Games during their spring clearance sale. Here are a few initial thoughts on these particular minis and a cluster of out-of-the-box photos...

The box and some pieces

A complete minotaur ready to be trimmed off - but take care modeller... this resin is pretty brittle!

Close Up No.1: good detail on the body

Close Up No.2: After a quick trim these are surely a dream for a serious painter

Minotaur number one stuck together, primed and wearing some initial flesh tones

Overall these are great models. The price (even without the sale discount) is competitive and the sculpts are a whole lot better than the anatomically bizarre offerings from GW. Throw in the scenic bases and these guys are fantastic.

Scibor, Forge World and Finecast Resin Compared

This morning I was prepping three resin models from Scibor, Forge World and the GW Finecast range, so I thought I'd note some of my experiences and some of the differences when working simultaneously with three resin variants.

Minotaur, Warpfire Dragon, Ogre Firebelly

Scibor Minotaur

This was the hardest resin and in most respects the easiest to work with, although the glue required a little extra pressure to take. Detail is well defined and mold lines can be easily removed (I use a thin pointed trowel-shaped sculpting tool to do this). Most of the effort is taken up with getting the parts of their original 'sprues' and some caution is advisable here, because this hard resin seems quite brittle in some respects - I didn't snap anything, but the way some of the excess pinged off I'd think this is a potential hazard. Filling is limited to small and thin gaps between parts.

Forge World Warpfire Dragon

This is a medium-hard resin, simple to put together, even with the plastic parts. Detail is astonishingly good - certainly the best I've seen. Lots of effort required in filling, although nothing two layers of liquid greenstuff couldn't deal with.

Finecast Ogre Firebelly

Soft and full of flaws - bubble holes (battle damage?!), and a couple of toes missing on the right foot. Easy to put together. I would say that the detail is worth the extra work on filling and re-sculpting though, as the character, stances and dynamics that can be achieved with finecast are brilliant. Once again, however, I had the suspicion that quality control is low because younger customers are less likely to complain...

Overall thoughts

In a direct face-off I think Forge World wins and Finecast certainly loses. The Scibor resin works brilliantly with their sculpts and I'll be buying from them again, although in terms of detail the minotaur is no match for the GW models.