Something old and something new!

It's been forever and a day since I last posted (August, if you're keeping track). But I've been busy in the past couple of weeks, painting some Christmas miniatures and assembling a piece of movie heavy metal (I'll go into those topics in the near future).

First, something old: Today I received my 54mm Wandering Shaman by Broadsword Miniatures. I was eyeing some Broadsword giants that had been on eBay, but ended up with the Shaman. It was only $22.46, which is about the same as an Otherworld giant (the 28mm ones, not THE Otherworld Giant).

The first thing I thought of when I saw the Shaman was Allanon the druid from the Shannara books. I think it would be too easy to paint up the Shaman as a wizard or necromancer, but I'm thinking dark and subdued earthy tones would look great. And if I'm feeling really ambitious (ha!) I could even take a stab at a monochromatic scheme.

Moving on to something new: I finally have some Otherworld giants! These have been on my wish list pretty much since they were released, but the prices have kept me at bay. But the good people over at Northumbrian Tin Soldier are clearing out their Otherworld stock at 50% off, so how could I NOT finally buy some giants? I picked up the Giant Alliance (Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire), a Cloud Giant, and a Carcass Scavenger (carrion crawler) for $76.11 USD including shipping from the UK.

It looks like the giants are all gone, but there are still some Otherworld bargains to be had at NTS. Oh, and if you are a fan of the movie Time Bandits, check out the Time Robbers line of minis. "Mom, dad, don't touch it! It's evil!!!"

This haul brings my Otherworld collection up to 8 now. 5 giants, a carcass scavenger, a gelatinous cube, and a purple worm.

Barrowmaze Complete Indiegogo Campaign

Anytime a crowdfunding campaign that involves miniatures surfaces, it sets off my Spidey-senses something fierce. I can't help myself, really. I have to look, at the very least. So when Barrowmaze Complete kicked off their campaign, I had to see what it was all about. I had heard about Barrowmaze before, and the reviews and feedback was almost always ranging from "excellent quality" to "totally awesome." If I decide to take the plunge, it would be for our DM - another tool in the DM kit, something else he can throw at us or use as inspiration when he's cooking up our next romp.

The price point seems a bit on the steep side to me ($35 for the PDF; $80 for the hardcover + PDF; and then it jumps up to $170 for the minis + PDF; and $190 for the minis, hardcover, and PDF). But keep in mind you get what you pay for - a proven product (Barrowmaze), quality minis (Otherworld), and shipping included.

The red flag here would be Otherworld Miniatures. Otherworld makes some of the best-looking old-school D&D/AD&D miniatures out there. I have had my eye on them for quite some time now, and would love to add pretty much their entire line to my hoard. It hasn't happened yet, mainly due to the price. That will change eventually, of that I am sure.

But Otherworld's Indiegogo campaign has been a rocky one. 173 people shelled out $280 USD each (about $48K) to get the whole enchilada, and there are still a substantial number of backers still waiting on product. Communication seems to have been poor, and salt rubbed into the wounds in the form of product being sold in their store while backers sit empty-handed. And I don't mean to pick on Otherworld, as I found out first-hand that even Kickstarter campaigns run by companies I like (Center Stage Miniatures) have had their fair share of issues as well.

If I have to be super picky, I would gripe that the Barrowmaze minis are (so far) conversions or modifications of existing Otherworld minis. Say what? For that price, you can't have new minis sculpted? The conversions look great, don't get me wrong - it just seems a tad lazy in my opinion. To each his own.

So good luck to Greg and his latest Barrowmaze efforts. I hope it does well and that his customers are happy with the final results.

EDIT (2/10/14): I would be remiss if I didn't mention that fellow blogger and miniature enthusiast Zhu Bajiee was one of the artists participating in Barrowmaze Complete. I also hear some guy by the handle of Erol Otus is doing the cover art. Now where do I know that name from? Hmmm...

Too Many Irons In The Fire

I have been remiss in posting lately, but for once it's because I'm too busy rather than unmotivated or simply procrastinating. There's a lot going on right now, so I'll sum up what I've been working on so you know what to expect in the near future.

Center Stage Miniatures: We are almost halfway through the CSM Kickstarter, and are currently closing in on $23K as of Friday 9/28. I think there's an excellent chance Matt will hit the $35K mark. More than that would be nice, of course, so we shall see where things end up.

Otherworld Miniatures: OW has jumped on the fundraising bandwagon via Indiegogo. They are working on a line of 28mm classic fantasy adventurers, and the first couple of greens look rather nice. The downside, in my opinion, is their pricing. If you want all four sets, it's going to set you back $280. Ouch.

Side-By-Side Comparisons: While we wait for the CSM KS to wind down, I've been digging through the lead troughs and pulling out my demons and devils. I'll have some pics that compare some old school evilness right alongside some Reaper baddies, along with one 25mm and one 28mm mini to give you a sense of scale. I will then follow up by adding my CSM demons and devils to the pics when those arrive next year.

Same goes for my CSM giants. I'll be snapping them with some old and new giants, and with human sized minis again for scale. I'm trying to get up to speed on using my new camera, as the old one seems to be slowly crapping out.

OSFMapa Journal #3: I have mostly finished my Weird Miniatures article for Journal #3, so I'll be polishing that up and adding the pics in the next day or two to meet the deadline. Yikes! And we are always looking for new members who wish to share their wisdom and collecting passion with like-minded people.

Painting: Yes, I have been painting! It's one of my DragonTooth giants, and he's looking about 75-80% complete right now. I found the perfect base to mount him on, so it's something old meets something new. I'm hoping the finished product will meet my expectations.

So there you have it. I need to wrap up my OSFMapa article, finish painting my DT giant, take some pics, and oh yeah, bang out my long-overdue mega LMR (Lead Market Report) that I've been pecking away at.

Otherworld Miniatures 5th Anniversary

For those of you who like your D&D lead to look like they just stepped out of the Monster Manual, you are probably already familiar with Otherworld Miniatures. And over on their forums, Richard has announced plans to celebrate their upcoming 5th anniversary.

Check out the WIP of the Demon Idol conversion pack - pretty damn neat! And most of the minis are on sale at discounts ranging from 10% to 50% off.

Congrats to Otherworld for 5 years of mini goodness.

Meet The New Lead, Same As The Old Lead

Another batch of giants hit my desk last week. I'm keeping 4 out of 21 for myself; the rest have been sold or will be sold in the near future. A second lot saw 2 more giants adopted, as well as some RP 11-series that would have otherwise cost waaay too much individually. Look for some Dark Sun minis to hit eBay in February or March, as they made up the bulk of that lot that I'll be selling to help recoup some lead funds.

The highlight of my latest acquisition is the Citadel/RP Giant Half-Troll Champion shown above. I have lusted after this bad boy since the mid 80s. Another fine example of outstanding work by Tom Meier - the armor is ornate yet not over-done, the pose dynamic and not physics-defying, and the feathers on the helm just work for me. He'll get painted up this year, for sure!

This Chronicle/Citadel Fire Giant was an added bonus in the same lot. I have to admit, it took me a hour or more of poking around the Intertubes before I secured a positive ID on him. Hard to know where to start looking when a mini has no hallmark or ANY sort of stamp, code, etc. Once the paint was stripped from him, all of Nick Lund's handiwork was laid bare for me to take in. Just a nicely done mini on all fronts.

Take a good look at the pic of his back, and then the zoomed-in view. Oooh, some trophies hanging from his belt - gruesome fun! It got me thinking (always dangerous) on just how enduring many of these old school sculpts are, packed with personality and just begging to be painted.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the new stuff as well as the old, just in different ways. Take for example some recent giants from Reaper: Werner Klocke's Vanja, Fire Giant Queen; Derek Schubert's Frost Giant Princess; and Ben Siens' Skorg Ironskull, Fire Giant King. All three sport common features - the huge Final Fantasy-style weapons, an embarrassment of detail, and the kind of "oomph" that makes an impact around the gaming table when placed upon the battle mat. I hope to one day paint at least one of these beauties.

And how could any fan of old school lead not be impressed by the folks over at Otherworld Miniatures? Their G Series of giants are pretty much the pages of the Monster Manual come to life in miniature. Don't get me started on BS5, aka The Otherworld Giant, though. I might start foaming at the mouth and babbling about merits of which head variant to use. If anyone at Otherworld wants to hook me up, I just might have to add a Sponsors section to ye olde blogge.

I guess it really boils down to what I grew up with. As far as pure collecting is concerned, I favor the 70s/80s (and sometimes 90s). But when it comes to the question of "what do I need to add to my game?" then there is no clear favorite. Whatever looks best and costs less works best for me.