Oathmark Plastic Dwarves; first painted minis and some thoughts

[Magos Kasen]

So, despite these guys being out for a little while now, I haven't seen too many painted examples.

I was pretty excited at the prospect of generic plastic dwarves, given my enduring love for the stunty bearded blokes. I ordered a couple boxes as well as the metals from a local store here in Aus, and received mine yesterday arvo. 
To be completely honest, I'm somewhat disappointed in the set - I knew from the sprue pics that there were some corners cut, but the lack of diversity in arms, especially shield arms which come in one pose only, clutched right up against the chest, was a real shame. The heads are easily the weakest part of the set, since apparently the sculptor thought he was making a set of heavily armed garden gnomes. I don't mind a bit of variety, and having some hooded/bare heads is a nice addition, but only having 4/10 of the core heads wearing helmets... and most of the heads are frankly fairly ugly. Not impressed. The models also suffer from the silly 'shoulder pads' this sculptor also included on the arms for all the frostgrave plastics, which made little sense on heavily clothed cold weather figures, and even less on chainmail byrnie clad ones.

All those gripes aside, the kit isn't terrible, with the bodies in particular being excellent, with some nice details. I just wish a little more time had been spent on creating more diversity in arms, and some better heads.
To help remedy the flaws, I've used greenstuff to extend the cloth coif's on some of the models to cover the ugly shoulder pads, as well as adding appropriate moustaches to the heads that lack them.
Here is the results of a few hours painting tonight, a single warrior and a ranger made using parts from the Frostgrave barbarian box. Neither have been based, since I'm not yet sure how I want to base these guys, but otherwise they're more or less done to tabletop standard.

[Nord]

Nice work on those.

The points you raised (gnome like head features and poor sculpt of the arms) was one reason I decided to pass on these - pretty hard as a dedicated beard fan! But there are so many dwarfs around it's easy to get the stunty fix from elsewhere.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

I did wonder about what you called the 'shoulder pads' - initially thinking they were simply a continuation of the cloth worn around the neck, but as it turns out they don't match up.

While I like the rather characterful faces, I also don't fully understand why the decision was made to have so few helmeted heads in what is a set of armoured Dwarves. Being Dwarves they may be heavily equipped even as scouts or rangers, but surely the first defence should always be something sturdy protecting your head. That said, having a hooded head does mean adding a cloak clearly makes for a rather nice Dwarf ranger figure...

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for that.  When the initial pictures came out I thought the heads looked the weakest part of the sculpts.  Would Grpping Beast plastic Vikings heads fit?
So far, I will pass on the dwarves.  I am going to wait for the full range of these chaps



or go with these guys



The orcs look better and I will cross my fingers for the elves.

[PatrickWR]

Good review. TBH I looked at these guys once and was then reminded that there are almost 30 years' worth of fantastic dwarf sculpts out there in 28mm. I just don't need more for my lead mountain!

[lord marcus]

Thanks for that.  When the initial pictures came out I thought the heads looked the weakest part of the sculpts.  Would Grpping Beast plastic Vikings heads fit?
So far, I will pass on the dwarves.  I am going to wait for the full range of these chaps



or go with these guys



The orcs look better and I will cross my fingers for the elves.

Where are those spear dwarves from?

[Cubs]

Where are those spear dwarves from?

Conqueror Models. Nice ain't they?

https://conquerormodels.com/product-category/28mm-fantasy/dwarfs/

[lord marcus]

Conqueror Models. Nice ain't they?

https://conquerormodels.com/product-category/28mm-fantasy/dwarfs/

The photo is at an angle where they look tall, but yes they are nice

[Coenus Scaldingus]

When the initial pictures came out I thought the heads looked the weakest part of the sculpts.  Would Grpping Beast plastic Vikings heads fit?

A Mr. Sparkes on the Oathmark Facebook Group did just that:

[Jacksarge]

You have done a splendid job with them.
That said, also glad I didn't order a box and went for 32 Conqueror Models Dwarves plus the metal Oathmark Dwarven command instead :-)
Have pre-ordered a box of the Oathmark Goblins though.
The Conqueror Dwarves are splendid, just the right size.

[Magos Kasen]

A Mr. Sparkes on the Oathmark Facebook Group did just that:

I think I might need to buy myself a box of vikings now... Damn haha.

[Elk101]

I'm not a dwarf fan but I did consider picking up a box with the Oathmark goblins for a pseudo dark ages Tolkienesque mash up. I'm not sure now, especially after seeing those Conqueror dwarves. I had a good look on the website and they're some of the nicest I've seen.

[Jacksarge]

The Oathmark metal Dwarven command just turned up in the letterbox - they are really nice 

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

I'm not a dwarf fan but I did consider picking up a box with the Oathmark goblins for a pseudo dark ages Tolkienesque mash up. I'm not sure now, especially after seeing those Conqueror dwarves. I had a good look on the website and they're some of the nicest I've seen.

They just need bigger beards.

[Nord]

They just need bigger beards.

Thanks, I knew there was something about them, couldn't quite put my finger on it. They are none too rotund either, so they are in danger of looking like short men. I like my dwarfs a bit rounder. 

Anyway, back on topic, the Oathmark dwarfs could have been much better if they had added in a few more heads, giving you the option to go fully helmet on a unit, or fully hooded, or a mix.