[Kickstarter] Shieldwolf:War is coming (Battle Orc Wyvern review page #11!)

[Timbor]

The campaign is live!  Still some free shipping early birds left too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1273312680/shieldwolf-war-is-coming/description

[hjorhrafn]

So the first Shieldmaiden Lord concept art is up and I like the looks of it.  It looks like leather pants and top with some plate pieces for armor.  Nice indeed.  And the mammoth is pretty spectacular, although I haven't quite figured out how some of the armor is held on. 

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

Hey thanks,  the Mammooth is indeed a centerpiece and should have the given attention.
For the armor, this is the interior of the plates/shoulder-shields to show much detail has been put on this. 



Thank you all for your support!!! 

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

Well, 100 backers and climbing, need to have patience for 29 days...   

Olivier Nkwetti is currently sculpting the first Dragon below, hope you like it as much as we do 

[Nord]

Congratulations on being funded.  I hope it continues to go well for you.

I would like to see more photos of sculpted items, artwork is just lines on a page, it doesn't really show what you are trying to sell. I would also like to see more of the armies you have talked about, so far it's just been character models. Have we found out yet what the plastic sets are, I thought that was the whole point of the campaign?

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

We've written it somewhere in the middle of the Campaign, although I can understand it got lost in the avalanche of stuff shown, it is after all 5 armies!

First plastic kit is Valley Orc Infantry.
2nd plastic kit is Shieldmaidens/Warmaidens (dual kit).

Characters, Monsters, units, monstrous cavalry...
We are going to have it all, for the time being only the Ogres have seen 2 Units unlocked and the plastic Orcs (although we took a risk and that was put up by us to pump up the campaign) from the start.

What we need is people pledging, if they don't see the value in it they can pull back later but if everyone's on the fence till the plastics get unlocked.. yeah, not going to happen!

For sculpts, please click on most of the images, there are still some sculpts we have not shown but need to get to them first ;-)

[Timbor]

A nice comparison of the lion rider next to a GW demigriff:



That model looks stellar!  Looks better than the demigriff, IMO. 

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

The lady has been unlocked... 

[Tordenskjold]

A nice comparison of the lion rider next to a GW demigriff:

That model looks stellar!  Looks better than the demigriff, IMO. 

Very soft detailing, a rider miniature that looks distinctly apart from the mount (you wouldn't sit straight up in the sadel like that if the mount was moving) and some dubious proportions on both 

I was interested in the Lion Rider concept but not anymore.

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

I'm not going to change your mind but "soft" detail is a bit stretched imho, we currently don't know of any other lion miniature detailed that much in this scale, maybe you have one in mind with which you are comparing this, don't know. But then again, maybe our pic does us injustice, allow me to post a couple from our WiP reports..





The sculptor commissioned for this is Paolo Fabiani. I think you'll agree with me it does hold it's share of detail, we even re-sculpted the buckles to make them "battle-realistic"! 

[Timbor]

I really like Paolo's work.  He has sculpted several figures for DeepWars and Shadowsea, and did a stellar job on them.

I wouldn't say the details are 'soft' on this figure, but some of them are more fine, which requires a bit more skill to paint well.  It can have a nicer overall effect though, IMO.

As for the recent stretch goal of the wyvern, will you guys have any WIP photos of the figure?  Has any progress been made on it so far?  I am quite liking the concept art:

[Shieldwolf Miniatures]

@Timbor

Paolo Fabiani is currently sculpting the other 3 lions, we should easily have WiP reports before the campaign ends.
For the 2-headed Dragon there will certainly be WiP reports before the campaign ends, yes,  for the Wyvern we cannot promise something atm...  

Edit: I'll make a note to try posting here an update, really appreciate you lending a hand here @Timbor, we have our hands full but there's plenty of time to turn this project into a beauty...  

[Tordenskjold]

I'm not going to change your mind but "soft" detail is a bit stretched imho, we currently don't know of any other lion miniature detailed that much in this scale, maybe you have one in mind with which you are comparing this, don't know. But then again, maybe our pic does us injustice, allow me to post a couple from our WiP reports..

The sculptor commissioned for this is Paolo Fabiani. I think you'll agree with me it does hold it's share of detail, we even re-sculpted the buckles to make them "battle-realistic"! 

Ahh... passive-aggresive retorts from a company official, nothing like it to strengthen my faith in your brand 

Firstly, the indentions that you perceive as 'fine detailing' arn't what I'd call fine. Lines made by hollowing rather than varying levels on the miniature's surface make for poor detailing as there is no mass in the them, it all becomes a falt mess. When a horse wears a harness you wouldn't see the leather straps blen into its skin, as is the case on the lion pictured above. This makes for some messy surfaces that leaves little for the eye to properly focus on. Same goes for the engraving that I predict will blend into the armor plating on 9 of 10 painted miniatures.

And if you want my opinion on what a properly sculpted cat is there's this sabre-tooth tigress from Hasselfree:


Notice how straps and armor are sculpted in clearly varying levels and how the artist have put some thought into how a human being might use her legs to actively hold on to the mount rather than sit in a stiff pose with her legs almost impossibly widely spread? That's what I'm looking for in a lion/tiger rider miniature.

[MattW]

Tordenskjold, I honestly have no idea what you're looking at concerning the straps. They all look like pretty clear layers to me, it doesn't look at all like the straps are carved into the skin/fur of the lion. :/

The pose is another story, personally I don't think you can worry too much about 'realism' when it comes to riding lions though. For mine, I think the hasslefree one looks incredibly awkward- it'd be almost impossible to swing a weapon from an unstable position like that. It does look cool though, so I'd probably still get it if I were into scantily clad girls on giant cats.

[Duke Donald]

I have to concur with Tordenskjold; to me, this sculpt is an abysmal fail. I find the concept art (while a blatant ripoff) actually quite pleasant, but the sculpt really isn't to me.

Both the rider's and beasty's pose are frankly silly and horribly static. On top of that, there are many details I feel are wrong with this sculpt, starting with the sausage-like plaited mane. Also, the way the armour is meant to hold on this lion is beyond me and the laws of physics.

The sculptor is clearly talented, as the chain mail and other details show, but he seemed to have had an off day. If I were involved in your venture, I would ask for it to be redone.