Marienburg vs. the Undeadish (update: undead & spooky stuff)

[ZeroTwentythree]

This has been discussed earlier in the thread, but.... Earlier this week I received a box of Warmachine Bane Thralls. I've been looking for an option for some armored "elite" skeletal troops. I had been considering a few different ideas, and these were on the list but I kept resisting because I think the shoulder plates (pauldron?) look ridiculous, as do the bits of someone's iron fence they are wearing on their backs. The latter are easily left off. I had considered clipping the shoulders, too, as illustrated by my quick photoshoppery to test the idea...





So now that they're in my possession, I can see that the square "pads" on which the separate shoulder plates sit might look like decent, if someone bland, armor plates on their own, with the exception of the "champion" figure who is designed completely differently. I could just leave his on, as above. Honestly, though, I think the plates look less ridiculous in person.


Other observations about these figures.... they are sold as "plastic" but they are not polystyrene. Maybe a lightweight, hard resin? Not sure the shoulder plates will be nearly as easy to trim down & clean up as if they had been polystyrene. The detail seems OK on most of the figure, but the skulls look pretty disappointing. I was already on the fence a bit when I saw close-ups of the skulls in photos. In person they are even more caricatured with pretty soft looking detail. Looks like there will be a little cleanup, hopefully this plastic isn't too tough to work with.

I'll withhold final judgement until I've actually worked on & painted these, but at first unboxing I find them a little disappointing given the regular retail price.

[ZeroTwentythree]

After exploring the Oldhammer forum a bit more this week, I've started thinking about the idea of "remote gaming" as an alternative or supplement to solo gaming.

The concept would be that I would set up the battlefield, the figures, etc. and would play against a remote opponent by keeping a blog with updated photos of the table, use an online random number generator to get dice results, and would get instructions from my opponent that I would carry out on their behalf. This got me reconsidering Hail Caesar as the basis for a fantasy game, since the movement is somewhat loose, based on a verbal description, and partially dependent on dice. There would be little change from playing an in-person opponent other than me moving their figures for them.

So now I'm considering digging up an opponent and giving that a try.


Below is a pic of two older figures I finally based. The figure from the Confrontation range is quite a bit bigger, even when taking into account the larger base. But between that and his proportions, I think he might make a good partner for the old GW "Death Elemental" that I will be painting up sometime (hopefully) soon.

[Dr. The Viking]

Brilliant stuff as ever!

[kidterminal]

Too bad about the warmachine figures but some of their stuff is disappointing considering their prices. This remove opponent idea sounds great.

[ZeroTwentythree]

Fortunately I like the bodies and oversized axes enough to still be happy with those figures. I can work on the skulls & shoulders a bit...

[beefcake]

How about buying some skulls. Ral Partha sells them for 1 pound for a dozen skulls I think in the DSA range. I have them and they look really good.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I'm in the US. I tried getting some skulls a while ago.

I tried ordering both the Max Mini and Origen Art skulls from Fantization, but after they took payment I never heard anything from them and  my order had never shipped. After they ignored several emails, I called and was told that both were out of stock, and I they didn't really have a clear answer as to when/if they would be restocked. So I asked for a refund, which I was told they would do. A few more weeks of waiting for a refund that never appeared, and more ignored emails, I finally got the refund by filing a dispute with PayPal. A bit of a shame, they carry a lot of cool stuff. But between taking payment without having stock, not telling customers that they are out of stock, and then the awful customer service on a relatively simple matter... I don't think I will be ordering from them again.

I had looked around on eBay, but have been distracted by other things, so never ordered anything. But I did just place an order for these:

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=47_55&products_id=230



The one thing I don't like about them is that they all seem to be missing the lower jaw. But for the price and (hopefully) easy availability, I'll try them out.



I would still like some Max Mini skulls, especially since there are a couple of non-human ones in there, but I really want to see one pack first, before buying more, and I'm not sure it's worth making such a small order overseas. (If anyone knows any other US suppliers, let me know!)

[kidterminal]

I've had similar problems with that company I was not told the items i ordered was out of stock and my emails went UN-answered.

[Argonor]

Our own Blackstone has made some resin skulls up for sale (100+ pcs for £8 or so):

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76462.15

[Timbor]

Might be too late, but, did you ever consider the LOTR army of the dead figures?



A bit more 'spectre' than 'skeleton', but I think with the right paintjob it could be convincing.  The armour is not heavy plate, but at least they are armoured.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I may eventually have to order some of those skulls from Blackstone!

I hadn't considered the LOTR figures... seeing that photo, I may still look into them if I can find a good deal on some. I like those!



I attempted to clean up and assembled one of the Bane Thralls, sans pauldrons. I set them up next to the figure so you can see how huge they are. They look like pieces from a segmented sewing thimble! You can see that the platforms on which the pauldrons are supposed to sit could look like more modest pauldrons on their own, if I dressed them up a little. So I might just try that.

I need to go back and spend some more time cleaning up mould lines, especially on the fingers. I can't say I am a fan of whatever this material is. It's like they used something that combines the worst qualities of lead/metal and polystyrene. Filing the stuff leaves a lot of texture and "fluff" that needs cleaned off, similar to styrene. Normally I use an knife on the styrene, which did seem to work better with this stuff. But it's a harder plastic/resin, so it doesn't cut/scrape as nicely. This one looked like it had a gate/tab/sprue/whatever on the collar that had been cleaned off, but left behind a pretty rough, chunky surface. That and the fingers were the worst parts to clean.

In spite of that, I still like the sculpting, aside from the head and pauldrons, and they are nice designs. You can see in the pic that they are much smaller than those old, monstrous Citadel skeletons. But they're bigger than just about anything. I think the Bane Thralls should fit well with the Mantic stuff, which is good since I have a big pile of their skeletons to work on eventually! In fact, I think I will also look into using some of the Mantic skeleton heads on these. If I can get my hands on some of the current GW skeleton heads, those might also fit.

[kidterminal]

He looks pretty good though that axe is massive! The GW LOTR figures Army of the Dead included are not on such a heroic scale they will look small next to the figures you currently have.

[Vermis]

I agree - looks far better without the pauldrons. I also agree with Kidterminal that the axe could use a trim too, though that's your call.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I think that the ridiculously oversized weapons actually work on these figures. I like the way they are posed, and the way the figures seem to be carrying/gripping/swinging them. The fact that they are supernatural nightmares also helps. I think there are a lot of figures that do giant weapons poorly, but I think this is one of those cased where it looks good (for my tastes.)

[ZeroTwentythree]

The Secret Weapon skulls arrived today. They look great! They're a decent size, well sculpted & cast. I just wish some of them had lower jaws. But I think I will still have plenty of use for them. Here's a pic next to an old, huge GW skull, and one of the Warmachine Bane Thrall skulls (has a peg on the bottom.) I think these will work as perfect replacements for the Bane Thralls!

http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=47_55&products_id=230