[REVIEW] Miniaturemen: New manufacturer, full of charm and originality.

On Sunday the 10th of July, I attended the Barrage Wargames show in Stafford. I'm currently within the Staffordshire area, so it's a perfect annual convention to get to on my doorstep. 
While there, I came across a manufacturer I'd never heard before called Miniaturemen.  
They're an English company, small start-up sort, that offer models and components that might be compatible with other miniatures ranges...  This includes cool things like cacti and flaming barrels, things that make for great modern or post-invention of musket terrain accents.

Their biggest model line is their range of Orc Cowboys. They caught my interest, and I bought a model called 'Mounted Cowboy Orc 5 Hoodoo Green' for £8. 

 The mounted cowboys come in a cardboard box such as this, with their content listed on the front. Inside, you'll find a plastic bag that was wrapped in bubble wrap which contains the metal components of the rider, as well as a resin Bison which is also wrapped in another piece of bubble wrap. They should survive being mailed pretty well with this packaging. 

So, onto the model. This one at least was three components in total - some of the others may be two or more pieces. 
The Bison (or Buffalo, if you prefer) is a single piece including the base, which is detailed, and the legs of the rider. This one also has a water canteen tied up on the rear of the left side of the 'saddle' as a detail.
The quality of the resin is nice. It's sturdy, without feeling brittle. It is neither powdery, nor greasy to the touch and did not need scrubbing or washing before painting. 

The highlight of this model in particular is a teeny tiny scorpion to the rear of the base, which is a nice bit of character. 

The casting on this piece was almost flawless - there was a noticeable casting mark on the belt of the torso waist,which is not visible when the model is assembled.

  
There is also what looks like a small mold slip on the detail of the base - but worry not! This mold slip is easily fixed, as I'll show later. 

 The rider in this case at least is made of metal, instead of the resin of the bison.

For some people, I know that metal is a deal-breaker, but I actually really like the weight metal adds to a model. It makes it feel more significant. 

This model is made up of two components: The right arm, holding the shotgun with the left hand attached, and the torso, with the left arm without its hand and the head as a single piece. 

Upon test-fitting, We have a very nice, snug joint between the right arm and the torso.

The joint between the left hand and arm is a little looser, however, if you're a dab hand with green stuff, or you paint a little thicker than most, then it won't be an issue. It doesn't look too bad as it is, if you're not up to the challenge...  

The torso join has a bit of give to it, which will allow  you to slightly pivot the model for subtle pose difference, but it's not so much of a gap that you'll have issues with it fitting. In fact, the worst of the gap can be placed on this front side where the gun arm will hide it.

From the rear, there's actually no visible gap - so bonus points to this manufacturer, even with two different casting materials, everything fits together well! 

So, onto that base with the mold slip... Yes, if a model is 'defective' in any way, you're entitled to take it back to the manufacturer and get a replacement - I've done this myself on occasion if a model was too bad to work with.
But, this is a small company, and I like fixing things up if it's possible so as to not harm their profit margins, and this tiny slip wasn't really too big an issue - especially because the base is sand textured, so... Step 1, get yourself some sand and use PVA to plop it on the base along the mold slip. 

Step 2, flatten that sand down onto the base so that it isn't sticking up too much, the mold slip isn't visible and then leave that sucker to dry, then brush it lightly to remove the loose sand. You'll then have this.

That's... it. Job's a good'un. You fixed a mold slip issue, the company isn't harmed and you don't have to wait for a replacement model. Everybody wins. 

So, I painted the whole thing and then assembled it, so that I could get into all the areas of detail. Here's what a completed model could look like. 

So, after having painted him, what do I think?  
 He's nice. 
It's got a nice weight to it without being too heavy, the detail is really well preserved, the molding issues are incredibly minor and easy to sort out if you even wanted to in the first place... And it has a nice character; Unlike Kromlech's Orcs with masses of teeth, these Orcs are more humble - they have teeth that protrude from their mouths without there being too many, they have fairly sunken eyes and a pronounced bottom lip that really gives the models a look of their own. 

I really like the style. 
I don't know of other manufacturers that really make cowboy Orc components. 
The clothing of the models and the look of the weapons look time-period correct and the choice of a bison as a mount is an interesting one - it is eye-catching and impressive due to size, but at the same time it's imaginative and raises questions as to how and why they ride them. 
It's not just a horse because cowboys, it's not a boar or wolf as is typically stereotyped... No, they went with something suitable to the setting that still hasn't really been done before, causing for something that definitely stands out amongst the competition.

I'd really love to not only  see the range expand, but for it to become its own miniatures game at some point - They have potential, with their Brothers Grimm Goblins to make their own whole setting - perhaps Natives could be a whole other race.  

This company is my pick of the show and the one to watch going forward in the future, so give them a visit and show them some support. They have a website and an eBay front, with this line of models being available from both. 

Steps backwards in model options

Today, I was assembling and painting the new plastic Ork Painboy model and a thought occurred to me that I felt deserved a Tablestrop ramble.  

This unit, in both game rules and physical model, is a Nob. It has the same S, T, et cetera in game and is as bulky and imposing as one in the flesh. 
However, I noticed... He's fixed-pose. He has one possible way he can be built, there's no options for poseability - his head, his arms, his one leg... it's all in the same position, no matter what. If I want more than one in my army, it's going to be a large amount of work to convert it to look different, or will require scratch-building one entirely.  

Then I realised something. It never used to be like this.  

When I started in 1998, this was the standard of model around:  

This is the classic Space Marine Captain of the era. If you had a Space Marine army, it probably had this guy in it, at least for the next few years. He was three parts - body, including head, legs, power sword arm all as one piece, his back pack, and the storm bolter hand.
Most people, if they didn't want the storm bolter, would swap that out. It wasn't a hard thing to convert.
If you wanted him to have a different backpack, that was also just a simple swap.
But if you wanted a power fist or a lightning claw, you were shit out of luck unless you had yourself a saw, because this sucker was metal.

As such, people tended not to use any other load-out... You'd give the other weapons to other members of his unit instead. 

He was replaced in the 2000's with this guy. 

This is a multi-part plastic kit. This, at the time, was a standard they were starting to move towards: The kit contained multiple options - it had a power fist, lightning claw, power sword and chainsword, as well as storm bolter, plasma pistol and bolt pistol. It may have had other options, I don't quite remember.
He only came with one head, torso, backpack and legs set, however he was compatible with the rest of the range.
This was also true of the Orks - The 40k and Fantasy Ork Boy kits are actually entirely swappable, and were made that way intentionally in the hopes people would buy more things to customise their armies.
And it worked.
People would often buy this captains set, a command squad set and a tactical squad set and use it to make sergeants for their army, or to make veteran squads.
Because this guy was interchangeable and 100% compatible with every other basic kit coming out, any of his parts could be used on any other kit, and vice versa.
Want that helmet on your Devastator Sergeant? Sure thing, pal!
Putting that cape on your Champion? Not an issue.

This fucker got replaced with this guy.

This was a very recent change.
This guy comes with... TWO head options. Ooh, the fucking options.
Now, take a good look at him. For one minute, just look.
Do you see an issue?
Yeah, that combi-weapon. It's part of the model. Detailed in.
If you want this cape, legs and torso to be used on a guy, you better want a bolter-gravgun combi on him, because if not, you're going to need to do some major re-posing and sculpting to make it work without it.
Sure, that power sword arm is easy to remove - it's built into the shoulder pad, though, so if you want to use the pad, you need to either cut off the arm at the mid-point and keep the angle, or you'll need to use a dremel tool to empty out the shoulder socket to re-use it on a normal model.
Also the legs and cape are one piece.

Does... anyone else...see a massive step backwards here?
We went from a fixed-pose dude that's a pain in the arse to convert, to a multi-part kit that's fully compatible with multiple other kits in the range, back to a fixed-pose dude that's a pain in the arse to convert.

And it's not just the Space Marine range, either. The Ork Warboss recently went onto 'last chance to buy'. We've gone from a guy with poseable weapon arms and a head you could tilt, to.... Grukk Facerippa. A character model in a single pose. Same deal with the previously mentioned Painboy.
The Harlequin characters, the assassins... Most of their new kits, particularly characters, are now being shifted over to singular pose fixed-pose-no-option models.
There are some that are still swappable - The pose of the Flash Gitz is different, but they're still the same scale as Ork Nobz, so you can mix those parts of those kits if you want to.
The loota/ burna kit CAN still be used to take advantage of extra boyz bodies by buying a generic set and using some of those to fill the options out.
However, new kits... seem to be getting less of this.

For example, here's a very recent release - The Space Wolf Wulfen.
This image is from Games Workshop's website and is of their two-boxes-of-the-same deals, for a Murderpack.

Now, I know the image is tiny, but just look for a second. The guy on the far left is... identical in both. The guy next to him is in the exact same pose, just with a hammer or axe, the third guy is identical, the posing of the fourth ones in both rows is... sadly, the closest thing to being in two different poses there is, and the fifth one is the axe-and-hammer swap again.
Their poses are however the exact same thing. You can't even argue that they aren't.

So, when did we go from entirely compatible, quick-swappable kits that could let people easily customise an army, to this...? It's like we're back in second edition.

Don't get me wrong. The kits are far, far more detailed now than they ever were back then. Tons of charm and character, great detail... GW are still one of the front runners in that respect. 

Well... I have to answer this in a kind of flat way.
It's cheaper.
It is way cheaper to design a single kit without having to worry about how it fits in with everything else you've ever gotten made.
You can also make things more dynamic and throw on more details if you don't have to worry about how it's going to fit together, so there ARE legitimate reasons to not do what they used to... But there is one more reason. 

Their competitors don't do it.
90% of their competition make fixed-pose or weapon-swap or limited pose models. No one does what Games Workshop used to do with their level of customising on their kits.
If they don't have to, why should GW have to, either? 

Well, how about because they're meant to be front runners? Their detail and character is still top of the tree, that almost doesn't need to be said... But people love being able to customise their armies quickly and easily.
GW is starting to no longer offer that.
In an ever-competitive market where the small guy can steal sales, you want as many things in your favour as possible.

I do hope GW keeps this only to character models and tries to keep the multi-part interchangeable stuff for the masses of kits.

What You See Is What You Guess?

So, recently Games Workshop announced their new range of 'Build & Paint' model sets.   
This is a range of kits, including glue, a paintbrush and some paints, and appear to be molded in colour instead of the usual grey, designed to encourage people to build and paint models - the goal is that they could be sold in stores among the model airplanes and sports cars, and of course are offered at a price point that younger audiences can afford.  

Bare in mind that this is 'series 1' of their 'Build & Paint' sets, so they probably at least intend to do more... 
This is a good idea, in theory - cheap models, pre-coloured in a primary colour to encourage people to paint things, and it'll stop us seeing a sea of grey on the battlefield, even if they aren't painted.  

However... I have to admit that it's not the smartest move they've made. 
For one, people have been joking for years that Games Workshop will eventually get bought by Hasbro and the figueres would come in pre-coloured plastic, so it's sort of hillarious that they're thinking of doing this themselves without being bought out by a toy company.  
Remember, they're a model company that sells models and no games.  


So, here's the first image - from their flyer, showing what the series 1 range includes.

While I don't have the other image available, I'll just point one thing out: The Space Marine Bike one also comes with a 'Captain'. This is actually the old plastic Terminator Sergeant that was around when I first started... Nice to see he got himself a promotion after all these long years of service.
I also find it hillarious, given that Terminators have had a size increase since then that a unit of Terminators can now be lead by a Captain who is way smaller than them.
I guess it's some sort of new 'Primaris Reductus' type Terminator armour that is ultra-compact or something.

Now, bare in mind that these boxes are mock-ups and not the final design type, but I have an issue with the bottom Ork one.

ORK 'ARD BOYZ MOB. This box contains an Ork Boss in Mega Armor, 7 Orks and a Deffcopta

Ready for the issue with this? Okay, second image go!

This image shows the content of the box. Okay, These are Black Reach kits - Deffkopta is nice to have out again, as there's no way to have plastic ones without it.
That's also 5 Black Reach Ork Nobz and 2 Ork Boyz with Big Shootas.
And the Ork Warboss from Black Reach. Who is clearly not wearing Mega Armor.
It's not even similar. That's 'eavy armor at best (it has some plates on the body and one leg and has two shoulder pieces, that's good enough if you read the codex description) and it's never going to be Mega Armor.
What's sad is that there has never been a mega armor Ork Warboss with the exception of Ghazghkull Thraka, and this would be a good opportunity to do it.

So, first off, the box lists the wrong contents. It's just not a mega-boss.
Second off, let's ignore the boss and the Deffkopta for a second.
We have a box of 'ardboyz... containing 7 Nobz, and 2 Boyz with Big Shootas.
Let's assume for just a second we're fielding Nobz as 'Ardboyz because the armour is right and we're ignoring the scale difference between the Nobz and the Boyz.
That's an illegal unit.
'ardboyz units must be at least 10 boyz large and can only include 1 Big Shoota per 10 boyz.
So in effect, they've given you a not mega-armoured Warboss, which is... alright, but change the name, a unit of 5 nobz, which is cool, a deffkopta, which is fine, and 2 useless big shoota boyz.
Great value for money, there, guys.
The other option is that that box contains a mega-armoured Warboss and by default 5 Meganobz with illegal equipment.
The third option is that WYSIWYG doesn't apply anymore and should be scribbled out in bright red crayon in your rulebook.
So take your pick, I guess.

What's even sadder about all of this is... There hasn't been an actual box option for 'ardboyz since 3rd edition, in which it included metal components to make it so that the boyz had a metal plate on their chest, two shoulder pads and either a helmet or an iron gob - or both.
This could've been a good time to try and market 'ardboyz.
But no. Let's not do that.

What's really tragic is that at the same show, they revealed models that look ripe for use as 'ardboyz with only minimal converting. Know what they are?

Bloodbowl Orc players.

I'm not even kidding here. THOSE look more like 'ardboyz than this box Games Workshop is bringing out.  

So... In short, neat idea, terrible execution and poor choice of names. 
If they sort those issues out, sure... Maybe it'll work. 
But consider this.  
That Space Marine Bike with Captain are the older 2nd/early 3rd edition plastic molds. 
So the Ork Trukk and Bike are too, most likely.  
So the boss and boyz included in those probably are, too.  
While the Space Marine bike and power armour in general haven't changed too much in the years, Orks have changed. In fact, the old bike predates the style change in which the Orks started to look as they do now. They look more like Grots than Orks, given the scale and lack of detailed muscle.  
So... If you want to paint old models with not much detail on being put out by a model company that supposedly only deals with premium quality kits, sure, save yourself the money.  
If you want to get a five year old into the hobby without sacrificing nice models, sure, get the kit.  
Otherwise... I.. really hope that not all of the future series of kits are going to be old shit laying around the office from 2nd edition.