Last month I showed you a pre-production sprue of the Mantic Elves spearmen. Well actually that sprue comes together with another one in the same box: the command sprue, which I want to show you now. I've only took pictures of half the sprue, since the other half is identical to the regular spearmen sprue. I can't really add much to my previous review... the molding is excellent again and here too there are plenty of options and extra bits. Check them out:



I've also received a lot of questions concerning the size of the bases and how they compare to those of Games Workshop. They measure 20 x 20 mm and have straight edges. For a comparison: check out the pictures below.

In my blog post about the Monde Du Jeu 2009 report, I mentioned something about the pricing of the Mortebrume starter set. Apparently this wasn't really a starter set, but simply an exclusive deal for sale on Monde Du Jeu only which contains all figures.

One of my blog readers, Dimitri, cleared up things in his comment:

"About the prices, this was a limited edition and there was no real "starter pack" at monde du jeu 2009. 130€ was the price for all the figures they were selling which means the four armies. Having a talk with lutin (the boss), he told me that by the end of october (when the game will be released on stores) you will have a starter pack for 15€ (figures, book, dice and everything)."

Thank you for this Dimitri :)

Check here for a nice picture report of the event.

Finally there are some pictures of painted Mortebrume models. I was really looking forward to the figures and the game, but after seeing the pictures my enthusiasm has dimmed. I don't like the figures at all, they look bulky and do not match the high standard of the other French games (Alkémy, Hell Dorado and of course Rackham). Also the starter kit which contains all the figures costs 130 euros. One figure costs 13 euro. No thanks!

I plan to attend these events this fall:

• Euromodelbouw 2009, 10-11 October, Genk, Belgium: this event is held every two years and is mainly meant for scale modelers and miniature railroad hobbyists. I've never been there, but I'm going to take a look around for inspiration and for some materials which might be useful for the fantasy & sf miniature painter too. Probably going on Saturday.
  
• Spiel '09, 22-25 October, Essen, Germany: in the past I always visited gaming events in Belgium and Holland, but this one has to be huge from what I've heard. So this is also the first time I will visit it, I'm going to look around for games and miniatures. I will probably visit on Sunday.
  
• Crisis 2009, 7 November, Antwerp, Belgium: the one event I never miss (well, I missed it once but that's never the plan really). Big fair with all kinds of miniature and gaming related traders, demo tables and of course the painting competition.

Of course you can expect picture reports for each of these events.

Are you also attending any of these? Do you know of an event which might be interesting for me too, but which isn't here? Please comment!

My desk has been a real mess the last couple of months. I know most artists need a messy desk to function properly, but I like to keep my work area tidy.

The paint 'stadium' (as I call it, basically a cardboard rack which holds all my paint bottles) was getting too small: too many Vallejo bottles and also a lot of bottles which didn't fit it, like the Vallejo pigments. So it was time for a new, bigger stadium.

This is one is also made out of cardboard and consists of 5 rows for Vallejo bottles (2,5 cm wide steps) and 2 larger rows for stuff like GW jars and Vallejo pigments (3,5 cm wide). The entire thing is 55 cm wide.

After installing the new stadium I decided to clean up my desk too. Personally I like a big, clean work area. I usually work on one project, sometimes two, during the a paint session, so there's plenty of room for the miniatures, a palette, a tissue and the paints. When I'm done I usually put everything back so I have a clean desk to start with the next time. All work in progress figures are moved to an area at my left (not visible on the pictures). Works great, the only trick is to have the discipline to keep everything tidy.

Enough talk, time for some pictures.

Oh, one more thing: you might notice a set of unfamiliar bottles on the second row from the top, on the right side. These are some new paints I picked up yesterday: Vallejo Extra Opaque. These are similar to Citadel Foundation paints. Haven't tried them yet, but expect a review soon.