Let's take a look at this Maelstrom Games release of the Bane Lords miniature line. You can buy the model here for the excellent price of about 12.5 EUR. It's cast in resin and a rather bulky sculpt, done by Stephane Simon, who also did some of the old Rackham Drunes and Ophidien models. I'm really looking forward painting him!

EDIT: the plinths mentioned in this article are no longer manufactured by VoodooWorx but are now sold by Secret Weapon Miniatures.

VoodooWorx owner Wil Davies was so kind to send me some resin display plinths for me to check out. I'm happy to take a closer look at his high-quality products.

VoodooWorx was founded a year ago by UK Golden Demon winner Wil Davies. There's already quite a big range of products available and there are a lot of plans for the future, including gaming bases and resin terrain. But for now the company focuses on showcase painters, supplying us with some very nice plinths.

Two types of plinths are available: display plinths, which are plain, and themed plinths, which have a texture on top. All plinths come in cube and cylinder shapes.

I got three themed plinths, two 25mm Cobbled Stone Floor plinths and one 40mm Ruined Stone Floor plinth. All of them are very nicely textured, one of the small plinths has a well detailed sewage cover on it. The 40mm base features some stairs.

I'm not a huge fan of the stairs because I think they look slightly out of scale when you put a 28mm figure on it, but it can certainly be used for that as well as larger scales.

I guess there's not much to say about these plinths than that they are of the highest quality. Very finely details, crisp casting. And everything just breathes quality, even the packaging they come in. Just check out the website and you will know what I mean: a lot of other online stores can learn something from this one. What is also good is that all the textured plinths can be seen in a painted and non-painted version.

For the plain display plinths there might be some cheaper alternatives out there, but the textured plinths are certainly worth checking out if you're into serious showcase painting and do not want to waste too much time building a base.

This time I am reviewing a publication: the CoolMiniOrNot Annual 2008 book. It's a compilation of the best submissions to the CoolMiniOrNot website in 2008. It's a nice book with a lot of inspirational content, but I think there's still some room for improvement...

At the moment of writing there are still 167 copies left in the CoolMiniOrNot shop. If you want to buy this book after reading this review, I wouldn't wait too long because once it's sold out, it's gone forever. I believe it was a print run of 500 copies and just like the only other annual they did (which dates back to 2003) it will probably never be reprinted.

The question a lot of people ask is whether buying this book is worth it, because every picture in the book can be seen online too. I guess this is a personal thing, much in line with the discussion of printed books versus e-books. But there's probably one thing which makes a lot of people decide not to buy the book and that's the price. It costs $35, with $7 shipping if you live in the USA or Canada, $14 for the rest of the world. So I ended up paying nearly $50 for the book...

I mainly bought this book as a source of inspiration and relaxation (because I really like looking at nicely painted miniatures). Did it succeed in doing this? Yes! Did I expect more from it? Yes!

First of all I wasn't really happy about the packaging. The book itself was packed in a simple cardboard box, slightly larger than the book, with some small foam pieces to fill up the gaps. As a result of the packaging, nearly every corner of the book took a hit. Nothing really serious, I know, but some additional protection could easily avoid this. I complained about this on the CMON forums, but apart from "all books are packed in bubble wrap" and "tell the people in your post office to stop playing football with the packages" I never got a decent explanation. And it seems to be that some people indeed had a book packed in bubble wrap... If you got one I'd like to hear how your book was packed up, please leave a comment below.

The book itself looks deluxe: it's a hardback with shiny lettering and a gloss finish on the outside. The layout of the pages is very well done. There are plenty of half-page and multi-angle pictures. Sometimes you'll find one or two pages with miniatures painted by the same artist, sometimes a page filled with material from different people. A simple caption is put next to the picture, including the artist's real name, CMON username, a title and the manufacturer. This information is very accurate, however there are some small mistakes here and there.

The 134 pages are split up in several sections: Fantasy, SF, Diorama, Scratchbuilt & Terrain and Historical & Busts. The fantasy section contains some miniatures which should have been in the historical section, but for me a subdivision like this isn't really necessary. Apart from the pictures there is a short foreword and an artists index.

I already said I expected a bit more of this book. One of the major things that bothers me a bit is the paper weight. It's the type of paper which is used for magazines like White Dwarf or a manufacturer's catalog. I expected something heavier, like the first Cry Havoc magazines. The flimsy paper makes the book look a bit thin also, and probably more prone to wear and tear. But in the end it's the print quality that really counts, and this is very good. All artists were asked to submit high DPI images for the book, and this really shows.

Most of the pictures in the book are top-quality, better than the average manufacturer. For example the Swordmaster by derwish or Ana's collection of pictures. As we all know miniature photography is an art on its own, needless to say there are some photography failures in the book also. Examples of this are this Imperial Guard Sentinel and this Chaos Lord.

Apart from those two submissions I mentioned, there are a handful of other entries with a score around 8.0. While these could easily be replaced by submissions with a score higher than 9.0, the editors of this book have chosen to include them anyway. I don't know why they did so, but it raises some questions about the way they picked the entries for the book. I don't think they did wrong including such pieces, it gives a nice broad view of the painting community and it's probably great for the artists, but on the other hand doesn't the reader of this book want to see the best of the best only? I do so anyway, especially after paying those 50 bucks...

Even with the remarks I have, I think this book is worth the money. I really like publication like this, since they allow me to quickly browse some pages and soak up some inspiration. Almost all pictures are very good and the overall layout and selection is very good. If the 2009 edition comes out I will surely buy it. I'm just a bit disappointed in the paper quality and a handful of selected submissions.

Pro

• nice layout
• great selection of entries
• good quality cover

Con

• price
• paper quality
• some lower-rated submissions

Conclusion

• A must have for every miniature enthusiast who prefers printer media over browsing pictures online, a great source of inspiration.

Red Box Games is Tre Manor's own company, but he's probably better known for his work at Reaper Miniatures. The somewhat simplistic website offers links to an out-dated greens gallery and the shop. The shop itself offers only pictures of the greens, don't expect any casted figures or painted ones.

There are five factions to choose from, all of them pure fantasy. Aelfar, the elves, has quite some armored fighters, but also some spearmen, a rogue and mages. The dwarves are called Dvergr, in my opinion the least interesting race. Most of them look alike: covered in fur, heavy helmets and big shields. But there are some nice surprises, such as Dodgy Drexel, a small rogue, probably the tiniest figure of the range.

Yes they are tiny. This is true 28mm scale, a rarity in most modern miniature ranges. I will talk about this more, but first I'll take a look to the remaining three races. The Helsvakt are savage warriors which remind me a bit of the old Drunes by Rackham, complete with some druid mages. The fourth race are the Njorn, a bit similar to the Helsvakt, but they also contain some features of the Aelvar. Their overall theme reminds me a bit of the ancient vikings.

Finally there are the goblins, Red Box Games' most recent race. This also contains the huge Bloodmaw and Horsebane figure: a goblin mounted on a bear, probably one of the most spectacular figures of the entire Red Box Games range. Now that we have got to know the company and its miniature lines a bit better let's get a closer look at some actual minis.

The minis are got are these: Yrsa the Accursed, Olsvalter the Aged, Myrianna of Aelfheim, The Keeper. All of these are priced at 8,99 USD, which is fair price I think. All figures are shipped in their own zip-lock plastic bag together with a base. The figures I got were all one-part, except for Olsvalter: the owl on his back should be glued on. The bases are quite small, a lot smaller than the average round base actually. Once a figure is mounted on there's hardly any place left for basing, except for some regular sand. I strongly advice to base them on a bigger base for additional room.

I already told you the figures are small, and they are extremely detailed as well! Actually the sculpts are some of the best I have ever seen! Each figure is full of character and the entire figure has received a lot of attention. Just take a look at the closeups below and I hope you understand what I mean. And yes, that's my index finger in the background :)

There is a lot of detailing on the figures: weapons, scrolls, familiars, trophies and a wide variety of magical items, they are all sculpted on with the same amount of care. Sometimes this can make a miniature look busy, but here it just looks right. There are plenty of bare areas left, don't worry.

Casting was very good. Some mold lines here and there of course, but nothing really serious.

Here are the figures lined up, ready to be primed. I'm really going to enjoy painting these for sure!

Pro

• great, dynamic sculpts with a lot of nice details
• good price
• no unnecessary assembly
• true 28mm

Con

• supplied bases are small
• only a few races
• 28mm, they might look small when you want to use them in a game with other figures
• online store only shows the greens

Conclusion

• Some of the best figures I have ever seen. Characterful, extremely well sculpted and very detailed. These gorgeous miniatures are really made to paint up nicely, and they're a challenge to do so too. Money well spent.

I'm currently working on a bunch of reviews of several products. The reviews will be composed of two parts: a general introduction to the company and its products and then a hands-on review of one or more of their products. This is what you can expect in the next few weeks:

• Red Box Games: 28mm fantasy goodness from the US.
• Tor Gaming R&D: figures for their upcoming game "Relics"
• VoodooWorx: UK based supplier of sculpted resin display plinths.
• Plinth Country: a new player on the resin and wood display plinths market, coming from Poland.

In addition I'll also be taking a look at the brand new CoolMiniOrNot Annual 2008 book. I guess this company does not need an introduction :)

Do you want me to review your product as well and attract new customers? Please contact me at gerrie.schenck@gmail.com.

Regular readers of my blog will know I got some exclusive preview sprues of the Mantic Games Elves last summer. Well, a while ago the guys at Mantic were so friendly to send me some undead sprues to check out.

And again they did a great job. Not everyone liked the design of the Elves, but I think these skeletons will appeal to a wider public. The figures are filled with bits of armor, chainmail, weaponry and shields. And again the sprues are filled with a huge amount of extra bits and options. Again the casting quality is very good.

There's no real reason not to buy these if you're looking for a cheap or better looking alternative for your favorite wargame's undead troops.

Personally I think I will take one skeleton from the sprue, add some bits to a base and paint it up. They look very tempting to paint :)

Time to reveal the first mystery package! It is actually a figure I ordered from Kabuki Models a while ago.

The order on the site was smoothly, and I was kept up to date when the order was processed. I expected the package to arrive a bit quicker, but it was still under two weeks shipping time. The website tells me the company is based in Italy, but I got e-mails from a Polish guy and in the end the package appeared to be shipped from the UK.

The figure itself is contained in a small cardboard box with a simple sticker on it:

The model itself consists of three parts: the body, head and the axe. There's a great sculpted base provided with the figure, featuring a pile of skulls, nice!

The overall quality of this figure is very high. There are some minor mould lines on the model, but nothing serious that can't be removed with a file or knife.

Here's official studio paintjob:

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.

For those who don't know Mantic Games: it's a new company, based in the UK. Their plan is to release a number of fantasy armies, compatible with every 28mm wargame. The first army is Elves. You can read more on their blog, or check out this video shot at GenCon 2009. I think Mantic Games introduces some very interesting concepts to the hobby, such as the boxes, the round bases which also fit in square bases and of course their fair price. Painters and gamers should keep an eye on this company, because I'm sure they will have a very bright future.

The Elves are to be released mid-September, but I'm one of the lucky people to have received one of their pre-production moldings. Now first of all I want to stress these are test-moldings, so it's possible the final product will have some minor errors fixed and maybe some other little changes.

Molding is done at Renedra Limited, the company which also produces the figures for Warlord Games. I can say the molding is very good, there are a lot of tiny details on the elves and they are very well defined.

The figures themselves are well-proportioned and look very elvish, yet their slender shape is something you haven't seen before. The shape of the helmets, armor and shields make this army look unique. They come on round bases, but if you choose to base them on square ones then Mantic has come up with a very good idea: they provide with square bases in which the round ones can be fit in. Very clever!

The sprue is full of many options, such as optional heads, shields and weapons. There's even some room left for additional details: a dead elf, a broken shield, a skull. Great stuff for dioramas or objectives for your games.

So why don't you take a look for yourself? I have taken some pictures of the sprue earlier today.

I couldn't resist to start working on those Elves, so I'm currently assembling this batch of 10. Check back in a couple of days for work in progress updates on this project.

Thanks again Mantic Games, and best of luck!