SoBH Terrain: This One's Definitely A Keep-er

Spacer and I recently placed an order for more Malifaux goodness from Miniature Market (great online store by the way... definitely recommend checking them out if you haven't already...).  Since we were pooling our funds to get the free shipping, I decided to order some of the larger items that have been sitting on my wishlist with them for months now, one of which I've just gotta share.

This is the Castle Keep from, you guessed it, Mage Knight!  This is only one piece of several that WizKids produced which actually let you build an entire castle but unfortunately most of the other pieces are not that easy to find nowadays.  Not so for the keep though.  In fact not only is it pretty easy to find, its also pretty easy to find cheap!  This particular one ran me a whole $6.  Talk about breaking the bank!

Personally I'd definitely recommend grabbing one of these if you happen to run across one for a reasonable price.  Not only is it a very sturdy piece but the paint job looks pretty good as well!  Now I just need to work it into a scenario... like maybe with those orcs I picked up earlier in the month.  But more on that later.  Until next time...

Raising My Ork Warband; AKA Grudark Smash!

I was cruising around eBay looking at old Mage Knight minis when I stumbled across something interesting. All of their orc minis that I'd looked at in the past were from the original line so they had a kind of WoW cartoony look to them.  Nothing wrong with that IMO but the figure I found was definitely not that style.  In fact it reminded me more of the orcs from the Reaper Warlord miniature line.  Looking around I realized that it was actually from the 2.0 version of the game so I did a little more exploring.

For those of you who don't know the 2.0 Mage Knight figures are a made of a stiffer plastic than the original figs and also seem to hold their detail better as well not to mention the paint jobs are typically better.  Don't get me wrong, these are still mass produced prepainted figures so the painting is nothing to write home about but they are much better than the originals.

I was able to piece together an eight figure warband for about $20 including shipping with only a couple of repeats and even a pretty good sized warbeast which isn't half bad.  I want to rebase them onto 30mm lipped bases but I thought I'd throw up a couple pictures to show everyone what they look like "out of the box" as it were.

First up are the grunts of the band, two marauders on the left and two hunters on the right.

This should give the group a nice mix of ranged and melee.

Next are the three personalities for the band, a warrior in light armor on the left, another in heavy armor on the right, and a blood shaman in the center.

Unfortunately both of the warriors are equipped with spears so I might do a weapon swap on the heavier armored one to make him more of a melee monster.  This shouldn't be too hard to do but it will definitely require me digging around in the old bits box... well, first I need to dig out the bits box before I can dig in it but you get the idea.

And finally here is the warbeast to round out the band.

I have no idea what this thing is supposed to be but I wouldn't want to run into it in a dark alley that's for sure.  Oh and to give you an idea of the size, here is the warbeast and a marauder next to a wizard from the Reaper line.

Not the best angle to see the height but it should give you an idea of how they match up.

As you can see the paint jobs are not that bad considering they are just a bunch of prepaints.  I know I can do better but if you are looking for some figs you can just swap the bases on and run with these really aren't a bad option.

Overall I'm really happy with all of them and I'm looking forward to getting them to the table and giving them a run.  Heck, maybe I'll do an orc vs. goblin battle just to mix things up!  After all, those poor little gobbos are just too much fun to beat up.  That's it for now but more Malifaux is coming... next week.  Until next time...

It's Recycling... For Minis!

Years ago (twelve to be exact) the CMG Mage Knight hit the streets for the first time.  I never really got into it as the whole CMG/CCG thing just didn't appeal to me anymore but I did see some figures that I liked the look of.  Then again it was collectible so why buy a bunch of minis in the hopes of getting one that I might like the look of.  I mean sure I might do that now but then I was more sensible.  Sensible.  Yeah, let's run with that.

Anyway, I recently went trolling for some new minis that might have a different feel than what you find in the mainstream and what did I find?  None other than some of the same old Mage Knight minis that caught my eye years ago, plus a few "newer" ones that I hadn't seen.  One quick Paypal transaction later and they were winging my way to me at the speed of the USPS.

I vaguely remembered what they looked like then but the real question is just how are these figures now?  I have to say that time has not been kind to the figures from the original sets.  Not as far as the sculpts themselves but as far as the paint.  I had planned on repainting these anyway but it was surprising to see just how bad the original runs paint was.  Here are a couple to give you an idea.

Brass golem on the left and submersible golem on the right.

 It seems like the later sets (believe they were from the Unlimited series) fared much better in their overall paint schemes and also featured some more dynamic sculpts than the original minis..

Whirling golem from the Unlimited series

Still definitely not Golden Demon winners but not bad considering what they were.  The material used also seems to be more rigid as well though this is only a concern if you are looking to do any conversion work.

Then again I did say that I was going to repaint them anyway so how the paint held up is kind of a mote point.  The better question is how is the quality of the sculpt and personally I really like the look of these figures.  A quick re-basing and paint job later and voila!

One big happy family of mechanical menaces

Overall I'm really happy with how they've turned out.  Not super detailed but then they'll suit my purposes just fine.  And just what are those purposes?  Well, I was originally thinking of re skinning them for a Dungeons and Dragons 4e game but I'm now I'm also thinking about stating them up for Song of Blades and Heroes.  Either way I'm looking forward to getting them to the table and I'm even going to pick up some more as well.  After all recycling is good for the environment, right?  Until next time...