Unboxing: Cool Mini or Not, Elf Sorceress on Owl

Here is another Unboxing post of a mini from Cool Mini or Not: the Elf Sorceress on Owl.

The model was pretty expensive (I got it from the CMoN website) and I expected a lot from it. To be honest I was pretty disappointed with the quality of it and would not recommend it.

First off, the packaging is pretty unappealing: 

Packing peanuts to protect the mini, seriously? : 

 The sorceress in itself. She looks well detailed but the staff looks really weak:

Beautiful base, nicely detailed:

Nice looking head too, I would not want to be a Skaven right now: 

Check out this enormous mold line running through the feathers, that is bad: 

Body of the Owl, looks ok: 

The wings were really bad, as you can see from the next 4 pics: 

Hard to see but there is a big blob of melted resin right in the middle of this wing, covering all the details and stuff. I was really unhappy with this. I am not even sure how to get rid of this: 

The wings are paper thin, there are even holes in them at several locations: 

So, maybe I was unlucky with this particular cast but I feel like CMoN could do a lot better than this. Also when you charge that much for a mini, I expect higher quality. 

Adepticon 2012 Finished Dwarf Army

Finally back on the blogging business, here are the pictures of my finished Dwarf army for Adepticon 2012 LotR Championships and Team Tournament.

Close-up of the Khazad Guard:

Close-up of the Iron Guard

Dwarf Champions:

Durin, the King of my army:

Dwarf banner bearers:

The Road to Adepticon 2012: Display base for LotR Championship Done!

Here are some pictures of the painting steps and the finished Display base for the LotR Khazad Dum army for the LotR Championship at Adepticon 2012.

The board basecoated:

 After first layer of dark grey then first dry-brush of codex grey:

 Board finished (drybrush of white, weathering, painting of door and tiles, matte varnish on board, glossy varnish on edges):

 Another view of the finished board:

Elven Terrain: Concept Art and first steps

So here is the concept art for a few terrain pieces I will be making for a friend High Elf player (nobody's perfect).
Crystal forest and Elven Waystone:

 Elven Tower (that is going to be a real challenge I think):

 I started cutting pieces for the Crystal Forest out of insulation foam:

The next step is to smooth down the 'crystals' and coat them with some sort of protective layer.

The Road to Adepticon 2012: Dwarf Warriors Done

Here are two boxes of Dwarves completed for the LotR Championship and Team event (also there are some unfinished Dwarf Rangers that sneaked in the picture).

Each model has some amount of free hand painting with the yellow lines on the blue robes and the shields. Also I tried to detail the gold armor and get the individual plates to show up better.

The Road to Adepticon 2012: Objective Markers for LotR WIP

I created some objective markers for the LotR Championship tournament using pieces cast in plaster from Hirst Arts molds (#85). These markers represent important things for the Dwarves: gold, food and... beer. 

The pieces were glued on the Secret Weapon bases and basecoated: 

The objective marker for the LotR Team Tournament is also made from the same Hirst Arts mold. I haven't glued it onto the Secret Weapon base yet. I am sure Dwarves will have no problem fighting to recover or protect that much beer:

Unboxing: Kraan Tain of Baalor - BaneLords Miniatures

Here is my latest acquisition to represent a Lord of Chaos on juggernaut or steed for Fantasy from the BaneLord range:

Kraan the Tain of Baalor riding a fuzzy bear

I ordered the mini direct from Maelstrom games (UK), service and shipping were fast (the price is also reasonable for what it is).

The mini comes in a big blister type package:

 A little fluff:

 The teddy bear:

 Other side of the teddy bear:

The head and paws of the bear: 

 

Kraan as a rider and on foot: 

 Close up on the rider (detail is really good):

 This dude is really tall!

 Armour plates and spikes for the bear: 

 Shields and weapons for Kraan:

My impressions: 


-The detail level is excellent
-Quite a few warped thin pieces that I will have to be very careful not to break when straightening
-Mold lines are minimal although some are placed in difficult places (fur of the bear)
-I hope Kraan on foot doesn't look disproportionate compared to the Chaos Warriors

Overall: I like and recommend for a little change of style!