Hi everyone,
Just a quick post today - the latest in my series looking at small miniature manufacturers who we can support through these hard times. As ever, I'm not getting paid for this, nor have I received any free stuff. Today I'm going to be looking at Black Sun Miniatures, another UK based company. They specialise in high-quality resin pieces and offer them in a variety of scales, as well as busts. For that reason I would categorise them as aiming more at collectors and painters rather than gamers, although you could certainly use them for games if you wanted. I received some miniatures from Black Sun as a present from my wife, and I was blown away by the detail and accuracy. I'll show you some that I've put some paint on below, but here are a couple of shots from their website.
These images are taken from blacksunminiatures.co.uk.
I can confirm that the miniatures look beautiful in real life too. I did have a few issues putting the parts together and there was a little bit of work involved removing excess resin, but once the work had been put in they looked magnificent.
I've just finished the Abyssus Ruin which is beautifully detailed, although perhaps not the most exciting demonstration of a painted miniature!
I've also been working on the Black Sun Miniatures Forest Troll over quite a period of time. Given the cost and detail of these miniatures they tend to be longer term projects rather than 'quick wins'. The troll is still very much a work in progress, but I hope it gives you an idea of how it looks with a little paint on it.
Just for clarity, I added the base material to this piece myself, it came with a plain base. The troll stands 70mm high, 90mm to the top of the club.
As I've mentioned throughout, these miniatures are beautiful, but they are definitely more expensive than your average miniatures as well. They make a great gift to yourself or someone else and a good longer term project, but I don't think you would want to assemble a horde from Black Sun. That said, I don't think it was ever their intention that you do.
Have fun and stay safe :) Goblin Squire
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Hi everyone,
I'm continuing looking at small creators today, but I'm going to do something a little different in this post. I'm going to look at a D&D supplement which was created by someone I know, and how it can help you use miniatures in your D&D game. Usual disclaimer - I'm not getting paid for this post, nor do I benefit from purchases of anything mentioned. I did play a small editorial role in the supplement, but I was not asked to write this and downloads do not benefit me (and you can get it free anyway!). The supplement in question is this one (first two pages shown as sample) by Highdenn Creations:
The supplement gives rules for playing a dog-folk character in D&D 5e (think tabaxi, but dogs instead of cats). There are three sub-classes which broadly follow different sizes of dog - from chihuahua to great dane, it's got you covered. Each sub-class has different rules and abilities, while retaining the essence of dog.
Humanoid animal miniatures have become more popular and common in the last few years, and there are some great examples out there. I recently looked at some anthropomorphic miniatures from the game Badgers and Burrows by Oathsworn Miniatures, and they have dogs as part of the range.
Pictures from Oathsworn Miniatures 'Badgers and Burrows' Kickstarter.
Another good source of anthropomorphic animal miniatures in the UK is Northumbrian Tin Solider. If you're in the US, I found some great looking dog-folk from Dark Sword Miniatures in a range called Critter Kingdoms. Here are just a couple of examples:
Images from Dark Sword Miniatures and not painted by me.
Although not anthropomorphic in the same way as these other miniatures, I thought it could be a good way to include the Dungeons and Doggos miniatures in your D&D game. Again, I looked at these previously. They are not humanoid dogs, but doggos going on adventure, but they could still work with this rule set.
If you have some of these miniatures or are interested in getting them, want to bring more variety to the races in your D&D game, or even have a beloved pet you want to see in your game then I recommend that you download the supplement and have a read.
It is available on DMs Guild here for 'Pay What You Want'. That means that you can choose to pay nothing, a few cents or a few dollars. You can even download it free, have a read then decide to go back and pay what you think its worth. As far as I can see you have nothing to lose and lots of fun to gain :) Goblin Squire
Hi everyone!
Next up in my series looking at small businesses in the miniature world, I'm going to take a close look at these skeletons from Midlam Miniatures. I have to be honest, they've been in my unpainted pile for a little while now, and I'm really glad I pulled them out and put some paint on them. Usual disclaimer - I haven't been paid to write this, nor have I been given anything free.
You can pick these skeletons up individually for £3 each, or buy a 'Skeleton Army Deal' where you get 12 for £24, or just £2 each. For 28mm metal figures that's a pretty amazing price these days. You can check out their selection of skeletons here. Their selection isn't limited to skeletons, though, and they have lots of miniatures at similar prices.
You can see from the picture above that the miniatures did require a little bit of clean-up and removing of supports, but nothing particularly unusual. Given that they come with integral, unsculpted bases I decided to mount them on to wooden bases to give me some space to work with in creating a base.
One thing you do have to be a little careful of when doing this is ensuring that there isn't an obvious lip or step at the edge of the metal base. I find that putting a base layer of material down on the base before building the scenic side helps with this.
Here's a little video of the completed miniatures:
These miniatures have such a good old-school feel about them. I never quite know how to put my finger on what makes something old-school, but know it when I see it!
I think with these miniatures a lot of it is in the face. If I'm honest, the skulls of the skeletons don't really look quite like human skulls, but they have so much character and expression in them. These two in particular look really cheeky to me, and I think that's a really nice touch.
I think if you're going for a super realistic, horror aesthetic in your game these might not be quite what you're after, but these put me in mind of a Harryhausen film and that's not a bad thing in my book!
As I mentioned above, Midlam Miniatures have a broad range on their website, with a focus on the old-school aesthetic (at least to my eyes). At £2 - £3 for a 28mm miniature it's hard to beat it if the sculpts fits with your style. They're still shipping at the moment, so head on over to midlamminiatures.co.uk and check out what they've got! Goblin Squire :) |
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