Hi everyone :) Today is the launch of my Patreon! Technically it's a relaunch, because I previously had one, but this has a new look and different rewards. I'd love it if you check it out and perhaps even share it. Head over to patreon.com/GoblinSquire to check it out. From my point of view, the purpose of the Patreon is to help me fund my work in offering help and support to other painters, and to highlight the excellent small creators and businesses which are out there, all while giving great value to my patrons. By setting up the tiers in this way I've aimed to tread the line of not keeping my work behind a pay wall, which would disadvantage those who can't pay, while providing perks for those who do support me. If you support me at $5 a month you get a 10% discount off everything on my site and all commissions. That includes painted miniatures and 3D printed pieces. You'll also get a free gift with every order, which changes every month. That could net you some big savings if you're interested in a few pieces. Unfortunately I can't offer discounts on DMs Guild releases as that's against the Terms of Service of DMs Guild. I also want to build a community and be approachable to ask any questions and suggest content - you can do that from any pledge level. Just to be clear - I have no intention of stopping posting free content here or on twitter. Indeed the role of the Patreon is to help me fund that. With support I hope to expand what I can give back to the community. Finally, there are two extra special tiers within my patreon, each limited to just one person on each. If you join at either of these tiers you will receive a large painted miniature from me each month, and you will get a big say in what I paint each month. If you're looking to build a collection this is a brilliant, cost-effective way to do it.
I hope you'll have a look and see what you think :) Patreon.com/GoblinSquire
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Hi everyone :) A couple of weeks ago I saw a number of posts on Twitter in which people were showing both their most recently painted miniature and the first mini they painted. I've seen this occasionally before, and it brings a smile to my face seeing everyone's progress. In this blog post I thought I'd do something similar, then talk a little about why I think this is a good thing. This is not technically my most recently painted miniature (I completed it last week), and I suspect the other is not actually my first either, but there is certainly a long time between them. I first painted when I was a child, probably around the start of my teenage years. It's fair to say that seeing those miniatures you wouldn't guess that I would go on to love this and paint miniatures for other people. The 'first' miniature is taken from that time of painting. I'm hoping you won't need me to tell you which one is 'then' and which one is 'now'! With the aid of some paint remover this is actually the same miniature. I decided that I wanted to do it that way so I couldn't hide behind a better sculpt on a modern miniature, and the only difference would be in the painting. (Technically there is also a difference of shield which I somehow lost during the process!) I'm always simultaneously embarrassed and proud when I show my very old work. On one hand it is truly awful, but on the other I can see how far I've come. Here are a few more shots of the recent one, I won't inflict any more of the old one on you! Doing something like this can be a bit of fun, seeing the stuff we used to produce and where we have reached now, but I think it's also an important part of improving as an artist.
I love seeing other people's work, and I keep my twitter feed full of people's amazing work, but there can be a downside to that as well. Unfortunately our natural reaction is to compare our work to that of other people. In one sense there's nothing wrong with that, it helps us learn and improve by seeing artists creations and learning from their techniques. It's very easy, however, to be very hard on our work when it doesn't match up to what we're seeing. Instead of comparing our work to other's, or at least in addition to that, it is important that we compare to our own earlier work. I'm pleased with how the orc turned out (the second time!), while acknowledging I can still improve. What this allows me to do is look at how far I've come - the kid who painted the first orc wouldn't have believed he was capable of creating the second orc. Learning and aspiring is fantastic, but be kind to yourself. Try to compare your work to what you did last week, last year or last decade. That way you can see how far you've come and inspire yourself rather than bring yourself down. Goblin Squire :)
Hi everyone,
You might have seen that I recently ran a poll on twitter asking mini painters and collectors what their preferred material for minis is. I was really interested to see how passionate and invested people are in this debate, and there were some very strong views expressed! 411 people voted in the poll, and without further ado, here are the results:
I have to be honest, I was a little surprised by the result! I thought that both metal and resin would be more popular and plastic might struggle a bit. Shows what I know!
I thought that as a follow up to the poll it might be interesting and helpful to summarise some of the responses and offer some positives and negatives of each. I don't think that it's likely to change the mind of those who had strong views in the poll initially, but for people just starting out or who have only really used one material it might help to inform future decisions. The sections below are summaries of what people said. Please don't shout at me if you disagree! Seriously, though, this is a conversation I'm very happy to keep having, so feel free to comment here or on twitter. One quick caveat, I said for the poll that we were assuming the miniatures were the same price, so cost doesn't come into these comparison. I'm going to start with metal.
Although not unanimous, the broad consensus amongst respondents was that metal miniatures didn't have the level of detail of a high quality plastic or resin miniature, but there was an indefinable joy in painting and playing with metal miniatures. It was even suggested that plastic wargaming miniatures just 'felt wrong'.
Metal miniatures themselves are perhaps the hardest wearing of all the miniatures, but they can be a pain to mend if they do break, and paint coming off the miniatures was often mentioned as a problem. Converting and modifying metal miniatures is also much more difficult than doing the same with plastic minis. All of this might sound very critical of metal, but the goal of miniature painting is enjoyment, and lots of people suggested that painting metal was just more fun despite it's shortcomings.
Best for: Old School Wargamers.
Within my poll I specifically stated that it was to compare 'high quality plastic', and this is an important point when looking at this material. There are many different types and qualities of plastic out there, and it can be a bit difficult to know what you're going to get. Particularly coming in for criticism were the older Reaper Bones miniatures, but the consensus was that these had improved massively in recent times.
With the highest number of votes it is unsurprising that there were lots of positive things said about plastic miniatures. Modern plastic miniatures can be very detailed while still being easy to work with. It was the overwhelming favourite for people who like to convert and modify miniatures. Although it was noted that plastic miniatures break more easily than metal ones, they are much easier to fix if they do break. Where it was noted that metal miniatures can be challenging to paint, plastic was seen to be the easiest to work with. In most cases it is easier to put the paint on the miniature and, once it's on, it stays there better too. The weight was a divisive issue here, some people liked the lightweight nature for travel, posting and storage, while for others they lacked the satisfying feel and heft of metal.
Best for: Gamers who travel and for conversions.
The variety of comments about resin suggest that there are some very different quality levels in terms of material and finish out there. Some people suggested that resin miniatures required the least work before painting, while others suggested they took the most. What is clear, though, is that you need safety equipment while working with resin. Make sure you have a mask before you start cutting, as the dust produced can be harmful.
Resin, it seems, is the go-to choice for miniature artists who don't game. The level and crispness of detail found on good resin miniatures is unmatched and the strength and stability of them means they don't tend to warp and bend in the way both plastic and metal do. Despite that resin received the fewest votes by quite some way. It appears that much as these are great for art, they leave something to be desired for gaming. The lack of flexibility which helps painting means that they are prone to shatter, at which point they are beyond repair. They were also reported to be harder to apply paint to than plastic miniatures. Fundamentally, resin was suggested to be the hardest material to work with.
Best For: Painters who don't game.
As I mentioned at the top, these are not necessarily my views, but the distilled wisdom of Twitter. That said, I'm very happy to continue the conversation if you're interested. If you're new to the hobby and would like to ask any questions, please do get in touch!
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who took part in the poll and for the friendly engagement. There were clearly some very strong views, but everyone expressed them courteously and in a friendly way. Goblin Squire
I recently created my first supplement for Dungeon Masters' Guild - Aindreas' Encyclopaedia of Non-Magical Items, and I thought I would write a little about where the idea came from and how I went about writing it. If you're interested in checking it out it's 'Pay What You Want' so you can download it free from here.
A Homebrew World
I have been a player of Dungeons and Dragons for a long time, and of TTRPGs generally for even longer, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started DMing a campaign. I had done one-shots and mini adventures before, but nothing so all encompassing as a full campaign.
When we were preparing to start the campaign I spoke with my players about the type of campaign they wanted, as well as what I felt comfortable running. We had decided in advance that it would be a homebrew campaign, and we decided that it would be in a gritty, realistic world. In this world a long rest takes a full week; divine, healing magic is rare, and arcane magic is illegal. So, of course, one of the players decided to play a warlock!
Gnashrakh's Mallet
Non-Magical Items
When I was creating a world of very little magic, it didn't make sense to me that there would be lots of magic items to be found. I still wanted there to be the prospect of getting exciting loot, however, so I started to think about the different non-magical loot items which might exist in the world.
Although my homebrew campaign was my inspiration for this supplement, I was aware that my players would be able to read this, so none of the items contained are ones I created for that world. While the items were designed so that they could be used in a world of low magic I think that they could also add variety to a world in which magic is perfectly common. Perhaps the big bad of the campaign can detect magic, so these items could slip through undetected. Or perhaps your players get strong, non-magical items but they don't work on some kinds of enemy.
Spectacle of the Cyclops
About my Writing
I've had a love of writing since I was a child (when I made multiple attempts to write a novel) and fully intend to keep writing supplements (and blog posts!). You can check out my writing and the other works I've contributed to on my Writing page.
I had the joy of collaborating with Highdenn Creations on this project, and they produced all the art in the supplement, some of which is reproduced on this post. I highly recommend you have a look at their work. Head over to https://highdenncreations.wixsite.com/home or twitter.com/highdenncreates. Just a reminder, you can download the supplement here. Goblin Squire :)
Today in my showcase of awesome small miniature manufacturers is Heresy Miniatures, which is based in Derby in the UK. Above you can see my painting of a piece of there's. Well, more accurately two pieces as the goblin is separate! As ever, I'm not getting paid for this review, nor have I received anything free.
These photos are taken from the Heresy Miniatures Website - heresyminiatures.com
The photos here show the two different ways you can build 'Manbane the Minotaur', either with two axes, or having pulled a human apart. What's great is the miniature ships with both, so you can decide at your leisure which way to build it. I did briefly consider building with the axes, but the other way is just too cool!
The quality and detail on the miniature is great - it's made with resin, but I didn't have any of the issues which are normally associated with resin miniatures. It glued together very well, the paint took really nicely and there's none of the brittleness you can get with resin.
Manbane the Minotaur is £15, which I think is very reasonable for a miniature of this size and quality. Having just looked on the website it's actually reduced to £12 at the moment, so it's a great time to grab a deal!
What the minotaur mini doesn't come with is the dead goblin. Don't worry, though, you can also pick it up from Heresy Miniatures. It's the Goblin Casualty miniature and I think it really adds to the overall effect.
The goblin casualty is a metal miniature, and is just £2.50. I think it makes a great addition to a base, as I've done here, but if you're playing a game and want to mark where a goblin died then this is absolutely perfect. Obviously it was hard to paint and is hard to talk about for the Goblin Squire, but I managed to get through it :)
Shipping from Heresy Miniatures has had to reduce due to the ongoing problems, but they are still shipping every week, so you should still get an order pretty quickly. They also sell gift certificates, which are a fantastic way to support small businesses at this time - they get the income, and you can use the voucher when things are calmer and they can work with fewer restrictions. Finally, they have a loyalty scheme which will reward the regular customer with money off future orders. All great reasons to check them out at heresyminiatures.com!
One final err...bonus for reading right to the end. You'll be please to know that Manbane is sculpted in an anatomically correct manner...
Thanks for reading!
Goblin Squire
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
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 :)
Hi everyone :)
Next up in my series looking at small mini creators and how we can help them is Oathsworn Miniatures. More specifically I'll be looking at miniatures from their Burrows and Badgers Range. As ever, I'm not getting paid to write this content, and have paid for the minis. Pictures of the originals are taken from the kickstarter page (here) and thus belong to them and not me.
Burrows and Badgers itself is a tabletop skirmish game with rules by Osprey games. You can find more about the game here. Oathsworn produce the miniatures for the game and they already have a good selection here. The Kickstarter I backed was for an expansion to this range and I picked up the four minis pictured above (and looked at in more detail below.
Here you can see Tomas Crumm 'Town Watch-Mouse' (no town is complete without one!) and Captain Bertha Voss ' Shrew Heroine'. All I have done in these photos is remove mold lines, glue to the base and spray prime. The painted mini in the photo above is an example from the Kickstarter and not painted by me.
The miniatures are undoubtedly very cute but I think that they retain a level of grounding in a traditional fantasy world which makes them more than 'just' cute. Although not the system they are designed for I think that these minis would fit into a high fantasy D&D or pathfinder game, or look great in a display cabinet.
Here you can see the remaining two miniatures I received: a mole which was a free stretch goal, and a mist ghast (an undead mouse). I've put them alongside a close up of one of the minis before it was cleaned up and primed. The miniatures shipped with the bases in the photos.
You can see from the photo that there is a little bit of extra metal along the mold lines and there was some light flashing in a few places. This is absolutely standard with miniatures like this and is easily cleaned using a craft knife and some files, I just wanted to show how much there was. You can actually see it a little bit on the right arm of the mole above (left of photo) which I clearly hadn't completely removed before priming! There were larger chunks of metal underneath the base where, I assume, they had been detached from the molding sprue, but these are no problem at all to remove because they don't have to look pretty once you've done it because they can't be seen. I was a little surprised that they shipped with slotted bases when they have flat bottoms, and this required a little filling work, but nothing too bad.
So here you can see the finished mole. I haven't had a chance to paint any of the others just yet because I've been ill, but I think that this gives you a good indication of what the minis look like once they have paint on them.
I was really impressed with the level of detail on the miniatures. Where a miniature has too little detail sculpted in it can be really hard work to bring it to life with paint. I had no such trouble with this mini, and it really was fun to paint. The fur has a lovely texture to it which gives you lots of options when painting it. I enjoyed doing a little bit of object source lighting with the candle on the hat as well. These are the first minis I've ordered from Oathsworn Miniatures and I've been really impressed. The ones I haven't painted yet have just as much detail and character to them as the mole does, and I think that they will look great on the tabletop. The online shop for Oathwsworn is still open (here) and they are still shipping, so if you need some goodies and want to support a small business head over there and check them out. As ever, I hope that you are staying healthy and finding some hobby time to take your mind off everything going on. Goblin Squire :)
First up in my series looking at some of the awesome small businesses in the world of miniatures is Fenris Games, and this Runed Pentagram Altar. Usual disclaimer - I’m not getting paid for this post and I paid for the piece myself.
This is the piece without any paint on it. It’s sculpted, moulded and produced by the owner of Fenris Games, as are most of the terrain pieces on the site (www.fenrisgames.com). It costs £8 and measures 80mm diameter and 27mm high.
The detail is very clean and defined. Preparing the piece for painting took very little time at all with minimal clean up required. I took a tiny bit of flashing off from the outside rim to make the base layer invisible but this took less than 1 minute and I didn’t need to do anything to the actual painting surface. The detail of the plinth and the rocks are excellent and make painting them a joy. Too little detail and you have to work very hard to paint the contrast in, too much and they don’t look realistic. For me, this piece got it spot on.
Most of the painting I do for myself is for playing D&D or other TTRPGs, and this would make a fantastic centrepiece for a fight against cultists or even devils or demons. If your flavour is more Warhammer or other tabletop games then this would work really well for a Chaos army (or, indeed, fighting against Chaos). I'm not a Lovecraft fan, but I think it would fit in that universe as well.
I have had nothing but good experiences with Fenris Games and, indeed, the only time I had a small issue with an order it was resolved before I even noticed! At one point I wrote a post after receiving an order, looking at the pieces in some detail. A few days later I received a package from Fenris Games as the owner had noticed that there was a small piece missing from a tower I had ordered and popped it in the post without me saying anything. Excellent customer service!
Fenris Games is currently undergoing a move, and there is a slight delay on orders, but the miniatures on offer are very high quality and I have no hesitation in recommending them. Now is the perfect time to buy a gift voucher to redeem once all this craziness is over. You can even buy a loyalty card which gives you more value than you pay. Check them out here. I bought one a couple of years ago (when finances allowed) and didn't regret it at all.
To try and do my bit to support the small businesses featured, I am going to sell the pieces I paint in this series. So, here's how it works: £50 (plus postage) gets you this piece and another of similar value from Fenris Games. Using that money I buy a gift voucher from Fenris Games. Once all this is over I use the gift voucher to get a second piece. I paint it and send it to you. Whether I send one immediately and one later or both later is entirely up to whether you want to pay postage once or twice :) If you're interested head over to the commission page where you can send me a message.
Initially this offer is for those who read the blog, but will go up on twitter if it's still available in a few days. As ever, stay safe and enjoy isolated hobby time. Goblin Squire |
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