Oathsworn Dwarf Kickstarter: four more painted

Today marks the final day of the second Oathsworn miniatures kickstarter. It therefore appears appropriate to finish painting and post another four miniatures from the excellent first kickstarter campaign. About a month ago I finished my first five figures, so for this post I randomly selected another four to rattle through.

Mordrin Pathfinder

 I love this little chap. I don't think I have ever seen a dwarf throwing axes before and to catch one in the act is so exquisite. I got myself a little confused about what each material represented. In the end I elected to have Mordrin wearing a white undergarment, a blue hooded cloak and a leather jacket over this. I hope that this is something like what Michael and Jo intended.

 Mordrin has a long shafted second axe, a neat back pack with bed roll, drinking flash and horn hung from his hip. I wonder if you can spot them all. The nicest feature was the toggles used to secure the hoods sleeves. Sweet details Oathsworn.

 Hargun Hammerhand

 Hargun is a more traditional armoured dwarf. The main challenges were working out how is hat was supposed to look, and what is cape was made off. Not quite sure I got either correct, but it is my best guess.

Halgur Grumsdottir

 I just love the way Michael sculpts faces, especially female dwarf faces. I suspect that he uses a model. A case in point is Halgur. I don't think I have done her full justice, but she is so great to paint. I assumed that she is a Dwarf ranger so have kept her colours to greens and browns; but I could not resist the temptation to give her grey leggings. The cape was has made her a bit too glossy, so I will matt varnish to remove this effect.

 Grindol Stonehide

Finally Grindol is again a traditional armoured Dwarf, but is soo very full of character. I gave him a red beard to contrast the greys of the armour. Once again the cape is too glossy, bit varnish will solve this problem.

I very strongly encourage everyone to look at the second Kickstarter. If post bidding communication and delivery is as good as the first then you are in for a treat....

Oathsworn dwarfs: First five painted

First things first, welcome to my 200th post. No prizes, but welcome anyway...

Now to the matter at hand. I have a little problem, it turns out I am addicted to Kickstarter. Who would have guessed.  This little addiction has brought me some long waits and some disappointment along the way.

Now, none of this applies to the excellent Kickstarter run out of Michael Lovejoys company Oathsworn miniatures. Some run kickstarters for what appear to be months. Michael kept his to 28 days. He took part on the comments chat and his modelling changed to reflect the comments made on-line. In the end he produced 16 No. 28mm scale dwarfs for £32 GBP. Not too shabby at all. Then the best bit, at the time when all other kickstarters go quite, he kept up the momentum. Weekly updates followed and within a month the first parcels were being sent, EARLY!!!
Not bad at all. - No better than that, his is an example that a lot of much bigger campaigns should follow.
Having said all that, the models arrived when I was taking a break from painting so they sat on my shelf for a week or two. I have now started painting these and I present the first five...

ULTHAR OATHKEEPER

Click on pictures to make them bigger

The first model up is my favourite of this bunch. I assume this is a wizard type chappy. Following a comment made on the kickstarter page, I decided to paint his armour as leather, so as not to disrupt the magic, then I forgot all that and painted him with a metal helmet.

The guy has a book strapped to his back and has a satchel of scrolls and a pouch of ink. What is not to love about this model.

BURLOK BALDURSSON

After the first model I needed a beer and who better to share it with than this fine upstanding member of the community.

 Please forgive the slightly blurred picture, my camera tripod appears to have lost the ability to support a camera and keeps falling over..

 SIGRUN DEATHSEEKER

This is probably the least favourite of all the sculpts , just because I am not really sure it works. First female dwarf berserker model I have ever seen, so this might capture everything it needs, it just does not do it for me...

  MAGDA ROGUIRSDOTTIR

This is my current roleplay character and I use her as a dwarf cleric. I just love the angry look on her face.

I tried to produce a tartan look on the back of her cloak, but it is far too big and does not work. Oh well, it is what it is...

 KETTRA ROGUIRSDOTTIR

 Presumably sister of the female cleric, this young lady is a sweet little thing. two hammers and a pretty face. She will make a good wife for any aspiring dwarf.

 If you like what you see, I am advised that Michael will be hosting a second kickstarter in the near future. I would keep an eye on his facebook page for news...

Avatar of War Dwarf Ironshields

The longest of times ago, I took part in a Indiegogo (Kickstarter-ish) project to fund some dwarf models from the excellent Spanish company "Avatars of War". Now I have my painting mojo back, I have painted some more of these chaps. I think at the time they were experimenting with a plastic/resin combo, which just didn't quite work. They have since moved away from this and their newer stuff look much much better. However I still think this looks great (a sudden breakdown in my normal modesty levels).

I tried for a different beard colour with these boys. I tried to follow the beard colour on the left-hand dwarf from the front of the Warhammer dwarf army book. It is a kind of ginger going grey colour. Not quite sure it worked, but that was what I was going for...

I quite like how these guts look. Hope you do too....

Avatar of War: Painted Dwarf Ironshield

Last year, I supported a Indiegogo (a kickstarter type) venture to to support figure manufacturer Avatar of War in their venture to extend their excellent Dwarf range. 

Avatars of war have been a little slow in developing their figures following the success of the campaign, but before Christmas I received my first figures. A set of 21 Ironshields.

At long last I have assembled and painted my first five of these figures. The design of the figures is excellent and they make some super looking Dwarfs. The Dwarfs are quite tall and this is accentuated by me putting them onto rocks, but I like the design. There is a slightly restricted range of tops and bottoms, but I think you should be able to create a good looking unit.

 

So the design is excellent, but the casting is less so. The material that they have used is a resin - plastic blend and it has a strange grainy feel to it. However, once you undercoat the figures you soon forget this.
 

I found that the casting was quite thin in places; especially on the shields and that some had holes all the way through. I also experienced some significant problems with the weapons. The casting material is quite brittle and with rough handling from my fat fingers; I managed to break off a few of the weapons from the shaft. Easy to fix with a bit of a pin, but not a good sign for the longevity of the pieces..
 

However, once painted, they look pretty cool (IMHO)...

See if you can spot which dwarf has his legs on back to front....

New Dwarfs: Avatar of War: out the box

Back in June Avatars of war participated in a Indiegogo campaign to support the development of an extension to their range of Dwarf figures. This is a site which is very much in the "Kickstarter" style.

The idea is that you commit to buying some of the new figures from them and if they get enough money committed then they can afford to produce the figures. If they don't hit the target then you don't get charged. Their target was met and they have started to manufacture and post out some of the models.

I ordered the following selection:
40 Ironshields
20 Thunder Warriors or 20 Crossbowmen (whichever is finished first)
20 Doomcrushers
1 Rune master
1 Ltd Edition standard bearer
1 Dwarf Lord with great weapon
1 Dwarf King.

Today I received the first selection of figures.
 21 Ironshields
All of these are plastic with torso and legs separate,but delivered on a single sprue piece.
The first up are a command group with musician, standard bearer and champion. All except the musician could easily be assembled as troops.

Next up come the core troops. There are 9 different torsos.Two models are provided of each. If you click on the picture you will get a much better impression of the detail on each figure.It is clear and well sculpted, so should be very easy to paint. One weapon had separated in the pack, but this will fix very easily.

Four shields arms are provided..

 Together with a fine selection of hand weapons..

 And a standard. It appears that AoW quite like this standard. I am not clear if they intend to use it in all their packs. Either way, it will be very easy to replace.

Dwarf Noble
This is a very nice metal figure which comes as a single piece. Crisp modelling with no flash. Very nice..

Dwarf Rune Master.

This chap is harder to judge. He is split into 4 key parts with cape, beard and staff all individually supplied. Nice casting and crisp features. Should be nice to paint, but will look better with paint on him.

All in all a mighty fine selection. I will need to work out how I want to base these and then find a little time to paint. Should be fun...

Avatars of War: Dwarf Army Campaign

I have long been a fan of the Dwarf Beserker figures released by Avatars of war, but have held back from buying these because Avatars of War Dwarf range was quite limited.

It looks as if that is all about to change. Avatars of war have set themselves up on the Indiegogo site which is a kickstarter type site. The idea is that you commit to buying some of the new figures from them and if they get enough money committed then they can afford to produce the figures. If they don't hit the target then you don't get charged. Their target is $20,000.

I have signed up for 100 dwarf figures and I am hopeful that they hit the target so I can lay my hands on some dwarfy goodness!