Tuesday, March 01, 2011

New Campaign, new minis!


Last year, I started playing in a new DnD campaign DMed by my cousin.  A new campaign means new characters, so I offered everyone to paint a mini of their choice to represent them on the gaming table.

After a few sessions that helped us get a feel for our characters, everyone settled on a miniature from a company I was not familiar with, Dark Sword Miniatures.

So here's the unboxing of the package I got in the mail and my first impressions of the minis.

The blisters in the box nicely protected.

The five characters, plus 2 bonus fig, a rogue and a small cherub.

All the parts cleaned up before assembly.
No way I'll pin this...

All minis (minus one) assembled.
I am pleased with these minis.  The casting is clean, the detailing really nice and the poses, although a bit static are well suited for role playing purposes.  They remind me a lot of classic fantasy book covers, and they should; most minis from Dark Sword are based on concept art by some of the same artists, like Larry Elmore the original artist for the DragonLance Chronicles books.

The only small "con" I might have about the minis is the fact that some of them are multi-parts, in particular the figther in plate "DSM5030 - Victarion Greyjoy" (the one not assembled on the left). The axe and right arm had to be glued to the body at the same time to insure a proper fit.  Not an easy thing to do at this size.  I might not be 100% objective about this. Although I understand the why of them, I don't like multi-parts minis in general.  When used in games, they're more delicate to handle.

But that's just a minor quip, and I will definitely order from Dark Sword again, once I made a significant dent in the lead mountain.

Overall, everyone is please with their minis and now I have to come through with decent paint jobs...

2 comments:

  1. I look forward to you painting these.
    I agree with you about multi part minis...especially metal one. What type of glue did you use...I nearly always end up having to pin as only Loctite 401 seems to have any bonding strength and on very small parts none.
    Bloody nice minis all the same those Dark sword ones.
    Your daleks...Excellent!!!
    Cheers
    Paul

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  2. Hi Paul, thank you for visiting.
    I finished painting the cleric. I just need to touch up the base and take good pictures of her.
    To glue metal parts, I use Cyanoacrylates (CA or super glue) from Gale Force Nine and try to handle the finished minis carefully.
    As for the Daleks, I have a list of conversions I want to do, including an emperor Dalek like you did.

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