Blood Rage Dwarf and Giant

A couple more beards for Beardecember, from the Blood Rage game. First we have a dwarf, not the same aesthetic as the usual barrel bodied, armoured warrior. This is a dwarf in the Norse mythological tradition. These creatures live in the hills and are magical - dwarfs make weapons and armour for the Norse gods. In this depiction they are almost fairy like, so I wanted a rustic, woodland palette. The hooded cape was a nod in the direction of the fabled redcap, though it might have been better to go for green to add contrast to the red nose. I spent a little bit of time on the face and beard, but the rest was mostly a simple wash, including the base. There are more images on my facebook page.

A much bigger beard now, in the shape of the mighty frost giant. This figure was one of the main reasons I had for buying the game, it's possibly the best in the box (though the troll might have something to say about that). The palette obviously had to reflect the cold nature of the beast, so pale blues and pinks came to mind. I kept the beard a soft grey to maintain a nice, icy look - adding a little snow scatter in to really hammer home the point. The rock was an opportunity to add a little more colour and texture - I used water effect to make it appear slick with ice, though not sure this shows too well in the photo. I really enjoyed painting this figure, it's such a lovely, natural pose and detailed enough to add interest without being overloaded with extras.

Finally, a shot of the few characters I have painted so far. Each of these has been painted on a whim, hence the shocking disparity of the bases, which I will probably correct at some point.

Blood Rage : Bear Clan Vikings

I painted these figures as a little experiment - to see how the pvc miniatures would look after my usual speed painting techniques. These are the Blood Rage bear clan, consisting of a leader, eight warriors (in just two poses) and two mystics.

The first thing I did in preparation was clean the figures of mould lines. I used a knife blade rather than a file, the material is very soft and easy to cut, with such small details you have to be careful you do not remove too much sculpted material. Luckily, the mould lines were usually hidden away and not too visible. Next, I glued a penny into the base. This acts as a weight to keep the figure upright. If you use UK currency it's also magnetic, which can be useful if ever you want to rack them up on movement trays. After a soapy wash and drying, I spray primed them white, then washed with a brown to provide a rough guide to the details.

Most of the painting was very basic - thin coats, washes and drybrushing. I did zero highlighting. Even the bases are very basic paint washes slapped on. I think the end result is fine - nothing amazing, but decent enough for the basic techniques used. On the whole, I would say the pvc takes the paint in a similar way to all my other figures, mostly like painting resin - any bare patches that are missed by primer can be a little resistant to paint adhesion. There are tons of detail, but none is as sharp as any other material. For some reason I cannot explain, I do not particularly enjoy painting the pvc figures, there's something about the softness that I find saps my usual enthusiasm with the brushes. The end result is fine, but the road to get there is a chore. Still, it's a few less minis in an unpainted state, which has to be a good thing.

Happy Thorsday

It's Thursday - the day of the week named after the Norse god, Thor. Famed for his magical hammer, Mjolnir, and also associated with thunder, lightning, strength and fertility. I have also read various claims that he was believed by vikings to offer protection from the seas, hence the wearing of Thor hammer pendants. Not a bad guy to kick off my year's painting then!

This is a figure from the Blood Rage game, one of the Norse gods. I painted it using the Army Painter undead paint set - I will post a fuller review on this set when I have tried it out a few more times, but as you can see it gives some nice natural tones. All the paints used on this model are from the set, including the slightly strange pale green on the base which I will probably paint over, but I just wanted to try out as many of the included paints as I possibly could.

Five fascinating Thor factoids!

He rides a chariot pulled by two goats, named Tanngrisnir (teeth-barer, snarler) and Tanngnjostr (teeth-grinder). Not only do these fearsome beasts pull his heavy wooden chariot across the skies, they provide him with food. Thor cooks the goats for his supper, then uses his magical hammer Mjolnir to resurrect them the next day.

Thor owns three magical items, the most famous being the hammer Mjolnir. In order to wield the power of the hammer, he has a pair of iron gloves, Jarngreipr, and the belt, Megingjord, which doubles his already mighty strength.

Thor was very adept at killing giants with his hammer Mjolnir. These giants were not the oversized men blundering around the Warhammer world, but more like titans or even gods. Most are human shaped, though some are beastly - such as Fenrir the World's End wolf and the Midgard Serpent. Some are hideous while others are beautiful. The Norse gods and giants are often at war. In one tale, giants hide Thor's hammer under the earth and will only return it if the beautiful Norse goddess Freyja will marry Thrym, king of the frost giants. Thor is disguised as Freyja and goes to the wedding feast, tricks the giants into returning the hammer, then slays them all.

As well as a day of the week, Thor has a chemical element named after him - Thorium. There's even a Thor's hero shrew, the only mammal known to have interlocking vertebrae.

Thor will die at Ragnarok, the end/renewal of the world. Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, will come out of the sea and poison the sky. Thor will battle the giant creature and ultimately kill the beast, but then will walk just nine paces before dying from the venom sustained in their epic conflict. A hero's end, worthy of a place in Valhalla.

Wolfman

With all the hype surrounding the supermoon, I was inspired to paint this figure. I wanted something that I could finish quickly and this Blood Rage figure was perfect. It was quick to clean, a bit of a fiddle to remove the integrated base, but nothing too onerous. About 15 minutes prep and it was glued to the base.

For painting I primed white, a thin coat of a pale flesh and then used two colours to glaze on some shading. A red brown for some simple flesh tones, and a blue grey for some deeper shading. By mixing the two I got a good range of different tones. The blue grey also served as a foundation for the hairy bits. Once the basic shading was complete I added a few highlights using a thinned white, then glazed again to bring back the fleshy colour. Finally I added some darker blue glaze to the hair, then some black glaze, picked out the face details and the veins, painted the cobbles and it was done.

It's good to blast through a little project on a whim, whizzing my paintbrushes in a quick and dirty style. The finish is not as polished as many of my figures, but then I spent far less time on it. I might even get to play with this figure over the festive season - last year we enjoyed a couple of games of Blood Rage. It's based on cobbles to add to my (very small) steampunk collection, maybe even that will get called into play at some time. For now though, back to those slow and steady dwarfs.

Blood Rage Fenris

I received my copy of Blood Rage in September, I backed the kickstarter project and it came in on time. Ironically, I then left it untouched for three months, treating it as a xmas present to myself. Over the holidays I managed to get in a couple of games and it plays really well. The rules are well laid out and easy to understand, there's even a youtube video to give an overview. It's quick to pickup but there are plenty of different strategies to try, so I reckon it could become a staple xmas game for the future.

As a boardgame then, it's pretty good, but the main reason I bought it was to acquire the miniatures. I knew upfront that these were to be pvc, not plastic or resin. This means plenty of value for money as pvc minis are cheap, but at reduced quality - the miniatures are less sharp than plastic or resin. I was keen to paint up a test figure and went for one of the larger monsters to speed up my test.

Cleaning was reasonably easy with a sharp knife - there are few mould lines to contend with. I was worried about the primer sticking to the mini as it seemed quite shiney, so I carried out a little test. The wolf I painted with some watered down liquid green stuff, the boulders I left bare, out of the box. The result? Absolutely no difference whatsoever - the primer and paints took to both sections in the same way. So for future painting I know not to bother with the extra step.

Painting I stuck with my usual techniques. On this model I did quite a bit of drybrushing on the fur and it worked well. Washes and glazes performed well too. The model does lack a little of the sharpness I am used to in quality plastics, but it doesn't worry me too much. Base coats, glazing and drybrushing have yielded a decent result. My next test is to try painting up the gods, a range of more typically man sized figures. Five of the six gods included in the game are shown here, primed and washed. To my mind these would also make excellent character models in a fantasy/semi-historical warband.

Blood Rage Previews

Pictures of the production versions of the Blood Rage figures have been released, and they certainly seem to live up to the original concepts and masters. On these photos I have removed the blue and sharpened them a little, but otherwise they are as sent. Nice sharp detail throughout, even on the smaller figures. They were originally promised for September but I always reckon on some delay with kickstarter projects. Hopefully they will be in my hands by xmas, giving me a nice project to while away the winter gloom. Even though the figures are part of a boardgame, my intention is to use them in Saga, or Dragon Rampant, or anything at all really. I can just imagine the werewolf stalking the Victorian streets in a game of IHMN or similar. And you don't have to possess the cunning of Loki to imagine what I will be doing with the undead vikings!

Fire Giant and troll

Troll and sea serpent

Mountain Giant and Ice Giant

Undead vikings and werewolf

Blood Rage last three days

The Blood Rage kickstarter has just three days to go, so if you are still undecided it's a good time to go and check out the progress to date. I was happy with the initial line-up of figures, especially the vikings and trolls. All of the add-ons since then have just been bonuses for me, some better than others. After a few days of decent but frankly quite ordinary sculpts, the latest stretch goals are more to my liking. Who doesn't want a decrepit old crone in their collection? Looking at the model, this could easily double up as a Necrarch vampire figure, or a chaos sorceror, or a generic witch/hag in any adventure game.

Blood Rage Takes Giant Strides

The finest giant in the miniatures world?

With less than two days gone, the Blood Rage kickstarter has already passed the quarter million dollars mark. A series of stretch goals have been unlocked, most significant for me are the extra poses for the viking grunts and a couple of the added monsters. There are now 12 different viking sculpts and about the same number in monsters and enemies, a total of around 50 lovely figures to look forward to. The mountain giant is the current stretch goal, this being the resin master rather than the actual production figure that gamers will receive. I was impressed by the initial sculpts in the game, this just makes it even better. This is a kickstarter exclusive, so if you want this particular beauty you will have to pledge.

Another "lovely" troll

Another figure that has been unlocked is the mystic troll. I really liked the original troll sculpt, it was a big factor in me pledging, this extra troll (another kickstarter exclusive) takes it to another level. I am really, really pleased with these figures. From the sublime to the ridiculous, there are also a number of gaming tokens added to the game which are a bit more, um, how can I put this kindly, basic in their design. As gaming pieces they are perfectly adequate and probably better than card discs, but next to these sculpts they do look a little out of place. I am not complaining, they seem like odd stretch goals unlikely to pull in backers, but I am no expert. The number of backers would seem to suggest that they know what they are doing in attracting punters. I would expect the gains made to slow right down now that the initial rush has occurred, but I am looking forward to the unveiling of any new miniatures.

Blood Rage Kickstarter

The Blood Rage kickstarter is under way. If you like vikings, trolls, Norse mythology, that kind of thing, then you should definitely take a look. Here's the link to the project on kickstarter.

I have had a mixed experience with kickstarter projects. Having backed half a dozen, I have to say that my experience of them has left me quite wary. There are a number of pitfalls that can easily tarnish the project. Lateness seems endemic, they invariably take far longer than advertised. I am hoping that this will not be the case, given that these manufacturers have had plenty of experience. Maybe I will end up being pleasantly surprised, but I expect slippage.

A bigger problem can be that the end product does not match expectations. Awesome artwork is designed to draw you in, but in some cases the end product is nothing like the designs. Likewise, photos of resin masters can look enticing, but then the delivered pvc product can be less than impressive.  In this case, looking at the copious numbers of photos of finished figures, I don't think this will be a problem.

A final problem I have experienced in the past is poor game design. It turns out that there is an art to game design and not every one can do it well. It's a minor concern for me, I am in it for the miniatures, but the designer in this case has a good pedigree.

Reservations aside, I am unable to resist this one. The photos of the product have eased my fears on the pvc front and I can endure a delay in shipping. I am hoping that stretch goals will add some variety to the figures included, but it's not a deal breaker as far as I am concerned. When the first picture of the Nordic troll was released months ago, I was hooked. And it seems I am not alone, the project funded the $50000 goal within about 3 minutes, and had 1000 backers within 10 minutes. Let the countdown to Ragnarok begin!

Blood Rage

This came out of the blue, I spotted it over on facebook. It's very early days yet, I'm not even sure if it's been announced. There's a short video to view, which shows it's a board game with some very nice looking minis. And I mean, VERY nice indeed. Art by Adrian Smith too, it doesn't get much better. That's all I can say for now, if vikings and Norse mythology is your thing, then head on over and take a look.

Link to facebook page.

Here's a couple of images from facebook, hopefully the authors will not mind me spreading them around.