MOM Miniatures dwarf wizard

Here’s a little something to add to your Yule festivities. A dwarf wizard, from Mom miniatures, wandering through the rocks and standing stones. Absolutely perfect for the dwarf loving, owl loving nerd in your life.

Dwarf Comparison

Somebody asked if I would post a photo of the Crooked Dice dwarf alongside others from my collection. Thinking that others might find this useful, and to spread a little beardy love, here is the result. As you can see, I have lined him up with old GW dwarfs from the 90s, since these are the ones that fit best in my collection. In height, they are all similar, the GW figures are bulkier in the body and facial features. A finer band of stout adventurers I cannot imagine.

Mom Miniatures Dwarfs review

Mom Miniatures are a Spanish company with a fair sized range of resin fantasy miniatures. I was particularly drawn to the dwarfs, so made a small order to get an idea of their quality and suitability. The photo above I grabbed from their website, showing the unit I ordered fully assembled and ranked up on 20mm squares. On placing the order I received a confirmation email telling me I would receive another email when they had been shipped. Eight days later, the postman delivered them. That’s quite impressive given the current circumstances. I am UK based, there was no hassle with VAT, import duties or such like, I am still unsure what is supposed to happen in the brexit set up?

Here’s how they look out of the blister pack.There are ten unique head sculpts on one body pose, five axes, five hammers and ten shields. The shield arms have a slot to receive the back of the shields, which you can see at the bottom of the picture. You could, of course, use your own shield here.I have not assembled them as yet, so here’s another photo from their website to show how they would look.

The quality of the casting is good. There are no holes or bubbles that I could see. There is a mould line but it was easily removed with a craft knife. I would be tempted, maybe, to paint them without the shield fixed, to allow access to face and beards.

How do they compare with other minis? I have lined up a selection of my own minis and put them into height descending order. The metal GW slayer is probably tallest due to his big hair! The next figure along is a modern GW plastic hammerer/iron breaker. Then we have the Mom figure, and the next one along, the mystery ivory coloured specimen, is a resin Iron Crow dwarf by Durgin Paint Forge. Finally, a couple more metal GW dwarfs from the 90s.

In size and bulk, the Mom Miniatures dwarf is probably nearer to 35mm than any other scale. Stylistically, it’s a good match for the Iron Crow dwarf, with bigger flatter nose, similar styled beards and a slightly less serious aesthetic. I will certainly be happy to mix them into my collection, I base on rounds and tend to play skirmish games so scale issues are less of a concern to me. There are bigger difference between my older and newer GW figures who happily fight alongside each other. Stylistically, it’s a personal opinion of course. I absolutely love them! So much so that I am hoping to build a new warband using the Mom and Durgin figures together. Just a small band of course, a few clan warriors, some handgunners maybe, the berserkers of course are a must, maybe some miners to dig up the salt, and a handful of characters. And maybe a war machine for good luck. Yeah, that’s definitely a small warband.

Twelfth Day of Beardmas

 My original intention in this little series was a finale of a newly painted mini, a type I don’t usually paint. However, it is not yet finished and I don’t want to rush it just for the sake of a blog article, so here’s plan B instead. A little compilation of other beards I painted throughout the year. 

 

It’s not a particularly large selection of beards, because I didn’t actually spend that much time hobby painting this year. The first photo of vikings, about half were completed in 2020, but I like the photo of all the berserkers together so why not show them all off. The trio of adventurers, one is obviously smooth chined, but again I liked the photo of them all together.

Not the finale I had planned, which seems quite fitting for 2020. 

Eleventh day of Beardmas

 On the eleventh day of Beardmas.....

Dwarfs at the movies. Or iMovie, to be precise. Moving dwarfs, sort of.....

https://youtu.be/kNIbVTxd9DQ

And that’s a wrap. The dwarfs of Oakenheim have had their few days blinking in the dim light of midwinter, back underground they go for another year. I might add to their ranks later in the year, but it’s not that likely if I am honest. Too many other things eating my hobby time.

Tenth day of Beardmas

 

On the tenth day of Beardmas.....

Say “cheese”

The Dwarfs of Oakenheim. All of them, in one glorious photo. This is a cheat day, all these dwarfs have appeared in the previous nine days. But, it’s taken me more than five years to get them to this stage, so please indulge me showing them off in this one photo. I love it, I think they look awesome all together like this. And if you like this photo, tomorrow’s post will be an extra treat.

Ninth day of Beardmas

 

On the ninth day of Beardmas....

Rune lord of Oakenheim on Anvil of Doom, with personal bodyguard. This is an absolute classic model from the golden age of dwarfdom, which was the early 1990s. There were a number of totally dwarfsome minis released in this era - the flame cannon, the dwarf king on throne, and the anvil of doom here would be the top three in my book. The original model included two banner poles with elaborate paper flags attached. I kinda like that old school look for a warm, rosy retro feel, but I prefer this more simple approach in my own collection. 

Eighth day of Beardmas

 

On the eighth day of Beardmas....

Rune smith of Oakenheim. This is a plastic from the new* range of dwarfs. It’s also new year’s day. See what I did there? I used a banner top from an old plastic kit to make his staff top. 

I think Xmas is over now, so no more dreadful jokes. Usually, on this day, it would be a time to set hobby resolutions, but I am not doing that this year. I am just going with the flow, see where it leads this year.

*new in my eyes, I don’t really count the steampunk AOS dudes as dwarfs

Seventh day of Beardmas

 

On the seventh day of Beardmas....

Dwarf miners of Oakenheim, lovely old Marauder Miniatures from the early 90s. Quite possibly the dwarfiest dwarfs ever made. The most recent unit added to the Oakenheim force, painted entirely in the month of Beardmas. An old unit, newly painted. Probably the finest selection of beards gathered together in one place, a bit like a World’s Strongest Man competition.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 🎄

What’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo?

One’s very heavy and one’s a little lighter

Sixth day of Beardmas

 

On the sixth day of Beardmas....

The Oakenguard of Oakenheim. These are the elite warriors of the hold, those who have proven themselves time and again on the field of battle. Kitted out with finely wrought armour and huge axes, they are a formidable force to be reckoned with. Built from plastic long beards kit in the main, the pointing captain was made by Russian Alternative Miniatures.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Why do Xmas elves dislike Russian dolls?

Because they are so full of themselves

Fifth day of Beardmas

 

On the fifth day of Beardmas....

Five dwarf gunners. I originally had some modern plastics (iron drakes) in use as gunners, but I am slowly replacing them with these golden oldies. There are five painted, with another three to come at some point. Longer term it would be nice to have all twelve of the old sculpts, though I am not sure my wallet can stretch to the price of metals nowadays.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Why are advent calendars on the endangered list?

Because their days are numbered.

Fourth day of Beardmas

 

On the fourth day of Beardmas....

Warriors of Oakenheim. Quite a diverse bunch, reflecting my frustration in finding models I like to represent the basic warriors of the hold. There’s about twenty five years between the oldest and newest model in this unit. Building units of decent looking dwarf warriors has been the biggest challenge of this project, I still struggle to find models that look good. Ideally I would have at least two more units filling this role. The struggle continues.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

What do you call a really old snowman?

A puddle

Third day of Beardmas

On the third day of Beardmas....

After the slayer slog, I needed to chill with something a bit more relaxing. I switched to gunners and used the relatively recent plastic set, I forget their name. After building and painting ten of them, I decided they did not really fit in with the aesthetic and they were canned. On the plus side, the master gunner is a lovely metal thane model, and one of the nicest painted figures in the throng.

The other model is, of course, the gyrocopter, another of those iconic dwarf models. This is my favourite of the various incarnations, c 1993, the pilot sculpted by Michael Perry. Most of my all time favourite dwarf sculpts were made by the Perry twins. 

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Why did the gingerbread man go to the gym?

He wanted to work on his crumby body.

Second day of Beardmas

 

On the second day of Beardmas....

A unit of dwarf berserkears. These are an odd choice for me because for years I never really liked the concept of the slayer cult. But then I always liked the sculpts, especially the daemon slayers. I am still struggling to fit them into the Oakenheim narrative, other than copying the GW story.

This unit took such a long time, I spent far too long  sweating over the beards and skin. The first seven models took me about five months off and on. After that, I must have been worn out because I dropped the project for about two years! The three in the centre of the front rank are my favourites in this unit.

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

How much does Santa pay to park his sleigh?

Nothing, it’s on the house.

First day of Beardmas

On the first day of Beardmas...

Dwarf rangers of Oakenheim. These were the models that started it all, a slow burn project using the best dwarf models I could find, started back in 2015. The captain with eye patch and wooden leg is a favourite of mine. There’s a good mix of all sorts in this unit, metal Bugman’s rangers, plastic conversions and a couple of Heartbreaker (I think) vintage models.

Let’s pull our first Christmas cracker, put on a paper hat and read the hilarious joke. 

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Why does Santa have three gardens?  

Because he likes to hoe, hoe, hoe.

Dwarf Miners of Oakenheim

The wealth of Oakenheim was not in gold and gemstones, nor in iron or coal, but in salt. It has been used by dwarfs for thousands of years, for seasoning of course, but most importantly for food preservation. The dwarfs could not survive the bleak midwinter months if they relied on hunted game and foraged berries. It is the vast larder of salted (preserved) foodstuffs that gets them through the lean winter months. That, and copious barrels of beer. It was the discovery of salt deposits under the mountains that first led to the founding of the hold of Oakenheim, and transportation of the valuable commodity that enabled the kingdom to spread. Dwarf Miners are the bedrock of dwarf society.

This has been my main focus in the month of Decembeard, a unit of dwarf miners from around 1992. They are possibly the dwarfiest  dwarfs of this era. I think most people associate miners with coal or metals, I know I certainly did. But after a holiday in Krakow and a visit to the Mines of Moria, I discovered the significance of humble salt to human civilisation, and translated this into my Oakenheim history. Travel is a wonderful thing !

When I started to paint the minis I had very few choices to make. The mail shirts would be metal colours and the leather gloves would be browns and tans. The only thing to decide on was the beards. I thought white or grey would give the most contrast, and these three are probably my favourites of the unit. The dwarf in the centre of this trio is hands down the best sculpt in the unit in my eyes.

With the command group I wanted to add some variety of beard tones. I figured that the banner, horn, etc would draw the eye and thus the beard could take a slightly more background role. At some stage I might add a flag to the banner pole.

For completeness, the final pair of dwarfs from the unit. Nothing particularly spectacular, but sometimes the sum is greater than the parts.

With the gunners from the previous post, that’s my sum total of achievement for Decembeard, as far as the Dwarfs of Oakenheim are concerned. I am very happy with this result, painting has not come easy to me in the past few months and these were certainly completed much quicker than earlier units. The miners took around ten hours in total including prep, and I reckon that’s a very good result at just over an hour a figure. 

Stay tuned for the Twelve Days of Beardmas 🎅🏻

Dwarf Gunners of Oakenheim

A brace of dwarf gunners, hastily finished as part of Decembeard. These two are fairly muted in colour, I figure that they would spend much of their time hunting for game and would want to blend into a forest background. They are, of course, from the marauder miniatures range from around 1992, the year I started  in Warhammer. I have to say I am not that keen on the strange grin of the sniper dwarf.

And with those two added to the unit I now have five gunners ready for battle. That’s enough to make a unit for games of Erehwon, which has become my favourite way to play fantasy battles, on the very rare occasion I roll dice. Hopefully they will see some action over the midwinter break.

Dwarf Miners Painting Part 2

The second half of the painting guide is where all the good stuff happens. The focal point of the models is the face and beards, and those two areas are covered first. I did write an in depth guide to painting flesh which might be useful (I certainly referred to it)! Beards I might cover in a video tutorial at some stage in the future. For the time being, these photos will have to suffice. As before, each photo is taken at the end of a one hour session of painting.

Faces and stones on bases

Base coating beards and candles and trim

More work on beards, candles and gloves

Finishing the beards and candles, matt varnished

After eight sessions of roughly an hour each, the miners are nearly complete. I have to finish the base edges and addd a little metal highlighting. In total, around ten hours including preparation and basing. When they are photographed under decent lighting you can see if that was time well spent.

Dwarf Miners Painting Part 1

 This is a brief description of the way I painted the dwarf miners. It’s not a detailed step by step, more a summary of how I tackled the unit. Each photo shows the state of the figures at the end of an hour long session. I tend to paint one hour at a time and, these days, seldom have more than one session in a day. So the time taken stretches over several days.

Primed white, then metals base coated

Metals shaded

Leathers base coated, using artists acrylic paint in this case

Shading leather, base colours and flesh started

That’s four hours work on this unit and now they are finally coming together. They are moving from the ugly duckling stage and starting to look a bit dwarfish. When the beards and faces are painted the  unit will really come to life, that will happen in the next part.

Dwarf Miners preparation stage

The first step in getting the miners painted is to get them cleaned and primed. Some of these were previously painted and have been cleaned in a bath of biostrip. I have blogged on stripping paint from minis before (post here). They were then glued to the bases, which for me are coins. If the mini has no tab, I usually glue them on to coffee stirrers and then glue the stirrer on to the coin. I then add sand and basing material. For a fuller explanation on this process, I have a handy video guide. Once the base texture is dry, I prime the figures in white. Not the most exciting of stages, but certainly one of the most important.

Old timers will recognise these minis, but if you did not start the hobby in the previous century, you might be wondering what they are. These are dwarf miners from Marauder Miniatures, a small independent company that ran alongside Citadel for a few years in the 1990s I think - I am no expert on the exact details. These figures were released in 1992/3, I am pretty confident about that date as that was when I started in the hobby. Here’s a catalogue page from that time. I have one of each of the miners and the full command group, though my leader is pointing a finger rather than shaking his fist. I think this was released at a later date as part of the Grudge of Drong campaign release, though as I say I do not claim to be a reliable source.