Thursday 30 January 2014

Pokemon! I choose Chosen!

Ah, Christmas! Time for a Christmas bonus. In that I actually got one, from a London writing job that gave me a bit more than I was expecting. Enough to splash out on something that had caught my eye a while back. 

Santa? You've... you've changed...

Mierce Miniatures featured in one of the Cracking Gaming Blogs last December, Dice and Brush I think it was. He'd bought some of their minotaurs, and I was rather taken with their range of Celtic/Dark Age fantasy stuff. 

It's pronounced Mersha, their website explains in the FAQ. They must get asked a lot, which tells you something about naming your business more carefully. I've added it to the gaming resources tag on the side, you can check out their pricey but lovely range of resin minis. If I was a rich man (diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle diddle dee), I'd go nuts on the Vivicoct XIII and Bloodvore models, they're splendid. But very costly. 

Their Norse, Ysian and Fomorian ranges all fit in with my increasingly loose Chaos Viking Theme. Good job I didn't see them when I was buying, really, I'd have far fewer marauders. The Norse would obviously be best, but there aren't many available yet and they're a bit too unchaotic for my purposes. 

The temptation I fell to was the Ysians, whose Axe Drunes are a cracking lot. I don't think GW really provides decent models for Chaos banner bearers. These fit my bill - spikes, horned helms, lots of skulls and gigantic axes. Everything that I put in my 'interests' on that internet dating site years ago. Which is why that went nowhere. 

They'd actually work quite well as Wood Elves, this lot, same staggy look. 

This lot are going to be a tiny unit of Chosen, I think. I've gone for a colour scheme that could be Khornate if needed, although in the Woffboot points scale of things, they'd probably be unmarked. I actually think Nurgle is a better choice for Chosen, the best to use their towering WS with. The giant axes will almost certainly be halberds, it would be silly to waste that high initiative otherwise. 

Done bar varnish and a lick of gloss for the faceplates
The resin casting is very detailed. Their hideously muscular arms actually have gross popping veins on them, not that I picked those out terribly well.
Awwoooonnnnk.
The banners alone sold me on these guys.
The 80s Hooded Man called, he wants his Herne the Hunter back. 

Five of them, including full command, is probably too small to be effective. Everyone says Chosen are a poor points buy anyway. But sod it, I like the models, and they'll probably dent anything they manage to reach in a small battle. 

A few painting notes: 
  • I've got pots of two of Citadel's new technical range, Blood For The Blood God and Typhus Corrosion. They're excellent, both do exactly what they claim as easily as the recent GW training videos demonstrate. This is probably a first for GW products. 
  • The snow on the base is a trial mix of snow flock and PVA, mulched together into a paste with a consistency a bit like royal icing. Not easy to apply, but a bit more snow-like than my previous attempts, in that it isn't furry on top. 
  • I drybrushed the cloak stitches with White Scar, after a few attempts at hand painting. My drybrush is so old it looks like something a chimney sweep would use, but it was still more accurate than trying to do it freehand. 

To cap them off, I got this guy as a BSB as well. Stick him into the tiny unit, and they're a poor man's unit of Knights. Ish - half the armour save and much slower. But still too potent to ignore, I hope. 

The Antlers, My Friend, Are Blowing In The Wind

The spindly resin banner was a bugger to superglue together. It also makes him quite back and top heavy, so he's got a bit of extra ballast down below. 

Money Shot

Mierce's home system doesn't use units, so these chaps are virtually incapable of forming a decent rank. After playing unit tetris for about an hour, I finally got them to stand in line. I suppose they're Chosen, they ought to be leading a warband each. No wonder they won't play well together. 

The banner is so big, it sticks out the side of the webpage.

And for my next project? Well, this bloke will need a ride, for one. 

Axe Body Parts Spray.
For men.


I have very specific plans for his shrine, and it's not going to be ready until later this year. Without the jiggery-pokery of magnets to help me, he's going to stay as a separate model that can be placed in or out as required. He could moonlight as a hero, champion or even sorceror until he's saved up for his wheels/spikes/howdah (delete as appropriate). 

I know what won't be carrying him, though, and that's these two WIPs: - 

Blogger resolutely refuses to print these the right way round. So, you know, Chaos wastes gravity and stuff. 
Don't look at me! I'm hideous!
What do you mean, 'that's the point'?

More when they're done!

4 comments:

  1. Choose Chaos. Choose a god. Choose a unit. Choose an upgrade. Choose a f**king big axe, choose war machines, chariots, flying disc characters and mechanical soul grinders. Choose poor health, high cholesterol, and tentacle insurance. Choose a mutalith vortex beast.

    Choose Chaos.

    Choose life.

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  2. When I've stopped plagiarising the 90s' zeitgeist, those look AWESOME! Like the 300 Spartans pledged their souls to the dark gods.

    Only fit and proper that they have a hard time ranking up. Much more in-character than the orderly British-bus-queue of the GW Chaos Warrior ranks.

    Also: do you need magnets? I have magnets.

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  3. And yes, Mierce Miniatures have caught my eye too. When the time comes to add a Wyvern to my Waaagh!, I'll be hard-pressed to resist "Typhaggahw, Gwyfern of Ceredigion"
    (an unseen benefit of GW's price-gouging is that this studio miniature now costs the same as their Azhag wyvern ... so it's *almost* justified)

    I love the Mierce Miniatures range, and applaud their attempt at creating an Ancient Briton fantasy world, Although I think their dedication to the ancient language may be holding them back (especially as they have to tell people how to pronounce their own name).

    If you're looking for a customer way-in, "The EMPIRE (good guys) fights CHAOS (bad guys), with ELVES (like in that film) and DWARVES (like in that *other* film)." is a little easier to digest than "The Angelcynn must survive depredations of the Ysians, the wars with the Brythoniaid, discounting the treacherous Kernowek, for the Érainn and the Albainn..."

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  4. I'll get to magnets when my modelling and budget-handling skills are feeling more up to it, I think. I can definitely see the use and appeal, but I don't have any of the right tools for magnet insertion at the moment. Thanks for the offer, though!

    Most fantasy basically boils down to 'is it nearly Tolkein yet?' For most folk, anything more gnarly or complex than that seems to close a series of doors in their heads. Although Steampunk is trendy these days, that works too.

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