In this episode we speak with The Jen and Joe from Screaming Heretic about cosplay! The Jen is an avid cosplayer and she speaks candidly about her cosplay experiences, everything from how she comes up with her amazing costumes, to some of the antics they get into at conventions, as well as how to politely tell someone to take their hand off your costumed ass.
If you want to know more about Screaming Heretic be sure to visit their website:
You can stream this episode from the White Metal Games Website, here.
Alternately you can also listen to the episode on Itunes.
War Council is a new podcast about 40k and things wargaming related. Justin was a one time client of Caleb’s that stuck around long enough for Caleb to ask him to do a podcast with him. Episodes revolve more around the hobby and fluff aspect of wargaming, and part of each episode follows the progress of White Metal Games as it tries to make a place for itself in a sea of miniature painting services.
3D Printing comes to the tabletop! Hey guys! Caleb with White Metal Games here. We’ve all heard rumors about the revolution that 3D printing will bring to the table. But will the rumors match our expectations? I sat down with Allen Clark and Tristan Morris, co-owners of Proxy Army, a games design company that plans to release their entire product line through 3D printing in hopes of bringing their unique miniatures to the wargaming community. What follows is a summarized account of our interview. However, you can see the full interview in 3 Parts on our youtube channel and presented as a podcast by steaming the interview on War Council. You can also listen to the interview via Itunes here.
White Metal Games: So what is Proxy Army? Tristan Morris: We are a custom miniatures company. Say you want a custom mini of your roleplaying game character. You can use our database to custom build a miniature, picking a torso, limbs, heads, drag and drop equipment, and create a fully customized miniature with a unique expression, pose. You can do the same thing with any other tabletop wargame or board game miniature. Allen Clark: The models are ‘rigged’ so you can drop and drag various points, to repose them, give them a smile, a frown, make their eyebrows furrow, Cheshire expressions, you can even ‘break’ their limbs if you want to . .
WMG: So primarily you make custom miniatures and by extension you could make compatible bits for various games. TM: We also have our own game called Proxy War. The game is supported by the 3D printed system, allowing you to play with any miniature you can imagine. WMG: Sounds like seemingly limitless options. So why did you both decide to get into 3D printing in the first place? TM: Well, I used to be in Engineering school. When I was about to graduate, I started playing around with the schools 3D printer to make some custom miniatures for friends of mine, tabletop gaming miniatures. It became clear pretty quickly that there was a high demand for custom miniatures. When the demand became too high, I started charging for my services. That was about 6 months ago. And here we are. WMG: So how did you guys meet? AC: Online through a game called Exalted. I ran a game where he played the villain for a few years and he approach me with the idea of a miniature games company. I suggested a few core mechanics and things grew from there. WMG: So you both moved to Durham to work together. And the rest of your team is pretty spread out. AC: All over the world. But Durham invited us to a program called Groundworks, which is a business incubator. So Groundworks put us up and provided lots of great advice to help us get off the ground. Mostly there are tech companies. In fact we are the only company that is creating a physical product. WMG: Tell us a little bit about the world of Proxy War. TM: So Proxy War is a 28mm science fantasy game. The game allows players to bring literally any army they want to the table, and provides them with balanced rules for creating their own custom miniatures. So one player could have a steampunk style pirate army and another could have a lupine/feline based ninja army, etc. The galaxy is BIG. You can rule 99% of the galaxy and there are still a million stars you have never visited. So while you have vast empires that rule portions of the galaxy, there are always dark corners to explore and rocks to look under that will reveal new empires, lesser powers, strange technology and the like. WMG: But if I can have anything, then will you still be able to buy miniatures in game stores? Will there be cannon factions? AC: Yes, but let me emphasis we are a custom miniatures company. We will have a limited selection of models available in games stores, with the option to expand that line depending on sales. WMG: Sure that makes sense. Less risk to the game store owners as well, who don’t have to risk overstocking their shelves with models they can’t move. So, what models CAN I expect to see in store? TM: For the setting to speak to people, we needed central races to encapsulate the setting. So we embodied that through three core races. The Vana, the Nakara, and the Human Solar Federation. So those races will be represented in our starter boxes. The Vana are a race of ‘plant people’, trying to eradicate other races so that the universe will be safe for them to grow indefinitely. They are violently protective of their space. Because they are ‘technical pacifists’ they use drones to do their dirty work.
The Nakara were, up until recently a servitor race, previously enslaved to the Vana but whom have since revolted against their prior masters. They are now trying to find their own place in the galaxy. The ‘nakara’ is essential a psychic field that other races are brought into an thus assimilated. A sort of Hive Mind mentality. So various races are all a part of this group, like a psychic empire scourging the stars for new empires to bring into the fold. Humans are the weakest of the starting factions, outclassed and well aware of that fact. They are a bit of opportunists, but largely ignored by the other factions, and thus left largely left alone to explore the stars until they cross paths again. So right now you’re probably wondering how much does these custom figures cost? Actually, it’s cheaper than you might think. A basic miniature will run about the same price as a traditional resin or pewter miniature. And when you consider this miniature comes fully assembled and posed to your liking, it’s a pure win in my book! No more cleaning flash, no more glue, no more clipping! Amazing! Where price does differ from a traditional company that makes and manufacturers their own miniatures is when you start to modify your figures. TM: All of our minis are custom, and we have small charges to get original models. Mods start at $20 and fully custom units that aren’t in the database at all go up to $430. However, to help circumvent this high cost, if you (the client) commission a model, those parts that make up the model are now loaded into our database. Each time one of these models sells or is used to print a model, you (the client) gets a percentage of that sell. (Like how a musician gets money every time their song is downloaded on itunes.) So in this way new content is constantly being added to the database and there are incentives for new designs to be commissioned. We are not the guardians of good taste and don’t have perfect psychic knowledge of what the gaming community wants. So if you design a unit and 10,000 of that unit are sold, you just got us 10,000 sales, so we can’t really see that as a bad thing. AC: We may also contact them to see if they are interested in joining the design staff, if their designs are that popular. TM: Each faction has 24 slots for units, including up to 6 slots for unique units, such as Mercenary bands. This allows you to gradually incorporate custom units for your army. There are also a bunch of pre-existing mercenary bands you can choose to field right from the start. By incorporating some of these factions, you can change the entire theme of your army,”
WMG: But what if I DO want to design my own custom unit. How does that work? AC:“You log unto our database of model parts and select from hundreds of thousands of pieces and snap them together, letting you make any model you can imagine. If you can’t find exactly what you are looking for, then you submit a 1-2 paragraph description to our design staff. They send a follow up questionare to outline the unit in greater detail and clarify. You partner with several members of the design staff and they send you outlines and sketches of concept work in progress, which you then respond to and help them fully develop the idea. Once you are satisfied with the concept, the design is sent to the 3D modeler and then printed.” WMG: Sounds time consuming. AC: Not really. It takes two weeks maximum for our full-time artist team to do up to thirty-two revisions in the concept art and illustration phase. WMG: How do you envision the culture of the game growing around this ultimate sandbox? AC: Although players can craft ANYTHING they like, these are not the core factions of the game, in context. TM: We envision a dynamic relationship between the player and the designers, where the lore changes based on which units are being used most by players. So if a splinter faction gains enough popularity, fits the lore and is taken seriously by the fanbase, it can be added to the core game and become an entirely new faction. WMG: Can you tell us a little bit about playtesting the game?
AC: The game was broken down time and time again to test the balance at every level of play. We liked the early versions of the game, but the game wasn’t playing the way we hoped. It wasn’t scaling properly. So we revised and learned from our playtesting experiences. We analyzed everything from how long it takes to play a turn or consider their actions before moving their figures, how many times a player referenced a book during a turn, realizing that players preferred higher numbers meaning better results (vs. rolling under a target number, which is viewed as negative by many players), to how players prefer throwing tons of dice versus just throwing a few dice. They like the feel of forty dice in their hands when forty gunmen open fire. WMG: How does it play? TM: Much likeHERO or GURPS. It’s a point based system, which allows you to build rules for models where no rules exist. That way you can print the model you like first, and design the rules afterwards. The abilities scale based on the size of the game, so you can run a 500 man horde army and treat large groups of figures as a single ‘unit’ or a 5 man elite shock unit and they balance accordingly. Or a single ‘superman’ AC: We call him Zargoth the Destroyer. In playtesting we would just load him up with abilities and use him to play test hypothetical builds in the system, just to make sure he wouldn’t break the game. WMG: Where have you demoed the game so far? AC: Local shops and at an Expo. We even had folks that aren’t traditional gamers coming by to playtest the game and they picked it up really easily. WMG: So Proxy War is a game a mom could play with her kid? TM: Exactly. WMG: So when can we expect to start seeing product for Proxy War hit FLGS? TM: We have a kickstarter in November, and then you can expect to see actual product in stores about seven months after that. WMG: So around summer 2014. Tell us more about the kickstarter? What will some of the reward levels be? TM: The rules of course, both in PDF and hardback. And custom minis is the big thing. For a fully custom unit that will be about $430 bucks, and you get a percentage of the sales. There will be levels of small skirmish bands, larger platoons, tanks, and ‘titans up to eighteen inches tall! AC: We also have terrain and as a stretch goal there is destructible terrain that can literally be pulled apart as the building is destroyed. This allows you to change the circumstances of the battlefield itself rather than just being subject to the field as it is presented. TM: We also have levels for full armies complete with a custom army book. There is even a tier where you can have your faction added to the core game. WMG: Sort of like buying real estate in the game.
AC: Just like real estate, since you start earning a percentage of those sales. In addition, if you are a game designer, you get a discount for have Proxy War design and print your models for your game. And that’s for both test models and full production runs. TM: We are also going to offer a digital art book with over 3000 sketches of the game from development to really show you how the game evolved. WMG: So how to are you going to make sure your kickstarter stands out from every other game out there? TM: Enthusiasm! To get other people excited about your game,,you have to show your level of excitement and get the players excited. Players are the driving force behind our content. We want them to feel engaged at the time of launch. In fact at the launch party we’re giving away $3000 worth of a fully custom miniatures to one lucky attendee that has the best idea for a custom army (per voting). AC: As well as two laptops. WMG: . . . what . . .? AC: We’re giving away two laptops! Chrome netbooks! And they’ll be able too surf the netbooks to watch the kickstarter video, that sort of thing. WMG: Will I be able to try out the database at the party? AC: We’ll have some demos for the group, but it won’t be on the netbooks. TM: We’ll also have a VIP area at the party, with guest speakers Rob Balder, the creator of Erfworld and Howard Taylor, the creator of Schlock Mercenary will be there. And we’ll are going to be making exclusive miniatures available as a reward level on the kickstarter from both web comics. Never offered before and never offered again. WMG: Any final thoughts? TM: This is the first barrage in a new revolution of gaming. The world of 3D printing is going to turn the miniature gaming industry on it’s head. Desktop printers will be affordable in a few years and when that happens we plan to allow people that own their own 3D printers to print their own models on their own printer just by paying us a tiny access fee to our database. The future of miniature gaming is not boxed kits, but printing off their miniatures at home, anything they can imagine and then game with it. Change is coming. More information regarding Proxy Army and Proxy War can be found on their facebook page and their homepage. And remember remember the 5th of November . . . that’s the launch date for their Kickstarter! They’ll be hosting a launch party at Atomic Empire in Durham, NC! They’re expecting quite a crowd so come early! You could win a full army designed in any way you like!
With every new project you take on, you have to ask yourself what is your end game. If the project is going to be a competition piece, then by all means, take months to complete it, 50 shades of grey shading and all. But sometimes the goal is just to get a model or piece of terrain on the table and quickly.
There are some amazing models, dioramas, and display boards out there. We see them at cons, we see them at GT’s, and online. And they raise the bar really high.
THIS TUTORIAL WILL LOOK UP AT THE BAR, LAUGH, AND WALK WAAAAAY BENEATH IT.
This tutorial is for the guy with two kids and five minutes to build a hill who has spent his last dime on baby food and diapers this month. I salute you, sir, for trying to stick to the hobby at all.
For everyone else out there with money to burn, by all means, take the time to build a nice hill. But if you have no time to spend and even less money, this is the tutorial for you! Here’s what you’ll need for this urban hill:
Some hard packaging foam (not the cheap kind you get in the mail, the hard stuff you get with electronics.)
A base of some sort (I used MDF here, but cardboard would work fine. After all, why waste good money on terrain when you could blow it on miniatures)
Some expanding foam (You get a can of this at DIY stores or Walmart or the like for about $4 bucks a can)
Some spare sprue from you the latest kit
Sand, dried spices, ballast, or whatever other basing material you have around. Dirt from your back yard will be fine.
Okay. I call this the five minute hill. If it takes you longer than five minutes to do this then that equation up above was a complete waste of my terrain (whereby terrain = time).
First, apply a generous amount of foam to the base. Be sure to go around the edges. It looks a bit like a curled up intestine. Gross.
Now break up bits of the foam. If you have any large, flat pieces, stick those on top. They will form a place for miniatures to stand on.
Use the rest of the foam and just thrust it into the foam pile. Shove them in there anyway you like. Like how you got your sofa in your living room.
Take a few bits of the sprue and do the same.
If you have anything else to throw in there, like bolters, skulls, or other bric-a-brac (that’s fancy talk for junk), now is the time to add it too.
While the foam is still malleable (that’s fancy talk for squishy) apply some basing material. Be generous. The holidays are coming up and your want to get all that generosity out of the way now.
Okay. That should have taken you less than five minutes. At this point the hill is done. Now all you have to do is paint it.
Oh, what, you thought that was part of the five minutes? How misleading of me . . .
So, let the hill dry through your night terrors, and when you wake up in a cold sweat, apply a thick layer of black spray paint. The cheaper the better.
Yes, the spray paint will dissolve the foam. You want that to happen. The solvent will partially erode the foam. This is desirable to help give the foam a less ’round look.
Once that’s dry, take some cheap black paint (interior paint from your garage, or craft/hobby paint is fine) to touch up any areas where the foam shows through..
Once you have a good layer of black down, find some grey paint. Dark preferably. Dry brush or overspray some grey paint onto some of the surfaces. If you spray paint this, it will dissolve the foam further. So do so at your own risk.
Then, if you really want the gold star, do it again with an even lighter grey paint. Let’s call this light grey, and let’s call this technique highlighting.
That’s it, your done. What, did you expect fireworks? It’s a hill, not the Mona Lisa.
Build a bunch, impress your mom. Move out for God’s sake.
If you liked this tutorial, then check out more of our work here and here!
Help us reach 100 likes and qualify for chance to win AMC Movie Tickets!!
They like us, they really like us! Let it never be said that we don’t reward our loyal subscribers!
White Metal Games is closing in on the 100+ Likes on Facebook. A small milestone for some, but for us this has been a long time coming. Longer than we’d like to admit . . .
To celebrate this milestone, we will be giving away two AMC Theatre Gold Experience Tickets to one lucky subscriber that likes us on facebook!
STEP 2: Leave a comment ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE under the post titled THE GOLDEN TICKET about what you’d like to see from us in the future. More conversions? More painting? More armies? More terrain? You name it and we’ll try our best to make your dreams come true!
STEP 3: Once we hit 100+ likes, we do a video where we randomly select one lucky LikeR who also posted on the facebook page under the GOLDEN TICKET heading to receive the tickets.
It’s that simple!
Good luck and thanks for supporting us so far!
Remember, we are currently accepting commissions. Don’t hesitate to contact us for a hasslefree quote!
In this episode we speak with Tristan Morris and Allen Clark of Proxy Army. Proxy Army is a new venture aiming to create custom minis for all wargaming systems using 3D technology to help gamers design custom minis any way they like! That’s right, you make the mini, you make the choices.
If you want to know more about Proxy Army be sure to visit their website: http://proxyarmy.com
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This recording is lower quality than our normal podcasts due to tech issues. Sadly, we did not speak nicely to the machine gods . . BUT FEAR NOT! You can also watch the interview in a series of three videos on our youtube page!
You can stream the episode from the White Metal Games Website, here.
Alternately you can also listen to the episode on Itunes.
War Council is a new podcast about 40k and things wargaming related. Justin was a one time client of Caleb’s that stuck around long enough for Caleb to ask him to do a podcast with him. Episodes revolve more around the hobby and fluff aspect of wargaming, and part of each episode follows the progress of White Metal Games as it tries to make a place for itself in a sea of miniature painting services.
I recently had a chance to work on a Storm Eagle for a client. Like it’s baby brother, the Eagle has some impressive looking Vtrol engines on it with some kicking afterburners! The client expressed an interest in some OSL on the engines. I had done a little work with Tau OSL before using the Plasma Blue from the Miniataire Paint Line, but unlike the Tau engines, the Eagle engines are very narrow, very deep and pooling was an issue. So in short, I wasn’t getting a result I liked.
I had seen a tutorial on FTW a while back about heat stains. I liked Ron’s overall approach, so I decided to take it up a notch, crank that baby up to 11! Here’s how it works: As metal gets hot, it changes hue, going from steely blue, all the way up to a much warmer, brassy gold color.
Engines, being so hot anyway, seem a natural place to make this sort of transition work and to splash a little color on a normally bland part of the model. To start, I’ll need an engine.
Firstly, prime the engine black. Feel free to go lighter at the afterburner end, but overall you want those nice, crisp shadows.
Go ahead and give the engine a dry brush with your favorite metallic. I used GW Boltgun metal. Be generous, but leave those nice dark shadows alone.
Next, I dry brush some Tin Bitz on about half the engine. I wanted to warm up the output end of the engine, to give the impression of heat warping the metal (to a small, tiny degree).
Tin Bitz (or any brassy color) has a nice reddish hue I like, and will help to suggest heat to the underlying model.
I thin layered in some gold paint (burnished gold I think, but any gold will do) to further highlight the tail end of the afterburner. Again, we’re trying to warm up the metal, to give that illusion of heat.
Okay, start at the afterburner end (the danger zone . . . =) and lay in some white. I used an airbrush for this and I highly recommend you do the same. However, if you were the Michaelangelo of spray paint, you could maybe pull this off with spray paint too.
Diffuse the edge (pull the airgun/airbrush/spray paint) away from the afterburner to help blend out the white. Don’t drag the white too far down. A few inches should be enough (that’s what she said). White forms a basis for the Minitaire Tints (also called Glazes, Candies, etc) to do their work. You are basically going to stain the white with a thin layer of paint, called a tint.
At this point if you want to keep warming up the engine and just want another transition zone you could now lay down some minitaire brown in a thin strip. You could also Golden Yellow or a 1/1 mix of both. They all have advantages. Bottom line is you are looking for a brown/goldish color. Don’t overdo it! Just lay down a thin layer in a single pass or two at most. Note this step is NOT pictured below, this is just something that occurred to me after doing this tutorial and I thought it might be useful to the would be artist that uses this tutorial as a guide.
Now use the minitaire magenta. Just lay a thin layer down over the farther edge of the white. Don’t go too thick. You want some of the underlying metal color to come through. Again, diffuse the edge as you blend out towards the business end of the engine. Do this by pulling the airbrush away from the model Now, use the minitaire blue. You see how this works? Yep. Lay down another thin line, overlap the magnenta, etc.
You should still have some white showing at the tip at this point.
From here you could either leave the tip white, use some minitaire plasma glue to create a plasma like engine effect (such as on the tau, above), or go full Top Gun and use three thin/small strips of red/orange/yellow to create a real afterburner look. It’s up to you!
Now a little clean up. Take just a little white paint and lay it over the very tip (that’s what she . . er . . never mind). Just a bit to make the end pop and burn bright white. If you want to put a little rosy color back into areas you’ve over saturated, take a little warm metallic (gold, brassy, tin bitz, etc) and just drybrush back in a little color, remembering to be sparing.
Now lay down your varnish and BOOM, done.
Here’s a shot of the storm eagle where we tried this effect for the first time. We actually laid some color inside the Vtrol too, to make it appear the inside was warping from the heat as well.
If you liked this painting tutorial, be sure to check out more of our work at White Metal Games.
And if you aren’t listening already, check out of official podcast over at War Council. You can also download Warcouncil on Itunes! Until next time . .
In this episode we ask the question ‘What Would You Do Differently?’. If you were to redesign the 40k system, what are a few of the changes you would make and why.
Our special guest for this episode is Thomas Reidy, AKA Goatboy from Full of Monkey Painting. Thomas is an avid tournament player as well as an amazing artist, so we were definitely glad to get his two cents regarding changes to the game.
You can stream the episode from the White Metal Games Website, here.
Alternately you can also listen to the episode on Itunes.
War Council is a new podcast about 40k and things wargaming related. Justin was a one time client of Caleb’s that stuck around long enough for Caleb to ask him to do a podcast with him. Episodes revolve more around the hobby and fluff aspect of wargaming, and part of each episode follows the progress of White Metal Games as it tries to make a place for itself in a sea of miniature painting services.
For such an popular model in game, it sure wouldn’t kill GW to have a farseer on jetbike model! Guess we’ll we’ve have to improvise.
Hey guys, Caleb with White Metal Games here, with another fun conversion. This time, a farseer on jetbike! With the exception of the Chapterhouse Farseer on jetbike compatible kit, I don’t see a lot of options for these out there. So when a friend asked me to convert up something along these lines, I couldn’t resist the opportunity! This isn’t as in depth a tutorial as you might be used to, but I think you can get the gist from what I’ll outline below.
To start, I gathered up some bits. I wasn’t sure what I would need, and in the end I didn’t use everything featured below. But IMHO it helps to have more bits than you need to give you a few options with every conversion. I grabbed an assortment of both elf, eldar, dark elf and dark eldar bits, as well as a spare ( mostly assembled) jetbike from a previous eldar project.
I have some left over legs from a High Elf Lord on Flying Griffin. So I use a razor saw to remove the upper torso from the lower torso that would traditionally fit on the griffin (at the time, I was building a griffin for WFB by removing the elven rider)
I dry fit the upper body to the bike. Good fit, but kinda boring.
I also realize that the upper body doesn’t quite fit flush with the seat of the bike, so I use a hobby knife to cut away the extra plastic to make it fit better.
It’s hard to tell, but this is an Eldar Guardian head. The bit on the right is from a wave serpent I think? Anyway, long story short is I need a way to represent the ghost helm common to eldar seers, so I trim a bit of the helmet away to make it smooth so that this ‘flange’ bit will attach readily enough.
Earlier I mentioned that I was a bit bored by the plastic bike legs on the bike. Well, I just happened to have a set of pewter legs from a high elf model of some sort. Maybe a dragon rider from the 90’s . . . not sure really. I liked the legs better for a farseer so I dry fit them in place. With a little bending I was able to get them to fit on the pedals. However, the legs didnt’ really sit flush, and pewter isn’t easier to convert like plastic or resin.
So I decided on a more dynamic pose, with the Farseer riding sort of standing up on the bike, like leading his troops heroically into battle. Now I just need a lance to mirror this dynamic stance.
In the same griffin kit I found a lance with banner (I think it’s the griffin from Isle of Blood?) NICE! But kinda big. Also, it’s a lance, not a spear. Gotta change that too.
I trim the spear off of it’s and and realize I have a perfectly good cloak now.
I use a little grey stuff and glue to get the cloak into place. This helps to convey a sense of movement in the bike.
Here you can see the grey bit I used to help support the cloak. At the time, I figured I could incorporate this into the cloak and make it appear to be flapping behind him. And although I do feel I accomplished this in the end, I think in retrospect this was a sloppy approach and it would have be better to have support the cloak with another sort of bit that wasn’t so bulky. In reality, however, very little time will ever be spent focusing on the underpart of the cloak when looking at the model on the table, so I don’t sweat it too bad.
I scale the lance beside a spear from a high elf model to get a sense of size. This way I know about where I need to trim.
I trim the lance down, but I still need a shaft for the lower half of the spear. I find an old chariot banner that will work well. I carefully remove the lower portion of the banner pole.
I use a little plastic glue to create new shaft. On the finished model, the join will be hidden inside the hand of the farseer himself.
Time to gussy up the canopy a bit. I find this old pewter swooping hawk pack that I think will make a great canopy decoration.
I have to bend it a little to get it to fit just right, but eventually, fit it does.
Now I’m back to the helmet and thinking about something to gussy it up some too. I consider using these antlers from a Grail Knight (WFB Bretonnian) but settle in the end on some more high elf chariot bits for the helmet.
Now the model is basically done. Just need to apply a little grey stuff to a few places to finish it up.
The spear and canopy were left unattached for the purpose of painting ease.
Below you can see the cloak once repaired. It’s a bit too bulky on the underside. But again, this was an oversight on my part, a learning curve, so you can expect mistakes like this from time to time.
We also added on a grenade pack to give a little more detail to the model. When painted, we’ll probably paint it with some OSL. to make it appear to have eldritch properties.
Up next, WMG is excited for the pending release of the Tyranid Codex in line with 6th Edition rules! Check out this Tyranid BioBattery (Counts as Vengeance Battery) we recently mocked up (WIP) for the 11th Co. GT in November!
Have a conversion you need done? Models you need painted? Send us an email and we’ll provide you with a competitive quote right away!
Greetings fellow wargamers! Caleb with White Metal Games here!
Recently I started a hard nosed survey (dare I say investigation) of the miniature painting and assembly market. Namely I wanted to know who my competition was, what they were charging, what they were doing right, where they could make improvements, and what I could learn from them. Based on my findings I made some improvements to my site, offered a few new deals, and became a more competitive service. In fact, we’re still evaluating our pricing structure to bring it more in line with how other services price projects.
When you want to find someone that will paint and assemble your army for you, just walk into any FLGS with a wad of cash and ask. You’ll find someone. Everyone needs money, after all.
But will that person be able to deliver the goods in a timely fashion for your budget? Are they are a one trick pony, or can they take direction? For example, maybe your buddy ‘Joe’ has an awesome Necron army. You love it . . . you love it so much you offer to let him paint your Crimson Fist army.
But CAN he paint marines, that’s the question. Every army is different. Is ‘Joe’ a round enough painter to give you what you want, in your timeframe on your budget and if he can’t does he know when to walk away and tell you ‘sorry, but no thanks.’ This is what separates the pros from the talent. Maybe Joe is a hitter, but that doesn’t make him an MVP. And I want to be an MVP.
Research is great, but there is nothing like throwing yourself in the line of fire and trying something from a new perspective. What would it feel like to be a buyer rather than a seller for once?
So after all my research was done (or done enough) I picked a few services I thought were not only good, but fairly priced and comparable to what I was offering, and decided to commission a model or two.
To keep things nice and fair, we are going to call the Studios A, B, C, D, and E.
Here are the models I sent to each studio:
Studio A: Based in the Mid-West. A refurbishment project. 2000 points of Space Marines I picked up from another studio on the cheap. The project was to refurbish the army and lavish it with details.
Studio B: Based in England. This studio had really cheap rates, so I commissioned a squad of Orks. Studio was to buy the box, assemble to order, and paint to avoid the international tariffs.
Studio C: Based in the Mid-West. A small squad of Necrons, with lavish OSL. Assembled at WMG and sent to the painter.
Studio D: A Canadian based painting service. A small collection of models, including some daemon princes, a landraider, some zombies, some odds and ends, etc. Assembled at WMG and sent to the painter.
Studio E: Based in England. This studio impressed me with their work, so I sent them a giant daemon prince to paint up.
Remember that the goal of this project was to get first hand experience with commissioning models from other services, to gain a ‘client perspective’ on orders. Another goal of this project was to experiment with outsourcing projects, weighing the pros and cons of using international painters, whilst connecting the right model to the right painter/painting service to get the best possible results. After all, not every painter can be expected to paint every model equally well. For example, I love painting Tyranids, but maybe Studio XYZ doesn’t and it shows in their work. To each their own.
In this article, we’ll discuss what I learned from Studio A. Those models were the first to go out and the first to come back.
To their credit, the artist in this case was very willing to work with me on this refurbishment project. It was a coordinated effort. I purchased the models blindly from another player and then had them sent to the painter who would do the refurbishment.
When the models arrived, the painter let me know the models weren’t really in ‘refurbishment’ shape. Some of the models were broken, most were primed only with little to no details. Yikes. So not as much a refurbishment projects as we would have liked. More just a regular painting project from the ground up.
Okay, a change in gears, but still the same race. No problem.
We discussed options, and decided the way to go with the project was to use the existing primer color and then to just find a way to finish them quickly and effectively. We decided either Ultramarine or Crimson Fists were the way to go (blue primer) and since I’ve seen enough Ultramarines projects, we went with CF.
So, at this point it’s week one, the painter has the models in hand and we should be good to go.
Now I’ve always prided myself on customer service. So does Studio A. Studio A let me know that they send out an ‘update’ email to their clients every Monday to let them (the client) know the status of their project, even if that status is ‘Bits Ordered, en route’ or even ‘No status change’. In the later case, when other clients already booked orders, maybe you’re just waiting.
Kinda the same way that I call the cable company and they say they’ll show up between 11 and 2. Sometimes my place in the pecking order is just to wait.
Monday rolled around and no email came. I was a bit surprised. Actually surprised is too lenient. I was startled. I couldn’t believe how powerless I felt, being in the dark like this. I had given good money to Studio A and all I wanted to know was the status of my project. Was that too much to ask?
I gave it another day or two, then decided to touch based with Studio A. In point of fact, like I should have figured, a family emergency had occurred. Studio A briefly emailed me to say they were sorry for the delay, and they let me know paints for my project had been ordered, so all was well and good. In the face of personal tragedy, the vendor had overlooked his clients BUT quickly rectified the situation.
Man, did I feel like an ass. But I shouldn’t have really. I mean, I was only protecting my investment.
So, after a week or two to grieve, the painter got back to work. I didn’t want to press him or seem unsympathetic. A few weeks passed by and he finally called me with a update. His computer was being repaired, and without it he didn’t have regular access to email. He did take steps to take pictures of the WIP models with his phone, but they didn’t really give me a clear picture of the project.
To the artist’ credit, the painter then took the minis to a friend who photographed them and sent me the pics. The pics were ‘okay’, but didn’t really show me any detail. The artist let me know that the project was coming along well, but he was running low of funds. (This painter works by the hour, so when the time was up, you could either pay him more money to paint, or you could ask him to just send you the models).
So, I sent the painter some more money. Nearly doubling the original amount sit aside for the painting aspect of the project.
Here’s the kick . . . without great pictures from the painter in the beginning, I really had no way to track the project in terms of progress. What I mean is, I can’t see the detail that was added to the project on the 2nd half.
I mean, how could I? I had no before or after pics. What’s more is since the painter was a by the hour kinda guy, I had no real way to track his progress, other than trust. Which I gave them freely.
Some other services use the ‘hourly’ guide to create estimates. For example, someone might ask for a squad of Orks painted. I guesstimate . . . ‘that’ll take about 4 hours at $25 an hour, so about a hundred bucks, or $10 a model’. This seems pretty fair to me. If the painter wants to take his time then he doesn’t charge me extra. It’s an estimate, not a quote.
But the potential for abuse does exist using this payment system, and I didn’t really fee like I had a clear picture of what I was paying for in terms of detail.
A few weeks passed and the painter called me to let me know the project was done. We arranged shipping, and the painter said he’d send me an invoice for the shipping costs. A week passed. Nothing. No word.
Finally, about two weeks later, the painter called me to let me know that he had been out of town for a week and were sorry they hadn’t gotten in touch with me. But that the models were now en route and should reach me soon. And to be fair, they did. By the end of the week, they were there.
However, I’m not sure why they couldn’t have been mailed out beforehand? I mean, if you are going to be gone anyway, why not just ship the models out before leaving?
The models arrived and the quality was what we call at White Metal Games a ‘Man at Arms’ standard, or Level 1. It’s around a tabletop quality paint job. Light on detail, but a great starter army for a client that doesn’t have a major budget and wants to grow their collection.
It’s also a nice way to add a few units to an Apocalypse army. You’ll only use these models a few times a year, so the models don’t need to be as nice as your regular collection of models.
The army is currently for sale for anyone who is interested. We’re hoping to use the money raised to fund this project! A Necron/Ork themed army, the Necorks!
So, like most things in life, this experience was mixed with goods and bads. The painter had a few life events occur to them that made completing the project in a timely fashion difficult. But there were also a few missteps along the way and there was room for the process to be improved upon.
For me, that’s what’s its all about . . . trying to find a way to improve the quality of the services we offer so that clients are better able to see their vision brought to the table on a budget that is fair to all parties.
I have to remember that since most painting services are ‘spare time’ services, ie, most of us have regular day jobs, we should be a bit more patient with our commission painters. Life happens to them too.
If you think this was a worthwhile experiment, comment below.
If you think this is a baseless attempt to solicit your money, comment below. =)
What YOU think, this did give me a good sense for what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a commission for once and it taught me quite a bit.
I can’t recommend this to other miniature painting and assembly services enough. The brief insight you might glean could lead to remarkable changes in your core business mechanics. If this article does well, then I’ll continue this series with Studio’s B-E.
Until next time, remember to PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!
So I was chatting with my buddy the other day . . . well, truth be told I was losing to my buddy the other day . . when he brought up the centurion, spec. the devastators. You know, the model everyone loves to hate?
Anyway, we got to chatting about these guys, and I feel like centurion gets a bad rap for no real reason. Let’s break em’ down, shall we?
At 60 points a model they come in about 30% higher than a terminator without the invul. save. However they are rocking S and T 5 with 2 wounds. Okay, not bad. They can shoot both guns per turn with Decimator Protocols and they have Slow and Purposeful so they can walk and fire.
The devastator squad of three then is 190 points (Serg included of course). For that 190 points they come with hurricane bolters (three twin-linked bolters) and a TL heavy bolter. So each centurion is rocking basically three Strength 5 shots and three Strength 4 shots. All twin linked. That’s a lot of firepower!
As a unit, this means they have 9 Strength 5 shots and 9 Strength 4 shots. At Rapid fire range of course this goes up considerably to 18 Strength 4 shots! ALL TWIN LINKED! So basically of every 9 shots they take, 8 hit! (Nine Shots, hit 2/3 of the time, then the misses, approx 3/9 hit 2/3 of the time again, so 2 of the 3 misses hit for a total of 8 hits!!!)
So that means that most of the time the unit will score 8 Strength 5 hits and 8 Strength 4 hits a turn. In rapid fire range it goes up to 8 and 16 respectively so 24 hits!
What’s that you say? Go go gadget grav cannon? Centurions can take grav cannons AND grav amps for 20 points a model. Grav cannons are salvo 3/5, so the centurion always gets 15 shots (thanks to relentless) at max range, and the amps let them reroll failed wounds/vehicle pens! Of those 15 shots 10 should hit. Against MEQ targets, you would wound on 3’s, rerolling fails, which means that’s an average of eight AP 2’s wounds!
Against something like say, a Riptide, they wound on 2’s! That’s 8 or so AP 2 wounds and Hasta La Vista Riptide!
Grav weapons also immobilize vehicles on a 6 and cause a hull point. Multiple immobilized results cause extra hulll point loss. So against a lanrdaider, you are going to roll around 2-4 sixes. Even if you only get three you are going to likely strip 3 hull points and immobilize it each time as well. So that’s a total of 6 hull points lost and it’s destroyed.
What’s that you say? You’re a truist who prefers their devastators with a side of lascannons? How about six twin linked lascannons? Take that anything other than a flyer on the table!
So, in short, Centurions are highly durable. They can be built to kill vehicles, elite infantry, or light infantry. They are not necessarily universal with any build, nor are they are autopick, but I feel like they can put out plenty of firepower no matter the load out.
For 10 points the Serg. can take an Omniscope, granting the USRs Night Vision and Split Fire to the unit. Pretty good, right?
In addition to all the above, these boxes for bits alone are amazing!
In just one box of Centurions you get 6 lascannons, 6 melta guns, 6 flamers, and 6 grav cannons/grav amps! This is a converters dream. And those bodies make PERFECT Ork Meganobs. Just swap the heads, and a few grubbins and you’re good to go.
So there you have it . . the case for the centurion, as it were.
What do YOU guys think. Any public defenders want to go co-counsel on this one?
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