Tomb Guardians Hobgoblin With Sword

Tomb Guardians Miniatures - Hobgoblin w/ Sword
 
Unpainted 28mm Resin D&D Miniature (some assembly required)
 
Sculpture: Bobby Jackson

https://www.tombguardians.com/product-page/hobgoblin-w-sword
$8.00 for Metal
$6.00 for 3D Resin Print

Hobgoblins have long been a low-level fantasy staple in games like Dungeons and Dragons. But in terms of miniatures, they do not enjoy the popularity of others like goblins or orcs.

Asking around on the Reaper Forums, I discovered that Tomb Guardians Inc does a line of Hobgoblins. They also had a sale around the Christmas Holiday so I put in an order for two sets.

I'll be reviewing them individually here.

There are a few things I think Tomb Guardians gets right.

The first is that their website, while simple, is easy to navigate.

I also appreciate that they showcase the model painted from various directions so you can see what's on the model.

Bobby Jackson is an well-known sculptor in the field. It's a simple pose, a hobgoblin to the side with a sword. No shield. He's armored in half-plate.

If you have several of the sculpts from the hobgoblin line, you'll see that we are in the 'digital' asset field now. By that, I mean, say, Bobby has sculpted a skull. A skull that's actually bigger than the hobgoblin's actual skull so it's not a human skull but it's also not big enough to be an ogre's skull, but that's another thing.

Anyway, you've got a skull. You can now just re-use that asset wherever you need a skull. Same with things like pouches or bags on belts.

It's not a problem, but if you have multiple figures, you'll start to see these bits and wonder which ones are just duplicated from other bits already sculpted.

The bases are thing and only cover the footprint of the model itself. This means that they don't stand on their own very well and for maximum stability and to reduce handling, should be rebased. Note that could be a problem unless you're just putting the whole model on another base. 

In terms of what Tomb Guardians is selling, they note that they're selling resin and metal. Note from their last Kickstarter that wasn't offering metal, only resin, "We are fortunate that our design portion of the project has been completed and master of each miniature have been created and painted. However the production molds, production and distribution portion of this project has not."

Production models people.  Production molds. 

I do not appreciate that 'Resin' is not indicated as a resin cast. It's a resin 3d Print. Resin 3d printing on the home side has come a long way. Gone are the days of simple miniatures that have to be 32mm just to see the details. Some of these resin prints you'd never know were printed.

But it takes a certain level of skill and printer to do that.

Tomb Guardians has neither. 

This picture indicates a lot of pitting damage. This happens when you don't know how to remove supports from a model.

Note if you try to do removal after the model is cured, you run the risk of breakage as whatever resin Tomb Guardians is using is fragile. I found this out when I shattered a few of the bottom portions of the miniatures while removing the attached base so I could rebase it.

Note here you can tell that even the sword itself has these nubs and marks.

Some famous painters note that they like 3d printing because they don't have to deal with mold lines. I'd love to hand them one of these miniatures and ask if they prefer supports in the fire and other fragile places or mold lines. 

At the end of the day, you should avoid Tomb Guardians. When I contacted them about the poor quality of their prints, they agreed and offered to replace the figures in metal. Over a month ago. Which hasn't happened. And when asking Paypal for a refund, I was told that I'd need to send the original figures back. I can't even do this as I've thrown several away due to damage.

You have better options out there, even for Hobgoblins, and when a company misleads the buyer as to what they're buying and does not follow up on their own agreement to replace the miniatures that they sent out, well, no, you cannot support them.