More Retribution, Finished Gnolls, and Vallejo Alcohol Understanding

Finished off the gnolls from Center Stage Miniatures. They paint up pretty well but I did find another 'weird' thing about them. The inside of the mouth is like SOLID behind the teeth. Not a big deal as I don't think anyone is going to be picking them up to look. For the most part, painted with Reaper paints from the Heavy Gear set and a few trusty Games Workshop ones.

I touched the initial picture up in Google +. Worked much better than doing so in Facebook which I don't think has any real photo opportunities outside of tagging.

Good old Mage Hunter for my Retribution force. I want to say... Narn? I had him long before Privateer Press threw the figure from the Iron Kingdoms RPG side into the Warmachien side.

And the actual Mage Hunter unit. I don't have the commander with them because he's already in storage. Looking over them, I'm going to have to mark their front soon I suppose. I'm well at the point where I have more then enough for a 15-25 point game.

And my latest works. I'm still doing these guys and I have a 'new' warcaster in the back there. He's the guy with the strange cable connection on his left arm to his back. Yeah, I didn't get that one connected at all. Anytime you have three pieces, two of them separate, it's a difficult thing for me as I tend to be all thumbs. I did the initial priming with Vallejo Panzer Grey and used a Badger 105 to lay down some Minitaire paint. No problem with it. Didn't need to be thinned. I did see some people note that it takes a while to dry, but when I use my airbrush, I also have a hair dryer next to me so I take care of that particular problem at the same time.

Lastly, I wanted to note that in a recent update, I had problems with the Vallejo Alcohol metallic. Turns out I was indeed using them incorrectly. Due to their heavy pigmentation, you cannot use them from the bottle. You have to pour some out into a palette and work with it from there. I've done that a few times now and yes, that works MUCH better.

Center Stage Miniatures: Gnoll, Facebook Exclusive Review

The other day I received a package from Center Stage Miniatures. It was not one I had hopped for but... this is one of three gnolls I bought from Center Stage Miniatures. It was a 'Facebook' exclusive to test their new store, or at least their Facebook store. I bought three because that was the 'sweet' point.

I was also hoping that they would send the already existing miniatures from their 28mm Demons and Devils Kickstarter like the giants I ordered as add ons but alas, it was not to be. Probably too complex for their minds to keep it all straight. Mind you that's after I mentioned to them several times they could hold the order if that would make it easier for them to send out multiple bits as opposed to sending out one huge order but again, it was not to be.

In terms of the miniatures, they are small for gnolls. They stand about regular 'human' size for 28mm range. If you're using them in true 25mm scale though, they would be huge! Huge I say. Is it a problem? Not really. They're kind of hunched over and while the normal gnoll may be eight feet tall or so, that will probably only bother a certain type of painter/GM.

In terms of cleaning, they weren't bad. A lot of extra bits from vents I believe they call it. Little extra bits of metal that you could twist or clip off.  No 'flash' so to speak and mold lines were not visible. They clean up nicely.

The pose is a bit static but has one problem that I hate in a miniature from any company. The wide leg stance that won't fit into the base. In terms of fitting into the base, they are two piece miniatures. The body of the figure, including weapon, and the base. The base is a round lipped with a slot in it. The figures would not fit into that slot under any scenario outside of clipping off the tab.

In my example, I used Happy Seppuku to make a 'cracked' earth base and stuck the gnoll straight onto it. I figure if they pop off I'll then have to use some super glue or something but usually the green stuck works pretty well in terms of keeping the figures on the base. I don't know when I'll get to paint them but I'm thinking soon. The green stuff has to cure, and that's stuff I did today so it'll be at least till tomorrow. Then it'll be time to bust out at least two color primers... black and maybe vermin brown?

For the figure, one of the things I do like about the stance, is that if you're into converting, the close two handed grip on the short mace, looks like it would be very easy to do some conversion work and give a 'leader' type a great sword or another 'great' weapon. I didn't go that route on my three because I have a few Reaper gnolls  so I have no need for a leader type on these three and will just use them as standard fooder.

Looking over at the new Kickstarter Center Stage is doing, this puppy is going to have a slight modification and become a flind. I find that a little offsetting not because it's an 'exclusive figure'. I wouldn't weep to see 'exclusive' become 'exclusive' for six months or something along those lines. No, I find it odd because those bad boys are the often larger and stronger versions that use a flindbar and well, like I said, this guy isn't that big to start with. That's okay though, I'm sure the Center Stage guys know what they're doing and as I said, among the 25mm crowd it will be huge.

While not available in this format anymore, it will be available in another format soon and if you're looking for some extra muscle for your gnolls, this is a good figure to pick up.