Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Flames of War SS-Kradschützen Platoon and Kurt Meyer


Hi, my name is Mike and I'm one of the modelers for this blog. These are some wip pictures of my SS-Motorcycle platoon lead by the famed Kurt “Panzer” Meyer. They really just need flocking put on their bases and once I'm done I'll be posting a review of this set. Just want to get these Nazi bastards done.






Kurt directing his troops. The Flames of War site shows him in a camo smock, but if you look its modeled as the green field jacket.



Detailed shots of the 1st SS decals.



What the difference a few seconds make.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Review of Black Scorpion Pirate Girls (set 3) and Nuria Del Fuego


I've been looking at getting some of the Black Scorpion line for roughly a year now but never gotten around to ordering any. After being dragged to a local pirate fair by some female friends of mine, I got the itch to get a few pirate minis to paint up. Looking over the line I automatically wanted some of the naval officers and noticed the new pirate girls they were coming out with. The following day I pre-ordered the pirate girls set and Nuria Del Fuego(I'm assuming their “captain” for the Cutlass game rules.) Its been roughly three months and this last Friday (The 7th of September) they finally came in at my local game store.

Each comes in its own clam shell package like the rest of the Black Scorpion line and includes one(1) 25mm slotta base per mini. The price for the main set of 4 minis is pretty cheap at $14 USD(which breaks down to $3.50 a mini) and the “leader” Nuria Del Fuego is $6.25 USD. Sure its a little more, but she's well worth getting.

Now I want to mention this here. As many of you know Black Scorpion has changed their line over to resin which a lot of people are upset about. After getting the Naval Officer about two months ago I understand why, its fragile and soft. I've only handled a few of the GW Finecast pieces, but I do believe its the same kind of resin. If someone else can either verify it or say other wise I'd like to know. I have a few other resin pieces, one being Warlords Not Russel Crowe mini and the other a Privteer Press set. I know the PP stuff is a resin/plastic mix but the Warlord mini seems to be the same. Now I don't mind it too much, other then the fact I can see some bits being easier to break (i.e. sword blades and legs) and it does make it easier to cut , which you'll understand why later on. But I can see major problems with how its packaged and pieces breaking because of the resin. I could be wrong and hope it doesn't happen, but I could see this happening in the sets with a few minis banging together in the clam shells.

How about more pics?
Nuria Del Fuego


 
Pirate Girls Set 3

 
Pirate Girls Set 3

Here are all the mini's from Set 3 loose. The real nice part about these sets are the fact its one piece molds. And on top of that, really clean molds. Given I had cut the bottom bar off a few of these before the pictures, but no clean up other wise was done.



As you can see in the following close ups how beautifully done the sculpts really are.

 

Back details. You'll notice a few holes I need to fill.

Over all I'm pretty happy with the muilt set. Crisp detail all around, beautifully done sculpts. Now I will note the faces seem a bit funny, the screaming one sorta looking down seems to have bucked teeth. And will more then likely go to one of my friends for her to paint. The mini in the robe and big hair just screams having a nice jade color dress. And originally, she was the one I disliked most from the group. The girl with the sword going to the left also has a skull and cross bones “pin” on her tricorn.

Nuria Del Fuego
What more can I say about the mini other then she's beautiful. I love the long flowing hair, which with a name like “Del Fuego” mean's she'll be painted as a red head. Who wouldn't want her to be captain with a top like that?


The Original Charlies Angels

Now for something I always look for in a review, a comparison photo. As you can see they stack up pretty well with PP minis (being they are in the same 30/32mm range.)

From left to right:
PP Captain Sam, PP Sorscha, Reaper Chronoscope Sasha DuBois, Black Scorpion Pirate Girl, GW Imperial Guard Officer, Reaper Pathfinder Mini, GW Commissar


From Left to Right:
PP Captain Sam, PP Sorscha, Reaper Chronoscope Sasha DuBois, Black Scorpion Pirate Girl


 
From left to right:
Black Scorpion Pirate Girl, GW Imperial Guard Officer, Reaper Pathfinder Mini, GW Commissar


Conclusion:

These are really beautifully done minis. Sure there are a few problems here and there, but for the price you really can't go wrong. Yes the resin seems soft, but as long as you aren't throwing them across the room you'll do fine. But the details are crisp, the boobage is at a maximum, and at $3.50 a mini that is well cheaper then most others at the same level.

Note: I mentioned at the beginning of the review how the resin is soft and why its a good thing. The minis themselves are beautifully done with crisp, sharp details. However the one and only spot that is off is the heels of the boots. The “gap” area is all filled in, which for most people they are fine. But me being me, I wanted it too look like how the real boots would, so with a sharp excto knife I went to work and cut them out carefully. Now because its so soft, be careful not to cut too much away.

 
Where to buy:

I got mine from my local game store, who got it from Warpath Games (check your local gaming store and see if they use them as a distribution). But of course one can order them directly from Black Scorpion or check eBay.