New Caesar fantasy comparisons

Thanks to a great trade with CFM reader Jeff, I now have figures from the new Caesar fantasy sets! There's already a great review of these figures at 1/72 Multiverse, so check it out if you want a closer look. I thought I'd show some comparisons with some of my other figures.

First, the Caesar lizardmen in unpainted plastic. My painted Warhammer skinks, plus a Caesar orc, are there for comparison. The Caesar figures are about same size as the other fires, though the Warhammer figures are a bit stockier, and they have bigger crests. Their bases are a lot wider than the orc's, such that I'll have to trim them if I glue them to 3/4" washers like I usually do.

Here are the ratmen. Interspersed are a Warhammer skaven clanrat, a skaven plague monk, a Reaper kobold, and a Caesar goblin. Like the skink, the skaven figures are about the same size as the Caesar ratmen, but have a much stockier build. The plague monk is much tinier of course, but it will make a good ratmen spellcaster. They are just a bit bigger than the goblin and kobold; I think with some headswaps the ratmen could be used as kobolds or other small monsters.

Finally, the Caesar fantasy zombies (I didn't get any of the "modern" zombies). Interspersed are a Twilight Creations zombie, a Caesar skeleton (from their "undead" set), and one of my kitbashed zombie figures. The TC figure looks a little big, but otherwise all these figures fit well together.

Finally, some rank speculation. The one fantasy set Caesar announced that hasn't been released is called "Orcs 2". If you look at the box art for the lizardmen set, you'll see that the lizardmen are fighting what appear to be armored orcs. Maybe the new set will also be armor-clad, to contrast with the more primitive-looking orcs from the first set.

Let's take the speculation further: it seems the original Caesar sets are for the moment out of production. In particular, their elves are hard to find. Now the elf set was evenly divided between elves with Peter Jackson-esque armor--what I call "cone head elves"--and more lightly outfitted elves.  It would be odd if Caesar started selling these less-popular races like ratmen and lizardmen without more traditional races to bolster the line, so one imagines that the new sets will soon be re-released. And as I'm guessing with the orcs, maybe the elves will be newly marketed as two new sets, one with armor and one without.

No promises, but if I guessed correctly, then you read it here first!

Ogre eager

Christmas is always a busy time, but now that the season is over, I had time to finish this guy.

It's a troll from the Mines of Moria set by Games Workshop, for their Lord of the Rings game. I got it cheap along with some other used bits from the set in an eBay lot. I painted it as a generic fantasy ogre creature. The sculpt is great, but the figure required assembly, and the lines between the kit parts are quite visible. I had tried to fill them with wood glue, but I probably needed putty to do a thorough job.

Painting was pretty easy. I like the skin tone, and the way the face turned out. My blackwash came out a little blotchy and uneven. Also, because I am on principle a lazy painter, I resorted to drybrushing to paint the scales or warts or whatever they are on the ogre's back, which looks okay yet fairly sloppy.

Still, for a quick paintjob, the figure looks alright on the table.

Here's the comparison shot with Sven the 1/72 comparison viking. That's one menacing creature!

Sven always regrets when he has to deliver a pizza in Moria.

"Create Your Minis" Kickstarter

Since I mentioned Hero Forge recently, I thought I'd mention another Kickstarter project for custom 3D printed minis. Create Your Minis is a French project that, like Hero Forge, offers web-based software for designing your own miniature, which they will then produce for you. Since they print the minis themselves instead of outsourcing to Shapeways, their price is about half that of Hero Forge. The quality is at least as good, if their photos are anything to go by:

Downsides: They don't at this time have anything like the options or flexibility of Hero Forge. Their site, while perfectly usable, is also currently a bit clunky, especially compared to Hero Forge's very slick, intuitive 3D design program. There's also no way to make smaller miniatures. Their FAQ says that they're considering other scales for the future, including smaller scales, but for now they're strictly a 28mm outfit.

Still, if the idea of custom miniatures at half the price of Hero Forge appeals to you, Create Your Minis may be the project for you. The Kickstarter isn't quite funded yet, but there are still a few days left, so now is the time to pledge!