Painting HeroForge Minis Review: Premium Plastic v. Plastic -DS

HeroForge Premium Plastic in the center, regular plastic on the sides.

 

I have shown these miniatures to friends and, when painted, they could not tell which one was the premium and which ones were the regular plastic. The detail on the premium minis is just a bit crisper.  You can see a little bit of the layering on the gorget of the halberdier, but I am quite happy with the regular plastic detail.  The regular material figures come pre primed, and the premium are a black material. I do not actually prime my figures, so painting them was a bit different as paint flows differently over a bare figure.  The quality of the premium plastic is better, but it is also $10 more.  Purchasers will have to decide if it's worth it.  For me:  I'm probably only going to rarely order the premium.  The regular is quite good, and I can get good detail with them.

HeroForge has had several updates since I ordered these figures. One I find most handy is the "mm scale ruler."  When I ordered the above figures, I had to guess at their height as it was a slider bar. They are a little bit bigger than the scale I like(true 28), but not so much as to be too noticeable on the battle field. HeroForge's measuring screen that tells me the height now so I don't have to guess.

HeroForge's continued updates of items, clothes, races, etc & etc, make it fun to go back and see what's new.  The latest big update was ability to colorize and order color miniatures!  Since I can paint, I will never do that @$44.99, but the tool can be used as a color guide for the minis you order.  I think it's great for those who want that service and do not have the time or inclination to do it themselves.

HeroForge's color tool in action!

Finished HeroForge Scout - DS

The Scout - 11th level AD&D 1st and 2nd Edition Rogue.  

The Scout has an artefact bow that has a Will of its own.  Its most significant OP power is the ability to fire 4 arrows per round.  Its Will gives a healthy +4 to saves v. mind control/influence effects.  

  

The Scout is a character I made in 1997 for Mike's AD&D campaign.  Mike and Stephanie moved to Florida in about 2006 and the campaign continued as a twice a year event when hey came up to visit in June/July summer vacation and after Christmas in December.  During their visits we get a game or two depending on their schedule of seeing various friends and relatives.

I have never really had a mini I like for the Scout until:  HeroForge!  He's a custome made HeroForge model made of their Premium Plastic material.      

Notable Adventures played:
Return to the Tomb of Horrors.
Madness of Gardmore Abbey.

My secret until the Winter of 2018 game:
The Scout managed to avoid combat damage between level 7 and 11.  Which was literally -real life years.  And a lot of adventures and sessions.  I never mentioned this during the game or to any of the other players or DM.  I felt as though there might be some unwanted attention given by the DM...  Not that he's unfair.  But it is sort of ridiculous given the adventures that we were going through that I didn't take any damage.  All good things come to an end.  In the winter 2018 session I got nailed for 54 of 63 hit points damage.  That was when I spilled the beans.  :)

Heroforge Custom Miniatures Review - DS

I was very excited about Heroforge when I first read about it on the web.  For those who don't know Heroforge.com is a website that allows people to design their own custom miniatures.  Using the browser and 3d paper doll like function, you dress and equip your character using the variety of options available.  The figures are made using a 3d printer process.  There are a number of genres including, modern, fantasy, old west, and sci-fi.  You select the category of item or feature, click on it and it appears on your miniature.  There is some scaling for body size, from halfling to half-orc, and build and muscularity of characters as well as adjustment to face for expressions.

I have always been looking for the ultimate miniature for my AD&D paladin character I played in the 80s and 90s.  He had 2 henchmen, and I decided to make them too.  I have other versions of my characters from pre-existing miniatures lines (provided by Reaper, Red Box Games and Games Workshop), but I wanted to bring them to life with the Heroforge.

Freiderick the Halbardier, Saladian the Just, and Thomas (the Archer.)

When I initially saw finished Heroforge figures, and was reading web reviews of the products, they came in two plastic material options.  One was fine detail, and the other was strong plastic.  The fine detail miniatures had very crisp detail but had a fuzzy look from the 3d printing process.  It reminded me of a bad spray primer job when the paint mist dries a little bit when going through the air and leaves a layer of particles on the surface of the figure.  Although the detail on these figures looked great, the texture was a bit off putting for painting.  The fine figures were also brittle, and a one foot drop to a hard surface could take off weapons or an arm.

The other material option they had was strong plastic.  It was less expensive.  This material was much more sturdy and could survive incidental drop, but it lacked crisp detail.  I saw some example of them painted and was not overly impressed.

So, I played around with the creator, but never ordered anything

The characters on the outside are the regular Plastic materials and the black one in the center is the Premium Plastic.

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I infrequently checked the website to see what new weapon, clothing, and other options they added.  One that particularly got my notice was they had changed materials.  They had a "premium plastic" version, that is a black plastic that vaguely resembles hard model plastic.  I ordered one premium model of my character (center of pictures above.)  It was free of the fuzzy texture and seems very sturdy (aka like a hard plastic GW model.)  I was very happy with how it turned out, and they were priced $29.99.

The regular "plastic" came in at $19.99.  The models come primed.  I ordered my character's 2 henchmen in that material to see what it was like.  I was quite pleased with how they came out.  The detail is not as high as the premium plastic, but I have no complaints.

Size comparison.  Converted GW Rohan Sgt, Heroforge, Reaper Hellknight Captain.

GW Imp Advisor, Reaper General Drake, My Heroforge Archer, GW Espern Locarno

Red Box Games, Heroforge, Hasslefree

The size of the miniatures is a bit of a guess.  There are sliders for height, weight, build, (and muscularity), and all these add to the bulk of the figure.  With all the sliders there is no measurement other than looking at the size change on your screen.  With height -you don't really have an idea of what size it's actually going to turn out.  Also the base is shorter than a typical slotta base so that's going to take a few mm off the total height.  I mostly use regular slotta bases on all my minis.  If the figure is not set up for a slotta base, and I don't feel like clipping/ razor work to convert it, I will glue them to a Renedra flat base if it will turn out roughly the same as slotta base height.

Slotta Base, Heroforge, Renedra flat base

I am planning on making a Warhammer 40k character using the Heroforge site.  I will push his height up a bit on the scale (from where their default height starts,) so he isn't too small.  The size I made my three fantasy rpg characters is a bit bigger than Red Box and Hasslefree figures (my favorite scale.)  In retrospect I might take a little off of what height I made them if I had had a better idea of how they would turn out.

In closing I have to give Heroforge a big thumbs up.  The $19.99 models lived up to my expectations.  The $29.99 were better, but I think I am going to go for numbers rather than the additional quality (except for special characters.)   

My advice to anyone buying one for the first time:  Play around with all the features and poses.  Explore the items and clothes and the scaling of body measurements.  There is a considerable amount of content to explore to create your own character.

Now I have to get these guys painted up!.  :)

Dave of the Dale Wardens Verdict:
Thumbs up to Heroforge Miniatures.  Well done sir!

Heresy Miniatures Brother Lucius (Monk/Cleric) - DS

Father Willem

I have not really played clerics too often in rpgs.  There has just not been very much appealing to me in the class as my preference has been towards the non casting characters warrior or rogue types.  This particular mini has made me want to try to branch out.  The sculpt is by Steve Buddle, and originally it was made by Spyglass/Eolith Miniatures.  The range was sold and it is now available from Heresy Miniatures. 

I wanted a very simple color scheme with brown robes.  The sculptor put a lot of character in the face.  As always I have no idea with what I want to do with bases. so it's done generic enough to look okay using outdoor scenery or in dungeon terrain.

If you are not familiar with them, check the site out as they have a nice selection of fantasy and sci minis.  For Timelord adventure fans, or Browncoat diehards, they have several that look suspiciously like a certain Doctor and friends or roguish Firefly Captain and crew.

Meet the NPC Allies - Reaper Miniatures Oswald the Overladen and Village Rioter (aka Cinart the Torch Bearer.) DB

For the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder game, the players talked it over and decided it might be helpful to hire some non-player character allies to assist us in our quest.  Two likely lads from Sandpoint were chosen to join the party;  Oswald the Packbearer, and Cinart as a torch bearer.


Lighting can be a problem when searching in underground caves or delves.  To that end we hired Cinart as a torchbearer.  Although not a fighter by trade, he would be accompanying the party on underground expeditions, and other places we might need someone to handle a torch or lantern.  He carries a spiked mace just in case the battle makes it through the fighters.  His duties are going to put him in more frequent dangerous situations than Oswald, and we're hoping he can handle it.

77140: Townsfolk: Village Rioter by Bobby Jackson

Modded as a Torch Bearer

77140: Townsfolk: Village Rioter by Bobby Jackson
 Even though I really liked Bobby Jackson's original sculpt, I needed to modify him to make him a torchbearer rather than part of a mob heading out to chase Frankenstein's monster around.   I switched his head with a bearded extra head from a box of Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors.  The pitchfork arm was removed and replaced with a mace arm from a plastic set of Fireforge Games medieval Foot Sergeants.  I think the figure has a rough and ready look.

Both the Gripping Beast and Fireforge Games plastic miniature sets have a lot of extra weapons, arms and heads included.  Great stuff for mashup and modded figures.

Oswald is carrying a lot of stuff.

77141: Townsfolk: Oswald the Overladen by Bobby Jackson

Emily liked the name Oswald (Reaper's name for the mini) so we thought we'd keep it as the character's name.  His story is that Gilly met him while she was working at the Sandpoint seamstress' shop.  Oswald is a youngish lad who would make deliveries, repair things, and do other odd jobs the business required.  The lure of adventure and good pay prompted him to join the party.  As a pack bearer, he will be carrying items and supplies so the more active (aka combat) party members are not encumbered.  His other duties would include camp maintenance and cooking.

I liked painting Oswald. He carrying a LOT of gear.  He has a chest, pack, book, shield, sacks, a bow with quiver, a chicken and more! 

Rise of the Runelords: Meet the Characters! DS - EE- GF - TO

Our group really got into the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game:  Rise of the Runelords.  The game is a lot like a RPG adventure.  It's a co-operative, referee-less game, where each player controls a character and participates in a adventure storyline.  Like traditional rpgs, your character advances in experience and gains new gear as the adventures continue.  To this date, it's probably the most played board game that I own.

The card game actually got us to try the regular rpg game.  I found Paizo's hardcover adventure path "Rise of the Runelords" on sale for 50% off at a used bookstore and picked it up, mainly because it was the backdrop for the card game storyline.  The cards aren't too descriptive story-wise, and I was thinking I could read the book and fill in the blanks.  Jim was very interested in trying Pathfinder, and on hearing that I had bought it agreed to game-master the adventure path for us.  I sent the adventure book his way to read up on.  We picked up a couple of the Pathfinder core rule books, painted some miniatures, and made some characters. 

Gilly Featherearth of Sandpoint - Reaper Miniatures #03234:

Emily:  Gilly Featherearth -  halfling Rogue

Gilly Featherearth is a young halfling girl who has lived in Sandpoint as long as she can remember.  Her mother taught her to sew, and recently she began to apprentice for a local seamstress.  As a halfling in a town full of humans, she learned to sneak about town without being easily noticed.  A bright girl, fond of reading of far-off places, Gilly dreamed of adventure and a life beyond this coastal town.  She stumbled across a group of adventurers at the Swallowtail Festival when goblin raiders attacked the town, and thus began her new life of adventure.

Tuirhirdock of the North: Gripping Beast Miniatures HVA04 

David:  Tuihirdock: human barabarian 

Tuihirdock is from a land far to the north of Varisia.  As the locals can't pronounce the name of his country, and generally look dumbfounded when he tells them, he has found it's easier to say he's from "the north."  He recently found himself waking up from a multi-day drinking bender in a Sandpoint alley, penniless, with ...most of his possessions, and not entirely sure how he traveled the 500 miles to get there.  Good-natured and not one to worry about much, he joined in the Swallowtail festival celebrations, including the drinking, but this time in a much more responsible manner.

Rolf of Nybor:  Games Workshop plastic Empire miniature

Grant:  Rolf of Nybor:   human fighter and ex-army

Rölf was raised on a farm in the village of Nybor. With his great strength and impressive size, Rölf easily found work as a bodyguard for the merchants traveling to and from Nybor. He found these adventures much more interesting (and profitable) than life on a farm. He was recently hired to travel with some vendors to Sandpoint for the Swallow Tail Festival and the opening of their new cathedral. Rölf is rarely away from his sword and shield and is always up for a good adventure! One odd physical feature of Rölf is the strange bald spot on the back of his head...it doesn't seem quite natural.



Todd:  Chance Arcane:  human sorcerer  and entertainer ----*Reaper Miniatures #03599*


Chance Arcane is a sorcerer of the Arcane, possessing a natural talent for magic and entertainment. He never had a need to study the craft but absorbed knowledge instinctively.  People enjoy being around him, though he can be a bit forthright at times.  He enjoys serving those in need and has a distaste for materialistic people.  He enjoys the laughter of children and the wonderment in their eyes as he performs simple magic tricks for them.  Feeling the call of destiny and seeking love, he set out to sea to travel to areas unknown.  That fateful day at the Swallowtail Festival, he knew he was meant to be there; not having a bias of the people, religion or politics, but discerning the environment with open eyes.


To see how the group's adventure began, click this for session 1 of Rise of the Runelords:  Burnt Offerings!     *Spoiler Warning* for those interested in playing the path.

Gripping Beast Saga Mini: Ragnar Lothbrok -DS

Gripping Beast Miniatures HVA04 - Ragnar Lothbrok

As a group, we're are slowly moving towards giving the Saga Rules set a go.  I have not really taken the dive in yet, but with a little bit of prodding, I am sure we can get Monty, our Saga guru, to run us through the basics.

I picked up this Ragnar Lothbrok figure as much for use in rpgs and other mini games.  It's really well done, a bit thick, as seems to be the style of some of the GB sculps, and it painted up quickly.

With the recent semi regular playing of Pathfinder, this guy is going to be my barbarian character.  I had my character buy a long spear for the boar hunt scenario, and this mini fits how I imagine to look a bit better than the one I was using.

Red Box Games: Robert of Carlisle Wall - DS

aka Sgt. Freiderich the Halberdier:  ready for battle.

   
Red Box Games is sculptor Tre Manor's fantasy miniatures company.  I first became aware of, and was impressed by, his work with his Reaper Miniatures.  I was really blown away by his own Red Box line. His previous work has really honed his crafting skills to his present level.  The figures are detailed, the casts are crisp and clean.  The are a little bit slighter than most "heroic scale" fantasy miniatures and will be noticeable standing next to even his own Reaper sculpts.  When I first got them I was a bit taken aback by this, and not sure how I felt about the scale.  After cleaning one up and getting some paint on it I decided:  these figures are great.  I like the realism and detail, and Tre Manor and his Red Box line are among my favorite figures.

Red Box Games does not have items numbers.  The miniatures pictured is from his Aenglish line (fantasy medieval humans) and is name/ID  is Robert of Carlisle Wall.  I received it as a part of a Kickstarter Red Box had going. 

The figure is going to represent Sgt. Freiderich the Halberdier in some fantasy rpg games.  The character was originally a follower for a paladin character of mine.  The model really fits the character as it is a grizzled, no nonsense veteran fighter.

28 mm Trinia Sabor Reaper mini -EE

"Caleigh the Bard"

Reaper mini 60102 Trinia Sabor

Here it is - only my second fully painted mini for a D&D game.  The mini was a gift from DS, to encourage me to roll up more than one character for our (apparently dangerous) game.  The fiance is a great painter and that's the only reason this character even looks halfway decent.  He has taught me the ways of hitting the highlights and lowlights.  I am particularly proud of the sash, as it took me several tries to get the color scheme I was looking for.  Being new to painting minis, I was worried the paint would get too thick when I changed my mind for the third or fourth time.

Caleigh is a bard wandering the country side of Tamilane with her fellow adventurers.  She is a "Jill" of all trades, mistress of none.  Her back story is still in the works, as I am new to the RPG environment and I also like to make things up as I go along.

From Paper, to Computer, to Miniature: The Travels of a 30 Year Old Character

"I've been around 30 years?!  Zounds!"  Still ready for action, Saladian waits for his next call to action.

While doing a project to create a character miniature for an upcoming game, it occurred to me that I have been playing various iterations of said Advanced Dungeons and Dragons character, off and on, -for the past 30 years.  That's kind of a long time.  It made me start thinking about all the mileage I have gotten out of the concept.  It also struck me, as I don't actually consider him one of my older characters...

The original creation of Saladian occurred in the early 1980s. He was rolled up by my friend Joe C, who was running an AD&D campaign using Dave Arneson's Blackmoor setting. The character fit paladin stats, and as Joe was going to be DM-ing, he offered Saladian to me to use in the game.

Up to that time, I had never tried a paladin. The idea of playing a knight, as opposed to my earlier characters, a thief and barbarian, had some appeal. There is a great picture in the Player's Handbook of “a Paladin in Hell”, where the hero is facing off, precariously on a mountain cliff, battling against a wave of devils. It was very evocative of real heroism and last stands...Remember the Alamo/Rourkes Drift type of stuff. I have always had a soft spot for the optimistic, truth and justice for all, types of characters that paladins exemplify: Superman, Capt. America, Capt. Marvel (aka Shazam), Mr Rogers, and John Wayne.

  A Paladin in Hell by David C. Suthland III

                                                

In 1^st Edition AD&D, the paladin was a very strong class, and it was tough to roll up given the rules we used. There were also the alignment, magical gear, and wealth restrictions to consider. I think a lot of my interest in paladins is the challenge of running them with the codes of conduct that must be maintained.  I had the name chosen for an Aladdin type rogue, but I decided to apply it to the new character.  Saladian the Paladin was born!

...I think that sounds cooler if you're 15.  And it's the 1980s.

The DM duties switched from Joe C. to Joe H, and I leveled the character up in the classic Temple of Elemental Evil, other TSR modules, and his original creations. The Blackmoor part of the game was retconned out of the storyline.  Joe H. initially placed the campaign in Greyhawk, but eventually moved to the Forgotten Realms. In our vision of the D+D world, both settings were on the same planet, just different continents. When Joe decided to use the Forgotten Realms campaign, we just hopped on a ship in Keoland and landed in Waterdeep.

I played the character off and on until the early 90s. Fun highlights of the campaign were; interesting NPC henchmen I picked up along the way (boy, did I have charisma!), asking opponents to surrender before engaging them, getting a Holy Avenger sword, fighting in a war, outliving most, if not all, of the original party members, and finding out that in the quest to receive my paladin warhorse; it was guarded by a red dragon. Eeep.

Saladian never got that steed, because that's where things ended. As most campaigns go, it faded from the world with a whisper rather than a bang. We moved onto other games and characters, players moved on, and Saladian remained unused in a character folder.

The Return(s) of the Paladin!

Fast forward to 2002. Bioware released a Dungeons and Dragons computer game called Neverwinter Nights. It had probably been 5 years since I had anything to do with D+D, but the lure of a customizable game enthusiastically brought me back. The computer medium allowed several of my characters to make returns to gaming in the form of digital avatar!

Other computer games saw Saladian used as a character. Once one has a graphical reference to use, the looks of a character start to take shape.

Saladian in Lord of the Rings Online

Saladian in Dragon Age II

Breaking it down, Saladian is a blond guy with an Abe Lincoln style beard. He fights with sword and shield.  In both LOTRO, and especially Dragon Age II, I was really able to get what I considered his look correct.  The Dragon Age II creator really captured the concept I had envisioned. 

Around 2007 our group started playing Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. It's a skirmish game that uses a similar system to that of the Warhammer Historical line of rule sets. They are fairly straight forward and enjoyable set of rules without being over encumbered with complexity. For a couple of years we had been batting around the idea of recreating the Battle of Archet, which is the introductory storyline in Lord of the Rings Online, using miniatures.

The New Frontier:  Customizing a Mini

Since we were doing the battle based on the LOTRO game, we decided that it might be fun to run it as a mini campaign using the same characters we play ingame. I actually have 2 Saladian characters in LOTRO, one a Captain and the other a Champion, so it was he whom I chose to use. Thus I began my quest to make a Saladian miniature.

Games Workshop's Rohan Captain (pack includes mounted figure)

I have not done much in modding figures.  The thought of ruining perfectly good figures, and spending a lot of time doing it, always made me shy away from anything that wasn't a simple mod. 

 For Saladian in Middle Earth, I picked a Rohan captain.  The mini is nice and it had animated pose. It had a helmet on, and that could be Saladian, but I wanted to make it a bit more personalized than just painting it out of the pack.  The process of sawing the head off was very slow!  Pewter is much harder than lead, put I did not want to do a butcher job on it.

The head I was swapping onto the Rohan Captain came from a Perry Miniatures American Civil War plastic boxed set.  The replacement head actually had a “chin strap” style beard (aka a Lincoln), so it fit the bill!  The Civil War miniature's heads all come bald, (so you can put a forage cap, kepi, or soft cap on it.)   After the head swap, I added the hair was with a couple of layers of Citadel “paint on” green stuff.  It's not a replacement for regular green stuff, but it makes a nice filler and worked well for adding the hair.

"The Blackwold brigands are nearly upon us.  Summon the rest of the Dale Wardens.  We must defend Archet...."

It was a fun project bringing the character to miniature.  It took me outside my hobby comfort zone, and that's a good thing.  I always tell people to "learn by doing", and on this occasion -I took my own advice.  Something I dreaded starting proved very worthwhile to me.

Believe it or not, there was also some reminiscing too.  Saladian, it's taken 30 years, but now you are in miniature form too.  Thanks for the memories.

David S.