Monday 23 September 2019

IKRPG Custom Character Prize


So a while back Rikers Iron hosted a charity stream on Twitch to raise money to help with a member of our communities family medical expenses.
As I am cash poor I offered to add a prize to his prize pool for people who donated to the cause.
What I offered is that I would make a custom IKRPG character for the winner.  

The winner of the prize was Kithsana, we spoke for a while about what type of character they would like me to make and settled on a Pyg field mechanik/Explorer 


I started with a Pyg Burrower as the base model, I removed the pickaxe head and replaced with the a wrench head made using greenstuff.


I added a spiked armour plate to its shoulder, this is originally from a unit of Steelhead halbadiers.


The model already had a backpack, so I added a bed roll made of green stuff with a bow tucked into it.
The bow is from a Games workshop unit called Glade guard.
(I used parts from that kit to convert my Nyss hunters years ago. (you can find them here if you want to take a look)


I wrapped a small length of rope over the bed roll to have a visual way that it is being held on to the backpack. I also added a dagger with small pouch to its kit, hanging from that same rope.



I really like how the pose of the base model really lent itself to the explorer career Kithsana wanted for it.



Its hard to see but I textured the bedroll using the cross hatched grip part of my sculpting tool when I rolled out the green stuff.


I'm really looking forward to seeing how Kithsana paints it up, they have said they will let me know and send pictures as and when they do. (No pressure btw, take all the time you need!)

I enjoyed the whole process of working with them to find out their characters concept and then translating that into a mini for them.
I think I might do this again for someone at some point...

What do you all think of the Character we made? What would you have done differently?

Sunday 22 September 2019

Model Review: Rahera, Swashbuckler and Powder Monkeys


It's model review time! Pirates this time! I love the theme and getting a new Warcaster is really exciting.


I'll start with the crazy model, the Powder monkey! I'm not quite sure how this little monkey lugs around a barrel of blasting powder which is much bigger than it... 


The sculpt for the monkey is crisp and full of character, its cradling a pistol which I imagine the knockback would send it flying!


It has a torch held in its tail... open flame and gunpowder - seems like a good idea....
The toes on its foot are curled to grip the edge of the barrel which gives it a solid second point of attachment combined with the peg on its other foot which fits in a hole on top of the barrel.


It looks like its shouting while shaking its fist, seems really angry about something


The barrel has great wood grain detail, and what looks like a label, I would like to find the ordic runes to write "blasting powder" on it. I like the idea of using the written language in the setting rather than english.



The Swashbuckler is a new light Warjack based on the same Chassis the Buccaneer uses.


The body is noticeable larger than the old buccaneer, and the detail is amazing. All the rivets are crisp, I had a buccaneer which had miscast trails of excess metal from each one.




Very light mold lines on the body, mainly running down the smoke stack.


Just like Scallywag the hip part is separate unlike the old Buccaneer kit.



This kit shares the same legs as Scallywag. They are quite thin which makes pinning them quite hard.
I do think its worth pining them even if it means accidentally drilling right through the leg. You can always cover up the hole with some greenstuff.
Pining them really ensures their stability



The mold lines running down the centre of each leg are the worst on the whole model, especially down the tubing on the back of the leg. They aren't a deal breaker, they will likely take only a few minutes to fix.


The arms use the same upper arm parts as Scallywag, which attach to the torso using a large ball and socket joints. This gives it some pose-ability that the old Buccaneer kit lacked.

The cutlass looks awesome! Just a slight mold line down the back of the sword here, its a great piece.



The clamp! I really like the look of this weapon, with its built in gun. 




The face for this Warjack has a menacing look which really suits it.


Rahera is a new Warcaster, she is both a Mercenary and a Cryx caster. I intend to play her as a Merc (not interesting in being the undead bad guys)


The sculpt for this model is incredibly detailed! Its a bit intimidating to think of painting this one... 


Her dread locks hang down the front of her armour and down the back either side of her arcane turbine. Hopefully I will be able to paint them so they can be seen.


I had not seen a view from behind of her before I got my hands on the mini, I had assumed that she would be wearing a great coat of some sort. When I saw the fur cloak I was pleasantly surprised, it will be a nice painting challenge to paint the fur, and to pick what colour to do it in.



Its hard to see on a bare metal mini, but there is a pistol in a holster on her hip


Her sword has some really nice rune carvings on it. I think I heard that she uses the blood magic used in Cryx


It has a lot of notches showing its wear or age.


Her axe has a wooden handle with nice grain detail and more runes carved into the axe head.



Her leg has a really interesting triangle type attachment point, doing a dry fit I really got the feeling this would attach really well and not need pinning.


Over all she has hardly any mold lines of note at all, and the ones she does have are tiny and easy to clean up. Awesome mini!


As a piratey bonus I also have the Mini crate Gastone model which fit the other stuff I'm reviewing so I figured I would add it in!


The hat!!! PP really should sell these separately they would make a ton of money. Look at TF2, people love hats!



I'm not a huge fan of his dinky little daggers, nor the fact that a model based mainly around his gun has a pose with him holding two daggers... thats just my issue though, it goes back to Siege1's sculpt with him holding his hammer instead of his huge rocket launcher.





Really neat skull and crossed bones on his shoulder armour, really like this addition it will make a nice contrasting detail when painting him.



The main body is really nicely detailed as well, as you would expect from a mini subscription service. I really think he will be a joy to paint!



His arcane turbine is pretty big! Much bigger than Rahera's by comparison. 




And here they all are all pinned and assembled!



I hope you found this look at these minis helpful and you found my thoughts about them interesting. I will be aiming to take a look at some Steelhead releases next!

I also made a video version of this review which you can find here.
Its a little experiment I'm doing to see which you all prefer so I can make better content for you all going forward!
If you have any feedback don't hesitate to contact me and let me know your thoughts, I value you taking the time out of your day to help me improve.