Industry Talk: Adam Poots

     

     

Well a fair few months ago now I decided to try and turn my interviews into a semi-regular basis and call them Industry Talk. I'm still not sure I whether I'll be able to turn this into a sort of regular series of articles? Do I know enough people I could harass into doing these interviews? Honestly, I don't rightly know right. But, I've been more than willing to find out. When I first started asking around for potential victims Adam Poots of Kingdom Death fame was one of the first people to respond in the affirmative. For some reason though it has taken us an absolute age to get round to doing this interview, however I hope it was worth the wait...

Review: Kingdom Death Twilight Knight Pinup

 

Well after reviewing my favourite Kingdom Death miniature the Flower Knight yesterday, I felt I really ought to end on my Kingdom Death reviews this week on another pinup miniature, before I post up an extensive interview with Adam Poots. What better pinup model to do that with than what I think was their very first pinup miniature in the range, the Twilight Knight Pinup.

Product Description

As with all Kingdom Death miniatures you'll get yourself a postcard sized piece of the concept art, which is a nice touch. As for the miniature itself it'll come in 7 pieces and the standard Kingdom Death resin base. There a tattered cape, her main body, her left arm carrying a lantern, her hooded head, and a sword with her hand. There's also a spare sword and what looks like a sword hilt, that I'm not too sure you're meant to use... but I could be wrong.

Update: The base I got with this miniature was the square resin one you see in this picture. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way!

The new plastic Kingdom Death bases.

Review: Kingdom Death Flower Knight

 

Yes it is Approved by Cats!!!

And so we come to the Kingdom Death miniature review that was most requested by you lot. This was going to be the last review for this week, but I've decided to cram another in tomorrow now. This is definitely my favourite Kingdom Death miniatures that I currently own, and I own an awful lot of them. Actually, of the ones I don't own I'm not too sure any of them would match up to the high levels set by this miniature. Because it's arguably one of my favourite miniatures of all times, it's certainly in my top 10. Yes I think it is that splendid I really do, and as you can see the Ministry of Cats approve of it too, but you'll need to read on to find out why...

Look how small some of the bits are!!!

Product Description

Yep you'll get some lovely looking postcard sized artwork with this miniature yet again. The Flower Knight is actually a fair bit bigger than the other Kingdom Death miniatures I have reviewed so far this week, as can be witnessed by the slightly larger 40mm round-lipped plastic base the model comes with, as opposed to the normal small square resin Kingdom Death base you normally find. The Flower Knight comes in 13 (unlucky for some... that will be me putting it together), some of which of incredibly delicate and others still so small they've made me think I need to go to see my opticians. There is nothing of concern about the larger pieces, such as the main body, his trailing bustle, lower right leg, arms, sword hand and right hand. They are of a significant size and structure that they are robust enough. No it is mainly the creeping plant stems, fronds and vines that attach to his bustle that will cause the most angst. I've actually left them off for my pictures in this review because I'm still not sure how I'm going to paint him, so parts of him are held together by blu-tac! Then there are the small tassels on his armour that measure 2.5mm in length and just over 1mm in width... why? If you could see me now I'm making my unhappy face. But even they pale into insignificance when you see the smallest component you'll ever see on a miniature TM. it's the tip of one of the Flower Knights fingers with a butterfly. Yes I screamed a little. You need to me careful removing such delicate and small items from the spru that you don't A) lose them or b) break them.

Update: The base I got with this miniature wasn't the normal square resin one you get with Kingdom Death miniatures but a 40mm round-lipped base like you would get with Warmachine miniatures. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way! Even though these plastic disc bases I've had aren't big enough to accommodate the Flower Knight they may also produce 40mm versions of it now, I'm simply unsure.

The new plastic Kingdom Death bases.

Review: Kingdom Death Kings Men

  

Well after the saucy, sexy strumpet that was the Preacher Pinup yesterday mornings review, I thought it would be best to calm things down a notch or two and give you another fully armour clad warrior next. This time with a very delicate looking halberd. Originally this review should have gone live yesterday afternoon, but I forgot that it would clash with by final Heavy Gear Blitz reveal, so I had to do a quick reschedule because I've had a number of people beg me not to more than two articles a day, because it's impossible to keep up apparently! So I'm now working to a self imposed limit of two articles a day. Any way, the Kings Men is one of those Kingdom Death miniatures that many people seem to overlook, but I think it warrants a closer look...

Product Description

Again as always the Kings Man comes with a postcard sized piece of artwork. He isn't though as complex as some of the pieces I've already reviewed this week, as he only comprises of 3 resin components, a head, a halberd and the main body. As well as the standard Kingdom Death resin base. That's your lot, and trust me after putting together the Flower Knight it comes as a mightily big relief!

Update: The base I got with this miniature was the square resin one you see in this picture. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way!

The new plastic Kingdom Death bases.

Review: Kingdom Death Preacher Pinup

    
      

After I reviewed two Kingdom Death miniatures yesterday I thought it would be remiss of me not to review one of Kingdom Death's pinup miniatures. Lets be honest here I had a thing or two to say a few months back about sexy miniatures in our hobby. However, just to be clear I don't actually have a issue with their being sexy miniatures, but I do have an issue with miniatures who are overly sexualised and not being honest about what it is. I can't really level that criticism at the Kingdom Death miniatures, simply because they label them pinup's, so you know what you are getting. That discussion aside what do I think of this sexy Preacher Pinup?

Product Description

The Preacher Pinup also comes with her own postcard artwork, as with all Kingdom Death miniatures, although I'm not sure it'll be wise to frame this one and put it on your mantlepiece. As always there is the square Kingdom Death resin base, although if you read my update below that may not be the case anymore. There are 9 high quality resin components in the card box. There are though two hands for one slot, because trust me they're easily lost, thank God they packed two! They are the smallest component I've EVER seen on a miniature and I'm amazed the fingers remain intact. There are also two head variants, one with glasses and one without, you'll only be needing one. The rest of the pieces are her torso and left arm, her exceedingly slender and long legs, her right arm, and a sash of cloth to hang between her legs. The final component is a warhammer, although I'm not too sure I like it on the miniature myself as I'm not entirely sure what it does for composition. That's your lot!

Update: The base I got with this miniature was the square resin one you see in this picture. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way!

The new plastic Kingdom Death bases.

Review: Kingdom Death Butcher

 
  

I know, I know, you wait ages for me to review a Kingdom Death miniature and then I go and review two of them in the same day. Just like bloody buses I bet you're thinking! This though isn't one of the Kingdom Death miniatures you'll normally hear people raving about. It's not one of the weird and wacky boob and tentacle beasties that Kingdom Death are best known for, or indeed the sexy pinups that many people seem to love. Nope, the Butcher is just a really nice looking warrior type, with two huge cleavers, and is actually one of the Kingdom Death miniatures that I took a bit of a shine too straight away.

Product Description

The butcher, like all Kingdom Death miniatures comes with a postcard sized art print of the original concept art, that I've not shown here. It's a nice touch though. The miniature itself comprises of the standard Kingdom Death square resin base, with its raised disc at the center, two rather large and fragile looking cleavers, a small and spiky head (I injured myself on it), a large and heavy cloak and the main body. There are also some of the smallest and fiddliest pieces I've ever come across with a miniature, they include two hooked toe ends to both feet (more on these later) and four stupidly small teeth that need to be glued onto that head. I have to give you fair warning that these pieces are stupidly small and when clipping them and cleaning them you need to be very careful not to A) drop them and never see them again and B) break them and then howl in rage at the injustice of it all. Luckily where those teeth are concerned you only actually need two of them... I think... so two are spare. Consider yourselves warned though.

Update: The base I got with this miniature was the square resin one you see in this picture. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way!

The new Kingdom Death Bases.

Review: Kingdom Death Grand Mother

  

This is a first in a series of reviews I'm going to be doing for Kingdom Death miniatures. I had chosen not to actually review Kingdom Death miniatures simply because they are highly limited runs and normally they're sold out before I even get my miniature in my hands. So I thought reviewing them would be a highly cruel thing to do. However, after I said this during a Sunday Sermon about limited edition miniatures, I had a number of people tell me that they would actually welcome me reviewing my Kingdom Death miniatures. So I set about starting to review some of them, and then I got an email informing me that the Kingdom Death Kickstarter campaign would be going live on the November 23rd. So I decided to build up some excitement for that event by grouping a few reviews together. This is the first of my Kingdom Death reviews and it is one of my favourite of their miniatures, the Grand Mother.

Product Description

The Grand Mother miniature comes in 8 high quality resin pieces. The two largest components would be the two angel wing's. This would be followed by her main body and then left leg. After this the components become exceedingly fine, so you'll need to be careful when clipping them from spru's, cleaning them up and assembling the miniature. They include a very small left hand and forearm, a piece of a dress that is almost as thin as silk, and a weird tentacle thingy that goes between her legs... well it wouldn't be Kingdom Death without weird tentacles now would it? The miniature also comes with a special kingdom Death resin base, which is like a normal square base with flat sides and then a raised circle in the middle about the size and height of a coin. They look a bit like small presentation plinths I guess, but I'll not be using them for my display pieces. Not included in this picture is a postcard sized image of the Grand Mother concept artwork. All Kingdom Death miniatures come with this, if it is one of the limited edition runs it's come in a protective plastic sleeve with a number, if not it'll come loose without a number.

Update: The base I got with this miniature was the square resin one you see in this picture. However, if any of you have purchased any Kingdom Death miniatures recently you'll have noticed that they now come with flat plastic discs with an indentation in them where a second plastic disc can go, or a scenic base insert as is the case of the Illuminated Lady. I'm unsure whether these bases are now shipped with all miniatures in the range or just the latest stuff, but I thought it best to inform you all of it any way!

The new Kingdom Death bases.

Kingdom Death, Deranged, warped, disturbed and sexy miniatures!!!

Kingdom Death

OK yeah I said it, sexy! I'm not normally one to go for 'cheese cake' poses or indeed female barbarians with huge melons wearing thongs that belong on a Florida beech sometime in the mid 80's. But there is something undeniably sultry and sexy about the Pin-Up range of miniatures on offer from the wonderfully warped minds of Kingdom Death and Adam Poots, a man who must have come close to being sectioned at least once in his life!!! Only kidding Adam... I'm sure you've probably been sectioned multiple times, now put the axe down and step away from it!!!

You see, to say some of Kingdom Death's weird and wonderful creations... are well... disturbing is somewhat of an understatement. I don't mind saying when I first saw the Wet Nurse I was somewhat disturbed and may even have muttered 'WTF is that?' indeed I think that might have been the exact response that they wanted to illicit. However it was another delightfully disturbed creation that I first saw that drew me towards the range The Grandmother miniature that is as stunning as it is... well disturbing. Sadly I have yet to add The Grandmother to my range, but I will as soon as Adam manages to remaster it (that is a none too subtle hint Adam, hurry up man!!!)

Grandmother concept art

As you can see from the concept art above its a pretty 'interesting' design and miniature, its an utterly fantastic sculpt as well. As you can clearly see by clicking on the picture to the left. I think even in an industry that's known for dreaming up weird fantasy creatures and elves and such like, you'd all probably have to concede that the Grandmother and Wet Nurse are... somewhat... unique in appearance. Granted if you've seen the brood mother in Dragon Age they are somewhat kindred spirits, but nevertheless they were clearly developed separately of each other given the time frames involved. I also have a little bit of 'love' for the sexier type of mini they produce, or the Pin-Up range. As I said at the start of this blog I don't normally go for cheese cake pose's but these are just so damn cool its hard not to like them!