Studio McVey webstore is up and running again!!!

    
     

Which can only mean one thing... there's a new mini being released. And here she is, plus her cool Jetbike:

Vrooom, swooosh, meeeeoooow... wait... what? Where's the cat?

Now I don't know about you, but I think that looks all sorts of cool. Apparently her name is Nikitta Perostek, and her vehicle of choice is apparently an SMM30 - O.F - 1... why are they never named whizz zoom zoom? Or jetbike? Any way you can buy SMM30 - O.F - 1 Nikitta Perostek here and she will set you back £29.99 of your earth pounds, and well worth it she is too!

Such a very, very cool paint job. Le sigh!

Obviously the Ali and Mike have been moving to new premises over the last month or so, and I believe they've been without the Internet, which must have killed them. I mean how else do you entertain yourself if you can't look up video clips of cats doing stupid things on YouTube? Hopefully this means things are getting back to normal at Studio McVey and things are a little less hectic. Obviously on the one had it's great the webstore is back up and running, on the other though Studio McVey is a terrible influence on my bank balance. Temptation thy name is resin miniatures! Why can't I be hopelessly addicted to crystal meth instead? Any way go have a browse at the new webstore and weep as you empty your bank account. Peace out!

Sedition Wars Kickstarter update

  
  

Before I leap in and tell you all how insanely successful Sedition Wars has been with its Kickstarter campaign I'm going to fill you all in with a bit of news about various other projects first:

• The Tentacle Bento not Kickstarter manage to raise $48,500's, which given the furor surrounding the project and it getting unceremoniously dumped by Kickstarter is actually really quite impressive. So Soda Pop Miniatures should be proud.
• The Gruntz Barracks Army Builder Indiegogo campaign finally finished on $3,981's. This wasn't as good a result as I thought it would have been when I first backed it. I've already covered many of the reason why, but perhaps the biggest reason was that the community already knew about this. Yeah that's right, it's a free to use Gruntz Army Builder... nerd rage building!
• Mantic Games put on a real growth spurt towards the end of their Kings of War Kickstarter to reach $354,997's. I think that goes to show there's a bit of love out there for Mantic Games. 
• With two days left Avatars of War have finally managed to breach their $20,000's target to reach $26,085's with their Dwarf Army Indiegogo campaign. So there's still time to get in there and bag yourself some plastic Dwarf swag. I'm really pleased they managed to get this funded.
• Infamy Miniatures Indiegogo Project has already been funded with 8 days still to go, but then again they did set themselves a very modest target of only $750's. They do though stand now at $3,140's, If you haven't checked their campaign you really ought to, especially if you have a soft spot for steampunk.
• The final campaign I want to tell you about isn't a miniatures wargame, it's a computer game of a miniatures wargame, Exodus Wars: Fractured Empire Indiegogo Campaign. This is the sort of thing Crowd Funding was made for, a project that wouldn't normally get off the ground with conventional funding... and it's struggling to get off the ground with crowd funding too it seems. In 14 days it has only managed to raise £4,755's of it's $35,000 target. There's still plenty of time for it to reach its goal with 26 days left to go, but if it is to succeed it'll need a serious growth spurt soon!

So that should wrap up all of the crowd funding projects I've mentioned in the past. Only a very few of them are still going and I'm really pleased to see that most of them are going to be funded. Why? Well it's not just because it means more cool product will be released, it's mainly because you are funding peoples dreams. These projects are somebodies hopes and aspirations for their own life and what they want to do with it, and by funding them you really are helping somebody somewhere live their dream. That's the best reason to back a crowd funding project I can think of. Now onto the big dawg...

625 followers, time to give away some Sedition Wars...

Firstly yes I am aware that I hit 625 followers at some point during last Friday evening / Saturday morning, and yes I'm aware that should have triggered the Studio McVey Sedition Wars giveaway. However, I was busy trying to sort two of my previous prize draws out, and adding another competition to the mix over the weekend just didn't seem wise. So then I seem to already be on to my fifth birthday prize draw, that means I'm now past half way mark on my mammoth giveaway bonanza. Lets take a little bit of time to congratulate those who have already won:

• Heid who won the Heavy Gear Blitz PDF's, and who is probably still reading them.
• Bishop who won the Bushido Prefecture of Ryu Starter Set and Tenshi.
• Vent who won the £40 store credit at Sarissa Precision.

Thank you Mike McVey!!!

My Sedition Wars Maps!!!

Some days you feel like the world is against you, not just rubbish, but actively working against you. You've finished giving CV's out to plenty of people who'll just chuck them in the bin and ignore you. You've sent off countless job applications to people who probably won't even bother reading it and will just pick people randomly out of a hat for interview. Hell you've been rained on, missed you're train home and dropped the change you'd saved for a fecking bag of crisps down a drain while being rained on, after missing your fecking train home. Some day's suck so hard you wander whether your life is just one big cosmic joke for some higher entity that takes great pleasure in your abject misery...

...and some day's you get home and somebody has done something really nice for you that you didn't expect and almost certainly didn't deserve!!! That somebody is Mike McVey at Studio McVey. A few days ago I mentioned how they'd published the Alpha rules for Sedition Wars and how you should all get involved. I was originally planning on using my Space Hulk board tiles and any old miniatures I had lying around because I'm skint. Well Mike has sent me some really nice looking maps for Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabster, which my cat Tybs clearly approves of. However getting the maps out of the well packaged tube something else fell out...

Sedition Wars

What is it? Well its Studio McVeys first game and well... the miniatures have looked really nice for some time now if you ask me and given we have some Alpha rules to use them with, its starting to look just that little bit more tempting to me now. As we all know I have some sort of nerd disease that makes me prone to playing and buying any and every game there is with nice shiny miniatures and I think its fair to say not many come as shiny as those of produced by Studio McVey. So it was almost certainly inevitable that I would end up giving it a blast.

Captain Kara Black - Vanguard poster girl of badassery

So what the hell is it all about? Well obviously its some far flung future where humanity has expanded and almost certainly we've gotten ourselves into some shit... we always do!!! Apparently we've spread the human condition and humanity amongst the stars to some ten thousand worlds or so. This wasn't done over night though and the back story refers to it as a 'fairy tale' leading me to believe it was over many hundreds or even thousands of years. As always though with any historical stories, there's always two sides to the tale.

On the one hand the back story to Sedition Wars Universe tells of planned human expansion, taking planets and turning them into paradises, which hints at terraforming, a much loved staple of all good sci-fi I feel. That this expansion was guided by a benevolent organisation called the 'Solar Conglomerate' and that they were the good guys seems a bit too... perfect. Also being fair and just and what not, probably really handsome too with blonde hair and blue eyes... obviously it goes without saying that they were almost certainly wise and intelligent, they always are, aren't they?

Yeah well that is one view of the Sedition Wars history, the other side of the story is a little different... you see these worlds were built off of the backs of genetic clones or convicts forced into service contracts. Yeah that's right clones AND convicts as forced labor, i.e. slaves. I mean come on, its like these people don't ever read sci-fi!!! So yeah this rag tag bunch of malcontents are treated pretty badly kept in stasis for hundreds of years, augmented (yeah I know begging for trouble right?) against their will. Long and short of it? They're pissed off and looking for trouble.

Review: Al-Vianna Studio McVey

 
This is the final miniature I'll be reviewing for now from Studio McVey as its the last one I've got!!! Although Lisbeth and Kara's last stand are tempting... any who this is another one of those faeries; see told you I liked faeries. She has a cool 'lady of the lake' vibe about her, strutting her sultry self forward and holding that sword out as an offering, or a taunt maybe... or could it yet be part of some magic incantation? Who knows, its just a really nice simple pose that could be any of the above and its up to you as the painter to decide. She's also got crabs (no she's not a skank!!!) in her hair (no not 'that' hair get your minds out of the gutter) and that continues and confirms the watery, nautical theme of the piece... so I'll be painting her all brown and red then!!!

Product Description

For those of you with an aversion to super glue you'll be pleased to know that Al-Vianna comes in one piece. Yep you'll get to save on super glue too, and like Isabella before her she also doesn't come with a resin base, like before this is both a shame and a bonus, as it'll allow the creative juices to flow in terms of how I or indeed you should set the scene for her. Yannick Hennebo has again do a pretty bang on job of capturing Stephen Tappin's original concept art.

Review: Y'Sidyra Studio McVey

 
Again another miniature I was always going to buy. The pose is just so dynamic and full of movement. It looks impressive in the pictures you see of it and it only impresses more in the flesh. Its one of the few pieces in the Studio McVey range that looks like something truly energetic is happening and that the evil Y'Sidyra is about to pounce on something... and brutally kill it. Its just a really nice piece. Oh yeah and did I forget to mention that he's the second of my dark and nasty faeries!!! Yay more faeries.

Product description

So he's another naughty faery and from the looks of him, he's a pretty deadly naughty faery, with twin 'punching blades' attached to his hands. He's comprised of 5 pieces himself, those blades make up two of them, with two further strap type thingies that attach around his hips and flail off behind him helping greatly with the sense of animation and motion in the piece. The largest component though is his main body. There is also a highly detailed scenic resin base as well, which in itself is a work of art and easily the best scenic base out of all the Studio McVey pieces I own, its highly detailed and creates a 'scene' for Y'Sidyra to occupy.

Review: Y'Sala and Darkness Studio McVey

 
I had to own this model, when I first saw pictures of it I just thought it was a beautiful piece conceptually and it had been realised in a fantastically detailed way. Its possibly my favourite of the miniatures that Studio McVey have done so far, vying for that top spot with the delectable Ruby. So yep the naughty faery and her summoned beastie had to go into the shopping cart.

Product Description

I think out of all the Studio McVey pieces that I own this has to be the most complex in terms of composition. Y'Sala herself comes in only 3 pieces, main body, staff and a finely detailed thingymebob (yes that's the technical term) that goes on her back. Simple. Except that she also has to fit into her base and her staff has a cloud like structure coming off of it which joins up to the 'Darkness' and is clearly summoning him as he coalesces into reality. You still with me? Yep that's right the Darkness is coming out of her staff, he himself is attached to the base his two hands which are sculpted onto the base, and his head comes separately. I'm a bit bamboozled as to what to do to be honest, because I think if I put the critter together on the base with Y'Sala it'll be an utter bitch to paint. Hence the reason why I have no shots of her completed in one piece. Yannick Hennebo has not only conceived and sculpted an amazing miniature, its also possibly the worlds first puzzle miniature, its a very bold and brave piece to attempt and I think he pulled it off as the piece does look fabulous and I can forgive its complex composition when it looks this damn good.

Review: Isabella Studio McVey

 
This was the first miniature that went on the order from Studio McVey, there was just something about the pose that made me think I had to own her. There's something Gaelic and French about her, she's chic, nonchalant yet remains totally deadly looking... in a feminine and none brutish way. Its probably the cigarette and the bob hair cut now I think of it, but still she's cool.

Product Description

The concept for this piece was done by Ali McVey and I think its fair to say the image is just as sultry and sassy as the final piece, which was sculpted by the brilliantly talented Jacques-Alexandre Gillois. This is the first of two miniatures from Studio McVey that I have who don't come with resin bases, the other being Al-Vianna. Not that this is a problem at all because it just means I get the chance to pick the setting for the sultry vixen!!! So without that resin base the miniature comes in two parts, the main body and her right arm that is nonchalantly holding a very long cigarette.

Review: Ruby Studio McVey

 
This was part of my 'splurge' order I made from Studio McVey after having decided that I needed 'little presents' or rewards to keep me going while painting the figures I have for the gaming systems I play. I have to be honest I wasn't going to put Ruby on the order until Mrs Frontline Gamer said, 'what you're not going to order the the kick ass cowgirl on the dinosaur'... and when you put it like that why the hell wasn't I going to order her?

Product Description

She could have thrown sassy and sultry into the old descriptive mix as well!!! Honestly I have no frigging idea why I wasn't going to add her to my original order from Studio McVey, I really don't. She's a Cowgirl, with a stetson hat, long trench coat armed to the teeth with a kick ass look... while riding a fricking dinosaur, a dinosaur people and everybody knows things get a hundred times better when you put a dinosaur into the mix!!! Sam Wood's original concept for the piece was pretty 'sick' as the youth of today say and Jacques-Alexander Gillois has done a damn fine job realising it in 3D. Utterly fabulous darlings and this years must have mini... she might just be my favourite of the lot!!!

Review: Ar-Fiach Studio McVey

Well this is the first model I got from Studio McVey. I'd seen a fair few miniatures of theirs via other people who shoved them under my nose and I'd been impressed, but never taken the plunge as I had so many identikit plastic toy soldiers to get through first. However on a very grim night while realising that I was was no longer enjoying the hobby, painting miniatures I didn't like for a game system I was starting to loathe... I had an epiphany... I should really be only painting things I wanted too. It was that short sharp shock to my system that lead me to this little lady, or faery.

Product Description

This is a really nice little sculpt, its part of the studio's faery series and I think it was the miniature that actually made me want to pick my paint brushes up after a few months of inactivity. I just loved the look of the Victorian chimney sweep urchin faeriness of it all (forgetting that TV aerial for a second). Stephen Tappin's original concept was ace and a lovely idea and Yannick Hennebo has done an amazing job of bringing that concept to life with a brilliant sculpt. The miniature comes in 6 parts, the main body and the chimney are sizeable pieces but the others could be fairly described as 'fine'.

From the creative minds of Studio McVey

The name Mike McVey will be familiar to those of us of a certain age and indeed a certain gaming persuasion. He has been responsible for so many Iconic paint jobs for Games Workshop that were I to try and list them all I'd probably be here all day. He's also spent time working at some of the biggest names in the industry including Wizards of the Coast and Privateer Press, so he's been around the block and probably has multiple 'the T-shirts'. However for me he did paint the miniature that made me want to get better at painting, the Bretonnian Green Knight. I'd always loved painting but never really thought too much about what I was doing, the Green Knight made me want to learn as much as I could about figure painting... and I've still not learned anywhere near enough to be an even half competent painter!!!

However Mike and his also insanely talented wife Ali decided to turn their hands to producing their own fantastic range of one off miniatures for painters and collectors alike. Thank the miniature Gods that they did because honestly they're producing some of the best models around right now. I make no bones about it, I love pretty much every single miniature they've produced and even those that don't necessarily appeal to my particular aesthetic tastes I can see and appreciate for the gloriously detailed individual sculpts that they all are. I have hammered my bank card recently ordering far too much resin from Studio McVey... but its probably worth not eating for a week or two... although I think the other half disagrees with me on that one, but not as vehemently as some of you might think after I showed her Ar-Fiach!!! What can I say she's a girl, and girls like faeries... now if they did a faery on a Unicorn!!!