Having picked up my Eldar army, I felt I should give a review of the Golem Painting Studio and their services for anyone considering having an army built and painted by a painting service.
There were some hiccups along the way, but everything was resolved and the army built and painted to a standard far beyond my expectations.
So while there may be some negative parts in this review, I was VERY HAPPY by the end.
For the record: This review is completely impartial, factually accurate and written with the intention on assisting others using army painting services.
At the start of 2012 I decided that I was too old to keep chopping and changing armies. But at the same time I suck at getting an army off the ground to play games with. There's just too much to build and paint to play 1500pts games. So after much deliberation (and checking my finances), I decided that I would pay for a painting service to build and paint me the army I wanted.
I sat on the fence over what army to choose for quite some time, until I saw Ewar's Eldar army on Warseer. In that instant, my mind was made up and I totally ripped off his colour scheme. I have no shame.
My buddy Ian has a beautiful pre heresy Imperial Fists army by Worthy Painting, so these were the first people I contacted. But after they failed to respond to my email in 2 weeks, I emailed Golem instead, who I'd used once before.
I told them what I'd like, linked them to Ewar's Eldar army on Warseer, explained that I wanted all the weapon options for the vehicles and for them to be magnetised so I could swap them around easily. we agreed a price and I sent them a large deposit to crack on with the work.
The weeks went by a new photos of my Eldar army were being regularly uploaded to their Facebook page. First the finished tanks, Vypers and War Walkers, which all looked stunning. Then some photos of the infantry in their Work In Progress Gallery.
I received an email telling me that the army was complete and asking if I could pay the rest of the fees, which I gladly did.
Now, this is where I made a mistake, because I should have asked for photos of everything completed. I'd only seen the completed Wave Serpents, Vypers and War Walkers, but not the completed infantry, which I had only seen shots of in Golem's Work In Progress Gallery.
I took it on good faith (based on my good experience with Golem in the past) that the infantry where all painted to the same standards.
I turned out that the infantry were not painted to the same standard as the vehicles.
But there was another unexpected problem to come...
A large cardboard box arrived in the post and I began carefully unpacking my Eldar army with baited breath.
The infantry were all perfectly packed in plastic VHS cases with foam.
However, the vehicles were all wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap with a lot of free movement inside the box and as a result had become broken in the post.
So imagine my disappointment when I had 36 infantry not painted to the standard I expected and 10 beautiful, but broken vehicles. And to top it all off, none of the weapons had been magnetised.
and After
Discussions via email with Golem Painting Studio ensued. They were at fault for not having followed the spec, while I was naive for accepting the army without confirming that the spec had been followed.
But the good news is that they were happy to take the army back, fix all the breakages, magnetise all the weapons and bring the miniatures up to the standard that was expected.
Then, they went and surpassed all expectations...
Rather than make the cloaks on the seer council the same light grey as the rest of the army, after a repaint, Golem kept the cloaks a darker grey. Meanwhile the shoulder armour is a lighter grey like the rest of the army.
This makes them look dark and sinister compared to the rest of the force. But the real eye catcher with this unit are the purple Witch Blades and Singing Spears. The blending is just seamlessly smooth and beautifully consistent across the surface of the weapons.
Meanwhile, all the prominent gemstones have been picked out to really bring these models to life. The eye lenses have also been painted like gemstones.
I was so impressed with these that I gave Golem 6 more Warlocks, another Farseer and Eldrad Ulthran to paint after seeing them up close in person.
These models have been beautifully redeemed after their first paint job.
It's amazing what a little bit of gold can do to bring model to life.
Once again the prominent gem stones had a lot more shading, while the smaller ones had simple colours and the eye lenses are painted in the same way.
Like the Fire Dragons, the Dire Avengers benefited massively from a repaint as you can see in the photo above. A little bit of gold nicely warms up the models, meanwhile red added to the helmet crest really makes them 'pop' as the American painters like to say.
The freehand work on the Exarch's back banner is simply exquisite. I think Golem have used a mixture of transfers and free hand to get this effect. The simple light and dark lines painted on the flat banner to suggest ripples in smooth, silky sloth are a really nice touch too.
I was perfectly happy with all the vehicles I'd received. However, Golem insisted that they spruce them up a bit to match the infantry. Well, if they insist...
As you can see from the photo of the Wave Serpent above, they did a little more work on the prominent gem stones and then applied all manner of transfers to match Ewar's Eldar army on Warseer.
Golem also magnetised all of the weapons in a very clever way so that I would never have to worry about whether a weapon was meant to go on the left or the right. Very simple, but very impressive!
They also magnetised the turrets to the hull too.
Similarly, the Vypers were magnetised, the crew repainted, gem stones given more detail and transfers applied to match the Wave Serpents.
It's worth mentioning that the Vypers take different weapons to the Wave Serpents and War Walkers because of where the magnets attach to the models.
I'm not able to swap the underslung Shuriken Catapults for Shuriken Cannons, but I'm cool letting that go, because you can't see the underside of these while you're playing a game anyway. So I can't see any opponents making a fuss.
The War Walkers were also magnetised, the crew repainted, gem stones given more detail and transfers applied.
I'm glad to see that Golem were able to fix all of the weapon mountings. The magnetised weapons fit particularly well on these models too.
Once the army was completed properly, I was sent photos of everything and asked if I was happy with the work, which I definitely was.
However, rather than risk all of these beautiful models in the post again, I arranged to catch a train up to Manchester, where Golem Painting Studio is based, to collect and pack my Eldar army personally.
I had ordered a Kaiser 2 carry case from KR Multicase (expect a review on this in the future) the week before with custom trays for my army and took this on the train with me.
We sat down with my Eldar army, had a chat about everything that had happened, checked over the models to make 100% sure I was happy with them and had a play around magnetising different models with the different weapons before we packed it all into the Kaiser 2 carry case and I set off back home.
VERDICT: Very Happy!
After getting over the shock/horror/disappointment of paying lots of money for models that arrived in sub standard or broken condition and a lengthy email discussion, Golem Painting Studio did everything they could to make me a happy customer.
They truly surpassed my expectations the second time around by not only painting my models to a high standard, but also by taking the colourshceme from Ewar's Eldar army on Warseer that little bit better.
However, I have learned from my mistakes and only given then 1 unit to work on. Besides, they seem fine at sending infantry in the post.
For the record, Ian has had similar issues with Worthy Painting who paint his pre heresy Imperial Fists army. He's had to send stuff back to be painted to spec and the correct standard recently. So the problems I've experienced don't seem to be unusual.
More than anything, commissioning Golem Painting Studio has been a big learning experience, which is why I've written this review to help other people who are considering getting their army built and painted by a painting service. So here are 5 rules when commissioning a painting service...
5 Rules When Commissioning a Painting Service
1) Make a Small Order
Because if something needs to be fixed or changed, it's not a big deal.
It also makes postage less of a risk.
2) Have a Clear Spec and Check it is Being Followed
My spec was crystal clear, with reference images and even a painting guide taken from Ewar's Eldar army on Warseer. However, I should have checked that it was being followed.
3) Check the Work
If in doubt, ask questions and ask for photos of everything.
4) Find Someone Local
Ideally, you should try to find a painting service that's near you.
Unfortunately Golem Painting Studio is based in Manchester, while I'm based in Hertfordshire. This meant we could only communicate by email and that there were risks due to posting an entire army, when collection in person is always a safer option.
5) Be Polite and Courteous at All Times
Getting angry and flipping out isn't going to help you when you're arguing your case. Keep a calm tone during any debate over email, keep your language polite and use written facts to back up what you're saying. So for this reason it's extremely important that you record of all your conversations.
