Regular readers will know that I’m working on a secret project with a couple of The Chaps. Seeing as this is a wargaming blog and I’m what could arguably called a veteran gamer it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s a wargame. Having developed what we thought was a rather natty mechanic we went to Salute last weekend with our minds set on finding some awesome models to use for play testing.
I was opting for the dubiously labelled good guys and therefore knew exactly where I would be heading: Heresy Miniatures to get my hands on some of their trooper models.
I’ve always liked Heresy Miniatures‘…er…miniatures because they have a lot of personality. To be clear, I don’t mean personality in the sense that the ugly bird at a party has a ‘really nice personality’, I mean that Andy and the other guys work really hard to make their models feel real. Posing, accessories, expressions, everything is just so. They feel like they belong in the environments one would expect to see them.
The troopers as a selection of models all look dynamic and because the arms and some heads are separate so you can mix up the poses so a running model can be simply hauling ass with rifle in hand or running whilst taking a hurried aimed shot. They just look brilliant.
Plus the look of the models has a simplistic charm about them. The rifles look like they could actually work and I love that they’re bullpup design. The troopers armour is simple but, again, looks like it might actually work, the vambraces being sizeable so would afford its wearer actual protection from incoming fire and considering its positioning during an aimed shot ones face may not get shot off. Which is nice.
They’ve also been outfitted with things an actual solider would have like pouches and a side arm. So all in all, they’re exactly what it says on the blister pack. Which may seem obvious but they just feel more substantial and more like soldiers than some other sci-fi trooper models, specifically the plastic Cadians from GW. I feel like their body armour is more than decoration. But then I suppose basic Guard are meant to go pop. These bad boys aren’t. Which would make them pretty good proxy models for Stormtroopers.
Equally the heavy weapon teams have that sense of robustness one would want from someone toting a chuffing great machine gun or flame thrower. And what’s really nice is that Heresy resisted the temptation to just do a weapon and head swap. They are noticeably different models and the fuel tank for the flame thrower is very cleverly designed so it not only goes together but the hose connects with the fuel tube without a lot of bending, swearing, and the inevitable snapping of the tube. Followed by more swearing.
What it all adds up to are models that are sculpted with care and consideration. Real thought going into not just the look of the model but how that model will look on the board. Heresy take their responsibility to the gamer very seriously as if a model looks shit on a board, beyond the paint job the only person you can blame is the sculptor.
I also got my hands on the new Officer model above. Amusingly, because I like the model so much I’ve justified his existence in my game but in so doing made that faction much more versatile. I just love him. Aside from being a brilliant sculpt, everything about it just oozes British stiff upper lippedness in service of Queen and Country. And better still is that you get multiple heads so can play around with it. I opted for the head above but having a full visored officer was tempting because he looks bloody menacing.
I absolutely love these trooper models and I’m already figuring out a colour scheme. Regular readers know that I don’t often put brush to model so that says quite a lot. I’m honestly as excited about painting these as I am my shiny new Crisis suit from Forge World. Which, to me speaks volumes about how much fun I had putting them together. It can obviously be a tad fiddly sticking arm sets together but that’s true of any model that requires to adjoining parts to be stuck onto a third part using super glue. But because the poses were so natural I was just excited to get them built.
Plus the casting quality was such that beyond trimming and filing a bit of flash off the guns there was very little cleaning up to do. The mould lines, if any, were so slight they were gone in moments. I had the squad, the support weapons and the officer cleaned and built inside an hour. And that kind of ease makes them aces in my book.
