One of the foundations of The Shell Case is the search for companies that produce great toys and games that deserve attention from the wargaming community but may not be getting.
One such company is called Fantascape. Fantascape produces a small but growing range of bases, accessories, and scenery and as the business was just getting their site off the ground it seemed an opportune time to do a review of their stuff.
I got to take a look at two of the bases ranges – Wyrdstone Mines and Glacial Ruins.
Let’s start with Wyrdstone Mines.
Well, they’re just awesome. It’s bitter-sweet timing really that such a perfect set of bases for Mordheim should come my way at the same time as Games Workshop sacking off the Specialist Games range. But for those of us that love that game this range of bases couldn’t be more suited. And they come in sizes enough for Ogres, dogs and other beasties. So that’s a win.
The look is just right: broken stone and splintered wood with just a hint of wyrd stone. It feels every bit of the ruined city that I have spent many a happy hour romping through and manging faces. The temptation would be there to make the wyrdstone the star of the show but instead it’s simply, elegantly, done. The effect is, once the model is positioned, that wonderful sense of narrative that a good scenic base can give you. And because they were designed by someone who gets it, neither the model or the key details of the base will be overshadowed or obscured. These are not bases that will make you want to burn things when you try to position the models.
Of course they don’t have to be bases for models, those with stones on them make ideal objective counters for scenarios and needless to say, you don’t have to paint them green. But it really highlights the skill with which the bases were conceived and sculpted as they just work. Whatever your intention with them, they’ll fit and look damn good doing so. Regular readers will know the two following things:
1. The only fully painted collection of miniatures I own is my Mordheim warband.
2. I never have the time to bloody paint anything.
So with that in mind, when I say that I can’t wait to rip all the bases off my Mordheim gang and use these you should understand just how much I like them. The casting quality is excellent too. No flash and no residue. And you get 20 of them for £8 which considering the scale of production and much of the stuff is cast to order – which incurs a higher overhead – that’s amazing value.
The Glacial Ruins range is equally impressive.
Again they find the perfect balance between looking the tits and being a functional base one which to glue ones toy soldiers. Again, there’s an uncluttered simplicity in the design of the bases that means that you’ll get all the cool detail without it being a colossal ball ache to stick the model on or paint the model or base once you have.
That said, you won’t be lacking for detail on the bases once you do start slapping paint everywhere. The detail is very crisp and considered. It’s also an extremely nice touch that the engravings are chipped and worn whilst the runes – which are made of magic n shit – have escaped the ravages of time.
Of course you don’t have to paint the rocks as ice, instead opting for ruins consumed by the world, lost to time. Which would look way cool. Needless to say there’s the obvious applications for the bases – namely Space Wolves I think with the right paint job and quite possibly a little bit of green stuff and you’ll have some pretty cool, no specific, ruins.
Like the wyrdstone bases, the casting quality is very good and the range covers pretty much all sizes, not just the ones I’ve pictured which means that you can base your whole army should the mood take you. And why wouldn’t it? They’re the tits.
And the range starts at £6 for ten standard round bases. Which again isn’t bad value either.
Overall I can’t fault Fantascape a bit. Their products look ace with strong detail and good casting and as a relatively new player in the market I think we can expect to see some great things from them.
