Sup Spikey Bits, JStove here, and as of April 16th 2013, I’m a Reaper vampire.A lot of us have been following that kickstarter for a long time, and if like me, you were one of the supporters who had a really simple order consisting of only vampire level miniatures, then your box went out first, and you either already have yours in your hands, or can look forward to having it soon.
To recap for Reaper’s sake- All of the models are in house and shipping out, orders that were simpler took precedence. Orders that involved paint and model cases are the bottom of the pile, so cheapskates who were only in for a vampire box are getting their toys first.
So how are the models?
First, let’s talk about what they’re made of- Its a polyvinyl. There are a lot of different polyvinyl plastics, like polypropylene and Polyvinyl Chloride, which you’re already familiar with in everyday life. PVC is of course the ubiquitous white plumbing pipes you’re familiar with, and PP is a flexible plastic that is used a lot in the medical industry- You see it in those little days of the week pill counters, the little hinged plastic cases dentures and retainers go in, that sort of thing.
So yes, the material is durable. As far as a miniature goes, this stuff is unkillable. They bend but do not break, and oh boy, did a lot of them come bent. Flaccid sword syndrome seems to be a serious problem in this box, but the good news is, just like GW’s Finecast resin, this stuff bends back into shape under hot water. If you throws these models on the ground, they’ll bounce... Can’t say the same for the paintjob of course, because I haven’t gotten that far yet, but for a gaming model I’m pretty enthusiastic about the idea of my toys not shattering when they drop.
How are the casts?
The casts themselves are uniformly clean. Some models have gratuitous
mold lines, but most of them came out alright. Some of the more detailed
models need to be significantly de-flashed, but I’ve unbagged and
de-sprued every model in the vampire box by now and I can say pretty
safely that this stuff is a lot cleaner and more well behaved than the
resin we’ve been used to getting from Britain lately. Good work, Texas.
(Ahem, China)
The detail of the cast is hit or miss- Several factors are making it harder to judge.
First of all, the plastic is bone white. You can probably tell from my
garbage quality iphone photos how frustrating that is. I apologize for
that, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it, having misplaced my
real camera.
Second, the material holds certain details better than others- Organic
detail is pretty much perfect. Inorganic detail with hard edges suffers.
This is pretty typical with most miniature materials though, so I’m
willing to allow a little grace. The details that the casting does
capture are immaculate. The monsters, the barbarians, feathers, flesh,
scales, fur... Its all gorgeous. You can see every muscle form in the
giant’s body. If you bought these models to have a lot of toys to paint,
you won’t be disappointed in the organic detail.
The screwier plate wearing warriors, golems, and dudes with sharp
sticks are less forgiving, but again... Pick your battles. I haven’t
seen any error so horrifying that I’m disenfranchised with it.
How do they convert?
The polyvinyl is a soft material and doesn’t put up a fight against
your drill or your knife. This stuff slices like butter when you chop it
off. The nicest thing about it is that it grabs pins. When you drill
it, the hole naturally sucks a bit, so its easy to drill a good, deep
pinning hole and sink a rod in there nice and tight. The polyvinyl bonds
well with superglue, and I’ve already been frankensteining some of
these guys.
Here’s a bossy space marine I’m working on- He has parts from every
major casting material on the miniature market. Pewter, 2 generations of
GW plastic, and a forgeworld marine helmet. None of the other materials
had significant problems bonding to each other, everyone behaved
themselves with the Reaper stuff.
Am I satisfied with it?
It’s still too early to responsibly say, I’m still dealing with a lot
of the kid in a candy store sensation. The biggest problem is
consistency, but not consistency on the part of the casts, consistency
on the part of the sculpts. Reaper employs the widest range of freelance
sculpting talent in the miniature business, and some of these models
are incredibly detailed, while some of them are literally just tiny
little rats. It is difficult to evaluate the model quality over the wide
range of models provided.
The models with a lot of organic detail are flawless and beat finecast
all day. The models with hard edges need love, but are serviceable.
Bending the swords back into shape and the filing the edges to make them
crisp again looks like it will fix the worst offenders.
What I can say pretty convincingly right now is that this new Bone
material is a winner for the horde army enthusiast who needs to buy a
lot of nameless mooks. I traded in my biker Sophie and bulked up on
sci-fi style helmet wearing rifle toting goons to use as Imperial Guard
allies and chaos cultists, and I’m very pleased with that decision. The
“obligatory low level dungeon garbage” monsters like goblins, bugs,
zombies and skeletons also pass mustard and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a
D and D player alive with a dry eye when he opens that box.
One of the most significant features of the box are the gryphon’s
wings- Since all the material is flexible, lightweight polyvinyl, Reaper
has opened up a whole new arena for those of us who need flying
monsters like greater demons, big bugs, and dragons. The organic detail
is clean, the parts are flexible and impervious to damage, and pin easy. If you’re into converting stuff like demon princes, then I have to say that ripping the wings off of these Bones models is going to be a regular thing for you, as they have the ideal qualities for converting. As a matter of fact, if anyone from Reaper is watching... For the love of god, start selling these Bones wings separately in the online store, they’re a gold mine monstrous creatures and Marine armies that have “Angel” in the chapter name.