Miniature games are the reason I became interested in Art. Specifically the assembly and painting aspect of small plastic or pewter figures. Today I play several miniature games namely; Blood Bowl, Warhammer 40,000 and Warmachine. The object of these games is to take your army of little figures and wreck your opponents army(using dice). However, the amount of time I've spent playing these games is almost nothing compared to the time I've spent assembling/painting my armies of little men. Not only can you paint the miniatures, many people use a two part epoxy (green stuff) to customize their miniatures. Some people Even sculpt totally unique miniatures completely out of green stuff.
Most miniatures range from ¾ inch to 3 inches tall with most falling around 1.5 inches. They are typically depictions of various types of warriors from varying genres. The two games I play; Warhammer 40,000 and Warmachine are both set in their own unique worlds with background material made up about the various armies available to do battle for you (the fictional background is called “fluff”). Not only can you paint and customize your forces, you can do so in keeping with the background set out by the creators of the game (or not if you don't like it). Once I got further into the miniatures game hobby I started to look on line for inspiration and ideas for painting. I came across a competition for Warhammer 40,000 miniature painting held yearly in different cities (and countries) called the “Golden Demon” competition. I was totally blown away by the work I saw. The amount of detail on these tiny miniatures blew my mind. This summer I had the chance to one of my favorite painters/sculptors in the field named Joe Orteza. Joe has won multiple Golden Demons including a Blood Bowl team that is one of my favorite works I've ever seen. I attended GenCon in Indianapolis (really big 4 day gaming convention) where I took a class about green stuff sculpting taught by Joe. I was able to see some of his work in person. It kicked ass! Ridiculous amounts of detail, it was more than I could probably ever do, but Joe and other artists like him are a wellspring of ideas for me when I'm assembling and painting my own stuff. Below are some links to stuff I think is pretty cool, and links to the two company websites of the games that I play. If anyone is interested in seeing any of the little guys I have painted let me know and I would happily bring some in.
-Chris
www.games-workshop.com
http://privateerpress.com/
http://www.sodemons.com/gd29baltimore/13-honorable/index.htm
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That sounds like a interesting game and I looked at those sites... Wow man the attention to detail in those figures is sweet.
ReplyDeletewhen I was a kid I would spend hours playing with my little green plastic soldiers in my sandbox.
ReplyDeleteI think these are pretty cool.
The high level of detail in such small miniatures is incredible!
ReplyDeleteWow, theres so much detail in those things, that much be pretty time consuming. They look awesome in the end though!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone else has said, the amount of detail in these is pretty crazy. It has always amazed me how much thought has to go into designing what we might think of as simple toys.
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