Keeper of Secrets - Avatar of Shaah Complete

Well, this was one fast project. I started work on Saturday; picking up where I'd left off in the build 2 years ago, and started painting on Thursday morning. 24 hours later and I'm done!

To be fair, the speed of the paint process was mostly due to the nature of the model. I also maximised the amount of work I did with the airbrush, so I spent about 2 hours on that part of the paint. After that, it was just a matter of sorting out the details. Oh, and fair warning, this post contains moderate resin boobies!

For those who aren't familiar with the model, this is the Avatar of Shaah by Raging Heroes. It's about 8 inches tall to the top of the sword and is all resin. I've written a review of the kit lower down, if you're interested.

My favourite part of the paint is the glowing eyes. They didn't take a lot of work, and I'm really happy with the final result. I basically just airbrushed them with dark angels green, then Vallejo escorpina green. After that, I washed around the area with a little Biel-Tan Green and then just highlighted the central eyes with a ever lightening mix of moot green and white.

Considering the time spent on paint, I'm really happy with how she came out. It's also nice to take something out of the cupboard of shame and get it finished for once. I'm planning to pick up a Lord Discordant tomorrow, and I never thought in a million years that I'd actually finish this model before then.

Anyway, that about rounds it out for the Avatar itself. Due to some difficulties with this kit, I've also written about the process of building it (which is basically just a massive page long complaint), but if you're just here for cool pictures, you can skip that bit.

Kit Review

I'm happy with the look of the final model now that it's done, but honestly it was a horrible experience to build. Resin can be hard to work with, and I've gone through plenty of resin models in my time, but in a number of ways Raging Heroes really dropped the ball on this one.

A gap in the claw you can fit your thumb in...

For one, the kit was rather shiny and coated in a very noticeable quantity of release agent which was resistant to cleaning and took a lot of work just to prep. The fitting for the individual parts was also quite poor, and even with the best will, there were a number of gaps that you could easily fit a thumb nail in all over the model.

I expect to spend some time with greenstuff filling gaps, but the position of the seams was just plain terrible, and the kit honestly feels poorly designed. Often seam lines between parts seemed to be arbitrarily cut straight through crucial rounded areas that were next to impossible to fill cleanly.

Looking at a mock up of the model before paint or greenstuff, if you enlarge the picture, you'll see that there are seams running though every inch or so of the claw on the right. The front side is the better fitting one, and let me tell you it took quite a bit of time to fix all of that.

The worst seam on the whole thing? the butt. For some reason, they decided to cut the legs at the hip to the groin (which you can also see in this picture). That would've worked well if the avatar had clothes, but with a bare demon ass to contend with, it basically left a large horrible seam right across the body that was really unnecessarily hard to fill and work with. Why they didn't follow the line of the chains, I'll never know.

Detail pickup is ok, but far from ideal as well. It just feels slightly blunted and lacking in the crispness that you see in other manufacturers (eg: Anvil, Forgeworld, Prodos, Black Sun, Wargame Exclusive, Nocturna, even Finecast). Overall, if you like the model, I'd still get one, but just know that it'll be a ton of work, and honestly don't even go there unless you're an experienced model-maker.

I don't like slamming a manufacturer, but I've got other Raging Heroes models from the kickstarter, and it'll probably be a few years till I can face working on any of them either. It's a shame, but that's the reason I shelved this project in the first place, and it's a real problem. Does it look nice now? yeah, but I had a ton of work just getting it together in the first place, and it's mostly down to poor design choices.

Anvil Industry, Heavy Weapons Review

I'm back with a fresh review for another excellent Anvil product.

This time, I'm looking at the modular Heavy Weapons sets. These sets are 28mm scale and are compatible with the full Regiments and Trench Fighters ranges. Like other Anvil products, they're scaled to fit any of the major 28mm scale companies, so they'd be right at home being manned by a few Cadians, or any other GW forces. You could probably make some great Ork Big Gunz with them too, with a few Gretchin crew to man them.

These miniatures were supplied by Anvil Industry free of charge in exchange for the review, and they even let me pick the parts this time. I wanted to use them in my Traitor Guard force when they were finished, so I picked a selection of cool bits. For some reason, I was really drawn to the idea of having some Mortar teams, so here's hoping they'll be reasonable on the field!

I also got some man portable RPG launchers, as I wanted to show both the larger set weapons and the smaller man portable types. Handily, I also have a Steel Legion force that I've been working on, so I put together a rather nice rocket team so I could show them in a different style. These weapons can be mounted as simple two man teams, or combined on a larger base to make a more dramatic display like mine, which I've based to match the ruined industrial look of the rest of the force.

Review - The Basics

Material

Like all of Anvils products these parts are made of resin. The resin is very clean and has incredibly fine detail. I always say it, but the crisp details are second to none, and really put a lot of other manufacturers to shame. Personally, I'm often a bit dubious of resin miniatures as they can be a really mixed bag, but as before, Anvil delivers a quality that most other companies can only aspire to. These parts were supplied for the review, but I've bought from them myself in separate orders and the quality is always excellent. I know a lot of other happy customers of theirs too, and I've never heard a bad thing about them.

Want to know how they'd look in a fully painted infantry squad? I've got you covered!

Casting

As with all of the Anvil products I've seen the casting is flawless. I didn't have a single fudged detail or imperfection in 3 complete heavy weapons teams or any of the Regiments squads that I've ordered from them before. There aren't a lot of mould lines either and the parts are very easy to clean up; with most just needing to be clipped off of the sprue and glued together.

Fitting

Everything fits well, and I didn't have anything that was bent or needed to be reheated and bent to fit. It you're not familiar with resin, this can sometimes be a problem, even with big manufacturers like Forgeworld. The upside is that it is usually fairly easy to fix by submerging parts in very hot water for a few seconds and then bending them back where they are supposed to be. I've never seen it with Anvil products, but it is worth knowing for future reference.

The joints don't need a lot of gap fill either; only if you're converting, and getting a good pose for your miniatures is easy to achieve.

The teams themselves come with two bases as standard; with a larger one for the weapon and a separate crewman. It is quite good if you need to count the number of wounds remaining or anything, as you can remove the additional man from the field! They also have the option for a 60mm base that will fit both models, so the choice is yours.

Heavy Weapons
With the basics out of the way, lets take a closer look at the actual Heavy Weapons.

The sets are modular in that they come with a choice of weapon and a choice of stand/mount.  Currently there are several options for both, and I'll include a few stock photos below to give you a overview of some of the range. You can also get optional extras like ballistic shields as well as items for the crew.

Notice the different tracked units and bases available for the weapons too. This Phase Cannon looks pretty intimidating!

For my part, I chose to go with some rather nice mortars and tracked units. I have a sort of traitor tech guard force, so I wanted them to match the look I had on my other units. The tracked bits are really cool, and the detail on the small inner wheels are really crisp.

I haven't finished painting them all yet, but this shot should give you a decent idea of what a squad of these could look like.

For the rocket launcher team, I built a scenic base with a bit of wall for them to hide behind. I had a bit of a play with the parts that I got to make them look like they were on the move and receiving orders or something. You can made a variety of poses with the parts offered in the set; including aiming and firing poses. They combine quite well with the crouching legs as well to really make that classic shooting pose for a shoulder mounted weapon.

For those interested in the exact bits on show in this review, here's the list of everything I received:

Regiments Custom Heavy Weapons Squad (6 Figures)
  - Regiments Head Style: Stahlhelm Gasmask
  - Regiments Torso Style: Gothic Void Torso
  - Regiments Legs: Long Greatcoat
  - Regiments Leg posing: 2x Kneeling, 1x Sitting
  - Regiments Arms: Fatigues
  - Regiments Infantry Weapon: Tesla Disintegrator
  - Regiments Shoulder Pads (optional): Double Curve
  - Regiments Heavy Weapon: Mortar
  - Regiments Gun Mount: Tractor
  - Optional Gun Shield: Tech
  - Regiments Arms: Fatigues
  - RPG Launchers (three launchers with arms)

As with the other sets that Anvil make, the pieces have a huge amount of customisability; with a number of different torsos, legs, arms and heads on offer. Combined in with the heavy weapon teams, you really can make almost anything you can dream up. They've even done a range of dress uniforms and Private Military Contractor style parts lately, so the range is bigger than ever. A quick search on the internet, and you'll be able to pull up plenty of images of some of the other looks you can create, or even better, you can go to their online store and have a dig through the parts on offer.

Conclusion:

I've said it before, but you really can't beat Anvil in terms of resin quality and casting. After that, it only really comes down to style choices and preferences. Handily, They've got you covered there with a huge range of parts available in all kinds of styles that allow you to create an infantry regiment of almost any type you can imagine. The heavy weapons are just another facet in this great range, and Anvil offer enough bits for you to really go to town and build something cool and unique. For me, a great bonus is the ease of build. Resin can be hard to work with, and the idea of putting together a whole platoon from some sellers would be more than a little daunting, but with Anvil it really is easy; with no more time needed than putting together a unit of plastic figures.

For most people, these kits are going to go straight into an Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum force, and this is where the heavy weapons kits can really shine. There are enough parts on offer to match all of the older regiments; like Mordian Iron Guard, Catachan, Valhalla, Pratorian, Tallarns or my own Steel Legion. This is really great, as it offers you a chance to get modern quality parts for your force that may never have been made, or be very scarce now when the original models were released back in the 90s. Equally, they're suitable for a range of conversions, and would be right at home in a range of other games and systems that use a 28mm scale. That's before you start considering things like Scions or Veteran Squads, which are perfect excuses to pick up some Anvil parts.

I guess the biggest endorsement I can give them is that I'm planning on ordering some more parts soon, so I can build another unit of men, and another rocket team!

If you're interested in getting some bits for yourself, I'll add a link to their website:

https://anvilindustry.co.uk/

Klukva Miniatures Review - Little Resin Legacy of Kain Figures!

Occasionally, when surfing the internet, I come across a miniature that I really can't live without. Recently on my travels, I happened to stumble upon Klukva Miniatures; a small Russian company that make resin figures that are mostly inspired by various fictional characters. Mostly these are video game characters.

While browsing the site, I came across their "Bloody Vampire" and "Soul Vampire". Also known as Kain and Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series. If you missed out on playing Soul Reaver back in about 2000, then you missed out on the best video game ever made. It's no exaggeration to say that it was not only ground-breaking at the time in terms of mechanics and scope, but that it actually hasn't been equalled since. Sure, graphics may have moved on, but I've never felt as absorbed in a storyline or attached to the characters as I was to that game (or the series that followed. Or even later when I played the PS1 classic Blood Omen that had come before).

Anyway, fast forward about 18 years, and I can finally live my childhood dream of having Kain and Raziel in miniature form, thanks to Klukva miniatures. I hit the "buy" button pretty quick when I saw them there!

Kain and Raziel in all their painted glory!

The Review:

As they're a fairly new company, I thought a quick review might be in order. I'm going to hit the main points, and try to answer those basic questions that we all wonder about when ordering from a new company.

Resin Quality:

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what would turn up on my doorstep, as you never really know whether the pictures you see will be representative of the actual quality of the final product. I didn't contact Klukva before ordering or anything like that, so the product I received isn't hand picked to be good for a review; this is exactly what turns up.

Anyway, the quality of the resin is really nice. The detail is good and the mould lines and flash were minimal. What I got really looks exactly like what I saw on the website, which was really nice to see. I only have a few figures for comparison from them, but there were no flaws or air bubbles on them and the whole building process and clean-up was pretty easy. Overall, I'd say I'm really impressed with the quality. They're definitely on the higher end of the scale as far as resin casting is concerned.

If you haven't had a lot of resin figures in the past, you may not know that it can be a real minefield and quality really was my biggest concern going into this.

I took one look at that resin Raziel, and for some reason all I could think was "Become my Soul Reaver ... my Angel of Death".

Ordering and Delivery:

The ordering process is pretty easy, they have their own website (available in English). Basically the same as most online stores these days where you add things to a cart and then head over to the checkout. You get email updates from the store when things are being packed and shipped too, so it's all pretty civilised.

International post costs a flat 5 euros, which is pretty reasonable.

After I placed my order, there was a bit of a delay before the miniatures were cast and posted out. I then had to wait for the Russian postal system, which seems to take up to a month to the UK. In general though, given the type of miniatures that they make, I didn't think it was bad. I knew that it would take a while, and as these were just fun purchases, I wasn't in a particular rush. It is something to consider though, especially if you have a particular time frame in mind for a project.

One thing that I was really impressed with is that the miniatures arrived in a plastic postal bag as you might expect, but inside that bag was a laser-cut MDF box that housed all the models; protecting them really well in transit. I think I'm going to have to keep it to use as scenery or something as it is way too nice to throw away!

Price:
Well, I think the prices are pretty reasonable for what they are, which is basically individual resin characters. At the time of ordering, the Bloody Vampire and Soul Vampire were 9 euros each which feels pretty thrifty for something so specialised.

Painting:
You might have noticed that some resin is really greasy and can resist paint. That wasn't the case here though and they were both really clean; with minimal work needed in that department.

I really enjoyed the painting process. Not only are they great miniatures, but I had a lot of fun working on something different. It was also interesting to try to match the colour schemes of the models to the original concept art and in-game appearance of the characters. It was a bit of a challenge, but I'm really happy with the end result. I have to admit that I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but just having them around is great fun.

"An eternity passed and my torment receded, bringing me back from the precipice of madness. The descent had destroyed me. Yet, I lived."

As far as painting is concerned, it was a real battle to get Raziel right. In the end, I ended up glazing the skin a few times to re-balance the colour. I really wanted to make sure he looked sinewy, so I did a lot of thin highlight lines on his muscles.

Conclusion:
They really are a great company. The quality is excellent, and I'm absolutely loving being able to finally own some iconic video game characters in miniature form. I'm sure that everyone who plays games has occasionally thought that they'd like a miniature of a character from one, well Klukva might just give you the chance!

The price of both miniatures and postage are both pretty reasonable, and certainly no more expensive than their competitors. The only possible downside to Klukva is that as they're based in Russia there can be some fairly lengthy postal delays in shipping. That said, for fun purchases like these that most people are going to buy just to paint and display, I don't feel that it should put anyone off.

Personally, I'm going to be on the lookout for more characters from Klukva; especially if they make anything else from Legacy of Kain (hint, hint... Vorador, hint, hint...), although I might find it hard to resist a little resin Cloud Strife...

If you fancy picking up your own Kain and Raziel, the website address for Klukva Miniatures is:  http://klukvaminiatures.com/goods

"Kain is deified. The clans tell tales of him. Few know the truth. He was mortal once, as were we all."

P.S Kain is battling a GW Stormcast Vanguard in this picture. He makes a good stand in for a Sarafan Knight though!

Anvil Industry, Trench Fighters Review

I'm back with another review again, this time for Anvil's Trench Fighters range.

Following the success of my recent review of Anvil Industry's modular Regiments miniatures, I got talking to them, and they actually offered to send me a sample of their new Trench Fighters for free (I knew that running this blog would pay off one day...). The miniatures were given in exchange for a fair review, so I jumped at the chance. After all, I'd been thinking of buying a few bits from the range at some point, and as I was confident that they'd be nice miniatures, I was happy to oblige.

If you missed my first review of the Regiments parts, you can find it here.

What is a Trench Fighter?

The Trench Fighters range is really an expansion to the Regiments kits that Anvil already make; essentially adding in hundreds of components to an already diverse selection. The Regiments parts are a set of modular infantry bits that allow you to make completely unique infantry models. There are a huge range of different heads, torsos, weapons and legs. These options have now been expanded with the Trench Fighters release to include some cool new additions; most notably trench coats as well as some awesome new kit that runs the gambit from full on sci-fi lasers to WW1 & 2 inspired helmets and trench accessories. Overall, there are enough parts for literally thousands of combinations, so there's never been a better time to start building the squad of your dreams. The picture above shows two miniatures that I built entirely from the new Trench Fighters parts.

My sample regiment. I've been experimenting with dramatic photos lately, but the miniatures speak for themselves.

The Review

For this review, I was supplied with the parts to make about 10 men, with a large variety of heads and cool bits to play with. In an effort to cover all my bases, I decided to build and paint 5 of them up as a distinct regiment, to show what could be achieved in an army setting, as I'm sure a lot of Imperial Guard players will be wanting to know!

For the other five guys, I decided to build them like some kind of Post-Apocalyptic Survivors. Not only is this great for me as I like a good skirmish game, but it also gave me the opportunity to really go to town messing about with different bits. Here's some early pictures of what I came up with:

I went with long-greatcoat legs and the skull faced helms; because despite what Gillette might tell you, what a man really wants is a skull for a face and a bangin' trench coat. It's the best a man can get.

 On a serious note, you can see the resin quaity clearly in these shots, and those are crisp details that Games Workshop's Finecast can only dream of. The banner pole assembly is also a nice part that Anvil have created. The officer head comes from a sprue of several different capped heads that were my personal favorite part in the release.

For fun, I created these five all differently. They use a wide variety of bits, with mostly shorter trench coat legs and Trench Irregulars torsos. I suggest taking the time to have a look at each one individually, as if you like any one particular look, you could replicate a whole force of them. My personal favorite is the guy with the Bren Gun - although I swapped the sickle clip for a belt feed from a different Anvil gun as it was getting in his eye-line.

Resin Quality

I'd say without reservation that I consider Anvil's resin to be the gold-standard. This stuff really is what other manufacturers should be aspiring to; clean crisp details, minimal flash and mould lines are almost invisible. I also haven't noticed any warping in their parts either, so I'm assuming that everyone at Anvil worships Satan or something and have traded their souls for the secrets of casting little men. People might be dubious about taking my word for it, as I was given these just for the review, but I bought the last lot of stuff off my own back without telling Anvil about the review that I was writing and the quality was exactly the same. I really can't praise them enough, as anyone who has been hobbying  for a while will know what a minefield resin miniatures can be. I can only advise anyone interested to place a small order and see what turns up - I think you'll be impressed.

Scale

28mm, and as I did a bit of kit bashing in my last review, I can vouch for the fact that the parts are compatible with plastic Imperial Guard bits. Size wise, I'd probably call them semi-heroic; with good proportions that are very comparable to miniatures in 40k and a lot of other game systems.

In the interest of clarity, I've taken a shot of some Anvil guys side by side with a few infantry models from other games. As you can see, the scale is pretty much what you'd want it to be for any 28mm game.

From the left, a space marine, 3 Anvil models (the guy in white is from my last review of the Regiments Range), a Chaos Cultist, Dark Eldar Warrior, Cult Neophyte and a Pan-O Fusileer from Infinity.

Fitting, Mould Lines and Working with Anvil's Resin

As I mentioned earlier, there aren't a lot of mound lines. Anvil's resin both looks and feels like plastic; with an ease of building that really does defy what you generally take for granted with resin. The parts come fitted with short pegs on the tops of the arms and a peg at the waist to help position the torso correctly. They go together easily, and I had no problems putting my 10 infantry together in an afternoon. All the parts are completely interchangeable and can be used with any other bits from both the new Trench Fighters and the Regiments kits.

Delivery and Purchasing 

Anvil do free delivery on all orders of £40 and over. This includes international orders. The flat rate of £2 for UK orders below that threshold or £4.50 for international orders is pretty reasonable too. As these Trench Fighters were a sample, I didn't go through the purchasing process this time, but it's pretty easy; with drop-down menus that take you through the hundreds of options on offer and package deals for full units and more. If you're tempted by any of these models, I'd recommend heading on over to Anvil and having a dig about as the chances are that you can build exactly what you want (I know from personal experience that if you like 40k, you'll happily find enough bits to make some really nice custom Steel Legion as well as dozens of other familiar regiments). 

Anvil often also use slimline boxes for smaller orders; meaning that they fit through your letterbox with ease - leaving you with time go go out and buy all of those paints you're going to need when they arrive...

Mutability/Options

What I really love about these sets is that they let you tell your own story. Rather than being constrained by one look or feel, you can really go to town and create something unique. With all of the options on offer, you could quite happily make everything from an outer space boarding squad to a feral world warrior. The weapon arms are diverse too; giving you some great options as far as cool poses go. Rather than go on forever, I'd rather illustrate the point with a few miniatures that I built:

Why not go mean and militaristic with long trench coats and German-style helms with a future edge? The picture below also shows the great detail on the back of the coat. Models have backs too! And luckily Anvil haven't failed me there...

Not your thing? How about a WW1 style Brodie with a medic pack and pick axe? Just one example of the kind of thing you can make.

Or you could go wild with some trench irregulars bits and a nice shotgun.

Stick bomb, machete and snow mask? The shorter coats are cool too as you get some nice leg armour  which makes them look a little more high tech.

Plain gas masks are always a winner, and with a lot of weapon options to choose from to go with your chosen look there's no end of variety to be had.I painted this guy up in blue, as I wanted to show how different one unit of Trench Fighters can look from another.

Conclusion

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Both the quality of the models and the customer service from Anvil are great and well worth your attention. They really do offer something you don't see every day; the ability to design your own miniatures from the ground up, and with hundreds of options and an ever expanding range,  there's bound to be something for everyone. 

I'll leave you with a few more pictures that I didn't fit into the body of the article and this link to Anvil for you all to check out:

http://anvilindustry.co.uk/Regiments/trench-fighters

Texture Paints - Valhallan Blizzard Review

Recently, in an effort to give some bases a little more interest, I bought a pot of Games Workshop's Valhallan Blizzard. This stuff is specially formulated to give a snow effect to the top of your bases. I was interested to see what could be achieved, as it's a relatively easy step that has the potential to add a lot of impact to an otherwise bland base. I'm using my recently completed Wrack as an example miniature for this review.

With the intro out of the way, lets take a closer look at the product.

Ease of Application

This stuff is really thick. I know they say that the new texture paints can be applied with a brush, but in this case only quite a stiff bristled one. That said, there's a bit of leeway in the drying time, so you get plenty of time to adjust it on the model and it spreads ok. It doesn't take long to apply and overall has a satisfying effect for the amount of time it takes.

After a bit of experimentation, I found that digging a bit out of the pot on a sculpting tool worked well, and that once I'd separated it out from the whole it was easier to manipulate with a brush.

Drying Time

Like I mentioned above, it does take a few minutes to cure, and even then I think it takes longer to fully harden. This helps a bit actually as it gives you some extra time to adjust it and as the effect is a finishing touch for bases, there's no problems with letting them sit on the side while the snow cures.

Durability

I found that the snow could sometimes come off on my finger when handling the base (I specifically handled the snow directly to test it). The majority of it stayed on there and I think it would be pretty hard to shift, but one or 2 tiny grains came off the top of some of the "heaps" when handling and I could see it wearing a bit in the long-term. To combat this I gave it a quick coat with some PVA to seal it; which didn't seem to do any harm to the aesthetic qualities, so I'd probably recommend it, especially for models that will see a lot of play.

Look

Lumpy, snowy, check out the pictures for more. In person, I was happy with the effect and it combines well with a painted base to add a nice finishing touch. I added an extra layer of gloss varnish to mine in the end (not too thickly) to add a bit of wet shine to it. I don't think it's necessary though, and its really a matter of preference and what you're going for.

What I particularly liked was that it naturally makes small clumps that look very realistic when you apply it to a base; like little remnants of melting snow. It's a nice effect that gives a strong finish.

Just for fun, I combined in a few blood effects too!

Cost

At the time of writing, it's being marketed at £4.55 a pot (24ml). I think that whether you consider that a good deal or not probably depends on your approach. For me, I wanted to add a dash of snow to a few bases; meaning  it would go a long way. If you were looking to completely cover your bases, or to do scenery, you might want to look at other options as I could see you might end up getting through a lot of pots!

Conclusion

A good product, but one that needs a bit of thought and TLC to reach its full potential. Great fun though and well worth a shot if you're looking to spice up some bland bases. If I was rating it out of 10, I'd probably say 7/10. It looks good, but could be a bit more durable, although this can be treated and it isn't likely to come off easily. I also think that it could be a bit pricey for some uses; particularly scenery or application to larger bases and models. Well worth a punt though for anyone interested.

Shirtless Wrack says "it's cold out here, I need a nice cup of soup!"

Anvil Industry - Regiments Review

Today, I'm reviewing the Regiments sets from Anvil Industry, so Imperial Guard players better be listening!

Introduction

Anvil are a small UK based miniatures company that make a range of resin wargaming miniatures. They have vast ranges of bits; heads, guns, combat weapons and many more interesting items in huge variety. They're made variously in scale for heroic "Exo Lords" (who may or may not resemble certain Marines from Space) and  regular human scale miniatures. They've recently produced their own game "Afterlife" too, which is a futuristic skirmish type affair, as well as these rather interesting Regiments kits.

The Regiments range are a set of modular infantry kits that are formed from resin. They offer a range of legs, torsos, arms, heads and weapons that can be combined in massive variety to make custom infantry squads. They also make heavy weapons teams and a range of officer parts and combat weapons are available. Anvil also have a kickstarter running for "Trench Fighters" currently that will add a large number of parts to the range including great-coats, more gas masks and all manner of cool bits.

You can really see the quality of the casting looking at the perfectly crisp hollow barrels on his weapon.

Why I'm Writing This...

At this point, you might ask what got me started on all of this business, well some of you may remember my recent article on Del'Ragio and the Desert Dogs. After reliving the magic and getting all nostalgic, I was stuck by a profound need to update them to my current standards. I really wanted to enjoy the process too and have a good old fashioned kit-bash-up, but also to start with some cool futuristic bits. After a bit of searching, Anvil were recommended, and well, the rest is history. As a spot of luck, it coincided nicely with Squaduary, so I had another excuse in the bag too!

As it was just a side project, I picked all of my favourite parts from the range. I wanted to go for a bulky armoured look. I went with Gothic Void Torsos, as I liked the gorget. Armoured arms and some Afterlife legs that weren't strictly part of the range, but were what I liked and handily Anvil let you pick them as an option (they did warn that the legs would take a bit of conversion, but I wasn't worried - It was just nice to be able to get everything I wanted). In the end, they didn't take a lot of work, But I think it might be a bit to do with the choice of Torso how well they fit.

A unit of fresh recruits; from a forge apparently located in hobby heaven!

Delivery

Receiving the package in the post, I was surprised how small it was. It seems Anvil use slim-line boxes to enable their stuff to be delivered through the letterbox. Worth mentioning for those who may be worried about delivery.

Customer Service at Anvil was also good - with free 1st class post on orders over £35, and only a day or two of processing time till my order was dispatched.

Resin Quality

One of the most surprising things for me was the quality of the resin; I'd heard it was good, but Anvil Industry may have the best resin in the business. As a long-time gamer, painter and man about town, I can honestly say that it rivals the quality of Forgeworld's stuff and may actually be better. The details are incredibly fine, but are all perfectly formed. I didn't see a single flaw, miscast or air bubble; which in 11 full resin miniatures is downright incredible. The details are so crisp too; with tiny vents, edges and points all perfectly formed. For a relatively small operation it really is jaw dropping quality and I can only recommend buying something cheap if you have any doubts so you can see for yourself.

Compatibility

I found that the resin Regiments parts are pretty compatible with normal 28mm heroic type human miniatures. By that  mean plastic Cadian parts, or a few bits I used from other kits of roughly similar scale. I even managed to fit a Space Marine flamer to one with only a minimum amount of work; which just goes to show how easily they fit into a 40k scale.

The Space Marine Flamer in question

 

The beret head is from some Tempestus Scions, but it fits just fine on an Afterlife body.

 

Size comparison with a dodgy converted Cadian I had about the place

Fitting

Perhaps due to the quality, I had no problems fitting parts - infact they lock together incredibly well. There's no warping or bending in the resin, its dreamy, like working with plastic.

Mold Lines

The other thing that struck me was the lack of mold-lines. the casts are very clean and take minimal effort to get ready for use. It sounds like a bit of a side-point, but considering that these are available as full units, it really is a strong selling point. Nobody would want to clean up 10 hairy resin figures, but Anvil's stuff handles more like plastic. A real pleasure to work with.

Pricing/Cost

Full regiments do cost more, but only about the same amount as most manufacturers; and you're getting a lot of customisation. The individual parts are really cheap though; with sets of 6 heads for only £3. If you were looking to spice up some units of Cadians, an investment of £20-£30 would probably outfit the whole force with fresh heads and accessories. Well worth a look if you want to do something interesting, or are looking to emulate one of the less well loved regiments (Chem Dogs I'm looking at you).

Ready for the battlefield? Come and get it Zombies!

Conclusion

Ultimately, it's all up to the design though and whether they appeal to you. Personally, I think it's a great range with a lot of cool parts and I'm very happy with the results I got. The quality is very high and it really isn't an exaggeration when I say it could be the best Resin on the market in terms of casting and detailing. Well worth a look for anyone looking for that extra punch in their army's aesthetic, or just some nice models in their own right. Full units can add up to be fairly expensive, but only about the same cost as any other resin miniatures. So if you like what you've seen from my test squad, why not check out Anvil for yourself, I can personally guarantee the casting quality is just as good as it looks in the pictures! (and basically the only bad thing I can think of to say is that I wish they were free! - although if anyone does want to give me any free models...).

I should probably note that I have no affiliation with Anvil in any way. and I didn't contact them to let them know I would be reviewing their products, so the quality of casts that I received is exactly what you'll get - with no special treatment. I'll add a link to Anvil below for anyone who is interested:

https://anvilindustry.co.uk/