Not enough painting being done in Gomezland due to a drawn-out house remodel and various related tasks, but here is an update anyway!
Here is the new resin goodness that landed on my doorstep this week... Got everyone built and 90% prepped - just need to slap on some liquid GS (man, that stuff is great for gap-filling) and I should be able to prime these suckers.
My impressions:
1.) RRG seems to have changed the type of resin they're using. My first batch of minis were all a whiter, much more brittle material, but these new pieces are a darker gray and have a lot more give to them. I managed to snap Vargr's and GP's feet right at the ankle just from cutting them off the sprue, but I never even came close with this new stuff.
2.) Euryale is AMAZING: simple assembly, but incredible detail and loads of character. I was not sold on her when she was first announced during the Kickstarter campaign (I poo-pooed the turn to actual mythical creatures, rather than the implication of them [Septimus and Nero as a minotaur, for example]) but I came around eventually and now I'm glad I did. I'm excited to stretch myself a little as a painter and try some cool snakeskin pattern on her. All these minis make me want to keep pushing my limit of "best work", but she provides a fantastic canvas for it.
3.) Anum was the fiddliest of the bunch to assemble. I was ****ing dreading working with his chains, as I butchered Leo's while I built him, and needless to say, they were indeed a bitch. BUT I got them all in place and I think they'll hold (for awhile at least). Other than that, he's another model with a ton of character - I think I'll do a stylized skull face paint on him to make him even more fierce. The hyena's (he totally needs a name, BTW) lower jaw is a little weird - not sure if I'll try to add to it with a little Greenstuff (my GS skills are decidedly lackluster).
4.) Hagal! I have to admit - I LOVE his
artwork and the idea of a straight-up viking in the arena, but I didn't like his sculpt at all when he was first shown off (everytime I looked at him I thought, "Lorax"). I only got him because he looks like he'll be awesome in actual gameplay and adds a real bruiser to the Z's. That said, I tweaked him a little to match his art a bit more closely: I shaved his receding hairline all the way off to go for the bald/beard/badass biker look and I used the hot water trick to twist his torso and bend his right arm a just a touch. I think it adds a little of the dynamism that his art captures and the sculpt lacks. I think if he matched that artwork a little better out of the box (baggie?) he'd be one of AR's best sculpts BTW - he's loaded with excellent detail and is a super crisp cast.
5.) Acerbus is a rock solid chunk of resin. Posing him in mid charge was a challenge - I drilled way up into his left front ankle with a bit big enough for my biggest gauge wire, then folded the leftover length and glued it up under his base rather than cut it off. After that, I used a veritable bucket of superglue (and a prop for his back legs) to keep him suspended like that. Fingers crossed that he stays that way. I ended up using the black rhino head, first because everyone else seems to be using the white one and second, it seems to convey a little more viciousness. IMO the
white head looks a little like he's thinking, "Ho hum, another day goring bozos in the arena... sigh". Debating whether to add a spear head stabbing into his flank (and broken haft trailing on the sand) for just a touch more savagery.
Looking forward to getting some paint on these (and all my other long delayed AR) minis.