Gwen, Cleric of Chauntea

Here is the first of the Dark Sword Miniatures completed for our DnD campaign, DSM 4107 - Easley Masterworks - Female Cleric.



The paint job is not my best, but my friend I painted it for is happy, so I'm happy too. The character is a Cleric of Chauntea, a goddess of nature, so I used browns, beiges and greens on the mini, based on my friend's request.

One of the things I'm proud of on this mini is the shield.  Originally, the shield bears a simple raised triangle in a circle.  This character being a Cleric, I tought she would proudly go into battle carrying a shield emblasonned with her deity's symbol.  So here is what I sculpted with green stuff:

As you can see, it's the same symbol I sculpted with Sculpy and posted a while back.  The miniature looks great on the table, when we fight the evil cultist our DM throws at us.

Now on to the other minis, if I can keep focused on them.

New Campaign, new minis!

Last year, I started playing in a new DnD campaign DMed by my cousin.  A new campaign means new characters, so I offered everyone to paint a mini of their choice to represent them on the gaming table.

After a few sessions that helped us get a feel for our characters, everyone settled on a miniature from a company I was not familiar with, Dark Sword Miniatures.

So here's the unboxing of the package I got in the mail and my first impressions of the minis.

The blisters in the box nicely protected.

The five characters, plus 2 bonus fig, a rogue and a small cherub.

All the parts cleaned up before assembly.

No way I'll pin this...

All minis (minus one) assembled.

I am pleased with these minis.  The casting is clean, the detailing really nice and the poses, although a bit static are well suited for role playing purposes.  They remind me a lot of classic fantasy book covers, and they should; most minis from Dark Sword are based on concept art by some of the same artists, like Larry Elmore the original artist for the DragonLance Chronicles books.

The only small "con" I might have about the minis is the fact that some of them are multi-parts, in particular the figther in plate "DSM5030 - Victarion Greyjoy" (the one not assembled on the left). The axe and right arm had to be glued to the body at the same time to insure a proper fit.  Not an easy thing to do at this size.  I might not be 100% objective about this. Although I understand the why of them, I don't like multi-parts minis in general.  When used in games, they're more delicate to handle.

But that's just a minor quip, and I will definitely order from Dark Sword again, once I made a significant dent in the lead mountain.

Overall, everyone is please with their minis and now I have to come through with decent paint jobs...