The End Of The Maelstrom / Mierce Miniatures Saga

The Maelstrom / Mierce Miniatures saga ended well, with me receiving all my missing miniatures from the once BaneBeasts range. If your order slipped through the net then I recommend getting in touch with them too. Over the next week or so I'll do a few out of the box reviews. In short though, the quality of all the miniatures is excellent. This is a company you should certainly keep your eye on if you're on the look out for character models or monsters to be striking centrepieces for your fantasy armies.

Mierce Miniatures WILL Send My Order And Deserve A Second Chance

Last week I complained about Mierce Miniatures and to their credit they've addressed my concerns. 

Like many others who'd ordered from Maelstrom Games during their 'fire sale' I'd been left without the miniatures I'd ordered. And due to the discounts offered, this order was quite substantial. Despite emails to both Maelstrom during October-November last year, and emails to Mierce earlier this year, I heard nothing.

It seems that although many did have their models delivered, other orders slipped through the cracks. I must've been one of those. I assumed that was that - I'd get nothing.

Seeing the recent new releases for Mierce I decided to email them one more time, and I wrote about how annoyed I was on this blog. 

Mierce responded and agreed to fulfil my missing order. They were very gracious about the situation too.

I don't think we'll ever really know what happened with the collapse of Maelstrom. It seems to me that things were stretched far too far and eventually broke. There's a fair discussion of this in the comments here, so I won't repeat things here.

So what do I think of Mierce now? I'll certainly give them the benefit of doubt. Whatever their recent history there's no denying their models are fantastic. When my missing order arrives I'll do some out-of-the-box reviews to demonstrate this.

And based on the customer service I've received I will order from them again. Assuming my models arrive in good order, I'll be recommending them to others too.

What Do You Think About Mierce Miniatures? Con Merchants Rising From The Ashes Of Maelstrom Games? *...UPDATED...*

...UPDATED... Mierce have now been in touch with me and offered to fulfil my missing order, so... watch this space for further details ...UPDATED...

It doesn't take much to figure out that Mierce Miniatures is basically the same outfit that ran Maelstrom Games into the ground and left plenty of people out of pocket and without the miniatures they'd ordered in good faith. They even say they are on their own website, here.

What do you think about them? Did you contribute to their Kickstarter campaign? Or do you, like me, think that they're a highly dubious outfit that doesn't deserve any of a hobbyist's hard earned cash.

I for one don't buy the 'we're not Maelstrom' nonsense that they're trying to get everyone to buy into. Not for one second. I'm still owed a number of their miniatures - the ones from the BaneBeasts range - that the now defunct Maelstrom website still claims will be honoured in November: yes, November as in five months ago.

I find it really frustrating that bad business can be rewarded with good fortune. Mierce claim to have raised £108,036 from Kickstarter - do these backers not realise that this is the same bunch of crooks that ran a business into the ground and walked away and into another cushy job, leaving many hobbyists (that they claim to be themselves) high and dry? We need to stop investing in these people because they'll only do it again, given half a chance. Why wouldn't they when they got away from it last time?

It really annoys me because their miniatures are rather good. I'd buy more - happily - if they actually fulfilled their previous commitments rather than shafting people who once supported them with custom. I for one will avoid them like the plague - and believe me, that's giving the plague a bad name.

Darklands (BaneBeasts) Minotaurs - Out Of The Box

I've finally got my hands on part of an order from the now-sunk Maelstrom Games. These are the minotaur lord and standard bearer. I've been anticipating these because the plan is that they'll be central to my beastmen army. 

The standard of the resin on these guys is pretty good although they're not without a few problems. The standard bearer body and head is very crisp and detailed but the standard has a great deal of flashing - so much so that it verges on a mis-cast in a few prominent places.

The lord is much better. There is a major flaw though, as the above photo illustrates. The shaft of his great weapon is extremely flimsy and I managed to snap it simply getting out of the packaging - and I assure you I have a soft touch!

Here they are in a size comparison shot with one of the Scibor minotaurs. The Darklands offerings are noticeably shorter, which makes me wonder whether they could be fielded in the same unit. Perhaps with a similar paint job and scenic bases they'll blend in? We'll see. 

Above you can see that it was simple enough to replace the broken shaft with a plastic one from the standard in the GW Gor set. Overall I'm pleased with these guys but there is a bit of a dampener on things due to their marginally smaller scale when compared to the Scibor models. They're still great miniatures. 

BaneBeasts Blood Maw WIP #1

Oh boy is this guy fun to work with! Yes it's the Blood Maw from the fantastic BaneBeasts range and on the basis of this model I would happily have the whole lot because the quality is top notch. As with all large resin kits, this one took some work to put together, but what's a few bits of greenstuff between friends?

Here he is wearing a straightforward base coat. I'm going to make he very fleshy with tons of contrast and depth all over the place. In particular I'm looking forward to doing all the chipped details on his claws and teeth - which will be a bone-white when complete - and that pink slobbering gob. My brother suggested this model might make for a proxy Great Unclean One. That's a possibility. I'll have to see how carried away I get with all that craggy and gnarled skin...

Kissy, kissy

BaneBeasts Blood Maw - Out Of The Box

I'm sure that, like me, plenty of people will have looked at the BaneLegions/BaneBeasts range and thought, "hmm, can they be as good as they look?!" Well I'm happy to report that on the evidence of the Blood Maw, they certainly are. Here are a few 'out of the box' photos:

Here he is in all his unassembled glory - the resin is perfect and there are no quality glitches whatsoever

Right arm detail - look at that texture on this skin

The underside of the same arm - outstanding

I was lucky enough to win this chap through a competition over at Frontline Gamer, so a massive THANK YOU to both FG and the folks at BaneLegions for making all of this possible.

Look Who's Coming To Dinner...

A massive THANK YOU is due to Frontline Gamer for running a prize draw for the wonderful Blood Maw from BaneBeasts, which I'm very chuffed to have won! This is a great looking model and I'm really looking forward to getting my grubby mitts on it's rough and leathery hide.

BaneBeasts Ahoy!

Goodness me... Look at this great photo of all the BaneBeasts. Finally (I say to myself) some "real life" photos of these fantastic looking miniatures. I suppose I'll have to get one soon... Loads more pictures on the BaneLegions blog.