Ivy From Ax Faction Miniatures

During the course of my back pain, my ability to paint miniatures has varied tremendously. Sometimes I would be unable to sit for more than a few minutes without pain.

Reading also took a slight hit as sometimes the pain killers would give me the dreaded 'fuzzy' thinking.

But I'm almost back to normal now.

Sadly that means I'm back to work full time which cuts into my hobby time.

But nonetheless, I'm sneaking in a miniature review of Ivy, a member of a group called the Siege Breakers from Ax Faction Miniatures. Their website is normal in most aspects but the default sound being on needs to be shut off and returned to the 80's where it belongs.

One of the things I like, is that there are finished painted miniatures on the site. I find things go much quicker for me when painting if I have at least a basis to start the painting off of. Unoriginal sure but also hugely time savings when I'm trying to knock out some of the backlog.

For example, Ivy's paint job from the Ax Faction Miniature site:

Also of note is that there are several views of the character, not just one from one side. Gives the viewer a better appreciation for the miniature as well as the great paintjob applied to it.

There is a fair amount of cheesecake with the figures, but there are also some practical designs as well.

I ordered Ivy with a few other figures. One of those that I'll shortly have a review of, is a giant elk with a rider. I bought that figure specifically as I was running a 5th edition campaign in the River Kingdoms located in the Paizo Pathfinder setting and thought it would make a great random encounter.

Ivy herself though, is part of a group called the Siege Breakers consisting of two female warriors and a 'fuzzy' creature that reminds me of Rocket Racoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. If fuzzy, aka Brig, wasn't a member of the group, I might have ordered the group as opposed to just Ivy.

Their newest group, the Defenders, looks like it's more up my alley in terms of all the characters.


Figures arrived quickly. Packaging

was top notch. They come in boxes with wrap and plastic over the figure to keep it all together. Glad to report no damage. The packaging also came with numerous bits like art and a button. I snapped a picture so you can see what I'm talking about below.

Opening the box... Ivy comes with a round lipped base and an precast designed insert. Saves you a few dollars if you like specialized bases from places like Dragon Forge or Secret Weapon.

Ivy is a gray resin figure. the details are very clean with minimal clean up. The figures comes in the following pieces:

1. Round lip base 30mm
2. Base insert.
3. Crossbow.
4. Quiver.
4. Left arm.
5. Main body.

The 'loose' pieces are all attached to one sprue. Makes it easy to keep them together when prepping the figure.

Figure assembly was reasonable save for the hand to crossbow bit. Now for experienced modellers or those who are pros will have no problem. I also didn't necessarily put everything in exactly the position it 'looked' like

In terms of height and compatibility, Ivy is a towering figure. In the above, we have a mercenary from Privateer Press, Ivy herself, an old metal figure from Malifaux and a Reaper metal miniature. Ivy easily towers over them. The poor Reaper figure, because he doesn't have an integrated round base, almost seems short in comparison.

Further note, both the Privateer Press and Malifaux miniature are on raised bases so they have another height advantage and still don't match Ivy's height.

I've given Ivy a white primer as I thought it might stand out more against the gray resin. Might go with a darker gray next time.

When looking for miniatures for your own games, what's the first thing you look for? Any other companies that are offering great service these days?

I is For Iron Man

Another character that needs no introduction, Iron Man is a superhero whose origins actual start not in some modern post Middle East country, but rather, Vietnam where a young Tony Stark was captured after being injured by a mine. Using super science to save himself and at the same time, create suit of armor, the invincible Iron Man was born.

Vietnam?

Yup.

Marvel Comics uses this thing called a 'sliding' scale so that whenever a character would be aged beyond a reasonable doubt, the real world events are switched over to something more modern and sensible. Back when Iron Man was first created , 1963, Vietnam was something recent as opposed to now (2015) where the Middle East is still a hotbed of activity.

This is, again, one of the reasons I try to recommend people look beyond the current crop of what's popular.

While the Iron Man movie franchise of movies has been entertaining, and Robert was a brilliant casting decision, fully showing what superhero movies can be, it's a very modern take on the character. While I'm not going to say that the original comics are works of art, some stories hold up better than others, it's a fascinating look at where we thought technology would be at the time.

Think about it. In 1963 they came up with the idea for someone who could create a suit of armor that is both defense and weapon. That had a myriad collection of abilities. That would evolve and change with the times. That would get specific suits to deal with specific menaces. That's a lot of imagination today, much less over forty years ago.

Another interesting aspect of the historical read? Crimson Dynamo, Black Widow, and Titanium Man are all Russian superhero counters to Iron Man, brought on by the Cold War. Modern readers may not even have the proper context for what that means. It's almost like being a historian, picking up clues as to what type of society Iron Man was created in and his stories told in. The comics reflect the culture.

Another thing? Hawkeye. While popular in the movies, Hawkeye was initially Iron Man's enemy until he became a hero. A redeemed soul so to speak. It's a showcasing of how things progress over longer periods of time, as opposed to a movie that at best has over an hour to bring in all that character development and special effects. 

One inexpensive way to get some of the back story of Iron Man, are the Essential collections.  It looks like the first few are out but secondary sellers have them.

For those not interested in such, Marvel Comics directly has an 'Unlimited' pass that allows you to read any of the digital comics on their website. It's usually about six months behind the current publication dates and it, last I had a sub, was a little bit chaotic in it's organization, but if you are a comic fan, it is well worth it.

Anyone have any favorite Iron Man arcs? Any arcs that are absolute garbage and should be avoided? Throw a comment into the old blog and share those hits and misses.

Nagash: 5 Reasons to Use Nagash in your Fantasy Role Playing Game

I'm a big fan of Nagash from way back in the day. Hunt threw some of my ideas to revitalize the Warhammer line and you'll see me talking about a "Summer of Nagash" where the big undead returns and gets to use a variety of unique models as well as those from Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings.

Well boy did that come to pass eh? For those who don't know, Nagash is an undead sorcer from the Warhammer Fantasy setting. At the end of 2014, Games Workshop started the 'End Times' and did a lot of different things to the Warhammer Fantasy setting. The first book of that was with Nagash.

But why is Nagash so awesome? I'm approaching him not only from a miniature appreciation, but because it's Warhammer and I've been a player of the Warhammer setting for years, also as a role playing character.

1. The God That Walks: Dungeons and Dragons has a fat bloated goat headed demon lord known as Orcus. Nagash is a man who pulled himself up into a god like status and fought Sigmar, another former man, now god, in hand to hand combat. Fat goat demon versus man who pulled himself into the higher reaches of possible power?

2. Nagash has magic items. The Books of Nagash or the Liber Mortis, are potent necromantic artifacts in and of themselves that drive others to search them out. These artifacts can make little games in and of themselves as players, if good, must prevent others from finding them, and if evil, take them and master them before others do. His name is also associated with other artifacts of her time like the Black Pyramid of Nagash. This lending of his name to various things, without he himself being there, lends his character power. Take the fat bloated goat headed demon again. What's his wand called? Yup, Wand of Orcus.

3. The First: Nagash has a lot of things attributed directly to him or about him ranging from necromancy and vampires to lichdom. And if not him creating them directly, him being involved either as a counter against his power or early experimentation. This is one of the few times where a setting has a definitive answer. "Where did vampires come from? Where did liches come from? Where did necromancy come from?"

4. Potent Characters: How can you not love Nagash when he has a follower like Arkhan The Black? I have the original model of this character and he's a lich on a skeleton chariot. His never version is even more impressive. When you need a high priest for the undead? Having someone who might be a match for Vecna when Vecan was a lich as opposed to the deity he became? And how about those on the edges of Nagash lore like Krell, a former Chaos Champion who was raised by Nagash and wound up serving Heinrich Kemmler, the Lichemaster? Those names in and of themselves were of powerful entities and they're just entities on the chain of Nagash's influence.

5. Backstory: Because he wasn't overused, Nagash remained a potent character despite having a terrible model in the older edition of the game. This allowed the writers of the Warhammer Fantasy setting to fire with both barrels and deliver a ton of new models, new characters, new scenarios, and new events that could fit in with what we know of Nagash. In Spartacus, there is rumors of "The Shadow of Death" before Spartacus fights the gladiator. Putting bits and pieces of lore about Nagash well before the characters ever meet him? Classic!

When you want to build a monster of your own for your campaign, you could do far worse than look at how Games Workshop handled Nagash.

Fist of The North Star: Rei

The anime based on the manga, Fist of the North Star, has two main schools initially. The one used by the protagonist, Kenshiro, is the Fist of the North Star. The other is the Southern Cross. The North Star is supposed to only have one practionioner while we discover later that the Southern Cross has no less then Six, and one of those Six, the General, has Six defenders who are also masters of martial arts.

Visually, I always liked the Southern Cross. It's a style that cuts its opponents to pieces whereas the North Star causes them to blow up. Of those who practice it, Rei was my personal favorite. His introduction is all over Youtube but this clip is as good as any other I suppose.

The thing about Rei that works, is initially, he's very much out to pursue a specific goal. In this case, finding the man with seven scars on his chest. (Kenshiro has seven on his chest by the way!) and killing that man. Apparently such an individual killed Rei's parents and enslaved his sister!

Of course it turns out NOT to be Ken and the two managed to join forces to kill those who've done these terrible things.

The thing I like about Rei though, is his change. He becomes concerned for other people. He sees the value in what Kenshiro is doing. He grows to care for Bat and Lin and others in a short time. He understands that its not just about doing only what he wants to do.

And that makes him a perfect example of how some players should fit into the game. Sure it's all fun to be the 'Wolverine' or if this was the 90's, the 'new' Ghost Rider, but in a role playing game that's not a solo game, you need to have hooks that fit in with the other players. You need to be able to engage them. Even if your initial concept is lone wolf, you need to be able to have hooks that go into the others.

For example, lone rogue whose only goal is wealth? Role playing an appreciation for what the other characters can do if only as a nod to the fact that a group can gather more wealth than an individual rogue can, is the way to go. "While I may not appreciate the noise that this armored buffon makes, I admit that his ability to destroy ogres and hill giants is quite useful in the liberation of their funds."

A wizard whose only purpose is to find more and greater magics to master? "While Amar is a fool for worshipping the gods instead of magic, I admire the fact that his ability to channel positive energy saved me the trouble of having to pull out real arcane power to destroy that lich and its minions."

You have to role with it to roll with it.