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Afternoon all.

-UPDATE-
I am going to continue updating this thread with reviews as I get round (or more accurately if I get round) to them.

1st Review
I started a post over in the misc games section on the forthcoming Icarus Kickstarter as I was really getting into the artwork for their new miniature line. So when a little box from Wales landed on my doorstep and as it's their first ever miniature I just had to share.

edit: Icarus Kickstarter post has been moved to the News/Rumours section

A brief bit on me I suppose, I focus more on the painting side of miniatures rather than gaming, however I still want to be able to use the actual model. So durability and detail are the 2 main points I look for, it also helps if it's an awesome concept

Well it arrived fairly quickly and well packaged - fairly large box stuffed with newspaper and the goodies, so all nicely packaged and protected.

1x Gabriel Cross Blister
1x A5 Kickstarter poster

Inside the blister was 1x unit card with Gabriel's stats, skills and point costs for use in the game, 1x 25mm round base, 1x set of arms, 1x torso and 2x heads (1 with helmet and 1 without) My initial thoughts were wow that's detailed, not being used to high quality resin I was not quite sure what to expect. Now for the nitty gritty - yes there are some mold lines, it's a miniature so a fact of life - however they are not very much at all. The lines on the torso are very faint and you do need to look for them, there is a little flash in the crouch area but that is about it. The arms are almost the same as the torso, hardly noticable at all, however there are two pieces of sprue attached, they should not cause too much issue to remove and the helmet head is almost completely clean. The face does have a slightly more prominent mold line but it is in the hair so will not ruin the face details and should be reasonably straightforward to remove.

The arms are attached together, which I wasn't too sure on but they pop into their sockets easily thanks to the flex in the resin and not having to attach the second hand to the gun is actually a great benefit! Both heads pop into the socket with no issues and the images below are all dry fit with only a little blue tack on the slot to hold the miniature still. Now I am really impressed with the detail levels, yes some of the detail is fine so I will need to work on my brush control but overall there is quite a bit of depth to the miniature, the armour plates for instance are quite defined. There are some small shallow areas - small parts of armour details - these probably will show up more with a wash but you should probably prime the miniature properly and lightly, a heavy priming will loose some of those finer details. Scale wise I do not own any 40K miniatures any more so I have included one of the latest Infinity miniatures in the Joan model with one of the older Haqqislam models, then Gabriel, then a sedition wars plastic miniature I am using as a colour test for Gabriel and the one GW classic miniature in the form of the Mighty Zug ( I only own blood bowl GW miniatures, sorry folks)

Is he worth it? Well I think so, he's £7.50 which doesn't seem to bad as it's upwards of £10 or so for a GW single miniature (sometimes even more but the more expensive noes seem to come with more weapon options etc.) and around £13 or so for a simple Infamy miniature (comparable small scale British miniature). Any negatives Jimbo? He is in a bit too much of a standard pose for me, as he is a central character in the universe I would maybe have liked a slightly ore expressive pose - but he should be straightforward to paint, attach head and paint arms separately and it is still a good pose. I have attached some more images of the actual miniature itself so hopefully you can see the detail I was talking about. I am really pleased to have stumbled across the artwork for this game and even more happy to recommend the products. It is one thing to post images of renders and suggest people check it out, it is entirely different when I can see the actual miniature and quality.

In short I recommend you pick one up and give it a try. When I get myself sorted and if I can get the time I might try and post up a WIP as I paint him up and as this is the first time I have tried to review a miniature please feel free to let me know of any improvements etc. Thanks for reading and have fun.

Afternoon all. Long time no update on here, but with the imminent start of the latest Icarus Kickstarter I thought I would get my proverbial rear-end in gear.

2nd Review

This time we will focus on the Gunslinger from the Icarus Peoject's Alliance faction.

First a little background straight from Icarus themselves.

Joesph Edwards, also know as the Gunslinger is a marshal detective; tasked with bringing the galaxy’s most fearsome criminals to justice.

He travels from world to world with a small team of Alliance marshals and troopers, apprehending law breakers wherever they may be found.

Styling himself after the western lawmen of Old Earth, the Gunslinger is never seen without his iconic hat and long coat.
While other marshals use standard issue side arms, the Gunslinger carries a pair of custom heavy pistols. These long barreled pistols fire high caliber rounds, easily capable of piercing all but the strongest armours.

The Gunslinger is a famously dour individual. Those with whom he comes into contact with will often tell tales of his stern face and how he is largely silent, speaking only when absolutely necessary, and often answering only with grunts.
Despite this reputation, the marshals and troopers that serve with him are fiercely loyal. And many of the member of his team have been with him for years.

The Gunslinger is one of the most skilled detectives in the Alliance; and he has brought more criminals to justice than any other individual.



Right, some cool artwork but back to the review. At this point I will mention the customer service of Icarus, a few weeks went past since ordering and no package so I contacted them to ask about the delay. Turns out the order was dispatched so Anto, the owner, told me not to worry and within a few days the postman had dropped off a card for me to pick up my parcel from the sorting office. A quick trip and some choice words later I came back with 2 identical boxes - turns out the postman had neglected to tell me about the 1st package but hey I now had 2. As Anto had been so friendly and helpful I offered to return 1 and was told to enjoy both copies, quite nice especially for such a small company.

PACKAGE
The miniature itself arrived in the standard blister pack, a nice large piece of foam padding protecting a plastic bag with all 3 parts and the base. Alongside this was a large artwork piece on the blister insert (perfect for painting ideas) and the unit card to use in the game itself. All in all nothing amazing but really nicely protected, great artwork and arrived in perfect condition.

MINIATURE
The miniature itself has divided people, there are those that don't like the space cowboy cliché and those that do. I am in the crowd that thinks in the far-reaching of space on frontier towns etc. a certain level of wild west is quite possible so he isn't my favourite but he certainly looks the part of an Alliance Marshall. The cast is really nicely done, 3 pieces and all slotting together very easily. The arm is on a ball joint so I think a certain level of modification could be mate and the lower part of the coat fits snugly on the rear with no fuss. Bad bits? There is some flash, but most brushed off in just taking it out the package, there are a couple of visible mold lines on the lower half of the miniature, but they are in areas that are relatively detail free so should be easy enough to clean. There are a few areas that look like they are stepped, but once cleaned and primed I will look again because they don't feel stepped. Result? Well detailed, easy assembly, plenty of room to practice worn leather on the coat, the straps and pouches and armour plates are nicely defined and should paint up well - they aren't quite as defined as on the Gabriel Cross miniature but then the details are slightly larger so all in all it looks like a good balance between detail and size.

VALUE
£7.50, not cheap and certainly no where near expensive for a single miniature, in fact all their current miniatures are the same cost even those with 4 arms The prep time will be less than the operation icestorm miniatures I'm working on at the moment(with less cursing I hope) the scale is very similar to the corvus beli miniatures so terrain etc. Should be no problem to match. For the money I think this is great value, the sculpts are only getting better and better and whilst I think the coat could be longer and the hat a little more angled and less rounded, all in all a solid and recommended miniature for all.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Let me know what you think of the reviews, I haven't done many so any feedback is appreciated. thanks.