Review of Micro Art studios Iron Brotherhood
Placing an order and P&P
I ordered ten of the Iron Brotherhood along with a grovelling servant and a big ol' tech base. The webshop has a pretty user-friendly interface, and I liked the currency conversion service – very useful. The shop allows money to be sent through Paypal, which I appreciated – it gives a nice element of insurance that I always appreciate when ordering from a shop for the first time. Call me cowardly!
There was quite a delay in receiving the package, but I think that's more due to the transfer between the Polish and British postal services than any fault on Microart's part. I would note that communication was good – my e-mails were answered within a day or two, and in polite and clear English. The staff were very helpful, though I'd recommend they get one person to sort things out – I think I was corresponding with about half-a-dozen people!
The parcel took a month to arrive. This is worth noting – even though my order was delayed due to postal hoo-has, the delivery will probably take quite a long time (though chime in if you received yours quickly!).
That said, it was nicely packaged and secured, with plenty of polystyrene chips keeping everything safe and sound:
The models
The Iron Brotherhood come as three-part models; the main body and two separate arms. There are five different designs of bodies, of which I received an even selection – while they are listed as randomly picked, it looks like some kind soul makes sure you don't end up with loads of the same one.
Here are some front and back pictures of the bodies, showing one of each design.
The designs are fairly similar to one another; varying mainly in the tubing and details, but I like this relative uniformity. Others might want to make some alterations.
Note that these are virtually untouched – the casting is exceptionally clean, with little or no mouldlines or flash. The resin is high quality, and has held the detail well. It is fairly tough to work with, being dense and resistant. This is both good and bad – they don't lend themselves to easy conversion, but they are pretty tough; well able to stand up to the rigours of gaming.
Some of the bodies I received had a large 'plug' of resin attached to the bottom, nearly the same size as the model itself! This was easily removed with a large pair of clippers and then cleaned with a knife.
The arms were supplied in a separate tissue paper package, secured with tape. This is presumably to keep them all together and safe during shipping. There are two designs – a claw and a rifle/pointy thing.
Once opened, you see these:
I wasn't so impressed with the arms as I was the bodies. As you can see, there's a lot of flash on these – though they do clean up well.
Here's my first gripe about these models – the arms don't fit into the sockets very well at all. Not only are the shoulder ends of the arms a bit lumpy and ill-defined, but the undercut socket of the torso gets a little clogged up with resin, and it's hard to clean out well. It took quite a bit of work to clear this out to dry-fit the arms, and they looked a little too long to me. I'd recommend trimming the arms to get them to fit more naturally.
This is made fairly difficult by the toughness/brittleness of the resin – I had quite a job getting a clean cut without really forcing it; and I'd be wary of snapping it in the wrong part, since there's no way of getting spares.
Of course, the toughness of the resin makes it great if you're happy with the basic poses: the only bits that are easy to remove is the flash!
Here's a piccy of the grovelling menial:
A fun little model that'll fit right in with the Adeptus Mechanicus. I didn't like the fact it's a random selection (I'd rather have picked one for the cost), but they're all nice sculpts, so I'd have to be a bit miserable if I called this a real gripe. Based on the selection of Iron Brotherhood models I got, I'd anticipate the nice people at Micro Arts picking out a broad selection.
Cost
Here's my second gripe. They are nice models, but for the price I'm paying (equivalent to Forgeworld prices), I'd expect a little more. I think dropping the price by even a small amount would lead to a lot more people to buying these – in my personal experience I know three people who love the models, but were put off by the price.
Versatility:
These models are fantastic in terms of compatibility with other materials: there's plenty of space on the models to add all sorts of fun bits: here's an example with a
GW metal servoarm and a set of
FW resin arms to show you how well they combine with other sets.
Painting
I've only just got around to starting to paint mine, so no painted piccies yet, I'm afraid. That said, there seems to be little or no release agent (I gave mine a quick bath in warm soapy water just in case) and they primer well (I used Halford's black car primer). I've applied Citadel colour paints, and they're sitting well so far.
Notes
Hortwerth is sculpting some larger, elite versions of the Iron Brotherhood, so the range is set to expand (they look great so far!). This is worth bearing in mind if you're thinking of investing in an army.
Conclusion
Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. The Iron Brotherhood are high quality resin figures that will stand up to a lifetime's gaming, and I'm happy to recommend them to other gamers. The menial is a fun little extra that would work well in an Inquisitorial force for
40k, or as a wound marker/civilian in other games. He might even fit into a Warmachine Menoth force.
I've docked a couple of points for the price (realistically, they're too expensive to make a complete army, unless you're very wealthy) and the problems I had with the arms.
Overall, I'd say they're absolutely ideal for a showcase squad or two.
8/10 mechadendrites up.
LINK
TO IRON BROTHERHOOD:
http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/iron-brotherhood-http05-p-147.html
- but very happy to have an indepth look at them 
