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Bit meh to be honest. Love or hate it, Blanche's art style is nothing if not distinct and unique in this space so it's almost impressive how that's somehow translated into those incredibly generic sculpts. They're not inherently bad, they just do nothing to stand out from the multitude of similar models and if Blanche's name wasn't attached to this, I can't imagine it would have gotten that much traction.

These are just not reflecting the Blanche style at all. They really do just feel like generic off-brand 40k 3d sculpted minis and don't reflect his art all.

There's nothing at all wrong with them, but they don't stand out from anything else that's been put out by a million other 3d prints in recent years, or even by GW recently.

Not a bad price at all for a set of minis and I'd be tempted to get a set to add to my generic pool of 'not-necromunda' space stuff, but I'd expect something far more exotic and off kilter in miniatures as something associated with Blanche finally working outside of the GW sphere.

It was always going to raise silly money though, but better something like this with a substantial end product than some of that other 'hobby influencer' gak.

Mom: "We have Wargame Exclusive at home"

Yea it's a decent price

But it's just more 40k pinups.

I love these! This is literally the first miniature Kickstarter I've backed.

JimmyWolf87 wrote:
Bit meh to be honest. Love or hate it, Blanche's art style is nothing if not distinct and unique in this space so it's almost impressive how that's somehow translated into those incredibly generic sculpts. They're not inherently bad, they just do nothing to stand out from the multitude of similar models and if Blanche's name wasn't attached to this, I can't imagine it would have gotten that much traction.

We are spoilt by the Blanchestu guys who do an amazing job capturing that artistic vision. These models? Well they could be heavily converted?

They've just added a bunch of stretch goals, mostly add-ons at £8 a mini (no sculpts yet, just artwork).

What's with the KS not mentioning James Sherriff's name anywhere. Surely John Blanche isn't a proponent of GW's policy of not crediting sculptors.

Anyway yeah, I also feel like these are just not giving Blanche. Maybe my expectations are unfair, but I'd want someone to capture his art the way Myriad Miniatures has captured Ian Miller's.

These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

I was in until I saw it was Siocast. The Siocast I have hasn't been that impressive, though I don't think I have anything made by Zealot, so maybe they actually care and do good work.

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

While I've seen some very impressive instagram posts of models that utterly nail the spindly gothic scarecrow feel of Blanche's art the vast majority of them are either significantly bigger than normal 32mm or, let's be honest, not really wargaming miniatures but art projects in and of themselves. The old Femme Militant figures were much more "artscale" in proportions and those had to be 40mm scale *in metal*. The point of these is clearly to capture Blanche's art in miniatures you can use on the table more than once a year rather than for display cases or instagram posts, I'd say they nailed it.

Yeah, while I appreciate the criticism that the proportions of the models are different from the concept drawings, I feel that these capture Mr. Blanche’s intent well. I’m backing this as I want to support his work (and get some cool minis into the bargain).

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

Sure, the proportions are one part of it and really do change the character of the minis. My bigger issue with the digital comment is how sterile they look. They're smooth and well-defined and symmetrical and boring. Blanche's art is none of those things.

 YodhrinsForge wrote:
Hmm, I'll admit to not having kept up with The Industry in recent times, have we had many projects delivered using Siocast yet? Does it actually meet the claims of its marketing?

With the exception of the lances (a bit bendy and needed straightening), I've been happy with the siocast Rough Riders and halfling snipers from Victoria Miniatures. The 3d printed lances from the accompanying stls were better.

I have only gotten Siocast from Dark Maened... but the material was really nice. Was gonna post some pics but dont want to derail thsi thread... so here is a link with some of the pictures of the models I got. https://wargamesatlantic.com/community/xenforum/topic/74402/dark-maenad-kickstarter-2-coing-in-september#post-194933

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

While I've seen some very impressive instagram posts of models that utterly nail the spindly gothic scarecrow feel of Blanche's art the vast majority of them are either significantly bigger than normal 32mm or, let's be honest, not really wargaming miniatures but art projects in and of themselves. The old Femme Militant figures were much more "artscale" in proportions and those had to be 40mm scale *in metal*. The point of these is clearly to capture Blanche's art in miniatures you can use on the table more than once a year rather than for display cases or instagram posts, I'd say they nailed it.

Sculptors have been able to make tall and thin work with elves, vampires, skeletons etc with success. I don't disagree with the point that you are making, the old metal Jain Zar was a good example of this, but I do agree that the proportions on these aren't particularly close to the art work, and think that they could have been sculpted more closely without running into the issues you've said.

 Prometheum5 wrote:

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

Sure, the proportions are one part of it and really do change the character of the minis. My bigger issue with the digital comment is how sterile they look. They're smooth and well-defined and symmetrical and boring. Blanche's art is none of those things.

Again though that comes back to the intent; these are meant to be actual miniatures, not just a 3D version of a 2D artwork. This need to denigrate the medium for intentional design choices is really tiresome - if they were sculpted physically by a competent sculptor they would look exactly as these do because the brief would be the same.

 JamesY wrote:

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

While I've seen some very impressive instagram posts of models that utterly nail the spindly gothic scarecrow feel of Blanche's art the vast majority of them are either significantly bigger than normal 32mm or, let's be honest, not really wargaming miniatures but art projects in and of themselves. The old Femme Militant figures were much more "artscale" in proportions and those had to be 40mm scale *in metal*. The point of these is clearly to capture Blanche's art in miniatures you can use on the table more than once a year rather than for display cases or instagram posts, I'd say they nailed it.

Sculptors have been able to make tall and thin work with elves, vampires, skeletons etc with success. I don't disagree with the point that you are making, the old metal Jain Zar was a good example of this, but I do agree that the proportions on these aren't particularly close to the art work, and think that they could have been sculpted more closely without running into the issues you've said.

Perhaps, to an extent(although I note that a lot of the spindly AoS undead got a big size bump...), but these are clearly meant for people to use in games with their existing collections of converted GW minis and if they pushed more towards the art they'd serve that objective less. There are a few very talented, very visible people on social media who are seen as kind of defining INQ28/Blanchitsu with their weird, intricate creations that largely look as if a Blanche painting has stepped off the paper onto the table...but the reality is that's not the vast majority of people. Most of the people out there playing games on the regular are converting GW models(or 3rd party/3d printed alternatives scaled to match GW models) without radically altering their scale and proportion, and I don't see why that market doesn't deserve to be served as well as the more collector/aesthetic end of things.

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

Again though that comes back to the intent; these are meant to be actual miniatures, not just a 3D version of a 2D artwork. This need to denigrate the medium for intentional design choices is really tiresome - if they were sculpted physically by a competent sculptor they would look exactly as these do because the brief would be the same.

I absolutely do not believe that. There is room for stylistic choices and artistic intent when creating a physical miniature. The sculptor of these miniatures has shaved off everything that made them Blanche art. The interpretation of the art is bad.

I don’t know how you could describe Blanche’s art without using words like “messy” or “scribbled”. The miniatures look far too polished.

 alphaecho wrote:

 YodhrinsForge wrote:
Hmm, I'll admit to not having kept up with The Industry in recent times, have we had many projects delivered using Siocast yet? Does it actually meet the claims of its marketing?

With the exception of the lances (a bit bendy and needed straightening), I've been happy with the siocast Rough Riders and halfling snipers from Victoria Miniatures. The 3d printed lances from the accompanying stls were better.

Yeah, I have the Vic Minis halflings, and they're excellent. From following discussions around the webs, siocast does seem to be a bit of a mixed bag, but done well it's perfectly servicable, and allows for sharper detail than HIPs without the hands-on expense and fragility of resin casting.


For the minis - yeah, they look more polished and clean than the artwork, but I think that holds true for any other Blanche artwork that has been translated into 40K-scale minis for production, rather than as one-off conversions. See the ltd ed battle sister cover model...

What’s the point in having John Blanche as the concept artist if the 3d sculpts themselves look like any of a million million other 3d printable sci-fi women?

John Blanche’s style doesn’t come through at all and I don’t see the appeal.

I’ve seen Blanche inspired minis that have come closer to his style. There was a digitally sculpted set from, I think, Heresy Girls that managed to come closer to his scribble-scrabble frantic style. I think even Raging Heroes had minis that captured the Blanche look more closely than these.

While I generally prefer competent digital sculpting to “characterful” hand sculpting, I think Blanche’s style benefits from a technique full of ‘happy little accidents’.

I like these minis but some of the weirdness/surrealness of the artwork is lost in translation. Depending on their scale they might make for decent venator Necromunda gangers.

 YodhrinsForge wrote:

 Prometheum5 wrote:
These lose so much by being digitally sculpted. Really missed the point of capturing Blanche's art in miniature.

This is actually kind of a funny comment/sentiment, given that normally the problem with digital sculpting is people who don't understand miniatures making things too lanky and petite in proportion so that when you print/cast them they end up snapped into bits.

While I've seen some very impressive instagram posts of models that utterly nail the spindly gothic scarecrow feel of Blanche's art the vast majority of them are either significantly bigger than normal 32mm or, let's be honest, not really wargaming miniatures but art projects in and of themselves. The old Femme Militant figures were much more "artscale" in proportions and those had to be 40mm scale *in metal*. The point of these is clearly to capture Blanche's art in miniatures you can use on the table more than once a year rather than for display cases or instagram posts, I'd say they nailed it.

Just a small correction here, Femme Militant were resin miniatures. Any metal ones were recasts.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I don’t know how you could describe Blanche’s art without using words like “messy” or “scribbled”. The miniatures look far too polished.

I don't know if anybody would describe the box art for 2nd and 3rd ed. 40K, or Epic as 'messy' or 'scribbled'..?

Pretty good models. I can imagine Blance would appreciate these as they stray from the original as much as every other model he art directed for GW.

That said, these models rely hevily on peoples nostalgia over blances scribbles, so making them look like normal models is probably not a good idea.

Feels like a complete missed opportunity as others have said. The concept art is great, but in the translation to physical sculpt the spindly proportions and a lot of the surreal details have been completely ruined.

A few examples of digital sculpting that keep a lot more blanchitsu style whimsy and character than this campaign, especially Knucklebones

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Knucklebones%20Minis#/

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Turnip28

http://wargameterrain.blogspot.com/2023/05/trench-crusade-new-trench-crusade.html

https://cults3d.com/en/users/DogDogDog/3d-models

https://cults3d.com/en/users/Godcomplex/3d-models

My immediate thought when asked about Blanche's style is definitely the 'messy scribble' look. It's not my cup of tea, but a lot of folks really like it.

These models look like the generic kind of thing that shows up in my Facebook feed.

The models don't even look remotely like the sketches.Sure, the sketches are pretty bland and you cannot translate them 1:1, but this is a pretty poor attempt.

The actual model looks better than the render but the renders look like a group of girls hit an all you can eat cruise for 2 weeks, compared to the art.
Waiting for the models to be printed and using them in the kickstarter may have been a better choice.

I think they might have helped themselves a lot if they had some high quality painted and photographed printed models; not just clean renders and a few photos of printed versions.


I have to agree with others that whilst there is nothing wrong with the sculpts, there's a certain lack of something that the art has that hasn't been translated into the model by the sculptor.


This isn't a "digital vs physical sculpting" aspect, this is much more a question of sculpting style (perhaps also skill).

Heck it could even be the rendering style they've used that's making them seem more bulked out than they would be for printed models.