A Kickstarter arrives!

Now I had rather hoped that this morning's post was going to showcase another Zombicide Black Plague survivor, namely Gowan, ahead of Saturday's gathering.  Unfortunately here on the the Sunshine Coast we have had a couple of days of rain, the joys of the the Great British summer.  I am reliably informed that this weather is good for the garden, but not so for a chap wanting to varnish his toy soldiers!  That said my spirits have been lifted somewhat by the timely arrival of a Kickstarter. 

 Earlier in the year, May to be precise, Joakim Ström of 'the Miniatures Man' fame alerted to us the fact that a young German gentleman, called Rene, was fulifing a dream to became a sculptor by running a small Kickstarter to launch a range of fantasy miniatures.  It struck me that this is exactly what Kickstarter was created for and although not exactly to my immediate tastes I thought that I might be able to use the miniatures for my 'Witchfinder General' project and so signed up of the Undead Troops pledge.

The whole process has run very smoothly with Rene keeping us abreast of progress with updates the most recent, only last week, alerting us to the fact that all the pledges had now been sent out.  Imagine my surprise then when mine landed on the doormat on Monday!  The sculpts look great with plenty of detail to keep my brush happy and the casting is crisp with very little work required to prepare the pieces for painting.  My attention was immediately drawn towards the Headless Horseman, when I suddenly realised that the pieces don't have integrated bases.  This isn't a problem of course, but with the Horseman's mount rearing up, I was going to need to give its basing a little thought.

This was to become my 'wet play' project and with the bits box duly raided, I set about assembling the piece.  Having pinned the Horseman's hand to the body, I tried the same with the horse's hoof to a 50mm 'Warbases' MDF disc, but my concern was this wasn't going to be strong enough.  To ease my stability wobbles I used some 'Fenris Games' ruined rubble pieces I had lying around along with 'Games Workshop' branch from their Wylde Wood.  

The space at the front of the base was crying out for a couple of extra pieces and the 'Reaper Miniatures' raven perched on a skull seemed to fit the bill.  In fact the inclusion of this detail reminded me of the Horsemean's penchant for collecting heads and so a few more macabre reminders of his collection were added.  That is pretty much where I have got to at the moment, but I am thinking perhaps a pumpkin or two as a final nod to Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

So well done to Rene, for running such a great Kickstarter and I hope that its success encourages the young man to continue with his passion for sculpting as clearly there is a talent there.