Mini of the Week 4-10-15

Welcome back to Mini of the Week, where every Friday I will find a miniature from around the web that exemplifies an aspect of our hobby and share it with you.

The Maelstrom by Pablo Lopez on Putty and Paint

I remember seeing this diorama two years ago when it took Bronze in the Diorama category of the 2013 UK Golden Demons. I was blown away by it then and I still am now. The whole concept is amazing and it's so refreshing to see something this high quality that uses models from one of GW's smaller games. The Dreadfleet models really are great and packed full of detail. I have only gotten a little bit into painting the main Empire ship myself. It clearly evokes the ending scene from the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which Pablo even admits was his inspiration. Even though it is paying homage to that scene it definitely has a distinctive Warhammer feel to it.

The painting on this is top notch and he clearly paid attention to the little details. All of the flags on the ships have been repositioned to be blowing in the corrects direction, which just really reinforces the narrative of the piece. The water effects are fantastic as well, really capturing the feel of a raging maelstrom. Some of my favorite bits are the High Elf ship being rammed to pieces and the Kraken ship bursting up in the middle. I think it's hard for some people to appreciate the scale of this. The Empire ship is easily three inches long and two inches tall. When you consider that you begin to understand how large this diorama must actually be in person. All in all, this is one of my favorite Warhammer dioramas. Now I really want to finish off my Dreadfleet set, maybe in a few years...

Be sure to check out more views of it on Putty and Paint and show the artist some love if you like it.

Until next time,

Tyler M.

What do you think of this model? If you have any models or have seen any around the web that you feel deserve to be the Mini of the Week feel free to send them to me at tylerm@mengelminiatures.com with the title "Mini of the Week" and a brief description of how you painted it or a link to where you found it. There is also a dedicated board on the Mengel Miniatures Forum for Mini of the Week where you can discuss past entries or post of minis you think are deserving of the title.