Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Mini of the Year Voting


It's been another full year of Mini of the Week entries, which can only mean one thing, it's time to vote for the Mini of the Year from 2019!

I went through all 51 of the entries from the past year (one of the week's was last year's winner) and picked the top 10 most viewed. These were the 10 that you, the reader, decided you liked the most just by virtue of how popular it was. Now it's your chance to pick which one of these 10 deserves the top spot of Mini of the Year. Take a look at all of the entries below then vote for your favorite at the bottom. Next Friday I will reveal which one is taking home the honor of being everyone's favorite mini from 2019!


Abaddon the Despoiler vs Lt. Calsius by Jesús Gómez


I mean, wow?! What else can I really say about this piece. Thank you for joining me on today's Mini of the Week! See you next week...

Okay, well lets try and form some of my awestruck-ness into words, typey typey style. Everything about this is amazing. The Abaddon model is already a fantastic sculpt, and that Lieutenant is probably the best Lieutenant models out there (in my opinion at least). The composition is a fairly simple one, but it works great, and I really like how Abaddon has been elevated. It gives him even more of a sense of threat and power. Like he needed the help.

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Emperor's Child by Magobaku


Wow, what a conversion! I'm not even going to begin to guess at what models make up this guy. He really captures the baroque nature of the Emperor's Children. This pretty much looks like a John Blanche drawing as a model. Everything about it speaks to nobility and over confidence. The paint job on this is fantastic as well. While it's not the traditional purple armor of the Emperor's Children, there is still a hint of purple with the cloak. 

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Abhorrant Archregant by Alex Varela


I love the lighting on this model. The warm, yet sinister red light in the bottom left of the piece contrasts perfectly with the colder, paler colors in the top right with the Abhorrant himself. The painting on this is just superb all around, which is why it won a Golden Demon. The blending on the skin is fantastic, but more importantly, the texture on the skin is very realistic.

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Corvus Cabal by Andy Wardle


There's no denying how cool the new Warcry minis are, with the Corvus Cabal being some of the coolest and most liked. It's pretty amazing to see something this high of quality so soon after their release, but I guess that's what you get with a multiple Slayer Sword winner like Andy Wardle. I love the little diorama going on here. It's nothing overly complex, but it shows off the two minis perfectly. 

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Loonboss by Sadziu


This is such a cool idea! I absolutely love the use of light here. You really get the sense of this Loonboss skulking around at night. The object source lighting is top notch, but what really impresses me are the colors in shadows. You get the sense that they are in shadow and almost black, but at the same time you can still clearly tell what color they actually are. The glowing red eyes are really eerie too. The perfect touch though is the bad moon being reflected in the blade of his weapon. It's not something you notice right away, but once you do it's amazing.

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Space Wolf by Artur Żołędowski


This is a really cool painting style. i don't want to say it's cartoony, because it's not, but it has a certain graphic element to it. It all feels very matte and representational instead of realistic, if that makes sense. Yet at the same time, it does have a lot of realistic elements to it, such as the weathering. There are also subtle shifts in tone across the armor, though most of it is flat. I feel like this style really relies on being able to completely nail your transitions as well as having super crisp highlights, but not anything that's too stark. It's a really interesting look that I've seen a few times, mostly on Marines.

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Dreadblade Harrow by wilkzswetra


I love a well painted Nighthaunt model, and this guy ticks all of the boxes. The Dreadblade Harrows is one of the nicest sculpts from the range, and I really like how they used such a limited palette on it. The Nighthaunt models definitely reward you for using less colors if done correctly. The teals and blacks give it a suitably spooky feel, but also feels a bit 80s, which is pretty cool. I love how vibrant the teals are. They really pop against the blacks. By keeping the highlights on the blacks within the same color range it makes it all feel cohesive.



Syll'Esske by David Colwell


What a nice model! I've been scratching my own head for awhile now trying to figure out the best way to incorporate this mini into one of my armies since I don't play Slaanesh. It's just such a nice sculpt, and this is definitely the best paint job I've seen on it so far. I really like how they leaned into what I feel is a pretty obvious Xerxes influence on the model by going with a darker skin tone then what we normally see with Slaanesh. All of the colors on this are super vibrant and saturated. The blues and purples on this guy are insanely eye catching and the non-metallic gold is masterful. Everything is super smooth and crisp, and it looks like it's been painted with the stippling method. You can see the tiny dots if you look closely enough. It's a method that produces amazing results.



Squig Hopper by In_The_Middle


There's something about the Moonclan line of models that really speaks to that dark fairy tale aesthetic. This model takes what's already there and dials it up to 11. The alterations made to the squig, coupled with the awesome base really makes it feel like an illustration out of a twisted children's fairy tale book. I really like the muted colors used on it too. They all have a slightly green tinge to them. It's creepy looking and also conveys the feeling of the dank underground nature of the army. It almost feels like the light of the Bad Moon is shining on him. The stippling method done across the model is fantastic. It gives it a great sense of texture.



Sigmar Bust by Magnus Fagerberg


What a cool idea! I never would have thought of painting the Sigmar statue from the Stormvault terrain as an actual bust of Sigmar himself. It works perfectly though. That statue is a very nice sculpt and is super detailed. I think there may have been some cracks and crips that he would have had to fill, but besides that, this is the statue as is. I really like the painterly style to it. The brush strokes are evident in places, but it's clearly intentional. All of the color transitions are spot on and the non-metallic metals fit it perfectly.

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Cast your vote below! Just hit begin, you do not need to enter an email.



Voting will be live through next Thursday, so be sure to get your vote in and tell all of your friends as well!

Until next time,

Tyler M.

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