Reaper Miniatures by Sculptor

I just finished my latest pile of Reaper miniatures (ignore the Wizkids Manticore on the right) and thought it would be fun to go through my collection by sculptor.

Reaper is my go-to minis brand because it's the only one you can semi-reliably find in game stores outside the usual spread of Games Workshop/5E/Marvel/Star Wars/maybe Infinity. Stores have to stock what moves, and indie miniatures are a big risk. I've never found anywhere that carried Reaper metals so I've only tried the plastics. 

They've got the typical flaws associated with plastic figures. Bent weapons that won't stay straight even after multiple boiling/ice baths, mold lines that inevitably cut across the most detailed parts of the figure and can't be removed without gouging out facial features, occasional quality control issues that look like someone doodled on the flat surfaces of the mini with a scalpel... Price of doing business. In exchange you get cheap, durable figures (I dropped several to no ill-effect while photographing for this post) and a huge variety of characters and monsters. The bulk of the figures are fantasy but they also offer smaller pulp, modern and sci-fi lines.

This will be a non-representative sample of each sculptor's work, since I just buy and paint whatever looks fun. I've been painting miniatures on and off for about nine months now, so this is how the models look in the hands of a beginner-to-middling painter. If you want to see more examples, check out Reaper's Show Off Painting board.

 BOBBY JACKSON

The bulk of my Reapers are Bobby Jackson sculpts. The first two I painted from the game store were his Space Henchman and Cyber Troll, and the first I bought online was his superb Henchman and Hirelings box. He's what I think of when I think of Reaper.

Detail shots of my favorite Bobby Jackson miniatures.

Some of my early work. The chubby Valkyrie and nervous wizard are from the Henchman and Hirelings box. The Halfling on the right I found by searching the Reaper site for loose underlings.

More baggage handlers. The Henchman and Hirelings box is out of stock on the Reaper site. They had it at Adepticon and you used to be able to get it cheap on Amazon. I may have caused a minor run on the remaining stocks by telling everyone I knew how much fun it was.

The Dwarf Brewer is one of my favorite minis ever. He's a super fun sculpt and the details were so chunky and exaggerated they practically painted themselves. I've never painted a face that looked this good since.

Without any sculpted fur, I decided to paint this Gnoll mostly bald. The two halves of the vampire's mold were slightly misaligned, giving him a lopsided face. The Hobgoblin was 3D printed so his details are very crisp.

Jackson's orcs are a riff on Angus McBride's illustrations from the classic Middle Earth Roleplay game. I love it when sculptors take old RPG illustrations and make them work in three dimensions.

I picked up the Hill Giant Chief when I was grabbing one of every elemental typed giant from the 1e Monster Manual. I like him better than the Frost Giant because I think that model is a bit overgreebled. He's standing on one of the first bases I ever made, a mix of sand, superglue and pebbles on a Wizards of the Coast clear plastic disc base.

JASON WIEBE

I didn't realize how many Jason Wiebe miniatures I had until I tallied up my whole collection. 

I love all of these. They're whimsical, sinister and gross in equal measure. Even the ones made of Reaper's softer, low-detail white plastic have tons of chunky details that are easy to show off with a little highlighting.

I didn't notice the mold lines on the throwing pig until it was too late. You can also give the Two Headed Troll an ordinary rock to throw, but who would do that?

The Stone Giant's elongated head gave him a vaguely Mesoamerican feel, so I loaded him up with jade jewelry.

KEVIN WILLIAMS

The Mi Go was a multipart Kevin Williams figure, the other three came in one piece. 

I really like the Carrion Worm on the right, it feels like a Darkest Dungeon monster. The Bugbear shows why I like monsters and monstermen who are slightly larger than normal humans. The bigger the muscles, the easier they are to highlight.

WERNER KLOCKE

Three minis by Werner, who I think does a lot of metal sculpting for Reaper. 

 

The Fire Giantess is offered in both metal and plastic. There's another sculpt of the same character made by Chris Lewis that's exclusively plastic - the details are crisper and it's scaled more appropriately to Reaper's other plastic giants, but the facial expression and proportions aren't as charmingly weird as this one.

The cleric on the right was a stab at object source lighting. Better than my early attempts, not as good as the Bobby Jackson gravedigger up above. The highlighting on the Dwarf makes it look like she's got severe rosacea, but that's what alcoholism and spending sixteen hours a day in front of a forge gets you.

CHRIS LEWIS

I've only got two boxes by Lewis, the Fire Giant Huntsman and a supplementary box of Hellhounds. The Huntsman is one of my favorite minis, menacing and comical in equal measure.

Since I know you were wondering, the hounds have fully modeled cocks and balls.

TRE MANOR

Two Gnolls by Tre. If the sculptor does their job putting a good raised fur texture on a mini, it's super easy to paint. Just drop a thin dark basecoat to fill in all the gaps and skate a lighter, brighter layer or three over the raised tips.

BOB RIDOLFI

The Women of Dreadmere pack contains three ladies by Bob Ridolfi. The woman with the broom is a fan favorite because I inadvertently painted her sneering at whatever's next to her.

PATRICK KEITH

Only two models from Patrick Keith. For the longest time I couldn't figure out who the Cloud Giantess reminded me of. Turns out I painted her face like Lilly Elbe.

JULIE GUTHRIE

Only one model by Julie. I picked up this Cloud Giant so I'd have a complete set of elemental typed giants. I think the pose is throwing a lightning bolt.

I don't normally mess with basing on pre-based figures, but he was too lopsided to stand on his own. I opted for white plasticard and some cotton balls for a super simple cloud effect.

TIM PROW

Only one model from Tim Prow, and the most recent one I painted as of this post.

I like the animal skulls a lot. The one on his belt reminds me of the old Shadowrun logo. The staff wouldn't stay straight no matter how many times I boiled and froze it in place.

And that's it for now. There's only one store in the whole metro area that has a big Reaper selection, next time I'm down there I'll pick up more.