[Review] Reaper Miniatures

In this post I will discuss something a little different and a thing I maybe will start to talk more about on this blog. And it is miniature painting.

I really love painting miniatures but have been out of the game for a while. I stopped when I was roughly sixteen years old and started picking it up during COVID lock down again. So a little over fifteen years later. I am far from a pro painter and far from good… So I will not share pictures yet. But I still want to share some of my thoughts on paints, tools and miniatures as I learn a long the way. So let us get going.

In the blog post I will talk about two miniatures from Reaper Miniatures. The Gnoll Warrior and the Warg. I purchased the Warg first and the purchased the Gnoll. But lets start with some common things.

First of the miniatures are relatively cheap and very much so compared to Games Workshop (shock I know), I paid 39DKK (5.23EUR) for the Warg and 27DKK (3.62EUR) for the Gnoll. That is pretty nice for someone like me who just needs to get back into painting and needs some minis to train on, before moving to more complex (and expensive) figures. Also buying just one mini gives you the option to test out if it is something for you and you will not need to buy an expensive Games Workshop figure. So that is a big plus.

Next, my first issue with these figures. The package says “Ready to paint - No priming necessary!”. That is literally bullshit. I did not prime the Warg and it was not fun to put down the first base layer of paint. I used a Citadel base brush and a Citadel Layer brush to apply my first coat of white, it was an absolute pain in the ass. Here I compare to Games Workshop and resin 3D printed minis I have painted lately. In extension the package say “Spray primers are not recommend for Bones Miniatures” well I tried it on the Gnoll and it work so much better than what I did on the Warg. Now, I will not recommend that you use a spray primer when the package say not to, so if you do it, it is your problem.

Then, we have the quality. Here I am keeping in mind that the figures are significantly cheaper that Games Workshops, but I am have in the back of my head the quality of home 3D printed resin figures I have painted. For the Warg the overall quality is really good, with the exception of a tiny spot on the tail that looked like the plastic kind of melted together. I did not realise this until I started painting. The mini feels really solid with the exception of the include base, which feel wobbly where it attaches the wolf to base and it can bend a little. This is a tiny bit disappointing as I haven seen resin prints that is much more stable. However, overall I really like this minis quality

Then, sadly, there is the Gnoll. I am honestly not fully sure where to start with this mini when it comes to quality. I will give it the slight benefit of doubt and say I may have gotten one from a bad run. So first of all the mini has a flail. When I picked up my Gnoll in the store I picked the one where the flail was not bend into the face of the mini, here we are talking while still being protective packaging. Then when I unwrapped it I realised the chain of the flail was so soft I was honestly scared that it would break during painting. It did not but I was still scared. then I started to inspect the overall figure. It is so soft that an nail easily makes an indent in the figure and I accidentally damaged the mane of the mini a little bit because of this. Then there is a similar issue with the base as with the Warg. However, here the problem is even more evident as the base is more flexible and the ankles of the mini is very wobbly. I was more afraid these would break compared to the flail. This softness was there be fore I primed it, so it is not the priming that damaged the figure. If this was not enough then there are a couple of sculpting issues, where the picture to the right shows the most sever one. Half the left should is missing. In the top it is a clean cut and then in the bottom of the shoulder there is some texture that indicates fur. It looks like a miss print and I really hope it is. If I compare this to resin printed minis this is low quality. Although it is still far from the worst I have seen. But then based on quality would I recommend it? Well… Actually yes and here is my reasoning. If you like me do not plan to play games with the mini and will not move it often. Then I see absolutely no reason to train painting using this mini. It is perfectly fine for that.

Finally, and to me most important right now, paintability. I mean, if you ignore the whole idea of no priming then this is awesome figures to paint. The Warg has a lovely texture for hair and has a really cool pose. I only had one issue with the Warg and that was it was difficult to dry brush for some reason I could not really figure out why. It is a technique I have not really had any problems with in the past. So I am not sure what went on here. The gnoll is really fun to paint, when you get more sure it will not break. The shield has a nice believable wood texture and the armour and leather straps a nice. I found the toes a claws a little challenging to paint, but I will say this is more on me than the mini.

Now would I over all recommend these two minis? Honestly, it depends. Do you already have a resin 3D print (I do not) or do you know someone who can print for you (I do), I am actually not sure. There are quite a few sites where you can get print files for free or for a small amount of money and then print the figure (slightly) cheaper than what I paid for the Warg. With the final product will have a better quality, in my experience. If this is the case for you, then I would recommend this direction over the miniatures I have purchased here. But if you do not have this option, I would say it is a good solution for you who are looking to just pain and nothing more.

Finally, I would like to say that I have not tried all of the (amazing looking) figures from Reaper Miniatures, but I might be a little reluctant to spend money on them after the Gnoll.

./Lars