Monday, May 31, 2010
Final hours for entries
Thats right people we only have 2 hours and 20 minutes remaining to get in your entries for the May blog painting competition. Send them too me at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com before midnight eastern standard time.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
May contest almost at a close
Thats right people the may contest is almost at a close with the final weekend comming up. I have been understatably busy but I know so have you all, so I apologise for the lack of posts this month and such. Next month I saddly will be away for annual training with my National Gaurd Unit for three weeks. This means little posting and saddly no painting:( BUT have no fear I will have a BIG post in this next week of all of my progects going on atm.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Review WEDS!! TrollForged Minis & Mcvey studios
Good mourning one and all it is that time once again for product review weds. This week I am looking at two smaller companies one based across the pond and the other here in the states itself. So without further adu lets kick it off with:
TrollForged Miniatures: http://trollforged.com/
This company is owned by a very pleasant fella named Ed(hive trygon on his forums). Let me start off by saying that trollforged is based around selling the sculpts of many aspiring miniature sculptors. His company beliefs are based around helping guys bring their products to our attention and in doing so he has a damn good deal with them. For every model of theirs he selling they get 50% of the costs. Now as it stands I am going to give his company a 4/5 stars and heres why.
His shipping is top notch and is by in large one of the fastest and best packed I have ever dealt with. His customer service is beyond perfect as he responds that day via email answering any question you may have as a buyer. Their products are improving at an exponential rate keeping this reviews wallet empty as he tries to keep up. The only downside and this is being worked on is lack of product line connections. At first the sculptors did as they wanted and it resulted in some geat one offs for minis. Now though they are working together and producing some amazing lines of minis. Also several of them are working on their own playsystem to go along with their models and I must say it is fun, fast paced and rather exciting. All and all this is a company on the rise and I for one look forward at seeing how they are in a year.
Studio Mcvey: http://www.studiomcvey.com/
Studio Mcvey is the brainchild of multidemon winner Mike Mcvey and his Wife. They are both understatably outstanding painters who decided to form a small company out of their passion. Doing a lot of one off models that are drop dead gorgous and filled with details these two have really set a trend in the way resin should be done. These models came flawless on mold lines and were understatably cheap. Comming in around 15.00-30.00 buck u.s for shipping these models are 30mm and untterly gorgous. Even more so every model comes with a certificate showing the number on its mold as Mike won't do more than 1000 of each. This in turns forces people to strike while the iron is hot as I am sure these go quickly.
Now I am giving Mike 4 1/2 stars and heres why. He is great on responding to emails and very pleasant to speak with on any concerns a person may have. He ships very quickly and for a pacakge across the pond it took me less then two weeks from the time I ordered to the time I recieved and trust me that is pretty fast when going internationally. My only gripe and a small one as you know this going into your purchase is these are just one offs but are sooo much fun to paint and thats why I only gave him half a star off for that. With great competative pricing I am sure he has no problems in sales. Overall great company and I recomend you visting it any chance you get if even just to look at the models.
TrollForged Miniatures: http://trollforged.com/
This company is owned by a very pleasant fella named Ed(hive trygon on his forums). Let me start off by saying that trollforged is based around selling the sculpts of many aspiring miniature sculptors. His company beliefs are based around helping guys bring their products to our attention and in doing so he has a damn good deal with them. For every model of theirs he selling they get 50% of the costs. Now as it stands I am going to give his company a 4/5 stars and heres why.
His shipping is top notch and is by in large one of the fastest and best packed I have ever dealt with. His customer service is beyond perfect as he responds that day via email answering any question you may have as a buyer. Their products are improving at an exponential rate keeping this reviews wallet empty as he tries to keep up. The only downside and this is being worked on is lack of product line connections. At first the sculptors did as they wanted and it resulted in some geat one offs for minis. Now though they are working together and producing some amazing lines of minis. Also several of them are working on their own playsystem to go along with their models and I must say it is fun, fast paced and rather exciting. All and all this is a company on the rise and I for one look forward at seeing how they are in a year.
Studio Mcvey: http://www.studiomcvey.com/
Studio Mcvey is the brainchild of multidemon winner Mike Mcvey and his Wife. They are both understatably outstanding painters who decided to form a small company out of their passion. Doing a lot of one off models that are drop dead gorgous and filled with details these two have really set a trend in the way resin should be done. These models came flawless on mold lines and were understatably cheap. Comming in around 15.00-30.00 buck u.s for shipping these models are 30mm and untterly gorgous. Even more so every model comes with a certificate showing the number on its mold as Mike won't do more than 1000 of each. This in turns forces people to strike while the iron is hot as I am sure these go quickly.
Now I am giving Mike 4 1/2 stars and heres why. He is great on responding to emails and very pleasant to speak with on any concerns a person may have. He ships very quickly and for a pacakge across the pond it took me less then two weeks from the time I ordered to the time I recieved and trust me that is pretty fast when going internationally. My only gripe and a small one as you know this going into your purchase is these are just one offs but are sooo much fun to paint and thats why I only gave him half a star off for that. With great competative pricing I am sure he has no problems in sales. Overall great company and I recomend you visting it any chance you get if even just to look at the models.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Product Reviews!!
Now it seems that I am geting trolled here on my own blog which I would guess is a good thing because that means people took time out of their lives to read my reviews MAZALTOV!!! Now I know some companies may not like the reviews and may claim false allegations on me and that is fine. The point of the reviews is to put an unbiased idea out there about the companys by and large. Most companies will not be childish and post and DAKKA DAKKA about me but hey if they do thats fine, because all they are doing is drawing more people to the blog and reinforcing the point. People only get upset when the truth is presented to them I learned that day one of college psych! If you don't like the reviews then fix the problems and shoot me and email and I will test your company again except it will be a blind testing with one of my friends doing the ordering. If I find the company has fixed itself then I will publicly print a retraction. Now in the case of Chapterhouse they got upset and thats fine. I make no attempts to conceal myself nor will I ever. Nick like I said you have cool product just your overall customer service is bad. Wargames Factory didn't get upset at me for my posts, and believe theirs wasn't so hot either, but it is the truth. I understand some of you may not like what I have to say and thats fine, but all I am doing with these is showing my side of these companies in a review. So far we have looked at and to recap:
-Warlord Games 4/5 stars
-Wargames Factory 2/5 Stars
-Gorgon Studios 4/5 stars
-Chapterhouse studios 1/5 stars
If in the end you get heated over one person typing a review then maybe you shouldn't be in business. As of this moment though if I feel you are attempting to troll the blog I will delete your posts, and for those of you who do enjoy this blog I am truely sorry for this and promise that it will never arise again.
-alex
-Warlord Games 4/5 stars
-Wargames Factory 2/5 Stars
-Gorgon Studios 4/5 stars
-Chapterhouse studios 1/5 stars
If in the end you get heated over one person typing a review then maybe you shouldn't be in business. As of this moment though if I feel you are attempting to troll the blog I will delete your posts, and for those of you who do enjoy this blog I am truely sorry for this and promise that it will never arise again.
-alex
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Prouct Review Weds: Gorgon and Chapterhouse Studios
So I have decided that every week I will revies one to two companies that either sells product just as a retailer or produces their own mini lines. This will become and annual thing and people all of the companies I review I order from. I do this to provide to you my readers an unbiased view and maybe help direct you to some good purchases OR help you avoid bad ones.
To kick off we will start with Gorgon Studios. Recently I ordered from them and though I only dropped 40 bucks I was extremely happy with my purchases. To start off I think their sculptor Steve Saleh is just tops and I am a HUGE fan of his hands down. Some of you may have seen his work on gripping beast or any other countless places as he does a lot for all of the major companies out there. I decided to order some of Gorgon sexy Early Estruscans. For those of you not too in the knowledge of history the early etruscans where the inhabitants of italy in the early years of the latin confederation which would in turn become ROME!!!
Now their models are equisit, and I have to say their pacakging and shipping policies should be adopted by everyone out there as they were communitative all the way through and even sent me some extras(wink thanks Hank). their main painter is 9 time demon winner Dave Pauwles(sorry if I misspelled your last name) and let me just say he does these models true justice. Now I wouldn't be honest if I didn't point out their short commings so I would say their are two major ones but one of which will be remidied in time.
The first is their lack in playable lines. Yes these models can be matched up with other companies for historical games but let me just say us historical gamers don't like to mix and match. We like everything to be the same and consistant across the battlefield. Now these guys are pumping out models on the fast side so I think being this is their first year they are doing pretty damn well. With several AMAZING one offs and solid core units for a possible 3 different lines I say this company is on the rise.
the second shortfall is the price sad to say. Coming in just over an average $2.00 a fig these guys don't play around. You are getting a quality product and yes I know costs are up for everyone now adays but I think if they drop it by a quater a fig then they will increase sales Exponentially. Now I have created a points system that ranges out of 5. I judge shipping, costs overall, communication, and well how overall I think they are and if I would buy from them again. Comming in at a 4 pt 0 this company is HAWT!! I feel their flaws with lack of fully playable lines will be fixed very soon but the price is what hit me the hardest. As such I just dropped a star for the price and nothing for the playability. All in all I highly recommend these guys for anyone interested in ancients of just quality models.
Chapterhouse Studios: Well I have one good thing to say about these guys, and that is the fact they have some cool new products hiting the shelfs. Their customer service is horrible and their shipping takes over a month(and they are stateside). When I contacted their owner he told me I would get the stuff within two weeks.. that was 5 weeks ago. I then made a second purchase just to see if this was a pre-order fluke and that was 3 weeks ago and no product... For something they even claimed to have in stock. As such I plan to never waste money again with these guys and after a easy write up I give them 1 star. This is overly generous of me as well Nick is distastefully rude, takes him time to email you back, shipping is slower then me walking to china, and in the end the price is not worht all of this hassle. Once more they only make products that fit to GW stuff so sooner or later the famous GW IP fairy will shut them down. So in my opinon this company goeson my DO NOT SHOP AT LIST!!!!!
Well I hoped you all enjoyed the reviews and if you know of a company you want me to check out then shoot me an email at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.
To kick off we will start with Gorgon Studios. Recently I ordered from them and though I only dropped 40 bucks I was extremely happy with my purchases. To start off I think their sculptor Steve Saleh is just tops and I am a HUGE fan of his hands down. Some of you may have seen his work on gripping beast or any other countless places as he does a lot for all of the major companies out there. I decided to order some of Gorgon sexy Early Estruscans. For those of you not too in the knowledge of history the early etruscans where the inhabitants of italy in the early years of the latin confederation which would in turn become ROME!!!
Now their models are equisit, and I have to say their pacakging and shipping policies should be adopted by everyone out there as they were communitative all the way through and even sent me some extras(wink thanks Hank). their main painter is 9 time demon winner Dave Pauwles(sorry if I misspelled your last name) and let me just say he does these models true justice. Now I wouldn't be honest if I didn't point out their short commings so I would say their are two major ones but one of which will be remidied in time.
The first is their lack in playable lines. Yes these models can be matched up with other companies for historical games but let me just say us historical gamers don't like to mix and match. We like everything to be the same and consistant across the battlefield. Now these guys are pumping out models on the fast side so I think being this is their first year they are doing pretty damn well. With several AMAZING one offs and solid core units for a possible 3 different lines I say this company is on the rise.
the second shortfall is the price sad to say. Coming in just over an average $2.00 a fig these guys don't play around. You are getting a quality product and yes I know costs are up for everyone now adays but I think if they drop it by a quater a fig then they will increase sales Exponentially. Now I have created a points system that ranges out of 5. I judge shipping, costs overall, communication, and well how overall I think they are and if I would buy from them again. Comming in at a 4 pt 0 this company is HAWT!! I feel their flaws with lack of fully playable lines will be fixed very soon but the price is what hit me the hardest. As such I just dropped a star for the price and nothing for the playability. All in all I highly recommend these guys for anyone interested in ancients of just quality models.
Chapterhouse Studios: Well I have one good thing to say about these guys, and that is the fact they have some cool new products hiting the shelfs. Their customer service is horrible and their shipping takes over a month(and they are stateside). When I contacted their owner he told me I would get the stuff within two weeks.. that was 5 weeks ago. I then made a second purchase just to see if this was a pre-order fluke and that was 3 weeks ago and no product... For something they even claimed to have in stock. As such I plan to never waste money again with these guys and after a easy write up I give them 1 star. This is overly generous of me as well Nick is distastefully rude, takes him time to email you back, shipping is slower then me walking to china, and in the end the price is not worht all of this hassle. Once more they only make products that fit to GW stuff so sooner or later the famous GW IP fairy will shut them down. So in my opinon this company goeson my DO NOT SHOP AT LIST!!!!!
Well I hoped you all enjoyed the reviews and if you know of a company you want me to check out then shoot me an email at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.
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