Friday, August 24, 2012

Collecting John Pickford: Foundry Halflings review

As announced previously on this very blog the Foundry's Halflings is now out and today my little set arrived.

I've been looking forward seeing these in person, and wasn't disappointed.

Castings are of the usual Foundry standard - so you have the usual flash to remove (from air vent and injection points) and some cleaning on some vague mould lines. All in all great casts.

Being packed as sets they have obviously been bent a bit. Mainly the long/thin and pointy bits - like fork, spear and other weapon bits - has suffered from be packed. But all these was gently stretched out and put back into shape. Two miniatures was bent by the ankles (they come with the usual solid bases). Those joint are extremely fragile as the legs are very thin, but I managed to make the stand up, without breaking them by the feet.

So here is how the look:

Foundry: HF001 Halfling Adventures

Foundry: HF002 Halfling Villagers

Foundry: HF003 Halfling Militia

Foundry: HF004 Drinking time at Old Bold Bullmoons Bar
also includes a Bar

Really like all of them and they are so full of personality and character. Really like how John took on this project, and how close he got to the original artwork. And they are a worthy alternative to the various halfling ranges out there.

So how do they mix with other ranges ...?

There is a slightly size difference within the sets, but nothing of real impotents. Here is a picture of the size variation across the foundry sets:


You might find them a bit on the big side compared to older halfling ranges (and a few new ones to), but nothing you can't go with.

The are, however, probably a bit more "cartoony", than some ranges and that might not please all. But I like them a lot, and they are exactly in a style that I can use and love painting.

So for all the scale fascists out there (myself included) - here is a comparison  across various ranges (I could find):

Old Citadel LOtR Frodo, Hasslefree, Heresy, Foundry, Old Citadel
C-Range, Darkling Games, White Knight Miniatures
I think most of them will work rather well with existing Halflings :-)

The only bad thing I can think of was the little handwritten message on my invoice. The note said: "at present we have no plans to release more Halflings. We hope you enjoy these four packs, though" - such bad decision, if you ask me :-(



5 comments:

  1. The feet have suffered somewhat from master and production casting, as well as the original dolly being a little squashed in the process. They are cartoony as they are based directly on some very characterful designs by Martin Buck. some of the variation in size is deliberate, to reflect the variation in size of individuals (!) although there is one model that is not based on the concept art... can you spot it?

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  2. Hmm!Not sure ... my guess would be the old man tearing his hair out (self-portrait perhaps :-) - after assembling one of your Carcass Scavengers) - or the Kev (Hasslefree) White Bar man :-D

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  3. it's the adventuress - if I had been going solo on halflings, she is more along the lines of size/proportioning - somewhere between old citadel and modern US.

    I am not currently working on any projects for Foundry.

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  4. I have always been a fan of halflings, and these ones look really nice. The one thing that would stop me from purchasing this range would be the thick metal bases. The minis themselves are excellent. Great job Mr. Pickford. I can see why Clam is a big of your work.

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  5. Thank you! I made a standard base when I started to work at Foundry which remained on my models until I revamped it last year. If I start woring for them again, and they still want solid bases I will design a new one!

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