Today it seems that you can get anything on a monthly subscription. T-shirts, socks, board games and even software is now on a monthly rolling subscription. So I was unsurprised when I saw an advert for a monthly miniatures deal. However, I had seen a few RPG Loot Crate style offers and they were a bit above what I wanted to pay. This one looked to be much more affordable. The site was called weprintminiatures.com.
The Monthly Offers.
I found the mobile website somewhat cumbersome and in need of streamlining. But the models looked good and the deals looked reasonable They have 4 options (at present, it was 3 when I first looked). Monthly Miniatures Mystery Box in three flavours. Fantasy, Sci-Fi or the classic Monthly Miniatures Mystery Box.
Each monthly box contains a mix of three random miniatures. The genre of those will depend on the choice of box and the whims of the peeps at weprintminatures.com I guess.
My Choice.
The fourth and final choice of monthly subscriptions is the Monthly Dice + Miniature Mystery Monthly Mystery Box. It is a somewhat of a mouthful of a name. This box would contain a single miniature each month plus a set of polyhedral dice.
Monthly Dice + Miniature Mystery Monthly Mystery Box was the option I chose. Because three models a month might be tight to get painted for me. The plan is to trial it for six months then swap to another monthly subscription. At the reduced price of £9.95 down from £14.00 it was a bargain. The other boxes are normally retail at £23.95 monthly, but appear to be constantly reduced to £9.95.
Month One.
In the first instalment I received a very cool looking female warrior in plate armour. I was pleased to see she was not a stick thin miniature as many female models tend to be. She looked tough and ready to fight. Sadly almost as soon as I unpacked her the mace in her hand snapped. Disaster! But some swift superglue work put that to rights. However this event was not a total surprise as one of the reviews had said they had the same issue.
With the broken mace issue behind me I went to work on the painting. I am not going to detail what steps and layers I did as often my painting is random and confused. But I will say that in the end I happy with how she came out. The one part of the model I was not 100% happy with was the cape. For me it was far to flat and because of this did not look great when painted. The cloaks and capes I have painted before have a certain shape that lends itself to highlighting etc. Still please with her on the whole.
The dice were a bronze and blue colour mix. They are nothing special but still a nice basic set of dice. Having tested them out they roll well and seem evenly weighted(as far as I can tell). They are the type of dice you used to buy in tubes from the local gaming store back in the day. Happy with them but not sure how many sets most people would want of them. I however am a little dice addicted. As is evidenced by my recent dice case purchase from the KakapopoTCG store on Amazon. I digress.
Month Two.
The second monthly box arrived with a little surprise in store for me. Pumpkin heads! I didn’t order them but yet they arrived with the miniature and dice anyway.
They are made as heads for Space Marines according to the site. The model I received for the second month was a gothic style human. The style was that of a gravedigger. There were no issues with breakage on this miniature and the gothic style appealed to me greatly.
In keeping with the genre of this model I decided on a palette of greys and blacks. This would also give me a chance to test out my Vellejo Black and White paint set. However what was I to do with those pumpkins? I settled on using the evil looking pumpkin heads as part of the gravediggers base. They would lend a All Hallows Eve vibe to the already gothic model. With a fair amount of experimentation I made a base that I was happy with. A Miliput mound raised the gravedigger above a small patch of evil pumpkins. It gave the look of a man about to undertake a task. Or one that has just finished one maybe?
The end result was worth the effort and my Black and White paint set was great and getting all those shades of grey. Overall I think this was one of the best paint jobs I have even done. It was simple but worked well for the theme of the model. The dice were very much the same for the second month. A nice set of poly dice but nothing to write home about. This months colour scheme was purple and icy blue. A good fit for any character from the cold north. Or for that matter mystics and wizards. Nice but nothing special.
Final Thoughts.
Overall I am very happy with the models I have received. They are high quality sculpts and the printing finish is good. On the negative side the resin is brittle at thin points and can snap very easily. But they are easy to repair as the resin works well with glue. The dice are of a good standard but I am not sure many people will want that many sets of them. I personally would have gone for a more varied selection of dice. Maybe some sets of D6 or D10 rather than the standard poly sets each month. Themed dice would also have been a good idea. Blood Splatter dice or Skull dice are but a few examples.
I look forward to the reviewing the next few monthly offerings down the line.