Friday 6 May 2016

Bears from Reaper and Northstar

I needed a bear for Frostgrave and rather hurriedly ordered one from Northstar. It arrived in the post just as I found another one, from Reaper Bones, in the plastics mountain. Typical…
One of the great things with an extensive tin- and plastics-mountain is all the cool minis you have there and those minis are often useful when you find out that you really need a x for the game next week. The downside is to remember that you actually have a x in that mountain… So, now I have two bears.
An angry bear from Northstar
The Northstar one was a bit of a disappointment as it was full of mould-lines and needed a lot of work to be presentable. The pose is okay though, and it turned out well in the end.

Reaper bear. I rebased it to a bigger 30mm base after these photos were taken.
The Reaper bear, sculpted by Julie Guthrie and from the Reaper Bones 77216 Companion Animals set, is a much cleaner sculpt and gives you a smaller but more detailed beast. This one is my favourite of the two, but I guess both will be used in our Frostgrave campaign.

14 comments:

  1. I love the North Star one...great pose! Mine is painted up as a Polar bear for Frotgrave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like to have my beasts to be as multi-purpose as possible, so they became black bears.
      I used the Northstar one as an animal companion in a Frostgrave game the this Wednesday and it was without a doubt the beast of the match. An AAR will come soon.

      Delete
    2. Shall look forward to it!

      Delete
    3. I was there. It was epic! Probably because my figures were not on the menu.

      Delete
    4. I guess it is one of those gaming moment that will be remembered.

      Delete
    5. Yes, I met that bear. It was nicely painted, but was a p-i-t-a during the game. It seemed to like the taste of several of my figures. Best go and check what additives there are in my paints.

      Delete
    6. Do not thin your paint with barbecue glaze!

      Delete
    7. Hahahahaha!
      The bear is hungry again, by the way :-)

      Delete
  2. I do like the North Star bear, very dynamic, but I know what you mean about requiring a lot of tidying up. I recently ordered some oxen, but when they arrived they needed so much work that I have put them pack in the pile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a bit disappointing, to say the least.

      Delete
  3. Flash and mould lines are never good! I clean them them as much as possible, but when the basecoat is on them you see some more and you can start all over again! :-(
    Great painted bears! I'm curious how many enemies he ate! :-D

    Greetings
    Peter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do the same, Peter. A white basecoat with a dark wash and you see every little thing
      Let's just say that he won't be hungry for a long time :-)
      AAR coming soon

      Delete
  4. Thanks, Joakim, this is very useful as I need a bear as part of my Rockies Ablaze project and I like the Reaper model a lot. I have had good experiences with Reaper in the past, sounds like I should stick with them. You have done a lovely job on both these models.
    Cheers,
    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Mike
    It's a bit smaller, as you can see, but by far the better sculpt.
    On the other hand the Northstar one is imposing if you're a hobbit.

    ReplyDelete