An Australian company with a history in comics and RPGs, Pendlespear Gaming is making the leap into miniature games with their new board game, 'Splatisphere.'

'Hang on a second... Who are these people?' you ask... You can find out all about Pendlespear here.

Splatisphere

Splatisphere is the first miniatures game by Pendlespear Gaming. You can find out more about the game in my review here.

So far, there are 14 miniatures available for the game, 2 each for each of the different warrior types in the game. I have 6 assorted miniatures, sculpted and cast by Eureka Miniatures, and kindly supplied by Luke from Pendlespear, and so figured a review was in order.

First Impressions

Have you eve picked up a bare miniature, and the moment you looked at it immediately pictured how it just had to be painted? That's what happened when I saw these. The sculpting is a little rougher than what I'm used to, some of the detail not perfectly crisp... but there's a real character to these miniatures that seems to be somehow lacking from so many of the more expensive miniatures on the market these days.

Each of the six miniatures is a definite character, with a feel and personality all of their own. There's a sense of motion in the posing, a certain wildness in the wide eyes and rough-cut faces, and a real mercenary feel created with the varied arms and armour.

Sculpted in roughly 28mm scale, these are much more realistically proportioned than most of the miniatures currently lurking in games stores. (I say 'roughly 28mm' because there is a definite size difference between each of the different races, ranging from the tiny, goblinesque Crelin through to the massive Draal.) The weapons are likewise sculpted more realistically, without the grotesque over-sizing that is so common in gaming miniatures.

Here's a quick look at the bare metal, straight out of the packet.

Just click on the thumbnails, and the larger picture will pop up in a separate window.

Cleaning Up

The miniatures are cast in white metal, but seem to be a softer alloy than usual, which makes cleaning a lot easier but can get a little dangerous if you put too much pressure on weapon shafts or ankles. There are only minor mould lines, and very little flash. On some areas the surface of the metal is a little rough (most notably on the Draal, the largest mini of the bunch) which I believe is from the metal being not quite hot enough on casting. This is only a minor cosmetic problem though, and will be covered over completely by the undercoat.

Detail-wise, in some areas these aren't as crisp and clean as GW or Reaper models, with some of the hands in particular being a little unformed. There are also a couple of spots where gaps have been filled in with plugs of extra metal for the casting process (although this is a habit that is sadly rather common even in much more high-profile miniature companies, and sometimes simply unavoidable without making a model in multiple parts).

That being said, the overall level of detail is quite good, with each miniature carrying a lot of individual detail, and the sculpting has clearly been aimed at creating as much character in each piece as possible. Each miniature has their own style of dress, armour and weapons, creating a highly individualistic bunch of warriors. The varying styles, combined with some very expressive faces, really help to characterize each warrior and make them stand out uniquely from all the rest.. The poses are dynamic, and most would lend themselves well to conversion.

Painting

Painting these miniatures was every bit as fun as I expected. I wanted to tie them all together as a single team, while having enough variation to show their individuality (something made easier by the different equipment on each) and to enable me to split them into two separate teams if I so desired.

With that in mind, I went for a fairly standardised palette across all six minis, with the only real variation being in skin tones, and the ratio of each of the main colours. As far as skin goes, I wanted all of the skin tones to be different from each other, to show that they were different species, rather than (as so often happens with Fantasy and SciFi miniatures) human-coloured people with different shaped features.

I had a little bit of a challenge here and there with painting around the blank areas of detail, caused by the filling for the casting process. These areas are mostly tucked away out of sight by the time the model is done, though, so really don't detract that much from the overall look of the model. The level of detail in the equipment and armour gave the minis a fair amount of colour and contrast despite the limited palette. although the soft edges in some of the sculpting meant that I had to fudge the lines a little in places.

Final Word

All in all, though, I really enjoyed these miniatures. The poses are good, the character in each model is even more apparent now that they are painted, and the minor flaws in the sculpting are more than compensated for by the fantastic table-top presence. Even if you never intend to play Splatisphere, I would recommend these models to anyone who wants something a little different for an RPG character, or just for something different and eye-catching to paint.