Review: Northumbrian Tinsoldier Miniatures

Today I'll have a closer look at one of the most characterful new range of miniatures of recent years. It's figures by Northumbrian Tinsoldier.

Just a few years ago Northumbrian Tinsoldier started releasing a pretty bizarre range of figures, called the Nightfolk, accompanied by a smaller range of Nightfolk Hunters, and some others.

The Nightfolk are the most interesting and most extensive of the bunch. It's a series of bizarre creatures; anything goes.

Each figure comes at GBP 4.00 a pop, although most of them are available in some sort of bundle from three to six figures per blister at a discount.

I got a blister named The Band, consisting of Mr.Toots, Mt.Bangs and Mr.Strings at GBP 10,00 for the three figures (making for a discount of two quid).

They came in a fancy, large blister. You gotta give it to Northumbrian Tinsoldier - they're really smart with presentation.

They come with a nice, thick slab of foam for protection and three round 25mm diameter slotta bases. Just like the bases you get with GW figures.

No assembly required, all come as one-piece casts. Just clean them and glue them to the bases. Mould lines are pretty strong, but it's no biggie. Even less pronounced mould lines have to be removed, so it's not really extra work.

The sculpting is a little rough, but it fits the theme and the character of the figures. Northumbrian are calling it 'old-school', and they deliberately go for this look I'm sure. All the figures are traditionally sculpted by hand, which definitely helps getting an organic and characterful look. That kind some digital sculpts are often lacking.

So they're off to the painting desk (just kidding, it's the same desk as the gluing desk), and a few hours later:

These are unique designs. Extremely characterful, and they hit just the right mark between cheery and creepy, especially Mr.Bangs. I made the mistake to listen to a slightly creepy Youtube video while editing these photos, and I couldn't take Mr.Bangs grinning right at me.

 Anyway, I think that the person who sculpted these turned the (perceived) lemons of traditional sculpting into tasty, tasty lemonade. These look great. They strike a happy medium between fairytale illustration, early renaissance depictions of hell, and really funny cartoons. Due to the 'anything goes' character of the ranges I think there are some stronger sculpts in the ranges than others, but overall it's great how Northumbrian carved out their own niche in the Fantasy segment. Without working up their own bonkers high fantasy universe. Or maybe they have. Anyway, I like the designs a whole lot. My friend Virago painted up a few of their angry gnomes:

From left to right: Converted GW Night Gobbo, Wood Elven archer,
Northumbrian Toysoldier Gnome, NUTS (Oh, I just got that now! Gnome, WE archer, NUTS Gnome

Speaking of gnomes, in terms of size they're perfectly compatible with even more modern (ie for some reason larger) fantasy figures.

I have to say that I am a fan. The price isn't too outrageous compared to other fantasy figures out there, delivery times were remarkably fast. Some of the sculpting can be a bit rough here and there (on my figures it was the arms mostly), but who cares. The thing where these ranges shine is originality. 

My favourite so far has got to be Mr.Toots.

I urge you to browse their website, and I'm pretty sure you'll find some sculpts which you will find charming in some way. 

Hope you enjoyed this review and found it interesting!