Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Balancing the scales in the Darklands

In this post, I take lots and lots of models from Mierce Miniatures, and take pictures of them side-by-side with Games Workshop, Reaper, and Rackham stuff. The goal: see just how amazing Mierce Miniatures truly are!
The picture above has sat here teasing what's about to come for about a week; I'm glad to finally show it off! That poor, diminutive Space Marine has no idea what's in store for him...

One of the most popular posts I've ever done on here was the one where I showed all the Mierce models I had assembled standing next to other things. Well, since that time Mierce has run another Kickstarter, and I've assembled a whole heck of a lot more models! How many more? Well, the overflow went off my paint desk, and I had to use a 6' gaming table to hold them all!

If you want to see how big these beasties are, just follow the jump!
For those of you who aren't sure how this works, I basically just take a ton of photos of Mierce models against commonly-known models for scale. If you have questions or would like to see additional size comparisons, please let me know!
First off, here's our gallery of "industry standard" models. From left to right, they are a Space Marine from that science-fiction game everyone seems to play; Loryn Stormblade, a Werner Klocke-sculpted elf from Reaper Miniatures; a slightly beefier Warhammer beastman; a Rackham Wolfen; a Games Workshop Greater Daemon; and a Stegadon. I reserve the right to change this line-up, but here's where I started from!

Now that we see what we're comparing it to, let's start with the infantry!


The first infantry models we have up are the Duguth and Meloda. You can see they're slightly shorter than the Reaper elf, and just how well-proportioned they are compared to the cartoony ham-fistedness of that Dark Whatever guy.


A closer shot of the Duguth against that beakie thing.

Some shots of the Duguth and Meloda against the elf chick.

First batch of Duguth down, now for the Angelcynn heroes! From left to right, we have Aethelglyth, Ceonwulf, Beakie Dude, Cynemon, Wulfhere, Loryn, Penda, and Beastieman.


A closer shot of Aethelglyth, Ceonwulf, Beakie, and Cynemon.

A closer shot of the Duguth captain, Beakie, and Penda.

Moving up in size, we have Penda on horse, Beastiegor, Cearl, and the Rackham Wolfen. I remember someone on the KS1 comments asking for a Cearl-Wolfen comparison, so here it is! (I have a feeling that person was me, though).

I'll keep one of those Duguth around for scale, but add Geriant Nerthol (who's been disarmed) and Hywel Hir to the mix!

Moving on, we'll show off Hywel Hir of the Brythoniaid, Beastigor, and Beowa in human and bear forms.


Finally, the lycanthropy match-up: Beowa in bear form, the Rackham Wolfen, and Cearl!

Continuing on with the Norse and Albiann infantry, here's Brynnhild, BeakieMarine, Drast the Hunched Without Banner, Loryn, Eirik Longaxe, and Beastieman.

Now we'll move on to the Ysians! From left to right, Hedroc, BeakieMarine, Jowan of Carn Dhu, Loryn, the ax-drunes (musician, standared bearer, drune I, drune II, and an-ax-drune), Beastieman, and Carrowek.

A closer shot of Hedroc and Jowan, who haven't been documented a lot online yet, as well as the Ax-drune musician

The An-Ax-Drune, Loryn, Ulric the Defiler, Beastieman, and Carrowek.

Finishing up the Ysians, here are the drune handlers with BeakieDude, Loryn, and Beastieman.

Let's keep going: here are the Fomoraic! From left to right, Maagaan, BeakieDork, Kraan, Loryn Stormblade, Aanchuth the Cursed, Beastieman, Brunchaath the Vile, and Chaagmuth on foot.

A blurrier shot of Maagaan, Beakiebit, and Kraan.


You can just imagine the braying in this one as Aanchuth, Brunchaath, and Chaagmuth mock the lack of 'A's in the Beastman's name. "Gor, really?"

OK, we'll jump away from infantry and do a quick one of beasts: The Hounds of Carn Dhu! As you can see, they're a lot smaller than a Games Workiething hound would be, but fit well on a 50mm long base.

As I was doing this, I got a message from a friend, who cautioned me not to use "those weird Rackham models that nobody uses" for monstrous infantry comparisons. After a heated discussion, I found a few he felt were ones most people probably owned. From left to right, BeakieDork, a Gray Knight that terminates, a Troll from the Battle For Skull Pass box set, a Rat Ogre from the 8th edition boxed set, and an Ogre Paymaster.

We'll start with the smaller of the big guys: the Tarvax! Chaagmuth is thrown in there as well, because I felt it wasn't hairy enough.


The Tarvax (Raackanasck and Bockaaruk)  next to a troll and a rat ogre.

Another Tarvax (Inavaak) next to things.

Ckaarakk and Kaastaruk next to our big infantry models. Note that Kaastaruk is standing on a rock in proud Mierce fashion, so his height is skewed.

A sideways shot of Kaastaruk and Ckaarakk.


Now we'll do another batch of models that haven't seen a lot of internet time: the Khthones!

Here's Iimithi looking down on Beakie-guy.

Mneriis and Ufhiloss next to a rat ogre.

Vilthiss alongside a metal ogre and Rackham Wolfen.

More Khthones! That Gray thing just didn't help the scale any (he was too small), so I pulled him out to fit more Mierce models in. Here's Ssibyros, Issithill, and Svrill.

Ssibyros is just stunningly gorgeous, and he towers above the BeakieGuy and the troll.

Issithill and Svrill aren't the largest of the Khthones, but they're still literally head-and-shoulders above a Rat Ogre.

Svrill looks like he's doing some magic trick to the ogre's head here.

Can we go bigger with Khthones? Of course we can! Here's Ophios and Petroyos. Check that out - Petroyos is already larger than the greater daemon. Ophios is a similar size. Conversion opportunity for any Slaaneshi players out there, just sayin'...

Ophios shows off his impressive armpit stink to the troll.

Petroyos is huge. Just freaking huge.


OK, down with the snakes, up with the trolls! Here's Gjoll and Vortunn alongside the rat ogre and ogre.

Vortunn and Gurrir are themselves almost Greater Daemon size. Not quite, but almost. (Yes, the square bases mean I can rank up some of my trolls. It's possible!)


Here's Griminn next to a troll and BeakieMarine.

Gamla Bror and his hammer alongside an ogre and Greater Daemon.


I've had enough of trolls; let's move on to dragon-men! Here are the Dyndraig: Clundwr, Mabyon, Naegannwg, and Galhwch. (Not shown: Gwyddol, as I sawed him apart and put him on Aradae Mawr's lower body).

Clundwr just towers above the other models out here.


Even crouched down, Mabyon is taller than an ogre. Naegannwg is pretty tall, too...

Naegannwg and Galhwch Llad Llaw see eye-to-eye with one who thirsts for blood.


Amazingly, the Dyndraig aren't even the largest monstrous infantry! Hello, Sronax! Here's Rocqaan.

Ucquraan and Luqkaan aren't even in the same league as the bellybutton-gazing ogre.

Yep, Ororqaan is as tall as a greater daemon. Just sayin'.

OK, now the monstrous infantry is finally out of the way. Let's move on to what Mierce is known for: big gribbly monsters! I've added a Thundertusk in here as well, as it was sitting on my shelf and is one of the larger GW monsters out there.

Here's Ungefelic and the Tarask of Var.

Ungefelc looks as if he's about to have some troll for lunch. Rrawr!

Ulmons, one of the smallest Mierce monsters, is already bigger than a Stegadon.


Going a little Ysian, here's Conjunct XIII and Torku!

Conjunct XII started a trend I'd play with again a few beers later: BeakieMarine staring into mouths larger than he is.

Torku - again far from the largest model Mierce makes - is already bigger than that Thundertusk.

Here's Mazikilias on his rock and Glaun!

It's worth noting that Mazikilias is on a rock, so he's not as tall as you think he should be... who am I kidding. He's still freaking massive. I even put BeakieShrinkage up on teh rock with him, but he's still too small.

Glaun is of comparable size to the Thundertusk, so he's got that going for him.


Here's a tall miniature and a long miniature: Cormoragg, and the Terror of Fortriu!

Cormoragg doesn't seem that tall when he's on his own (he's well proportioned), but the dude can stare over a Greater Daemon's wings. That's pretty dang tall.

The Terror is deceptive because he's short, but he's just freaking massive! Here's the only top-down shot of the album, showing how much larger than the Steg he really is.

Continuing on: here's Aradae Mawr and Bloodmaw!

Aradae Mawr is on a rock, in true Mierce tradition. I don't think the rock is why he's so much taller than the Corn guy, though.

Bloodmaw towers over BeakieFood, and looks like he wants to just NOM down on that Steg.

Bloodmaw shares something with my infant son: "Let's see if I can fit that in my mouth!" Yes, he can get a Space Marine in there.


Now we're just showing off: Shaaroc the Reviled and Galagaak.

Continuing the trend from earlier, Shaaroc is giant. The competition's models are small. Shaaroc is detailed. They are not. 'Nuff said, I hope!
Galagaak was so big he wouldn't even keep my backdrop board in frame.

Hey, look, another monster on a rock! The Wocor of Powys may have a great perch, but he's still gigantic.

There aren't enough scale shots of Angrislaug out there. Hopefully this one's helpful?
Krull looks terrifying with his two-toned primer paint job. Also, freaking massive.

Another entry in the "shockingly massive" category: Ygandir. I only bought this guy because Roberto Chaudon was sculpting him and the WiPs looked fascinating. Kind of glad I did!

Finally, the king of tallness, Mjagnir. If only I had Gomagg to make him small... *sniff*

So, there you have it! Mierce models alongside industry-standard ones! For grins (that may have been alcohol induced), I lined all my Mierce stuff along the table edge, put my phone in Panaroma view, and tried to get as many as I could in there. I'm not sure you can tell what anything is, but at 1:25 AM it seemed like a great idea!


From small to large: the infantry through the Tarvax.

From small to large: the Tarvax through Ungefelic

From small to large: Glaun through Ygandir. (For some reason, the panaroma shot made Krull REALLY thin!)


Finally, I grouped everyone by kindred, and took one last panorama shot. From left to right: the Angelcynn, the Albiann, the Brythoniaid, the Byzantii/Infernii, the Fomoraic, the Khthones, the Norse, and the Ysians.

Any questions? Any Mierce stuff you'd like to see side-by-side? Any Mierce stuff you'd like to see alongside other Rackham, GW, Privateer Press, etc models? Want to see what other thing we can fit in Bloodmaw's mouth? Leave a comment or let me know!

1 comment:

  1. Nice comparison! Shows pretty good how massive some models are!

    ReplyDelete