Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st Edition – Hellhounds

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Descent 1.0 Hellhounds

Today’s models come from Descent: Journeys in the Dark 1st Edition. I picked it up secondhand several years ago, when I heard about how great a game it was, blurring the lines between RPG and miniatures boardgame. Shortly afterwards, the Second Edition came out, though I did pick up the official conversion kit, I’ve never gotten around to playing either of the things yet.

A month or so I got the idea to paint the Giant Spiders out of the 1e box. While I was poking around in there, I found these Hellhounds. Figuring that they’d paint up pretty quickly, I ended up putting the Spiders back and working on these instead. They didn’t take too long to get done, and being pretty rough figures I wan’t going to knock myself out over getting the absolute best paintjobs on them, either. Tabletop is good enough!

Descent 1.0 Hellhounds

Descent uses two different “types” of each monster: “White” ones, which are normal, or trooper-types and “Red” ones which are champion-level and tougher. So the sculpts come in two colours of plastic – Red and White (actually, more of a cream, but I digress). In order to be able to identify the two types, I painted the “White” ones with brighter orangey-red and red-to-yellow flame-fur, while the “Red” ones were painted in a slightly deeper, darker red and have yellow-to-black flame-fur. Enough to distinguish them when needed, but close enough that they still work in a pack for other games.

Descent 1.0 Hellhounds

Descent 1.0 Hellhounds

Speaking of other games, I knocked up a multi-base for them so that they can be used as a regiment in Kings of War. They’d be used as Proxy Hellhounds in my Khorne Chaos Daemons army, which in turn will be using the Forces of the Abyss/Hellhounds entry. Which I’ve just noticed while looking it up to write this only come in units of 5. And naturally, this base is made for a nominal unit of 10. Feck. That’s annoying, especially as they’re actual Hellhounds. Though the Mantic models also come on pissy little 25mm bases from Dungeon Saga, so perhaps the more appropriate proxy entry for these models will actually be a regiment of Abyssal Horsemen.

Review: Russian Alternative – The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1 and #2

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About a month or so ago, I ordered a pile of Dwarfs from Russian Alternative via their eBay store. Mostly Chaos Dwarfs, the line being called “Fire Canyon”, and also a few of their “Regular” Dwarf line. Today, I’m giving an overview of the first two of the models, which I’ve just gotten ready for painting. As with all of my reviews, I purchased the products myself and there’s no quid pro quo going on here in exchange for a favourable review. I know I always appreciate being able to see clear photographs of models I’m considering purchasing, and it can be much harder to find that when we’re looking at non-Citadel product.

Packaging:

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #2

RA’s models all come inside a thin cardboard box, with a colour photograph on the front of the model inside. Sealed by a RA sticker which I guess also functions as a form of security sticker in the retail environment, the “plastic” sticker on the back refers to resin (which is a kind of plastic) as opposed to HIPS or ABS or Restic or any of the other plastics that we wargamers are accustomed to.

Inside, the figure is protected by being sandwiched between two layers of foam. I really like this. It’s not as “pretty” as a blister pack, but I’ve received SO many resin models from a variety of companies that have had the figures arrive damaged simply from bouncing around in a blister, with components smacking into each other. It’s simple, but the secure fit these figures had by being packaged in such a way is a big positive for me, especially as I buy so much of my stuff online. There’s also a little “thank you” card inside that provides contact details in case you have a miscast item or any issues.

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1

The Sculpts:

Russian Alternative’s models used to be made soley in metal. In fact, many of the models I purchased were also available as metals, but I went entirely for resin with this order, one of the reasons being that their resin is extremely competitively priced. The sculpted detail is fine and, well, detailed. Certainly on a par with Forge World, for a fraction of the price. Very clean casts with almost no flash and minimal mold lines.

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #2

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #2

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #2

One of the two Berserker heroes – the one with the greataxe – came with a slotta that fitted into the provided base, the other model – armed with hand blades – did not, and in fact his hooved feet aren’t even flat and don’t rest on the ground evenly. He’d need to be mounted differently, or have the heat treatment in order to flatten his stance.

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1 and #2

Russian Alternative - The Berserker Dwarf of Fire Canyon #1 and #2

Being resin, both figures got a soak in dishwashing liquid and a scrub in order to remove any mould release. There was a bit of sheen left in parts of the models, and so to be safe I gave both a coat of watered down Citadel Liquid Greenstuff. As I prefer the aesthetics of round bases, they both got those instead of squares, and as heroes, I gave them 32mm bases instead of 25mm ones.

I didn’t want to heat treat his legs, and so Berserker #1 got mounted onto a blob of greenstuff with super glue (and I smushed some skulls into it for good measure) and his friend simply had his tab clipped off and was superglued down. The separate arm and greataxe fit pretty well (I accidently clipped off more than I sould have from his arm – but I was able to fill the gap with putty. I then primed with grey and then zenithally primed with white. I did forget to glue some slate to their bases, so that’ll be next, then it’s time to paint!

Verdict:

I’m very happy with these models. The price was very reasonable, service was good, shipping fast, packaging safe and the models themselves are very nice. I’ve got a ton more of these to work through, and I honestly haven’t even opened any of the others yet. I figure I’ll try and work my way through these guys and paint them as I go. I might even get them all done by the end of the year!

These two will slot in with the many Dwarf Slayers I’ve been painting this year, and so hopefully I’ll have the finished product to share in a week or two. Wish me luck!