Mini of the Week 3-2-18

Welcome back to Mini of the Week, where every Friday I will find a miniature from around the web that exemplifies an aspect of our hobby and share it with you.

Lupus by Adam Nguyen

There certainly have been a lot of 40k (well, 30k in this case) models showing up for Mini of the Week lately, but you just can't ignore how good they've been. This guy in particular stands out to me. The conversion work is minimal, and the model is just a standard Heresy-era marine, but they've really captured the mood they were going for. The posturing of the model definitely conveys the very visible wound he's nurturing, but also his determination to see his job done. The most impressive thing though is the paint job. I've been a fan of the Luna Wolves since I read Horus Rising, which I think can be said about a lot of people considering the amount of converted Luna Wolves armies I saw before Forge World even had a Heresy game. Their color scheme is so striking, despite the face that there was another mostly white power armored legion already. They were the best of the best, and their armor designs were very no-nonsense. 

Whatever color was used here for the off white is spot on. It has a slight cream feel to it, but still reads as white. Everything is crisp and smooth, and the reflections on the black areas are great. Obviously the star of the show though is that weathering. It takes a true talent to get that much weathering to look natural and scale appropriate on these models. Just look at how tiny and fine those lines are, and how faint some of them are. Each is also highlighted. That's true dedication. It's all built up in the correct areas and has the look of someone who has been scraping their armor through a lot of war zones. Despite how much of it there is, at no point does it feel overpowering. If the model was uninjured, it might have felt a little much, but we can clearly tell this Marine has been through the grinder. Speaking of the injury, the blood on his arm is a fantastic shade, and again, very scale appropriate. Just look at how tiny some of those blood splatter are. It clearly looks like it came from his arm and dripped across his armor. Even with all of this, the helmet is the least damaged part of the model, drawing you eyes to his head, and his lenses are still perfectly clean. They're bright and crisp, standing out from the grime and acting as the focal point of the model. They also help to create a triangle of interest with the red blood on his leg and shoulder pad. The base is nice and subtle, not distracting from the model, while setting the scene of a war torn battlefield. The darkness of it helps frame the white mini. The only thing I think I would have liked to see more of, is a little bit of a sense of place. In the models description on Putty and Paint, he says this is supposed to be at the battle of Ullanor, but looking at this I wouldn't have gotten that. It would have been nice to have an ork skull, or some ork weaponry scattered on the rubble, or even just more than rubble. A little bit of building or something. It's a small complaint though, and the rest of this model is really outstanding!

Be sure to check out more views of the model on Putty and Paint and show the artist some love if you like it.

Until next time,

Tyler M.

For all of your own miniature needs visit Ministomp where you can get the entire Games Workshop product range. They also have frequent model giveaways on their Twitter account, so be sure to follow them.