As China works away on stage 3 Kickstarter completion, I
will try and get teaser shots out for the items that will be delivered for the
Kickstarter backers and eventually into retail.
First on the list if the Eisenkern Assault Troopers. This
will be a five man box set and like our Stormtroopers, they are of multipart,
posable miniatures. In the next sneak peek I will go over the box contents and
give some insight as to the customization and options that will be provided
with this set.
Assault Troopers are fully encased in power armor and armed
with an energy blade to make quick work of heavily armored targets or lighter
fortifications. Their ranged weapon is
either the MP72, a stockless assault rifle that fires explosive 20mm rounds or
the M402 eight shot 40mm grenade launcher for those stubborn targets. Each
trooper wears the fluted armor of an assault trooper and a heraldic tabard
bearing his households colors.
Assault Trooper are indoctrinated from the Valkir, those
soldiers who show exceptional courage, drive and aggression while serving with
the Valkir may be offered a place within one of the Ritterorden “knightly order”
Modeled after the 14th century knightly households, the Ritterorden
act as a semi-autonomous military. Although closely tied to the parent faction each
Ritterorden has its own traditions, uniforms and chain of command that are unique
to that household. Regardless of which household a trooper serves under,
Assault troopers value aggression above all ells , charging in where angels
fear to tread is just another day at work for these soldiers.
(some shots from the rear)
This is not the final box art but in order to render that
image I need to handle each model and assign textures in preparation for the
final render. Having completed these test renders it seemed like a good time to
give you a look at what painted models may look like. The tabards and heraldry
displayed in these images are those worn by the Teutonic Ritter, serving directly
under the Emperor as his honor guard.
If you remember the test print, this is the model that was used to make that print. CAD work for minis can be a funny thing, the mini looks pretty packed with detail but when you look at a blown up render... not so much ;) It takes a bit of practice to understand detail size and what works, hopefully I got this one right. Another aspect that gets tricky is the models bulk, when you look at the print it looks trimmer, more lean than the render, first couple of tests prints with the Stormtrooper came back looking way too thin, even though the CAD model looked spot on.
The test print looked good so now it is up to WGF China to work their magic.