Imbolc from Aradia Miniatures

Hello and welcome to another New Review Monday.

Today we have the pleasure of reviewing a brand new release from Aradia Miniatures. Part of the Hyperborea project which sees Aradia and Kimera working together as the two companies bonded during The League project of last year.

Imbolc the Champion of Thule is just one of four releases launched right at the end of July 2020 with them being Imbolc, Polaris, Anja and Jotun.

Of the four I am drawn to the previous three miniatures, Jotun the 9faces Troll is nice but it just doesn’t fit into my Aesthetic, but do check it out as it looks very gnarly with its face swap options.

Imbolc caught my eye back in May 2020 when I saw Mirko Cavalloni painting the box art and I was instantly adhered to the sculpture.

Aradia have supported GMR previously and once again sent out a piece to review. To my surprise it was Imbolc and I could not wait to take a look at what arrived.

So with my interest in all things Viking I though “oh yeah”, but then on a closer look I though “this is no Viking”. Due to the name of the character I quickly realised this is a pagan warrior in his own right.

Imbolc if you didn’t already know is a Pagan seasonal festivity which is observed on the 1st of February to mark the coming of spring and is also observed by the Wicca community to celebrate the Goddess Brigid.  I will leave out the bit about the church and how they made Brigid a Saint to brainwash the early Celts... “cough, cough” moving on quickly...

So, with my interest in Pagan culture I was all too eager to dig deep in to this character and see what Aradia had produced.

Imbolc comes in one of those blister boxes that we all build up muscles and roll around on the floor trying to get the catches open and usually end up ripping it to bits before spraying the bits all over the room.

But I actually managed to get it open quite quickly this time (believe me I have destroyed many of these boxes opening them) and inside we see a zippy bag full of parts and a base which was separate in the blister.

Inside there are 11 pieces of very nicely sculpted, highly detailed parts very nicely sculpted by Joaquin Palacios.

So with Mirko and Joaquin on the production side it already has the pedigree of a high quality miniature.

Let’s talk about the casting quality.

As you all know by now I am quite abrupt on pointing out issues...

Sometimes I get stunned by well cleaned and impeccably cast miniatures and I am happy to say this piece is almost perfect.

Now by perfect I mean straight to paint out of the box, this is very rare as most models need some kind of preparation before the undercoat goes on.

You noticed I said "almost"?

Well I gave this cast a good look over and I found a few very tiny bits of flash along the fur cloak and I am happy to say the guy who cast this has cut the mould in a very good way to conceal the mould line and if it wasn’t for 2 bits of flash I wouldn’t have noticed the line at all, it runs up the side of the cloak and a tiny bit into the fur and was so fine I would have had to blow the picture up quite a lot to show you where it was.

This is very nice work from the casting guys.

However; there was a more obvious mould line on the bottom of the axe arm but again it was so fine you could have sneezed and it would vanish. A quick scrape from the casting guys and this would have been a top quality casting job.

The only other issue I found was the warped spear shaft but this can be easily sorted with either hot water or a hair dryer to soften and pull it straight.

There will always be that one guy who emails and complains “I can’t straighten it I want a replacement” but 99.9% of customers will sort it in literally a minute.

I originally thought there was a snake wrapped around the spear shaft but on closer inspection it seems to be some sort of vine leading up to the spear head which is also finely detailed.

In hand you can see the design has influences for Norse and Celtic cultures with fur being a heavy influence and Joaquin has sculpted this really nicely.

Imbolc is posed at rest, elbow on knee, but still has an air of movement with the way the cloak is billowing in the wind.

  

The small fangs and runes that sit on the fur are done nicely too. We see this kind of detail a lot on tbe Black Sun Miniatures barbarian sculpts which Joaquin sculpts too, so I am very used to seeing this kind of quality and am happy to see Aradia utilising his skills to produce their own high quality pieces.

There are so many tiny details on the waistband that I am surprised Joaquin hasn’t gone blind trying to place them.

The whole miniature is about 70% fur which doesn’t leave a lot of room for other materials but it all looks like it should, folds and creases all very nicely done. The anatomy looks great and the details on the axe are all very nice too.

As mentioned above, Jotun has face swap options which is echoed in Imbolc.

You can have a helmetless head or go for the antler adorned helmet option which adds that extra majesty to the stance of the piece.

 

I am quite happy to close this review with a short summary in which I can say I am very happy with the concept and production of this piece and the very minor production issues do not take anything away from this miniature.

If you are interested in this miniature head over to www.aradiaminiatures.com and pick up Imbolc or any of the other Aradia range or alternatively head over to www.pegasoworld.com and take advantage of the shipping if you happen to order Aradia, Pegaso or Kimera products.

Don't forget to check out their Facebook page and Instagram for up to date information on future releases.

I would like to thank Aradia Miniatures for their support of GMR and I hope this review has aided you in your miniature search and purchase.

If you like what you read please leave a comment and we will be glad to discuss anything you wish...
I would like to thank you for reading and wish you happy hobbying and remember don’t drink ya paint water.

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