Zema the Mage bust from Signum Games

Welcome back fellow GreyMountaineers.

Today I am looking at a bust that comes from the Signum Games range.

Signum Games is based in the Ukraine and is predominantly a gaming company which has many nice looking pieces but they also have several busts.

As the title suggests I’m looking at Zema the Mage.

Zema is a 1:9 scale bust and is cast is nice quality resin comprising of 9 parts. This includes a small plinth and for the price tag of €45.00.

There is a shipping charge but that will depend on your location.

So, let’s look at the bust and see what we find.

Signum's packaging looks kind of nice with the gloss black filigree box with the gold logo. Eye catching but this box was a little small for the contents. You need to be a krypton factor contestant to fit them all back in after looking at the pieces.

I purchased this bust some time ago now and on delivery I inspected the cast and there was not a great deal to point out. There are some mould lines which need to be sorted, some casting gates to remove. and some flash to be brushed off. So there is an amount of clean up to do and this is unfortunate because I hate cleaning up, as you guys will know by now.

The style of this bust is very much cartoon like and is based on a miniatures from their gaming range. Aesthetically, the piece is very jester like but filled with intricate and delicate details which give of an eastern mage feel.

The tunic is filled with symmetrical patterning, almost like a trellis pattern found in a beautiful Asian garden or carved architecture.

The whole bust is filled with textures and ornate patterns that will be a painters nemesis or dream to work on.

If you take a look at the detail on the headdress you will see just how much detail has gone in to this kit. Plus the flash I mentioned before.

Zema is posed to represent her summoning a Jinn or Genie if you prefer the more common term.

She is summoning the spirit from out of an elaborate looking sphere, smoke in billowing from the globe and out of the mist comes the Genie.

The genie is looking Zema in the eyes and you can imagine she is commanding it to do her bidding.

The Jinn has the same kind of pattern on its shoulder pads which compliments Zema’s aesthetic.

This kit is not for the faint hearted as it is packed full of detail, and smoke is not easy to paint. But when done well it looks incredible as you can see by the painted version on their site.

The facial details of the bust are very cartoony and as you can see in the images her pupils are sculpted in. This is not a favourite aspect of many painters but with a little clever painting and a tiny drop of clear resin/water effect you could make the eye look pretty nice.

There is so much scope for painting on this piece anyone will enjoy it I’m sure. OSL could be utilised vastly on this model should you be so inclined to use that technique. NMM or true metallics will suite this kit too, so if you wish to tackle this you will be sure to either love it or go insane trying ha ha.

I did dry fit the parts with blu-tac and the joins will need some gap filling or you could warm the resin through in hot water and push the parts together to reduce any gaps but you will be gap filling anyway.

The globe in the hand will need pinning if you want to transport it to shows and competitions, but for home use it is not essential. But I would recommend it anyway.

So...

My overall thought of the bust??

On face value the kit is quite nice. The theme is high fantasy and with the female aesthetic I am sure it will appeal to many painters.

The elaborate details I think could be intimidating to some, but with all the details and textures in this piece it is going to be a painters dream.

Value for money; I would say it is fair. I have seen smaller kits from big companies come at twice this price and that is simply robbery, but €45.00 for essentially a bust holding a smaller bust I think is pretty good.

If you like this piece or even fancy looking at the gaming version, head on over to https://signumgames.com/store/filters/exclusives-accessories/collectable/page/2/

The range of miniatures is vast and covers fantasy and sci-fi genres.

Once again I want to thank you for reading the blog and our reviews and I hope you enjoy what you read.

Thanks again and don’t forget Not to Drink the Paint Water...

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