One package flew into the cuckoo's nest

I've been working on a few longer "think piece" posts lately, so while I've been bouncing between some research and contemplation for those I've decided to write a more casual collection update in the meantime. This is also done in the hopes of guilt tripping myself into getting Confrontation back to the painting table via a visual reality check of how many unopened miniatures are still held hostage in my closet. Spoiler alert, it is a lot. But at least, as a result, there will be a lot of content on here, so hopefully you enjoy reading about it all.

Hello eBay, my old friend...

Photo dump coming in, so you know the drill, click "read more" below to see the full post!

This lovely box of awesomeness arrived earlier this year from across the ocean, courtesy of the well known Chimera and his hoard on eBay. It was actually the last purchase I made coming from the States, as already by then the shipping prices started going wild. It saddens me so much how high these extra expenses have been soaring, the shipping rates and import taxes sometimes going higher than what you bought the damn items for. In all honesty, for us Europeans it has always been a bit of a luxury to buy things from the USA, but nowadays it just seems like it isn't worth it anymore. Which is especially sad when the English language stock of Confrontation in Europe has gotten a bit dry. That's why this was the final bite before the self-imposed embargo, resulting in some other deals being dropped, thus I decided to make the bite big and juicy.

When the sight of a nicely packed box hits...

This time we're not gonna play the guessing game since the box didn't include a lot of see-through packaging. And it actually included models from a few factions... none of which I previously dipped into, because I'm insane like that. In my defense though, the package does contain mostly one faction and a sprinkle of a few others, so at least some amount of restraint was used. But enough about me, let us dive in, starting with a big bang curtesy of the boys below...

Yes. I simply woke up one day, Confrontation on my mind and an uncontrollable urge which needed to be sated. "I want to own some Orcs," repeated the brain and I had to obey. True story. The night before I finally sat down to watch the amazing video of Sergio Calvo painting the Behemoth Orc from Journeyman Miniatures and that was a nigh religious experience. After watching a true master at work, I went to Under The Mountain and spent the next hour in the Behemoth section. This was the first time I actually invested some time to pay proper attention to the faction, as I was never a big fan of the Orcs of any kind in any game. But these designs are just so unique somehow, in every possible way. Their garments, all the small details, and most of all the anatomy of the models are simply above and beyond any other "orc" design. The entire composition of each of these models oozes with flavor, particularly well aligning itself with the actual lore being told by the faction and I love every millimetre it.  

The Jackal Master of Rites was obviously added to be used as the Keeper of the Tree-Spirit. Even though it is a Bran-Ô-Kor Orc, whose designs I like far less than those of the Behemoth, it is still an amazing sculpt. The little legs will forever not be funny though, there's simply no escaping that!

Next up, two half-elves, unexpectedly. Or well, I guess not so unexpectedly, since we are beneath the Moaning Moon after all. It was just a matter of time before I took a dive into the Devourers and these two boys were a modest beginning. More on that faction in an upcoming post though...

Last, but definitely not the least, a small, but worthy dip into Mid-Nor. The Demon Tower always stood out to me as one of the most intriguing miniature designs ever done by Rackham and it has been an elusive piece, rightfully so. When I started collecting Confrontation I kept a watchful eye for available Demon Towers, but I simply never saw one out in the wild. Eventually though, a crazy number of Towers crawled out of Chimera's hoard onto eBay. I guess a lot of you saw how many he listed and how fast they started disappearing, so I had to pull the trigger once they finally popped up for us Europeans. It was a bit frustrating when the ads started being published, since I believe they were only visible to folks from the US, only later did they become available to the rest of the world. And in the meantime some rare items came and went, like the Knight of Cadwallon, which eluded my grasp. Sad, but it is what it is. I think there were just two Demon Towers left when I finally saw the ad and had money to drop on the purchase, so I couldn't do it faster enough... to be honest, mostly out of fear that some lunatic (I mean, our Sweet despot) buys his hundredth Tower or however much he has in his dungeon. Proud and happy to own one of these beauties now, it will definitely be a fun little project in the future.

Gotcha, actually one more item was in there, the Dogs of War card pack. I've been itching to get this one for a few reasons. First, I love all of the card packs since they are such a nice treasure trove of lore and they completely immerse you in whichever theme the specific card pack represents. Second, I've instantly fell for anything Dogs of War, since I love campaign play and all these special events which tweak and give some unique spice to the game. The DoW pack is one of the rarer ones, as far as I could see, so it was a pleasure to add it to the pile.

The money shot.

And there you have it, a glorious haul if I may say so myself. Looking at the Behemoth Orcs I, admittedly, feel the same kind of dread which I feel when looking at my beloved Daikinee collection, the fear of painting them since I don't know whether my skills will do them justice. It's funny how the mind works, I painted the Kelts as my entry into Confrontation, mostly as they seemed easy to get done since I had some decent past experience painting skin and leather. And even though I didn't particularly like the Sessair sculpts, I learned to love them and appreciate their intricacies through the journey of painting. Yet here, when it comes to the Daikinee or Behemoth, I love them so much to the point of fear. I guess the good old "some paint is better than no paint" mantra will beat the doubts eventually. But regardless, for now I will let them rest safely in their boxes, leaving them to be pretty and inspiring for a little while... though I will surely meet them at the table soon enough.