Gamers attending last weekend’s GenCon in Indianapolis found a surprise waiting for them at the Dark Sword Miniatures booth — a half dozen new figures in the “George R.R. Martin Masterworks” range, being rolled out for the first time as special convention pre-release.

The talented Jeff Grace sculpted these new additions to the Dark Sword range, six wildings from beyond the Wall, to face off against the Night’s Watch figures featured in the first wave.

Two are spearwives, the women warriors of the far north, but don’t look for ludicrous chainmail bikinis on these gals. Fur and leather are a lot more practical in the wild.

The wildlings were a special GenCon run, available for purchase only at the convention, but Dark Sword expects to make them available for mail-order in another month or two, as soon as the rest of “wave 1.5” is ready. Gencon attendees also got a glimpse at prototypes of some of the other figures in the iopeline, including a court lady, two gold cloak guardsmen, and a stunning 54mm sculpt of Daenerys and her newborn dragons, fresh from the fires of Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre, all from Tom Meier. Watch this space for pictures for those figures, when they are available.

We’ll also have pictures of the winning entries in the painting contest. My friends at Dark Sword tell me that some of them were truly spectacular. I look forward to seeing them.

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Here’s the final results on our poll for Dark Sword Miniatures:

Prince Oberyn Martell, Red Viper of Dorne
642 (36.2%)

Princess Arianne Martell
133 (7.5%)

Tyrion Lannister, the Imp
1191 (67.1%)

Shae
154 (8.7%)

Brienne, the Maid of Tarth
739 (41.7%)

Samwell Tarly
349 (19.7%)

Robb Stark, the Young Wolf
770 (43.4%)

Asha Greyjoy
478 (26.9%)

Lady Catelyn Stark
424 (23.9%)

Prince Joffrey Baratheon
171 (9.6%)

So the winners are
TYRION LANNISTER, THE IMP
ROBB STARK, THE YOUNG WOLF
BRIENNE, THE MAID OF TARTH
PRINCE OBERYN MARTELL, RED VIPER OF DORNE

These four will be part of Dark Sword’s second wave of miniatures, along with Daenerys Targaryen, Ser Gregor Clegane, and four “supporting cast” figures.

As first runner-up, Asha Greyjoy will be included in the next poll, when we ask who you want to see in wave #3. The others will have to wait their turn.

Live Journal polls cannot be turned off, so far as I can tell, so the post will remain in place and presumably new people will still stop by and vote from time to time, changing the figures… but this is the “official” end count.

My thanks to all those who participated. Tyrion is pretty pleased as well.

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Music: Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?
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The first wave of Ice and Fire figures from Dark Sword Miniatures have been very well received, I am pleased to report. If you missed those, you can check them out on Dark Sword’s own website at http://darkswordminiatures.com/

Here’s a couple of painted versions that I thought were especially stunning — the Lannister twins, with Cersei in red and Jaime in his Kingsguard whites, rendered by the talented brush of Marike Reimer. Beautiful work, I think. The way she does face is amazing. (I paint minis myself from time to time for relaxation, but at this scale, I count it a success if both eyes don’t end up on the same side of the nose).

With the first wave of minis meeting such a great reception, Dark Sword and Tom Meier are gearing up for wave # 2. Once again the set will consist of ten figures: six named characters from A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, and four “types,” spearcarriers or soldiers of one faction or another, intended to fill out the ranks.

Two of the “named character” slots have already been filled. Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, and Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain That Rides, will both be part of the next release. As for the four remaining figures… that’s where you guys come in. We’re going to do a poll. We’ll give you ten options, and the top four finishers will be part of Dark Sword’s “second wave.”

But more on that next post.

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I know a lot of my fans were disappointed when Testor’s plans to produce various ranges of ICE & FIRE miniatures and collectibles came to… well, very little. Testor’s managed to release only one set in two years, and had major breakage problems trying to ship it. Many other figures were designed, sculpted, even cast, but never released. We all had great intentions, but for various complex reasons things just did not work out.

I am hoping that the second time will prove the charm. I’ve got a new deal in place, this time with DARK SWORD MINIATURES, who will be showing the first batch of figures at GenCon. Dark Sword is a much smaller outfit than Testor’s… but that’s good, I think. It means this new range of figures is very important to the company. At Testor’s, the project almost seemed like an afterthought, and often got forgotten.

I won’t natter about the miniatures here, however. Check out the story on my news page for more details, and follow to link to Dark Sword’s own website to see pictures of the first set of minis.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the miniatures, Tom Meier, Dark Sword, what characters you’d like to see next, etc. Feel free to comment.

I am, however, getting bloody sick of all the off-topic comments, and the trolls who use any LJ post of mine, regardless of subject, as another excuse to slam me about DANCE being late. I can’t stop you from posting such comments, of course… but I can and will remove ’em, and ban the posters. LJ makes that pretty easy, I’m glad to say. And life is too short to deal with trolls.

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