Thursday 23 July 2009

PREVIEW: Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sharkmen

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Jon at Khurasan Miniatures has kindly sent me samples of his new 15mm Sci Fi 'Karkarine' Marines.

These new 'Kark' minis from Khurasan are essentially Sharkmen. Not sharkoids - Sharkmen. Bipedal miniatures in human style clothes but with that classic shark bullet shaped head, which tapers into a small fin at the back of the skull.

First let me say these are some of the nicest, cleanest sculpted and cast miniatures I've seen for a while. They have good poses and feel just 'right'.

The Marine pack contains 4 different advancing Marines. Can't really call them 'grunts' - 'Gills' perhaps? They are wearing calf length boots, baggy trousers, banded Flak vest and a thigh length jacket which could be painted as a long jerkin instead.

They are armed with very solid low/mid-tech rifles which look like the type of harpoon gun Quint (Robert Shaw: Jaws) would have been proud of - minus the harpoon of course.

The 'Karks' are equipped with a tank on their backs which has a thin tube snaking over the shoulder into the creature's mouth.

The 'Kark' Marine Command pack has three miniatures. A very, very nice Commander figure, bluetooth headset, rifle in one hand pointing with the other. Plus a hydroplasma cannon team. Jon has designed the gun team to mimic WW2 German machine gun teams, one 'Kark' standing firing the hydroplasma cannon, the No.2 in front of the gunner supporting the muzzle on his shoulder. A dynamic pose that comes as a nice change for sci fi gamers! The hydroplasma cannon gunner can also be used on his own as a sniper with a gauss sniper rifle.

The figures are 15mm to their eyes and about 15.5 to 16mm overall. They match perfectly with Rebel Minis Sahadeen and GZG Ravagers (both currently on my workbench amongst others).

The Karkarine Marines are the most interesting and inspired non-bug alien miniatures currently on the market. Perfect for Sci Fi skirmish games, Victorian Science Fiction and Pulp/Call of Cathulu, post apocalyptic mutants etc. They will definitely make excellent Waterworld pirates/raiders. There's been a lot of posts about gaming WaterWorld recently on TMP:


Without a shadow of a doubt I can see a place for the Karkarine Marines in this type of game over and above standard Sci Fi battle scenarios. Jon envisions the Karks as sci fi Landsknechts -- they will serve anyone, anywhere, as mercenaries, for a price, but when their overlords go to war they join the invasion (just as Landsknechts were supposed to join the emperor when he marched).

The miniatures will be released by Jon at Khurasan soon, at which time I will be able to post photos.


Cheers
Mark

7 comments:

  1. Jeeeeez...more?

    I think that I am just going to have to make a real list and buy a little bit each month.

    -Eli

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seems that there might be confusion with their Hammerheads in the space demon line. :)

    andy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Andy

    No, completely different. :-)

    Cheers
    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was very pleased to read that you like them! Clibinarium was too -- he is not a sci fi sculptor and this job was a real trial for him.

    Just one thing, my url is not www.khurasanminiatures.com. It's khurasanminiatures.tripod.com. :)

    Thanks,
    Khurasan Miniatures

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great work Clibinarium (10mm Late Romans?)....Can I suggest you use the same bodies and put human Sci Fi adventurer/colonist/pirate heads on them.

    URL - yeah, but if punters click on the one given it takes them to the right place - jobs a good un. :-?

    Cheers
    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great work Clibinarium (10mm Late Romans?)....Can I suggest you use the same bodies and put human Sci Fi adventurer/colonist/pirate heads on them.

    URL - yeah, but if punters click on the one given it takes them to the right place - jobs a good un. :-?

    Cheers
    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great work Clibinarium (10mm Late Romans?)....Can I suggest you use the same bodies and put human Sci Fi adventurer/colonist/pirate heads on them.

    URL - yeah, but if punters click on the one given it takes them to the right place - jobs a good un. :-?

    Cheers
    Mark

    ReplyDelete