Best Miniatures Of 2018 – The Winners
Whether made of metal, resin, or sweet delicious plastic, 2018 saw some amazing miniatures released. Here are the two best ones we saw this year.
Alright folks, let’s get right to business. There are two categories up for this post–best Metal/Resin Miniature and Best Plastic Miniature. Both of which had some fairly steep competition this year. When it all comes down to it though, there can only be one person who runs Bartertown, so let’s strap into the Thunderome and get ready to see who’s going to win the Prize.
Best Metal/Resin Miniature: Cremharunc, Beast of Geanainn Earth – Mierce Miniatures
This is easily the best Earth Elemental I’ve ever seen. Where most other miniatures would make a vaguely lump-shaped rockman, or some kind of craggy, sort of humanoid bunch of mud, Mierce Miniatures’ excellent Cremharunc shows you what an Earth Elemental really can be. Every part of it is made of living earth–the tree stump head and roots that run through it are given expression by the magic that created it, you can see dirt and rock and vine at play–this lumbering beast makes you really feel the earth part of an Earth Elemental.
Best Plastic Miniature: Akhelian Leviadon – GW
There’s a lot going on with this miniature. The turtle portion alone shows you how far miniatures have come–it’s a multipart model that fits together with these big weird curved surfaces that layer on top of each other seamlessly. It looks organic and natural (except for the parts that are obviously monstrous), and shows off a great deal of technical proficiency before you add on the Howdah that a crew of fish-aelves are riding around on. There’s a lot of character at work on this piece: you get a sense for how the Deepkin operate (and again, there’s another case to be made that they really ought to fit in with Destruction instead of just going to Order, where all the pretty factions go), while also getting a look at the creativity that the Age of Sigmar designers have been playing with. The beautiful thing about that game is we can see new lines that aren’t bound by the same fantasy/sci-fi tropes, and this model is a big step towards the Age of Sigmar really defining its own aesthetic.
Anyway, those are our picks for 2018’s next top models. They both are gorgeous and did well in the runway portion–let us know what you think, and what your favorite model from this year was.
