Barrier Golem by Brayden Lee

This week’s Hero Forge Miniature Masterpiece Countdown starts off with a figure with such a solid theme, I am inspired to use it in my home game. Barrier Golem by Brayden Lee is undoubtedly and unapologetically representing what it is meant to be, a golem designed to protect. I’m currently running a game with a plot centered around the construction of golems. How could I not employ this miniature masterpiece? I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Valdrig Praetorian by TinmanOz Jr

Every villain needs a good minion or foot soldier. Upon first seeing this creature, I felt it could easily be slip into a subterranean or reptilian themed dungeon. Its design is simple yet coherent. I would’ve liked to see a little more detail overall. I think this particular miniature would’ve benefited from decals which is what’s holding it back from a higher rank in this week’s Miniature Masterpiece Countdown.

Marvel Emma Frost Phoenix by Twoeyeguy202

I am absolutely a huge fan of the X-Men. This includes movies, comic books, and of course the animated series from the 90s! This Miniature Masterpiece by Twoeyeguy202 perfectly captures Emma Frost when the X-Men split the Phoenix between their leaders. Thematically, it’s on point. Technical skill with the Hero Forge platform is also represented within this figure. Fire assets are hard to use and color, but are employed effectively here. Twoeyeguy202 also makes use of the rarely employed lighting element, and they use it well.

His mastery of theme and the tools is why Twoeyeguy202’s Marvel Emma Frost Phoenix made it onto this week’s Hero Forge Miniature Masterpiece Countdown.

Weretiger Monk by SentryThDefiant

I didn’t even know you could do that with a tail! I feel like this Miniature Masterpiece conveys theme and skill exceptionally well. The coloring is on point, and it took SentryThDefiant some time to get that right.

You need to get those decals exactly right in order to render the stripes for a tiger. Believe it or not, most Hero Forge creators don’t even bother. I’m also seeing a lot of expression in this miniature. I can totally see this guy being played in a monk centered campaign. I get the feel for the type of character this miniature represents. That’s why Weretiger Monk needed to be in this week’s countdown.

Steelclaw by sk minishido

Are we looking at a cyborg dragon monk? Well that’s just metal!

Puns aside, a lot of skill and patience went into crafting this Miniature Masterpiece. The coloring of this miniature required two figures to be layered over each other. You rarely see that technique employed for manipulation of the color palette.

Typically, layering figures occur when someone is trying to load a miniature up with assets or create highly dynamic shapes that are not possible with a single figure. In this case, however, blending the steel and red leathery flesh required a very steady hand deafly maneuvering the over-layered figures into an exact position. The metal dragon face needed to be just barely out of sync with the red dragon face. This type of job is tedious, but it’s the only way to render this type of color layering.

More importantly, the theme benefited from the meticulous work sk minishido painstakingly devoted to Steelclaw. If the metal figure didn’t bleed out of the dragon, the effect would not have been as powerful. Just giving the figure a metal arm and a metal leg is one thing, but half a metal face is another; it’s a cyborg.

Mothman by ConeDone

If you’re not familiar with The Mothman, it is an American urban legend about a creature seen at night and vaguely resembling a humanoid moth hybrid. This description, though accurate, does not do the urban legend justice. The Mothman is not simply a cryptid like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. The actual accounts regarding the Mothman depict it as more of a harbinger of doom. It appears before great tragedy is unleashed in the world and sometimes prophesizes and warns of these events. However, these warnings are vague and cryptic and go unheeded due to their ambiguous and unintelligible nature.

The Mothman legends are more in line with cosmic or Lovecraftian themes, and that’s why this Miniature Masterpiece made it onto the countdown. Though the designer, ConeDone, did an excellent job rendering a figure bearing the likeness of a moth-human hybrid, the lighting presented creates a sense of ominous darkness. The heavy shading and low light and the features only being illuminated by the glowing red eyes, hide most of the figure in shadow. What is illuminated is lit with the unnatural glow of its otherworldly eyes.

This figure technically looks like depictions of the Mothman, the dark shadows and glowing red light requires skill within the platform as well as familiarity with rarely employed tools, but most importantly, it represents its subject. This Hero Forge Miniature Masterpiece depicts a horror theme that by its very nature is never truly understood. It’s hard to express cosmic horror through visual representation due to the very nature of its scale. ConeDone managed to do that using Hero Forge as his medium. How could he not make the countdown?

Lady of the Lake by Aaron Harris

This week’s number 1 Hero Forge Miniature Masterpiece comes from Arthurian legend. If you’re unfamiliar, The Lady of the Lake is a supernatural creature that re-forged Excalibur after it broke when King Arthur used the blade to satisfy his own vanity. Arthur fought Lancelot out of pride instead of righteousness and as a result, Excalibur snapped in half. Merlin brought the broken sword to the Lady of the Lake who took it into her watery home and returned with it whole and unbroken.

This Miniature Masterpiece exemplifies a masterful use of the color palette available in Hero Forge. The water splashing around the figurine is in actuality fire assets twisted and repurposed to resemble swirling waves. The Lady herself is depicted as a fairy and otherworldly being which is in line with the legend and English myth.

The designer, Aaron Harris, displays his technical skill with the Hero Forge platform by manipulating the color palette and repurposing fire assets to resemble a whirlpool. He also nails the depiction of this otherworldly and legendary character. That’s why Lady of the Lake is this week’s number 1 Hero Forge Miniature Masterpiece