This week, my copy of Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms arrived. It’s a system by Modiphius that I’ve been keen to look into, mostly for the many nostalgic hours ploughed into Skyrim. I’ll cover the system itself in another blog, once I’ve had chance to read the rules and play a game or two, but in the meantime, I can check out the miniatures.

Since I’m mostly interested in the solo/co-operative delve move, I opted for the Bleak Falls Barrow delve set. For whatever reason, I’d expected the narrative scenarios to come in this box but it turns out those are in the core box. This box contains the miniatures required to play those scenarios. You get:

• Dragonborn
• Draugr overlord
• 3 draugr with greatswords
• 3 skeleton archers

Each has a 30mm base, so a touch big, but still workable if you want to get double use out of them in Dungeons and Dragons with the 25mm x 25mm squared mats.

The Sprue

A single sprue (or frame, if you prefer) contains all the bits you need for the set. At first glance, there looks like a lot of small components for each miniature but they’re actually an easy build. It’s clear where the components go thanks to how they’re shaped around the joins, balls and holes, etc. There are many connections to the components on the sprue, which means more snipping, but the connections are small and easy to get to which avoids big, unsightly bits to trim with the craft knife.

The Miniatures

The quality is solid and the hard plastic holds the detail well. Mould lines are also at a minimum. The alternative to plastic is the slightly more expensive resin set. They’re pretty much the same apart from the resin ones come with sculpted bases. I could have gone for either, having seen the quality of the resin miniatures with the promotional dragonborn triumphant I painted recently.

Painting the Draugr

With all the recesses, the draugr looked ideal to approach with washes. I expect Citadel Contrast paint would also work a charm here. This one had a zenithal prime using Chaos Black followed by Corax White. The flesh is a Rakarth Flesh base coat, an Agrax Earthshade wash, followed by highlighting back up with Rakarth Flesh. The sword is Vallejo Gunmetal Grey, washed all over with Nuln Oil, then weathered with Typhus Corrosion and lightly dryrushed with Ryza Rust. Finally, the eyes are just little dots of Nihilakh Oxide.

Drop me a comment if you’ve picked up this or another of the Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms sets, or if you’ve played it.