I had a pretty cool experience today. The tabletop miniatures game I write for invited me up to their factory to sign some rulebooks being mailed out this week which feature stories I've written to help develop the lore of their world. (For more, check out this blog post or you can head over to the short stories tab to read the lore).
Thankfully, the great guys at Iron Wind Metals were kind enough to give me a tour of the place and let me take some cool, behind-the-scenes pictures. Here it is!
Getting all the figures together for a shipment this week. Most of the figures on the table here are bee cavalry (yes, cavalry riders on bees!), treants, a winged beast, and some armored bears. They look awesome.
A big bin of hero figures. The orange disc are silicon molds used to make those figures, and the brown boxes to the side are older figures which have since been discontinued. Above the box, you can see some of the design concepts on a clipboard.
Some resin molds used for casting figures.
Shelf after shelf of finished miniatures waiting to be shipped. Thousands of different models, hundreds of each.
These discs are silicon molds used to make the pewter figures. Iron Wind Metals has been around since the 70s, so they have a ridiculous amount of these molds.
These shelves are full of 'master molds' which are like the blueprints for making miniatures. A lot of them are used to the make the miniatures used in Chaos Wars!
The inside of a silicon mold. So much detail! These things are really cool.
This mold makes wings for dragons. It was at the active pouring station where I got to see some weapons poured into molds and made before my very eyes. It was awesome!
Stacks of pewter ingots waiting to become fantasy miniatures. Each one weighs about 15 pounds and can craft about 100 individual figures.
Some finished miniatures, expertly painted and on display.
The T-Rex is my favorite.
Goblins!
These dragon riders are really cool.
That thing is sick!
A limited edition dragon.
More cool dragons.
And the best part of the whole trip, getting a chance to see my story in the rulebook before it ships!
Lina Arias is something of the champion of this edition of Chaos Wars. The daughter of Estria's king, she threw away her birthright in order to make a name for herself - as a vampire, a summoner, and a necromancer.