In today's mail, I got from Battle Valor Games 15mm model of a triceratops with howdah and orc (orcian) crew:
You get a two-piece triceratops that consists of head and body, a howdah, and three orcs.
The body is made of resin. There is some flash, but not overwhelming. One of two horns that stick out of the anterior of the body did not get completely cast due to a bubble. I think a little two-part putty will take of that. I didn't notice any other bubbles.
One thing that will need work on is the feet. The right front foot has a big chunk of resin stuck on the bottom:
I will probably have to use a razor saw to get that off.
The head is cast in metal:
Sorry about the poor picture, but the metal is very shiny. No seam lines are on it.
The hodah is also of metal:
It is cast in such a way that it will fit only in one spot on the back of the triceratops.
Last, but not least are the orcs:
I'm the least happy with these. First, they don't seem to have the detail compared to other Battle Valor miniatures that I have purchased. Second, they don't really fit with my idea of what an orc looks like. I guess it's all personal preference, but I actually prefer the more Games Workshop, cartoony-looking orcs. I guess I was inspired by the Hildebrandt brothers artwork that they did for their Lord of the Rings calendars. These calendars came out in the 1970s right when I was reading LotR (probably for the third or fourth time):
These Battle Valor guys are what I would call monkey orcs. I have some Essex 15mm orcs that are in the same vane. Instead of orcs, I might either use this triceratops for either barbarians, or more likely my lizardman army.
