Aradia Miniatures – Toad King

Aradia Miniatures is a small miniature company from Italy. Their high class resin miniatures already caught my eye on some of the painting blogs around the web, and i had the chance to meet them at Scale Model Challenge.

In this review, i'll take a look at the Toad King. It is a resin miniature in 54mm scale. The toad king himself is roughly 60mm tall and costs 30 Euros.

"I’m the King of the mushrooms, I’m the King of the Sabba, CROAK! I’m the King of marsh, GOARK! Don’t look into my eyes, CRROAK!, my glance is poisonous and my skin exudes a magical substance that you could need to prepare the unguent of the witches. GRAAAK! I’m the swampy King of pixies and fairies, I’m King that you should never encounter, I’m the Toad King. CROAK."

In the blister you'll find the tall torso including head as a single piece, and the smaller bits like the crown, right arm, left hand with weapon and the loin cloth in a ziplock bag. And a small piece of artwork / drawing of the character himself.

The cast is incredibly well done. No casting errors, air bubbles or similar, just very minor amount of flash. Due to the use of resin instead of pewter / lead or plastic, you can see the fine structure of the frog skin, with warts and bloated parts at neck and belly.

The fit is pretty good, no pinning was needed, but in case of the weapon i wanted to be safe. You don't really need to cover up the transitions between the parts, but i touched them up lightly with a bit of liquid putty.

The crown is optional if you do not want a toad king but a (high) warrior of the frog tribe. The loin cloth however is a bit less optional, and contains the kings crown jewels.

I prepared a small plinth for the king, using a wooden cube, a bit of cork and filler.

From different angles he looks like this.

If you're looking for beautiful painted versions of the toad king, you can check out the Toad King contest at the Aradia website or the post-apocalyptic interpretation at Massive Voodoo.

Conclusion
This miniature is a combination of Stefano Moronis artwork and the sculpt-craft by Allan Carrasco. 30 Euro might seem a steep price for a "wargamer", but you have to keep in mind, this is an larger than ogre-sized miniature, cast in a low volume production and highest expectations.

It is a very fine and artistic sculpt, that is a solid foundation for a showcase piece. A project that isn't just primed and washed, and motivates do spend more time and work into details. In my opinion, the toad king is a good choice for a wargamer who wants to try out a more elaborate way of painting, as well for a skilled painter that is looking for a promising next project.

Link: Aradia Miniatures