Werner Klocke’s name may be familiar to those who use Reaper miniatures in their game as he’s a well known sculpting freelancer. In addition to those duties, he also has his own imprint, Freebooterminiatures, that has it’s own small, but growing line of figures. One of the latest in that line, is Junger Zauberer, young wizard.
One of the problems I’ve had with some of the previous pieces in the Freebooter line is that there are too many individual pieces. It’s great for advanced modelers who can position, chop, and convert at will, but bad for those like myself who’d rather just ‘plug and play’ so to speak. This piece doesn’t suffer too much from that, as the main figure is just two pieces.
The body piece comes complete with head, legs and right arm. The left arm holds a staff tipped in a circle with a device held in the center of it. The only problem some may have, is that if they decide to do pinning, the arm and slot are very slender and the user will have to exercise caution and patience when pinning the arm.
The sculpting on the figure is impressive in that the facial features and physical details of the young wizard are not out of proportion. He looks like a youth. The face is wide eyed and has an ‘innocent’ look to it. The hair is well sculpted with many strands carved into the flowing shape. The clothing is simple but has all the details one would expect in a miniature. For example, while his arms aren’t bulging with muscle, his cape has depth with flowing curves in and off the body. The staff has a great grain feel to it.
The figure has no excess flak to it. Mold lines are limited. Looking very closely, on the back of the left leg, I see a tiny line and if I look very carefully, on the right arm, right under the cloak where the shirt emerges, I can see what might either be a fold in the shirt or a tiny mold line.
The one area where Freebooter consistently does better than Reaper, is in base details. This figure has slots on each of its feet. Instead of using a tab like Games Workshop does or one of those wretched cut your own space tabs like Confrontation does, the base is molded and detailed giving it it’s own unique look. This covering fits atop the hollow base itself and unlike Reaper, has some detail to it. Most of Reaper’s bases are ‘broccoli’ bases. They are rounded with a shape that appears to be made of broccoli and are the least favorite of any Dark Haven miniature. This base is shaped like a dungeon tile.
Another area where this miniature shines is in its accessory. Like the recent Pirate Queen, the Young Wizard comes with an aid, this one a small goblinoid of some sort with his finger pointing in an open book held in his other hand and his mouth open under his huge nose as if in disciplinary action for his young ward. With the Pirate Queen, I noted that I thought the base should have a slot for the extra figure but someone else pointed out, this way I can add the figure to the base, or put him on another base myself, depending on my needs. This little cloaked guy with his array of scrolls and other goodies, looks to be a perfect miniature for a wizard gobo or other lowly creature who might surprise a party used to dealing with the low hit die monsters.
If you want a figure that doesn’t suffer from the bearded man with the pointy hat, or the recent slew of Gandalf rip offs of old men with flowing beards using swords, this miniature is perfect to represent a young human or half elf entering into his arcane ways.
The only problem with young Junger here, is that he's difficult to find. One of the few places I've been able to find him with no problem, is Fantization, where all of the other Freebooter miniatures are sold: Freebooter
