Welcome to our first article in our new ongoing series, Meet the Minis, where we will take an in-depth look at the miniatures that make up the wargaming hobby. When playing wargames, it's easy to get caught up in the stats of the models and the opportunities they offer in battle, so we want to focus on some of the incredible work that goes on behind the scenes in creating the miniatures we game with. In this series, each month we will look at a different miniature production company and some interesting aspects of miniature design. We will also be running a painting competition, so we can showcase the best reader painted miniatures.

Raging Heroes' Daughters of the Crucible All Stars Troop Pack

Our first month's focus is on Raging Heroes' Daughters of the Crucible. The Daughters are the sci-fi variant in Raging Heroes' Toughest Girls of the Galaxy (TGG), under the Sisters of Eternal Mercy line. Raging Heroes is a small boutique operation that has been running since 2009. They have launched two successful Kickstarter campaigns in 2013 and 2015 and continue to produce high quality, beautiful miniatures.

Concept art for Raging Heroes' Daughters of the Crucible.

This month we decided to focus on the design process and interviewed Benoit Guerville Art Director for Raging Heroes, which you can watch below. Make sure to stick around until the full interview for some exclusive news on a possible upcoming Toughest Girls of the Galaxy 3 Kickstarter, a new Daughters of the Crucible unit, and the possibility of the Daughters getting their own faction.

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The Daughters of the Crucible are available in two different packs, the All-Stand Command and Troop packs. Featured here, we have the All Stats Troop pack. We were sent the Daughters of the Crucible All Stars Troop pack to review and the detail is incredible—certainly a higher level of hobby experience is required to assemble them—but they are worth upping your game for. They took a little time to assemble, simply because of the detail involved. When cutting away the excess plastic, you have to be really careful not to catch any of the other detail. Once you have the parts ready to assemble, the arms and weapons fit very well and have clear connection points with gaps and bumps for a solid fit. The miniatures themselves are exceptional, and we're looking forward to being able to field a Daughters of the Crucible faction in the future.

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Painting Competition

Announced in March was our Daughters of the Crucible Painting Competition . We only received two entries, which can be seen below. The winner of our first Meet the Mini's painting competition is Painted4U with his fantastic Esperanza Espinosa! Congratulations! We will be in touch soon to arrange your prize.

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You still have a month to enter our Warhammer 40k Painting Competition for which entry closes on Sunday 17 June 2018. Our prize support for that is kindly provided by Goblin Gaming. So get painting and submit your entries.

This Month’s Competition Announcement

This month's competition (winners to be announced in July 2018) is Steamforged Games' Guild Ball, featuring the Blacksmith's Guild Mastercrafted Arsenal team. Our sponsors for this month’s completion is Steamforged Games who have kindly donated some alternative art character cards for the winners!

If you fancy having your paint job showcased on TechRaptor and want to be in with a chance of winning the first prize? Then follow these instructions to submit your entry.

Paint up a single model from any Steamforged Games Guild Ball line (must be a genuine model, highly converted models will not be accepted). Photograph the model in a single photo. Send your entries to adamp[at]techraptor.net or submit them in the comments below, with the name you would like posted with your photograph if you are featured.

Competition Rules

Entries must be submitted to us by e-mail or in the comments below by 23:59 GMT on Sunday 22 July 18.

We will judge the entries and post our favorite reader submissions in our article on Tuesday 24 July 18.

The top 3 winners will receive, alongside the huge kudos from being a TechRaptor Meet the Mini’s competition winner, some alternative art cards for the Blacksmith's Guild Mastercrafted Arsenal team.

All entries will be judge by a panel of TechRaptor staff. The judges’ decision is final.

Do you own any of Raging Heroes miniatures? What do you think of the quality? Which companies would you like us to feature in the future? Which part of the design process would you like us to look in to next? Let us know in the comments below.