Boris Simiano Updates Your HeroQuest Miniatures Next Year!
December 20, 2016 by brennon
Boris Simiano is going to be heading to Kickstarter next year to bring to life a series of miniatures based on the HeroQuest box art that we all know and love. So, here is the box art...
...and here are the miniatures that he has sculpted up so far all in their action poses!
As well as those amazing looking heroes he is also going to be sculpting up the monsters from the background here too plus the stairs and walls to create a diorama for you to build. I think the models look superb and really capture the action, making them perfect for the game as you're playing through it.
We're going to be keeping an eye on this one as its a firm favourite with all of us here at Beast Of War.
What do you think?
"I think the models look superb and really capture the action, making them perfect for the game as you're playing through it..."
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Yes!
they look great, what a fantastic idea.
didn’t play hero quest myself. at the time GW promoted advanced hero quest to its existing fans in the uk and we had a lot of fun with that. probably should hunt down a copy seeing as its a classic and all. especially if someones going to produce some updated minis for it. seems like a good excuse to me.
Great heroes!
Oooh… ever since I came in contact with it I’ve dreamed of miniatures of monsters true to the Hero Quest cover illustrations! Especially those orcs (also on Karak Varn expansion). And those glorious monstosities in one of my most admired fantasy illustrations ever: the cover picture of Against the Ogre Horde. Sadly not once have I seen a miniature closely resembling their amazing style (half a hand full of very old WHFB ogres tilt a bit their way but not nearly close enough). Then again, I have to admit the proportions of these sculpts here really don’t appeal to me…… Read more »
🙂 Hell yea! Love it. I’m going to find a way to get that pink magic power on that wizard’s hand. I’ve already bought these.
And of course, we all know what the best thing about it is…
look at the muscularity!
…and they’re not kidding! Without even needing the:
“Broudsourd!”
;D 😀 🙂
Please give us updates on this when it hits kickstarter!
Keeping my eyes on this one!
Somewhat more dynamic than the original sculpts…
That’s great. Probably work out cheaper than buying the actual models off eBay
They look fantastic!!
Metal, resin or plastic??
love it…
Such a good idea. Hope the fans of the game pick them up.
These look great! My only critique is the hilt on the barbarian’s sword. It’s way too big.
Too thick maybe, rather than oversized ( compared to the picture ). That’s true of the blade too. I’d happily have it come with a separate ‘slot in’ thinner blade.
The hilt in the picture is slightly bigger than his fist. On the miniature it’s almost as big as his entire upper torso. Proportions need to be exaggerated for a miniature, but this looks a tad ridiculous.
Agree with both of you. If I end up getting them I might snip the barbarian’s sword and replace it with something more to scale… as it is, it’s way too big.
Who owns the copyright on the art? Is it MB?
It seems to be Les Edwards, going by his website, though i’m not totally clear that he holds full copyright. ( http://www.lesedwards.com/galleries/vintage/heroquest/1024#full-descr .)
Any idea if Leo has given permission for this?
I’d be surprised if a sculpture of a painting could infringe copyright.
@locust
It definitely does. Copyright grants the holder sole right to product any copies of the work, including in other formats. If it didn’t, then Knight Models wouldn’t need to pay license fees to DC and Marvel to make minis based on art they hold under copyright. Someone, whether MB, GW, or the artist, owns the copyright of this painting, and any copying of it, even just for personal use in another format, is copyright infringement. If this goes to KS without first getting the copyright holders permission, and they find out about it, they can get it shut down pronto.
After reading this he might just think “f*** it” and just sculpt the miniatures and sell them to his friends or on ebay ! 🙂
@pacific
He might well do. There are sculptors who do that. In this case I would try and find out who the copyright holder is. If it is the artist there’s a good chance he would give permission. If it’s GW on the other hand..
@redben Knight Models use visuals *and* names of specifically designed comic book characters, which is very different from four generic fantasy humanoids from one fantasy painting (the Heroquest box art). I stand by my original statement.
@locust
Using the names is a trademark issue and not a copyright one, and they would need a license to cover both. These aren’t generic fantasy minis, they’re specific recreations of a specific painting which is held under copyright by either its creator or a company who paid their creator on a work for hire basis. If this went to KS without the copyright holder’s permission, and the copyright holder complained, then KS would take it down.
Yes Les Edwards
Wasn’t there a deal some years ago when GW was trying to trick their old artists into signing over the rights of their artwork, to do with the chapterhouse studios case? That would seem to indicate that Les would still have the rights to the artwork.
He seems like a very reasonable (normal) guy so hopefully would have given permission, assuming that he was approached first!
GW get the copyright of the artists work as a matter of course. It’s industry to standard to commission art on a work for hire basis. GW had some issues in proving they held the copyright on some older pieces. It would be very unusual for a company like MB to commission art for a product and not have it be WFH as that risks causing them all sorts of issues, though it’s not impossible that the contact could have reverted the rights back to the artist once the product had been out of print for a certain number of… Read more »
Regardless of who owns it, I would want to see something demonstrating that permission had been given before pledging on this.
Purely by coincidence I’ve had the chance to ask Boris. He hasn’t asked the permission of the copyright holder. It seems as if they were sculpted as a private project initially rather than a commercial one (which is still infringement but understandable why you wouldn’t ask). If it does go to KS I would check to see if permission has been received by then. If it hasn’t then there’s always the risk the copyright holder will shut the project down.
I wonder what the situation is with the dwarf. He was, as i recall, the ‘White Dwarf’, and his image ( specifically the image of the original sculpt that came with the game ) was the image on the magazine for some time.
It could be that the artwork is GW’s copyright. It’s definitely someone’s.
It possible that the artwork copyright could belong to Les Edwards, but that that specific dwarf as an idea is copyright of Games Workshop? It could get complicated.
Rackham had this sort of deals and we know what happened when the IP disapeared in the limbo of Cyanide… All the artworks from Guitton, Bonner and others were pillaged and riped off by Legendarion and Cadwallon dot com’s friends. The original artists have never been even thanked / aknowledged for their work by this pillagers.
In this case I would recommend the utmost prudence due to all the IP issues that popped uped around Heroquest 25th Anniversary…
I’m truly curious about such things. After a company that commissions artwork goes bust, does the artwork go back to the artist or in some sort of open source limbo? It’s potable that the owners of the company that commissioned the art will still have rights to it, especially if they payed for the service before going bankrupt.
I guess it also comes down to each lands laws as well.
@manpug
If the art is produced on a work for hire basis then company hold the copyright. Going bust doesn’t change that. Any copyrighted material they own will be assets of the company that could be sold off. Sometimes work for hire contracts contain stipulations returning copyright to the artist if a set amount of time elapses in which the work is not in print. This was the deal Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons had with DC for Watchmen. Little did they suspect at the time that thirty years later it would still be in print.
The GW artists issue stemmed from the Comics and the artists having ownership rights to their designs and concepts. It became apparent that some artists owned art work while others passed on to GW.
So GW decided to have all artists sign new contracts saying hey owned it all.
Yeeessssssss……
Getting involuntary eye twitches because of the Gamezone Heroquest KS, although realise that this is a separate endeavour
they look brilliant.
What happened to the Spanish planned 25th anniversary edition?
Zealot miniatures do some awesome HQ style stuff. I have some of the doors and potions. Highly recommended 🙂
http://zealotminiatures.com/zealot-shop/#!/The-Dungeon/c/6272031/offset=0&sort=normal
I get the occasional email from Gamezone but have essentially given up any hope.
It it comes it will be a nice bonus, but am doing my best not to think about it. Fortunately there have been some really great board games of an associated theme (Zombicide BP, Conan, forthcoming Massive Darkness) which have compensated for that loss.
I don’t want the hobby to go backward into niche nostalgia stuff – but damit a new Heroquest would be awesome for both new and veteran players.
I had forgotten how much narrative was involved in those old dice-rolling games.
From the American side of the game, the name “HeroQuest” lapsed and was been taken over by the HeroQuest – Glorantha universe. American HeroQuest and English HeroQuest are very different games and legally seem to have separate copyright and legal challenges.. MB, Milton-Bradley was bought out by Hasbro, Hasbro was quoted as saying ‘they didn’t have any interest in the HeroQuest line of products. If the game ever did come back, which is doubtful at this stage, it’d be unlikely to have the same name at any rate.’ accredited to a member of management in a Forum on Boardgaming and… Read more »
That would strongly suggest that Les doesn’t have the copyright to these and it lies with Hasbro.
Nice. Weapons are a bit over-sized though, compared to the artwork.
This part of the sentence is telling ‘ All the characters had been designed previously so I didn’t have a great deal of leeway with interpreting them. ‘ That would have meant either Hasbro or more likely GW. However it al becomes murky as GW sold the rights and Hasbro sold off part (American side) The C&D with the Spanish game was due to Moon designs and the American side.