The best miniature studio you've (probably) never heard of & how to paint one | Duncan Rhodes

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Hey everyone! We hope you enjoyed this one, it's something a little different. We love Rackham miniatures and their books. It's such a pity they're no longer with us. But such is life...at least we have fond memories. Let us know in the comments below which is your favourite Rackham miniature or if there are any other studios you think were ahead of their time. If you enjoyed this video, please feel free to leave a Like and Subscribe or leave Comment and if you want to support the channel, then why not check out the Academy (www.duncanrhodes.com). Have an amazing weekend everyone! Cheers Dunc, Rog & the DRPA team.

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

I honestly wish someone would buy the IP and start it up again. There was something very special there. I believe a lot of the sculptors from Confrontation ended up doing work for Wrath of Kings. So if you love that style of minis, take a look at those.

[@guillaumeslv9508]

@@TheIndigoEclipse Monolith bought it earlier this year ;) and while waiting for some new stuff from them, check Cernunnos studios and Temple of the West, they both released some minies for confrontation in the past years, both of them working with artists from the golden age of rackham!

[@Hekselys]

Love so much of their models, really love their Cadwallon line. It's really hard to pick a favourite Rackham model, but if I had to choose it would be the Wolfen Prowler model.

[@Hekselys]

@@guillaumeslv9508 yeah but they won't revive the model line, Monolith does board games, so it will be plastic crap again, they will mess this up. also the other companies you mentioned do their best, but it comes nowhere near the original stuff. Rackham is dead alais.

[@Hekselys]

@@TheIndigoEclipse Cmon snagged up a lot of talent that worked at Rackham, which they F ed up.

[@BigBoxPCGameCollectors]

OMG please please do more confrontation content! I love it!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Us too!

[@ignesz]

Absolutely YES. I have been drooling over Rackham minis since the early 2000s :)

[@klug5916]

Well, I'm French, and I'm not super young anymore. The French studio Rackham really brought something, at least in my country. The NMM, a very specific style of miniatures and painting, yes, this was brought to a quite big audience, also trying to bring something challenging with the skirmish games. Also, the terrain that they created was awesome. But the British won as Rackham was never extra successful in term of business. I'm very glad to see someone well known and followed like you, Mr. Rhodes, putting a miniature of this previous brand to the light.

[@kofibrake]

I'm from Portugal and I had 3 full armies of Rackham - Orques of Bran o kor, Empire of the Griffon and Kelt Sessairs. Still have a few leftovers from each that I decided not to sell. For me, what set their colapse in motion was when they started doing those speed painted plastic miniatures in such poor quality. I immediately lost interest in the novelties they came up with. The rules for Ragnarok were also very poor and the game didnt flow. it was a slog, even for Fantasy battle comparison. What a pitty, they could have gone far indeed.

[@dimitriachminov5536]

Man, Duncan doing Confrontation, where were you 20 years ago when we were trying, and failing to paint those ? 😀

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Learning how to paint...plus I was only 11 😂😂

[@johnsnowdon2939]

@@DuncanRhodesDRPA I was twice your age, and trying (and failing) to do justice to my recently bought Tir-na-bor Thermo Warriors with screw-top Citadel paints and paint-by-numbers quality synthetic brushes. I'm glad I waited the intervening 20+ years to do justice to the rest of the Rackham figures I bought at the time.... I was so impressed with how they turned out when I started painting them on a whim just last year that I've gone on a mini-adventure buying up as many Dirz and Tir-na-bor figures as I can find! The Dirz figures are probably my favourite line of all time. I'm not sure anyone could do that fantasy-biopunk-body-horror look any better than these 20-25 year old figures did it.

[@Darkover1981]

Rackham were masters of their craft. Their designs were amazing, their armour designs were intricate as heck and their elves have a special place in my heart until today.

[@martingrandbarbe7282]

Cool to see some good old Rackham :) ! Was myself a studio painter for five and a half year and it was quite an experience but it was twenty years ago ^^. Aarklash will come back soon with Monolith :)

[@jeancouscous]

Salut martin !

[@temoorebaber4801]

The painting was as revolutionary as the minis. I still prefer NMM because of Rackham. Merci!!!

[@martingrandbarbe7282]

@@temoorebaber4801 I wasn't there when they took this decision but the reason was because TMP was a nightmare with picture so a painter had this idea and it became a trademark of the brand.

[@martontoth4807]

What a legend!

[@gomezzara_creative]

LONG LIVE RACKHAM AT-43 - CONFRONTATION are freaking AWESOME.

[@vermilion7777]

Don't want to spoil the fun, but the company got broke almost 15 years ago :D

[@gomezzara_creative]

@vermilion7777 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@gomezzara_creative]

@vermilion7777 i know my friend, but still hope to see both ips come back one day. .

[@erih2934]

To this day its the only table top game I loved. Rackham's artstyle taught me so much and set my taste especially when it comes to color compositions. Nothing GW or anyone in the industry ever did matched how far ahead they were for their time. Their minis are still among the best in the business two decades later.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Agreed. They pushed the boundaries for sure and got the best talent they could find. And for a short period, they were the best

[@temoorebaber4801]

My sentiments exactly. It is still my favourite fantasy range. The Demon Tower is still one of the best models today.

[@franriolobos2261]

Wow, those illustrations are AMAZING

[@richardv3792]

Paul Bonner, Adrian Smith, Karl Kopinsky all from the GW golden age era. Were all doing art for Rackam Look also for Edouard Guiton. Currently known for lot of CMNO stuff, like Zombicid and such.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Yup.

[@jeancouscous]

@@richardv3792 Paolo Parente too, I own a few of the original arts. Mira the reckless a paladin alahan and a Dirz warrior

[@iainj8514]

Lucky enough to have a Rackham catalogue in full colour, it's a thing of beauty - sculpts are amazing, painting is gorgeous, illustrations are just epic. If you ever see one, buy it.

Massive dose of nostalgia, thank you Duncan.

[@Gnecro]

I have a bunch of confrontation still in the blisters!! Love the models!

[@grumpylathropvod]

French guy here :) never played Confrontation, but I painted some of their miniatures back in the day (late 90s, I was in high school). The miniatures, although in metal (I disliked it), were and are still incredible. Amazing work !

[@Rathammergames]

Rackham had amazing artists and painters. It was impossible for me at the time to paint like that! I have small Wolfen and Dirz armies! Thanks for this video!

[@cjanquart]

What's better than watching one of Duncan's videos? Watching one of Duncan's videos while wearing my Two Thin Coats t-shirt.

[@artycharr]

First to the egg! glad to see Rakham getting its deserved attention!

[@TreasureTrain]

nothing better than an old, unopened blisterpack of a figure from a game gone-by. so cool seeing the history of games that aren't just warhammer!

[@COLLINDavid-u7g]

Wow ! so many memories about that ! i still have my Yllia's Wolfen and Acheron's fiends

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Nice

[@martontoth4807]

Duncan, my man, on the one hand I weep it took you so long to do this video, on the other I'm so happy you actually did it. We need more creators paying attention to Confrontation, the company may be gone but the game is going strong. More Rackham, please!

[@nakenmil]

OOOOOFUUUCKYEEES! Duncan, you basically made this episode specifically for me. Thank you. I remember getting completely grossed out by the Dwarves of Mid-Nor, or the Alchemists of Dirz, and loving it. I used to hope for the Sphinx finally getting a model range before the company imploded. Oh, and I loved AT-43 as well, such an incredible design, among others Karl Kopinski's awesome work. I basically worked some of the Therian lore into my personal headcanon for the 40k Necrons, their brand of bodyhorror with the white masks was cool as hell.

[@RenOkamiya]

Rackham will always have a special place in my heart, it is what started my own hobby journey 20 years ago. I'm French and I witnessed the downfall of the company first hand so to speak. I still have 100s of blister and boxes left over from the store my mother used to own before the company closed down. Those metal minis are still so good it's insane.

[@WORLDPENG]

Where in France? Can I paint some plz?

[@themorgansinclair]

I actually had my first game of confrontation a couple of weeks ago. Still holds up really well. Hoping to keep the (dim) flame alive in London!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Do your part 🫡

[@omrigilkis5016]

I'm so excited seeing....ANYTHING rackham. I'm very glad Monolith picked up their IP and said in the next couple of years we might see Rackham's world again, or they'll start working on it at least by then. I had the previlage to meet many RAckham ex employees like Paul Bonner (the one and only) and sculptors like Martin Lavat. Journeyman miniatures already took Paul Bonner's paintings from the rackham days and you can get them now. I'm a happy owner of the minotaur. and planning on the Mid nor upscaled chess set. Martin (Nautlius miniautres) also has Paul's art in sculpt. there are more like temple of the west. rooted. So very happy there are several of those projects out there

[@Hekselys]

Monolith will mess this up, we will get horrible plastic sculpts. Journeyman makes some nice things of the Rackham line, but some aren't done so well and over expensive.

[@MarkCMG]

Thanks for the video! Rakcham always had some seriously nice sculpts, and metal. Oh sweet, sweet metal.

[@Hekselys]

Best miniatures line ever, amazing art (Hello Paul Bonner..), unique armies, sculpts, concepts, stunning paintjobs, everything, also their sci fi line was just awesome and had so much potential. Indeed way ahead of their time on so many fronts. Such a damn shame and waste that greed got them killed. And such a shame that all the revive attempts after that by several companies were utter criminal scams. That is why we can't have nice things. Thank for shedding a light on this, most people that watch you, won't know Rackham probably, they are most likely GW fanboys all the way which makes sense since that is all over the radar, but maybe some will appreciate this amazing company and their models and everything.

[@JohnnyZed]

Oh wow, this is a flash of nostalgia. I miss the heck out of Confrontation's miniatures. Loved the Alchemists of Dirz and the various werewolf factions the best.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Couldn't agree more!

[@NaktheCow]

Seeing that rulebook included with the model reminded me of how in awe I was of the rulebook that was included with a small box of Ice Age Magic The Gathering cards when I was a kid back in 1995.

[@jeancouscous]

This was the pride of France, in 1997 seeing the blisters in the French stores aligned with their beautiful NMM cards shown on the back. blown away.

[@luismartinezgc]

Thank you so much Duncan, for doing a Rackham video. Rackham was so special for many of us, and we remember that time in ours hearts. Hope to see more Rackham videos. ❤❤

[@alphaleigpyne]

The aqua-blue layers over the Dasyatis Clone flesh is cool colour scheme. Rackham sold a lot of quality miniatures back in the day. Good paint job.

[@exocethgroscalin460]

Thank you Duncan for your work and for talking about a compagny like Rackham ^^ They have built some of the some awsome miniatures in the 90's.

[@markbailey2130]

you make it look so easy... Superb control of your brush and a great painted model as always

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Thank you so much 😀

[@draadhaai]

Never played the game but I used to collect some miniatures. The sculpts were way ahead of their times. Sometimes I show some to friends who can't believe some were made over 20 years ago! Super that you are giving them some much deserved love.

[@travman228]

100% agree i love those minis. I found a website a few months ago and cant wait to start my collection

[@Gwenymoo]

Ahh I only got my hands on a few of the wolf like characters way back when at a model show. They're so beautiful.

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , DRPA . 🐺Loupis Canis .

[@DoorsAJar]

Thanks for this video! Nice blast from the past!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@richardmarriott-smith9517]

Thanks for doing this video. I’m a huge fan of Rackham. It’s very cool to see people still talking about what a great game it was and, how amazing the minis were. Just beautiful, weird and wonderful sculpts. I really like the paint job you did. Please paint more Rackham minis. Thanks!

[@Mensch777]

Oh my this brought back some memories. I once bought a nice goblin to use for my night goblins when I was like 11 years old. They really put everyone else to shame back then with their minis (and even today to some degree).

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Agreed. They pushed the envelope of what minis could be.

[@MattB-es2zo]

I loved that game and the miniatures. The art was amazing and I'm sad they are gone. Some of the models are available from a site that I'm not sure is fully legit along with some of their own work that is in a similar style. Pinning the weapon hands onto the little clone warriors wrist nubs was the hardest thing I'd ever done hobby wise so many years ago.

[@Hekselys]

that site, they sell recasts. so beware.

[@olawidell1916]

One of the better skirmishgames ever made. Excellent and deep gamemechanics and the artwork, minis and the feel was superb

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Agreed

[@Arballisk]

someone at my LGS dropped a huge bag full of these guys on the free table that I nabbed. nice to see what they look like painted. Id like to play the game but theres nobody anywhere near me that has them and before this I wasnt sure about how to handle lead models.

[@TheIndigoEclipse]

Rackham minis are amazing. I have about 6 of the wolf models. Hard to find, but beautiful minis.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

lucky

[@MentoliptusBanko]

I love Confrontation, it was the first wargame I played and Rackham minis were the first minis I painted back in 2002. I still have some mins from that time and some I found later...and I painted some of them during the years to see how my painting skill improved. I am absolutely amazed by Duncan painting Rackham...since I learned to paint minis "properly" by watching him while painting my old Rackham minis.

[@imdeaded]

I have a few of these minis still in blister packs. This inspired me to Crack some open and paint them. Brings back memories.

[@JamesBradd-u6d]

I love these miniatures. I have quite a few of the wolfen in my collection. great job on the painting.

[@Destynka]

I love Confrontation. We met weekly with my friends, going through Rackham catalogue and prepare to order together. After several weeks my friends called 'ITS HERE". I love Confrontation minis. Espiecially Wolfen faction. Thanks for bringing memories to me :D

[@garyguett]

Merci Duncan !!! More Confrontation jewels whenever you want

[@connorjensen9699]

Thank you for highlighting Confrontation/Rakham! always been a huge fan, such a shame its gone and no one barely seems to remember it

[@ImperviousSC]

I didn't know this company existed until I randomly came across a used Wulfen model a few years ago. I went down the rabbit hole to find out about Rackham and their downfall. I've been fortunate, as I have managed to snag a dozen or so models from the Wulfen line and some of their books since then, all of which are in great condition. I haven't painted any of them just yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it when I can. They are some of the nicest sculpts I've ever seen, and it's incredible that Rackham was making miniatures of this quality at the time. They seemed so far ahead of everyone else at the time. It's truly a shame that the company died the way it did.

[@samuelkohn7282]

Confrontation really is the best miniature ranger ever ! It's a bit surreal to see a painting video on one of those minis today, but I hope there'll be more. The result is great, thanks

[@anthonydauphin9624]

Such a wonderfull thing to see you paint Confrontation! I hope we could see more of them! Even now they have a charm that no other have! What your favorite minis from them?

[@ericharlaux289]

You got my attention with this, and a subscription in the hopes of more Rackham content. So many mind-blowing models throughout the ranges. Would love to see your take on one of the many armies I still have.

[@ronindesbois9660]

Confrontation initiative system was so good, with the way you could have one card on the side and all that ... god i wish this game and those models were still around.

[@allhailthelegs]

I believe you can still get pretty good recasts of the miniatures from Cadwallon. Not originals but still metal and still very good quality

[@garyfrancis6735]

Love this. I too have a whole load of Rackham blisters in the loft that I tell myself I will paint one day.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Awesome. Get painting! 😊

[@legogodzilla]

I thought this was some sort of Conquest miniature from Para Bellum when i saw the thumbnail. Little did I know of the truth! It's nice that you're painting up one of these old miniatures and bringing some attention and love to an old game that isn't published any more. With the death of Monsterpocalypse, I've been wondering how we'll remember and keep old miniatures games around.

[@stefanlvkc7986]

I miss Rackham. Their minis and art were soooooo good.

[@onebigadvocado6376]

I remember Rackham! I accumulated a couple of their models in 40k trades. I never bothered to look into their games but the quality of the models and rhe crisp style was there for all to see

[@dddonttrip]

Loved the real life lore and the tutorial was incredibly well explained and helpful!

[@AndrewChalk88]

I remember back when I was looking to do conversions to spice up a handful of older sculpts for Guard and Inquisitorial retinues, I looked through a lot of the old Rackham kits.

[@MrAmanox]

It was my first wargame, I still have a lot of minis and grow my collection every day :). I love to see it get some attention

[@AnonymousMontanan]

Such beautiful miniatures! Way ahead of their time!!

[@Thranite]

Memories! I miss this game. Thanks for bringing it back for an afternoon. :)

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@intuitivealchemist]

Man I absolutely love Confrontation models. They are an absolute joy to paint, I use some of them for D&D, specifically the fire, earth and darkness elementals.

[@bnickxavier6102]

Awesome video! So glad credit was given to Paul Bonner too. His art and designs account for a lot of the look and feel of Confrontation, as well as early GW too (especially his dwarfs, orcs and gobbos), and even Warzone/Mutant Chronicles!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Absolutely!

[@Azazel-zv4fy]

Hopefully this gets enough views to make doing more of these Confrontation videos worthwhile. Really enjoyed this one!

[@BadgerLovingFluffster]

Nice job on that model Duncan. Funnily when Rakham's stuff came out I thought it was way too over detailed. If only we knew what was to come! 😆 17:05 that pallet looks like a Paul Bonner painting broken down so mission accomplished!

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

I remember getting one of their big dragons for display. The detail was glorious. It's still in the display case next to the old chaos emperor Dragon.

[@jimboonlyone]

I have hundreds of racham models. Love the art,design,models,and game play. AT-43, Confrontation, and hybrid were awesome games.

[@joevespaziani]

I have so much of their stuff - most still in blisters. I can’t let go of it - I loved playing the game back then… as fiddly as it was 🙏

[@thalum]

I did bring myself in the hobby yeras after the end of Confrontation. But I could see these beautiful minis in stores in France alongside with Warhammer ones when it was a thing. Since I started to paint, I started to collect some of these treasures as well. I'm pretty happy to got my hands on pieces like Bazuka, the Uraken gobelins leader or Shanys the Shadow :D

[@PaulKuykendall]

A good friend of mine created the first English translation of the game. What's funny is that he doesn't speak French. He translated it using Babelfish (one of the earliest online translators). His work ended up with them taking the translation and made the English version. For years each month he received a box from Rackham with everything they released that month. Confrontation is still to this day my favorite miniatures game I've ever played. I still have every one of the figures I bought and took everything that my buddy didn't want to keep. Their downfall happened when they went from the best miniatures of their time _bar none_ to prepainted plastic to try and break into the consumer toy market.

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Wow. I heard about the change to painted plastic. Pity that.

[@sedeslav]

Red Lioness and Razheem l'insense are still my favorite miniatures of all times!

[@BarronFamily231]

For a long time, the minis seemed hard to get hold of in the US- and for ages I only ever found packs with the inserts in native French. I loved them and collected quite a lot, and scooped up tons of the pre-paints when Fantasy Flight Game closed them out. My faves were the Mid Nor dwarves- creepy little guys!

[@johnsnowdon2939]

Pretty uncommon to see any content on Rackham minis these days, but the vast majority of the figures really have stood the test of time. They are still some of the best sculpts I've ever seen. The Dasyatis is also one of my favourites - I've got a pretty large Dirz collection, and the bio-punk, body-horror aesthetic is so well done. People shouldn't be put off by the (quite intricate) designs - Dirz especially take really well to heavy use of inks, washes, contrasts colours and all of the fun stuff we have these days that wasn't really a thing back in the late 90's and early 2000's.

[@TheBeeFlex]

Best miniature Studio EVER !! still have my full collection ...

[@thepavl]

This is really a great video! All around interesting and informative !! Great job guys!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Our pleasure!

[@bennyzweite6692]

Brilliant painting technique ✨🖌

[@TheExcessus]

Rackham did some banger minis back in the day!

[@vincefreeman1130]

I was lucky enough to contract cast some of their Gargoyle minis which were beautiful, when the license got picked up again a few years back but once again it died for some reason :( Always loved the Confrontation minis, great sculpts!

[@thrrax]

I remember playing the video game for like a week at a time until I got bored, would keep forgetting its name, would find it again, playing it for a week until I got bored, and so on.

[@igorchtidtah8050]

Gosh I love confrontation minis. Got a couple demo games back in the day and thought it was fun, but never got around to buying in. Big fan of the Evil Dwarves of Mid Nor and Devourers of Vile Tis. Maybe someday it'll come back. I can dream....

[@mattchristensen7271]

I have soooo many of these models in my collection. PLEASE do more videos!

[@wolfgrinn]

I love these models s well! I have a few of them and they are a delight!

[@sebastiaanvandekerkhove2339]

God I miss Confrontation. Rackham really was ahead of their time. I have fond memories of being in early high-school and sitting in the living room, pushing my Griffin soldiers around, fighting my buddy's Alahan.

[@felixelbe7298]

Turns out I bought a confrontation wolfen warrior as a 7-8year old. Found it in the basement one year ago and painted it as a minotaur proxie. The model looks great and was fun to paint!

[@damienc7303]

Rackham minis were something else. Their paper rpg was also pretty good. At43 was also pretty good. And so was the board game Nemesis. I don’t even know why they went bankrupt but that was sad. They’re the ones who managed to pull me out of GW. Good memories. I wasn’t expecting at all to see anything recent talking about their products. I haven’t yet finished watching the video but thanks.

[@mcscruff3813]

I still have some of these floating around somewhere! So cool to see one in the wild!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Paint it 😀😀

[@monkeyDdanny]

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool to see you paint Confrontation !! So old school, Before is better ! I have so many confrontation model in my shame room !! Wait 2026 and Monolith !! Big hype of the Confrontation return !!

[@johnstantinople]

Holy crap I never thought I'd see the day. Rackham games deserved better. Confrontation and AT-43 were gorgeous, and their lore was fascinating.

[@tonyhowell201]

I absolutely loved the Confrontation minis. My favourites were the Dwarves of Mid Nor

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Good choice.

[@tzeca]

I saw non-metallic metal techniques for the first time on the Rackham minotaurs. Those were amazing.

[@luketfer]

One of the other mentions that I remember being pretty big in the 90s but disappeared was Mutant Chronicles: Warzone, I remember seeing its metal miniatures in boxes alongside GW products in Gaming stores but it didn't seem to have the staying power that 40k did when it came to wargaming (the TTRPG has been going strong for years).

[@StephenClarke-r3b]

Got to confirm that these models were years ahead of everyone! Many miniature makers, including Games Workshop, are only catching up with Rackham now. I still own pretty much own every Dirz and Griffin model, plus have selection of other models (Kelts and both Orcs). Did own Ophidean models but sold all and owned Wolfen models; again sold. Best models of all were the Molochs and the Horned Raiders - so good, still own them!

[@davidechiuchiu84]

Confrontation miniatures are awesome. I recently painted a Griffin Inquisitor, and I was surprised of level of detail.

[@Brazouck]

Played a lot of Confrontation and Dog of war (the campaign game mode) in the mid 2000s, such a good game, even a simple 1vs1 was full of choices with parry and blows. I was playing Dirz alchemists and Samuraï gobs, good times

[@Boris_Bern]

Great as always!

[@DuncanRhodesDRPA]

Thanks

[@stonehorsegaming]

Loved Rackham's stuff. I was quite fortunate that in my old gaming club, there was a bug shift away from GW in the early 00's. Rackham got a lot of attention. I, sadly never got around to painting mine, as I lacked the confidence to do the models justice. It is an absolute travesty that Rackham arw no longer with us. They were ahead of their time, both in product and sculpture designs.

[@Blue_Maxxx]

I loved the confrontation wolfmen.

[@paulofreire7520]

Absolutely awesome 👍🏻