Reforging the past: the new Iron Crow Veteran!

It’s been more than ten years since Valerio and I first began exploring the world of Inneath. More than a decade spent generating ideas, sculpting them, and finally sending them into that most unforgiving of battlefields: the market.

As someone far more famous than me once said, one of those people whose quotes somehow end up inside fortune cookies: “Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterwards.” If you combine that universal truth with my personal obsessions, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that, out of all the kits I’ve produced over the years, I consider maybe two of them truly “perfect.”

Of course, it would be neither practical nor particularly smart to constantly rework past projects. In most cases, it’s better to start fresh. But there are exceptions.

Some kits, deeply loved (and well sold!), have played a crucial role in keeping the lights on and food on the table. They deserve something more dignified than a quiet retirement in favour of the next new thing.

I’ve decided that a very select few of these kits will receive the tribute they deserve over the coming months and years. And today’s protagonist is the first of them: the Iron Crow Veteran.

In case you’d forgotten him, this is who we’re talking about.

The Iron Crow Veteran sits proudly among DPF’s best sellers, a tough, uncompromising character who even won the heart of Paul Bonner himself, who bought one… and also received a large-scale version as a gift, handed to him in person during one of the most awkward conversations of my life.

I swear.

So why revisit something that already works, you might ask?

Because there were a few details that simply wouldn’t let me sleep at night.

The decorative motif on the axe was far too subtle, making it almost impossible to paint at 32 mm scale (and yes, that’s coming from someone who actually did it!). The small ponytail (my humble tribute to the most beautiful Dwarves ever, those of Tir-Na-Bor) was a separate component so tiny that it caused more than a few headaches during assembly and printing. The edge of the cloak also had areas that were simply too thin, creating recurring issues in production.

And finally, the fur texture deserved an update.

So we took the opportunity offered by the launch of the brand-new Kazhuk Izril range to revisit the model… and reforge it!

The new Iron Crow Veteran remains faithful to the original concept, but is in practice completely redesigned to align with the new range. A new pose, an axe that is finally readable and coherent with the design language of the new Iron Crow Warriors, and a Blackmane finally worthy of its name, featuring a more massive wolf head and a fur texture that is both more defined and much easier to paint. The ponytail is now sculpted as an integral part of the model, allowing it to be printed without separating it into fragile components.

We also used this update to adjust the pose and make it more in line with the character, drawing inspiration from the very old artwork Justin Gerard created for me nearly ten years ago.

The Iron Crow Veteran is not just a seasoned warrior, hardened by decades of service: he is also a mentor to Iron Crow recruits: a strict, uncompromising master and a ruthless selector.

This new pose, combined with the heavier volumes of the Blackmane, gives him a very different presence compared to his predecessor. I believe he now commands the battlefield with far greater authority and gravitas.

The Iron Crow Veteran will be available digitally on my Patreon starting next week, and will also arrive in resin in June, alongside a large wave of new Iron Crow releases.

And that’s all for today.

Three posts in three days. I’ve written more updates this week than in the last six months, and that should give you a pretty good idea of the level of creative ferment currently brewing here at DPF!

If you’d like to follow what comes next, keep an eye on the blog and join me on Patreon for early access, behind-the-scenes updates, and upcoming releases.

The forge is active again, and there’s much more on the way!