Back in 2012-2013, I bought into Nemesis, by the Spanish company Zenit Miniatures. What really sold it to me was the Orphans faction, a group of unaging kids disguising themselves as insects, protecting the living forest Arbonte. I painted a single model back then, one of the Mantis, for a painting contest, but the lack of opponents, combined with other priorities, relegated them to the back of the pile.
Flash forward to last month. I was doing some digging in my pile of opportunities, to clear out and sell some projects I now know I won’t get to, or lost interest into, when I stumbled upon the box containing my Nemesis models. Being between projects, and wanting to paint something colourful, I decided to get them out again, and finally paint enough to try out the game. It just took a decade to get back to it…
Too bad that I am that late, though, as the game, whilst still sold by Zenit, has not gotten any releases in almost 10 years, and could be considered dead. While not painting, I’ve tried to look for reviews of the gameplay, battle reports or other online support, but except for some unboxing videos, and a handful of promo rule videos by the company itself, I couldn’t find much. I don’t know if that’s a knock on the game, that I haven’t tried yet, or that it just didn’t penetrate the English and French market much, limiting the material available (I don’t read Spanish).
The Models
Here is my small start on the faction. It’s just enough to try out the game; a single leader and a couple units. I’ll add more after I get them an opposing force (the Rocavivas) painted, and I can convince one of my friends to try it out.
Mantis
The model on the left is the one that started it all, back in 2013, while the one on the right was painted at the start of the month. It was a challenge to match the colours, but I’m happy with the result. The slight variations just look natural, instead of wrong.
Ants
For the ants, I wanted to go a different colour than the studio scheme, so they wouldn’t all be green. After some reference browsing, I settled on a fire ant theme. I like how they came out by themselves, but they lack a bit of cohesion with the other models.
Moth
The Moth is one of the leaders of the Orphans, so I put a bit more work on her. I did that model at the end, after the ants, which is also why I reincorporated more green in the scheme. It makes her own brownish-orange scheme a bit weaker, but bring more cohesion to the whole group.
Galgas
The Arbonte’s Menace starter came with two terrain pieces, one for each faction. This here is a galgas, a giant seed that the living forest uses to extend its reach. I might go back and add some OSL later, as I think it might add some mystical element to what is now just a wooden shell.
Group action
They don’t have an adversary yet, so here is simply a family picture to end this post.
Backdrop by Jon Hodgson Backdrops
