Review: Perry Bros: Master's in Miniature

Well I haven't been able to paint too much recently and this week won't be any different as I'm writing this from a hotel room thanks to work commitments. However being stuck here isn't always so bad as I had some evening reading with me!

Recently the Perry Brothers came out with a new project called "Master's in Miniature" which is essentially a book chronicling their work. Being a huge fan of the Perrys I immediately ordered a copy, especially when I found out that they sold a limited amount of autographed versions through their own webstore.

The book is a quite large with around 160 pages and being formatted more as a coffee table art book rather than a "real" book. Inside you will find massive amounts of pictures (400+ they claim) of all the ranges that the brothers have designed for their own label. Every era and subject is detailed with roughly a page worth of text that gives some background explaining why they decided to sculpt minis for the period etc. Not much text in addition to these short pieces and then the short text pieces under most pictures.

The main interest in the book are of course the miniatures and the paintwork that has been applied on them. There are huge amounts of close ups and different vignettes and dioramas that have been staged up for the photo shoots. All of the miniatures apparently come from the Perry's personal collections and are the same ones that you might have seen on recent Warlord rules books for example. Amazing sscenery is naturally used in all pictures and there are some pretty convincing battle scenes played out.

Then to the bad parts. Even though the book offers a lot of eye candy and some inspirational miniatures, I still came out with a bad taste in my mouth. The book comes across as a flashy catalogue detailing the miniatures that the Perry Bros sell through own brand. Every era that they make is presented with pretty much every possible figure shown painted. None of their previous work for other companies is given any room and there isn't much content outside of the pretty pictures. It would have been interesting to have some more text detailing the ranges or the working processes that the brothers employ. Pretty much anything to make it look more like a true book rather than just a catalogue of their own products.

Still I wouldn't say it's a waste of your money, especially if you are a fan of their work. There are plenty of amazing miniatures to be seen and to draw inspiration from. It's maybe a bit pricy for what it is at 30 pounds, but then again the production values are very high with excellent print quality and very high quality gloss paper being used.