Goblin Hobbies Stampin' Starter Kit Review — A true game changer

When I first got started painting miniatures over a decade ago, I went through a lot of experiences that I think plenty of painters have been through. To start, being overwhelmed by the variety of paints, miniatures, and tools. Then, trying to pick a project. Going through that first project, and learning the process. Then, repeat. Doing this over and over again, picking up new tools, techniques, realizing that paint pots are annoying, certain model makers make terrible looking models, and gluing your fingers together a few times. You know, the basics.

Over this time period, you learn what you like to paint and build, and what you don’t like painting. I learned that trying to paint small elements, like numbers, heraldry, symbols, was extremely difficult, and would put me off of a project. The first time I tried to paint stripes on a model, I tried to use tape, it got messy, and let’s just say that for this review, I painted over that previous job and redid it with the tool I’m reviewing today, and I am much happier. 

The other thing about painting small details is that for a display model you typically want to freehand these kinds of elements. Both as a creative challenge for yourself, and because judges will respect that and reward accordingly. But what about an army? Painting up 20 Space Marines is challenging enough, but then having to also put decals or heraldry on them? This takes a tremendous amount of time, patience, and skill.

A few years ago, Brent from Goobertown Hobbies and Casey from Ebay Miniature Rescues recognized this challenge and started developing a solution for this exact problem, in secret. Recently, they released this product, called The Goblin Stamper. I met with Brent and Casey at Adepticon, and after a few weeks with the Goblin Stamper, I can confidently say that with practice, this tool can help painters with creating small details for their work and will accelerate their production process when it comes to making armies.

Let’s dig in. 

The Goblin Stamper is a unique tool with roots in Nail Art. It’s a double-sided plastic tool with silicon nibs on both ends; one larger, one smaller. You use the stamper in conjunction with a “stamping plate”, which is a chemical  etched plate with various decals. Goblin Hobbies gives you two plates with the Starter kit, which are the Heraldry 001 and Squad Markings 001, along with black and white “stampin’” colors. Additionally, they offer a larger kit which includes 8 more plates and 2 more colors, along with 2 miniatures from their line of Goblin- themed minis.

When it comes to using the Stamper, it’s easy on paper (and video), but in my experience, it takes time to do this correctly, which is completely worth it. The “ stampin” colors, which are nail stamp polish, is a lacquer that is used in nail art circles, dabbed on your decal of choice, scraped at a 45 degree angle with an included tool, and then you use the stamper to transfer the decal to whatever you want. A quick wipe with acetone, and the plate is ready to go again. 

These stamps can then be painted over, merged with other stamps, though once you stamp your model, it’s on there. So just be aware of that, because if you stamp in the wrong place, you’re going to have to do some cleanup work.

There is a learning curve, which might put off some of us who don’t have time to practice. I found that in my tests, it took me a few different passes before I got the decal to transfer properly. This is because of a litany of reasons, including not using enough polish, scraping at the wrong angle, taking too much time to transfer, not having a clean nib (use soap and water). But, Brent and Casey provide help in the form of tutorials.

And even they admit that “it’s not as easy as it looks, but don’t get discouraged!”, and you can’t help but feel inspired by their enthusiasm.

And you will get discouraged, but I implore you to continue. Once you get the hang of this tool, it’s so worth it. Once I figured out that a light press does so much more than a heavy press, I was able to get a clean stamp on my old Warforged mini, and it really helped the shield stand out.With my other test models, as you’ll see below, I experienced that learning curve. It gave me a chance to repaint some elements on models I wish I had done better, so I got that going for me.

I think this tool is amazing. Looking at the variety of plates, and looking at some of my projects I have lined up this year, this really will help me out and increase what I can do on my models. Straight lines and symbols always scared me, but the stamper alleviates that fear.

I might even use it on some display pieces for competition: wouldn’t that be awesome? That whole box of Stormcast Eternals feels a lot less intimidating now that I can easily apply stripes to their shields.

The Goblin Stamper is available on the Goblin Hobbies website, retails for $50.00 USD, with the “All-in” kit available for $185. I find these prices to be fair, considering the time, energy, and results that you can get with this tool. Nail stamp polish is cheap and plentiful, so I encourage you to go buy some unique colors. And get stamping.