Build a Modular Fantasy Army with Artisan Guild: The Ball-Joint System Explained

The annoying thing about most mass-produced plastic kits is that a full regiment of ten infantry often has three body poses. Paint them the same colour, rank them up, and the repetition is visible from three feet away. Artisan Guild's ball-joint modular system is built specifically to avoid this. Heads, arms, weapons and accessories connect via standardised ball joints across the full catalogue, so parts from different sets within a range fit together without modification, giving you genuine variety across a whole army.

We stock the full Artisan Guild range at TabletopXtra, printed to order in high-detail resin from our UK workshop. It is one of the first ranges we recommend to hobbyists building an army rather than a small warband.

How the Ball-Joint System Actually Works

A ball joint on a miniature is exactly what it sounds like: a small sphere on one part sits inside a corresponding socket on another. Before the glue sets, you can rotate the joint freely to adjust the angle of a sword arm, the direction a head turns, or the height a shield rests. A drop of thin CA glue held for ten seconds locks it in place.

The socket dimensions are standardised across the whole Artisan Guild catalogue. Parts from one saga release share the same joint sizes as parts from releases months later. That consistency compounds as you collect: each new kit adds to a growing library of compatible heads, arms and weapons, so your options increase with every set you buy rather than plateauing at whatever poses came in the box.

Building a Unit With No Two Models Alike

The Frost Alfar Hunter Miniatures (from £6.29) illustrate this well. The Hunter squad and the Warrior Kvaallandir Trollkiller (£6.90) share compatible arm and head sockets. Buy both kits and you have enough head, arm and weapon variants to field a unit where every model looks different. Add Frostworm Rider cavalry at £9.99 as a flanking element and the force starts to feel like a proper army rather than a painted batch.

This matters most for anyone playing games where units are judged up close: Kings of War regiment trays, Warhammer Fantasy Battles units, or homebrew mass-battle rulesets where a rank of twenty identical models looks wrong the moment someone leans in.

Which Sagas Are Worth Building Out

A few of the ranges we currently stock that lend themselves to larger force builds:

Wrath of the Malakim: paladin and angel infantry with Lion Rider cavalry (£9.99) and the Azarel with Gryphon Mount (£22.99) as a centrepiece. Suits Order-aligned forces that mix rank infantry with heavy cavalry.

Frost Alfar of Skutagaard: Norse-inflected elven warriors with a strong range of infantry types and the Frost Jotunn Skjarnilda (£26.99) as a monster-scale anchor. The Jotunn fits any rules set with a large creature slot and reads as a proper giant on the table.

Magmaforged Dwarves of the Depths: armoured dwarves with a fire-and-forge aesthetic. Dragonling Riders (£9.99) fill the cavalry slot and the Giant Fire Jotun Princess Ignivara (£26.99) makes a strong centrepiece for any large-model slot.

Assembling Resin Ball-Joints

Resin sometimes has a thin film inside the socket from the printing process. Running a cocktail stick or small file through the socket before assembly means the ball seats cleanly and the joint holds without gaps.

Thin CA glue on the ball itself, held for ten seconds, locks the joint at whatever angle you chose. If you want to adjust after the glue begins to set, a few seconds of heat from a hairdryer softens the resin enough to move the joint without breaking it.

Priming is the same as for any other resin piece: wash in warm soapy water, dry fully, then spray prime. The detail holds paint well and the joint seams are no different to handle than any other recessed area on the model.

Starting Out

The Small Set releases are squad-level kits of three to five models and the right entry point for the range, starting from around £6.29. Pick two or three from the same saga and the cross-kit compatibility becomes obvious quickly.

Browse the full Artisan Guild range at TabletopXtra to see which sagas are currently in stock. Everything is printed to order from our UK workshop. For a deeper look at the design philosophy behind the ball-joint system, the official Artisan Guild site and their MyMiniFactory profile are the places to start.