I am blaming my friend Randon for this. I just fell helplessly back in love with Marvel Crisis Protocol. It’s not entirely his fault, the models are incredible, fun to paint, and really easy to collect… but I’m blaming him, primarily because he’s a fun guy to pal around with, but he’s also an incredible painter, which can get the inspiration juices flowing pretty easily!
The first model off the workbench is Cain Marko, half-brother of Charles Xavier and the wielder of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak… but you probably know him as the Juggernaut!
This model is incredible! He’s so dynamic, and the base alone conveys the brutal stompiness of the character in such a huge way! I also love that Cain just grabbed a stoplight to hit someone with on his way to the fight!
Juggernaut is one of those characters that I’ve loved since I was a kid. He’s a bad guy most of the time, but he seems to have some redeemable qualities. There was a run in the early 2000’s when he was a member of the X-Men that I loved, especially his friendship with Sammy the Squidboy. Good stuff, and it still hits me like a ton of bricks 20 years later!
There’s a bunch more MCP on the way, but Juggernaut is a great way to kick off this year’s projects! He also lets me check off a hobby bingo square, since he’s been sitting partially finished on a shelf for almost two years! Woohoo!
When the 10th edition of Warhammer 40,000 came out, I fell into a trap that I tend to set for myself. I jumped head first into a horde army, knowing full well that my sensibilities are far more skirmish game sized.
I painted up a Carnifex to test a color scheme I had percolating in my head for Tyranids, and it’s pretty neat, right?
Thanks. I loved it. And then, 25 minis into that scheme, started to hate it. Loathe, even. The type of loathing that I tend to reserve for B Movie villains and bad barristas.
I moved on to another color scheme, and while it was spiffy to look at, I was faced with the same problem. Painting the same color scheme, over and over and over and over and over a hundred times is no longer something I have any patience for!
Slowly, something began to dawn on me. Why on earth was I painting a horde of space bugs a uniform color scheme? How about if the colors the bugs end up has more to do with what biomass they consumed than some Grand Color Scheme from the stars?
So, here we are, with my new, easy to follow and replicate color scheme for Tyranids. Yes, it’s ALL THE COLORS. And I think I love it, hahaha!
I was born in 1969, burned bright in my punk rock days, and never thought I would see 30, let alone 50. Sure, I was a dedicated miniature hobbyist by the age of 14, but I also spent plenty of time in mosh pits and dabbled in things that Mother Warned Me About, so sitting here, in the far future and 55 years of age is not something I was ever prepared for.
Despite the apparent zeal the human race holds towards teetering off the narrow precipice of civilization into George Miller’s Mad Max future, the state of the miniature hobby has never looked brighter.
If supply chains hold up, that is.
2024 saw games like Trench Crusade pop up and cause a lot of folks to not only recognize that there are games outside of the GW Sphere, but that those games might be viable as well. That’s nothing but good news.
Even GW seems intent on putting out material for their specialist games, which allows titles like Warcry and Necromunda to thrive despite the all consuming nature of 40k and AOS.
Now that I’m looking at the year ahead, I am really excited to double down on some commitments I made to myself in the latter part of last year.
I want to adhere to a couple of posts a week here on the blog, since it keeps me motivated and helps thin out the horde of unpainted minis that have taken over my studio.
I want to focus on smaller games from smaller companies, but I also want to play with stuff that I forgot I loved, like Marvel Crisis Protocol and Shatterpoint.
I am also going to be making a lot more terrain this year, because I finally finished up a building that I printed off, and I really loved the process and want to PLAY A GAME with the buildings!
The biggest thing I plan on focusing on, however, is my health. Miniature painting has been a large part of my life for over 40 years, and it has been a form of meditation for me that has seen me through a lot of adversity, as well as good times.
BUT, as with all hobbies, it can be a bit all consuming! I really like to buy new models. Sometimes those will sit on a shelf for years, untouched. Part of focusing on my mental health is recognizing that it’s really not healthy to throw money at stuff that I’m not doing anything with!
It’ll be an interesting year. I’m also thinking about taking on Rob Hawkin’s hobby bingo challenge, because this bingo card is epic and it would be fun to challenge myself to do some of these!
That’s the year ahead. Hopefully, you are all well, and have plenty of hobby happiness to come!
You know, the kind of guy that planned things and had a strategy for his blog posts would have realized that his December crew for Malifaux would have made an amazing post for Christmas day, but I am not, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be that kind of guy… so here’s my Woe crew, led by the always charming Pandora!
This crew has everything. Freaky Scarecrows. Dememnted Teddy Bears. Evil, stabby babies.
Baby Kade was a challenge, babies are not a thing that come across a painting desk that often, and I wanted his skin tones to be smooth and buttery, which is kind of the opposite of how I paint!
Iggy leads three Aversions, and they’re a ton of fun! Puppets, brain removal, and nose picking, woohoo!
The sorrows are also pretty neat, and really lend themselves well to oil washes.
The Poltergeist is last of the traditional Woe crew, and I painted it up like the Aversions and Sorrows:
Now, because Baby Kade needs a teddy, one is allowed in this crew!
And we’ll round out the Woe crew with The Carver, one of my all-time favorite sculpts from Wyrd!
This crew has been successfully re-home through my wildly popular catch and release program, which allows me to keep painting miniatures without filling the house to divorce levels of crazy little figures.
I really wish I had started these sooner, but I really didn’t even dip my toe into the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game until this year (maybe last?), so I will be playing a bit of catch-up.
The Rangers of Gondor are a pretty good kit, especially considering they are mono-pose, push-fit miniatures. I was expecting a lot of sameness with the figures, but I’m actually finding that a little color variation can go a long way towards breaking up any repetition!
I’m holding off on painting Faramir (the true best boy of Gondor) up until I get the rest of the rangers done, but I’m having enough fun with these that I think I might, just really might, play a game with these guys!
I am so happy to finally have this guy done! He is literally the first miniature I saw for Moonstone when it was first teased way back in the dark ages of my memory, and he’s one I was a little stressed about finishing, because he’s so damned iconic.
Moonstone is already an incredibly thematic, atmospheric game. It’s also the only game that I know of that has a mechanic bake into it that allows for a farting dog that is used as a mount for a jousting goblin knight, so if that gets your gaming engines revving, this game was made for you!
That goblin knight’s name is Pubert. He kills folks and steels their money, but he also seems to be really attached to Doug, and I can’t hold much malice towards someone who is that devoted to their dog. I can’t imagine Doug is the best choice of mounts, after all. I’ve known far too many pugs. They’re like the drunk sidekick in every relationship; entertaining, gassy, and just a bit wobbly.
Doug and Pubert are also my first Goblin mini for Moonstone, and I’m really thrilled to be heading into this faction for the game!
It’s been a bit of time since I’ve worked much on my Frostgrave backlog, but it’s always in the back of my mind, keeping the other oft-neglected flights of fancy in my mind warm.
I decided to get back to it recently, and picked up a bunch of the “2” boxes of Frostgrave kits. The 2 means not male presenting, and I had been putting the 2 kits off for ages because I didn’t like the face sculpts on the female warriors much.
Turns out, a lot of that was the paint. But they still have a bit of a feline characteristic to them that I’m not a huge fan of. Luckily, the kits are still amazing, and Moranna of House Pike is the first mini in the new push to get my Frostgrave/Mordheim/Five Leagues from the Borderlands collection back on track!
House Pike was established in the 82nd year of the New Imperial Reckoning, recognized officially by Imperial decree four years later. The house sigil is a horned fish in haurient position, and the house colors are yellow and red.
Moranna Pike is the daughter of Archibald and Lowaine Pike, Lord and Lady of the rocky, sea crested region in the northeast of the Empire. Lord Pike was noted as being fair to the small folk and brave in battle, and Lowaine was considered kind to all and a practiced hand with a blade when needed.
As the oldest child of House Pike, Moranna assumed mastership of the house guard in her mid teens, and has shown promise in battle. She is currently questing in the Plaguewald, hunting undead, and hoping to show herself worthy of knighthood upon her return to civilization.
I have had a long history with She-Hulk. I really loved the Hulk when I was a kid, which is probably why I love orcs. Big, Green, and Dumb is a default source of joy for me!
I was about eight years old when the first She-Hulk comics came out, and I liked them, but I didn’t get the humor because I was freaking eight years old. As I got older, she became pretty entertaining to read, and as an adult, she became a bit of a favorite.
Turns out Big, Green, and Smart is pretty fun, too!
I even enjoyed the MCU She-Hulk series on Disney+, but that’s not surprising. As most people who grew up with The Trial of the Incredible Hulk as the closest thing to cool live action super heroes will tell you, we’re a bit spoiled right now, and there’s some pretty good stuff being sent our way. Also, I’m easily entertained!
The She-Hulk sculpt from CMON’sMarvel Zombies game is pretty dynamic, and easily captures her in a heroic pose, getting ready to punch some shambler into paste! I’m happy to add her to the ranks of finished models, and it’ll be cool seeing an A-Force team pop up as I get more Avengers models finished!
I’m trying my damnedest to keep momentum going on my two horde army projects, but my general apathy towards modern GW games and the high burnout potential of large army builds really puts up some interesting barriers for me! Luckily, I really dig the Kruleboyz, they have a vibe that screams cool, and they’re fun to paint. I don’t know if painting fifty of them will be fun, but we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.
I’m trying not to use straight up stock miniatures as much as possible, just to keep things distinctly mine. A lot of the Kruleboyz models will be masked, which is an easy conversion by just gluing spare scareshields to their faces. It looks pretty cool to me, and sparked some lore for the army, too!
Grimmguttz was feeling less than kunning. Frankly, he was feeling dizzy, and like he was about to bring up this morning’s double portion of Stankdredd Hash. He decided to hazard a peak, cracked an eye open a hair, and began to spew forth a torrent of hash the likes of which hadn’t been seen since his Stubbins, his steward and personal chef, had been allowed to arrange the Fumpin’ Day feast.
It was only after passing what appeared to be several gallons of noxious, neon vomit did Grimmguttz realize he was rotating about in the air. Each convulsion sent him spinning around faster, the colors of his stomach’s demise liberally painting the already psychedelic landscape with lurid splashes and sprays of color.
Grimmguttz bit back the next retch, swallowed it back down, and held his breath until he stopped spinning, which took close to an hour. No matter, he thought to himself, this was nowhere near the longest he had held his breath. He could wait it out.
Finally, his lurching rotation came to a blessed, lurching stop. Grimmguttz reached out daintily with an outstretched foot, then tried to tip-toe through the air to the ground. This accomplished nothing, so he whispered a threat to Gorkamorka and dove forward, gracefully striking his chin against the craggy ground.
Grimmgutz sat up, running his sore jaw and cursing quietly to himself. He suddenly realized that he wasn’t alone. “CAW!” said the crow, blinking all six of its eyes in unison. It was the largest crow Grimmguttz had ever seen, and the lurching, sickening colors strobing through landscape and air was reflected in its feathers.
“Same atcha, stoopid bird”, burped Grimmguttz, still massaging feeling into his jaw.
“CAW! CAW! CAAAAW!!!” screamed the crow, causing Grimmguttz to scramble defensively back on his ass.
“But dey is da gods!” muttered Grimmguttz, shocked at the blasphemy the crow had just uttered.
“CAW! CAAAAAAAW!” yelled the crow.
“I see, I see”, answered Grimmguttz, as a plan bloomed freshly into place in his mind. “But to do dat, dere wood ‘ave to be a heap o’ scrappin’ an frumpin’ first, speshully if’ we’s gunna get dat much Waaagh built up!”
“CAW!” agreed the crow, flapping its wings lazily.
“But even den, da gods wood sees us a comin’ miles away and fess wutt we’s a doin’ fore we had a chance a da trick!”
A wisp of purple energy started to coalesce around the bird, obscuring its appearance. Grimmguttz watched, fascinated and confused as the crow became impossible to discern from the landscape.
And with that, Grimmguttz the Kunnin’ came to in the Stankdredd marsh, sprawled on the ground next to Grakkskull’s hut. The boss looked down at the battered, nauseous wizard and let out a chuckle.
“Nice a yoos to join us, Guttz”, said the boss, strapping his scareshield to his arm. Grimmguttz stared into the face of the shield, a plan forming in his mind. A plan that would make it so the gods, even as formidable as they were, would never see Grakkskull’s krew coming…
… and even if they did, wouldn’t know who it was, until it was too late.
I’ll have more on Grakkskull and Grimmguttz, as they plot to raise enough Waaagh energy to elevate the Throne of Crows to divinity!
One thing about making myself stick to a semi-regular posting schedule is that I’ve been painting more to make sure I have plenty of content! That also means I’m starting to make a dent in my backlog, which is fantastic news! I would much rather look at painted minis than a horde of unpainted potential!
I’ve also implemented a new “Two Year Termination” clause in my contract with my own sanity. If something is still in the original packaging two years after I bought it, I either need to get it on the table and finished, or find a new home for it. Hence, the sudden appearance of six square feet of office space after offloading a ton Marvel United boxes.
One mini that made it from package to finished is this Wight King from Games Workshop. It’s an amazing figure, I’ve always loved it, but never put the time together to finish it up. Now it’s done, and I’m pretty happy with the results!
I’ll most likely be using him for Frostgrave and Five Leagues from the Borderlands, but the rules for Warcry are flexible enough that he can be used in a Soulblight Gravelords list without any real trouble.
I tried to work some patina into the metals, since copper and bronze is going to get pretty grimy over time. I’m flirting with the idea of picking up a few Deathrattle Skellies to help him out, but I’m also keen on the idea of kitbashing some minis from other studios and let GW live without my money for a bit. Time will tell on that front!
I have a couple of more backlog projects I would like to get finished up for the new year, then I’m hoping to get involved in a hobby bingo challenge to keep the motivation rolling for 2025!
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