The Thor mini form Marvel:Crisis Protocol is pretty cool, but after finishing him up, he was lacking… oomph. That had to change.
One quick search through EBay later, and that Jane Foster Thor found its way home to me. Click are terribly painted, but that lightning effect is made of soft, transparent plastic. Time for some chop-shop action!
Getting the lightning onto Thor took some persistent pinning, but the end result is pretty great.:
I’m tempted to strip the paint off of the Jane Foster fig. The sculpts on Clix can be half decent once the foot of paint is cleared off!
We’re self-quarantining through the apocalypse, but I also work in social services. So, I really can’t stay home and completely avoid human contact. So, I’m building a little escape.
My spare time is wide open, so I’ll be building a village to play games in when the End Times are over. And I want to test myself in the process.
I have built a lot of terrain in my life. This time around, I’m going with peeled foam coat as a base, and using hot glue to bind everything. I already love this as an alternative to glue!
I used a pencil to carve in the details, and an emery board to smooth things out. I decided to use wood glue to seal the foam, which I mixed with black paint so I could see if I missed anything.
After getting the test piece done, I decided to paint up the front to see how it looked… and I’m really, really happy!
I airbrushed a light coat of white from an angle, then washed the whole front with a simple glaze made from cheap paint, airbrush thinner, and acrylic floor polish. I went over certain areas with a similar glaze made from green ink to age things up a bit!
Next up I’ll go ahead and finish up the base since the experiment has made me happy!
I don’t know if The Drowned Earth is a good game or not yet, but I love the setting and absolutely cherish the miniatures. Sure, it’s yet another post-apocalypse setting, but the model count per faction is pretty low, and what models there are look pretty amazing!
Kalhana is a big mutant heavy gunner from the Wayfarers faction, and he’s what sold me on the game. He’s really cool to look at, and a blast to paint!
I’m painting up the rest of the faction now, and they’re all a lot of fun. Terrain for The Drowned Earth should be a great deal of fun, too!
Gotta love Atomic Mass Games right now. Marvel Crisis Protocol hasn’t even been out 6 months yet, and the line up past the initial boxed set is impressive to say the least!
The Asgardians hit stores about a month ago, and as you can see, a certain Odinson isn’t messing around!
I spent a little extra time layering in some richness to the cape, and I’m still thinking of some lightning effects that I can work in. Other than that, Thor is another solid winner from Atomic Mass!
I didn’t even know about Bushido two weeks ago— but, as often happens at ShivGames, word got out and we all went a little goofy in the head. I was absolutely gob-smacked by the Descension Starter set, which come with five stunning Tengu miniatures.
First up in the warband is Narahobo, who knows exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop:
Why does he have a beard? Do I even care? He’s so cool!
Next comes Hirohito, he’s a spiffy crane dude:
To tie in with the reaper theme, I put the kanji symbol for death on his back:
Now we get to the three Suzume, starting with Honbo, who has a short bow:
He’s probably my favorite in the starter. He looks so regal and pissed! I went i little overboard with the back of the cloak!
Here’s Shubo, who fights with a spear:
And finally, Seibo, who is probably my favorite in the starter. Yes, they’re all my favorite! Seibo fights with two daggers, and has amazing wings!
I really love the fighting claws he has on his talons!These are the best wings in the box. So nicely sculpted!
We’ll be getting our first game of Bushido in shortly! Anyone want to see a battle report?
Something fantastic happened when I went back into the behavior management field—- I am suddenly in a position to just paint for fun!
When my friend Brody was getting excited about some Beastmen for Warcry, I told him I wanted to paint them. I got to paint some cool minis, and there wasn’t any worry about commission. I was doing this for fun!
The Leader is a lot of fun, it’s just the standard build out of the box.The Warcry cards have quite a few Ungor options, but the base Beastmen box only has Gors. I kitbashed the spear carrier to match the card, but the unit is a much beefier Gor unit. Another standard Gor!The Citadel Contrast line really excell with units like these!The Warcry cards call for two Ungor options. I took some old plastic bow bits and converted some tougher looking Gor versions.
I just love the facial expressions on these guys. They look like they take things way too seriously, especially for goat dudes. It was also a really great excuse to play with patina and corrosion on the gear!
I’m working on a Nighthaunt Warband for Warcry, too, and I’ll make sure to share the carnage when these two forces face off!
About two years ago, my family was in crisis. We owned a restaurant that was doing its very best to sink any possibility of us having even a drop of financial security. So, I dusted off my miniature brushes and started accepting painting commissions again.
Turns out this was a massive mistake. Trying to keep a freelance business organized while your actual livelihood was crashing and burning around you? Not an easy thing to pull off. And I in no way pulled it off.
My friend Jeff hires me to paint a bunch of Pan Oceania minis from Infinity. He payed up front, which is something I try not to accept. Why? Because I might flake out, maybe screw up and not finish the job for a couple of years or something.
Now, it’s not all bad. Jeff actually hired me to work at his awesome game store, and it’s still the most fun I’ve ever had at a job. But I painted a lot of Pan Oceania minis while I was there. Probably more than a hundred. I started having nightmares about the particular blue Jeff liked.
Now it’s nearly two years later, and I finally finished the last of that commission. It’s sad, though, because Jeff is a friend and I should have finished this months ago… and I’m not entirely sure if these are all his figures to begin with!
These might be the last Infinity figs I paint, too. I’m pretty burned out on Infinity. The models are amazing, but I always feel dumb when I play the game. And Corvus Belli made some funding decisions that I’m not a fan of, so back to the stuff that I really enjoy painting!
Then again, they really are sweet looking miniatures! Gah! Indecision is tough!
I have developed a deep, unflattering love for Warhammer Underworlds. It started about a year ago, but I denied my love and managed to fight it off. Then I met Fecula Flyblown and her boys, and I was lost for good:
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Nurgle stuff in Warhammer, but I really don’t want to paint a whole army of rotty stompers. But three figs? Sounds like a plan!
Hell, she even has a kitty!So many folds and rips… and that’s just the skin! Neon yellow makes for some great pustules! Ghulgoch the Butcher? Must be a blast on casual Friday.These figs just beg for the Typhus Corrosion!Ghulgoch’s skin started green and worked up to regular flesh tones, with purple shading for bruises.Sepsimus has a ton of armor, which was fun to tarnish up.Nice tail…That’s not a purse!
All in all, the Wurmspat Warband was a lot of fun to paint, and might even make a great foundation for a diorama! Next up: an Ogre Huntsman!
We got our demo copy of MarvelCrisisProtocol at Shiv Games Games today, and I wasted no time at all diving in to the box. It’s a pretty impressive affair, with ten Marvel characters, rules, tokens, and terrain crammed into the box;
I’ll have more on the minis after I get them painted, but I can honestly say I am really happy with the look and quality of the miniatures. The hard plastic looks great, and they are pretty easy to put together with the included instructions.
I would say the quality of the sculpts is a bit higher than Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars: Legion, but not quite as crisp as Wyrd’s Malifaux line. You also don’t need an engineering degree to put them together, so take that, Malifaux!
The minis took about three hours to Assemble (pun intended), and they look fantastic after a quick zenithal priming session!
I’ll be tackling the paint jobs on these beautiful figs in the next installment!
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Grimmleigh's Lab 