Arkham Guard Reporting for Duty

I have been writing this blog for 5 years now.  That baffles me.  I started posting in an attempt to stay connected with the hobby community; to which I was feeling estranged at the time.  I had spent the previous two years focusing on college.  I was not able to hang out with my gaming friends due to my job and homework.  I was still painting models and terrain, but I was not really playing any games.  I thought that posting about what I was working on would helped me to reconnect with old friends (and new ones).

Now, half a decade later I am still writing (ok...there was a year that posts were very sporadic).  However my reasons for writing have changed.  I am now fairly involved at my local independent retailer.  I am part of the Lords of War Batman/DCU league and helped run a few events.  I have an online presence in a few hobby groups.  I am no longer writing to stay connected, I am connected.

I write now for posterity.  I write because I enjoy looking back on what I have completed.  I associate events in my life with projects that I was working on at that time.  For example, when I look back at the suicide squad that I painted last year.  I remember painting them at my desk that I moved into the back of my living room.  I moved my desk out there because we had a family member staying in our spare room for the holidays.  When I re-read those posts I remember hanging out with family in the living room, watching holiday movies.  For me it is not just the words but the feelings as well.

In the future when I look back to these last posts I will remember the first weeks home with my baby daughter.  I will remember sitting down to paint the Arkham Guards for a few minutes here and there while the baby ate or slept.  I will remember replaying Arkham City with the baby asleep on my chest.  I will remember the joy, love and debilitating sleep deprivation that this new phase brought.

So I continue now with the second member of the Arkham Guards.  I finished up the assault riffle guard over the last week.  I have never tried to paint a darker skin tone before, it turned out OK.  The base-coat that I used really did not go on well.  Any suggestions for how to paint darker skin?

I played a game last weekend and this model was spectacular.  The table was really set up for its advantage (the table was set up by a neutral third party).  He was on the highest piece of terrain with plenty of lights all around.  The unlimited range and 3 blood damage forced my opponent to think about this guy at all times.

Starfire was also very solid.  She put out a lot of blood damage early on, and could take a good number of hits due to her "Invulnerability".  The new Nightwing was good too.  He bat-wiffed in his first round of hand-to-hand combat, but his speed and ability to get around the board more then made up for it.     

There is another reason I write this blog, I enjoy writing it (...or maybe it is the whiskey I drink white I write it...).  One more Arkham Guard to go!


Kevin

Return to Arkham

I was really excited about the new resin models that came with second editions.  I really wanted every set!  In the end I went with the new Batman and Arkham Guards starter set and the Nightwing single.  The models are really nice.  I only had a problem with the assault rifle guard.  He had some really bad mold lines that I needed to file, fill with liquid green stuff, then file again. 

We are going to be starting a new campaign at Lords of Wargames and Hobbies this weekend.  I am going to play my Brave and the Bold crew, however with one alteration; no Batman.  I am using some cops and the three new Arkahm Guards.  The crew will be lead by the new Nightwing, with Starfire backing him up.  I got Starfire a little while ago and have not had a chance to try her out.  I do like the thematic feel of Nightwing and Starfire together. 

I was able to finish up one of the guards for the start of the campaign.  I am very happy how the blue uniforms turned out.  I am not overly satisfied with the vest.  I started with a grey base that I though was going to be much darker.  After some highlights it was far to bright, so I used some watered down black to bring it back down, but it just ended up washing the highlights out.  I will try something different for the next guard (then revisit this one). 

It felt good to get some paint on a model after taking a break for a few weeks, but it was the best break of my life.

Kevin