46 - Swamp Thing

I finished painting my last model for the Paint or Die challenge at Lords of War.  I saved Swamp Thing for last because he was one that I thought would be easy and straight forward.  Painting deadlines definitely have some benefits, but they also have some drawbacks. 

On the positive side they are a great source of motivation.  I picked up the Justice League Dark box for this challenge and it is now all painted.  I had also picked up the Teen Titans box several months ago and they are still sitting on my shelf, primed but sad looking. 

There is also a unison when you paint all the models in a given set in the same time period.  You tend to use the same style, and techniques, and the quality stays the same.   

On the flip side, you may get board with a project but still feel compelled to complete it.  This in itself is not a bad thing, but you may not end up giving it your get effort if your heart is not in it.  I also find that you don't progress your abilities or try new techniques as easily.  If your time is limited, you may not be inclined to gamble this limited resource on a painting experiment.  Instead you fall back on old patterns and styles.  This was definitely what I found while working on Swamp Thing.

Instead of trying some glazing, or working up through some thin watered down layers I went back to my old style of 3 tone mixing; base > base + highlight colour > highlight.  I grabbed a few different greens (the new wall mounted painted shelf made this part wonderful) and started picking out various parts of Swamp Things body.  I added some wood/brown areas to break the green up.  I really really hated the result.  I felt it was a step back from what I had been working on over the last year.

However since I had progressed with the rest of the JLD fairly quickly, I actually had some extra time before the due date.  I decided to gamble a bit and use a technique that I had been practicing.  I took Scale 75 Inktense Chestnut and diluted it with a lot water .  I then applied several glazes to some of the green areas (including the head).  It really did mute the green and give it a brown hue.  When it was dry I was much happier with the model.  I picked out the red peddles and eyes and then called it a day.   

In-game Swamp Thing is the Tank of the Justice League Dark.  He has an abundance of health (22!), Regenerate/2 and Revival.  Revival allows him to be placed in contact with a table edge if he is ever killed (he does come back hurt, and awards the opponent an additional VP though).  It is almost impossible to keep him down. 

His stats are good, with a high strength and a good Willpower (with a re-roll thanks to Scientific skill).  He is a little slow with a move of 5/8.  However he does have a Blue ability called The Green that cost 6 power that allows him to be placed anywhere on the table that his base fits.   His defenses are good at 16, with a Supernatural of 18!  Power 10 is also nice, but he is fairly pricey at 16 levels.

His attacks are solid too.  His green Altered Limb physical attack cost 3, with a 2 damage but has a range of 3.  His Magic Spikes with a power cost of 3, shooting range of 6 and dealing 3 supernatural damage is great.  The once per game Roots attack can be amazing as well if set up right.  A pulse attack with a range of 4 and Ensnare/5 (-5 movement) can really mess up someone plans.  But that is a large area and you are going have to do some careful planning to make sure that you done have any friends near by. 

I imagine that one of Swamp Things greatest abilities will be his Bodyguard special ability.  With regeneration and being able to come back from the dead, Swamp Thing will be able to protect some of the more squishy people in his team (Zantana and Constantine I am thinking).

It is good to get the challenge done, I was worried there for a while.  This has been the most painting and productive I have been in a while!

Kevin 

45 - Black Orchid

This week I went to work on Black Orchid for the Justice League Dark Paint or Die Challenge.  This was an interesting model to work on.  I was intrigued to try and paint a pink model (a colour I have had very limited experience with), and the colour pattern on her cape looked fun.  It did not turn out how I had initially planed, I don't hate it, but I also don't love it.  It is one of those projects that you just have to call it complete or move on or it will drive you mad.

I started out by painting the whole model  Citadel (C) Screamer Pink.  I then gave it a light wash with Carroburg Crimson.  I layered back on the Screamer Pink, then worked in some C Pink Horror for the highlights.  The finial highlight was achieved by adding a little bit of white to the previous mixture. 

I then when back and painted the webbing on the head, legs and hips black.  This was then highlighted by adding small bits of Game Air Dead White to it.  I ended up painting the cape multiple times.  I originally painted it pink with the rest of the body, then painted in the negative space with black, leaving some pink dots.  It looked horrible.  So I ended up repainting the whole cape with black.  I then worked up the highlights by adding Dead White.  I used Scale 75 (S75) Inktense Black with a lot of water to glaze the highlights together.  I ended up over glazing and washed most of the highlights out.  I added the pink dots with the same system as the body (minus the Caroburg Crimson wash). I then worked up the black highlights a bit more. 

On the table Black Orchid is a bit of a mystery to me.  I am not entirely sure how to use her.  She is a low level cost at only 8.  She has fairly average stats, with the only stand outs being a strength of 4 and Fly.  Her skills are fairly defensive, Infiltrator (can be deployed anywhere on the table at the start of the game), Regeneration/1 (heal 1 damage at the end of each turn) and Power Transference/1 (can give a friendly model within 4" one power at the start of BO activation).  She also has good Physical and Energy defenses at 17 (18 for Energy when in the grey injury zone), but average for Supernatural (15) and Mind (16). 

He attacks appear OK.  Average power cost, average damage, nothing really exciting.  Her Red (once per game) Pheromones attack could be devastating in the right situation.  A spray template with a Stun/5 (loose 5 power counters) could really mess up an opponents plan. 

All her Special Powers are defensive in nature.  Impersonation means that if Black Orchid has not activated yet the enemy must pass a willpower test to attack her.  Force Field gives her Resistance/2 to Physical and Energy (But it has a power cost of 4 and is an Active ability - not reactive).  Spy blocks the opponent from activating two models consecutively, which can also be nice, but it also costs 4 power. 

I think Black Orchid biggest draw back is only having a power of 7.  It basically means that she is only doing one thing a turn.  She is ether going defensive, turning on her Force Field and saving a few power for defensive improvements, or she is going to try and fly some where and maybe get one punch in.  I could see her as an objective runner.  Infiltrate would get her close early on, then she could fly to where she needs to go and throw up her Shield to hold the ground until backup arrives.

I really don't know.  Much like Deadman, she is very different from the models I am used to playing.  I am going to have to get her on the table and try and figure out how best she works.

There is one week left for the Paint or Die Challenge, and I have one more model, Swamp Thing!

Kevin 

44 - John Constantine

I chipped away at John Constantine through out the week and finished him off late Saturday night.  This was a rewarding model to paint. I tried using some colours for basecoats that have never worked out for me in the past because I could not figure out what to highlight it with, but finally cracked it. 

I wanted dark grey for his pants, but to stand out from Jason Blood's pants.  I decided to use Scale 75 (S75) Petroleum Grey.  This is a dark grey that has almost a slight brown/purple tint to it when it dries.  I have never used it right.  This time I mixed in some S75 Artic Blue for the highlights.  The light tones of the blue mixed well with the purple hue of the grey.  To darken the pants after the highlights and to add more shadow I did a light glaze of watered down black. 

I also wanted his trench coat to stand out from Jason's jacket.  I chose to go with an old Flames of War colour, US Field Drab.  It is a beige with a slight yellow tint.  I did the highlights by adding in Citadel (C) Pallid Wych Flesh.  I then used some watered down S75 Dubai Brown with a drop of black to add some shadows to the recesses.     

I got the dirty blonde hair by using a mix of Vallego (V) Middlestone and V Beige Brown.  I then added S75 Birch for the highlights. 

From looking at his rules I imagine that John Constantine will play the roll of hard to kill support.  He has good power level at 10, then fairly basic human stats for everything else.  A Willpower 12 is nice though.  He is slow, but does have access to a Blue/3 Power 14" Teleport move.  He has slightly below average defense for Physical and Energy defense with a 14, but great Mind and Supernatural defense with an 18.  However his low defenses are mitigated by a few of his special abilities. 

First is Charm.  Any model that wants to attack him has to first pass a Willpower test.  It is super annoying in BMG, I cant imagine it is any less annoying in DCU.  Secondly if Constantine is targeted by an attack, he can redirect it toward a different friendly model within 2 inches with Final Fate (once per turn).  Basically it is a reverse body guard.  Although he has to chose to do this before using this Charm rule. 

His Dirty Cheater ability is very reliable.  It allows you to choose the defense of the model you are attacking and the attack also ignores resistances (so if Constantine is throwing a Fire Bolt, which is usually Supernatural Damage, at Enchantress, who has high Supernatural defense, Constantine can choose to role against he Physical defense of 15 instead.  Making it easier to hit her and now the attack ignores her Supernatural Resistance/1). 

His attacks have a fairly high power cost (3 and 4) for relatively lower damage (1 and 2 mainly).  However all his attacks have a great effects.  His Fire Bolt is an explosive 2 (everyone within 2" gets hit).  The Magic Seal has Ensnare/8 (-8" to movement).  Mind Tricks has Stun/3 (-3 Power counters) and Dazzle/3 (-3 Mind Defense).  Hellfire is a spray template with Ensnare/3 (-3" movement).  He can really slow people down and hurt them if they clump together. 

His skills go nicely with his support/harassment role.  Luck Allows him to re-roll a single die each turn.  Mastermind adds an addition turn counter to the bag for his team.  Power Thief allows him to steal power from people he hits with close combat attacks (and for some reason the exploding Fire Bolt attack is a close combat attack).  Strategist gives his team an additional "pass" during activation. 

Constantine is not dealing the damage of Zatana, nor is he the brute force of Blood/Etrigan.  He is however survivable, effective and super annoying!

The Justice League Dark is coming together, two models left.  Up next with Black Orchid. 

Kevin