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

43 - Jason Blood

I got a few late night painting sessions in over the weekend.  It was productive and I was able to finish up Jason Blood fairly quickly.  For the turtle neck and pants I went with a Scale 75 (S75) Graphene Grey and black for the base coat.  I then layered in several thin coats of just Graphene grey.  The final highlights on the pants were achieved by adding in some S75 Arctic Blue.  I toned down the shirt by glazing some thin coats of black over top.  The jacket was Vallejo Beige Brown.  With S75 Birch added into for the highlights.  After painting colourful characters like Etrigan and Deadman, painting a dude in a suit was a fun change (I also had the Lonely Island song "Turtle Neck and Chains" stuck in my head the whole time).

Jason Blood and Etrigan look like they will be very good in the DCU game.  The are at the high end of the mid-range characters at 14 levels.  When the game starts you only put Jason Blood on the table.  Most of his Skills and Attacks are not available at that time. As soon as Jason health moves into the pale blue area you remove his model and replace it with Etrigan.  At this point, all his Skills become active and he has more Attack actions to choose from, but looses his Precognition power.

Jason Blood is just a basic human.  He is average speed and has a strength of one.  His Precognition skill is versatile; a Blue Power Cost 2 ability that forces the target within 8 to re-roll one die.  This can be used on friend or foe.  He only has access to a single attack, Eldritch Blast, but it is a really good attack.  It is a Green, Power Cost 2 melee attack, dealing Supernatural damage with a range of 9(even though it is melee) and the Stun/1 effect.  A green, 2 power, 2 supernatural damage is amazing (Especially with all the new Kyptonians that just showed up). 

When Etrigan shows up the model suddenly get much more tough.  He gains Resistance to Physical and Energy One in addition to Regeneration 2!  He also goes up to strength 5, so he can start throwing things around!  Etrigan is much faster with Wall-Crawler and Agile (can move a second time each turn).  The Demon Claws attack is a lost power cost (2) Green Physical attack that deals 3 damage, but can be overloaded to deal an additional 2 damage.  He also has Helfire, which is a flame template Blue, 3 power cost Supernatural attack.

Both forms have Elite Fighter (+1 to hit melee roles), Soldier (re-roll Stamina checks) and Power Transference/2 (can give a friendly model 2 power counters).   They also have average Physical (15) and Energy (14) defenses, but really nice Supernatural (17) and Mind (17).

At the beginning of the game Jason is more of a support piece.  He forces some re-rolls and throws a few fireballs.  When Etrigan appears he turns into a beater. It looks like he can take a good amount of damage, and still deal a good amount of damage in return.  I could also see him as a good good objective runner with his Agile Ability and Wall Crawler (He should be able to get were he needs to go).  I am looking forward to getting this model onto the table, but I feel that I will have to try and speak in rhyme whenever I active him.

 The other man in a suit is up next, John Constantine.

Kevin

42 - Deadman and Etrigan The Demon

We started a "Paint or Die" challenge at Lords of War this week to kick off the new edition of DCU.  The idea is you pick up a new team, then you have one month to get the whole thing painted.  For every person that enters the challenge, LoWG will add a prize to a pool.  Everyone who completes the challenge before the deadline gets a raffle ticket.  They will then draw tickets for each prize in the pool, so only people who completed the  challenge can win anything.

I could not decide what I wanted to work on originally.  I was thinking between 4 projects, The Justice League Rebox, Justice League Dark, Lex Corp or Dark Knight Metals.  I really want the new Jason Mamoa Aquaman (and I also never got around to picking up the Ezra Miller Flash).  But I already had the other three members in metal painted up.  I decided to hold off on the JL for now.  I will probably still pick up this set at some time and gift my old metal models to a friend.  The Lex Corp release was not shipped out from the distributor yet, so that knocked it off my list.  Then on the day I went in to pick up my new team, LoWG had just sold out of the Dark Knight Metals.  Circumstance made my choice very easy, Justice League Dark it was.

It also helped that it is leading up to Halloween (one of my favorite holidays), and I have just been reading the new Justice League Dark comic title (man I wish Knight Models came out with a Detective Chimp model!).  I painted up Zantana a few weeks ago, but the remaining 5 members (six models) actually makes up a 58 level team nicely. 

With third edition on the horizon (and a lot of uncertainty) I will refrain from talking about the models rules for BMG.  Chances are, with the new changes my thoughts on these models will not be accurate in the near future.  Instead I will look more into how I painted them. After I get a few games in I will take a look at their rules for DCU (individually and as a team). 

I started with Deadman.  He seemed the simplest and most straight forward of the group, pale skin with a red leotard.  I worked up my usual red progression using Citadel paints; Mephiston, Carroburg Crimson wash, Mepshiston, Evil Sunz Scarlet, and a final highlight of Wild Rider Red. The trick I find with red, it to layer it with many many thin watered down coats.  I decided to try something different with this model, I wanted to make the red a little darker and deeper.  I followed a friend's advice, and tried to add some thinned down purple to the shadows, but I could not get it looking right (I will have to go into the store and get a quick tutorial).  So I decided to try a glaze of Blood Angels Red Contrast mixed with Lahmian Medium.  It really did darken the red, but I feel that it also washed out a lot of my highlights.  I have not figured out how to use the contrast paints with my style of painting. 

The skin was a Rakarth Flesh with highlights from Pallid Wych Flesh.  I then added some purple shadows to the cheeks with many many thin layers of very very diluted Scale 75 Inktense Violet.  I also did the "D" on the costume with the same tones. 

While I was working on Deadman, I started Etrigan the Demon as well (most of his body suit is red too).  The red was worked up the same as on Deadman, without the contrast wash. I also went a bit heavier on the Wild Rider red highlight to give it more of an orange hue.  The skin was Balor Brown, Seraphim Sepia wash.  Then each highligh was just Balor with more and more Scale 75 Birch.  The cloak was Caledor Sky.  I then tried using Contrast Leviadon Blue with the Lahmian Medium.  I then went back and worked up the highlights with Caledor, and Scale 75 Sky Blue.  For the final hightlight I added a a bit of white to the mix.  The bracelets, belt buckle and broach I went with the Scale 75 gold set to tie in with the warm reds and yellows of the skins and clothes.

One week down, 2/6 models complete.  Next up will be Etrigans other half, Jason Blood.  Remember that next Sunday (November 3rd) is our Batmite Megabattle at LoWG.  These custom scenario games are always a blast, there is always a bunch of wackiness going on!  Some come on out for it!

Kevin

90/100 - I Put a Spell on You

I finally got back to painting some actual miniatures this week instead of terrain.  Since we are playing some DCU at Lords of War right now, I decided to work on Enchantress for my Suicide Squad team.  I also wanted to paint up a magic user for BMG to finally try out the magic rules.

Enchantress adds some magic and supernatural attacks for my DCU team.  With her resistance and ability to heal I am hoping she will also be able to take a hit (which most of the Suicide Squad cant do).

The model was odd for me to paint.  It is not busy but there is a lot of smaller details.  However she is mainly 3 colours (skin, hair, gold), which gives her a plain finish.  I added the tattoos and blood to the base to help give some more contrast, although I am not fully satisfied with either.

The gold  net sleeves on the arms were the trickiest to paint.  It look a lot of time and touch ups to finish them.  I over highlighted the hair with a light grey, so used some diluted black ink bring it back down, I think it ended up washing out the highlights.  I might go back and work the hair back up a bit.

I had also run out of the resin cobblestone bases that I used on my other Suicide Squad members, and my local store was also out.  So I made some using one of the rollers from Green Stuff World.  Jay at Lords of War gave me some tips on how to make the results cleaner.  It worked out well in the end.  The cobbles are not exactly the same size as the original ones but I think it works, you don't really notice it to much unless you are looking for it.

I am working on the last member of the Suicide Squad film cast members now, the one-man-machine gun nest Rick Flag.

Kevin

80/100 - Gotham is Shady AF!

I kept telling Chris and Jay not to expand into Gotham, that place is riddled with crime!

With Sword and Brush only three weeks away I have been hard at work!  I am trying to get another dozen buildings made for the BMG tournament I am running on the Saturday.  It feels like every waking moment (minus the time while my child is awake) is being spent on making terrain (this is not hyperbole).  My very supportive wife has even jumped in to lend a hand!

We are making good progress.  I was able to finish 3 medium buildings and 2 smaller buildings.  I based them off the original foam core buildings I made a few years back.  Changed the size, shape and added some new details (like store signs).

I wanted to add some more smaller scatter terrain to the tables.  That was why I painted 18 cars last week.  This week it was trees.  But trees don't just grow out of the concrete in Gotham (unless a certain botanist is around).  So I made some stone framed tree beds to place along the streets.  They should add some interesting ping rolls and add some nice atmosphere. 

Finally this week I was able to build the last two boxes for my Plastic Craft Games Dark Carnival set; the Big Top Stage and the Circus Entrance.  I really love the plastic card terrain.  It is fairly easy to build and looks great when it is done.

I got the next 7 buildings drawn out and ready to cut, but that will be tomorrow job!

Kevin   

29/100 - Another Caped Crusader

Last Saturday, I was able to attend a beginners' airbrush class by Pat from The Artisan's Edge, hosted by Lords of War Games and Hobbies.  Pat is an amazing painter, and very skilled in the use of airbrushes.  He was great at troubleshooting and helping work through some problems I was having.  The attendance was kept to around 6 people for this class.  So we all got a lot of great one-on-one help. 

I started the class working on some more Spirit Hosts for my Legion of Nagash army.  I ran into some problems while I was working on the white highlights.  Apparently white is a pain in the ass colour to use with either a brush or an airbrush.  The paint kept coming out in blobs.  I originally thought it was because I did not thin the paint enough but it turns out I had the PSI on the compressor too low.

We had learned in the class that when you want to do base-coats or covering a large area you should have the PSI a little higher (around 30).  Then when you are working on more fine details you can drop the PSI low (around 7-10).  Since I was working on some highlights on the ghosts I figured keep the PSI low.

However I found out that the pigment in white (and yellow) paint is heavier than other paints and tends to come out blotchy if the PSI is too low.  Pat got me to turn the PSI up to about 15 and the white went on much smoother. 

I wanted to try working on a smaller model while I was in the class.  So I picked my Batman from the resin Batman starter set.  I figured this would be a good model to try out the airbrush on.  If it really did not turn out, I had no plans on using him in a game.  If I use a Batman I like to use Bat-fleck.  I know my luck with rolling dice and Bat-fleck can re-roll combat dice (less chance at a bat-whiff). 

Pat showed me how to highlight the back of the cape.  I then did the front of the cape and the cowl/head (minus the skin) on my own with the airbrush.  I was very happy with the final product.  I then finished the model with a regular brush and paint.  I really like how it turned out, now I feel that I have to use the model in a game soon. 

By the end of the class I felt much more confident using my airbrush, especially when highlighting.  I feel that I am starting to build some control with the brush. 

It is a great class and I highly recommend it.  Keep an eye on the Lords of War Facebook page for the next time Pat will be running it.  If you want to be inspired (or humbled) be sure to check out Pat's work over at The Artisan's Edge.

I am going to finish up another dwarf for my Hobbit project soon, then I think I will turn my attention to some Discworld models that I have had on my desk for a while.

Kevin

28/100 - Gotham Rising

A few months ago I finished upgrading the two buildings that came in the Suicide Squad box.  I had said in the post that I actually made 4 buildings out of the two you get.  The buildings are really nice double sided card.  One side was a run down looking building with graffiti, while the other was side was a little more well kept.




I peeled off one side of the card and glued it to some foam core.  Then I rebuilt them and added some card to the corners to hide the seam.  I made a ledge with some quarter round and designed the roof to look more natural.

A few gargoyles where added to hide the holes from the old roof support.  I then used some fancy wood trim below the roof ledge to help hide the seam.  This trim really makes a difference and is a big improvement from the first buildings.

Cant wait to get these on a table and use them in a game!

Kevin

Crisis on Infinite Earths - Event Summary

On Saturday we held a special DCU mega-battle event at our local hobby shop, Lords of War Games and Hobbies, for their 3rd birthday party.  I wrote a special scenario for the event.  The premises was that portals to the multiverse were opening up, bringing other heroes and villains to earth Zero.

I also made 20 different Multiverse cards.  Each model in the game was given one card.  The card gave a brief description of that Earth and a bonus ability and/or stat upgrade based on the theme of that world.  So one player may get Vampire Superman, while another player would be using Animated Batman.
 
The objective of the game was for the “heroes” to protect 5 civilians, while the “villains” were trying to destroy them.  There were other ways to gain bonus victory points as well.  If you are interested in reading the full scenario and seeing the multiverse cards you can do so HERE.

We had a total of 6 players.  Each player brought 30 levels (so roughly 90 per side).  I broke the players into two teams of 3, ignoring individual allegiances (a Justice League player could be teamed up with an Injustice League player etc).

Here is the roster for the teams.

Villains:
- Steppenwolf
- Atrocitus
- Superman
- Aquaman
- Zod
- Lexcorp Heavy Trooper
- Lexcorp Trooper
Heroes
- Rebirth Batgirl
- Flash
- Shazam
- Zod
- Killer Frost
- Red Hood
- Atrocitus
- Deathstroke
- Ravager

We had several of the same model on the table, I encouraged this.  Since each model was going to get a unique upgrade card, they would still be different and enhance the Multiverse feel.  There was some pretty wacky combos; Aquaflash, Magical Superman, Atrocitus the Speedster, Animated Deathstroke etc.

Chris, one of the store owners painted up a fantastic Ultraman for the event.  We held him in reserve to join whichever side needed a little boost.

The Villains figured out a very devious strategy to kill the civilians early on.  They sent their faster models straight at a civilian.  Who would then throw them back toward another member of their team to finish it off.  In the first round of the game we saw Superman throw a civilian at Steppenwolf, who dispatched him with haste.  The heroes had a hard time after that keeping the other civilians alive.

Ultraman shows up and levels the warehouse

In retrospect I think I would have changed how the civilians worked (to see how they worked in our game please see the scenario posted).  Throwing the civilians backwards really allowed the villains to get into the lead quickly and the heroes just could not make up the points.  One suggestion that was made for next time was to say that the civilian model represents a group of civilians and therefore cannot be thrown.

The...death stroke...of Zod

After reflecting on it for a bit after the fact, I think I would have ran them like this instead.  I would have dropped the defenses down to 10 and gotten rid of the endurance.  However Civilians models would represented groups of civilians instead of individuals.  They could not be removed from the table or thrown. Every time a villain inflicts damage on a model they gain one victory point, up to a maximum of 3 per turn.  Every time a hero uses the bodyguard rule to defend a civilian they gain one victory point, up to a maximum of 3 per turn.

In the original scenario the villians killed majority of the civilians early into the game, leaving little way for the heroes to make up the victory point deficit.  By having the civilians being able to generate victory points every turn there is an incentive to protect/attack them at all times.

Shazam throwing a GCPD car at Vampire Aquaman

With only 3 victory point awarded each turn, it would also increase the incentive for both sides to go after the bonus victory points.  The way we played it, the villains had no need to go for bonus since they racked up a lot of victory points from the civilian kills.  While the heroes where behind in VPs by a large margin that the few bonus victory points awarded each round would not make a dent in the difference.

Even though the game was fairly one sided in the end (34-20 for the Villains) everyone had seemed to have a blast.  The villains earned the most victory points but they only had 3 models left on the table in the end.  The heroes did a lot of damage and managed to almost wipe out the villains.  All six players where heavily invested and focused till the very end.  We had a great group of dedicated players involved.

Here are some of my favorite moments of the game.
- Hero Zod and Shazam beating down Superman to a single endurance point.  Then Killer Frost walking over and dealing one final point of damage to finish him off, scoring 4 victory points! (one for taking out a model, one for Girl Power bonus, and two for Titans Fall bonus).
- Stepenwolf killing almost every model that was thrown back toward him by his allies.  In the end I think he killed 2 civillians, the Flash, Batgirl and almost finished hero Zod.
- A heavily wounded villain Zod kills a civilian.  Deathstroke runs over hoping for a crit with his irresistible sword to do some more damage and get revenge.  Deathstroke rolled double 8s on his attack, dealing a crit and double damage with his irresistible sword due to his Assassin ability.  Beheading the evil kyptonian.  He also did this by rolling a red and blue die to match his outfit.  
- The Lexcorp Heavy Trooper and Regular Trooper keeping one half of the table busy for 3 rounds.  They took on Atrocious, Deathstroke, Ravager, Killer Frost, Zod, and Red Hood.
- Ultraman showing up turn 3 to help the Heroes side (ironic?).  He then proceeds to destroy every building in the middle of the table over the last half of the game.  He was a one man wrecking crew.  The +1 Strength (making him strength 7) from his Multiverse card allowed him to pick up city buildings and throw them at his opponents.  

For the event I painted up two civilian models quickly the week before.  I used two models from Infinity; The Dragon Lady and Neoterran Corporate Executive.  For the other 3 civilians I used three Discworld miniatures from Microart Studios; Foul Ron, The Duckman, and Lord Downy that I already had painted.  

Now time to plan the next event...if you have any interesting comic stories you think might make a good scenario please leave a comment below!

Kevin

 Additional Pics of the event (Many provided by Mr "I only roll double 8s" Alex)

Batgirl trying to save a civilian from Vampire Aquaman

Ultraman laying waste to the city