9 - Back on the Horse

It has been another long break from the blog, and painting for the mater.  I have had a difficult time since October sitting down to paint.  Call it painters block if you will.  After I finished up my Justice League Dark last fall, I started to work on my first ever large size bust.  This was supposed to be Christmas present for a friend.  It was a new medium, and I was trying out some new techniques and styles.  Some parts I really liked and seemed to click, while others were frustrating.  It took a lot longer then I expected and I burned out a little trying to get it done (which I still have yet to do, as soon as I am back from Adepticon!).

That is the thing with trying out something new.  You may not be great at it right away.  It will take some trial and error.  But most importantly, you have to give yourself time to practice it.  I tend to get discouraged if I don't get something quickly (especially if I feel that I don't understand the concepts).  I am trying to relax a bit more, and let myself make errors.  Finish the model and move on to the next and keep trying and experimenting. 

The other hurtle I experienced was the sleep regression of my daughter.  I love my daughter, and our bedtime routine.  We cuddle and read some books, then sing some songs.  But when we changed her bed from a crib to a toddler bed, bedtime became a bit of a struggle.  Some nights bedtime would take and hour and half.  By the end of it, I was physically and emotionally drained.  I could not fathom picking up a brush during those times.  Which in itself was depressing, because I always painted to relax.  But then combining this with the above mentioned self loathing at my skill level, it did not create a good creative environment. 

Luckily, my daughters sleep routine is much better.  I have also made a conscience effort to not be as hard on myself (Hobby wise at least).  So it has been a productive couple weeks, as I rush to get things ready for Adepticon. 

I made a new dicebox/display board for my crew for the Batman tournament.  I also made another box for my Malifaux Death Marshals for the Henchman Hardcore.

Last up was to paint some Marvel models.  I did a quick "one sitting" paint up of Black Widow.  I really like her in the game, but I really do not like this model.  But it was simple and a good entry point to start.

I then wanted to try something new.  I set up my airbrush and painted up Ironman.  I did a basecoat of Scale75 Black metal and then did a zenithal highlight with Heavy metal.  Afterwards I sprayed Citadel Spiritstone Red over the whole model to give it the candy red look.  I then picked out some silver and gold and tried to paint the glowing effect.  This felt good.  I was trying new things, it was not perfect (the candy red coat is really streaky and I still don't like how I paint gold), but I powered through and I am very happy with the results.  I think I have learned new things for the next time I try the glowing effect or the candy red too.

I also finished painting the Winter Soldier.  This was a great example of just pushing though and finishing a model.  I was not liking how he was turning out as I was painting him.  I was try out some Citadel contrast paints over a white/black zenithal.  The model was looking very flat and plain (he is a soldier, he is mostly, grey, black and metal).  But once I painted the face/hair and the arm, I started to get excited about it again.  I got a second wind, fixed up a few things, added some more details.  It is one of my favorite things I have painted in a while now. 

Up next is Vison and some more of the Avengers!     

Kevin

38 - Monster T

A few weeks ago one of my friends, Ben, from our Batman gaming group surprised me with a little gift.  He was able to track down a Monster T as a thank you for the time and effort I put into our little community.  Ben is one of my favorite people to play against, even when he is kicking your ass he some how convinces you that you are having the time of your life.

Monster T was the only Suicide Squad model that I did not have (I even have a copy of Bombshell Harley, but not painted yet).  It is awesome to have the whole collection  now.

Now a lot of people probably don't even know who Monster T is.  He had a very short part in the movie.  The only reason I remember him is because he was played by Common (the Singer/Actor).  And Common was on one of my all time favorite shows, Hell on Wheels.  However there is little chance of him showing up in the next Suicide Squad movie seeing how Joker kills him for looking at Harley the wrong way. 

In-game Monster T is ok, but nothing really jumps out at you.  He is a free agent for bad guys and has average stats of mostly 3s (except a movement 2 boo).  Endurance 6 and a 4+ strength is nice.  His weapons are basic, just a knife and the worse type of handgun. 

His traits make him a little more viable.  Disturb allows Monster T to choose a model in line of site and that model action counters can not be relocated.  Now this is nice cause you can use it on both your own crew and on your opponents crew.  It can be a very powerful ability but I feel that it very situational. 

Goad is probably his most useful trait (it is really an under appreciated one).  You can choose one enemy model within eight inches, they make a willpower test, if they fail you can move them two inches.  Great for pulling people off objectives at the end of the round or feeding something to your beaters like King Shark. 

His most fun trait is Handson Hunke Hunka.  If at any time this model is within 10cm of both a friendly Joker and Harley you must remove Monster T as a casualty.  Now, I know that it is easy to avoid this by not using Monster T in a crew with both those models...but it is so thematic that I feel that I need too!

Thanks again Ben!

Kevin

8 - King Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo

If you are a parent with a small child then you probably understand the title, and I am also sorry that that song is now stuck in your head.  I finished painting King Shark this week.  I never really knew much about this character (except for his brief appearances on CW's The Flash), but I loved this model as soon as I saw it!

I went back and tried some more of the painting techniques that I learned recently, mainly Glazing and Layers.  Most of the paint I used was from Citadel (except where noted).  The blue skin of the shark was achieved with a base Incubi Darkness.  Then a series of very thin layers of white.  The whole model was then glazed a few times with thinned Stegadon Scale Green.  I then shaded the recesses with watered down Incubi Darkness, and again with Incubi Darkness and black.

The lighter skin on the abdomen was a Baneblade Brown basecoat.  Then built up Rakarth Flesh through multiple thin layers.  I did a final highlight with Birch (Scale 75).  I finished off with some spot shading with Seraphin Sepia.

I wanted to try something new for the base too.  I made a cast of a resin base to get the a sewer lid.  I then surrounded this with green stuff and used a cobblestone textured rolling pin.  I also wanted to try and paint some of King Sharks shadow on the base.  I did this through a few layers of very very watered down black. 

King Shark is a killing machine in BMG.  At 95 rep he is a higher cost free agent (but still lower then some that do the same job!).  He has a good stat line (although the Defense 3 and endurance 8, without desensitize or sturdy hurts).  To help off set this, King Shark also has "Meta-Skin" (counts as Bulletproof Vest - firearms wound on a +4) and "Regenerate" (1 special counter to heal one damage)

His movement of 2 is not great, but he is deceptively fast.  Since he is "Huge" his base movement is 7.  "Swift" gives him an extra 6 inches if he spends 2 Movement Counters (instead of the usual 4").  Which gives him a threat range of 13 inches.  He also has "Amphibious", since there is rarely water terrain on the table, the real benefit is going through sewers for only 1 movement counter. 

A Blood and Stun attack with "Devastating" (roll 2 Collateral Damage dice) is great.  That is made even better with his "Brutal" (re-roll the Collateral Damage dice).  More chances to knock enemies to the ground and a potential 2 criticals. 

This model can dish out a devastating amount a damage in close combat.  If there is a damage marker on King Shark he gains a free counter to put into attack (due to "Bloodthirsty").  If his target has a damage marker on it already, King Shark gains +1 to Hit, +1 Strength and Bleed 1 (1 blood damage on a crit - even better when combined with Brutal and Devastating!) from his "Blood Scent" trait.  Then to make him just that much more powerful he has "Combo with Claws and Teeth" (gain an extra attack for every 2 attack counters spent).  So King Shark can make up to 7 attacks, dealing 14 damage (7 Blood, 7 Stun) with a potential to do an addition 2 stun or blood on a crit...

I really like King Shark, cant wait to try him out on the table!  Up next on the painting block is another huge model, Clayface. 

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