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

40 - Batmite! and a Custom Scenario!

Around two years ago one of the Batman Facebook groups had Scenario contest.  The goal was the submit an original scenario for BMG to be judged by the admins.  The winner would receive that years GenCon exclusive model, Batmite!

I love to write (hence the blog), and I love to come up with new scenarios for the games.  I wrote up a few (I think I submitted 3 in the end).  The admins liked my submissions and the Batmite was mine!  I was really proud to have won a contest (even if it was an online Facebook one!).  I even got to try out the scenarios with our gaming group during our next campaign. 

Sadly Batmite kept getting bumped back on my painting queue.  Part of it was that he is a Legend Rank, which means he is not usable in standard play.  I also did not have a lot of nostalgia for the character.  I knew who he was, but not much more.

Luck would have it, I recently found the prefect excuse to finally get Batmite painted up.  A new megabattle at Lords of War with a fresh custom scenario (seems poetic).   I got the little guy painted up over a few days of off and on painting.  I was trying out some new colours, some of which did not work.  However I light glaze with Contrast Leviadon Blue really helped. 

Since I dont really plan on playing Batmite in a regular game, I am not going to go into details on his rules here (but maybe if I get my hands on a Batman of Zur En Arrh I will).  I will however post the new scenario for the megabattle on November 3rd at Lords of War. 

Scenario:  Batmite At Your Service

Overview:  A misguided attempt to be helpful from Batmite, has turned the heroes and villains of Gotham city into miniature toy versions of themselves.  The only person that can undo this calamity is Batmite himself, but he is having too much fun playing with his new “friends”.  It is up to you and your friends to find Batmite and stop your enemies before they get their hands on his power. 

Crews:  You may bring two models, only one of which may be over 100 rep.  Both models much be from the same Crew/Team or be Free Agents.  Each model may take a single piece of equipment if it can usually take anything
. 
Game Length: 6 rounds or when we run out of time

Objectives:  There will be 5 Objectives.  There will be a Ammo Crate in Team 1’s deployment zone that only Team 2 can score.  There will be a Medical Supply in Team 2’s deployment zone that only Team 1 can score.  There will be a set of Safes, a Loot, and Fire Barrel in no-man-land that anyone can score.

Victory Conditions:  Victory points are earned in the usual ways (controlling objectives and KO/Casualties).  The side with the most VPs at the end of the game will be victorious.   

Special Rules:

The Damn Batmite:  At the end of every recount phase the Game Organizer will role a D8. On a roll of 2-7 the Batmite Model will be place in contact with the corresponding objective (2-Ammo, 3-Safe1, 4-loot, 5-fire Barrel, 6 Safe2, 7 Medical Supplies).  On a roll of 1 Team 1 may place the Batmite model in base contact with any objective that they choose.  On a roll of 8, Team 2 may place the Batmite model in base contact with any objective that they choose. 

Any objective that Batmite is touching is worth an additional VP.  In addition, the first time either side takes a “Pass”, the game Organizer will activate Batmite.  Batmite will never move away from an objective, but will use his powers indiscriminately (as best the game organizer sees fit – what is most entertaining, funny, dramatic, or thematic). 

If Batmite takes any damage of any kind, he immediately disappears, the model is removed from the board.  The objective is no longer worth an additional VP.  At the end of the recount phase replace Batmite as per the above rules.  When Batmite is replaced all damage previously accrued is removed.  He also ignores the “reload” rule for his “Energy Projection” attack.

Kung-Fu Grip:  All player models gain the KaPow!!! Special Attack (after all, the best action figures come with the kung-fu grip)

Can’t hit the Broadside of a Barn:  All weapons with the “Firearm” rule gain “Imprecise” (when was the last time a GI-JOE was actually shot).

When I was a Kid...:  All models gain the “Resilient” trait.  (Back in my day, toys where built to last, and not fall apart two days after you take them out of the box).

Kevin

39 - Zatanna

While I was at Adepticon earlier in the year, I played in the DCU tournament.  I batted the cycle (win, loss and draw) and placed 3rd overall.  I got to choose a prize from a pile of donated items.  I went with Zatanna.

She was a model that I have wanted to pick up for a while, but just never got around to it.  She is also a wonderful character in the comics (I am really enjoying the current Justice League Dark title with Wonder Woman). 

I tried out some more shading and glazing that Dai Viet had shown me a few months ago.  Instead of going my usual dark base-coat then highlighting up; I went with a mid-tone base-coat.  I then added shades to the recesses and then added some highlights as well.  This is evident in the white shirt.  I also did some glazing with Incubi Darkness over the black/grey highlighted tuxedo jacket to give it a blue hue.

I also tried highlighting the face more naturally.  I focused my highlights to the forehead, nose, lips and chin.  Then added some red/brown shade to the cheeks for shadows.  I did the same for the legs but then added a few coats of Contrast Skeleton Horde mixed with Lahmian Medium to get the nylon effect. 

In BMG she is pretty amazing.  She is a free agent for Brave and the Bold, and she is a little costly at 108 rep, and $400 funding.  She has Leader level stats with Willpower 8 and endurance 7.  Defense and Special 4 is also very nice.

She has an incredible magical damage output potential.  She has a Magical Power: 6, and can use Elemental, Divination, and Eldritch.  This gives her access to both Magic Bolt and Eldrith Bolt, which could do a combined 6 blood damage in a single turn.  Then in the same turn she could also use her regular shooting attack that has a rate of fire 2, double blood, light, throwing, s-rage, magic, fire!.  If she hits well she could do 10 blood a turn to an unlucky soul.  She is also a Homo Magi, so she gets +1 to her magical power willpower tests.

With her Distort Magic trait, she can also stay safe while casting her spells.  It allows her to pick a spot within 4 inches of her, and she can cast spells as if she was at that point.  It gives her a bit more range to her spells, and she can do it from around corners. 

If the enemies get close, she also has access to Hover.  This would make her hit on 6s in hand to hand, but any knocked down effect or if she was KO will result in her taking double blood.  I know my luck, and it seems very steep price.  Though she does have access to the Magical Healing spell, so maybe it is worth the risk. 

I have not looked at her to in-depth for DCU.  She looks like she has some great abilities and some solid high damage magical attacks.  But she also looks a bit squishy and has a high level cost.  I will have to player her to find out. 

Up next is some stuff for the up coming BMG Megabattle on November 3rd.

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

37 - Bale-man and a Death Eater

Last Saturday (September 21st) was Batman day, a day to celebrate one of the more recognized heroes in the comic and film world-wide.  I wanted to do something to celebrate.  I decided that I would try to paint a new Batman model from Knight Models in a single day, start to finish.  I had the new Dark Knight Rises starter set sitting by my desk, so I chose to paint up Christian Bale Batman. 

I was looking after my daughter for the afternoon, so as soon as she went down for her nap, I put on The Dark Knight Rises and put paint to model.  I made some good progress with layering the grays and glazing them back down with some black.  The model was coming along nicely and with good time, it does help when he is 90% one colour.

Then the doorbell rang.  By the time I cleaned my brush and ran down the stairs the bell rang again.  It was an amazon delivery.  I signed for it and crept back up the stairs, hoping that the disturbance did not wake the sleeping child.  It was not to be.  I could hear my daughter start to stir.  It was not a bad thing.  She woke up and we cuddled and finished watching Batman defeat Bane and save Gotham together.

After she went to sleep for the night, I started back on the model.  I put on the Dark Knight and by the time the credits started to role, Bale-man was done. 

Bale-man in probably the best Batman in the Knight Models game.  He has one of the highest movement values with a 4 (double Bat-fleck).  He has the softer Bat-armour MKII, but that also gives him an extra inch of movement.  He is also the only Batman with Arrest.  So he can lay down a beating and then finish the job.

He is also very counter  efficient due to his Combo-Unarmed.  His only draw back is no re-roll to hit, and there will always be a Bat-wiff at some point.  However if he can pull off a Sneak Attack then he does gain +1 to hit due to Master of Stealth and with his high movement he should be able to do it more often then not. 

While the glazes were drying on Bale-man, I did a little work on my first Harry Potter model, a generic Death Eater from the starter set.   I was trying out the new contrast paints for this model.  I used the airbrush to do a zenithil highlight of white over a black base.  I then did two coats of Basilicanum Grey.  To add a little colour I then used a bit of Warp Lighting on the sash.  I finished him off with a gold mask (although I think I will probably go with a silver one next time).  It wont win any painting contests, but it was quick and time efficient.  I look forward to playing around with the contrast paints more in the future. 

 Kevin

35 - Back in Black

I have had another long hobby hiatus.  Part of it was a little burn out from preparation for Adepticon.  Another part was hobby ADD after Adepticon.  Another part was trying out different hobbies (I bought a new saw and had to test it out).

I did end up doing a good amount of projects done in August.  We had Sword and Brush at the beginning of September.  The month leading up to an event is always busy.  I wanted to get a new table worth of terrain done for the Batman Tournament.  I started with upgrading the card buildings that come in the Dark Knight Rises set.  I did this roughly the same way as the old Suicide Squad buildings that I did a while ago.

I then painted up some scatter terrain I bought at Adepticon from TTC combat.  Namely the "Junk" pack (old couch, broken TV, sleeping bags etc) and a pack of Porto-potties.  (one of my favorite moments from the tournament at SaB was seeing Batman and Lex Luther fighting over a Porto-potty objective). 

The week before the tournament I had all the terrain ready but then I had an idea to make some table numbers for the tournament.  I built up 5 billboards from some scrap balsa, plastic card and stir sticks.  I then found some Batman themed billboard advertisements and edited a number into them.  A little paint and glue, and I had 5 unique table numbers that also act as functional terrain on the tables.

The tournament was a blast.  We had 8 players come out.  It was really good to see some old friends and some new ones.  Games where close and everyone appeared to have enjoyed themselves.  Of course Brandon won Best Overall with his Teen Titans.  Best General went to Stephen and his Brave and the Bold crew.  Best Appearance went to Alex and his Gordon lead Brave and the Bold crew.  The Best Sportsman award went to our youngest (and one of the most enthusiastic players) Jack.  I am hoping that next year I have the ask the TO for more tables!

After Adepticon I was really pumped to try and improve my painting skills.  I had several cool models to work on, but I had a hard time getting anything started.  I dont know if it was pour time-management or not knowing were to start.  I think it was a little but of intimidation and spiral thinking that stayed my brush.  So I did not get anything painted up specifically for the Sword and Brush.

I still wanted to enter something into the painting contest though.  I decided to enter my Court of Owls into the Unit Category.  I also entered my King Shark and Clayface into the Fantasy Single Category.  Since all the terrain was ready to go for the tournament I thought that I would then spend the last few days before the event to make a diorama base for two of my existing models.

I have had an idea of doing a small display box featuring some of my Discworld Characters to sit on my bookshelf with the series. I had a Tiffany Aching model and a Granny Weatherwax done.  I used some material I had lying around (old cork, reused wire tree, and some flowers).   There is a few things I would improve on next time.  The base was built out of layers of thin cork, which is easily seen.  If I had had more time I would have used plaster or wood chips (or a combo of both).  The grass the was attached to the flowers was also a different shade then the separate grass, which did really hurt the colour unity.  I was happy how it did turn out and it looks great on the shelf.   It however did fail to make the podium (but that was not entirely surprising based on the other outstanding entries).  I did walk away with a Silver for my Owls and a Bronze for Clayface.

Kevin

19 -"Or They'll Send The Talon for Your Head"

It has been a little while since I wrote a post.  The gear up for Adepticon was crazy busy.  I was able to finish the last of the models I needed for the BMG tournament, Lincoln March and the 3 Owl objective markers.  Both where a lot of fun to paint.  It was interesting to research different owls and their markings/colouring.

I also finished making a wooden carrying case with magnetic trays.  It was a very different project from what I have been working on recently.  It was also very nice to be able to build it with my brother (it also means it is much more structurally sound).  It worked great for Adepticon.  Everything (models, objectives, dice, rulebook, tokens, display boards etc) for both BMG and DCU fit inside.  It also gave me a handy table to put my beer while I was playing.

The two tournaments at Adepticon where good.  This was the first time I played in any tournament in about a decade.  I played BMG with my Court of Owls on Friday.  We played 4 rounds, and I almost hit the cycle.  I got a Total Victory in the first game versus a DK Bane.  I got a loss against Penguin in the second game.  The third game was against big Batman with his bat cloak and cops, I got a victory.  By the fourth game I was burned out.  I was playing against Gotham City Sirens.  I put every action counter into movement and attack, then just rushed them...it did not work, I got a Total Defeat.  My opponents where all great sports with nicely painted and themed crews.  In the end I came in around 13/37.

The next day was the DCU tournament.  It was 3 rounds and I had alot of fun playing in this one.  There was only 8 players, and the majority of them where just there to have fun.  I was also playing in this tournament with my buddy Alex.  It was great to have someone you know to joke around with (and buy each other beer) between rounds.  I did not know anyone in the BMG tournament and it felt kinda isolated at times.  Hopefully we can round up a few of our local players to come down next year and play too!  I took 3rd place in the DCU tournament (and won myself a Zantana), while Alex placed 4th.

This was my first time going to Adepticon.  It was intense.  5600 people attended over the 4 days, and I am not typically someone who likes crowds.  It was great to see a lot of new (or new to me) games and products in the vendor hall.  I picked up a few  models for gaming (Wild West Exodus!) and some really nice statues to work on my painting skills.  It nothing else, Adepticon really got me on a hobby high.  I am re-energized to start new projects and get to painting again!

What really made the trip for me though were the people I went with.  I got to know some members of the local hobby community much better.  The best memories from the trip where walking around the vendor hall and talking hobby with some new and old friends.  Or just sitting down and watching my friends play AoS or 40K.  I am definitely looking forward to next year (assuming Jay and Chris are not tired of carrying my ass around). 

Kevin