Thinking Outside the Box

A few more figures for the Marvel Universe Miniature Game  got completed a while back. I'd had the Punisher model since before the game was released and had no idea he'd eventually be usable with a downloadable card from Knight Models . I'm happy that he's usable in both Universe and the Batman Miniature Game . Ironically this paint job took more work than I expected, largely because while I was highlighting the skin I nearly messed it up entirely and had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning it up. I very nearly started over, and almost wish I had. Daredevil was an easy enough job to paint. I decided I didn't want to do the all red or the yellow and brown outfits, so I went with a red-tinted black costume with red accessories. The picture shows me that I didn't do a great job on the DD on his chest. So I might have to go back and fix that up later. Spider-Man is a great sculpt and pose. It's very evocative of the character. He was a bit more dif...

It's been months since I posted anything here...but I haven't been entirely idle in terms of hobby time. Here's some stuff I painted in Dec 2016 and throughout the first third of 2017 TV Arrow came with two different heads. I opted for the version with his hood down for two reasons. The first was that I wanted to use the hooded head for Arsenal / Speedy. I really dislike the baseball cap on him, so he got Arrow's hooded head. The second was that this version of Green Arrow was going to be almost entirely one colour, so having the hood down and some blonde hair on the top would help focus attention on his face amidst all that green. Next up was Spartan / John Diggle. Although I haven't read much in the way of Green Arrow comics, I'm fairly sure Diggle was created specifically for the TV series. This model also comes with two heads; one with a helmet and one without. I couldn't help thinking that his mask looks a lot like the one Magneto wears in the co...

Back in the spring (which feels  like a long time ago) I picked up a used copy of the Star Wars - Imperial Assault  core set. Over time I've continued to add expansions and figure packs, with the hopes of some day painting it all. I know that's unlikely but at least now I have a start. One of these figures had a broken staff, so I had to get creative trying to find a piece to replace it with. It's noticeable if you know what to look for, although at arms length I think it's a perfectly serviceable repair. Gasp, shock...yes I've actually played the game a few times, and the rules allow you to take different versions of the troopers: regular and elite. The cards for the elite squads are red, so I painted the bases of one pair red to help differentiate them during the game. The depths of red cloaks took a lot of coats to do and I could easily have kept going...but it's red, so who really cares. I do like the focus that the gloss coat gives to the helmets, ...

I recently finished painting my Watchmen figures for the Batman Miniature Game  from Knight Models  and am excited about the results. They have been in progress since sometime in June and have only gotten one game in so far, but let's just talk about the models this time. Rorschach was the first figure I completed. True to the movie, like all the Watchmen figures, he is a top-notch one piece model and was quick to finish. Nite Owl is a really dynamic single piece model who proved very each to paint. He's also my favourite character visually from the movie. The Comedian is where I stalled in my progress. Being largely black, it was a challenge to get enough colour and variation to be happy with. Additionally, I'm not sure if I clipped his cigar off when I was cleaning up the model or if it actually isn't there in the original cast. I wanted him to have one so I did a little experiment with a tiny chunk of paperclip. It ended up a touch on the big size, but...

A few days ago Knight Models posted the rule book for the DC Universe Miniature Game for download. That in itself is exciting news for me, but even better was that it included several profile cards for existing models in their Batman range! Check out  https://www.o2media.ca/blogs/news/marvel-and-dcu-miniature-game-news for all the characters and even some info about the latest FAQ for the Marvel game.

I always seem to have a few work-in-progress models on my table at any given time. Some of them tend to languish there for months (or years), but others will land and get finished right away. I'm not sure why that's the case, but that's how it goes. These two models were in the 'months' range, along with a few others from the "SuperFigs"   line (for SuperSystem ) who've yet to see completion. While I was working on Hawkeye and Deadpool from Knight Models  I did a bit of work on these two as they shared some common colours. First up is the villain Adder. She's a member of one of the villain groups; I believe the League of Supervillains. I've got Blackbird and Saber Skull from the same team in the queue for this month. The next one is Mystick. She's a free agent according to the profiles from 3rd edition. I'll have to sit down and do some conversions of their profiles into 4th edition. I've done a few other conversions in the...

I had some demos for the Marvel Universe Miniature game scheduled in early in October, so I wanted to put together a few teams with the figures I had. Due to the limited number of characters I actually had painted, I needed to finish up a few more to round out the teams. Both of these figures are highly detailed, as I've come to expect from Knight Models. Neither one had much in the way of gap filling required. A bit of filing and cleanup you'd expect with any metal model, some super glue and primer and I was ready for paint. I opted not to deviate from the studio colour schemes almost at all. Deadpool is a versatile character for both heroic Superhuman and Mutant teams. He's effective at range and close combat, so he makes a good utility model to add to your team. Although his "Bodyslide" ability is reactive, I'd suggest keeping Deadpool out of situations where you need to use it that way. One of my personal tactics is using it early to get him int...